assassin and archangel
The day after the guild [Maple Tree] was established, Maple invited Izu, a production worker, to join the guild.
Nine days later, all the guild members were gathered in a certain corner of the field by Maple.
"Come on!"
Maple was in a good mood, spinning round and round in front of everyone.
However, it wasn't the usual [Unique Series], it was a set of Izu's special equipment that was entirely pure white with blue gems as accents in several places.
"It was difficult to make this equipment, but it was worth it."
Seeing Maple wearing the equipment she made herself, Izu was filled with a sense of accomplishment.
This equipment was the equipment that Maple requested from Izu five days ago, and it was a masterpiece that Izu created almost without compromise after being shown a certain skill that she had acquired.
Furthermore, as a result of increasing its performance, Izu made it in the past, and it was two levels higher than Chrome's current equipment.
“This is the equipment that Izu has worked so hard to make for the last five days.
“Maple, you look good in white too!”
Chrome envyingly looked at Maple's equipment, while Kanade smiled and praised Maple.
"I'm scared to hear about what happened, such as Maple wanting equipment..."
“Ah, that’s right…Isn’t the current equipment insufficient?”
(There is a high possibility that she has acquired some kind of strange skill. Maple-san is not the type to needlessly ask for equipment, and above all, that black armor seems to be quite high-performance, so there is no reason to change it.)
On the other hand, Sally, Kasumi, and Hyde have a bad feeling.
Because Maple asked for new equipment, and he was convinced that he had done something else.
(What exactly is the reason for Maple-san, who has never changed her equipment, to ask for it...)
Maple has never changed her equipment since the first event when her name was widely known.
To be more precise, the rings and other accessories have been changed, but the armor and weapons have remained the same.
Some time has already passed since the first event ended, and there have been several updates, and the number of high-quality player-made equipment has increased.
But so far I haven't changed anything. It's not unreasonable to feel a bad premonition.
“It’s fine to show off your equipment, but why did you go out on the field?
At Chrome's question, the gazes of the members other than Izu all focused on Maple.
As he said, if you want to show your equipment, you can do it in the common areas of the home. No need to go out on the field.
“Yeah! Actually, I got a new skill, so I came here to show it to everyone!
"Is that so... a new skill?"
Everyone reacts in their own way, bewildered or curious.
But after all, everyone was vaguely expecting it, so there wasn't much surprise in the reaction.
"What kind of skill is it?"
"Look at me! [Dedicated compassion]!
When Maple activates the skill, a red damage effect bursts from her body.
At the same time, a faint light shone on the ground within a ten meter radius around Maple.
This was the only time the members other than Izu, who had seen the skill beforehand, could stay calm.
A pair of pure white wings sprouted from Maple's back, and a shining white ring floated above her head. Her hair turned a beautiful blonde, and her eyes a deep blue.
"""""eh……?"""""
"That's how I reacted at first, too."
"Ahaha... using this skill will change your appearance... Ah, a monster has arrived."
While the five were stunned by Maple's appearance, monsters began to appear one after another.
"Everyone~! It's okay to be attacked!"
"e?"
"I'll take it. I don't think everyone knows yet..."
While everyone was confused by Maple's words, Izu, who was the only one other than Maple who knew the effect, appeared in front of the monster.
Naturally, the monsters inadvertently attacked Izu, who appeared in front of them, but Izu's HP bar, which shouldn't be very high for a production job, didn't even move.
"Huh? What's going on?"
“It’s Maple-chan’s skill. [Cover] always works on all party members in this glowing area… it seems.”
"At first, you'll have a certain amount of HP, though."
[Dedicated charity] is [
However, Maple had all of her status points focused on VIT, so she didn't have enough HP for the cost. Therefore, he asked Izu to make the equipment.
(……Seriously? Will all the party members within the glowing area now be in a state of receiving [Cover] from Maple-san? Are you kidding me? Who can defeat such a group?)
The skill [Cover] was originally a skill to protect the party members next to me. Moreover, it increases VIT by 10%.
In other words, as long as you are within the range of this [Sacrifice of Love], you can give Maple's VIT a 10% increase to all party members.
However, since Maple will receive all of the attacks that were supposed to be received by everyone, there is a danger that Maple's low HP will be quickly reduced if she continues to receive defense piercing attacks. That could be said to be the weak point of this skill.
Of course, it can be said that the most important piercing attack will not hit.
There was no way to hit Sally, and Chrome repelled it with a large shield. Kasumi also has evasive powers, though not as much as Sally, and if Hyde really tries to hide, he won't be found in the first place.
If I were to hit him with a combatant, it would probably be Kanade or Hyde who showed up.
“But Maple, are you okay? Your equipment has changed and your VIT has dropped, and your defensive power is no longer enough to negate our attacks… isn’t it?”
"It's okay! Your VIT is over 1000 even if you're not equipped with anything!"
“Haha… 1000?”
(I guess VIT is increasing due to the effect of the skill, but even then it's too non-standard...)
At Maple's self-declaration, I couldn't help thinking
If you want to increase your total stats to over 1000 without skills, you need to reach level 300 or higher.
Naturally, there were no players of that level, and Maple's defensive power was truly an iron wall.
◇◇◇
The day after Maple's unveiling, which confused everyone, was over.
When Hyde logged in and left his private room toward the hall, Maple was pressing against Chrome for some reason.
"... Um, are you arguing about something?"
“Oh, Hyde.
“It seems that Mr. Chrome is looking for a new skill, so I thought I’d lend him Syrup!”
If you take a closer look at Maple's hand, which is protruding from Chrome, you can see that Hyde's finger is holding the [Bridge of Bonds].
Apparently he can't help himself, so he's trying to lend his partner, Syrup, instead.
(Oi oi. Don't lend out your partner carelessly like that. Perhaps you're trying to lend out your partner by trusting Mr. Chrome, but no matter what you do, that's no good...)
“But Maple, that’s an important piece of equipment, right?
Chrome also has the same feelings as Hyde and gives advice to Maple, but the person himself has a dumbfounded look on his face.
"Are you going to do that?"
"No, I would never do that."
Chrome immediately answered Maple's question with affirmation. I had no intention of doing such a thing from the beginning.
And Maple's tone of trusting Chrome completely made his true feelings come out of his mouth before thinking.
"Then it's okay!"
While saying that with a big smile, Maple pushed the ring towards Chrome again.
In the end, overpowered by the stubborn Maple, Chrome reluctantly borrowed the ring for one day only.
At that time, Chrome instructed him not to lend out anything important to him, even if it was a friend or guild member.
“Chrom~. You must return that ring to Maple-chan before you log out today~”
Even Izu, who seemed to have been here the whole time, stuck a nail in Chrome.
She also knows that Chrome doesn't do that kind of thing, but it's just a prick just in case.
"... It's okay, Mr. Izu. If it's not returned, I'll try to assassinate Mr. Chrome."
Hyde speaks like a practical joke, but his eyes don't look like he's playing around. He looks at Chrome seriously.
“Hey, are your eyes serious!?”
"...
"You're too scared!?"
"Oh, then, may I ask you a favor?"
"How light!? Don't ask! No, I will never do that!"
Chrome has hunted with Hyde on several occasions, so he understands Hyde's ability to surprise.
Considering the possibility that Hyde was an enemy, his abilities are high enough to give chills down my spine.
"But it was a bit of a surprise."
After Chrome left the guild home, Izu muttered.
"...?"
“What is it, Mr. Izu?”
“Hyde-kun, you were quite considerate of your friends.
(Eh, did you think of me like that? I'm kind of shocked, but...)
Hyde was shy and not good at talking to people he wasn't used to, so he vaguely felt that his own personality wasn't well understood. By the way, her self-awareness is correct, and even within her guild, Hyde's personality is not well known.
However, just because he is shy, Hyde is quite considerate of his fellows, and since he belongs to the same guild, he recognizes the guild members as his comrades.
On days when someone betrays trust, such as refusing to return important equipment lent by such a friend, he will seriously pursue that person and continue to assassinate them. For Hyde, his friends are that important.
“Hyde-kun doesn’t talk much, so I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, so I was worried.
“Hyde-kun is a nice person. He certainly doesn’t talk much…but he helped us out at the end of the previous event!”
A big part of that was that Hyde wanted to protect the medals he had acquired, but it wasn't as if Hyde couldn't read the mood enough to interject himself here.
"Oh! I promised Sally, so I'll be there soon."
“I also have a blacksmith request, so I’m in the back.”
After saying that, Maple moved to the field and Izu to the blacksmith inside the guild.
Then Kanade walked over from the private room as if to switch places with the two of them.
“Have you become an angel?… I didn’t expect that. Fufu. Maple is really interesting.
Kanade laughed happily while muttering, and sat down on a long desk chair in the hall.
“Now then, what will Maple do next?”
"... what are you talking about?"
"Huh? Wow!?"
When Hyde called out to Kanade, who hadn't noticed Hyde's existence, he jumped up and fell off his chair.
"... are you okay?"
“Uh, yeah.
"...I'm sorry. I'll do my best from now on."
In addition, Hyde's current behavior was just to stand next to him and call out to him, and he didn't intend to surprise him at all. But Hyde, based on his own experience, answers anyway.
“…So, what were you talking about? Maple said something about it.”
"Huh? Ah, I heard about it. Actually, Maple acts and produces unexpected results, so I thought I'd try to predict it."
"……Predict?"
"Yeah. I missed it this time, but I wonder what Maple will look like next time."
While saying that, Kanade smiled. While looking at Kanade's face, Hyde also thought about it.
(Hmm, Maple's next move... Maple's surprise events up until now have been abnormal defensive power, abnormal poison attacks, a giant flying turtle, and this time she's become an angel. I can't predict the next one at all because I don't have any.)
Maple herself is just doing places and actions that she enjoys and interests, but her actions and their accompanying consequences are full of bizarre things that ordinary players cannot imagine. When I think about it that way, Hyde becomes somewhat fun.
"... sounds interesting. Can I join you too?"
"Huh? Hyde too?"
"... Oh.
"...Yeah, nice. Looks interesting."
“…Then Maple will get it next.
"That's right. If it's a normal skill, there's no point in predicting it."
It would have been nice to have an option to say ``acquire a normal skill'', but it didn't seem interesting even if I hit it, so I decided to proceed with that rule. The sensibilities of these two may be surprisingly similar.
"I'll start with me. This time Maple can do ranged defense, and next time I think she'll acquire a skill that reflects the attack she defends."
"... I see. It's quite possible. I've become an angel this time, so I thought I might turn into a demon."
"Ah~, it seems possible. Normally, it's impossible, but it's Maple."
“…It’s Maple.
"Certainly. Surprised one after another, I get tired."
“…I don’t mind if you let me grow at all, but I want you to grow and evolve slowly and gradually. The current Maple guy is a kind of mutation or a leap, so if you suddenly show me, my thoughts will stop.”
"I understand very well~, that"
However, this wish was in vain, and the answer to this prediction was unexpectedly quick, but at that time, the two of them had no way of knowing that.
Hyde has become quite accustomed to Kanade, who has an atmosphere similar to Maple, so he can talk to him on his own. Chrome and Izu are still shy.
Next time is beef event.
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