"E-Excuse me!"
Just as the party was about to head for the battlefield, a player with a burly physique and a terrifying face called out to Shana, looking visibly nervous.
"Hm? Me?"
Shana didn't have many acquaintances within GGO, so he replied intending to confirm if he was really the one being addressed.
"Yes, u-um, are you perhaps Shana-san?"
"I'm Shana, but..."
"Yes! ...U-Um, if it's not too much trouble, could you please take us along to the battlefield you're heading to?"
"You want to jump in and join us?"
"Y-Yes!"
"...Why are you calling yourself 'ore'?"
"Eh? Um..."
Shana threw the question at the player abruptly. The player's eyes went wide, displaying a flustered reaction. Sinon tilted her head, wondering what this incomprehensible exchange was about.
Shana muttered something about it being a common occurrence, then addressed the player.
"Sorry, forget it. Unfortunately, I'm just here as a guest this time. I'll take you to the leader, so you can negotiate with him."
"Is that so... Understood. Please do. Hey, you guys, come over here!"
At that player's command, five other players emerged from the tavern entrance.
All five had fearless, tough-looking countenances and looked like they could handle themselves in a fight. However, their attitudes were sullen, and they refused to even look at one another.
Seeing the five of them, Shana muttered again.
"Five more of the same type added to the mix... That's rare."
Sinon didn't quite understand the meaning behind Shana's words, but her impression of the five was this:
(All six look like they can fight reasonably well, but I've never seen any of them before. And for a group that's teamed up, they look like they hate each other's guts...)
It seemed Spiegel had the same thought, as he asked Sinon:
"Hey Sinon, have you seen those unfriendly-looking people somewhere before?"
"No, they're new faces to me. Shana?"
"I haven't seen them either, but that's only natural. They're all newbies."
"Eh? Even though they look pretty strong? Even that huge leader guy?"
"Is that true?"
"Yeah. By my assessment, they have almost no actual combat experience. I can tell by the way they walk."
"I-Is that so..."
"As expected of Shana-san..."
Though he hated Shana, Spiegel couldn't help but admit that his skills in this regard were undeniable. Thinking this, Spiegel decided to stop showing strange hostility and instead observe Shana's actions as much as possible today to become stronger himself.
The six players were led by Shana to Dyne. Upon hearing they wanted to participate, Dyne looked a bit hesitant.
Shana spoke up. "Just so you know, these guys are all beginners."
"I-Is that true?"
"Yeah, no mistake."
The six players were astounded by Shana's words. The leader-like player who had first called out to Shana asked timidly.
"Shana-san, um, how did you know?"
"Anyone could tell just by looking."
"Just by looking... is it?"
Hearing that, the six forgot their animosity for a moment and looked at each other with troubled expressions. It seemed they didn't think they looked that way at all. Dyne, Sinon, and Spiegel shared the same sentiment.
Unable to bear the atmosphere, the leader bowed to Dyne.
"We are indeed newbies. I'm sorry for not saying so at the start."
"No, put that aside for a moment. Newbies, huh... The opponent today is a bit much for newbies..."
"Hey, who exactly is the opponent today?" Sinon asked, realizing she hadn't confirmed it yet.
"It's the PK squad from 'Lightly Salted Cod Roe's' group. Apparently, they're on a rare mob-hunting run today."
"What..."
Shana narrowed his eyes at the name, while Sinon and Spiegel were shocked.
"Wait a minute, Dyne. 'Lightly Salted Cod Roe'... that's the largest squadron in GGO. Is it really safe to mess with them?"
"It's fine. The target is only the PK faction of the group, which is about half the squadron. Plus, we know their route, and we have Shana. Our chances of winning are quite high."
"But, what about retaliation later..."
Shana patted Sinon's shoulder as she spoke with a worried face.
"It'll be fine. At the very least, the guys in charge of mob hunting definitely won't retaliate. Right, Dyne?"
"O-Oh... As expected of Shana, you see through everything."
"No, it's just simple deduction derived from the info I have and what you just said."
"What do you mean?"
"You said you knew the route, right? The PK team and the mob hunting team in that squadron actually hate each other. So, the one who leaked the route to Dyne was none other than someone from the same squadron—the mob hunting team. That means there won't be any retaliation."
"I-I see..."
"I didn't know that at all either."
Spiegel joined Sinon in sounding impressed.
"Well, that's how it is. But they are still members of the largest squadron in GGO. Taking newbies along would just be letting them die in vain."
Hearing Dyne's words, the six players looked visibly dejected. It seemed that despite their bad blood, their desire to participate was mutual. The leader pressed Dyne desperately.
"Please! We don't mind if you put us in dangerous positions as meat shields!"
"Meat shields? Hmmm, but still..."
"It's fine, we're prepared for it!"
Dyne tilted his head at words that sounded like a death wish.
"In the first place, why do you guys want to join so badly that you'd accept such a terrible role? Is it because you're Shana's fans or something?"
"Hah?"
Shana wondered why the conversation had jumped to that conclusion.
"Y-Yes! To be frank, that is exactly right..."
Hearing the leader's admission, Sinon and Spiegel chimed in.
"Ah, I knew it. I thought that might be the case."
"I thought so too."
"Seriously..."
Even the observant Shana made mistakes sometimes. It was usually limited to specific situations, and this case fit the criteria.
"Alright, if that's the case, I guess it can't be helped. If you're fine with being meat shields..."
"No good."
"...I'll allow your parti—wait, hey, Shana?"
"Haaah....."
Shana interrupted Dyne with a deep sigh. The six players looked crestfallen, while Sinon and Spiegel tried to mediate.
"Hey Shana, your fans are saying they're okay with it, so why not let them join?"
"That's right. If it's what they want, isn't it fine?"
Shana shook his head at the two of them.
"Wrong. That's not what I meant. I said using women as meat shields is no good. Hey Dyne, since there's no other choice, put these guys under my command. I plan to have them act as fixed turrets. I'll take full responsibility."
"O-Oh... that helps me out too... wait, huh?"
"G... Girls?"
"Is that true!?"
In other words, that was it. The specific situation where Shana's observation skills dulled was when the other party held affection for him. In those cases, Shana absolutely never assumed the other person liked him, so these kinds of misunderstandings occasionally happened.
Shana looked at the three stunned players with an exasperated expression.
"What? You three didn't notice?"
"U-Uh..."
"It'd be weird if we did notice!"
"Exactly!"
The six newbies nodded in agreement with those words.
"When you first spoke to me, I wondered if maybe you'd realized, but this is the first time someone guessed I was a woman right off the bat. I'm the leader, Eva. Nice to meet you."
"Please call me Sophie."
"Hyahoo! Didn't expect that. I'm Tanya."
"As expected of Shana-san. My name is Anna. It's a pleasure."
"I'm Rosa. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Toma. Nice to meetcha."
The six introduced themselves to Shana, but immediately after, they looked at each other and turned their faces away with a hmph. They truly were a group of six who didn't get along.
"W-Well then, seems like things are settled, so let's get moving..."
At Dyne's signal, the group began to move.
(Now then. Between Spiegel, who is clearly in love with Sinon, and these jump-ins... what a mess.)
Since Pitohui had asserted that Spiegel had a stalker temperament, Shana planned to use this opportunity to observe him closely.
Meanwhile, Sinon, finding her circle of rare female player acquaintances suddenly increased by six, actively tried to talk to them to deepen their friendship. However, while conversation worked fine one-on-one, the moment it involved the group, conversation became impossible. Sinon held her head in her hands internally.
Seeing Spiegel also looking troubled by the scene, Shana decided to improve the situation slightly. He stopped in his tracks and whispered softly to Sinon and Spiegel.
"Alright, you two. I'm going to educate them now. I'm going to fight all of them and cut off their arms. You two be careful not to get hit by stray bullets. Finally, I'm going to swing my dagger down at Eva's head. Spiegel, I want you to use this to cut off my arm when I do. You know the trajectory, so just swing the weapon with conviction. Sinon, at that moment, point your gun at me. Then, I'll give them a lecture."
The two were speechless at the instructions and naturally raised objections.
"W-Why would you do such a thing..."
"She's right, that's way too reckless!"
"I know what you want to say, but arms regenerate over time. But if we miss this chance to educate them, I don't know if there'll be a next time. If they really claim to be my fans, then I'm the one with the highest chance of making them listen. Consider it a celebrity tax. Besides, if we leave them like this, Sinon might go bald from the stress."
"Pfft..."
"I won't go bald! And Spiegel, don't laugh!"
"Sorry, sorry. Understood, Shana-san. I'll do my best with that role."
It seemed Spiegel had calmed down a bit after laughing at Shana's joke and decided to obediently follow Shana's instructions.
"Sinon, Spiegel says he'll do it. What about you?"
"Fine, I get it! I just have to do it, right? I don't want to go bald either, after all."
"Sorry. I'm counting on you."
Shana handed a spare sword to Spiegel, then turned to face the six newbies, showing them his dagger and shouting loudly.
"Alright, you guys! I'm going to test your skills, so come at me without holding back. You can shoot as much as you like; I'll only use this. Hey Dyne! We'll catch up immediately, so go on ahead!"
Hearing this, Dyne glanced back at them. Seeming to somehow grasp the situation, he shrugged his shoulders and waved his hand dismissively.
"Shana-san, what are you doing all of a sudden..."
"It seems you guys are misunderstanding a lot of things. Just come at me, all of you at once!"
With that, Shana dashed ferociously toward the six.
The six seemed hesitant about what to do, but panicked, they raised their guns and tried to rain bullets down on Shana.
In that instant, Shana changed direction abruptly. As he passed by, he sliced off the arm Toma was using to hold her gun.
"Ah!"
The other five hurriedly readjusted their aim to shoot Shana, but Toma's body was in the way, preventing them from getting a clear shot.
Using that moment, Shana used Toma's body as a stepping stone to jump up. Landing in the center of the five, he sliced off the arms of Sophie and Rosa, who were directly in front of him.
The three of them collapsed to the ground, stunned.
"D-Damn it! Close combat is disadvantageous. Hey everyone, remember our club practice! Just keep moving, dodge the attacks, and whoever has a free hand attacks!"
(Club practice... I see. So these guys are middle or high schoolers.)
Shana deduced this as he ran toward Anna.
Anna displayed agile movements that didn't match her gentle way of speaking. The moment her arm was targeted, she instantly tossed her gun into the air, rolled on the ground, and attempted to catch the thrown gun with a beautiful motion.
(That move... I see, Rhythmic Gymnastics!)
Shana made the judgment and, relying on his leg strength, dove toward Anna. He severed her hand just as it reached up to catch the gun, then immediately dropped prone.
A bullet fired by Tanya whizzed over his head.
"Tch..."
Panicked that her attack was easily dodged, Tanya lowered her muzzle slightly to aim at Shana, who was crawling near the ground.
In that instant, Shana leaped up, landing beside Tanya with tremendous speed, and swung his dagger horizontally, severing her arm.
Eva, having lost all her comrades, let out a roar and charged at Shana while firing wildly.
"U, Uoooooh!"
Shana relied on his raw muscle strength to side-step, momentarily reaching speeds comparable to an AGI-specialized build. He slipped into Eva's guard, cut off her arm, then—aware of Spiegel and Sinon's positions in the corner of his eye—deliberately backstepped and waited for their arrival.
Gauging the timing, Shana swung his dagger down toward Eva's head.
"Kyaa!"
The moment Eva let out a scream that didn't match her face or body, Spiegel stepped between them and, as instructed, severed Shana's arm.
In that instant, Shana definitely saw it. Spiegel's eyes, just for a split second, emitted the same light Shana had seen during the SAO era.
(This guy... he just had the same eyes as the Laughing Coffin crew.)
Shana thought this, realizing once again how terrifying Pitohui's intuition was.
(For now, I'd better keep a close watch on his movements.)
Based on that event, Shana made up his mind.
Seeing Shana's arm cut off, Sinon felt a natural displeasure as someone who was in love with him. However, since this was Shana's own instruction, she told herself it was just an act and forced herself to point her gun at Shana's head.
At that moment, Eva collapsed on the spot.
"Alright, that's enough."
At his words, the two lowered their weapons. Shana extended his remaining hand to Eva.
"How is it? Can you stand?"
"Ah... um, it might be a bit impossible."
"Is that so? Then staying seated is fine."
Shana sat down next to Eva and called out to the remaining five.
"Alright, you guys come over here and sit too. Sorry about the arms, but they should regenerate soon, so just bear with it until then."
Once the five timidly sat in front of Shana, he addressed Eva and the group.
"So, thanks to Spiegel and Sinon here, you guys narrowly avoided total annihilation. Well, we arranged it beforehand, so it went exactly as planned."
"W-Why would you do something like this..."
"Something like this? Did you think you were here on a field trip? This is a place where someone who was your ally a moment ago can become your enemy the next. Yet, despite being blessed with a situation where you have teammates from the same school and the same club—comrades who would absolutely never betray you—what was that pathetic display just now?"
"Standing around like sticks and losing half the team instantly... it's completely unacceptable. If you had just exchanged a word or two beforehand for emergencies, you wouldn't have been taken down that easily."
"If you just want to play pretend, there's no need to play a game like this. Quit immediately and go play something milder."
Hearing his words, the six looked visibly depressed. Sinon was a bit surprised by the harshness of his words, but reasoning that Shana was giving them 'shock therapy' because he was worried they would die too easily, she didn't interject.
Meanwhile, Spiegel was thinking about something completely different.
(Even though it's a game, this is the first time I've hurt a person with something other than a gun... yet I feel no disgust. If anything, I felt a momentary rush of excitement. Maybe I'm actually suited for close-quarters combat.)
Spiegel had completely misunderstood the meaning of that excitement. This experience, unfortunately, became fertilizer—however slight—for the seed of madness growing within him.
"Since you chose this game, you must have some reason or goal. If you're going to call yourselves my fans on top of that, then talk it out with each other, even if you don't get along. Face each other sincerely so you can truly enjoy the game. That's all I have to say. Do whatever you want from here on out. Let's go, Sinon, Spiegel."
"Yeah."
"Ah, yes."
Shana and the others walked away, leaving Eva and the six alone in that spot.
-------------------------------
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