Chapter 76: The Diplomat's Persuasiveness
"What do you mean, 'a harem declaration out in the open'?"
Asuna finally snapped, so furious she actually laughed.
"How could I possibly let you have a hare—"
"Hold it."
Asagiri raised a hand, cutting her off like he was slamming down a gavel. With zero shame, he seized the speaking turn back for himself and activated his inherent skill.
Change of Attack.
"My harem is not purely born from selfish desire," he said solemnly. "There are even nobler reasons behind it."
"Nobler?" Asuna's anger didn't fade, but curiosity crept in despite her better judgment. "I'd love to hear how you plan to connect this kind of nonsense to the word 'nobler.'"
"Allow me to explain in detail."
Asagiri paused for a few seconds, then looked straight at her, his expression unusually serious.
"First, this game is extremely dangerous. We can die at any time, right?"
"Yes," Asuna replied, wary. "But what does that have to do with—"
"Second, Kotoko is a very valuable teammate. With her in the team, our survival rate increases significantly, correct?"
Asuna hesitated, then nodded honestly.
"…That's true."
No matter how often they bickered, she couldn't deny it. If she ignored Kotoko's overly abstract personality and chaotic habits, her ability as a Dungeon teammate was flawless.
Her mind. Her deduction. Her courage. Her initiative. Her talent to sense the aura of the strange.
Even this time, in a Dungeon that wasn't even themed around the strange, Kotoko still found a drivable vehicle, negotiated through the dead, discovered where the antibody reagent was stored, and pulled the truth about the city's "disaster" straight from a white coated dead man's mouth.
"So the question becomes simple," Asagiri said softly, holding her gaze. "In a death game like this, what's the most important thing for a team to reach the end?"
Asuna fell silent.
She thought for a long time, then answered from the deepest place in her heart.
"Trust," she said. "More than strength, intelligence, equipment, anything… the most important thing is trust. The ability to entrust your life to your teammate."
"That's right. I think so too."
Asagiri rose from the bed and walked toward the window. Outside, the sky was already turning toward dusk, the light thinning into amber.
"If team members can't trust each other completely, then advantages like strength, intelligence, and equipment become fuel for suspicion. In a high difficulty game like this, if you have to watch your teammates while clearing the Dungeon, you won't last."
Asuna nodded slowly. "You're right."
Then her confusion returned.
"But what does any of this have to do with what we were talking about?"
"It has everything to do with it."
For a moment, Asagiri's silhouette seemed to grow taller, outlined by the dying sunlight.
"Absolute trust, the kind of relationship where you can entrust your life to someone, that is the definition of a bond."
"And bonds need connection."
He turned back, eyes shining with conviction that was either heroic or deeply suspicious.
"For the future of everyone in this team, for not losing to this ruthless elimination game, for keeping the team from falling apart, I will dedicate myself and voluntarily become the bond connecting you, Kotoko, and Megumi."
He placed a hand on his chest, as if making a vow.
"This… is my resolve as Leader."
Asuna froze.
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
At first she'd thought he was just messing around, talking nonsense with a straight face. But now that she actually considered it…
There was a logic to it. A ridiculous logic, but logic all the same.
Back in junior high, she'd seen close friends fall apart because they liked the same boy. Arguments. Jealousy. Complete severed ties.
She'd always assumed there was no perfect path where no one got hurt.
But the way Asagiri framed it, there was a path.
It felt right. It also felt wildly wrong.
And that was exactly the problem.
…
Half an hour later.
"Whoosh… whoosh…"
Two men in sportswear, both looking around forty, stood at the main entrance of Benevolence Hospital.
One of them raised his head to glance at the darkening sky, then looked into the hospital grounds. Bodies of ordinary infected were scattered everywhere.
Nervousness flickered across his face as he spoke to the other in a low voice.
"Judging by this… other Players have already arrived."
The second man's brows pulled tight with caution.
"They didn't avoid the infected. They killed them all. That means they got here early. We don't know how many they are, but their strength must be above ours. Best to avoid them and get the antibody reagent fast. Clear the Dungeon and leave. No need to go looking for death."
He was only halfway through when a voice, smiling and calm, rang out from ahead.
"I finally waited for you. I thought no one would come."
Both men stiffened.
A slender figure in black stepped out from inside the hospital. A gray mask covered the person's face. The stranger even waved, as if welcoming them.
"You… who are you?" one of the men demanded, tense.
"Are you alright?" the other asked, voice tight.
Asagiri, wearing the Ever changing Mask, lifted a finger to tap the surface of it and chuckled.
"Guess why I'm wearing a mask. Can you ask something more meaningful?"
The two men exchanged a glance, then the first one forced himself to speak.
"Then… what do you want?"
"What do I want to do?" Asagiri echoed, amused.
He took two steps forward. Both men immediately backed up, expressions wary.
Asagiri calmly pulled two glass tubes filled with pale green liquid from his pocket and held them up where the fading light could catch them.
"This is the antibody reagent required to clear the Dungeon. How about we make a deal?"
"A deal?" one of them repeated.
"Yes." Asagiri's smile widened. "You two hand over the most valuable things you have. In exchange, I'll give you two antibody reagents."
One of the men frowned. "Are you joking? We're already here, wouldn't it be—"
"Stop." The other man raised a hand, cutting him off, eyes fixed on Asagiri and the infected bodies behind him.
"If I'm not mistaken, the real test of this Dungeon begins after you arrive here, right?"
"Oh." Asagiri's tone brightened. "Looks like you're the one with a brain. I'll talk to you."
He studied the man more closely. Full sportswear. Slightly overweight, the kind of shape that came from years of office chairs rather than hard labor.
"As you said," Asagiri continued smoothly, "the Dungeon's test truly starts after reaching this hospital. But I've already secured the antibody reagents. Each Player only needs one tube to clear, and submitting extra doesn't give bonus points for the evaluation."
He tilted the tubes slightly, like a merchant showing rare goods.
"So you trade something for them. I get something useful. You avoid the danger of exploring the hospital. Isn't that a win win?"
Under the Dungeon's hidden PvP rule, taking a dead Player's phone allowed you to draw one random item or piece of equipment through the eye icon app.
The problem was the randomness.
Even for a high level Player like Asagiri, plenty of his items were only average in value. For ordinary Players, it was worse, a pile of junk with only one or two truly precious pieces kept for emergencies.
From the system's design, it didn't really encourage Players to slaughter each other. The random draw wasn't the true point.
The real point was that if you took a dead Player's phone, an ordinary person could become a Player.
In other words, while the game filtered through Dungeons, it didn't want the overall Player count to collapse from infighting.
Asagiri had no interest in turning someone into a Player right now. So instead of gambling on a random draw through murder, trading was the cleanest way to guarantee valuable gains.
The middle aged man listened, then asked carefully, "And how can you be sure we even have something valuable enough for a Player at your level?"
Asagiri's smile didn't change.
He answered with a single sentence that made both men's expressions shift instantly.
"Because this is your third Dungeon, right?"
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