The next day.
Last night, to celebrate the three of us getting together, I treated them the best herring I had. Our party got real lit and we crashed hard at the end of the night, even though it’s not like we got drunk or anything.
“So, what’s this about?”
I try to remember what happened yesterday.
After getting a pa.s.serby to cook our top-quality herring, the three of us hung out by the riverbed—lantern in one hand, dinner in the other.
We chatted about how we’re all Spirits, Yammy’s communication disorder, how she was anxious about being a bother to others, and even how my sisters forced me to play as a girl. I feel like we got a lot closer.
That was fine. I can still remember up to that.
But what’s this about?
“… zzz…”
“… ‘tis how… I speak…”
Lying before me are Shouko in her yukata and Yamikage in her underwear.
And yeah, I’ve nothing by my underwear on too.
“Wha…? What did we do last night?”
This game is rated PG; booze is restricted for minors, so I can’t even blame myself for being under the influence for any mistakes I may have made. And of course, nothing lewd can be depicted in game either.
I’ve heard rumors that there are new VR games for adults only, but I really don’t think this is one of them.
“Ugh, what time is it?”
The sun shines through the windows. At the very least, I can tell it’s not morning anymore.
I open up my menu and check the clock. It reads 1:24 PM.
Jeez, it’s midday already.
We’re absolute degenerates to be sleeping in on our first day as a party.
“Shouko! Yamikage! Get up!”
As soon as I shout at them, Shouko sits up with her eyes half-open.
Judging by how she’s the only one in her PJs, I’d a.s.sume she dragged us all the way here.
“G’mornin’, Kizhna…”
“Oh, wake up already…”
Beds really are too OP in this game.
I think we got at least four, five hours of sleep.
It’s probably a safety measure for dealing with people who stay up and play too much.
Anyway, now’s not the time to get sidetracked.
“Shouko, what happened last night?”
“Ev’body looked sho shleepy, sho we headed back to the inn.”
“Mm-hmm.”
She’s not conscious enough to speak properly, but I still understood her.
It seems like the three of us somehow managed to stagger back here.
“It woulda been dangeroush to shtay out there, so I got a big room for ush.”
I think I got the gist of the situation.
But… but…
“But why are the two of us naked?!”
“… ahh!”
Ah, she’s fully awake now.
Shouko looks around at her surroundings before speaking again.
“Good morning, Kizuna. Quite the fine morning, isn’t it?”
What a refreshing smile.
“It’s past noon already!”
The truth was actually awfully simple.
Because clothes will wrinkle in this game, Shouko was being considerate and stripped us down.
I guess wrinkles are a pretty big deal.
But it’s not like there aren’t dry cleaners in town. As long as you have enough money, they can clean anything. And because they’re not expensive either, female players tend to often use them, apparently.
“I am truly sorry, Kizuna, Yamikage.”
“No, don’t be. I should be thanking you instead.”
“Aye. Had you not taken us safely to shelter, it may have landed us in an unthinkable predicament. We ought to be grateful to you.”
Yamikage was quite dazed after waking up.
She was super embarra.s.sed about other people seeing her nearly naked.
She even blurted out ‘D-Don’t stare…’ as if it weren’t embarra.s.sing for us too. Plus, she let her old-timey speak slip. It’s probably a part of her roleplaying. I mean, who actually speaks like that in real life?
“But, y’know, I’m a dude, right? You gotta be more careful. I mean, yeah, we can’t do anything in this world, but still… it wouldn’t be right.”
“That’s true. Since Kizuna looks exactly like a girl, the truth had slipped my mind.”
Yeah, I know, I’m currently a girl, but…
I guess I do look obviously feminine and same goes for Yamikage.
She didn’t really seem to worry about seeing me naked though.
If Dimension Wave weren’t so detailed, everybody looks pretty much the same. Of course, everyone looks good—unlike real life—but everyone is humanoid in nature.
It is what it is. Those two know only know me through the body and voice of Kizuna†Exceed. They should be careful around a guy like me… but it’ll probably be fine if I’m more careful too.
“Well then, let’s make up for lost time. Where’re we headed to today?”
“About that…”
Shouko makes an uneasy face.
“As fitting as the Forest of Eternal Darkness was for us, every other place I’m familiar wouldn’t be good for Kizuna. I mean, there would be plenty of people who would see us.”
She does have a point about her concern.
If I were to be honest, it’s not like an absolute must that we keep it a secret.
We’d have our priorities backwards if we let something like that stop us from hunting together as a party.
We thought about simply waiting until nightfall to head back to the forest, but it’d be kinda a waste. It’s not really Energy-efficient for three people, Shouko said.
“In that case, maybe it’s not worth hiding anymore. It’d be impossible to keep it a secret forever anyway.”
“I understand, Kizuna, but would it not be a shame if we so easily reveal your secret?”
“Forsooth.”
Well, I guess so.
If this were any other MMORPG, people could just go online and find out how the game works.
But in Dimension Wave, most people don’t know even know what goes into forging a weapon.
Gutting-type weapons are the weakest, so it doesn’t see a lot of use. But that’s because people don’t know that there’s more than just attacking with gutting weapons, hence why Shouko and Yamikage don’t want to give away this cash cow.
“So, what we want is somewhere that’s worthwhile for Energy, money, but also with no one around…”
“‘Tis quite the list of requirements!”
“I’m afraid we may be a little too greedy.”
We’re all in agreement about that.
It’s almost as greedy as having a six-figure income requirement to even consider marrying someone.
It would be weird if such a place existed with n.o.body there.
Not to mention, the chances of being seen by anyone is definitely greater than zero.
h.e.l.l, we might just be asking for the impossible.
In an MMORPG, there are always locations that are popular and locations which are deserted. But if it’s a place where no one goes, it usually means it’s not efficient to grind there.
“And somewhere empty too…?”
I’ll admit to being unreasonable.
There’s no way somewhere like that… wait a minute. There is a place like that.
I didn’t get a good grasp of whether it was Energy-efficient or not, but at least I know the monsters are stronger there than the Forest of Eternal Darkness.
But, it’s a little—
“Miss Kizuna? Is something the matter?”
“Did you come up with a good idea?”
Both of them look at me with antic.i.p.ation.
Their expectations of me might be a little too high after the whole Lizardman Dark Knight battle yesterday.
“I can think of a place where there’s no one around but with monsters stronger than the ones in the Forest. Though, I really can’t say so for sure.”
“What sort of place is that? ‘Tis an easy decision should we head there directly, no?”
… it’s not like I think it’s somewhere we should go, but it seems like Shouko and Yamikage are interested.
No, we should decide as a group. I just threw out a suggestion.
“The ocean.”
“The… ocean?”
“Yeah. I paddled out to the open sea on a wooden boat before we met, right off the coast of the first city. I didn’t have much Energy then, so the monsters were pretty d.a.m.n strong. I had to retreat, but I’m thinking that there’s three of us now…”
“I can see why you’re unsure.”
How many monsters are there? Are we strong enough? Will we be safe? There are just too many unknown variables.
It doesn’t seem like any of us would be good fighting on water. The monsters are strong too. But because almost n.o.body has fought them before, their mats are rare to say the least.
And a.s.suming that their mats sell, we would do well to go grind there.
“There’s another issue.”
“Pray tell, Miss Kizuna.”
“My boat’s too small.”
It would be pushing it trying to fit three people on my Wooden Boat +3 and that’s just for seating capacity.
If a monster were to come at us, we would be dead in the water.
“Where did you get the boat?”
“Ah, I found it in a market stall at the first city for 40,000.”
“Perhaps we could directly contact the seller?”
“Yeah, if only I knew their name. It was just some random market stall after all…”
“‘Tis a handcrafted piece, no? The name of the craftsman should be inscribed somewhere.”
“Wait, really?”
It’s obvious for MMOs to have the crafter’s name written somewhere.
I check out my Wooden Boat +3 in my inventory.
There it is. There’s a “Crafted by” line in the description. “Sheryl”.
Surely, there’s gotta be more than one Sheryl. It’s so normal, yet so odd.
“I’ll try calling her.”
I let the others know before selecting “Chat” in the menu.
Then I punch in S-H-E-R-Y-L.
It’d be nice if everything works out well.
I bought the boat about a week ago around noon as well. I don’t think she’d suddenly become nocturnal, right? Well, even if my call doesn’t go through, I can try again later at night.
Of course, if I were to call her three times and I still can’t reach her, I’ll take the hint that she’s not interested. I could always go see her in person as well.
Maybe I should ask her if she knows Alto, seeing how he’s got all sorts of connec—
—Sheryl has joined the chat.
“Hi, sorry for the sudden call. My name is Kizuna†Exceed. I bought a boat from your store about a week ago.”
“…”
Huh? No response.
Did she pick up? No, wait, this isn’t a phone call. It’s not like I could’ve called the wrong person. Plus, her name was easy to spell, so I’m sure it’s right.
“Do you hear me okay?”
“… yep.”
“Oh, good. So, I have a question for you. Since the boat I bought the other day fits only two people, I’m wondering if you have anything a little bigger.”
“… nope.”
“I-I see…”
I got my hopes up a little, but I guess nothing’s that easy.
Back to square one, I suppose.
“Alright then, thank you for your ti—”
“But, if you’ve got the mats, I could make you one.”
“Mats, huh?”
“There’s only a single person I can think of that’s bought a boat from me… I think I remember you. Seeing how easily you can drop 40,000, I’m sure you’re able to a.s.semble materials too.”
Oh, right.
If I recall correct, the 40,000 serin covered the costs of the raw materials.
I don’t really know what her goals are, but I think I can get her to make me a boat as long as I front the costs.
“… it all depends on the size of the boat, too. How big are you thinking?”
“I’m wondering if you can make me something big enough to seat three people and have enough room to fight on as well.”
“…”
“Umm…”
“… hold on. Lemme crunch the numbers.”
I know I’m asking for a lot.
And materials for a boat, eh?
Seeing how the boat I have now costed me 35,000 serin, something three times… h.e.l.l, even four, five times as big would run me about 170,000.
Honestly, in that case, it’d be over my budget. I don’t even have that much money.
“… can you c’mere?”
“Sorry?”
“Can you come here?”
“‘Here’ as in the first town?”
“Right.”
“I could make the trip, but it’ll take a while since I’m in Second right now.”
“Right.”
“You want to meet up, right?
“… right. And if possible, bring the other two along too.”
I glance over at Shouko and Yamikage and pause to think.
“Can I run the idea through my friends first?”
“Sure.”
“And in that case, when would be good for you?”
“Anytime is good. I’ll open my stall at the same place when you get here.”
—Sheryl has left the chat.
I’m still a little fuzzy, but at least we’re a step in the right direction.
… it’s tough speaking with someone who’s so quiet.
“How did it go?”
The two of them ask me.
Gotta explain it to them that our plans have changed.
“I got ahold of her, but it seems like we gotta help out in crafting.”
“Whatever do ye mean?”
“Well, I’ll cover the funds, so don’t worry about that. That’s not the important part.”
“Then?”
“We gotta meet the woodworker in person. She says she wants to meet both of you too. I said I’ll leave that choice up to you guys.”
She said, “if possible,” so we’ll see what we can do. I don’t think she’ll force us all to meet her. Well, if you asked me though, I’d like for us to go together.
“Then let us go together.”
“Aye, aye.”
“Y’all sure? I kinda feel like I volunteered you guys to go already.”
“I’m sure. I don’t so much feel forced by you, Kizuna, but I also have no other plans.”
“For I am your shadow, Misses Kizuna and Hakoniwa, I will always be behind you two.”
I guess I should be happy? But at the same time, you kinda sound like a stalker.
In any case, our plan now is to head to Lurolona.
Even though we said it’d be inefficient, we still went to the Forest of Eternal Darkness that night. We’re just playing it by ear.
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