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Volume 5 Chapter 1 Part 11

Faced with a difficult problem that they did not even expect to encounter, Izayoi and You crossed their arms in front of their chests and began thinking of how to conquer this hurdle on their road. Both of them could be said to be the best of the best that the new {No Name} Community had to offer in terms of battle prowess and pure offensive abilities, but now that they have effectively rendered themselves unable to participate in a Gift Game that could have resulted in them one of them getting their hands on a Sun Authority.

 

「This. . . . . this might be even more troublesome than I have initially imagined. This is exactly one of those times when I wish Asuka was here with us. She always knew what to do, regardless of the situation.」

 

「Oi Oi, hey now, you did not forget that Miss Young Lady chose to operate independently from the rest of the {No Name} for the time being, did you? I think she received a formal invitation to cooperate with us through the 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority, but as for whether or not she is going to actually help us in this first round. . .  I really do not know.」

 

「I, I. . .  I guess you are right. However, you say that, but does the same not hold true for Homura and Suzuka?」

 

「In their case it should be fine, because even though they are participating in the war, I do not think they are in it in order to win it.」

 

(You really think so, huh?)

 

You thought while tilting her head to the side for a bit.

 

In any case, it remained an indisputable truth that at the current moment, they were suffering from a crippling lack of human resources to command and the firepower they were bringing in with them.

 

With Izayoi gone and Asuka’s decision to act independently from the rest of the Community for quite a while now, the strength of {No Name} Community as a whole has dwindled down significantly due to the lack of two out of three of its most powerful, core members and it became increasingly difficult to judge whether or not they were going to keep the current position they worked so hard to gain for themselves, even more so when it came to light that both Leticia and Baron La Croix have been either missing for a long time or simply disappeared without leaving as much as a trace of themselves.

Kuro Usagi was also out of the question in terms of being able to fight on {No Name’s} behalf, not only because she handed her Spear of Indra to Izayoi and reverted back to her loli form because of that, but also because she apparently had her hands and ears full ever since Shiroyasha offered her to be one of the judges for the Gift Games of the 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority and she ended up really devoting herself to that job. Gry the Gryphon might have been a viable option. . . . if he was not currently recuperating in the Outer World from the injury he has received from the members of {Avatara} when he tried to infiltrate the palace on the island of Crete during Izayoi’s investigation of the Minotaur’s and {The Bull of Heaven’s} mess only to end up with a broken leg as a result. With all of that said, with Izayoi and You basically playing themselves into not being able to do anything that would allow them to get ahead of the rest of the competition, the only choice that might be left to them would be to enlist the help of someone from an external Community.

 

「Well, since it has come to this, then I guess our only remaining option is to go and have a stab at Heracles himself. . . . . . . . . . . . . no, on the other hand that might be out of the question as well, because I have no idea if I am going to be able to defeat him in my current state.」

 

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ? So, you really do not know anyone else whom we might have tried to invite to participate in Miss Lalah’s Gift Game on our behalf?」

 

「No, I do not, but at the same time, I feel like we are forgetting about someone. There must have been someone else whom we can turn to for help. Another friendly figure close to us in terms of strength who could participate in that Gift Game and clear it without worries no matter what the Game itself might be. . . . . . . . . . . 」

 

It was then that they felt the presence of someone approaching them from behind. It was the golden-haired girl who has been placed in a building on the opposite side to the one that has been rented out to Izayoi throughout his stay in the village.

 

「Ah. . . . . . . . .  . Good morning, Ms. Kasukabe, Mr. Izayoi. I see you two woke up quite early today.」

 

Izayoi looked at her, taking a solid minute to remember who the girl was, exactly. Yeah, if he remembered correctly, this girl was another one of Homura’s companions who have been summoned to Little Garden alongside him and Suzuka. A female knight and a protector of {Queen Halloween}, who fought by utilizing a diverse set of weaponry such as a segmented sword-whip, a bow and dual spears. After washing her face with water and drying it up with a piece of cloth, that girl, Kudou Ayato, approached Izayoi and You with a slightly apologetic face.

 

「I heard that Mr. Izayoi and Homura-senpai had an especially hard night yesterday. I am truly sorry for not being able to provide help with your tough battles when you needed it the most. That is why today, I promise to do everything in my power to. . . . . .」

 

「What a great timing, Homura’s kouhai!」

 

And without any further word of explanation, Izayoi grabbed Ayato by the neck and started running. You, also without any further explanation, You grabbed both of Ayato’s feet and also started running. No matter how you would look at it, it was a picture-perfect, textbook example of abduction. But it could not be helped. They did not have the time to be worrying themselves with small things such as moral and legal implications of what they just did. They were, after all, in a case of dire emergency. Lalah the Assistant Priestess was probably not the only one responsible for handing out invitations for that optional Gift Game, and they should also assume that the total number of Players who would be able to participate in it would be limited as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After all, she did say: 「We do not need that many people to begin with」, so if these words of hers were really an indication that this new Gift Game had a limited Player capacity, then that means they needed to act now or they would lose their chance at even discovering what tha Game is.

 

However, Ayato herself was greatly confused in regards to why was she put in a complete two-person Nelson Hold, prompting her to openly voice her concerns:

 

「Uhm, w-what is going on here?! Are we being attacked again?! Or am I getting abducted for some reason?!」

 

「It is okay. We just want you to cooperate with us for a bit. We promise to get you back here safely when everything will be over. All you have to do is to lend us your body and use it to do a little secret job for us.」

 

「That suspicious phrasing only has me more worried now!!!」

 

Ayato knew right away that she would be not compatible with You, who was always a free spirit doing everything at her own pace, but since she had no means of freeing herself, she had no choice but to be dragged around by her and Izayoi wherever they were taking her, and they were making so much racket as if they were a pair or rampaging horses running through the village at such a breakneck speed that people were collapsing onto the ground and livestock got scared whenever they were passing by them.

 

When Izayoi and You finally caught up to Lalah, they found her near the entrance to the village, talking to a woman with a ponytail.

 

「This is bad. . . . ! We have to interrupt them, even if it means using force, You!」

 

「Huh? Ah, oh, y-yeah!」

 

You was a bit surprised from suddenly being called out by her name like that, but she immediately collected herself and replied swiftly.

 

In this situation where every minute and second counted, there was only one thing they could do. You and Izayoi managed to read each other’s intentions perfectly in a span of a single breath, and Ayato went pale, realizing what was most likely going to happen to her in the next few minutes.

 

Not knowing about the eccentric thing that was about to happen, Lalah and the woman with a ponytail were having a conversation that was similar, albeit slightly different to the one she had with Izayoi and You.

 

「. . . . . . .  can we count on your courage and strength to aid us?」

 

「Sure, I do not mind it, but if possible, could you wait for a bit? There should be a girl in this village whom I absolutely need to talk to before anything else. . . . 」

「Ah, yes, of course! Everything would start tomorrow, so feel free to rest up and heal your fatigue in the village for the rest of the day!」

 

「I understand. By the way, the person I am looking for is a blonde, blue-eyed, disproportionately big-breasted girl. Have you seen her any. . . . . .」

 

「W-Wait a second, I did not consent to thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis. . . . . . . . . . ! ! ! ! !」

 

A blonde, blue-eyed, disproportionately big-breasted girl was thrown forward with an ear-piercing scream. And in the moment when the ponytailed woman raised her face to see what all the fuss was about. . . . . . . .

 

「. . . . . . . . whereeeegbwaaahhh!!!!!!」

 

. . . . . . . she suffered a direct hit to it with Ayato’s chest, hurting her neck and causing her to be blown away to the village’s exterior in the process.