Chapter 1463 A Certain Day in December: Abandoned Reins, Festivals are a Time When You Are The Most Busy

If there is light somewhere, the shadows usually follow closely behind. And it is certainly true when it comes to a city, especially if it stands out in a visual sense of the word…… And Fifthsia was surely one of such cities.

The outside of a large backstreet area that uses the remains of a huge shipwreck as a roof…… It’s so huge that even the hands of the judiciary system can’t get rid of all of its darkness even if they tried to.

To tell the truth here, it is possible to put some “legal rules” on the riffraffs and outlaws…… but the authorities chose to coexist with them instead of destroying the security of the underworld, which was so bloated that it had almost as much power as the authorities themselves. At the discretion of the ruler of Fifthsia, the city of Fifthsia, which has two faces, light and shadow, continues to prosper to this day.

Besides, not all Players choose to follow the royal camp. Of course, if there is a “such” situation in the back streets, there are people who like that kind of role-playing more than anything else in this world……

* * *

Fifthsia’s backstreet bar “Shadow-Swimming Shark”. If you wanted to make the bar a hidden meeting place where people from the underworld who have a common purpose could gather, this was your place…… And the Players were in luck that the owner was an old drunk who got bribed with booze and now the place was run exclusively by the Players for the time being.

「…… Welcome, what is your order?」

「Umm……”I would like to enter the Tsuchinoko Cup”, please……?」

「…… Dear Customer, the toilet is over there, at the back.」

「Wow, it was just like the guide said, I did not wanted to believe this initially…… Nice, I like this.」

There are those who have been invited here by a former Player Killer. If you open the door of the toilet with the password given to you, you will reach the hidden room of “Shadow-Swimming Shark”, which is unnaturally large in appearance compared to the size of the rest of the store.

There was one person inside of the hidden room. And it did not take long to understand that they were a Player as well from the display that floats above their head.

「Yo! You got here by getting an invitation from Surviv-san, right?」

「Ahh, umm, yes! It was talking about a way to go to the New Continent…… But what does that even mean? And what is the Tsuchinoko Cup, exactly?」

「It’s like my actual job to explain all of those things properly……」

A man with a suspicious eyepatch, labeled as “Black Curtain” over his head, begins explaining the rules to the new “participants.”

「I’ll skip part of the story because you already know about that one shot gig with Goldunine in the New Continent, correct? In short, you have to go to the New Continent because there is an event in the New Continent that will take place soon enough, but you don’t really have to go back from the New Continent once the event is over. And that’s about it.」

「Umm, does that mean that coming back will be done via Teleportation?」

Teleportation Magic is like the means of fast travel in the world of Shangri-La Frontier, and it requires that both the magic user and the companion have been to the transfer destination. Therefore, a Player who has never been to the New Continent cannot fly to the New Continent with the help of the Teleportation Magic.

「That’s what the Tsuchinoko Cup is actually for.」

Perhaps he was prepared for questions like that to go all the way, but the Black Curtain did not break his role-play even for a moment here, even drinking some sort of alcohol from a trumpet as if it was a bottle of wine. All the Players who visit this place were always unknowingly drawn in by that atmosphere and mesmerized by it.

「Do you happen to know Tsuchinoko-san?」

「Well yeah, I guess so. If you’re so enthusiastic about this game, you’ll end up hearing that name at least once.」

「Is it true that Tsuchinoko-san used some sort of a huge ship in the New World to defeat Siegwrum? Because there is such a rumor going on.」

「No, at least…… That’s the first time I have heard of it…… Like, he was on a ship or something?」

「Well, I mean, I don’t really care about the details. The point is: Tsuchinoko-san has a connection with a shipbuilding-related NPC, and that ship is of his is apparently the best there is!」

An unknown ship that the player “Sanraku” unveiled in the New Continent. Although it is a small cruiser-sized ship that is not a luxury liner dedicated to researching the New Continent, it is equipped with weapons that can destroy and corner even the Unique Monster of Siegwrum, the Heavenly Emperor’s caliber, and it is rumored that the ship can even sail between continents by itself.

Its name is supposed to be “Seikaisen”. The large number of Players in this game is enthusiastic about production jobs rather than fighting and exploring, and even if we were to sift through the Players who are enthusiastic about the niche direction of shipbuilding, there are still a decent number of people who would be into that.

「It’s not like I’m interested in it personally, but now there is an unprecedented shipbuilding boom here in Fifthsia. And people are starting to take notice of that.」

An unprecedented shipbuilding boom. And as if with any boom out there, if you see the opportunity, you want to capitalize on it. And if there is competition, the lit fire will burn even harder.

「Tsuchinoko Cup…… To make the long story short, you literally get to experience a Player Event where you race on a conquest ship made by a production worker…… and your destination is none other than the New Continent itself.」

The Tsuchinoko Cup, a name that can never be ignored by Players who are enthusiastic about shipbuilding. It suddenly appeared at the Fifthisia’s shipyard, and the “conditions” that it presented have made it very accessible even for beginners.

─── I want to transport a large number of Players to the New Continent soon. You want to build a ship. These two purposes can coexist…… Don’t you think so?

Those were the conditions presented to shipbuilding Players. Instead of transporting the Players who want to go to the New Continent, it prepares a “reward” for them. And the shipbuilding Players turned it into a kind of boat race…… or a triathlon-like project.

That is the essence of the first Tsuchinoko Cup. The first-class star-class “Lapisteria Star Crystal” prepared by Sanraku. The Players would compete between the continents from the Old World’s Fifthsia to the frontline base of the New Continent with the use of their own conquest vessels and the first to get to the goal would snatch the prize. There is also information that it is being used as the power source for the participants that even the “beginning conquest ship builders” can become a shipbuilding legends thanks to this, and the heat of the craftsman Players that love shipbuilding continues to rise without knowing the upper limit.

「I see…… It’s going to be a really fun voyage.」

「I know, right? But still……」

「However?」

Black Curtain…… He was the Player who used all of his money to buy this tavern and wanted to run it like he normally would this kind of establishment, but this time around he was really enjoying the role of the mediator and the middle man for this Player-made event. But since that Player right here looked like an honest and naïve lad, he also felt that it might be good to give him some advice purely out of sympathy.

「We are expecting to see some of the builders to not even reach the dock, dropping out on their way there. You know how people are: why compete when you can get rid of the competition.」

「There is no guaranteed security to the competitors!?」

The Players will be revived even if they die. That means that no matter how inhumane you make you vessel or how much of a monster machine with no regards to safety it is going to be, no one’s conscience will be to blame here.

* * * * * *

At a certain shipyard.

「You should put in a disturbing gimmick. Why don’t you make the anchor into a projectile mechanism? It will make a big hole in the side of the enemy ship?」

「No, it’s better to strengthen the defense here. Others are thinking the same.」

「No, the guys at the Third Dock are going to specialize in speed, right?」

「Why don’t you just make something that will tie the Player on board to the hull of their own ship…… Or why don’t you put a save point on top of the ship and shoot the enemy Players directly to disturb their ships?」

「Oi, oi…… Am I a genius or what?」

「It seems that the victory will be ours here……」

「If that’s the case, I’ll have to make a human artillery device right away!!」

There is no one to stop those Players anymore. Because the sponsors who have the power and means of stopping them are now all in the New Continent.