ULMF – Chapter 017 s

Audiobook: https://youtu.be/YOkbvn82a5k

The Guild called Monshou has three main pillars.

Guild Master Wataru.

The sub-master, Alba.

And Strategist, Flame.

Flame is a beautiful bespectacled woman holding a glass of sake and scowling. Within the Monshou, she is said to be in third command.

And why was she scowling? It’s caused by Flame’s current top priority mission, which is to find someone with a specific skill and negotiate for their cooperation.

Wataru could only delegate Flame for this because he highly valued her brain and foresight.

And Flame responds to his expectation by doing everything she can.

Flame sent a text message to every person she passed that day (in this Eternity, the game will keeps a history of players who have been within 5 meters of each other and they can send emails using that history) However, the replies were hollow, as they all asked for relief instead.

She tried contacting the players fighting on the front lines, but let alone her any information, they didn’t even reply.

Flame found herself in a tavern in the bar inside the adventurer guild after giving up on the search via email.

She would stand up occasionally, have a short conversation with the receptionist, and then return to the same seat again.

(If we don’t get anything today, we’ll have to change our strategy a bit, won’t we? If they are so eager to survive, they might as well show up soon.)

Flame is in the Adventurers’ Guild because she is confident she will find the talent bearer she seeks here due to the nature of the skill she seeks.

The order she was given was [Go look for people with skills like farsight, bird’s eye view, or, even better, clairvoyance.]

The best way to stop an invasion is to detect it early and have the Monshou guild’s elite strike team eliminate the source. If they are too late to stop the invasion and the city’s safety net is breached, the mobs will overrun the city.

However, it takes a lot of energy to keep a watchful eye on the invasion every night, and the elites who are currently on the move during the day are also participating in the watch duty. At this rate, they won’t get enough rest.

As a result, they must secure even a few people with the ability to see things from a distance or with the ability to see over a large area; if they are successful to do this, the burden of guards will be reduced.

And, in the best-case scenario, they could find someone with a rare skill such as clairvoyance, in which case he or she alone would be sufficient to keep an eye on the surroundings.

Flame continues her search, hoping that among the 350,000 people trapped in this world, there are still players with those skills and who are still in Aristolas.

(Should I switch to visiting inns soon or fly to the front line of Sandora’s Iron Castles to look for that person…?)

Flame, who was rolling a sake barrel the size of a beer mug, was pressed by the time to make a decision.

She already did the former, namely a visit to inns, but the inns are always occupied by reclusive hikikomori players who wish to stay away from combat, and many of them reject the guild’s requests out of reflex, making it impossible to rely on their strength.

For the latter, she intends to seek just a player with a certain talent with an effect like “clairvoyance,” but given how rare the skill is during the beta period, it appears to be a futile endeavor.

(I assumed that if someone had the will to live and such unique skill, they would eventually have found their way here…)

A player approached the reception desk to accept a request next to Flame, who had lost the will to leave her seat.

Flame casually observed the player, and she appeared to be planning to accept five requests at once and place the bundle of papers down with a loud sound.

It was a young lady with a beginner’s bow on her back; she was lively, slender, and well-dressed.

The light on her eyes and expression were not those of a person who had given up on life.

“I’m sorry, but these are all search-type requests. Each search request takes a considerable amount of time, and there is a fine for failure to complete it. Is that all right with you?”

“Yes! Don’t worry!”

The request form has a time limit of 48 hours, which may appear long at first glance but is actually quite short.

Unless you are a professional searcher, you will typically only complete one search request per day.

But she accepts all five at once.

(This is a hit.)

Flame thought as she resisted the urge to leap for joy and called out to the girl, Misaki.

* * * *

Three armored knights and a novice bowman sat around a round wooden table for four in the adventurers’ guild.

“You must be Misaki, the one with the [life-sense] skill. Nice to meet you. I am Wataru, the master of the Monshou Guild.”

After a short pause, Wataru broke the silence with a bright smile and spoke to Misaki.

Misaki succumbed after being defeated by the desperate advances of this woman named Flame sitting next to her; Misaki was unable to keep up with the developments that were taking place and was looking around confusedly; she almost screamed when Wataru sat down in front of her.

“Ye-Yes, likewise.”

Wataru is the Guild Master of the Monshou, and as someone who inspired the people and controlled the chaos on the first day with his one brave call, Wataru is a heroic class figure in Misaki’s mind, and when she learned that the other two in front of her are also the guild’s No. 2 and 3, she felt even more pain hitting her stomach.

Deciding that small talk would put more burden on Misaki, Flame asked a straightforward question.

“I’m sorry to be so blunt. But I heard that Misaki’s life-sensing skill will display the creatures you are looking for on a mini-map, but I would like to know the limits of its effectiveness and its range, so I would like to ask you a few questions.”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

The business-like exchange continued.

“First of all, what exactly did you try with the target organisms?”

“I was able to find dogs, people, and cats. The others, I can’t say that I can’t. But it’s more that I haven’t tried them, so I don’t know if I can.”

“I see. Thank you very much.”

Misaki also answered briefly Flame’s question.

This time, Alba, who had remained silent after the self-introductions, asks a question.

And Misaki was a little defensive in response to the question from a strong-looking, mature warrior.

“As you know, the mini-map can be zoomed in and out, my question is, can you see your target at the maximum zoom out?”

Misaki hasn’t tried that too but she tried to do as she was told.

She operated the mini-map in the upper left corner of the vision by thinking to zoom out. Then, while looking at the mini-map, which gradually became wider and more detailed, she tried to detect the [runaway Ropple] in the request she had just received.

“There was a reaction at coordinates x:1708, y:224, and z:17.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!”

Misaki’s answer made Alba excited.

Because when the mini map was fully zoomed out, it could easily fit a quarter of Aristolas, and only the clairvoyant class could pull off such a feat, meaning she was the person Monshou had been looking for.

[And finally, if she could detect ‘it,’ everything would be perfect.] – that’s what Alba thought before he asked the next question.

“I’d like you to give it a try, is it possible to set the target as a monster, and detect it?”

Misaki then switched her focus to search a mob.

Then a series of small red dots appeared mainly outside the city and began to move.

“I can see them. The coordinates start from the nearest is–“

“No, no, no. No need to specify the coordinates right now!”

After stopping Misaki from diligently answering the exact coordinates, Flame turned her attention to Wataru. And Wataru nodded.

Wataru lowered his head and said,

“Misaki, I know this is a troublesome request, but when you are free, could you please search the outside of the castle wall and report back to me? Of course, I will pay you for each search.”

“What? Wait, please raise your head!”

Misaki was surprised and urged him to raise his head.

“Did you know? I feel indebted to everyone at the Monshou for saving us that day, and I know that even now, they are working desperately to protect us — if it’s okay for someone like me to lend a hand, then please let me do so!”

Flame was more than thrilled by these words.

She jumped up from her seat and embraced Misaki with such a passionate embrace one would give to a dear younger sister.

“Thank you! If Misaki join us, it’s like we got a hundred manpower!”

“That’s the best outcome them, but ….*cough*.”

Watching the two women embrace, Alba clears his throat with one cough and asks a question.

“I apologize for being so hurried. But can you look for any signs of the invasion right now?”

“What is the sign of the invasion…?”

Misaki, who appears to have already used life-sensing, asks Alba with a look that suggests she has no idea what he’s talking about.

“It’s a situation where there are at least ten monsters gathered together. That’s one sign of an invasion.”

Because if it is only a gathering of ten or so monsters, they can annihilate them before they become a threat, thus removing the threat of invasion.

Misaki understood his explanation and groaned, “hmm……,” shifting her focus away from the surrounding grasslands and toward the Irina Tunnel, where she discovered what Alba was looking for.

“There is a sign of it coming from Iriana Tunnel.”

“!”

Misaki muttered to herself.

Hearing this, the three looked at each other.

Immediately, Alba copied a map of the Iriana Tunnel and emailed it to Misaki.

Misaki had never been out of the city, so her map had not been [discovered] the place yet. Therefore, Alba assumed that she did not have detailed information on the topography of the tunnels.

Originally, a copy of this map would have been worth more than 100,000 gold, but that was no longer the case in this situation.

“If you copy my map, you can see the topography. So, where are they? How many?”

“Alba! Calm down!”

Flame hurriedly stops Alba as she approaches Misaki with a devil-may-care attitude. Misaki did as she was told and copied Alba’s map to overwrite on her own, and the part she could not see became clear as if the fog had lifted.

“The coordinates are x:706, y:-525, z:8.”

She read out the coordinates as if muttering to herself.

The three moved their maps to the coordinates and arrived at the empty, open space.

“So, what’s the number?”

“I don’t know. There are too many of them.”

Then the three of them froze.

Alba, in particular, was thinking about the 17th Unit.

Iriana Tunnel is a natural labyrinth, it’s a place where even the most seasoned hunters would get lost if they didn’t have a map, a place where seasoned players would not even dare to hunt small fry mobs.

And there is a chance that the invasion that occurred at the Iriana Tunnel will reach Aristolas. It is entirely possible.

Now it’s Wataru’s turn to ask with a serious expression on his face.

“Do you know the approximate number?”

“Umm, about a hundred, I guess.”

An invasion of 100 mobs.

The castle walls could be easily breached depending on the strength of the monsters in the crowd.

“A different threat than PK huh? But thanks to you, Misaki, we can make the first move. Once again, thank you so much.”

With that, Alba got up and left the Adventurers’ Guild, saying, “The situation is urgent. I’m going to check the details of the mob”.

Following Alba, Flame also started to move.

“Misaki, when this is over, I’ll make sure you get a proper reward! Thank you so much!”

Flame leaves the guild in a hurry.

An email glowed at the edge of Misaki’s vision, and when she opened it, she saw that Flame had sent her 100,000 gold.

“Wa-wait! Please Guild Master! I can’t take this!”

While looking upset, Misaki showed the email to Wataru, who was about to get up from his seat to follow the two.

100,000 gold is a decent amount of money in modern Japan, but in [Eternity], a game that has now turned into a death game, the value has become something directly related to one’s life.

To put it another way, 100,000 gold is roughly equivalent to 2,000 days of lodging.

Wataru scratched his cheeks and then decided to stop his roundabout way of talking, believing that this intelligent woman would understand.

“This may appear insensitive, but your skills are extremely valuable. 100,000 gold isn’t much. You’ve been happy to share your abilities, which are your lifeline here at Eternity. And because of your willingness to share, your skills have become the lifeblood of our community. We intend to express our appreciation in the form of a reward.”

Judging by the way he said it, he was referring that the compensation is for Misaki’s willingness to share her skill rather than the skill itself. But Misaki didn’t seem particularly concerned about that.

“No, no, no! This is still too much!”

Misaki was flustered, to which Wataru responded with a calm smile.

“Misaki, the invasion you found this time is quite large, but it is still in the growth process. If we had left it unnoticed, we would have perished together with Aristolas in the worst-case scenario against a mature invasion. When you consider that we could save the lives of nearly 350,000 people, 100,000 gold is the one that is out of balance.”

“350,000 lives…”

Misaki becomes quiet as if her fire is extinguished.

There’s a reason for Wataru to say that the invasion was still in its growing process. It can be explained by the fact that the invasion is still contained within the Iriana Tunnel – which means that the resources are not so scarce that they need to attack human villages.

In contrast, nothing good will come from this type of invasion because it will continue to expand its power, but because Wataru is on the side that managed to obtain information ahead of time, they could form a strike force to launch an attack on the invader. The invaders, on the other hand, won’t have time to prepare for it.

As usual, the side that makes the first move will always has an overwhelming advantage.

“And, although I’m a little nervous, I think this is an opportunity. If we can overcome this adversity, we will gain something more than just stopping an invasion.”

Misaki had no idea what he was talking about, but she was fascinated by how this young man could be so dependable. – it was a vague feeling yet strong feeling, but she had a firm believe that he would be able to do something.