Gin Ichimaru returned with a half-eaten dried persimmon in his hand and an inscrutable, foxlike smile on his face. He looked like he was up to no good; anyone who didn't know him would have thought he was plotting some sinister scheme.
After all, Gin Ichimaru's usual flippant behavior and venomous remarks, paired with that sly, foxlike face, made him look anything but trustworthy.
Ye Uchiha sat at a dining table on the inn's ground floor, eating the few small dishes he had ordered for breakfast.
When Gin Ichimaru finally appeared, Ye Uchiha asked, "Where did you go last night?"
Gin casually pulled out a chair and sat opposite Ye Uchiha. Taking a small bite of his dried persimmon, he smiled. "I went to watch quite a show. That Naofumi Iwatani you've been keeping an eye on suffered a crushing defeat last night."
Although the boy named Naofumi Iwatani was utterly unimpressive in terms of strength and combat skills, he possessed the same unwavering determination to protect his companions as Ichigo Kurosaki.
Without sufficient strength, however, even the firmest conviction could not protect the companions he wanted to keep safe.
That was how Gin Ichimaru saw it, so he was not optimistic about Naofumi Iwatani's future.
"After all, class matchups exist in this world. No matter how powerful a shield is, its primary role is still defense. Using it to fight one-on-one is asking too much."
Ye Uchiha had anticipated Naofumi Iwatani's defeat.
He simply couldn't imagine how anyone could fight with a piece of defensive equipment like a shield.
Smash people with it? Block and reflect attacks? Draw aggro?
This world was strange. People could kill monsters to level up, yet they remained constrained by class matchups. Ye Uchiha really couldn't make sense of it.
A person's chosen class determined their future focus. Shield users, for instance, were bound to have no damage output, but they were absurdly tanky. Magic users might deal heavy damage, but they were as good as dead if someone got close.
Ye Uchiha didn't know what his own class was. Though he had been summoned here as a hero, he was different from the Four Holy Heroes. He probably counted as a hero outside the normal specifications.
He had no exclusive Legendary Weapon. The only difference was probably the thing inside him that resembled a system for summoning Heroic Spirit Servants, allowing him to summon beings from other dimensions as his own Heroic Spirit Servants.
As for whether it had any other features, Ye Uchiha had yet to discover them.
"Let's leave all that aside for now. Naofumi has his own path to follow, and so do we. I'm planning to leave the Capital and find somewhere secluded to establish a faction of our own. What do you think?"
"A faction, huh? I'm fine either way. You summoned me here, Master, so isn't this body of mine yours to command? I have plenty of experience playing the loyal lackey. Even Captain Aizen had nothing but praise for me." Finishing his dried persimmon, Gin Ichimaru narrowed his eyes and chuckled with an amused expression.
Ye Uchiha's face immediately darkened. If he hadn't known Gin Ichimaru's history, he might actually have fallen for that nonsense.
Gin had followed Sōsuke Aizen since childhood, spending nearly a hundred years undercover solely to recover what his childhood friend, Rangiku Matsumoto, had lost. During the Arrancar arc, he had turned on Aizen during a brief opportunity when they met up, nearly killing him with Shinsō. Had Aizen's powerful will not caused the Hōgyoku to evolve and resurrect him, he truly would have died at the hands of the seemingly devoted Gin Ichimaru.
As for Aizen's praise, he had long known Gin Ichimaru's intentions and still kept him close, simply because he was interested in seeing how Gin would take his life.
Clearly, Gin Ichimaru had not disappointed Aizen. He had nearly killed him, but that brush with death had also allowed Aizen to attain power on a higher plane.
Now Gin was putting Ye Uchiha in Aizen's position. No matter how he looked at it, Ye felt that Gin Ichimaru had some less-than-friendly intentions.
Forget it. With the Command Spells and the system protecting me, I don't need to worry about Gin Ichimaru turning against me.
Looking at Gin Ichimaru's narrow-eyed smile, Ye Uchiha kept his expression unchanged and continued discussing the construction of their base.
Ye Uchiha raised an eyebrow slightly and lowered his head in thought. "Then let's choose the abandoned mine near Lute Village. With my Earth Release, any problems with the terrain should be easy to resolve."
Why choose somewhere near Lute Village?
For one thing, a Wave had just struck the area, inflicting severe damage. It was now in ruins, with everything waiting to be rebuilt. In the wake of the disaster, a long reconstruction process lay ahead. No one would be bored enough to pay attention to Lute Village while it was being rebuilt, making it easier to conceal the construction of their base.
For another, it was neither too close to nor too far from the Capital, making it convenient to send Shadow Clones to deliver orders to the high-ranking nobles. Building his own faction with this kingdom as its foundation would naturally require substantial resources and funding, and the Kingdom of Melromarc would be his main financial backer. Otherwise, who would be willing to risk their lives for a commander with no troops and an organization that existed only on paper?
"There are about forty-five days until the next Wave. We have to finish building the base before then."
Ye Uchiha spoke after glancing at the "Waves of Catastrophe" countdown on his interface.
Constructing a base would naturally require a large workforce, and they would also need to recruit trustworthy specialists in various fields. Ye Uchiha and his few companions couldn't accomplish it alone.
It seemed he would also have to gather talented people from across the land to support them. As for whether those recruits would be loyal, Ye Uchiha wasn't worried. With the Sharingan's genjutsu, he had ways to make them utterly devoted to him, even if they harbored ulterior motives.
Following the Pseudo-Infinite Tsukuyomi incident, Ye Uchiha had discovered that this world's adventurers seemed to have weak resistance to mental and illusion-based attacks. In other words, while their physical capabilities far surpassed those of ordinary people, their mental strength was only slightly greater at best.
Ye Uchiha considered himself fairly proficient in genjutsu. Otherwise, he would never have created an S-Rank Forbidden Technique like Pseudo-Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Although he had yet to encounter this world's powerful fighters, there were some living quietly in the Capital, such as Elhart, the owner of the weapon shop, and the Pope of the Great Church. Judging by the auras he sensed, however, none of them were a match for him.
Ye Uchiha didn't know exactly where he ranked in this world. He was probably among the strongest few at the very top of the pyramid, but that uncertainty wouldn't interfere with his plans.
Of the three members of his group, Princess Kaguya was the strongest, a being capable of destroying the world. Even Ye Uchiha and Gin Ichimaru together would be no match for her. If they truly encountered a formidable opponent and had no other choice, he could simply shut the doors and unleash the old ancestor. Ye Uchiha refused to believe that anyone in this world could be stronger than Princess Kaguya.
As for which of them was stronger, Ye Uchiha or Gin Ichimaru, Gin would probably hold a clear edge if neither used his ultimate trump cards. But in a true fight to the death, Ye could kill him decisively-at an immense cost that might even claim his own life.
Gin Ichimaru nodded slightly, his smile unchanged. There was no telling how much he had actually taken in.
"...All right, that should be about everything. Pack your luggage and the daily necessities we'll need. We'll leave in two hours."
After finishing the outline of his plans, Ye Uchiha took a sip of water to soothe his dry, slightly hoarse throat.
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