章 62: Versus
Manco woke up at dawn. Having decided what to do for the day, he quickly rearranged his spell list.
Tier-0: (5/5) 「Mana Bolt」, 「Fire Bolt」, 「Ice Shard」, 「Gust」, 「Freezing Touch」
Tier-1: (3/3) 「Mana Blast」, 「Fire Ball」, 「Minor Heal」
Tier-2: (2/2) 「Vigil」, 「Spatial Displacement I」
After a quick breakfast, he left the inn and joined a group of cattle farmers and lumberjacks going to work. The farmers had with them two dozen cows and the same amount of sheep.
Along the way, he discreetly checked out his surroundings for signs of other players while absentmindedly listening to the chatter.
"Did you hear? Some maniacs laid traps around the town last night!"
"Hear? I friggin' stepped on one! Nearly lost my leg! I'm lucky Iridia was able to fix it!"
Trying not to laugh, he activated 「Arcane Vision」 and looked for 「Vigil」spells that had been laid down, but there was no sign of them.
'Hmm. They've probably logged off,' shrugging, he began sorting out his inventory.
Together, they crossed the bridge over Aegis river. After a few minutes, the farmers herded the cattle toward the grass fields, while Manco and the lumberjacks keep going west toward the forest.
At the edge of the forest, as the workers began cutting down trees to bring back to town, Manco walked in deeper and entered the Sighing Swamp. He needed to gather 800 more Strangler Vine berries to complete Nina's quest.
He quickly found the glowing road, which, of course, didn't glow during the day. After laying down a 「Vigil」 spell for a warning just in case someone followed him, he equipped his armor and followed the road.
After a few minutes, he passed the sign warning travelers of Strangler Vines. Another five minutes, he saw the first vines squirming on a cypress tree.
"Come on, let's play!" Grinning, he drew his gun.
With a slew of new offensive spells, Manco found it a breeze to deal with the Vines. He had plenty more ways to hurt the plants, especially with 「Fire Bolt」 and 「Fire Ball」.
Of course, plenty of running and dodging was still involved, but the hunt was quite effortless compared to before. Even if he got grabbed, he could simply escape with 「Spatial Displacement I」. If he was low on mana, he could cast 「Freezing Touch」 followed by 「Fire Ball」 to force the plants to let go.
Accidentally falling down sinking ground or deep water wasn't as much of a threat as before, as he could temporarily solidify them with 「Ice Shard」 or 「Freezing Touch」 to gain a foothold, or simply teleport to a more solid area.
After two hours, Manco's inventory was filled with the vine fiber, berries, saplings, and vials of sap. Pleased with his progress, he headed back to the edge of the forest, just in time to mix in with a group of lumberjacks transporting the felled trees to town.
After a quick inspection which, once again, revealed no players, Manco headed for the town center and entered the church.
Inside, Iridia was finishing a speech. As the church goers said their goodbyes and leave, he approached the cleric.
"I've completed two of your quests," he announced and handed the Sacred Oak tree branch to her.
"The gods have informed me of your good deeds…" eyes beaming with gratitude, she accepted the item, then launched a short speech singing his praises while he did his best not to yawn.
〔Quest completed: Desecrated Ground〕
〔Quest completed: Holy Wood〕
The rewards were a few Cleric items, a variety of consumables, increased standing with various religions that worshiped benevolent gods. Most importantly, he was taught two dozen Cleric spells.
Bidding goodbye to Iridia, he left the church and checked the bulletin board outside the sheriff's-office-slash-barrack mansion.
Most of the quests were of the mundane "Get this, kill that" variety. The others were too tedious to do. What drew his eyes were a simple piece of paper posted at the middle of the board.
'To: Manco'
'We politely suggest you return to us what is ours.'
'We are willing to offer you payment for your cooperation.'
'Please don't make things worse.'
"Oh, they begin with negotiation. That's nice!" He chuckled and muttered to himself.
"So, how'll you respond?" A low voice rumbled behind him, accompanied by heavy footsteps.
Manco turned around. BoneCrusha the barbarian towered above him, his arms crossed in front of his chest. Standing on his sides were SilentDeath and Oneshot.
"Oh, hello big guy! How are you?" He asked with a smile.
"We'll be better after we're done with this crap!" The barbarian answered. He was probably using a variant of the 'generic tough guy #35' voice set, very popular with kids trying to sound tough.
"Where's the other three?", Manco asked and looked around.
"They're not here!" Oneshot blurted out, only to receive an elbow from BoneCrusha. Rubbing his chest, he threw the barbarian an annoyed look.
"I'm enough to deal with this!" the big guy said.
"Really? You don't seem to me like the brains of the group!"
"What did you just say?" That provocation seemed to have done the trick.
"Nothing. I mean, how are you gonna do that? 'Deal with this', I mean."
"Just hand over that monocle, and we'll leave you alone. We'll give you 500 bucks for it!"
"And if I don't?"
"We'll track you down and mess you up! You'll regret messing with us!" said the barbarian through gritted teeth.
"You know, that threat would be a LOT more effective if the events of yesterday didn't happen!"
"I'm warning you! This is your last chance! Don't make this any worse than it has to be!"
"Oooh, scary! Whatchoo gonna do?" Manco asked with a maddening grin.
"I'm gonna mess you up!" His patience run out, the barbarian drew back his fist and swung at Manco's face. The powerful strike went through him like he was air.
"You can't fight in towns, genius! I thought you've figured that out by now!" Manco said, exasperated.
Growling in anger, the barbarian unleashed a barrage of punches at Manco, who pretended to yawn. After a minute, when it couldn't be any clearer that he couldn't hurt the mage, he stopped.
"Just wait until you leave town! The moment you do, you're dead!" Spitting on the ground, he turned away, gesturing for the other two to follow.
"Hey, hold up!" Manco called after the three, who turned around.
"Seems like we got off on the wrong foot! Let's try again. I'm Manco, the FaceWrecker," he said, holding out his hand.
Confused, BoneCrusha looked at his two teammates for guidance, but received none. Shrugging his massive shoulders, he shook Manco's hand. "BoneCrusha, the, uh… bone crusher."
"Fabulous name!" Manco praised, and before the big guy could get angry again, he got to the point. "So, I understand you guys want to get back that monocle. And you plan to kill me until I drop it. Correct?"
"Yes." The barbarian nodded.
"But it won't drop all the time. It says 10% chance, so at least you'll have to kill me 10 times to guarantee a drop. Can you imagine how much time that would take?"
"Uh…" BoneCrusha stammered, not sure how to respond.
"How about this? Let's have a duel!"
"A duel?"
"Yeah! One-on-one. You and me, full gear. I'll bet the monocle, and you'll bet something of equivalent value. Winner takes all."
"Really, you?" The barbarian scoffed, obviously not considering the mage a threat in a direct confrontation. "Here's a better idea: why don't you just give us the monocle and save everyone's time?"
"Because… this is more fun?" Manco said, dragging his voice, "If you're not interested then… Fine, see you outta town! I might log off for a few days, though, so…"
"No, wait! Let's do it! One-on-one duel!"
"Hey, are you sure?" The rogue grabbed the barbarian's arm. He was silent for a few moments, apparently talking in a private voice channel.
"Yeah, he's right!" Manco said, guessing the content. "Morana won't like this. You'd better do whatever she says like a good boy!"
"Bullshit! I'll do whatever I wanna do!" BoneCrusha pushed SilentDeath away, "So when are we gonna do this?"
"How about right now?"
"Fine!" The barbarian stood up straight, cracking his knuckles, then he scratched his head in confusion: "No, wait, not now! I need 1 hour to, uh, prepare!"
"Only one hour? How about I give you 3 days?" Manco snapped. Catching one of them alone was a good opportunity, which he didn't want to waste by waiting. What if Morana showed up and called off the duel?
"No, no, no need! We can start right now! I don't need to prepare to tear you a new one!"
"That's more like it! Now hang on a sec!" Manco said as he opened the menu and select the PvP option 'Duel.'
〔Player versus Player Duel 〕
〔Format: 1 vs 1 ►〕
〔Level restriction: within 5 ►〕
〔Class restriction: None ►〕
〔Win condition: One side's death or incapacitation ►〕
〔Time limit: 5 minutes (Change ►)〕
〔Wager: Yes ►〕
〔Select wager ►〕
〔Select map ►〕
〔Time of day: Random ►〕
〔Weather condition: Random ►〕
〔Player 1: Manco the FaceWrecker〕〔Status: Ready 〕
〔Player 2: N/A〕〔Status: N/A 〕
〔Ready 〕〔Start 〕
Briefly scrolling through the map, he picked 'Ruined Hamlet,' and placed the monocle into the wager slot.
"Here you go!" With a flourish, he send the Duel challenge to BoneCrusha.
"Ruined Hamlet?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" The barbarian said as he put his own Beta Item into his own wager slot.
"Ready?"
"Ready!"
"Alright, here goes!" Manco hit Start, and a portal opened up to his right. Through the shimmering surface, he saw the site of their duel.
"After you!" he said to BoneCrusha.
Scoffing, the barbarian stepped into the portal, and Manco followed.
クリエイターの想い 
ImBloo
ImBloo Special thanks to blinky47j for the ko-fi gift!
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