Argo felt a bit troubled after hearing Nirrnir's words.
Based on her description alone, it was impossible to tell how dangerous this quest might be—there was no guarantee they wouldn't run into trouble while gathering the two materials.
She glanced at Akimi and the others, signaling them to decide whether or not to accept the mission.
After exchanging looks for a moment, the group reached a consensus and nodded in agreement—they decided to take it.
Seeing this, Argo no longer hesitated and said to Nirrnir,
"We'll take the commission."
As soon as she said that, the "!" above Nirrnir's head gradually disappeared.
Nirrnir seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, then said in her usual tsundere tone,
"Very well, I knew you'd take it. In that case… collect 20 fruits from the Narsos Tree and 50 Uruz Stones. That should be enough… But work fast. If you don't gather them all by 1 p.m. tomorrow, it'll be too late for the match. Be quick, got it?"
However, after saying that, she hesitated for a moment, then turned her head and said a bit awkwardly,
"Um… but even if you can't collect them all, it won't be a big deal. I have other ways to expose their cheating. But in that case, the commission would be considered a failure… I'll still give you a small reward out of my own pocket… I mean, there's no need to put yourselves in danger just for this quest."
Hearing Nirrnir's tsundere-style concern, the group couldn't help but find it a little strange—"Can AI really do this now?"
Most AI still act like artificial idiots, after all.
But Nirrnir felt just like a real person living in a fantasy world.
"Ahem…"
Noticing their strange expressions, Nirrnir cleared her throat and added,
"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm just offering a little help to you adventurers, that's all."
But the more she tried to explain, the more suspicious she sounded.
The group's eyes only grew more puzzled.
Trying to ease her own embarrassment, Nirrnir glanced from side to side.
After taking a look at the quartz clock next to the extinguished fireplace on the right, she cleared her throat again and said,
"It's getting late. If you want, you can have dinner here at the hotel—but no staying overnight. That's the rule."
Without waiting for Akimi and the others to say anything, Nirrnir turned her head and said to Kio,
"That's all. Kio, see them out."
"Yes, miss."
Kio then picked up the group's weapons from the wall, walked to the door, and gave them a polite bow.
"This way, please."
When handing back the weapons one by one to Akimi's group at the door, Kio seemed to deliberately save Akimi's Nichirin Blade for last.
After the others had already stepped outside, she slowly placed the Nichirin Blade into Akimi's hand and lowered her voice:
"I've seen a similar material to what your sword is made of on a mountain to the northwest. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but if you want your blade to gain better attribute enhancements during upgrades, you might want to look for that kind of ore."
Akimi nodded thoughtfully.
After leaving the VIP-only high-class area, it was already 10:10 PM—twenty minutes before the final match at the Monster Colosseum.
The evening schedule for the Monster Colosseum was usually 9:00, 9:20, 9:40, 10:00, and 10:30 PM.
If a monster brawl dragged on too long, the casino would use various methods to keep the match durations balanced.
"There's still one last match at the Monster Colosseum—want to go check it out?"
Kirito said after checking the time display.
Akimi and Yu Wenjun, the two guys, both nodded.
Asuna and Argo, the two girls, just shrugged noncommittally.
Seeing that everyone was more or less in agreement, Kirito took the lead and headed toward the colosseum.
But just at the entrance, they ran into a familiar face.
"Oh, Asuna, it's you guys."
The speaker was the strongest tank in ALS, one of the few female players who used a greatshield, a heavily armored girl known for her incredible luck, an important figure in the fifth-floor boss raid, and a DKB executive—Liten, girlfriend of Shivata, another high-ranking member.
Normally, Liten always wore thick plate armor and rarely showed her face.
But today, she was dressed surprisingly casually, wearing a beautiful and loose-fitting outfit that revealed her delicate, pretty features.
"Huh? Miss Liten? What are you doing here? Isn't the fifth match about to start?" Asuna asked curiously.
"Hmm… how should I put it…" Liten pondered for a moment before saying,
"I don't really like the overly noisy environment in the colosseum. Instead of staring at two terrifying monsters fighting in a loud arena, I'd rather go raid a boss."
"Fair enough…" Asuna agreed with a nod.
After finding a bench to sit on, Liten added,
"And the other members of the guild are acting like they've gone crazy, throwing all their money into gambling—it's honestly kind of scary… But the worst part is that even Shivata is doing the same. No matter what I say, he won't listen."
That surprised Asuna.
"All their money?! Kibaou and the others shouldn't be the type to get addicted to gambling so easily, right??"
"I don't know how to talk them out of it either," Liten said helplessly.
"At first, they just wanted to make a quick profit and leave, but the 'Sure-Win Secret Manual' they bought had a 100% prediction accuracy up to this point, so they just… kept going. But I really feel like something's not right about it."
"Sure-Win Secret Manual?"
Argo could practically smell the scent of new intel.
"Yeah." Liten nodded.
"Back when our guild was in Lecuxio, preparing to pass through those two big gates to continue the raid, a seemingly honest-looking NPC uncle suddenly came up to us and asked if we wanted to buy a 'Sure-Win Secret Manual' for the monster colosseum at the Voluptia Grand Casino."
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