Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 233
Chapter 233: The Adults’ Meeting
The setting was a café in the eastern district of Kamui City.
Located in the middle of a residential area, the café, housed in a building constructed about ten years ago, drew a diverse crowd of patrons, young and old alike.
The owner, a woman with a history of pursuing her ideal coffee overseas, had captivated many customers with the rich aroma and deep flavor of the café’s signature blend.
It was a holiday, and all the seats inside the café were occupied. Customers who came in had no choice but to order takeout, leaving with their coffee and the café’s specialty: a thick, hearty pork cutlet sandwich.
Two women had managed to secure a seat in the corner of the café. They sat with serious expressions, their ordered coffee in front of them.
One was Shino, a cool beauty dressed in casual, grown-up attire. The other was Kirie, sporting a more masculine style of fashion.
Having taken the day off using their adventurer privileges, the two were visiting their favorite café and waiting for a certain woman to arrive.
“Geez, it’s already the meeting time. Where the hell is she wandering around…?”
“Cut her some slack. We’ve asked her to do a lot of errands. A little delay is understandable.”
“You’re always so lenient with her, Shino.”
Kirie teased, prompting Shino to nod with a wry smile.
“She’s an adorable junior, after all. Plus, as a VR journalist with countless global connections, her information-gathering ability is a significant advantage that neither you nor I possess.”
“True. No doubt the biggest burden falls on her. I’ve been using adventurer privileges to investigate within the department, but all I could find out about that shady Guardian Agency is that it’s some untouchable organization even the government can’t interfere with.”
“Adventurer privileges, huh… They’re convenient, but they also make you realize that we’re not ordinary people anymore.”
“Yeah, I get how you feel.”
In the current world, those chosen as “Adventurers” were regarded as a kind of role dedicated to saving the world.
With higher ranks came greater privileges. Shino and Kirie, both Rank A adventurers, could access most types of information, even corporate secrets were easy to obtain if they desired.
However, it wasn’t a license to act without limits. Misusing their privileges added to their ?Sin Count?, and depending on the offense, a single misstep could result in immediate purging.
While not widely publicized, there were indeed individuals who had fallen from grace and lost their adventurer privileges.
Each time that happened, new adventurers were selected from the general player base. Even those not required to play Astral Online were performing on par with the top ranks to fill the gaps.
Still, the emergence of the White Knights in recent times had sent shockwaves through Shino and the others. They had never even heard rumors of their existence before, which made their sudden rise all the more startling.
“…The White Knights. They’re a mysterious force that suddenly appeared in the game. Their level is estimated to be 90. I’ve heard they defeated the Calamity of Gluttony in the Oni Nation while we were battling in the Ocean Nation. But it’s baffling that we’ve never seen them on the front lines, not even once.”
“And on top of that, they come with the huge bonus of being part of the Royal Knights under the capital Yggdrasil. It’s hard to find anything not suspicious about them.”
Up until now, all members of the royal family had appeared publicly, but none of the players had ever seen the royals of Yggdrasil.
According to the locals, “The royal family rarely leaves the castle because they devote themselves to praying for Yggdrasil’s growth.”
With that in mind, Shino used the title ?Hero of Twin Blades?, earned from a special quest related to the royal family, to gain access to the castle at the topmost level. Together with Kirie, she headed to the royal palace.
Their plan worked, and the title granted them passage. In the innermost chamber of the castle, they were met by a silver-haired girl called the princess, Adonai Yggdrasil, and the captain of the knights, Metatron.
Adonai’s name had already raised alarms for Shino, as Sora had previously mentioned it as one of the names of a god in Astral Online.
For the person bearing that name to also rule over Yggdrasil as its princess, the likelihood of them being the same entity seemed incredibly high.
Thus, without hesitation, Shino asked:
“Let me be direct, is she the god of this world?”
That question shocked Kirie, who had been standing beside her at the time.
“Geez, that caught me off guard,” Kirie said.
“Negotiating is tedious. When dealing with someone so enigmatic, making a strong first impression is crucial,” Shino replied.
“I get that, but I think there’s a proper order to these things. …As expected, she denied it outright, though.”
“Still, we learned something valuable. Adonai has players with angelic powers by her side, just like Sora and the others. Judging by their appearance, they’re identical to the ones aligned with El. This strongly suggests that Adonai has some connection to El, who resides in the real world.”
When Shino observed the knight captain, Metatron, she sensed a similar power to that of Sora and her companions. She concluded that Metatron likely possessed angelic powers.
Given the name, it was easy to think of Metatron as the highest-ranking angel. However, there was a chance it was a fake, so she refrained from making assumptions.
What was certain was that they were no ordinary entity. That presence… she felt as though she had encountered it before somewhere…
“Could it be the same person?” Kirie’s words brought Shino back from her thoughts.
Hearing the phrase “same person,” Shino immediately understood that the conversation had shifted to comparing El and Adonai.
“…Hmm, they do look identical, but their auras are entirely different. I’d say the idea of them being twin sisters fits better.”
“I see…” Kirie nodded in agreement as she took a sip from her cup to quench her dry throat.
As she closed her eyes, savoring the bitter, rich flavor of the unsweetened coffee,
a pair of small hands suddenly reached from behind and covered them.
“Now, now, who could this be?”
“There’s only one person who’d pull such a silly stunt—Rinne!”
“Oh nooo… How strange. I even changed my voice just to throw you off, and you figured it out instantly!”
“Your actions gave you away. …Seriously, you’re an hour late to our meeting. I hope you’ve got something to show for it?”
“Of course, I do! Oh, excuse me! One Vienna coffee and an apple pie, please!”
The girl who placed the order and then sat down was Rinne Kouhou, a blonde dressed in street-style fashion.
Rinne, a famous VR journalist, wore a pair of sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat to conceal her identity. However, feeling safe in front of Shino and Kirie, she removed her sunglasses, straightened her posture, and gazed at them with her striking blue eyes.
“First, regarding the White Knights: it seems they’re appearing all over the world. They appear to be using the buildings of the ?Guardian? located in the central districts of each capital as their bases.”
“Oh, you mean those massive buildings that suddenly popped up in the central areas?”
“Hmm, what exactly are they planning, now that they’ve secured bases and troops?”
In response to Kirie and Shino’s remarks, Rinne nodded and presented her smartphone.
“Moreover, no humans seem to be inside those buildings. This is evidence that an adventurer acquaintance of mine happened to acquire.”
Shino took the device and examined it with Kirie.
When they tapped the play button on the video, it showed the White Knights battling Dog?-shaped monsters, not Haniwa.
Apparently, these Dog? were harmful to humans. The White Knights shielded themselves from the monsters’ drill-like attacks, and another Knight struck from the side, cleaving the Dog? in two.
It seemed like the battle was over in an instant, but then, beams of light shot out from the eyes of the bisected Dog?.
One White Knight, caught off guard, was struck in the head and collapsed to the ground.
As the fallen Knight’s helmet rolled off from the impact, it revealed that…
—There was nothing underneath.
Shino and Kirie grimaced but didn’t react dramatically. They had anticipated something like this. After all, a group that suddenly appeared in the world couldn’t possibly be made up of ordinary living beings.
“No internal body? I wonder what principle allows them to move. Did El create those things solely for dealing with monsters?”
“Shino-senpai, for now, that seems to be the only conclusion we can draw. However, the Knight who faced Sora-sama seemed to have a human inside.”
“Zadkiel… I looked into it. The name means ‘God is my righteousness’ in Hebrew.”
After murmuring this, Kirie downed her coffee and let out a deep sigh.
“Ahhh… Seriously, it’s bad enough dealing with the game’s problems. Do we really need more trouble in the real world too?”
“It’s not certain something will happen yet, but we should remain vigilant.”
“If I find any more information, I’ll be sure to share it with you both.”
Though the path ahead seemed fraught with challenges, the trio resolved to tackle one issue at a time.
Shino, holding her bitter coffee, decided to share updates on the special quest she was progressing through in Astral Online with the others.