After Kisaragi Rin left, all the Strange Tales gathered around to see what the Human-faced Dog was learning. When they realized they couldn't understand it at all, they regretfully expressed that if it were them, they would have demanded special rewards; what the Human-faced Dog said about going to the park together was a bit too silly.
Then Sadako retorted that such a wish would, on the contrary, earn the master more affection.
Hanako disagreed, using Yukino Mifuyu as an example to illustrate that no matter what caused the breakthrough in the relationship with the master, as long as there was a breakthrough, things would be different. At the very least, one could become the number one among the Strange Tales and lead all the ghosts!
Eventually, the discussion went further and further off-topic. The group chat page created by these Strange Tales loaded dozens of pages, directly splitting into two factions based on these two theories.
The Human-faced Dog didn't participate. To get the chance to go to the park with its master, it had already hidden away to study the Silence of the Lambs.
However, this was not something that could be easily learned. The moves within were too abstract. The Human-faced Dog looked at it for two days straight and still couldn't figure out how to practice it.
Returning to Itsuki, her three-day trial had ended. After temporarily bidding farewell to those few Strange Tales, she settled the game and went to the Paradise.
Kisaragi Rin also returned to the Main World.
When he emerged, the Main World was in the early morning, with the chirping of insects and croaking of frogs echoing throughout the Deer God Shrine.
Shikanoko Noko had already returned to Deer Garden to sleep; only Nakano Maruo remained seated at the table.
"Yo, still here?"
Kisaragi Rin observed Nakano Maruo for a moment. He still looked handsome, and his hairstyle wasn't messy. He wondered if Shikanoko Noko had tidied him up.
"Mm."
Nakano Maruo responded, his face cold, offering no reaction to Kisaragi Rin's thoughts.
It was true that extraordinary means couldn't detect Kisaragi Rin's thoughts, but he was a psychiatrist, not someone who could only use supernatural abilities. By observing micro-expressions, Nakano Maruo roughly understood what Kisaragi Rin was thinking about.
"That deer..." Nakano Maruo felt a pang of toothache, almost unable to maintain his emotional management. He sighed inwardly and returned to the main topic, asking, "Did Itsuki and the others not encounter any accidents?"
"There was indeed a bit of an accident."
Sitting directly opposite Nakano Maruo, Kisaragi Rin simply recounted Itsuki's Mission.
Nakano Maruo remained expressionless, showing no surprise or signs of deep thought.
Kisaragi Rin carefully observed him, wanting to confirm whether Nakano Maruo had already anticipated such a situation before entrusting Itsuki to him.
And the result, naturally, was no result. With Nakano Maruo's Ability, it was too easy for him to hide his true thoughts.
"You said before that if the five of them entered the Paradise separately, it would cause the difficulty of the Paradise to skyrocket. But now, after merging into one person and entering the Paradise, the trial encountered is not the normal difficulty a Candidate Player would face. Mr. Nakano, do you have anything to tell me?"
Finally, Kisaragi Rin decided to be direct.
He was in the advantageous position now, so even being direct, he wasn't afraid of Nakano Maruo suddenly lashing out.
And Nakano Maruo?
Whether he answered or not didn't matter, because not answering itself represented a kind of answer.
The atmosphere between the two paused. Nakano Maruo slightly raised his eyelids, his gaze meeting Kisaragi Rin's without a ripple. He looked like a still pool of water in a cave, or perhaps a half-emerged dragon from the underworld, which must have been a rather powerful Dojutsu.
"What are you two doing?"
Itsuki's voice rang out. She had returned from the Paradise and also appeared here.
Standing quietly to the side, Itsuki stuffed the glowing meat bun she was holding with both hands into her mouth, chewing quickly and happily like a hamster.
"Nothing. Did you get an S-rank?"
Nakano Maruo shifted his gaze. After receiving Itsuki's affirmative reply, he nodded and said, "I'll leave their matters to you. You can state your desired compensation now."
The Nakano Quintuplets still had secrets, and Nakano Maruo had known about them for a long time but didn't want to speak.
The answer was clear. Kisaragi Rin didn't say much and directly took off the Demonic Garment he was wearing. "Help me upgrade this Equipment to its top configuration. I don't think Mr. Nakano would be unable to find a top-tier Artisan, would he?"
I'll give you compensation, and you complete the commission.
We still don't trust each other, and there's no need to explain anything else.
This was Nakano Maruo's meaning.
Kisaragi Rin had no objections; such a simple and direct transaction was a good thing.
At least Nakano Maruo could indeed afford the compensation.
There were too many Strange Tales on Dark Planet. Although Medea had already used the River God's Ability to replicate two new Demonic Hell Sanctuaries to control the Strange Tales, this one, as Kisaragi Rin's exclusive item, still needed to be re-forged, at least so it wouldn't be in its current state of almost bursting.
Hmm... bursting.
The prototype of this current garment was covered with various Strange Tale markings, stretched to the point where it could barely maintain its Ability to transform into other shapes.
Thinking this, Kisaragi Rin also took out his Demonic Hell Sanctuary. "These two have some similar effects. When forging new Equipment, these two can be directly fused together."
As for how to fuse them, that was Nakano Maruo's business. He believed that Nakano Maruo would be able to find enough materials and an excellent Artisan to accomplish this.
"Top configuration?"
Nakano Maruo reminded, "Equipment has usage conditions. The more powerful the Equipment, the more unavoidable and stringent its usage conditions will be.
You want top configuration?
Even if I find a divine Artisan, it's impossible to clear all usage conditions. The result of the forging will most likely be a powerful Equipment that you cannot use right now."
"For example?"
Kisaragi Rin spread his hands. "For example, what usage conditions would appear if this Equipment were strengthened?"
"Let me see."
Nakano Maruo picked up the Demonic Garment and Demonic Hell Sanctuary and briefly observed them. The Strange Tale aura on them was truly astonishing, especially the usage condition of the Demonic Garment, "Achieve a slaughter of ten thousand people," which made Nakano Maruo secretly wonder if Kisaragi Rin's development direction wasn't some kind of demonic path.
"Judging by your two Equipment, it's highly likely that usage conditions such as the user possessing divinity, and certain specific types of deeds, will appear."
"Then that's no problem. Possessing divinity is irrelevant."
Anna already had divinity, so there was no need to worry about any debuffs if he kept it on him. He could place the divinity on Jeanne. Jeanne was his guardian spirit, so once the usage condition was met, he could use it directly.
"Then that's settled."
Nakano Maruo no longer objected; Kisaragi Rin was not someone he needed to advise.
"Itsuki, let's go back."
"Oh."
Itsuki was still focused on eating. These meat buns were made by Mitsuri. The two, both sharing a love for delicious food, got along so well after a short time that they seemed to regret not meeting sooner, and even agreed to compile a Comprehensive Guide to Other World Delicacies together.