Chapter 2: A Hidden Quest for the Hip and Trendy Guild Shop
Chapter 2: A Hidden Quest for the Hip and Trendy Guild Shop
“We’re back!”
The three of us returned from the atelier to the sales floor. Akabane and Kataoka were nowhere to be seen.
Maybe they left?
I walked up to Akira, who was running the shop. “Where’d Akabane and Kataoka go?”
“They left a while ago.”
Huh. I really wanted to ask Akabane about the people around her. Maybe next time, though. I’m sure she’ll come and visit Akira again.
“Hey, Akira. Have you ever met that guy in real life?”
“Hmm... Yeah, a few times. I think I’d rather not talk about it.” Her face became visibly pale.
Wanting to respect her wishes, I decided to change the subject.
“Really, though, this school attracts all kinds of people,” Maeda said with a sigh.
Yano nodded. “You can say that again. Those twins from the duel tournament were PvP and item lovers, right? Older students have definitely carved their own niches.”
“Well, after playing for three years, your playstyle has pretty much solidified. Then you can go ahead and do your own thing,” I said.
Akira made a face. “Feels kinda wrong to compare Yukino and Homura to Ryuutarou, though.”
“Ryuutarou?” Maeda asked.
“That’s the name of the masked nudist guy.”
“Oh, I didn’t know his real name. Not that I cared to learn it.”
Yano turned to Maeda, grinning. “I gotta say, you looked pretty cute when you were all flustered back there.”
“I was just shocked.”
Akira sighed. “Macho men are great and all, but I definitely don’t want screenshots of that guy.”
The guy’s presence had torn through our happy little shop like a tornado, leaving us dazed and a little dispirited.
In the midst of all this, the front door opened yet again.
Oh, customers. Time to get back into the groove and make some sales!
“Welcooome!”
Our four shouts harmonized, showing our readiness to forget that nightmare.
“My, if this isn’t a lively shop.”
The visitors weren’t players; instead, they were two NPCs.
One of them was a girl with a hood pulled down over her eyes. Based on her stature, I assumed she was fifteen or sixteen years old. Her shining silver hair flowed past the opening of the hood.
This NPC’s name was Lily.
Her companion was a tall woman who had a “traveling warrior” air about her. A lance was strapped to her back. Unlike Lily, she wasn’t wearing a hood, so her beautiful features and her curly brown hair were on display.
The second NPC, named Anita, was probably around the same age as Ms. Nakada.
“Feel free to take a look around,” Akira called out, prompting a smile from Lily.
“Okay! Gramercy, ma’am.”
“Your Hi—I mean, milady, you should avoid letting strangers hear your voice!”
“Tilly-valley! Be not a boggler! It’s been far too long long since we’ve been able to visit such a hip and trendy shop. Especially one that’s so popular!”
“Aaaah, please stop! Don’t talk anymore!”
They squabbled back and forth for some time.
What’s the deal? Is she some sort of high-class ninja or something? “Tilly-valley,” though... That’s quite the vocabulary.
When we heard it, the four of us guildies instinctively looked at each other like, Who talks like that?
Nevertheless, I figured an NPC this unique must be pretty important. They’d given her a personality and a backstory!
She must be one of those sheltered rich girls who likes to sprinkle in super old words.
Lily, humming a tune as she looked around the shop, suddenly took an interest in one of our items. She picked it up and turned toward us.
“What is this used for?”
That’s the “Don’t Bully Me” Shield I designed! Yay, she picked mine!
Akira clicked her tongue in annoyance. She and I were secretly competing to outsell one another, and she was peeved that her Macho Armor series had lost this round.
In high spirits, I said, “You’ve got quite the discerning eye! With a beautiful, teary-eyed girl in front of you, your enemies will find it harder to attack!”
“O me! You would manipulate the minds of your opponents? I am gasted by the thought!”
Say what now?
Akira shook her head when I looked at her. Yano shrugged.
“In other words, it’s pretty scary,” explained Maeda.
“I’m surprised you knew that.”
“All sorts of archaic words come up in trivia circles. You’ll hear them on game shows and the like.”
Oh, I see. That’s our top scholar for you.
“This equipment is so unique! How about it, Anita? Would this not make your life easier?”
“Please, milady! The sheer embarrassment would send my morale spiraling to rock bottom!"
“Methinks the design is rather cute, though.”
“That’s not the issue here.”
“Heigh-ho! This one looks equally delightful! I wonder what it does?”
Ooh! She’s checking out the Macho Armor!
Bursting with excitement, Akira claimed, “Faced with your rock-hard muscles, weak-willed foes will totally surrender!"
Are you kidding me? What a crock! You just drew it for fun!
Akira had blatantly copied my spiel about the “Don’t Bully Me” Shield.
Cheater! I’d like to believe mine has an actual effect, but yours is 100% worthless!
“Another attack on thine enemy’s mind?! Say, what if one were to equip both? Would the powers of light and darkness combine and make you the strongest warrior alive?”
“They just might!” Akira and I said in unison.
After all, we both wanted that cash!
“O proper stuff! Well, Anita. I would like to buy these for you as thanks for all your hard work. Try equipping them.”
“Huh?! You want me to put them on?”
“Yes. There’s even a fitting room just over there. Prithee, shopkeepers, may we use it?”
“Of course!” we both blurted, still in sync.
“Ugh...”
Downtrodden and shoulders drooping, Anita entered the fitting room.
The poor lady must go through so much.
“Th-This could be the Macho Armor’s first sale!” Akira’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
Meanwhile, I’d already sold dozens of “Don’t Bully Me” Shields—even Homura had bought one. In terms of profits, I was the clear winner so far.
While we were waiting for poor Anita to change her clothes...
BANG!
The front door opened with incredible force!
What the heck, guys? You didn’t have to rush in like that.
This time, three men stepped inside—again, all NPCs. They were covered from head to toe, not even showing their faces.
“Hi ther—”
Before I could even finish, one of the men threw something on the floor.
BOOOOOM!
An explosion rang out, and columns of smoke billowed up from the source.
“What the heck?!”
“Huh?! What’s going on?!” shouted Akira.
“I can’t see anything!” said Maeda.
“Are they burglars?!” cried Yano.
The shop filled with smoke in an instant, blocking out our sight.
“What’s going on in here?!” Anita leapt out of the fitting room. “Somebody open a window!”
I ran over to try and open one.
Amid all the commotion, I heard Lily cry, “Eek! O me, o my! I must ’scape at once!”
BANG!
There’s the door again, I thought.
“Your Highness?! Your Highness, where are you?!”
The curtain of smoke began to dissipate, allowing us to see the shop again. However, Lily was nowhere in sight.
What the hell? Did she just get kidnapped?! What’s going on?!
“Oh no... This is a disaster! Milady—no, Her Highness—is gone!”
She was a princess?!
Ping! Ping!
Suddenly, a notification popped up in front of me.
Hidden Quest “Abduction of the Incognito Princess” has begun!
[Quest Summary]
Princess Lieliz of the Telluna royal family came to visit a hip, trendy, and popular new shop! However, the princess’ shopping trip was interrupted when she was abducted by a mysterious band of thugs! It’s your job to get her back safe and sound! If you’re not careful, this could hurt your guild shop’s reputation!
[Prerequisites to Unlock]
Once the initial flag for this quest has been raised, your guild shop must be the most prosperous in all of Unlimited World.
“A hidden quest?!” all four of us yelled at once.
Libra’s Brush had helped make our guild shop popular enough to trigger this quest. If we hadn’t used it, a different guild probably would’ve unlocked it instead.
This was a crazy development! Something far beyond our expectations!
“We must give chase! Fellows, may I request your aid?” Anita asked.
“Heck yeah!” I yelled, doing a fist pump. “Let’s go get ’em!”
The four of us quickly closed up shop. We tagged along with Anita and ran out in pursuit of the kidnappers.
I also woke up Draco, who had been sleeping in my hood. He was now perched happily on top of my head.
“Excuse me! Did a group of men in black pass through here with a silver-haired girl in tow?!”
Anita was addressing a group of passersby.
“Over there!” one of them said, pointing.
“Thank you! Let us be off, fellows!”
“So Lily was a princess after all?” Akira asked while we were running.
Anita nodded. “Yes. Her Royal Highness Lieliz von Telluna is part of the very same family who governs the floating city of their namesake! I am her knight and bodyguard, Anita Arshes. We were both in disguise, but...”
“Those guys didn’t even hesitate when they kidnapped her.”
My observation was met with another curt nod from Anita.
“Yes. I had no idea we were being followed!”
“They must’ve been hiding and watching your every move.”
“That’s possible. However, only a select few people close to the princess knew she was here... Could there have been a traitor among us?!”
“Any idea who it might be?”
“There are so many possibilities; it’s impossible to narrow them down! Her Highness could be targeted for just about any reason. The Tellunas are the most skilled and powerful people in the world, after all.”
Just as Anita claimed, that was the basic power balance of this world.
The Telluna royal family, taking up residence in a floating city above the clouds, had not gone and conquered each and every country on the mainland. Rather, their outstanding strength and resulting influence had made them the de facto rulers of the world.
We continued to gather information along the way. After some time, we reached the port of Telluna.
But instead of going for the large, pretty-looking pier—where many large airships were coming and going—we arrived at the corner of a miserable-looking street of warehouses.
Anita accosted an NPC walking nearby, who seemed to be an employee.
“Excuse me! Did a group of men wearing black pass through here?!”
“Oh, yeah. Just a few minutes ago. They went into that alleyway between the warehouses.”
“Good, we’re close! We can make it!”
Once we entered the alley, we came face-to-face with the band of thugs with a girl’s limp body in their arms.
“There she is! We’ve found them!” Anita yelled. “Your Highness, I’m here to save you!”
The one holding the princess fled the scene while the other two stayed in place, ready to meet our charge.
Kidnapper: Level 50
Crown Icon (rare monster)
The name was a bit on the nose... Almost as if the devs didn’t care and just picked whatever.
They were being treated like rare monsters, which meant trouble for us. This was a hard-to-get hidden quest, though, so it kinda made sense.
“We’ll take care of them,” I said. “Anita, you go after the princess!”
“I will. You have my thanks!”
“Hear that, everyone? Let’s do this!”
“Okay! Before we get started, lemme take some screenshots of these guys as a keepsake!” Akira quickly snapped some pics with her Otherworldly Lens.
It was a relief, of course, that she was the same as ever. No weird nervousness to be seen on her part.
Maeda readied herself. “I’ve got your back, Takashiro!”
“Level fifty rares, eh? I hope we can win this,” Yano muttered.
“I’ll draw ’em in!” Well, at least Akira was confident.
“Sounds good,” I said, nodding. “Maeda, how about we try using our Joint Magic?”
“Sure. If it works, it will certainly give us an edge... But I don’t have high hopes.”
“Maybe it won’t, but let’s try it anyway.”
My testing with Maeda had proven that Diabolic Howl didn’t work on rare monsters when added to a magic circle. Most likely, this would end the same way. This was pretty much a trial run based on what we already knew.
Regardless, our real aim was to use Dead End while Akira was distracting the enemies.
“If this works, you handle the rest!” I shouted.
“’Kay, here I go! Hup, hah!”
Akira swung Skyfall twice in succession. The shockwaves it created struck the enemies, who were lined up like ducks in a row.
After enduring the blows, the kidnappers moved to attack Akira.
Anita seized the opportunity to sprint past them.
“The rest is up to you, Anita!”
Go get ’em, girl!
Meanwhile, the four of us had to handle these guys on our own. They were almost twice our level, and they were rare monsters to boot.
Rare monsters are typically far stronger than even notable monsters (NMs) of the same level. By the way, one example of a notable monster would be the Deadly General back at Almishr’s Burial Ground.
How would we fare this time?
“Ready, Maeda?!”
“Ready!”
We grasped each other’s hands and shouted in unison.
“Joint Magic!”
As I cast Enfeebling Circle, Maeda cast her own Diabolic Howl. The dragon head erupted from my magic circle, lunging toward the pair of kidnappers.
Ren and Kotomi activated Joint Magic!
But the Kidnapper resisted it!
Ren and Kotomi activated Joint Magic!
But the Kidnapper resisted it!
Gah, so it really won’t work!
“It isn’t working!”
“Then let’s change to the Dead End strat! Yano, back me up!”
“Aye aye!”
I cast a large-range Enfeebling Circle, emptying my MP bar. Then, I lunged from the side at one of the kidnappers who was attacking Akira.
“Dead End!”
Ren activated Dead End.
Dealt 2,622 damage to Kidnapper!
His HP bar went down fast, but only by about 30%.
Man, they’ve got a ton of HP!
Yano wasted no time in stripping aggro from me.
“Guilty Steal!”
All of the aggro I’d built up from attacking transferred to Yano. As a result, Akira and Yano were both in one-on-one combat with their respective kidnappers.
However...
“Ren, this isn’t looking good! This guy’s really strong!”
Akira was being pressed by her foe.
The kidnapper wasn’t able to hit her easily, but a single clean hit was enough to deal a ton of damage. At this rate, the recovery from her dance wouldn’t be able to keep up. Before long, she would run out of AP too.
“Ouuuch! When it comes to an all-out brawl, a level difference can really screw you over!”
Yano’s losing, too. This is rough!
The enemies in this quest were just too strong.
Then again, maybe that should have been obvious. In order to unlock it, you had to make your guild shop the most popular one in the game, so newbie shops shouldn’t have even been in the running.
Under normal circumstances, this quest would’ve popped up for a stronger, more established guild, and the difficulty was higher to match that.
But that very same quest had waltzed right into our shop. We’d only hit it big because of the combined power of Libra’s Brush and Yano’s artistic talent.
In other words, we were in over our heads; this matchup was hardly fair.
However, I wasn’t ready to call it quits yet!
Low-level challenge runs are just fine with me! We’ve still got some tricks up our sleeves!
I shouted to Draco, who was floating next to me, “Draco, fly into Yano’s arms!”
“Chirp!”
As he flew off in Yano’s direction, I hurried to cast a spell.
“Enervating Circle!”
Thanks to the effect of Target Marker, the circle of light centered on Draco. Just then, he made it to Yano.
“Yano, start running! Go!”
“Sir, yes, sir!”
Yano turned and ran from our foes.
The Enervating Circle, centered on the dragon she was clutching to her chest, slowed enemies down. As a result, the kidnappers would be unable to catch up to her.
At this rate, she would make it out of there without a scratch!
“Akira, run side by side with Yano!”
“Yessir! Hawk Strike!”
Akira put distance between herself and the enemy with this leap, landing right next to Yano. She kept pace with Yano, staying in range of the circle.
Now we should be able to keep them from getting hurt!
Akira also had the talent Breath of Ares. Left alone, she would automatically recover AP. Yano and I continued to wait for our cooldown timers to end. Put simply, the battle would soon turn in our favor.
“Okay, girls! Keep it up! You got this!”
Akira and Yano ran laps around the area. It was like a four-man game of tag, with the two of them baiting the kidnappers to follow.
Throughout all this, Akira would occasionally slow down when the gap between them grew too wide. Each time, she would swing Skyfall, unleashing a series of shockwaves.
While the damage dealt to the enemies was not especially high, she was boosting her AP with each hit.
In fact, that was the whole point of attacking in the first place: to gain AP.
“Ren, I’m at two hundred AP now! I can use Sword Samba!”
“Nice! Come over here!”
“Okay! Sword Samba!”
Akira crouched down low as she spun in circles, then she jumped up and held her sword aloft. It was an elegant sword dance with swift, controlled movements, but Akira’s cuteness took over and made it more adorable than anything else.
I was enveloped by a magical glow that reset my skills. Now I could use my ultimate skill again! I immediately crafted a Canesword and equipped it.
“We’ll wait for Yano’s Guilty Steal to come off cooldown, then we’ll go for another!”
The reason she’d used Sword Samba on me instead of Yano was because my Turnover and Final Strike cooldowns were five minutes, while Yano’s Guilty Steal took only three. It only made sense to reset the cooldowns of someone who had to wait longer.
Guilty Steal’s cooldown should only have about ninety seconds left, I calculated.
We continued the marathon for some time until I shouted, “Okay, it’s time! Open fire!”
“I’m ready for another Sword Samba!”
“All right! No holding back, then!”
It was time for Dead End, round two!
Smaaaash!
“Guilty Steal!”
“Sword Samba!”
“Crafting a Canesword now!”
It goes without saying that all this was happening at a rapid-fire pace.
“Here it comes!” Akira cried.
She was being a great hype man, but by this point, the whole process was just muscle memory.
“Now, for the grand finale... Dead Eeeeend!”
Smaaaaash!
Ren activated Dead End.
Dealt 2,622 damage to Kidnapper!
Ren defeated the Kidnapper.
“All right! Nailed it!” I cheered.
Yep, the Enervating Circle marathon strat was strong indeed! I needed Draco around for it to work, but with it, we could beat down even the strongest of foes. Pet dragons could definitely put in some work!
“Let’s keep this up for the second one!”
Before we could continue, a sound rang out.
That’s the level-up tone!
Ah, yes. Normal trash mobs had a maximum EXP yield no matter how massive the level difference; that would be the normal EXP calculation, based mainly on level difference.
However, rare monsters would always give a fixed amount of bonus EXP divided among the party who defeated them. Despite his crappy name, this kidnapper was high-tier and dished out some serious EXP.
In the end, we each heard two level-up tones. Akira and I were now level 32; Maeda had reached level 33 and Yano level 35.
“We got that much experience?! That’s bonkers!” said Yano, impressed.
“Yeah, it’s great! They’re like Metal Slooms!”
Akira made a sour face. “These guys are nowhere near as cute, though.”
“Okay, time to kill the next one!” I shouted.
“Yes, sir!” the girls replied.
Thus, using the same sequence, we took down the other kidnapper. We leveled up again, putting Akira and me at level 34, Maeda at level 35, and Yano level 36. Moving on up!
“Nice! We killed it!” I was feeling pretty victorious.
“Eheheh. More! I want mooore!” Yano whined.
Akira stared at her. “Whoa. Looks like Yuuna’s broken.”
“She must really like leveling up,” Maeda said.
“There was another one, right? Right?! Let’s go beat him up before Anita can finish him!”
After giving Yano the side-eye, I replied, “Uh, yeah... Either way, we should follow them!”
We then jogged through the alleyway in pursuit of Anita.
Eventually, we found her in front of a dilapidated warehouse. She had apparently already dealt with the last kidnapper, as he was nowhere to be seen. A sad discovery for Yano.
“Anita! Where’s the princess?”
Anita stood stock-still, holding a robed figure in her arms.
“See for yourself!”
She threw the bundle to the ground. For an instant, I was shocked that she would treat her royal charge in such a way... until I saw what lay beneath the clothes.
The “princess” they’d been carrying was merely a life-sized doll.
“They’ve tricked us! This was all a diversion!”
Crap, they got us! What happens now?
Furious, Anita told us she needed to report to the king and thus returned to the castle.
We went back to our guild house and started looking for the princess all over again, but to no avail. Yet when I looked at my quest list, the hidden quest did not display as having ended in failure. This meant there was more to come.
The four of us were kicked from the game at the end of the day, but we were more than ready to resume our search tomorrow.