“Since there’s always an expert here, I see it’s all kept in working order”
Shin got down from the Elder Dragon and whispered to himself while looking at the surroundings .
In Palmirack and Celciutos, the lack of maintenance had not caused serious problems, but in Rashugum, the aboveground part had been preserved perfectly .
The fact that the temperature wasn’t too low and it wasn’t difficult to breathe, despite the altitude, was proof that the atmosphere control system was working . The dragons dwelling here surely found it very pleasant too .
“Over here~~”
The group followed Vizzy to the front of the castle .
Shin tried concentrating on his hearing as they walked, but could not hear any sound of fighting . The attackers had either been driven away or annihilated . He checked the map and, as expected, found no sign of the Wyverns .
“Hey, that…can’t be…”
While the group was heading towards the front entrance, Tiera noticed something .
Shin looked in the direction Tiera pointed at; Rashugum’s flatland area, which had been added because they felt the need for some nature, and the mass of colorful creatures crawling and squirming on it .
“Wow, that’s impressive . ”
Shin remembered Rashugum’s nickname and understood . What they were looking at was a group of dragon-type monsters, of all kinds and levels .
Eastern-style dragons with long torsos, western types with powerful limbs and all kinds in between: it was like a dragon exhibition .
Looking more closely, there were wyverns too, but different from the ones that had just attacked the castle .
“T-they won’t attack, right?”
“They won’t, no worries . They’re a~~ll good boys and girls . ”
Tiera was nervous, but Vizzy replied in her usual tone .
Some dragons noticed the group and raised their heads to look . As Vizzy was with them, the dragons probably understood that they weren’t enemies . Most dragons either went to sleep or started flying again .
“You could stand up to them by now, right Tiera?”
“Indeed, some of them you could take down on your own . ”
“It might be, but…they’re still scary . ”
Even if her stats had increased, Tiera had only recently become much stronger, so dragons still looked like fearsome foes .
Seeing so many dragons left grazing freely like that, she couldn’t help fretting .
“Hey, that one’s coming closer…?”
Tiera, who was looking at the dragons with a stiff expression, stopped walking .
Shin looked too and saw “something” covered in ash grey fur emerge from the pack and waddle towards them .
“Oh my~~”
Vizzy saw it and expressed her surprise . She didn’t stop it, however, so it shouldn’t be dangerous .
Looking at the creature better, the group realized that it too was a dragon . Even including its tail, it was still very small, about the size of a puppy .
The mini dragon waddled left and right, unsteady on its feet, but straight towards Schnee . Then, despite Schnee’s confusion, it proceeded to rub its face on her feet .
“Er…?”
“Oh~~This is rare~~baby Illusion Dragons rarely get close to people~~”
“Why would it come to me?”
“Actually, this baby’s parents were found and rescued by you, Schnee~~ . I don’t know why their child would warm up to you, though…”
Apparently, the baby’s parents had a connection with Schnee . During a material gathering mission, Schnee had defeated some monsters and found young Illusion Dragons nearby .
Illusion Dragons had peaceful temperaments, so Schnee healed them, then talked about them to Vizzy: that is the reason why they were brought to Rashugum .
The parent dragons thought of Schnee as their saviour, so they were very fond of her .
“Since it’s come to you like that, why don’t you pet it a little~~”
“Shouldn’t we hurry on, though?”
“We’ll go first . It’s not like we need lots of people for what we have to do anyway . ”
Schnee was not sure what to do, but Shin told her that she could give priority to the baby dragon . Following Vizzy’s advice, Schnee timidly tried touching the dragon . The baby then started rubbing its head against it .
“Baby Illusion Dragons are so different from their parents…”
Shin expressed his surprise at seeing how easily the baby dragon had approached Schnee .
“I was surprised too the first time~~”
As opponents, Illusion Dragons were impossible to even touch if they weren’t tamed: they were monsters formed by smoke or fog in the shape of a dragon .
“Ehm, what should I do with this baby?”
The baby Illusion Dragon was playing by tapping its front paws on Schnee’s hands . It was a very peaceful scene, but Shin and his party had things to do . Schnee probably thought that she couldn’t just stay there .
“Keep an eye on the kid until the parents come back . ”
“But…”
“The search didn’t take much at Celciutos either, right? This is a rare occasion too, why don’t you just relax once in a while . ”
“Well, I admit it would be difficult to leave…”
The baby dragon cried sadly every time Schnee tried to go, making her feel guilty . Shin didn’t need much help, after all, so he asked Vizzy to stay too, for when the parents would return . Yuzuha, apparently intrigued by the mini dragon too, jumped down from Shin’s shoulder .
Shin left her to Schnee and walked away . He didn’t need a guide to know what was where in Rashugum .
“Oh, here comes Raster . ”
Shin felt a presence coming from inside the castle and stopped . At present, Vizzy and Raster were the only ones present in Rashugum, so it had to be him .
The map showed two overlapping light dots: he was probably riding one of his mounts . After a while, a young man riding a small dragon appeared .
Raster Zay, servant of the Blue Trickster Cain, one of Rokuten’s members .
Characterized by his silver eyes -covered by a bandana- and copper skin, Raster was a High Lord in his twenties .
He too was of higher race, but his stats were almost all concentrated in DEX, making direct fighting not his forte . On the other hand, he was a master at using items and supporting his allies .
“Come o~~n, you’re so late~~”
“Whoops, sorry, sorry . The Illusion Dragon egg hatched, but the baby disappeared somewhere . I knew that lord Shin’s group had arrived, but I had to look for it…”
“The baby?”
After hearing the apologizing Raster’s words, Shin’s party directed their eyes at Schnee and the Illusion Dragon baby she was holding .
Next to her, Yuzuha -now a fox about 1 mel in size- was looking curiously at the baby dragon .
“I looked everywhere, and there you are…I was worried, you know . ”
Raster followed the gaze of Shin’s group, then sighed in relief .
“Well, problem solved then . ”
Shin tried cheering up Raster, who had clearly been worried sick . Shin knew how it felt: accidents like this could be dealt with if they happened one at a time, but for some reason they tended to occur in multiples .
“That’s exactly it! Besides the parents were worried too, I had to go welcome Lord Shin’s party, yet I couldn’t help but worry…”
Shin told the apologetic Raster to not worry about anything .
“Okay then, I leave to rest to you guys . If Vizzy’s here, the parents won’t attack you…not that Schnee would have trouble with them, though . ”
“That’s uncalled for . In case anything happens, I will focus on defense . ”
According to Raster, the parent dragons were on edge because of their missing child . Normally, it would be possible to spot the baby through its presence, but there were too many dragons at Rashugum, so its presence was thin and hard to find . It hadn’t completely disappeared though, so the parents would surely come back soon, or so said Raster .
“Me and Vizzy have taken out resources and stuff from the warehouse, but we never laid a hand on the Rokuten members’ stock . ”
Each member’s sections and the materials to preserve Rashugum were stored separately, so Shin and the other members’ items did not risk being used as material . Some materials, however, were difficult to find and were getting pretty low in stock .
“I’ll refill the stock with the spare stuff from our generator later . Let me just check the lists first . ”
“Sure thing!! It’s great enough that you’re going to refill our stock . I’m really thankful!!”
Raster bowed again .
The maintenance materials were usually bought from Berett or gathered with the dragons’ help . Highest class items, like Drops of Erathem and Chimeradite, were always needed, albeit in very small quantities, but they were impossible to find .
They could be replaced by other items, but lowering the quality also lowered the overall result, so Raster and Vizzy were rather troubled .
“Oh yeah, you haven’t learned 【Generate】 yet?”
“I only need a little more proficiency, but as you know, at this level you need to mess with really high grade materials to gain any points…but we don’t have enough stuff, so I can’t just use ’em up for practice . ”
Raster’s proficiency was indeed just steps away from acquiring 【Generate】 . When practicing to raise proficiency, it was not uncommon to render materials unusable, which was keeping Raster from advancing .
It involved using rare metals such as Chimeradite, Mithril, and Orichalcum to create things after all . All of them were very valuable in this world: using them in large quantities just to increase proficiency sounded just like something out of a videogame .
“Okay, I’ll give you some materials to practice after I’ve refilled your stock then . Our generator’s been working hard enough, so we won’t run out anytime soon . How much do you need?”
The items just kept piling up, so Shin made this proposal to Raster thinking of putting them to good use .
“Fo, fo, for real!?! As expected of a noble High Human, just like lord Cain! I cannot thank you enough!! I’ll check the items and tell you later!!”
After calming the overjoyed Raster, Shin and the group reached the storehouse and checked the item lists .
They checked all sections twice, like they did in Celciutos, but could not find the item they were looking for .
“Nothing here either…”
“Shin…”
Tiera was worried, but Shin laughed .
They hadn’t checked the storehouse in Palmirack yet . But as they barely found any event-related items in Celciutos and Rashugum, the probability of the same thing happening in Palmirack was high .
Just like Shin and Tsuki no Hokora, Rokuten members had homes outside their guildhouses . He couldn’t check those, however: differently from him, the other Rokuten members did not materialize their homes unless absolutely necessary .
Cook’s home, Shigureya, remained intact, but according to Zazie the item they were looking for was not there . Cook never kept items unrelated to cooking, so there was nothing to do about it .
“…then, what about Garden?”
“Garden?”
“It’s a guildhouse focused on cultivating medicinal herbs, with also many structures to create all sorts of catalysts . A High Human called Hecate was in charge of it . It looks like it’s in a relatively dangerous area now, though . ”
During his explanation to Tiera, Shin reflected .
『White Scent Nectar』 is extracted from a plant called Lily Orchid . The possibility of vegetable-related materials being stored in Garden was considerable . Higher than the other guildhouses, at least .
It had been abandoned by them, after all, so it was also a good opportunity to go check on it .
“This is the right chance . Let’s go check Palmirack first though . ”
Shin and the party had already visited it once, so they could teleport to Palmirack directly from Rashugum . Shin was also currently registered as Palmirack’s master, so they could go straight to its storeroom .
Leaving Tiera and the others behind, Shin teleported from Rashugum’s to Palmirack’s teleport point, then into the storeroom .
Several minutes later…
“…… . . ”
“I can imagine what you’re going to say, but…did you find anything?”
Tiera guessed while looking at Shin’s expression . Filma, Shibaid, and Raster could also pretty much tell, so they waited in silence for Shin to talk .
“I found the item in question, but…it’s still not enough to make a Blessed Tag . ”
Shin had actually found 『White Scent Nectar』 in Palmirack, but just 1 item card of it . Adding to what he already had, he would need at least 2 more .
From the bottom of his heart, Shin hoped that his search would end here .
“Do you know where that Garden is?”
“Yeah, I know just the place . ”
Shin answered Tiera’s question .
A large forest area to the east of the center of the continent of Eltnia . Apparently, Garden -officially called “5th Daze Garden Romenun”- was at its center .
“I actually went there once to check too . It was a heck of a party, poisonous plants and monsters everywhere . Monsters without poison resistance couldn’t even step close to it . Even poison-bearing monsters had to be pretty strong to get close . ”
Riding a dragon, Raster had gone on reconnaissance from the sky . Romenun’s surroundings were covered by thick poisonous fog, and even the Elder Dragon Raster was riding refused to go near .
Romenun itself looked unaffected and unharmed, at least from the outside .
“We can’t get in contact with Oxygen and Hydro, right?”
“Correct . But hey, considering the location, I think they’re both alright . ”
Raster meant to say that the two were both so focused on their research that they didn’t step one foot outside . At least, they wouldn’t try to leave Romenun now that it was surrounded by toxic mists . The structure was self-sufficient, so they would not risk starving to death .
In THE NEW GATE, in case of failure when creating or developing items, the materials used normally turned into trash . In rare instances, however, unexpected results happened: dangerous items called “failures” .
Such items often had “Something like a…” or “Fake…” in their names and were generated more easily the more valuable the materials used were .
Some exploded when used, others summoned monsters, other bizarre ones changed the surrounding players into swimsuits when materialized…etcetera .
They were dangerous items: no one knew when they would activate or what effects they could have . The more one delved into the depths of creation jobs, the more one would encounter them . Naturally, Shin was no exception .
“Well, at least it seems they can’t turn into sudden death items . ”
The failure items could have all sorts of effects, but it had been officially stated that they would never exhibit sudden death effects . Shin couldn’t be sure that this applied to the current world too; besides, Oxygen and Hydro were probably rational enough not to use failed items without thinking .
Trusting in this, Shin chose to stop thinking about it for the moment .
“Raster, does the name 『White Scent Nectar』 tell you anything?”
“Really sorry sir, but nothing . There is someone here who could know, though . ”
“Here?”
By “here” Raster referred to Rashugum, of course . Shin thought that only Raster and Vizzy were supposed to live there, but then an idea flashed in his mind .
“The Ancient Dragon?”
“Yessir . There’s one here that’s like the boss of all the other dragons . It’s been living for pretty long, so it knows all sorts of stuff . ”
There were monsters who could speak human language in the game era too . Dragons were rather famous for it, but other than them, Element Tails like Yuzuha and Fuji’s Kagutsuchi belonged to this category too .
It was fairly common for dragons to communicate with humans in the novels and comics Shin read too, so he remembered easily accepting the idea in the game .
“Rashugum sure turned into an incredible place, huh . ”
“I tell you, ever since Vizzy brought the dragons to live here, things turned pretty bizarre . The Ancient Dragon noticed that lots of dragons started dwelling here and appeared all of a sudden…that was a huge shock . Ah, the Ancient Dragon’s name is Tzaobath . ”
“Oh, Tzaob… . wait, really!?”
Raster mentioned the dragon’s name very casually, but hearing it made Shin stop in his tracks . Filma and Shibaid did the same .
Only Tiera failed to understand why everyone stopped, and looked at them confused .
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