Chapter 389
Alright, alright. I managed to settle the business and safely add the Percy Workshop to our ranks. A sigh of relief.
After that, without any further complications, I intended to use the Transfer Pendulum to return and relax a bit when Judas came to see me.
"Got a minute? ...Why are you on guard?""Ah, well, when you talk to me at this timing, I thought there might be some trouble..."
The negotiation took time, but otherwise, things had been going smoothly.Conversely, precisely because things were going smoothly, I thought maybe something had gone wrong and Judas came to report, so I ended up striking a strange martial arts pose, much to Judas's exasperation.
"If you call it trouble, it is trouble, but it's a bit odd.""Trouble, by definition, means something strange happens, right? What's weird about it?"The fact that he's reporting to me means it's something Judas and the others can't handle.However, Judas's expression doesn't show any tension like panic.He seems more like he's troubled, wondering what to do.
"Well, we at this frontier village... Hey, isn't calling it a 'village' a bit too much now?""What can we do? We haven't decided on a name yet.""But it's larger than a mediocre town, isn't it? The walls are more splendid than the royal capital's. Calling this a village is unreasonable."He was about to say what was troubling him, but it's typical of Judas to interject with a complaint first.If it were a matter of urgent importance, the conversation wouldn't go off track.
So, the matter he wants to consult about probably isn't that urgent.
"Well, for me, who's on the verge of having the capital named 'Liberta,' it's something I'd like to approach with caution, you know?""That's not unusual, is it? Towns being named after the person who founded them. If anything, it's an honor, isn't it?""I hate that! Being talked about like, 'That's the capital, Liberta!' Doesn't it sound narcissistic!?""It's fine because it's me, but don't say that in other capitals. There are towns named directly after heroes' names, you know.""I won't say it. Well, I'll keep loudly advocating for a different name, though."The reason the name of this frontier village hasn't been decided is because the vast majority—mainly my party members and Genjirou's group—are in favor of naming it after me, while the person in question (me) is strongly opposed.
From Nell and the others' perspective, since I'm the one leading, it's a natural course of action. But on a personal level, I'm still not fully accustomed to this otherworldly custom.
In FBO, there were players who named towns after their character names, and some even boldly used their real names.I still have a sense of shame about that, which is why I'm opposed.
"Well, fine. But decide on it soon. Sharia and the others also say it's weird to keep calling this a frontier village.""'Soon,' huh...""If you say that and still don't decide, we'll start calling it whatever we want.""Stop!?"
If I don't decide on the frontier village's name soon, it might end up being named 'Libertatown.'I need to get serious about deciding.
"We got off track.""You're the one who derailed it, Judas. So, what's the consultation?""Recently, we've started seeing unusual monsters near the village. We thought they might be wandering, so we asked Genjirou and sent out the Gardener Retainers to exterminate them, but...""From your tone, it seems you couldn't exterminate them? Any damage?"From such a trivial worry, the conversation suddenly turned serious.Unseen monsters appearing near the frontier village—as Judas said, they are likely wanderers.I've given Judas and Genjirou a certain degree of discretionary authority, so it seems they proceeded with the extermination directly.
I've been busy lately and haven't always been in the village, so he probably came to report it as an after-action report.
"I reported to Lady Esmeralda as well, but there was zero damage. If I had to say, we just got tired.""If the Gardener Retainers and the Entertainers got tired, that means there was quite a battle, right? Are you sure it's not an urgent matter?""Yeah, well, because that guy just kept running away. But even after we drive it off, it doesn't just run away; it comes back a little while later.""Running away?"Hearing the report's content and the characteristic of "running away," a hypothesis flashed through my mind.
"By any chance, is its body streamlined or something?""Streamlined? What's that?""Ah—wait a sec, I'll draw a picture."No way, it can't be.Trying to suppress my racing heart, thinking there's no way *that guy* could be here, I quickly sketched the monster I had in mind on some leftover paper from when I was drawing blueprints.
It was a monster with a form that seemed to excessively pursue functional beauty for a living creature.Its streamlined body succeeded in reducing air resistance by creating airflow.Its limbs, capable of both bipedal and quadrupedal movement, might look unbalanced at first glance, but they were surprisingly well-balanced.Its neck was short, almost non-existent.It wasn't completely absent, but compared to ordinary creatures, it was negligible.I drew the monster, whose trademark was its pointed head, and showed it to Judas.
"Ah, that's the guy.""Seriously!?"It was an unexpectedly perfect match.It was a rough, stylized drawing, but I must have captured the features well. But seriously, why is *this guy* here?
"So, what's the deal? This guy?"Handing the drawing to Judas, who was impressed by my drawing skills, I covered my eyes with my hand.I screamed, then immediately sighed and sat in my chair, giving Judas a deadpan stare as he seemed to think it was just a very rare monster.
"That's Runner Runner. In terms of class, it's a Class 9 monster, on par with the Azhdaha we fought before.""Eh?"While I was genuinely relieved to be alive, Judas's expression changed completely, and he fumbled and dropped the drawing.
"Eh!? *This guy*? The one that just runs away from our attacks!?"It was impressive that he could catch it mid-air, but pointing at the drawing, he emphasized its silly face. Sadly, if they had even accidentally landed a single hit, this frontier village would have become a battlefield.
"This guy is a somewhat special World Monster. A monster whose skills are specialized for running. Until you land a single attack on it, it just keeps running away.""Eh, but it's a Class 9 monster, right? So it runs away? Is it not that strong?""It's ridiculously strong. Under certain conditions, it's even more troublesome than Azhdaha. You'd understand if you fought it, but didn't it have abnormal evasion abilities?""Indeed. It created clones, suddenly accelerated, teleported...""And it uses all that. A small monster, just 1 meter in total length, rushes in at high speed, using its Class 9 physical stats to attack physically. It slips through our attacks."The silver lining is that this Runner Runner is not an active monster.All World Monsters are composed of eccentric monsters, but this one could be called the eccentric among the eccentric.
When I explained Runner Runner's combat style, Judas's face turned pale.This monster's greatest characteristic, and its biggest nuisance, is its small size and high evasion capability.Its attack method is simple—a high-speed mass attack. But combined with high-speed movement and disruptive skills, it suddenly becomes a huge pain.
"Were we in danger?""The fact that you couldn't land a hit on it was a blessing in disguise."I wryly smiled at Judas, who had turned pale, and told him he was lucky. But its appearance here is, in itself, simply unfortunate.
"No, no, no!? How can you be so calm!? It's a seriously dangerous monster, right? I should contact Genjirou and the others immediately to deal with it!"Normally, Judas's panicked reaction to a World Monster appearing would be the normal one.
"Well, leaving it alone isn't harmful.""Eh?""That guy, if you really don't attack it, it just repeats the pattern of approaching and then running away."But, specifically regarding Runner Runner, leaving it alone isn't a problem.
"Does it come into town?""Nope.""Does it attack merchants?""Nope.""...Then what was the point of us trying to exterminate it?""You just performed a dangerous act.""No point!?"That guy is a monster that just runs.It properly avoids obstacles and doesn't attack anything.On top of that, all hate management skills are ineffective against it, and even Amina's songs can't hold its attention.
"Just keep it under surveillance and be vigilant, and there won't be any problems.""Somehow, I'm not fully convinced..."It's not that there's no way to defeat it in its current state, but executing that method would require an enormous amount of effort.
"However, I'm surprised. I thought you'd say, 'We have to defeat it no matter what and get the materials!!'""I'm glad you understand me so well. Well, if you ask if I want Runner Runner's materials, I do, but they are difficult materials to use, that thing..."Whether it's worth putting in that much effort to defeat it... I don't find *that* monster attractive enough.In common terms, it's a monster that's not worth the trouble.
"Are its skills strong?""The skills it has don't necessarily drop as items.""Are the materials strong?""Defensive capabilities are low, actually. It might even lose to a Class 5. Its speed enhancement abilities are excellent, though.""Does it drop any rare materials?""Nope. Only stuff you could get from other bosses.""What the heck is that thing!?"So, my enthusiasm isn't that high either.We're not in an environment where we can level up much yet; recruiting is the more important task right now.
"A flashy, golden-colored nuisance, huh?""Did you just say 'golden'?"I was about to settle on informing everyone and just setting up a watch, but when Judas mentioned the coloration, my body froze.
"Eh? Ah, yeah, golden. Head to toe.""Men, assemble!! To battle!!!""Liberta!?"And the moment the information was confirmed, my eyes opened wide, shining, one could say. A 'Gwah!' sound effect might as well have played, and I tensed up.
"If that guy is not a normal specimen but a unique-colored one, that's a different story!! We'll mobilize all our forces and defeat it no matter what!!"Runner Runner isn't that attractive a monster as a normal specimen.But if it's a rare specimen in game terms, the story changes.
"Judas!""Y-yeah?""Gather all the Entertainers! Fix the distance from the target at 100 and monitor it from all directions!""G-got it!""Good! Under no circumstances, absolutely do not attack it! Until we're fully prepared, just maintain distance and focus on surveillance!"Within the golden Runner Runner lies a treasure.World Monsters are monsters that travel the world; they are monsters of which only one appears in the entire world.
Each time one is defeated, it respawns randomly somewhere, making it a pain to find.Large individuals like the Rainy Devil are easy to spot, but small ones like Runner Runner are hard to find.
Moreover, the appearance rate of rare specimens is an astounding 1.5%.If I miss this chance, who knows when the next one will be.
"We're taking it down! We are absolutely taking it down!!"That's why my fighting spirit is skyrocketing.