A Chat with Kokuyo
“Bye!”
“Okay, please come again.”
In the end, after spending about an hour choosing and purchasing the talisman, I left Sekka’s store, which was slowly becoming crowded with other customers.
The village residents were, of course, there, but there were also a few players mixed in the crowd. Maybe they came because I was streaming, or maybe they were the original customer of Sekka’s.
Anyway, I was satisfied enough to buy exactly the ten talismans that I wanted.
“But as expected, this is….”
I once again took out from my inventory and examined the [Zekkai] talisman that I had just had made.
It looks like a mere golden talisman, but it weighs as much as a block of gold. It was so beautiful that I couldn’t help but be entranced by it.
“…beautiful, right?”
<Pretty.>
<Pretty.>
< It’s beautiful, but there’s no way I could get it.>
<I witness the power of gold.>
<Compulsive Buyer Oni girl.>
“I can’t even deny that last comment.”
I showed off my talisman, and the viewer called me a compulsive buyer. It’s hard to deny it since I didn’t earn this money in a steady way. {tln1}
“When I put down the third gold bar, she yips ‘Pya!’ like this, right?”
<Very similar lol.>
<You sound exactly like her.>
< It’s scary how much similar you sounded.>
< It’s not fair to play the recording.>
<Is this what you call copying vocal cords?>
<↑correct.>
“It’s pretty easy to copy vocal cords.”
<Lie.>
<Lie.>
<Lie.>
<Lie.>
“You don’t have to be that united.”
I think it’s not that difficult to imitate someone’s voice, you know? There are comedians on TV who can copy each other voices. I think anyone can do it if they practice enough.
When I said this, a listener laughed at me. I wonder why?
It’s now dusk, and I walk through the village while being teased about my shopping as a joke. It was then I saw Kokuyo walking towards me from the end of the road.
“Good evening, Sukuna.”
“Good evening. What are you doing?”
I’m patrolling the village. The number of foreign travelers increases around this time of night, so I’m keeping an eye on the village to make sure there’s no trouble with the inhabitants.
“Was there any accident before?”
“Yes. It’s mainly among the young people of the village who are full of spirit and challenge the gentle travelers to battle.”
“Ow, so the trouble comes from the village side?”
“I’m ashamed to admit that, but that’s the truth…”
Kokuyo blushed a little.
It seems that the oni tribe naturally likes to fight. I wonder if they were tempted to challenge a fresh player to a match if they saw one.
“I was just wondering, how old can an oni tribe be considered young?”
Kohaku is over 50 years old and still called herself a youngster. But the auntie of the last house before I went to Sekka’s store, was estimated to be over a hundred years old, was an equivalent to a noisy neighborhood auntie in the real world.
When I asked her my random thought question, she gave me a scowl, then answered with a chuckle.
“Well, when you’re over 50, you’re an adult, so and you’re over 80, you’ve been considered mature.”
“Eighty?”
Well, looking at Kohaku and that noisy auntie, I don’t think it’s wrong.
I guess that means that Kohaku has just come of age in the oni tribe’s eyes. It might be similar to a fresh college graduate, a young girl in her prime.
While still being shocked by how young Kohaku is, Kokuyo continues her talk.
“By the way, you’re working on the requests for the village now, right, Sukuna?”
“Yes, though I’m only chopping wood.”
“No, that was very helpful. It’s was a good idea to request outside help, but the strength requirement has become a bottleneck, and I was troubled because people only choose the other quest.”
“Surely 300 STR may be hard to archive, but it should be easy for Kokuyo, right? why don’t Kokuyo handle it herself?”
I have a hunch that Kokuyo has a much higher status than I do. Probably, in terms of level, she might even exceed Sekka.
If you ask me who is stronger, Kokuyo or Kohaku, then Kohaku is definitely the stronger one, though only barely. That’s how high my evaluation of Kokuyo.
“Yes, if you ask me if I can do it, I can. But if I do everything, everyone in my village will get lazy. And I still have my position as head security of this village.”
“It’s like a whip of love?”
“It might be wrong to call it whip of love, but… if I were, to be honest, I’d like all the residents of this village to be able to chop wood easily.”
“Well, that’s just impossible.”
If it’s normal woods we are talking about, then everyone in oni village will be able to do it, but this is the Moonlight Tree we’re talking about.
The wall of 300 strength is high for both players and NPCs.
“No, I’m being serious. If you don’t have at least that level of strength, you won’t even be able to do anything in the upcoming holy war.”
With a faint glow in her eyes, Kokuyo said seriously.
Her strange atmosphere makes me feel pressured.
“Holy war…?” {Seisen also means crusade.}”
“Yes. It’s a battle for the survival that involves everything in this world.”
“Haha, don’t tell me it’s the end of the world?”
The story has suddenly become big. I was trying to escape reality lightly.
This is probably not a flag for the quest but rather a foreshadowing for the events to come.
To put it another way, this is just like the [Labyrinth of Stardust] event. What is good for us may not necessarily be good for the inhabitants of this world.
That event was a kind of disaster caused by the Sirens who were trying to invade this world.
I mean, isn’t it possible that what we’re talking about now is a more active invasion by the Sirens or the main forces of the Sirens coming to attack us?
They seem to be the kind of group that can easily throw a monster so powerful if the invasion starts in earnest. I feel that it could easily involve the whole world.
“For more details, please ask the village chief after you lift the curse. The time of the end will surely come. It was the village chief who predicted that.”
“Does Kokuyo know the details too?”
“I do not. But her prediction has never failed.”
“An Absolute certainty, huh?”
Well, that’s certainly worthy of trust.
After all, it is a prediction based on the overwhelming feats of her own sister, whom she has known for many years.
“That’s why, ever since I heard that prophecy, I’ve been training the warriors of this village. I want to make sure that if the holy war really comes, they won’t die without being able to do anything.”
I felt deeply moved when I saw Kokuyo speaking in a compassionate way, saying that she cared for this village very much.
It is because she loves this village that she is able… Nn?
“This is why we have training every day, so please come and join us, Sukuna. I’m sure we’ll be a great inspiration to each other!”
“I was being moved, don’t suddenly go into recruiting mode!”
I thought, “Oh, this is going to be serious, isn’t it?” and I was just about to get into the mood.
“Fufufu, don’t get me wrong Sukuna. If a holy war were to come, the oni race would rather be happy than frightened. We, the oni are a natural-born battle freak.”
“That’s a terrible thing to say!”
“Because it’s the truth. Now, if only they would make an effort to level up a little more patiently, they could easily get the status to be able to chop wood… but unfortunately, it also in our nature as oni to be lazy.”
I don’t want to work hard to get stronger even though I’m a battle freak. What’s with this exquisitely unimproving, enjoyer-like mindset?
If this is true, then the serious personalities of Kohaku and Kokuyo may be more heretical than the rest of the oni race.
[Since they are a race that can potentially be strong, why don’t they hunt more monsters and get a status strong enough to chop wood?]
I mean, if you look at it from that point of view, isn’t the fact that the villagers are leaving a lot of requests for chopping wood just because they want to leave it to others?
Ugh, my motivation to chop the wood is suddenly gone.
I had the impression that the oni tribe was serious because of Kohaku and Kokuyo, but now I’m at a loss because that impression was shattered into a fine dust.
===.
A note:
Kokuyo might be joking with Sukuna, but it was an important key story of this world.
The store [Youko Magic Tools] is open five days a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and the selection of goods vary from NPC to NPC. Sekka’s day is very popular among the customer.
Tln1
This is a Japanese joke. It can’t and won’t be translated directly to English. In short, they called Sukuna a new rich girl, someone who splurged just because they hit the jackpot in the lottery.
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