Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 6 - Chapter 5

Chapter Five: The Impossible Quest 
Paladin, Ray Starling 
Fujibayashi and I had decided to meet in the capital, rather than Gideon, so I chose to log in at the place where I’d last logged out instead of my save point at the city of duels. 
Sure, I had my worries about appearing right next to the aberration’s lair, AKA The Lunar Society’s headquarters, but thankfully, no one was waiting to ambush me. 
Hold on, I thought. The King of Assassins could be hiding in my shadow again. 
Just to be sure, I coated one of my Grudge-Soaked Greaves in Purifying Silverlight and kicked the ground beneath. 
Nothing happened, which could only mean that my shadow was mine and mine alone, making me sure I was safe. 
“It appears you had no trouble making it to college.” Nemesis popped out of the crest and spoke to me. “But that seems to have led to even greater trouble.” 
She could only be referring to the fact that the aberration and I were in the same college. 
“Well, I’m glad you were able to escape her clutches, but this makes it two times I couldn’t help you in any way.” 
“Hm?” I raised an eyebrow. Nemesis seemed uncharacteristically down. It was as though she were deriding herself for something. 
“While you were on the other side, I was thinking things through,” she said in a slightly dejected tone, probably as a reply to my thoughts. “I was of no help to you during yesterday’s battle. Even when attacking the King of Assassins, you could’ve used any other weapon, and the result would’ve been the same. My powerlessness back then made me consider whether I have really grown since our battle against Gardranda.” 
“But you did,” I said. 
And don’t think otherwise. 
“I knew you would say that,” she sighed. “But you can’t ignore that I haven’t even evolved since then.” 
“But there’s still stuff you’ve learned to do, right?” 
“...Oh, you mean that? But it’s a technique we didn’t even have a chance to use against the High Priestess and King of Assassins.” 
“We’ll use it eventually, properly paired with what I’ve learned. So yeah, don’t be so down. And don’t mind the skills and stats so much. I know better than anyone else that you’re growing and working hard for it,” I concluded with a light tap of her shoulder. 
“I must say, you speak very passionately sometimes,” she said and cracked a wry smile. “You sound like an overly-enthusiastic teacher.” 
Though probably not in the way I’d intended, my words seemed to have lifted her spirits. 
“So,” Nemesis spoke up again. “We’re cooperating with one of your acquaintances from the other side, yes? If you exclude Brother Bear, this is going to be a first.” 
“That’s true.” 
We arrived at the rendezvous point, the familiar fountain, and I became aware of a problem. 
“While Fujibayashi seems to know me, I know neither her avatar’s name nor what she looks like.” 
For reasons unknown, she’d insisted on telling me when we were online. I hadn’t pushed it, but it was still going to be a problem when trying to find each other. 
Things would be really easy if she, like the aberration, played as herself, but I certainly didn’t expect Fujibayashi to take that route. 
So how do we meet up? I wondered. I don’t feel good about just standing here and waiting for her. 
My voice was the same as in real life, so maybe I could just wait for the time to come and start shouting “I’m Ray! Right here!” or something? 
No, things would be pretty embarrassing for me if she was late. Worst case scenario, I could even attract the aberration. 
“Don’t I have any good way to help us meet up?” I thought aloud. 
Wait... Meet up... Fountain... Shu... 
“Ah!” I exclaimed as I was struck with an idea. 
“...You’re really going to do it?” asked Nemesis. 
“What choice do I have in this situation?” 
A few minutes later, I was sitting on the edge of the fountain while holding a sign saying “Welcome, KF.” 
“This should be enough for her to realize it’s me,” I said. 
The letters “KF,” of course, stood for “Kozue Fujibayashi.” Things had come to this because I hadn’t been given her avatar’s name. 
“...Is it just me, or are you attracting more stares than usual?” asked Nemesis. 
“Well, of course. People with signs stand out, you know?” 
And as many people as possible have to see it, just in case one of them is Fujibayashi. 
“Doesn’t it bother you?” she asked. 
“I get weird stares all the time these days. I’m more or less used to it by now.” 
It was probably because of Franklin’s Game. My battle against the RSK had been streamed to both Gideon and the capital, so I’d become strangely famous. 
I swear, nothing good comes from whatever that lab coat bastard does, I thought. 
“I’m inclined to believe that most of the stares are because of your current appearance,” commented Nemesis. 
“Hm?” 
What do you mean? 
“Anyway, I must say, you’re becoming more and more like Brother Bear.” 
“Prepawsterous.” 
“It’s spreading?!” she exclaimed with obvious shock in her tone. 
Whoa there, I’m just joking. No need to shiver that much. 
“Nh?” I added. 
We — or, Nemesis insisted, I — had been attracting stares from many people here, but one person in particular had a relatively strange presence. 
Since entering Dendro, I’d become quite sensitive to this sort of thing. 
The peculiar stare was coming from someone mixed into a crowd. Specifically, from a huge person in appropriately large full armor. 
None of that was an exaggeration. The person looked at least three meters tall, and his armor was so complete that I couldn’t see a hint of his skin. 
However, his face was directed towards me, so I could only assume that he was looking at me. 
As though realizing that I’d noticed him, the armored giant turned around and walked down the alley. 
“What was that about?” I asked. 
“A fan, perhaps?” suggested Nemesis. 
While it was true that I’d had a few fans approach me since Franklin’s Game, somehow, I didn’t feel that was the case here. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I felt that the armored person was... observing me. Also, I couldn’t help but feel as if I’d seen that armor before... 
“Well, he might’ve just been taken aback by the sign,” said Nemesis. 
That wasn’t unlikely. I, too, had been shocked when I’d seen Shu wait for me here while holding his sign and wearing a bear costume. 
I look way more normal than he did, though, I thought. 
“Eh?!” Nemesis exclaimed, as though questioning if I was being serious. 
Of course I do, I thought in response. My gear’s history might be dark, but it’s all perfectly normal compared to a goddamn bear suit. 
Nemesis didn’t argue. She just closed her eyes, sighed and muttered, “He’s too far gone.” I had no idea what she meant by that. 
Twenty minutes had passed since I’d brought the sign. 
“Are you Mukudori?” someone asked in a familiar voice, prompting me to turn towards them. 
Though the voice was one I’d heard in reality not so long ago, the appearance was completely new to me. 
“Yes, I’m Mukudori,” I said. “Are you Fujibayashi?” 
“Yes.” She nodded. “Looks like we met up without a problem.” 
Her avatar looked decidedly plain and normal. Though there was little of her real-life self in her appearance, her height was about the same. The equipment she had equipped looked high-quality, but none of it really stood out, especially when compared to animal costumes and the like. 
If I had to point out anything special about her appearance, it would be her glasses. She wore a pair in real life, too. 
While the gear of the eccentric Superiors and duel rankers I’d been sparring against often weirded me out or put me on edge, she had an appearance that gave me peace of mind. 
 

“I’m glad we were able to meet up, but I must ask, what’s with the gea— I mean, sign?” she asked. 
“My brother did this to me before,” I answered. “Is it that weird?” 
“...It surprised me, but that’s the extent of it.” 
What’s with that pause before her answer? I wondered. 
“Anyway... You really are Ray Starling.” 
“Well, yeah.” 
“Being with someone famous makes me a bit tense.” 
I was silent. 
Like Nemesis had mentioned, I’d recently had some people approach me as fans, so this wasn’t completely new to me. Still, having a real-life acquaintance call me “famous” made me somewhat bashful. 
“So, let’s go to the guild,” she said. “There are two of us, and we’re both battle jobs, so I feel like a kill quest would suit us far better than a gathering quest. I’ll leave the choice to you, though.” 
“All right,” I said. “Oh, by the way, what’s your job? I’m a Paladin.” 
“My current main job is Shield Giant.” 
I didn’t know what kind of job that was, and once I asked, she said, “It’s a high-rank job that focuses on shield skills, and it allows smooth usage of all shields regardless of size as long as you have the required STR.” 
It was probably a defensive job, but I couldn’t help but note that the term “Giant” didn’t fit Fujibayashi’s slender frame at all. 
Oh, there’s something I must ask before we form a party, I thought. “What’s your avatar’s name?” 
It couldn’t be just “Kozue Fujibayashi,” after all. She wasn’t like that aberration or her super secretary. 
“Well...” she said, before taking a moment to think. “Call me ‘B3.’” 
“Okay... Hm?” I complied, but then I realized that she’d said something off. She’d told me to call her “B3,” strongly implying that it wasn’t actually her avatar name. 
“That’s not my avatar’s name, but ‘B3’ is how my close friends call me,” she explained as she sent me a party invitation. “And my name is a little, uh... long too, so it’s convenient.” 
The name I saw next to the invitation was indeed long, and it could easily be abbreviated to just “B3.” 
I accepted the invitation, and we became part of the same party. 
Interesting note: she was level 485, making it very clear that she was experienced. 
“I was maxed out just a while ago, but now I’m experimenting with various job combinations,” she told me. 
Oh, yeah. Shu had once told me that jobs could be reset and exchanged for other jobs. 
I was still on my first, so that feature didn’t really matter to me. 
“Now that we’re in the same party, let us introduce ourselves again,” she said. “I’m B3. Nice to meet you.” 
“Ah, all right,” I replied. “I’m Ray Starling. Let’s get along.” 
“Greetings!” Nemesis joined in. “I’m Ray’s Embryo, Nemesis. It’s a pleasure, B3.” 
“Same here.” With the partying up and introductions done, we headed out to the guild to pick up a quest. 
 
It was my first time at the capital’s guild since Rook, Marie, and I had taken the quest to make a delivery to Gideon. Not even a month had passed since that time, so the interior hadn’t changed a bit. 
B3 and I sat down at a table and looked at the quests in the large magical catalog. 
Unlike last time, when there had been many escort quests from people heading to Gideon or other countries, there were now lots of escort quests to some village in the north, and I couldn’t imagine why. Ten minutes of quest-searching later, we still hadn’t found the right one. 
“...Nh?” I raised an eyebrow as I noticed that there was some trouble going on at the counter. It was caused by a young boy, desperately asking for something from the guild employee. 
“Please, get someone to search for my dad! He’s been gone for half a year now!” the boy pleaded. 
“I’m sorry, but we cannot accept your request because it breaches one of the adventurers’ guild’s special rules,” the employee replied, looking thoroughly troubled. 
The adventurers around them seemed quite perplexed, as well. 
Apparently, the boy was making a request, but for some reason, the guild wasn’t taking it. 
“A missing persons quest, huh?” I muttered. 
“The adventurer’s guild handles those, but they’re not too popular,” said B3. “They often take a long time, and they require a highly particular set of skills.” 
I see, I thought. Depending on your perspective, killing monsters or just gathering stuff is way easier and simpler than searching for someone. 
Sure, search quests had an advantage in that they weren’t life-threatening, but that wasn’t that big of a deal for us Masters. Then again, the first quest I’d ever taken on had been a life-threatening search quest... though it probably didn’t count as a search quest, since I’d already known where Milianne was. 
“But there are skills that help search for people, right?” I asked. 
“Yes.” B3 nodded. “There are some of them among both job skills and unique Embryo skills. However...” she said before pausing and looking at the boy and the employee at the counter. “The worker mentioned a special rule, and if it’s regarding search quests, that might be...” 
Suddenly, one of the nearby tian adventurers, unable to bear it, placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder and spoke to him. 
“Kid, the man’s been lost for nearly half a year, right? Sorry to break it to you, but your dad’s probably—” 
“He can’t be dead!” the boy shouted defiantly as he escaped the man’s hand. 
For reasons unknown, I’d felt as though his shout was more than just wishful thinking... as if he was absolutely certain of what he was saying. 
“I mean... my dad is...” he said before following it up with words that left me completely astonished. “He’s my stepdad! And he’s a Master!” 
“Wh...!” I gasped. 
A tian boy had just asserted that his dad was a Master. 
“He’s a Master, so he can never die,” he repeated himself. “But he’s been gone for half a year now... so I want someone to find him...” 
The boy turned teary and spoke the reasons why he was making the request. 
“My little brother or sister... Dad and Mom’s child should be born soon. I want him to be there to meet him or her, and... and...” 
He suddenly stopped speaking. He hung his head and started sobbing. 
Seeing him like that made my heart ache, but at the same time, I was curious about several things. 
“B3, I have some questions,” I said. 
“Yes, players and NPCs can get married,” she answered before I could even ask. “As for children between players and NPCs, they’re only possible in theory.” 
That was exactly what I wanted to know about. 
“If they’re old enough in real life for it — 18 or above in Japan — players can marry NPCs or other players... and partake in intercourse... become intimate, so to speak.” 
Well, I guess jobs like “Pimp” and “Harlot” are there for a reason, I thought. I guess it’s only obvious for Dendro to have that kind of intimacy. 
On a tangentially-related note, back when Rook had asked if Pimp was “a monster-taming kind of job,” he had only been referring to the job as it was in Dendro. He’d been fully aware of what the word meant in real life. 
“I knew about it. It’s common knowledge,” he’d explained to me later. 
Are Pimps really common knowledge for people his age? I thought, and then suddenly realized I’d gotten sidetracked pretty badly, so I shifted my attention back to B3. 
Probably because I’d appeared really contemplative, she looked like she’d been overthinking some things, too. 
“Sorry, I guess you’re too young to talk about this,” she said with her hand over her mouth. Her tone was apologetic. 
“Oh. No, no, I’m old enough for this...” I cleared up the misunderstanding, and my own words made me realize that I was already allowed to become intimate with people. I didn’t really see myself ever using that feature, though. 
“I see. I’ll continue, then. While players can have intercourse, a certain problem makes it nearly impossible for it to ever result in children.” 
“And that problem would be...?” 
“Take a look at this,” she said as she reached into her inventory and took out a knife and a handkerchief, neither of which seemed special in any way. Then, not saying a word, B3 thrust the tip of the knife into the palm of her free hand. 
“Huh?!” I exclaimed as the shock forced me to stand up. 
“Hyah! Hyah!” she shouted, doing it again and again. 
The knife didn’t pierce her hand. No matter how many times she tried, it just couldn’t break her skin. 
Eventually, the speed of her attacks became such that it had me worried, but even then, B3’s hand remained unharmed. 
Normally, the palm would’ve been covered in holes all over at this point, but no, there wasn’t even a hint of a scratch on it. 
Soon enough, I began feeling like she was just showing me some trick, and that was about the time when she stopped. 
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I tried to release some blood to make my explanation easier, but my END is so high that this knife just couldn’t do it.” 
“Ohh...” I expressed my understanding. 
That reminded me that B3’s job was “Shield Giant,” and that she was a long-time player who’d once reached the maximum level available to non-Superior Jobs. It was only natural for her to have a high defense stat, and honestly, it wouldn’t have surprised me if that palm of hers was tougher than my armor. 
“We’ll have to continue without an example,” she said. “You have seen what happens when players get the death penalty, right?” 
“Well... yeah,” I nodded. I’ve seen it plenty of times in the past month. 
“Have you noticed how their scattered blood and other bodily fluids vanish along with the body?” 
“...I have.” 

The first thing that came to mind was Lei-Lei’s battle that Marie had shown me on her crystal. The melted, liquid flesh and the shreds of skin of the Masters she’d killed had all became particles of light and vanished at the same time. 
“This exact same phenomenon happens when you log out,” B3 said. 
“The exact same?” I raised an eyebrow. 
“For example, if I had gotten some of my blood on this handkerchief and logged out, the blood would disappear at the same time as I vanished.” 
“I see,” I said, fully understanding what she was getting at. “So you can’t make children because bodily fluids disappear the moment you log out.” 
“That’s exactly it.” 
It made perfect sense now. After all, we Masters simply had to log out every once in a while. 
“However, some theorize that it might be possible if the Master stays online long enough for the zygote to properly develop.” 
Well, that was certainly a reasonable theory. I could totally understand why someone would think that a zygote wouldn’t vanish if it was recognized as a separate organism, rather than just an egg with some genes sticking to it. 
“But that’s...” 
...difficult, to say the least, I finished silently. 
Yesterday, when I’d been kidnapped by The Lunar Society for just about a third of one real-life day, I’d become quite hungry and really needed to pee. 
Being online long enough for a zygote to develop into its own organism — which could be anywhere from several days to a few weeks — seemed downright impossible. 
“Then what about that boy’s sibling?” I asked. 
“In my opinion, the most likely case is that his mother cheated on the stepfather Master with another tian,” B3 answered. “The second most likely case is that the stepfather is actually a tian merely pretending to be a Master, and the child is really his. The third and least likely scenario is that the aforementioned theory was proven right. Though, note that the second one would mean severe punishment for the stepfather, since the law in every country strictly forbids tians to pretend to be Masters.” 
“Then I hope it’s the third one,” I said. The other two would definitely leave a bad taste in my mouth. 
“It doesn’t look like there will be a good ending to this regardless, though,” said B3. 
“Why not? If it happens to be the third one, someone would only have to find the stepfather Master and... ah.” 
“You see the problem?” she said. 
Sure, someone would only have to find him. However, it was likely that the search would go beyond Dendro. 
“I didn’t get to tell you about the special rule regarding search quests,” she added. “The guild refuses to accept them when the one being searched for is a Master who hasn’t been online for a long time. You understand why, don’t you?” 
Of course I do. 
For tians, searching for offline Masters was downright impossible, and even Masters would find it extremely difficult. They might even have to hire a detective, and even then, the chances of success would be low. 
After all, Dendro had players all over the world, not to mention that the only info you started out with was regarding them as they’d been here, not back on the other side. 
“Finding Masters that haven’t come online for a while is completely impossible,” B3 concluded. “In fact, when they’ve been away from Infinite Dendrogram for so long, it’s highly likely that they’ve quit, so even if you did miraculously find them, convincing them to return would no doubt be difficult.” 
She was completely right about that. 
The tians and Masters around the boy knew that, too, and I could easily tell they were avoiding any involvement. 
They were right to do so. 
For tians, going to the world where Masters returned to — reality — was downright impossible, and though it wasn’t so for Masters, they would still have a low chance of succeeding, not to mention that they had no obligation to dedicate their real-life time to a search because of something in Dendro. I could totally understand that, but... 
“B3,” I spoke up. 
“Yes?” 
“Sorry, but can we postpone today’s quest for a later date?” 
“Why?” 
“I’m gonna accept that boy’s search quest.” 
Despite it all, I just couldn’t turn a blind eye to the downcast, crying little kid. 
“I just explained that that quest is impossible,” she objected. 
“It probably is,” I agreed. “But ignoring it would leave a bad taste in my mouth.” 
“...” B3 fell silent as she placed her hand on her mouth and thought about something. 
That reaction was only natural. I was fully aware I was being unreasonable, and I didn’t want to involve someone as logical as her into something so unsound. 
“You should—” 
“Then I’ll join you,” she cut me off with words I really didn’t expect. 
“Really...? Are you sure?” 
“I said that I would ultimately let you choose the quest we would take, didn’t I?” 
That she had. However, I’d assumed that had only applied when we were talking about normal quests. 
“Also, if you don’t mind me borrowing your words...” she said in a gentle tone as she looked directly into my eyes. “Going my own way from here would leave a bad taste in my mouth.” 
“Thank you,” I said gratefully. 
Then I stood up, walked up to the dejected boy at the counter, and placed my hand on his shoulder. 
“We’ll accept your request,” I gently said. 
“...Eh?” he exclaimed, thoroughly surprised. 
There was hope in his eyes. It was as though they were asking “Really?” 
I nodded, and asserted, “We will search for your dad.” 
Thus, B3 and I began our first adventure together. 
We would brave an impossible quest — the search for a Master. 
Our goal... was a happy ending. 
Let the quest begin. 
 
We’d accepted the request of the boy named Louie who was searching for his dad. However, it didn’t even count as a quest. Not only did the guild not process it because of its special rules, but it also didn’t appear in my log as an event quest. I didn’t know whether that was some sort of accident, or whether the control AI that calculated quest difficulty just didn’t recognize this as a quest. 
Still, even without a difficulty rating, I could tell that a quest to find a person in real life would be, in a way, harder than any other quest in Infinite Dendrogram. 
We were now at a diner adjoined to the adventurers’ guild, where we had Louie tell us about his dad. 
We asked for his name, job, and anything else that could help lead us to his real-life self. None of what we’d learned was much help, but at the very least, we’d gotten his avatar’s name: Ichiro Shijima. If, as the name implied, he was really Japanese, our search would become somewhat easier. 
The difficulty would drop again if that was actually a modified version of his real name, since it would limit our search to names such as “Ichiro Ishijima” or “Ichiro Ushijima,” among others. 
And, if we were to be greedy... 
“It would really help if that’s his real name...” I muttered. 
“I don’t think that’s possible,” said B3. “This isn’t the president or the vice president we’re talking about.” 
“Yeah, we can’t expect everyone to be like the aberration or the KoA,” I agreed. 
“Indeed, the only people who would play with their real names are people such as myself, Lady Tsukuyo, and our Society’s adherents.” 
“True...” I said, before realizing who I was talking to and replying with a sarcastic tone. “Ah ha ha... And why might you be here, King of Secretaries... nay, King of Assassins?” 
Before we’d realized it, the KoA who was our upperclassman in college, Eishiro Tsukikage, was sitting at one corner of our table with a tea cup in hand, all smiles. He reminded me of Marie. 
They’re similar in more than just jobs, I thought. Now that I think about it, the aberration did a similar thing yesterday. 
“I’ve been sitting here since halfway through the questioning, but since no one noticed me, I took the liberty of asserting my presence,” he said. 
“And why did you sit here?” I demanded. 
“Lady Tsukuyo is still prohibited from logging in, so she had me deliver a message to you.” 
“Which would be?” 
“It’s a proposition. ‘Now, I’ll fix your arm up if you only join CID.’” 
“Hm...” 
That... was actually worth considering. 
You would never see me become a part of The Lunar Society, but I wasn’t too averse to joining the aberration’s college club. I now knew why I was so afraid of her, not to mention that CID had B3, who would keep her in check. The conditions were definitely attractive, but... 
“I’ll give my answer after the weekend,” I said at last. 
“Very well.” 
Yesterday’s memories were just too fresh in my mind to let me accept the offer so nonchalantly. 
With his business done, I expected Tsukikage to leave, but he showed no intention to stand up from his chair. I glanced at him and noticed that he was looking at Louie. 
“What is it?” I asked. 
“Would you like The Lunar Society to help search for this boy’s father?” he proposed. 
I didn’t know what kind of whim or plot had caused him to make this offer. Sure, having the cult’s many adherents helping us would greatly increase the scope of our information network and make the search many times easier, but... 
“Why?” I asked, not seeing the reason for this proposition. 
The aberration wasn’t here, and she probably didn’t know that I’d accepted Louie’s request, so it was highly unlikely that she was related to this offer. This would mean that it came from Tsukikage himself, but I couldn’t see any reason why he would suggest it. 
The aberration would obviously do this to make me owe her something, but somehow, I didn’t see that being the case with Tsukikage. 
Thus, my question. 
“That’s a secret,” he replied. 
The cloak and dagger in his words made accepting his proposition seem all the more dangerous. 
“We’ll ask for your help if we figure there’s nothing we can do by ourselves,” I said. 
“Very well.” He nodded. “We will be ready to assist you.” 
For now, I decided to keep his offer as an alternative. 
Tsukikage stood up from his chair. Then, seemingly struck with an idea, he turned to say something more. 
“Oh, by the way... Take this as simple advice, rather than a proposition, but I suggest you take your search for real-life information to young Louie’s mother — Mr. Shijima’s wife. Just as there are things only parents and children talk about, there are also private talks between spouses. Not to mention that you might find clues in their family home. You should only rely on real-life detectives, your brother, or your friends after you’ve exhausted such sources.” 
“...Thanks.” 
“With that settled, I bid you goodbye. May we meet again.” 
Following his long, oddly specific advice, Tsukikage sunk into his own shadow. 
The sight greatly surprised Louie, but Fujibayashi — fully used to it, apparently — didn’t even flinch. 
Additionally, Tsukikage left behind a pouch with a little paper saying “Payment for my tea.” 
...Guy’s a damn weirdo, but he sure is principled, I thought. 
Anyway, his advice was completely sound. If we wanted to find a person in real life, we couldn’t miss a single clue we could find here. 
“Where do you live, Louie?” I asked the boy. 
“In Torne village. It’s in the north, about half a day away from here by carriage.” That was closer than Gideon, but still pretty far. 
“Did you come alone?” I asked. 
“No.” He shook his head. “I took a stagecoach that was passing through the village. I used the allowance I got from Dad to pay for it. I also thought of using the money to pay for the guild request, but...” 
He then showed me the inside of his wallet, and it was doubtful if there was even enough for a carriage back to the village. In fact, it probably wasn’t even enough to pay for the guild request, but in my eyes, that was a sign of just how desperate Louie was. 
“I hope we find his father,” Nemesis said telepathically. 
Yeah, same here, I thought in response. 
“All right, let’s go to Torne, then,” I said. “As for how we get there...” 
Silver could fly us there in no time, but I could only let one other person ride with me, at most, so... 
“You have a horse, don’t you, Ray?” B3 asked, cutting short my train of thought. 
“Ah, yeah, I do.” 
“Excellent. I don’t have a horse, but I do have a carriage. Can we get your horse to pull it?” 
“Sure.” A carriage would let us all travel there at the same time. 
With our destination and means of transportation all set, we began making our way towards Torne. 
I’ll admit, I’m kinda curious as to why B3 has a carriage, but no horse, I thought. 
 
 
After Ray’s group left the diner, a girl sitting at a table some distance away from them, close to the exit, stood up from her chair. 
She was just another Master who’d merely happened to be there at that time. However, since she’d seen something that she, as a member of a certain clan, just couldn’t ignore, she left the diner right after confirming that Ray’s group wasn’t there anymore. 
She quickly made her way for a certain establishment in the capital. These were the headquarters of her clan, and they had a Japanese aesthetic, though not in the same way as The Lunar Society’s HQ. 
It was obvious from its outward design. The building looked like the house of Japanese martial arts practitioners, and it had a dojo affixed to it. Another thing that stood out was the sign that had the clan’s name on it, for it was written very skillfully. 
“Big sis! I have something to report! It’s urgent!” the girl from the diner shouted as she ran into the dojo and called for someone inside. 
“Damn, you’re loud,” said a woman in a husky tone. 
She surpassed 180cm in height, had a body covered in well-trained muscles, eyes that gleamed, and dangerously sharp fangs. 
All that, combined with the wolfish ears on her head and the tail behind her, made her appear very much like a carnivorous predator. And because of such appearances, as well as her demeanor, those close to her often referred to her as “big sis” or just “sis” despite no blood relation. 
The muscular woman stood in the middle of the dojo, spear in hand. Around her, there were a number of freshly downed Masters, all of whom looked nearly dead. They, too, were Masters belonging to the same clan as the girl who’d just left the diner and arrived here. 
From the dire sight before her, the girl assumed that she’d arrived right as they finished training, and she couldn’t be more glad that she was off-duty today. 
“And? What is it, Tomika?” asked the muscular woman, making the girl snap out of it. “Weren’t you out to get a quest today?” 
“Th-This is serious, sis!” the girl named Tomika shouted. 
“Just tell me what’s so serious,” the muscular woman said. “Did my darling finally go online or something?” 
The “darling” she spoke of was none other than the clan’s owner. Due to certain real-life circumstances, he hadn’t been able to log in for a while now. 
Sadly for those in the clan, his absence had caused the muscular woman’s training to become more intense with every passing day. After all, it was well-known in and out of the clan that she was absolutely head over heels for the young leader. 
“The Lunar Society might be planning something...” 
“The lunatic cultists? I’m all ears.” Suddenly, the woman began emitting a menacing, pressurizing aura. 
It was caused by not only her avatar’s stats, but also by the intensity of her emotion. Everyone present — even the downed clan members — felt it clearly. 
“Th-The KoA was in the guild’s diner and, uh...” 
“Oh? That hanger-on? By himself?” the muscular woman cut Tomika off and asked. 
“Yeah. And he was happily talking with a certain party, and before disappearing, he left them a pouch with something written on it.” 
Tsukikage never neglected to have a smile on his face, so it was hard to deny that he’d looked happy, and Tomika had been too far away from them to know that the pouch was nothing more than the payment for his tea. 
As a result, the impression she’d gotten from their exchange was exactly as she’d described it. 
“Hmm... You sure that wasn’t just a party of cultists?” asked the muscular woman. 
“Well... he was talking to that BBB and Ray Starling, the guy who became famous after Franklin’s Game.” 
“Ohh...?” The woman, intrigued, cracked a grin. The expression made her look like an actual predator. “The rumored ‘Unbreakable,’ eh? And B3? I was wondering what she’s been up to after disbanding her clan, but I never expected her to be dealing with the cultists. Guess this means the rumors are fake.” 
B3 was, in fact, “dealing with the cultists,” but only as a member of a real-life club led by them, and definitely not in the way that the woman imagined it. 
“And? What are they planning to do?” the woman asked. 
“I don’t know that much... But before they left the diner, I overheard that they were going to Torne...” Tomika confessed. 
“Torne? Well, Windstar Festival should start soon. Maybe that has something to do with it.” The woman repeatedly flicked her spear’s handle with her thumb as she tried to figure out the plot between Ray’s group and The Lunar Society — which didn’t actually exist. Though unable to find an answer, she was finally able to make a certain decision. 
“All right,” she said. “I don’t know what they’re planning, but we’ll crush them anyway.” 
Words to play by: I don’t know, therefore I PK. 
“Let this be a little preliminary match before our actual revenge battle. We’ll screw up whatever the lunatics are planning.” 
“But sis, our leader still isn’t...” 
“Ha! The only reason why we got messed up by The Lunar Society is because we didn’t have my darling with us to take care of them. I don’t wanna involve him in the revenge match when it’s all our own fault.” 
The woman then momentarily fell silent and took a deep breath. 
“WAKE UP ALREADY, DAMN IT!” she howled so loudly that the whole dojo shook. 
Her voice made all the members spread out on the floor jump up and stand straight. 
“We... the K&R, are going on a hunt! Go and prepare!” the Nobushi Princess, Rosa, cried. 
Hearing the order of their sub-leader, the members of K&R — the third clan in the kingdom’s rankings and the country’s strongest PK clan — began preparing for an attack. 
Thus, because of a minor misunderstanding and a major lack of forethought, Ray’s search quest was about to be gatecrashed by the kingdom’s strongest PK clan.