Part 3[แก้ไข]
---In the skies above [Underwood]. The Ancient vampire Citadel, Throne of the Elliptical Path.
A black robed female---the woman called Aura had claimed a space on the platform between the cornering in the stairway as she scried the movements of her enemy on the ground from a crystal ball before saying softly:
“……Your Highness, [Underwood] has made their move.”
“Really? Then it’s about time as well. Have you completed the preparations to meet their attack?”
“Of course. I’ve already scattered tōchūkasōes on the corpses of the Vampires outside of the Outer Walls. Seeing how corpses are the best seedbed for them, I would bet that the whole Outer walls would be swarming with them now.”
Aura covered her mouth as she giggled. His Highness had also nodded his head in acknowledgement. As for Rin who was standing behind him, she continued to pleat His Highness’s white hair while exclaiming in a surprised tone:
“Really~ I thought that the Participants needed more time ~”
“Hm? Why?”
“Isn’t the ceasefire period for one week? It’s only been three days and they shouldn’t have to be so hurried in their actions. Moreover, there also seems to be quite a bit of casualties for their winged Eudemons. If I were them, I would have continued to focus on recuperating and saving strength up till the last moment……Hm and maybe around the fifth day, I would prepare the gathering of the main force that will scout the enemy’s fortress.”
Rin’s words caused His Highness and Aura to fall into deep thought.
They should be thinking that it had quite a bit of value to it even though this couldn’t be taken as an unbiased source.
“……Sounds like Rin’s conjecture might be right too. According to the shikigami reports, their main force didn’t even reach the count of 50.”
“Even if we add in the non-combatants, it should still be an addition of 5%......That kind of numbers to face the Titan tribe, it’s a little too small.”
“Could it be that they are reserving their true strength or are calling for backup?”
“No, that’s not a realistic plan. In the current situation where the [Floor Masters] are being pressured, only people like Bull Demon King would be willing to help out Communities that are being attacked by Demon Lords. And Bull Demon King had already gone to help the [Onihime] Alliance. So the current possibilities that I can think of now are narrowed to these two!”
Rin raised her right hand into the air while pointing upwards with her fingers in the shape of a ‘two’.
“One is that the Participants have fallen into a situation where they have met a problem in the solving of the riddle and they are unable to make head or tail of it and are unable to control the pieces in the game to their liking anymore. Hence they are being reckless to the point of being willing to sacrifice themselves to try invade the Community Grounds of the enemy even if this might just be a ploy to lure them into a trap.”
Saying that, Rin curled her middle finger down.
Just then, a mocking laugh came from the shadows of the cloister’s pillars.
“……how boring. But anyways, those guys are only a crowd of low level Communities clumping together.”
The ferocious and ominous voice was brimming with haughtiness.
But Rin placed her hands on her hips in akimbo as she seemed to chide agitatedly:
“Gra-Oji-san! Don’t be like that~! I feel that it won’t do oji-san any good to have that kind of haughty attitude! For only third-rate Players would boast and lose due to underestimating their enemies!”
“……Hmph!”
Getting chided by a little girl, Graiya gave a dissatisfied harrumph.
But Rin continued to explain her conjectures with a composed face.
“The first possibility doesn’t exist. Since Garol-dono had also arrived to attend this Harvest Festival and it would only be a matter of time before the riddle is solved. As for the Community who defeated Percher……No, it’s [Black Death Demon Lord], they are also here and it shouldn’t be making them fall into a troublesome situation as of yet. For if they could solve the riddle of [The PIED PIPER of HAMELIN], this game shouldn’t be much of a problem to them.”
“But that’s only from your view right, Rin? So have you solved the riddle of [The PIED PIPER of HAMELIN]?”
“Nn. For something that follows the standard format without Punishments, I only took around five days to solve it. That riddle just required a lot of different viewpoints of different worlds and eras to explain the [Piper of Hamelin] so it was a little challenging……Gra-Oji-san solved it yet?”
Graiya remained silent after giving two more grunts.
Sensing that she managed to out-argue the other, Rin lifted her finger once more to explain:
“But, for the first possibility to exist, it would only mean that the difference between our levels is far too great and nothing to be feared. It isn’t tough to handle impatient and frustrated enemies---so the problem lies with the second possibility.”
At this point, Rin’s face became more solemn, as the trace of mischief was wiped off her face and she squinted her eyes to study the surroundings.
“---And this is one of the worst possibility: The Participants on the ground have already solved the riddle and the current situation forces them to make an early strike. For example---an important person by some accident had been brought up into the Enemy’s citadel or something.”