Chapter 1452 No One Can Make You A Number One, But You Yourself Part 1

When something that is supposed to be voluntary becomes obligatory all of a sudden, it is the moment when something that was supposed to be an entertainment turns into nothing more but penance.

This is an event that took place after the “Nightless” night when “they” gathered ……

* * *

The gathering of other Goldunines and the surprise assault by the Goldunine the Inexhaustible…… It’s been about one week since both of those events took place.

「…… Nine, -chan?]

「…… What do you want?]

The place that they were at the current moment was the Church of the Three Deities, New World Branch. It was the place where both Nine and August decided to run away to after Nine lost her arm in that battle.

Originally, The Three Gods was the type of religion that was only meant for humans to worship. However, the reason why Nine, who is not a human being, was accepted in here is because the leader of the Holy Shield Territory was there at the current moment, whose kindness is way greater when it comes to women characters, or could it be said to be the mercy of the Saint-chan granting her blessing from far away?

Anyways, the situation was that both August and Nine were currently hiding in one of the Church’s rooms……

「Umm…… Ahh, umm, this is…… the arm……]

「Give it a rest already, so annoying.]

「Hiyuh!]

Whenever she wanted to look her in the eyes, Nine would just dodge out of the way and look somewhere else. At first, August was really sorry to her every time she would see one of her empty sleeves just sway in the wind that was blowing from the windows, signalizing that there was nothing inside of that sleeve. And it was true, because Nine’s arm was cut off all the way at the base of her shoulder. Of course, Nine said that she did not care for her lost arm, but the more August was looking at her with regret in her eyes the more frustrated she was growing to be.

「If you want to talk to me, just look me in the face! But it’s always “Your arm this!” and “Your arm that!” with you……]

「B-But still……! But still……!]

「Do you honestly think that looking at me with teary eyes is going to make our situation better?]

「Ugh……]

Nine was right on the mark with that one.

If this was the real world, this conversation would not be able to even take place in the first place. However, Shangri-La Frontier is a game first and foremost all, no matter how realistic it might seem.

Perhaps the NPC deficiency is always being restored, so they wouldn’t have to suffer through such problems, but at the current moment August was really at a loss as to what she should do…… That was the current situation in which August managed to find herself in.

「……………]

At the current moment August really was feeling as though she was traversing the bottomless abyss while balancing on a really thin line, thinner than a spider’s thread. …… And because this is a game, August was sure that even though she was unable to see it properly, the “Likeability” gauge of Nine towards her was steadily decreasing for a while now. At this rate it would not take long for Nine to actually start hating August. She was sure of it.

「…… Gusu.]

August…… No matter how muscular her avatar might seem on the surface, the inside of it is still comprised of Ayaori Mao, an Elementary School girl who loves action movies above all else. And because she is still immature and unexperienced in the ways of the world, she could not help it but to feel tremendous sense of responsibility for the situation the two of them have found themselves in.

The story here might have been different if both August and Nine had means of actually starting over and getting back into the action. For example, starting to ask questions like: “Would it not be possible to regrow a lost limb of an NPC with the help of the Era of the Gods’ technology or something like that?”

However, in her current state August was unable to reach that kind of a conclusion on her own. The terrifying memory of the defeat has imprinted an inevitable suspicion and resignation inside of her brain, rendering the individual known as “August” pretty much powerless and unwilling to take action of her own volition.

Why is it that always when she tried to do something, she would end up achieving nothing?

No matter how much she would try to make herself look like the stars of the movies she admired so much, she would end up as a macho only on paper?

Doubt is a dangerous poison. Once it manages to catch ablaze, it burns just like a chain-fire, spreading all over the place in a blink of an eye……

「Please, no more, I hate this……]

Why is it that she feel so much in blame and ashamed inside of a game that is supposed to be fun to play?

Why does she have to keep on logging into this game when it stopped being fun for her to do so?

At that moment the letters combining into the word “breakdown” were starting to appear more and more inside of August’s mind, ready to overtake it completely……

─── It was at that exact moment that their situation was about to change drastically.

KNOCK, KNOCK!

「…… Who’s there?]

─── And what was going to be this all-important breakthrough?

「Umm…… Are you perhaps August-san? One of my Husband’s acquaintances said that you might be in a dire need of…… encouragement of some sort?]

─── Believe it or not…… It actually came crushing right through the door.

「Oh, yes, that’s right, where are my manners? …… I totally forgot to introduce myself there. Nice to meet you, my name is Massive Dynamite…… It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, August-san.]

「Huh ––––––?]

Well, according to the truth about this world, muscles can solve basically everything.

* * * * * *

「Hey there, Sanraku-kun……]

「What the hell do you want?]

「No, it’s just that…… I even asked that person for help. I thought that you might find that to be interesting……?]

「You should not have told me that.]

「Naughty, naughty…… Aaahh!! That gaze of yours is so thrilling! It’s such a treat!]

「…… You look as if you have just received the greatest reward in your entire life.]

「……………… Oh, you can tell? True, right about now I am having a time of my life!]

「Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, dude…… Well, the thing is, aren’t they basically flawed? And if so, isn’t it better to be the person you admire the most rather than the one you just met once or twice in your life?]