Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Chapter 534: Fifth Day - Survey

It was the fifth day since the Great Spirit God Easley gave them their task.

Allen was meeting with the chief of magic engineers of his army, Larappa.

"This is a diagram I have of it, can you make it within 3 days and conduct trial runs?"

Allen wanted a specific magic device, so he drew a diagram and explained it to Larappa.

"I see. Water that absorbs Mana is extremely precious, and I'll need some when making this."

"Oh I have some, just bring me a barrel. And also, be careful since it'll dissolve anyone that touches it, unless they're elves."

There were many barrels generally used for liquor in that room. Allen took an empty one and began pouring Dew of Life into it from a magic bag, which he took without asking permission.

"I see, so it can be stored inside magic bags."

Larappa watched Allen do that, and analyzed whether Allen's request could be fulfilled.

"Yes, it can be. Do you think you can make it?"

"3 days is a really short time, but the trial runs should be done within 4 days. Everyone, get to work!!"

"Yes Milady!!"

"Yes Milady!!"

"Yes Milady!!"

The dwarves replied to Larappa like a queen, like always.

Allen filled 3 barrels with Dew of Life, then left that place, heading to the Gate of Judgement to return to the Spirit Paradise. A battlefield was being waged there.

'This is so tastyyy!!'

'What even is this? Though it's so goodddd.'

'Apparently it's called Hukama.'

Sophie, Cecile, and a few others desperately cooked for hundreds of spirits.

"Why are there so many of them?! They eat everything as soon as it's ready!!"

Cecile screamed in frustration.

Their plan to oppose the Great Spirit God had commenced.

"Cecile, things seem to be going well here."

"Allen, you're back. Did you bring more food?"

"Yeah, we've got a few hundred people cooking over there too. Use this to lure more spirits over."

"...I won't say anything."

Cecile looked baffled by the state of everything, but it was impossible to stop now and just accepted the magic bag Allen gave her. It was filled with food the elves from Fortenia had cooked. The Queen had announced an emergency and everyone was cooking there.

The same went for the dark elves, where the King gave a mandate for everyone to cook.

They would put the food in magic bags, which Allen would collect, and carry to the Spirit Paradise, where it would be used to lure spirits from the entire place.

"Everyone, this is the critical moment, work hard!!"

'Okay!!'

'Understood.'

'Heehee, got it.'

The dozens of Wraith C, B and A summons replied to Allen's orders.

'I don't know what to say, this isn't exactly what I'd call starvation tactics, but more like the opposite…'

Graham knew of strategies involving severing the enemy from food sources, but he had never seen anything like this.

(Alright, the food is going alright, now I hope the survey is going well too.)

Allen made sure his strategy was moving along.

'Hey, you over there. You still have to fill out the survey!'

'What do you wantt, I'm already full.'

A Wraith C summon was trying to get an otter spirit that was laying down to fill out a survey.

(Hey now, don't push the pen into his face, we need him to sign properly.)

"Stop that, you shouldn't ask them like that!!"

'...I'm sorry Master Allen.'

The 30cm tall summon that looked like a french doll looked in the verge of tears being scolded.

"Wait, let me show you how to do it. Pass it over."

'Okayyyy~'

Teaching by example was important, so Allen took the paper and pen from the summon, took a deep breath, and then instantly smiled widely.

(Alright, time to remember what my sister taught me when working at an investment fund.)

Allen recalled a memory from his past life as Kenichi, and Shared his vision with the summons.

"I'm really sorry to interrupt your rest, but could you please help me by filling out this survey?"

He approached the otter spirit from earlier, asking him to fill the survey again.

'Seriously? I already told you, I want to sleeppp.'

The spirit's stomach was swollen, making it hard to move.

"Now don't be like that, it'll take you just 3 minutes tops, they're all really simple questions. Most of them are your impressions of the food, and what you'd like to see tomorrow."

Allen felt like it did not matter if it took 3 minutes or more.

'My impressions of the food?'

"Yes. Could I have your name please?"

'Angin.'

"That's a wonderful name. May I also ask your element?"

'Wind. Is that all?'

"Just a little more. Hmm, I see…wait, are you a Great Spirit?"

He did not look like a Great Spirit at all, it was hard to believe he could even be a Spirit.

'Heheh, do I look that way? I'm actually a Young Spirit though.'

The otter spirit would not stop grinning after that. It was important to make sure someone felt comfortable while taking a survey.

"I see, that's a bit surprising actually. So what was your favorite food you had today? This is a really important question."

Whatever the spirit liked did not really matter actually.

"Umm, err, the fluffy thing."

"You mean Hukama?"

'Yes! That thing!!'

That corroborated Allen's theory that 90% of spirits liked Hukama.

"I see. By the way, we might have to leave this place soon. We'll continue offering food though, so if you want to come along, would you prefer going to the Dark Elf Village? Or the Elven Country?"

'Huh? Hmmm… Does that mean we won't be able to come back here either?'

Higher level spirits had already told the other spirits that they could not return to the Spirit Paradise if they left.

"Mhm, you won't be able to come back. But you'll get to eat a lot of delicious food!"

'Every day?'

"Of course!"

'Then I'd go to the Elven Country.'

"Thank you very much. Wait, you said you'd like to go to the Elven Country, right? There's a slight problem…"

'What happened?'

"See, almost all of the available spots to go to the Elven Country have been taken already. Would you like to reserve one before they run out? If so, please write your name right here."

Allen forced himself to not show his sly grimace as he pulled out another sheet of paper he held behind his back.

'What?! Yes, I'll write my name!'

"Thank you very much. The Elven Country will make sure to give you priority when moving then!"

'Really? Yayy, I'm so glad now.'

The otter spirit did not read what was written on the paper, and just signed it. Now that the questioning was over, the spirit reclined back and fell asleep.

(So Angin will go to Rosenheim, good. Alright everyone, just go around like that and get everyone to take the survey. Don't forget to make all of those suckers…I mean dear spirits, sign properly as well.)

[Questions of the survey for spirits]

-Question 1: Tell me your name

-Question 2: Tell me your element

-Question 3: Tell me your rank

-Question 4: Tell me your favorite food

-Question 5: Tell me where you'd like to go if you could get food every day, the Dark Elf Village, or the Elven Country

(Once 5 is answered, get a different sheet of paper to sign)

All the summons moved out to mimic Allen's example with the surveys.

(Alright, the food and the surveys are going smoothly.)

Meanwhile a different goal was also moving forward, which produced bright flashes of light.

"Yayy, I've formed a pact with a fourth spirit!!"

"Let's get alongg."

Luck had formed a pact with a mud spirit that came to eat. There were hundreds of spirits there, so he had many to pick from.

Then there was a different flash of light.

'Nice to meet you.'

'The pleasure is mine, Space Great Spirit Jigen.'

"Oh, you also found your third one, Sophie."

After water and thunder, Sophie formed a pact with a Space Great Spirit, who looked like an upper body floating in mid-air, covered in armor and a helmet, with a horizontal slit for his eyes which blinked with light.

He greeted Sophie briefly and then vanished.

"Yes, Tonies introduced me to him."

There were very few Great Spirits, so Tonies, who had lived for 50000 years in the Spirit Paradise, introduced her to other Great Spirits of the right elements.

(Oh, Sophie finally reached Skill Level 5.)

"Sophie, next it's a light spirit."

That sounded like a strong element. Spirit Masters like Sophie or Luck could only form pacts with up to 4 spirits.

"Okay, Master Allen. I'll search for one."

(Sophie doesn't seem to mind my idea so far. And Luck reached Skill Level 6 really fast.)

Sophie did not seem to mind the plan Allen had come up with. She seemed to trust Allen, even if it involved the future of elves.

Allen kept using Heaven's Blessings on Luck, restoring his Mana as he constantly used high Mana Cost Skills to reach Skill Level 6.

"Alright, once you have pacts with 4 Spirits you can undergo a Talent Change, and then you'll be able to form pacts with 4 Great Spirits."

Luck was a 4 Star Disciple of Darkness, and once he underwent a Talent Change he would be able to form pacts with Great Spirits.

Mouton, who was watching from the side, reacted to that.

'Oh, it's already time for that? Make sure you pick poison element for your first pact.'

(No, that's not something we can choose.)

Mouton was waiting impatiently for Luck to be able to form a pact with him.

Luck would soon have a 5 Star Talent and he would be able to form pacts with Great Spirits, though the elements he could do it with were limited.

"Yeah…I know. But are you sure about that? We aren't exactly the good guys here."

Luck was wondering what Mouton thought of their current actions in the Spirit Paradise.

Luck had been really excited about Allen's plan and full of motivation the day before, but now he sounded almost worried. Mood swings like that were common for him, considering he still looked like a small child.

"Did you do something bad, Luck?"

"Huh?"

"Did you ever do anything to anger the Great Spirit God in your entire life?"

(Though he's about to do that with me.)

"No, I never did that."

"If someone tells you something unfair, you shouldn't just accept it. You need to raise your fist and fight for what's right."

Not everyone in this world listened to reason.

"Okay, I understand. Anyway, I'll go through the Talent Change when we're back on the surface then."

Luck was looking more energetic after that.

(Alright, I have to go find some ghosts too. I'll need as many Levels as I can get.)

Allen had exhausted the ghost swarms of Shandar. He had been searching for them and hunting in them at the same time as he dealt with the Great God Spirit, and cooked for the spirits.

Soon it would be time to present their reply to the task the Great Spirit God Easley had given them.