Chương 81: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 81 - The Players' Scheme

The dragon plots against men, and men plot against the dragon. While the Black Dragon was holding court with his underlings over tea, Sakura Island No. 1 Starter Village and No. 6 Starter Village were both busy with their own affairs. Yamaguchi Mura Chicken, guild leader of [Flower Girl Mishi Mishi], already knew that over a hundred players had been captured and were being held at the Dragon's Nest.

The distress messages had been pouring in, every one of them soaked in misery, and between every line was the unmistakable stench of a single word: "shit." This made the inherently cautious Yamaguchi Mura Chicken fall into deep, silent thought. Then it gave way to fury. Their Sakura people were descendants of the Sun Goddess, bearers of the fearless Bushido spirit. The enemy could kill them. That was acceptable. But this humiliation? Never.

Those monsters had the audacity to not even let their captives commit suicide. It was a complete outrage.

"Yaren-kun! Assemble all the players. We're drawing up tomorrow's attack plan!"

"Hai!" Mori Yama Yaren nodded sharply.

"Oh, and tonight — braised rabbit heads and roasted wolf meat!" Within the hour, every player from Sakura Island No. 1 Starter Village was in position. Each one had dragged out their small square table, knelt behind it on the ground, and sat facing the high platform where Yamaguchi Mura Chicken presided. On every table sat a generous spread of braised rabbit head and roasted wolf meat. Tomorrow was the Black Dragon decapitation raid. Tonight, everyone was willing to spend Invasion Points on a proper meal.

Yamaguchi Mura Chicken looked out over the assembled players and felt his chest swell. Back on the Blue Planet, the Yamaguchi family's business empire was still firmly in the hands of his father and uncles. He, Yamaguchi Mura Chicken, a man of extraordinary talent, had been shut out purely because of his age. Shelved. Wasted. Left to stagnate while others led. And yet, here, in this gamified other world, he had an army. He studied them.

Average level eleven or twelve, each wearing decent gear, eyes sharp and bright with energy. Fighters all. With soldiers like these at his back, how could he possibly fail to mishi the flower girls? The thought rose in him like a tide. Yamaguchi Mura Chicken seized the wine pot, filled his cup to the brim, and raised it high with both hands.

"Gentlemen — drink with me!" The players of No. 1 Starter Village felt it too, that sweeping, reckless current of camaraderie. One by one, they raised their cups. They drank together.

"Hahaha! Very good, very good! We talk while we eat!" Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Yamaguchi Mura Chicken laughed and settled back before his table, tearing into his meat as he laid out the plan.

"Gentlemen! You already know that many of our warriors have been taken by those evil monsters. What do you say to that?" A player shot to his feet, face tight with indignation.

"Yamaguchi-san! We are all subjects of the Heavenly Emperor — descendants of the Sun God. To be captured by monsters is a disgrace! Those players who were taken should have committed seppuku on the spot!"

"You speak correctly!" Yamaguchi Mura Chicken nodded.

"But from what I know, those captured players never had a chance to take their own lives. So the fault is not theirs. The fault lies entirely with those monsters!" He paused, scanning the crowd.

"These monsters are ferocious, yes. Powerful, certainly. But we are human. We are the descendants of the Sun God. So tell me, what is our greatest weapon?" He slammed both palms on the table and surged to his feet.

"Our brains! Our wisdom!"

"Those monsters are nothing but beasts with oversized muscles. They don't think! And against an enemy that doesn't think, we use traps. We use strategy. We use our minds!" He sat back down slowly. His eyes moved across the room, and a strange, quiet smile settled on his face.

"To defeat these monsters, we must first draw them out of their home ground." He let the silence hold for just a moment.

"Gentlemen. I have a plan." A sharp light flickered in his eyes. He said it one word at a time.

"Burn. The. Mountain. Down." At the same time, in Sakura Island No. 6 Starter Village. Mei Ma Gou Gouzi sat alone in her room, miserable, unable to shake the weight pressing down on her. She'd respawned ages ago. She still hadn't recovered. The mysterious entity that had pulled them into this world had been perfectly clear, it's a game, treat it like a game, don't take it too seriously. But knowing that and feeling it were two entirely different things. This "game" was too real. The stamina of men was real.

The dragon's monstrous face was real. And the battlefield, the blood, the torn flesh, the severed limbs scattered across the ground. No matter how ruthless she was by nature, a week ago she had simply been the proprietress of a brothel. She had seen things. But not this. Not carnage on this scale. Not a beast like that. So, should she push forward with the Black Dragon subjugation? Or should she use the temporary level boost she had left to recruit as many players as possible before it ran out?

Mei Ma Gou Gouzi frowned, waved her hand idly, muttered a few words, and a Flame Burst fireball bloomed at her fingertip. She watched it pulse with its deep, lava-veined light, felt its terrifying potential coiled inside it, and bit her lip. She couldn't stand the thought of giving this up. It's hard to go back to nothing after you've tasted power. After what she'd had access to, surrendering it all felt worse than dying. And Maisente hadn't handed her just one spell.

More than half of those dozen-odd abilities were things no player could learn on their own. To get skills like those, you had two options: spend a fortune in Invasion Points on skill books from the shop, or crack open treasure chests and pray. And even if she spent these last days recruiting more players, what then? The moment she reverted, would those players actually stay? Mind games could only take you so far. In the end, strength was the only argument that mattered.

Her mind made up, Mei Ma Gou Gouzi did something she hadn't done yet in earnest: she pulled on the mage's wide robe properly, took up the staff Maisente had so generously left behind, and walked out to the plaza of No. 6 Starter Village. She opened her system panel and, using her village chief authority, sent an assembly notice to every player in the village. It didn't take long. Players trickled in from every direction, gathering around her.

"Gentlemen," she said, her voice warm and steady.

"I've received a hidden quest, excellent rewards. As the village chief of Sakura Island No. 6 Starter Village, I feel it's only right to share it with all of you." She smiled at the crowd of level fifteen-or-so players around her, gentle, sincere, completely convincing.

"Good things should be shared. Real progress is progress we make together." Two sentences. That was all it took. She could already see it in their faces: excitement, and the first warm flush of gratitude. Good.

"This quest is called 'Subdue the Black Dragon.' I'm sharing the quest details with you now." As she spoke, she used her village chief access to push a quest notification to the assembled players. What she didn't mention was that she had absolutely no way to actually share the quest itself. Storyline quests were exclusive by nature. What she was doing was a straight bait-and-switch. When the time came, she'd dig into her own pockets, hand out some Invasion Points, and call it even.

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