A crow loudly called out in the distance, and total silence settled as this confident statement burrowed its way into the listener's ear. The sound of a branch snapping disturbed the reverie as the crow launched itself into the sky, laughing as it flew away.
And then her brother, Pietro, decided to actually reply to the female Vampire's statement.
"What about oyster mushrooms?"
"Oh, I don't like seafood!"
Nodding to her statement as if it was perfectly normal, Pietro seemed to take it in stride and didn't even ask for her name.
Luckily, she noticed Delphina's burning gaze (as if she could even ignore it) and loudly proclaimed her name was Asturia. Before stepping back, radiating an aura of joy. Clearly oblivious to the Vampires near the back who looked like they'd mob her given the chance.
One of them was actually being held back by the others.
But as the rest of the Hunters introduced themselves in turn, everything became calm again.
Delphina vaguely knew the four idiots who had been introduced first, despite not knowing their names. They were the minor villain team that Delphina towed around when harassing the Heroine. Whilst they had their own small scenes, they were usually only present during battles at the Gates.
Though their… real personalities seemed to differ greatly from the Game. They were painted as a violent barbarian, a deadly assassin beast man, minor assassin no.1 (the chūnibyō Eric), and finally a scheming elf technician.
Yes, the 'vegan vampire' was in fact an elf. Truly, a classic example of insanity and genius just being two sides of the same coin.
Pietro probably had a vague idea of this beforehand; insanity of that level would be beyond infamous in the de Velasques Hunters or Knights.
Though in the Game, she was certainly famous for her other… proclivities. Needless to say, the more pervy side of the fanbase for Lovers of Mareveil held her in high regard. To the point that the developers patched in extra scenes for her.
There was one scene in particular that caused diehard fans many a nosebleed.
The elf, now known as Asturia, was actually the producer for the most famous sex toys marketed in Mareveil. And she had the nasty habit of specifically aiming to test her new inventions on the unaware.
The Heroine just happens to fall prey to one of her schemes. Kidnapped by Asturia and stripped down to just her underwear, she's forced to try out the new shibari rope that had just been prototyped.
Unable to resist, the Heroine could actually end up with a bad ending depending on her affection level with the individual 'dream team' members. As if uninterrupted, Asturia would proceed to sexually torture her till mind break.
If she were on moderate standing with the whole team, her boy toys would eventually arrive after a few hours to rescue her, only to find Asturia strap deep in the Heroine. Stunned by the scene in front of them, she would then escape safely to terrorise the Heroine at a later date.
On great standing with everyone? Well, they'd return the favour, and Asturia would be the one left with her mind broken, after being part of the orgy sandwich that would occur. No ropes involved, just the Heroine holding her down as they both got pounded.
The scene that almost everyone aimed for was when around half the guys were in bad standing with the Heroine, and the other half had started developing affection for her. It wouldn't lead to a bad ending for the Heroine or Asturia.
What instead would happen is Asturia would be tied up alongside the Heroine, and the 'dream team' would go down a rather sadistic route of teaching the two a lesson. Taking two men each, the ones who had a problem with the Heroine would be going at her front and back at the same time.
Whilst Asturia would be learning just how effective her toys were from the more affectionate two. Not that they would touch her, they'd only ever save themselves for the Heroine- so she often ended up as a thoroughly glazed doughnut.
The virtual users were given the option of taking a full-immersion first-person POV of the Heroine during cut scenes, where pain and pleasure could be experienced. Or just to view as a third-person spectator who could move around.
She herself unfortunately couldn't use the virtual gaming rigs, and had to stay with the over-the-shoulder shooter style view offered for the standard gameplay users.
The faint blush that had built up on Delphina's face as she recalled these hardcore scenes slowly receded, as the more depressing memories from the previous World replaced them.
"Who on Earth dies of old age in a cyberpunk world? Such bullshit."
Snapping out of the funk she could feel building, she instead looked forward to taking her frustrations out on the Knights to come.
By this point, whilst she had been zoning out, the introductions were almost over. A few ideas were brewing in regards to how she could screw those rude Knights from earlier over. But now she had to focus on getting any Hunters who wanted to fight to come along for the ride.
"Now that everyone's introduced themselves, is there anyone here who has any grudges against someone in the Knights? Doesn't have to even be our lot. Could be the Burgesses too, but I can't guarantee they're here today."
Shockingly, or not. Almost the whole Hunter detail raised their hands. Mentally facepalming at this revelation, Delphina turned to Pietro with an embarrassed smile.
"Aha, so brother. About that sparring session, seems like it's more necessary than I first thought…"
All Pietro did in response was cover his eyes with one hand, taking deep, calming breaths as he did so. After taking a moment, all that was left behind was a cold, hard gaze aimed at her.
"I knew you were stubborn, but why didn't you tell me things had gotten this bad? How much have those assholes gone and done behind my back until now?"
Ah, how disappointing.
Leaning forward to whisper in his ear, lest any discord be noted between them. Delphina cordially pointed out that some Knights may have done it, assuming they had his tactic approval.
Stepping back, she rested her hands on her hips and proceeded to laugh heartily.
"Besides, brother, clearly that's not really the issue, is it. The Knights need to be disciplined. This could be a good chance for you to re-establish the fact that you are indeed a superior, not a comrade whom they can take liberties with."
Closing his eyes once more as if to digest what she had just said, Pietro then turned towards the Hunters gathered just below them.
"Today, my sister Delphina suggested an interdepartmental sparring session. Instead, would you be interested in joining us for a quick tournament to help air out any grievances?"
"I will pay out of my own pocket 100 gold to the winner, be they Hunter or Knight."
An excited ripple ran through the crowd upon hearing this, resulting in a loud cheer.
As Delphina watched on, rather interested in Pietro's tactics once again, the bracelet on her left arm sharply buzzed.