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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 6 Chapter 3.5

M smiled and thanked Yukihime-neesan for her advice.

Since there wasn’t much time left, everyone was immediately examined with the radar.

In the end however, none of the participants had two bags. Nor did any of them have double the number of coins. There were three people in butler’s suits with collars who had only two coins each for some reason, but the rest were all participants who had four coins each.

There were no obvious signs of theft.

「Um, what’s the meaning of this? 」

As M tilts her head, Yukihime-neesan voices her anger.

「The bottom line is that the big man there was a madman, and a very noisy one at that. 」 Yukihime-neesan dismisses it straight away.

「Don’t be silly! I had it, it was definitely stolen! 」 The large man says with a desperate look on his face. Based on the look on his face, I couldn’t believe that he is lying.

Yukihime-neesan, who had been thinking with her hand posed on her mouth, seems to be thinking the same thing as me. She muttered to herself, 「In that case… it might be a Nanana collection. 」

The participants were shocked.

The participants, who have just been shown the power of Daisei’s nanana collection, look at each other as if suspicious of everyone else’s  Nanana collection.

A Nanana collection to steal something? No, it’s impossible to say for sure that it is such an ability, it could have just been an ability applied for this purpose.

Yukihime-neesan asks M, 「M, the rules allow the use of the Nanana collection at any time. However, I believe that stealing coins is a violation of the first stage rules, right? 」

M was puzzled by this specific question.

「Um… the rules allow for the passing of coins as long as it’s agreed upon. However, any other exchanging of coins outside of the battle area are not allowed. In other words, it is against the rules to use Nanana collection to take a player’s coin outside of a match. 」「Please officially make this a rule so it doesn’t happen in the future. 」

「OK. In the first stage, it is illegal to steal coins no matter how much you use a Nanana collection. 」

M’s declaration makes Yukihime-neesan nod and say, 「Yeah that’s good. 」

「Hey, what’s going to happen to me though? 」

「I don’t know. In fact, I can’t deny the possibility that it’s still your own doing. Isn’t he perhaps trying to get some extra coins from M under the guise of being robbed? 」

「I wouldn’t do that! 」

「So how about this? From now on we will number the bags of the participants. If you find a bag that’s not numbered then it will be your bag, and if someone else is carrying it then they are the culprit. This is also a crime prevention measure. But no matter how clear the rules are, there is no guarantee that someone will not use their Nanana collection to steal. 」

「I see, Oneesan is right! 」

Having made this decision, M’s actions (or rather the actions of the gorokuma) were swift. They came out of the cloak, received a large quantity of grease pens they had procured from somewhere, and in no time at all they had written numbers on the bags of everyone in the room. They also made a list including our names on it.

「We also put numbers on the bags of those who did not attend the seminar. Now we know who has which bag number.「」

「Now the criminal won’t be able to steal so easily. 」

「If you have a similar incident, please report it to your local gorokuma. We’ll expose the culprit even if we have to pause the 《game》 for a moment. 」

While these measures were being taken, the big popped up.

「But… my coins…」

「Please look for it yourself. 」

「Why is this happening to me? 」

Yukihime-neesan gives a cold glare at the irritated giant.

「You must have bad habits. 」

When she said that, the large man glared at Yukihime-neesan with a murderous intent in his eyes.

Suddenly a ‘Ding Dong Ding Dong’ sound rang out.

When I looked at the wall clock in the conference room, the time had just hit.

「I know there has been an accident and things are a bit of a mess, but I just wanted to say a few words to end this. Please read the booklet thoroughly and do your best to clear the first stage. 」

Then M takes a deep breath and shouts energetically, 「Let the first stage begin! 」

*********************************

「Dammit all, that damn woman! I’ll never forgive her for this! 」

At the start of the first stage, the big man had his bag stolen and was left with 0 coins, so he was unable to participate and just wondered around the park. At this point it is doubtful that his coins will be found. Looking around he can see participants scattered around Seven’s Land holding the booklets they got at the seminar. He thought about trying to steal the coins from these people. However the gorokuma that were stationed throughout the park prevented him from doing anything bad.

He wondered if he should he go on a rampage and ruin the game. However, even with his Nanana collection, he doubted that he’d be able to kill all the gorokuma that would be coming at him.

In other words there’s nothing more he can do.

「Shit! 」

In the end he had no choice but to wonder around Seven’s Land while cursing.

「That sure was a disaster, huh. 」

A participant approached the large man.

「…what is it, Hiiyo? 」

He knew the man. Hiiyo Ikusaba is a man with a broad face who is well known among the owners of the Nanana collection. The big guy has also had interactions with him before.

「How about you play against me? 」

Hiiyo started saying something weird like that.

「Huh? You saw me earlier right? I don’t have any coins anymore. 」

「But you still have something of worth right? 」

The big guy frowned at the grinning Hiiyo.

「? What’s that? 」

「A Nanana collection. 」

The big guys eyes opened wide.

「What do you mean? Don’t tell me you want me to gamble my Nanana collection. 」

「That’s right. 」

「No, no, no, I can’t do that. Besides, the rules of the game forbid you to have more than one. 」

「That’s incorrect. It is not against the rules to have more than one, but to bring more than one. There is no problem with getting them after the game has started. 」

「That may be technically true, but will that kind of logic really be allowed? 」

「When it comes to this 《game》 that theory will hold true. The first rules announced are absolute, but basically everything else is a gray area. Well, there’s still the arrogance of the organizers who is allowed to change the rules, but the organizers will do whatever they want. 」

Hiiyo seems to know everything about this 《game》. Then the big guy remembered something. He thought he recalled rumors that Hiiyo participated in the 《game》 two years ago as one of the original adventure club members.

「Yeah but betting my Nanana collection…」

「Think carefully. If M wins, the Nanana collection will be confiscated anyways. All you can do now is wait for someone to stop her and for the game to end without further incident. Can you really be satisfied with leaving it up to others like that? 」

「You’re right… I couldn’t accept not doing anything about it. 」

「Yeah, right? 」

「And I need to make her suffer too. 」

He remembers how Yukihime looked down on him, and it made him angry.

「…I don’t think that’s going to happen. 」

「Huh? What did you say Hiiyo? 」

「No, it’s nothing. Don’t’ worry about it. 」

「So? How do you want to play this? 」

「Anyways, let’s compete in a battle area somewhere. From what I’ve heard, it seems like it’ll be a fair fight. 」

「No, no. I don’t have any coins. 」

「I’ll lend you a coin. You bet that one coin and battle me. If you win, you get two coins and return to the 《game》. But if you lose you will give me your Nanana collection after the game. 」

Having said this, Hiiyo tosses a coin to the big man, who catches it.

「So how do we choose a battle area? 」

「I’ll leave it to you, choose any place you like. 」

「That’s generous. 」

「You are betting a Nanana collection. You haved more at stake here. 」

Hiiyo laughs as he says this.

The big man glances down at his feet. He sees the black boots that Ikusaba always wears. The big man has a smile on the inside. This is because the big man knows the abilities of each and every one of Ikusaba’s Nanana collections.

Ikusaba’s ability to hide in the shadows is troublesome, but since he said the big man could pick the battle area, there will be ways to deal with it.

Even if by chance he would lose here he wouldn’t have to give the organizers his Nanana collection. If they complain about it, just shut them up with the Nanana collection.

It is by far the best in terms of violence.

「Ok, let’s do it. 」

「It’s decided then. 」

A few minutes later the big man was robbed of not only his coins, but also his Nanana collection. He’s literally lost everything.

******************************************

After leaving the seminar Fugi Yukihime stepped unnoticed into the bushes nearby.

She then picked it up from out of the weeds. It was a bag of coins with no numbers on it. She pulls 4 coins out of it and puts them into the bag she stole from the big guy, which is numbered 《13》. Yes, before the seminar started she took out her participation fee and threw her bag into the bushes.

「That was easy, wasn’t it? 」

After confirming that there are no witnesses, Yukihime emerges from the bushes and heads to her destination.

At the prearranged meeting place Ikusaba was already there and in a very good mood.

「Looks like it went well? 」