[Moon Princess]: Ooh, not bad at all, little one~
[Moon Princess]: That punch had real impact — you actually knocked your opponent's head sideways~
[Moon Princess]: Those ice spikes are your ability? Didn't expect you to be so ruthless when it comes to enemies — makes me wince just thinking about it~
Kaguya was in full commentary mode from her front-row seat watching the group livestream.
[Moon Princess]: Hmm, but I do have one suggestion — your mother the Great Witch didn't equip you with any weapons before sending you off like this? Just bare-handed?
Fair point, actually.
Shin had tried to find a weapon while he was in the Lands Between. He had made a few attempts at picking up something serviceable.
But for some reason, every weapon he tried felt like paper in his hands — he'd swiped a small sickle off a Windmill Village peasant and it snapped in two before he'd even swung it properly.
He wasn't sure whether it was a matter of the weapons being unupgraded, or whether NPC-held weapons in the actual world were a different thing entirely from the player-usable ones in the game.
[Spreading Witch Factor (Temp Account)]: You make a fair point — it's past time we found Shaya a proper weapon.
That message was, naturally, not from Shin — it was the Great Witch, who had somehow crept back to the screen without anyone noticing.
[Spreading Witch Factor (Temp Account)]: Tell you what — I need to go take care of something. When Shaya gets back I'll have a surprise waiting for him~
With that, the Great Witch went quiet again. No telling what she was cooking up now.
Shin pulled his attention back to reality and studied Esidisi — still in the crater at a distance, body riddled through, not yet recovered.
He turned to old Joseph, who looked like he was working up to saying something.
"Stop standing there gawking, Mr. Joestar. Give him a good hit with your ripple, quickly."
"You know how fast a Pillar Man heals. If you don't want any unpleasant surprises, move fast."
"You know who I am...?"
Shin had made it clear he meant no harm. Old Joseph's wariness remained, but without hesitation he lashed out with Hermit Purple.
The purple vines crackled with ripple energy — and Esidisi, still in the crater, turned to ash.
Old Joseph looked back at this strange young pair who had no place in his memory, and felt a prickle of unease.
A young man with no Stand — and with a single bare-handed punch, he had put down a Pillar Man who had awakened a Stand?
Even if this young man was also a Pillar Man — that was a terrifying level of power.
And the girl beside him called him "big brother"...
Old Joseph snuck a glance at Meruru's forehead. No bone ridge — the hallmark of a Pillar Man. He had half-wondered whether there was such a thing as a "Pillar Woman."
"Joseph Joestar. American real estate magnate. Father: George Joestar II. Mother: Elizabeth Joestar — also known as Lisa Lisa."
"As patriarch of the Joestar family, your list of accomplishments is quite long: defeated Straizo — a former ripple user turned vampire — in a one-on-one fight at only seventeen. Ultimately exiled the Ultimate Being, Kars, into space."
"Oh, and there was that incident involving looking through your fifty-year-old mother's keyhole while she was bathing—"
"Oh, No! Stop right there, kid, don't you dare say another word!"
Old Joseph clasped both hands over his face and cut him off loudly — that last one was something his younger self had done, and had absolutely nothing to do with the man he was now, thank you very much!
[Moon Princess]: Ugh, what a revolting old man — to think he did that in his youth~
[Moon Princess]: Oh, speaking of which, little one — you're at that age yourself, aren't you? Have you ever peeked at your mother in the bath?
[Moon Princess]: I'm quite curious, you know — I've seen a photo of your mother, and she really is quite a lovely-looking girl~
Kaguya had no particular interest in wondering how Shin knew all that information about old Joseph.
In her understanding, basic tasks gave the assigned member detailed information about the mission when they arrived in the target world to carry it out. She simply assumed Shin had received the briefing automatically upon being dropped into this world by the group.
[Spreading Witch Factor (Temp Account)]: ...As if.
[Spreading Witch Factor (Temp Account)]: Mother may be on the smaller side, but I've never once had any thoughts about her that would be considered...
[Spreading Witch Factor (Temp Account)]: Oh, oh wait, Shaya — why don't you have those kinds of thoughts?
Shin's train of thought shuddered to a halt. For a split second he thought he'd accidentally pasted something terrible from his clipboard and sent it.
Then he realized — the Great Witch had swapped back into the account again.
[Spreading Witch Factor (Temp Account)]: Can't you take a page from other boys your age? Mom's feelings are hurt, you know — does she really have absolutely zero appeal in your eyes?
[Spreading Witch Factor (Temp Account)]: Mom read in a book that young men are supposed to take interest in a lady's feet, which is precisely why she doesn't wear shoes indoors — but maybe Shaya doesn't like white? Should mom try switching to black from now on?
Shin: ?
Let's set aside the black-or-white question for the moment —
Didn't you just go offline? How are you back again?
One account, two people taking turns at the wheel — if someone new joined the group right now they'd assume a chat member had developed a split personality.
"The reason I brought all that up was to tell you we have no hostile intentions. You could say, in a sense, that we're here to help you."
Shin didn't dare look at the group chat anymore. One more glance and his head would explode.
As long as he stayed silent on that end, there was nothing more to incriminate himself — whatever the Great Witch wanted to say, she could say it. As long as she wasn't embarrassed by it.
"I don't know what your objective is, Mr. Joestar — but I can tell you mine. It's Esidisi and Kars."
"I've just handled the first one. I'll be handling the second one shortly. In the process, I may need to make use of the Red Stone of Aja that you're carrying to draw him out — oh, sorry, I keep forgetting you're not the you from the future."
Shin walked over to the crater where Esidisi had been destroyed by old Joseph's ripple. Right on cue, the chat group's system performed an automatic sweep — a faint shimmer of light, visible only to him as the task executor, was silently drawn into the void.
[System Notice: Human non-humanization trait · Pillar Man (Blood), contained.]
[Items required to complete Basic Task: Human non-humanization trait · Pillar Man (Vile), Human non-humanization trait · Pillar Man (Bone), Human non-humanization trait · Ultimate Being]
A Pillar Man teenager traveling with a human girl — the combination was suspicious from every angle.
Especially now that the girl's hand had briefly lit up, which made old Joseph strongly suspect she was a Stand user — one of the enemy.
"Ohhh, what a headache!" Old Joseph felt like his skull was about to split. The amount of information he'd taken in over the past few days exceeded everything he'd processed in the first half of his life combined.
"Fine! I'll take you at your word and call you allies for now!"
"By the way, kid — have you happened to see a tall young man in black clothes, roughly your age? He's my grandson. I need to find him urgently..."
Old Joseph decided intel came first. The Saint's Corpse fragment capable of traveling through time was with Jotaro — and without Jotaro, he genuinely didn't know how he was supposed to get back.
"Hey — you two over there, skulking around — who are you people?!"
At that moment, a voice from the distance cut off whatever old Joseph was about to say next.
"Are you more of Kars's lackeys?!"
"Perfect. Let us show you exactly what Caesar and I have accomplished over these twenty-plus days of hell training!"
...
To be continued…