In the end, turns out, Qin Yao was the one who had pissed his pants when a silver butterfly tackled him onto the ground. I mean, honestly, I wasn't surprised. He had nearly wet himself during the sabertooth encounter too, so I didn't see why he wouldn't have here. In any case, it made for quite a nice laugh. The four of us now looked at Qin Yao in contempt, his position as leader completely demolished.
On the contrary, everyone else now looked at me in a brand new light. No matter how much they wanted to deny it, the truth was, I saved their asses just now. Furuwa and I had been the only ones who dodged out of the silver butterflies' attacks, and she had been busy reading the new species entry to do anything until the fight was nearly over. So, essentially, I pretty much 1v4'd the butterflies.
Speaking of which... I took a look at the Database tab under my System. I then navigated to the new entry I didn't get to read earlier.
[NEW SPECIES ENTRY]
[Name: Silverwing]
[Type: Magic Beast (Insect)]
[Weakness: Hidden Arts]
[Resistance: None]
[Description: Silverwings are enormous butterflies that can convert their appendages into sharp, whirring drills, and have a tough outer shell covering most of their body. However, the biggest part of their body, the abdomen, is completely unprotected. It is also the beast's weakness.]
I had just aimed for the abdomen by chance, since it was the biggest target, but... looks like I got lucky this time around.
After that incident, we now knew not to ever stop walking. We kept going through the forest - this time, taking it slow. All of us kept our weapons equipped, ready to fight at a moment's notice. The four of my teammates all used some kind of large sword, so they couldn't move swiftly with it on, seeing as how they didn't have a sheath to put it in. It was times like these that the simple yet still deadly dagger shone.
"Hey, Igarashi-kun," Furuwa said, picking up her pace to walk up to me. The other three walked behind us slowly, their originally arrogant demeanor nowhere to be seen.
"Hm?"
"I was just wondering... how did you find out those Silverwings' weaknesses so quickly, without even reading the new species entry?"
Even Furuwa's previously haughty tone towards me had changed. She now spoke as if talking with someone she acknowledged as her equal, if not superior.
"Would you believe me if I told you I just found it out by luck?" I asked right back with a smirk.
"How high is your LUC stat?" she asked, taking what I said seriously.
I laughed. "12."
"12... that's not all that high..." she muttered.
"You're right, it isn't. But there's no way you'll believe me if I said I'm just that skilled, right?"
"..." she fell silent, and didn't immediately respond to my words, which was a surprise.
"Perhaps... what you said to me earlier today isn't a lie after all," she said quietly.
"Hm? What's this?" I teased her, thoroughly enjoying every moment of this.
"D-Don't take this the wrong way, idiot! I was just saying, there's no way it was Qin Yao who found out about the sabertooths' weakness, after seeing him piss his pants just now! I never said it was you!"
"He's right there, you know." I shrugged, gesturing towards Qin Yao, who had heard her words loud and clear.
"So what? It's not like he can deny anything."
I sighed. "I suppose that's true. That said... are you planning on exposing his false claims?"
"Pfft. Of course. I'll make sure everyone in Tianyin knows about how he pissed his pants just now by tomorrow," Furuwa replied with an evil smile, shooting a sinister look at Qin Yao, walking dejectedly behind us. He responded to Furuwa's gaze with a fierce glare of anger and hatred, but Furuwa wasn't fazed in the least.
She was pretty savage and ruthless, that's for sure.
We continued walking through the forest but found nothing. Eventually, I began to think - what if we were meant to just stop moving, and have the beasts come to us? Even though the quest step had warned us not to do so, perhaps it was in fact the only way to attract the beasts to us. Once we do this enough times... we should be able to get them all, no? Unless they respawn, of course - which was most likely going to happen if we didn't destroy these Magic Beasts at the root.
Ichigo sighed. "This is getting boring..."
"No kidding... we've been walking for so long now, and haven't even seen a single trace of the Magic Beasts," Horiya agreed. "All we've done so far since joining this public event was get ambushed."
Furuwa snorted. "Correction - all YOU did so far was get ambushed. Igarashi-kun and I actually killed some beasts and managed to get XP as well as item drops out of it."
"... So what? Why do you have to rub it in like that?" Qin Yao, who couldn't take anymore, spoke at last. His tone was low, and eyes dangerous as he glared at Furuwa.
"Oh, look who's finally talking... Mr. Pant-pisser, was it?"
Hearing this, I gave a light chuckle. Even Ichigo and Horiya, who weren't much better than Qin Yao, let out a short laugh.
"... Hmph. So what if I pissed my pants? As long as the news doesn't get out... everything will be fine."
Furuwa raised an eyebrow. "You really think I won't spread the news? Oh, you're far too naive, Pant-pisser-kun."
"That may be so, but... let me rephrase. As long as no one believes the news you spread, everything will be just fine for me," Qin Yao smirked darkly. "Think about it. The claims of someone like you, a nobody, versus the defense of someone like me, a hero. Who do you think everyone else will believe more?"
Furuwa snorted. "A hero who wets his pants like a baby the moment he encounters the slightest bit of danger? I think I have better chances."
Qin Yao smiled. "Think whatever you want. But just remember - you've made me your enemy."
"Woah, so scary," Furuwa rolled her eyes.
"I'll hit you when you least expect it, lowlife."
"Come at me, pant-piss-"
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
Suddenly, a loud scream rang out of nowhere.
"What was that?" Ichigo immediately asked, looking to us for answers.
"It sounded like a girl with a high-pitched voice... Hua Hua, perhaps?" I murmured.
"Sounded like it came from that direction," Horiya said, pointing to our right.
"Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go!" Furuwa yelled, immediately taking the lead.
"Huh? Why are you servants so eager to rush into danger?" Qin Yao asked, genuinely confused with our way of thinking.
"What?! There's one of our own in danger! The same girl you promised to protect!" Furuwa shouted in anger, stopping in her tracks.
Qin Yao scoffed. "So what? She dies, she dies. This is a video game, for god's sake."
Ichigo walked up to Qin Yao, and to all of our surprise, unleashed a powerful punch, hitting his face squarely. Qin Yao was sent tumbling onto the dirt.
"You fucking coward. Just because it's a video game, means you can go back on your promises?" Ichigo spat in disgust. "Look, I don't care if you're mean, threatening, or violent, but as a man, if you go back on your word, especially when offering someone protection... you're nothing but scum unworthy of life."
I whistled. "Ichigo, you've grown a lot."
"Shut the hell up, Igarashi. We're wasting time here," Ichigo turned around, and began running off in the direction of the scream we had heard just now.
"Hmph. That was a nice punch, I'll give you that," Furuwa added, before following behind him.
Horiya did the same, but I remained in place, and just looked at Qin Yao.
"Tch... what do you want?" he muttered, glaring at me.
"Ah... your hero farce is nowhere to be seen now, huh?" I murmured, bending down in front of him. "Now that it's just the two of us, let's have a little talk."
"T-The hell?"
I looked into his eyes, my gaze unwavering. "Tell me. How does it feel, basking in the glory of someone else's achievements? Does that make you feel good about yourself? Does that fake title of 'hero' make you feel proud?"
I leaned in closer to his ear, and whispered quietly, "And not only that, but... you also lied to the captain of the guards, didn't you? You never planned on completing this public event in the first place, isn't that right? You could simply pretend to have done something, and when you return to the city, just report that all the beasts had been exterminated. You get your reward money, but by the time they find out you had been lying... you're already long gone from the city. That was your plan, no?"
"Y-You've seen through it all, huh? But s-so what? Those guys are NPCs! Why should I care about whether they live or die? In fact, why the hell do you care so much about them?! Are you mad? Haha! No matter how pissed you are, you can't do shit to me! This is a video game!"
I backed away and smiled at his obliviousness. "But... is it really?"
Then, turning around, I began to chase after Furuwa and the others, leaving behind that cryptic message for Qin Yao to contemplate.
"How ignorant," I muttered, and picked up my pace.