第三十三回：再登高山求WIFI，賤鴨備鴆毒設陰謀
"「Souka, souka」! We aren't the only veetubas who got isekaiied!" Madi-san seems to have understood something after Valerie-senpai revealed this fact, slapping a fist into her palm.
There are others like us trapped in Sxyrim?
That sounds... almost plausible.
"Lady Morceau, then your side..."
"Ohohoho! Don't worry, I've already phoned for help! At this moment, its [Trono Palido's] job to make sure everyone comes back safe and sound, right, Senior?" You can almost feel her starry wink from the other side. Help? From whomst? Don't tell me that the hentai bird is going to personally come up to [Arcadia]?
"... I'd prefer that Master not get involved in this." Oracion closes her eyes, a little peeved that her junior would shamelessly ask their master to interfere in their first major operation outside of the capital.
"Oh no, someone else. Sxmexne we all know."
"Ehhhh, you're breaking up, Val-sis! And how are we going to find the missing veetubas? There's loads of people here?!"
Annalie, don't smack the phone! This isn't a [Pondering Orb] [1], you can't just hit it and make it all better!
"Xh dear, sx it seems, sx it seems.
I already have a gxxd guess what's gxing xn.
Just keep doing what you all are doing!
When in doubt...
Ask Mii-chan for (bzzzzt)---!"
The connection cut off.
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"Eh? That's odd... What happened to the wi-fi?!" Madison waves her flip-phone around in the air a bit before poutingly giving up when the connection suddenly drops to zero bars. It's some small miracle that we are able to connect to [Arcadia] in the first place!
My vision turns to Neko-chan, who has been mostly silent the whole way. Valerie-senpai figured out something at the end.
When in doubt, ask Neko-chan for... what? What do you know that we don't, Neko-chan?
Neko-chan must have noticed me looking her way, because she shifts uncomfortably in her seat. Do you have something to say?
"Nnn--- Nyargh. Forget it. I'm not crazy like [The Exposer]. It wouldn't help us in getting off this place anyway."
Right, between killing dragons, the missing veetubers and everything that is going on, I'm not sure if my detective brain can hold all these weird happenings in my arms anymore! Do whiteboards exist in this world? I would like to draw up a conspiracy chart for everyone...
"What's there to think about Aya-chan! So long as we kill dragons, the missing chuubas will naturally come to us!"
THIS again?! How does killing dragons solve every problem in the world?! I wish I had the kind of brainless confidence that you have going on, pointing at me with your thumbs up like that! How could you possibly be so simple-minded that you think everything will go your way!
image [http://static1.squarespace.com/static/62cd15458bbca47144469710/62cd15995860f00f7cf2cc5e/66c2984100fa13695bd1c753/1724029125849/Kill+The+Dragons.png]
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
> "Isekai are easy, you just have to kill the dragons!"
>
> "Do you realize how INSANE you are sounding right now, Madi-san?!"
"Maybe our Aya-chan doth worry too much!"
"You got that right, Annalie!"
All I see are a pair of crazies talking.
Don't let it get to you, Ayano. Don't let them get to you.
Although...
... if there is someone who feels like she doesn't fit in with this world.
Its got to be her.
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Meanwhile, in neighboring 【Ji City】.
"Six hundred and ninety! Six hundred and ninety-one!!"
As the red-haired girl does her punishment exercises, she doesn't skip a beat, and even manages to clap her hands in-between repetitions. Her cheerful demeanor is not appreciated by the fat old duck sitting on a carved wooden chair, lifting a teacup to its bills.
"Stop being so GUARKING cheerful! Never has the Duck Clan been insulted like last night! You did NOTHING to help!"
That was not completely true. If Yue Fuyi had not been there, there's no telling what Ou Nygai would have done to the old duck. A superkick to the bills would have been the most polite thing that could have happened! However, the old duck is no martial savant, what would it know about masters of martial prowess standing off against each other, anticipating each other's moves even while completely still? A furious exchange of muda mudas had already occurred in the short moment the two stood off against each other, invisible to the untrained eye!
Not that Yue Fuyi could say anything in response either. Whatever she said would just be taken as another mark of defiance against her 【Betters】 and earn her another round of punishment. It was a terrible situation to be in, even if you were in the right, you were always wrong. Your neighborhood detective sympathizes!
The heroine doesn't seem to mind, and briefly adjusts the golden circlet that chokes tightly around her neck, before continuing on,
"Six hundred and ninety-nine!!!"
Before our red-haired heroine could cross the big seven hundred mark, two figures step into the shadowed room from outside. bowing low with their long sleeves before this heads, they spoke in unison,
""Xun and Cheng greet the great patriarch of the Duck Clan! May your quacking continue for a thousand years!""
"Humph! That's more like it! You could learn from the advisors of the Central Raft! Did you get that for me?"
From her sleeves, Xun produces a small vial with viscous green liquid flowing within. Raising it up for the duck to see, the vile contents glowing ever so slightly in the darkness.
"Poison made from the feathers of the【Zhen】[2] ---"
"--- a poisonous rebel should be removed with poison."
Like a giant baby, the geriatric claps its wings together while its chair creaks unsteadily under its massive weight; however it quickly realizes a flaw in the plan...
"Good! Good! But how shall this be delivered into the orange cat's mouth? The whore is surrounded by supporters at all times!"
"Please leave it to your loyal retainers!
It has been done before, it can be done again!"
As Xun and Cheng lay out their plans for Daju's deadly punishment, the schemers don't notice that the clapping from the side of the room stopped, and is replaced with a scornful silence.
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"Mountains?" Daju scratches her cat ears, not quite understanding what Madi-san just gesticulated to her about.
"Yeah! We need to get a better wi-fi signal for my phone!"
It is obvious that Daju is not one of the veetubaas we are looking for. She looks like she is having a hard time trying to grasp the idea of a phone, let alone that of a phone call! Then again, most [New Continenters] not on the floating city of [Arcadia] don't use phones either!
"Daju, let's say that the Dao of Ryuu flows into this brick here and allows two people to shout at each other over a distance of a thousand li."
"I see. That doesn't seem completely impossible."
It... it isn't?! I was just joking!
As Daju rummages in the closet behind her for a map, I notice that the coinage in her room has already been packed into heavy cases and sealed with paper strips, with the names of their recipients and use written on them in 『kanji』. Aside from the loan repayments, Daju seems to be setting a lot of coin aside for hiring personages and preparing supplies and equipment...
Unrolling a map across her table, Daju draws a line from our current location in 【Yan Province】, all the way eastwards to the edge of the province where it touches the neighboring 【Xu Province】.
"You won't find many taller mountains than here. I must warn you, the region is very unstable. The persecution of 【celebrities】in 【Xu Province】is still ongoing and has spilled over into..."
"Not a problem! We already have the strongest team assembled!"
So we send [Trono Palido] into the mountains to see if your phone works there?
"What are you talking about, Aya-chan?
I am the strongest!"
I'm sure that a certain blue fairy youkai would like to disagree with you! Don't laugh, Daju! This is a serious matter! Because if Madi-san is assembling a team, she's obviously going to bring...
"Aya-chan! I choose you!"
How about no, Madi-san?! Didn't you hear Daju say that the path is going to be dangerous...?! Let me stay here at the Red Hare Loft...!
"Why you always gotta be like that, Aya-chan! Don't you know that your resistance just makes it..."
I am NOT hanging around to hear the second half of that line! In the middle of my attempt to leap behind one of those gigantic cases of coin, Madi-san manages to grab me by the ankles and starts pulling at me while the upper half of my body is bent over the other side of the case!
"Fine! We'll add one more person to the party! Just one more!"
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NEXT: Jobberonis Can't Tell That This Is A Toll Road, That Doesn't Work For Me Sister!
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TERMINOLOGY
[1] Pondering Orb - Magickal artifact in Vespana, a round glass orb ranging from fist-sized to watermelon-sized, able to transmit images or store them indefinitely. Kind of like cameras of old, which isn't seen much in the New Continent anymore.
[2]【Zhen】- A mythical black-feathered bird whose very blood and feathers are poisonous. Often used in political 'unfortunate gym accidents in the back of the head' by dipping its feathers in wine to create a poison.