Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 2 - Chapter 7

Conjunction Episode: The Night Before 
The surroundings of the east gate of Gideon, the city of duels 
Midnight. 
The day when Ray had fought and prevailed against the Revenant Ox-Horse, Gouz-Maise had reached its end. 
The surroundings of the east gate of Gideon — which were completely devoid of people with the exception of the few guards on their night shifts — were suddenly intruded by the appearance of a pair of people emitting a faint light. 
One of them was a man clad in a military uniform reminiscent of a pilot suit — Hugo Lesseps, High Pilot of the Dryfe Imperium. Next to him was his Embryo, Cocytus. 
After the last event, Hugo had logged out to avoid further questioning from the kingdom, and had now logged back in again after waiting for the right time. 
After logging in, the two of them quickly walked away from the gate, entered a small alleyway, and began waiting for something. Less than a minute passed until someone came. 
It wasn’t a drunkard or some hoodlum. 
Instead, it was a person wearing a penguin suit. 
It was the very same penguin that had appeared before Ray last morning, pronounced himself “Dr. Flamingo,” and gotten rid of Ray’s debuffs while also giving him a pair of dog ears. 
“Kept ya waiting,” said the penguin. 
“Not at all,” replied Hugo. “I spent most of the waiting time offline.” 
“You were pretty busy today, weren’t ya? Took care of the gang that was troubling this town, eh?” 
“You’re aware?” Hugo asked. 
“Indeed I am,” said the penguin. “I was doing some wiretapping on Ray, you see.” 
“Wiretapping Ray? How?” 
“Not telling. I’ve been listening on him like I would a radio drama, and boy, was it a good one. He’s as much of a Maiden’s Master as you are, Hugh.” The penguin made his body sway and chuckled. 
“Well, if you know what he was doing, there’s something I’d like you to tell me...” said Hugo. 
“Yep, he won,” the penguin answered the question before it was even asked. “Victory is his. He actually solo’d a UBM.” 
“I see. That’s good to know.” Hugo wasn’t lying when he said that. However, that sentiment was followed by thoughts that completely contradicted it. 
If the UBM had given him the death penalty, we probably wouldn’t have to face each other today. After all, a person so straightforward in nature will surely try to stop the plan. Wait, in the first place, should I really be taking an active part in a plan that Ray would try to stop? 
Little by little, hesitation began to envelop Hugo’s mind. 
“So, Hugh, are you ready for tomorro— no, today’s plan?” the penguin asked, as if it was fully aware of Hugo’s inner struggle. 
Hugo quickly held back the hesitation, and reported something. “The Marshall II was destroyed.” 
“I see,” said the penguin. “Here’s a Garage with a spare one, then. It’s Marshall II Revised — an improved version of the Marshall II you were using before. Its defense and AGI are 30% higher. The fine-tuning is done, too.” 
The penguin reached into his inventory and took out a large, rolled up, metallic scroll much like the one Hugo had used in the afternoon. 
“Thank you very much,” Hugo said gratefully. “Oh, I just remembered this.” 
Hugo took out a bundle of papers from his inventory. It was the sorcery blueprint that he’d discovered in the hideout of the Gouz-Maise Gang. 
“Oh yeah, the sorcery that created that UBM, eh?” said the penguin. 
“Well, with the clan already having scrapped the grudge power plan, I think it’s probably useless to us,” Hugo commented. 
“Well, you think right,” said the penguin. “After all, we got help from the King of Tartarus for that one, so the sorcery of a high-rank tian is just a bit...” 
“Leader?” 
The penguin was looking down at the blueprint and silently examining the text. “I see... So just because it’s grudge, it doesn’t have to... This needs to be verified, though...” 
After making some conclusions, the penguin put the blueprint into his inventory. 

“Back to the matter at hand,” he said. “With that Garage I gave you, you are prepared to be the heart of this plan. Other preparations are just about complete, as well.” 
The penguin began counting down his fingers to confirm what was done or not. Since the suit didn’t have any fingers fit for counting, he obviously did it with the human fingers inside. 
“The deployment of Castling and the gadgets is done. The arrangements to allow us to influence the device are done. The club, Veldorbell, has been taking root there for a few days now. And of course, my — the diamond’s — preparations are done... or so I’d like to say. But there’s something I still have to do. Well, it’s not like I won’t make it in time for the plan.” 
Adding the names of playing card suits here and there, the penguin shared info with Hugo. 
Though it seemed like some sort of coding, it was far simpler than that. When creating plans, the penguin simply had a habit of giving the codenames based on card suits to those who had important roles. 
“The only real cause of worry here is whether the imperator’s joker is actually gonna do her job or not, but it all depends on luck,” said the penguin. “Still, she’ll probably act as long as our sources are correct and the first princess actually comes.” 
“Umm, what’s this plan’s spade?” Hugo realized that that suit hadn’t been mentioned, and decided to ask about it. 
That was because, whenever using suits as codenames, the penguin always gave spade to either the trump card or the most destructive role in his plan. 
The penguin’s answer was simple. “Ah, well... I don’t have one. No spade this time.” 
It seemed as though he was hiding something, but Hugo didn’t bother to doubt him. 
“But man, am I glad. The event is actually happening.” As if to change to subject, the penguin nodded and continued talking. “Seriously, I can’t be more glad. I have no clue what retard was responsible for it, but the blockade caused by the PK happening almost ruined the event and our plan with it.” 
The PK happening. That was the event in which three player-killing clans and the Superior Killer had created a blockade in the four newbie hunting grounds around the capital. Though the kingdom’s four Superiors had taken care of the problem, it had already affected the kingdom’s overall power. 
On the internet, it was rumored that it had been done by the imperium, which was on the verge of war with the kingdom. However, the penguin knew better than everyone that it wasn’t true. 
“Who do you think was responsible for that?” asked Hugo. 
“No clue,” curtly answered the penguin. “They went about it so well that they didn’t leave any proof behind. Though the PKs were rewarded with pretty nice sums of money. And besides our country, there weren’t many groups that relied on using coinage like that.” 
“Caldina, then?” asked Hugo. 
Caldina, the commercial city-state union. 
It was a mercantile country that covered the entire desert in the center of the continent and claimed that the presence or lack of money was everything. 
Its national characteristic was that people there could get special products from all the other countries — albeit for large sums of money. Due to that, many high-end players had moved there, causing it to become the strongest country in terms of the amount of Masters. 
“For what purpose did they do it?” asked Hugo. 
“Well, I think there’s more to it than just sullying the imperium’s reputation,” answered the penguin. “That place has both tians and Superiors that really know how to use their heads. They could have just used Sefirot — their pride and joy — yet instead they messed around with these indirect methods. What a pain.” 
Sefirot was the name of the top clan in the commercial city-state union of Caldina. Though it was only a mere ten members strong, a whole nine of them were Superiors. 
Among those nine were The Earth AKA the “Magically Strongest,” King of Termination AKA the “Seven Death Transformation,” God Hunter AKA the “Multifariously Invincible,” and Ace AKA the “Blue Sky Songstress,” all of whom were famous for their battle prowess. 
Because of that, Sefirot was considered to be the strongest clan in all of Infinite Dendrogram. 
“What is the likelihood of Sefirot showing up while the plan is commencing?” asked Hugo. 
“I’m pretty sure they’re unaware of it,” said the penguin. “After all, if the plan is successful, it’s likely that the kingdom will give up before the war even happens. It’s like the imperium’s decisive blow. If they knew about it, they would’ve already done something.” 
After saying that, the penguin began to consider. 
“However, there’s a chance that one or few of them came to see the event... The Clash of Superiors. If that happens, I’ll just have to wreck their shit with the spade.” 
The penguin’s words made Hugo begin to ponder. 
Upon seeing that, the penguin talked to him with a gentle tone. “No need to overthink it, Hugo. If this goes well, the war will end with only minimal casualties.” 
“Minimal?” asked Hugo. 
“Indeed. His Excellency the General(lel) wants an all-out war, but that would be a waste of all kinds of resources. Such things are best handled in ways that are both smart and exciting.” Saying that, the penguin removed his suit. At the same time, he reached into his inventory, took out a lab coat, and put it on. 
The result was a lean, spectacled man clad in a lab coat. He extended his hands to the sides and made a sonorous declaration. 
“Tomorrow, we — The Triangle of Wisdom — will put a decisive end to the war between the imperium and the kingdom.”

To be continued next episode...