ShangriLa Frontier ~ Shitty Games Hunter Challenges Godly Game ~

But still, I prefer for the food that I eat to stay inside of my stomach, so the real food is always going to be way better than the in-game one.

「So…… What is the reason as to why you brought me here?」

「Oh, you know, it won’t be anything all that fancy –––––– just the kind of cooperation that you are doing with Rust, I guess? You know, you are going to help us with that, right? Besides, it’s not like you can really refuse to cooperate, now tha I have brought you here and all that. So, what’s it going to be……?」

「W-What? I am positively sure that I have no idea what you are talking about……」

Now, now, don’t you even try to play dumb with us here, my dear Mold. There is just now way that this Mecha Maniac Nephilim Hollowist Rust would be satisfied with just being able to rent some mecha for a while. It might be true that he enjoys her newly found jockey life where she can pilot Tactical Warbeasts as much as she wants with virtually no risk involved, but there is no way that she would be satisfied with just staying here and being unable to move on.

There is only one way for Rust and Mold to be able to meet the conditions necessary for going to the fourth layer, and they already have a strategy for making sure that they would be able to meet those conditions.

「Seriously, is this what the people call “Perfect Strategy”? At this rate, it’s the Perfect Ticket that practically guarantees you a free pass onto the fourth layer, not to mention a voucher that will net you a truly tremendous score here on this very floor. How did you manage to come up with it, huh? Did you ask the “Brave Fish” for help? Because wouldn’t you know? Turns out that you can buy multiple betting tickets on the same bet. That is, Mold-kun, if you were to buy three betting tickets on one bet, you can clear this oh-so-problematic third layer with relative ease and make quite a bit of a profit while being at it, to boot.」

「”Ah, ahahaha …… Yes, that’s right. I guess that nothing can be hidden from you, huh?」

In other words, in this kind of race, Rust can finish it at any place she wants, but they can still cash in the greatest amount of profit that there is to be had from betting. And while she is at it, she can pilot her beloved mechas to her heart’s content.

Is this that famous thing that we call Match-Fixing? No, that’s not it, although it reeks of such practice really bad. It’s just manipulating the racing tables according to the well-established rules, without actually needing to interfere with anything yourself. It’s a simple method, but a pretty damn effective.

As long as you won’t become incapacitated by some accident or anything else like that, you are still qualified to continue the race. So even if you were to be beaten half to death, as long as you are still able to drag yourself to the finish line, everything is going to be considered a fair game.

「You see this guy right here? Because he willingly went into debt because of his gambling addiction, he managed to plunge himself into the very depths of “Brave Fish”’s likeliness. I’ll give you a friendly tip: don’t be like that guy. It will only come back to bite you in the ass faster than you’d expect it.」

「Huh? I don’t really get it, but alright, I guess?」

「Basically, if cause her likeliness to drop below a certain level, you risk that you are going to be devoured by an angry triangle of monster pizza.」

「Huh???」

I didn’t know about that myself until I have come to this third layer here, or I simply was not paying enough attention before. But I came to that conclusion after watching the responses that the “Brave Fish” exhibited towards Yashiro Bird, and the fact that they were so blatantly cold that even the surrounding players were able to feel their chills. It’s really an awkward solution, conditioning the support of the ships system to be based on the factor if the AI likes you or not, but…… I wonder what the exact conditions here are to cause the gauge to increase or decrease. And could it be that Rust and Yashiro Bird’s current predicament is the result of the fact that that “Brave Fish” does not like them? No, but if it was like that, should its “affection” bar also drop for us all because we are just sitting here and eating as if it was the most natural thing to do in the entire world?

「Well, I guess it’s better to just maintain the status quo for now , there is no need to force a change or anything like that…… Alright then, Mold? What is the race going to be like today?」

「Hahaha … Once she’ll come to visit, you are going to find out.」

Visit? Are we talking about Rust here? Well, in that case…… No, wait, see!? See what, exactly!?

* * *

「–––––– And, just like that.」

「……. I see, you are always fast to catch wind of things like that, huh?」

In a private room reminiscent of a meeting cell in a prison block, Rust sighs at the facts told by her companion, showing Mold a relaxed feeling that seems to be strangely out of place for someone who went into bankruptcy and gotten themselves in debt.

「But the performance survey has already been completed…… I was thinking of doing it after the score flow became a little clearer, though.」

「Then, does that mean……!?」

Sanraku’s guess seemed to be generally correct. Other than Rust, you can see some jockey-fallen players here and there, but even if all of them aims for Rust, Rust has already acquired enough proficiency to deal with all of them with ease.

「Three, One, Five, Seven, Eight, Six, Two, Nine, Four.」

「Huh? W-Wait just a moment, something to write it down……」

「…… No, you’ll have to memorize it.」

「Umm…… The Great Ham Meat Three One Five Seven Eight Six Two Four……」

Rust slaps Mold as she looks at him with a mix feelings, while Mold tried to do his best in order to memorize the word as well as the sequence of numbers that followed right after them.

Hmm, I see. Indeed, the “agreement” between Sanraku and Mold is something that Rust has no idea of knowing about. And it was worth to get to know that Rust is aiming for the next layer right now.

「…… This will be a retirement race, so let’s make it all flashy and interesting.」