VOLUME 1
Epilogue
Part 1
Sakuya, having revived at a bind point in the middle of a remote forest, smiled as she saw the black clothed girl who had been waiting for her.
“Alice. What a disappointment. I failed. I couldn’t succeed in your request.”
However, Alice shook her head slowly, and touched the large towel covering Sakuya’s naked body as if to comfort her.
“No problem. Junichiro Mikimori knows about you. That’s the motivation he was lacking. You gave him that.”
“I see. So you’re saying that it would have been fine either way. That you would always benefit from whatever would happen.”
“I said that I would give you compensation. You’re fine with just information?”
Sakuya grinned, took Alice’s hand, and hugged her. In that position, she stroked her silver hair.
“Ulp. Uuuulp. Uuuuuuulllp”
“Your hair is really beautiful. It feels great.”
“Hey, wait a sec, let me give you your reward. Using force is mean. Let’s calm down and negotiate&h.e.l.lip;”
“Your cheeks are really silky smooth. Though I hate your organization, you really are cute. Jun doesn’t deserve you. You should be mine.”
“Hold up – ‘m not interested in girls&h.e.l.lip;”
Sakuya deftly held her down with one hand and stroked her hair with the other hand. Alice struggled loudly.
“Sorry. I just really love cute things. I’m straight when it comes to love, so please calm down.”
“I can’t! Wait, if you don’t listen, I’ll delete the information&h.e.l.lip; okay?”
Alice’s disarray was clearly reflected in her voice. She got completely exhausted and Sakuya had to lay her down onto a bed. She then got up and put on her clothes.”
“Yeaah, don’t trouble yourself by deleting the information. My companions would get angry at me. I guess I’ve got no choice. This time, please forgive me.”
“&h.e.l.lip; Perv.”
“And you can glare at me like that &h.e.l.lip; Well, let’s change the topic. So about that information&h.e.l.lip;” Sakuya smiled fearlessly. “Please tell me. Where’s the piece of the puzzle that we have yet to find?”
Epilogue
Part 2
On Lao Thai, an island on the seventh island ring. Jun thought that the city of Payang, where short Lao Thai people resembling Chinese immigrants lived, seemed to have been modeled on Shanghai or Hong Kong. It was a lively port.
However, the harbor was an airport where many airships anch.o.r.ed, and a place where even more littered the skies. The town of Payang itself was full of tall, layered paG.o.das.
100,000 people lived in that town, of which more than 3000 were adventurers.
From the moment they landed in this lively city on the seventh island ring, Kasumi wandered dizzily, as if half asleep, in the airport lobby.
Because she was too absent-minded, her purse had been stolen three times. Normally, adventurers would store items and money in safes. But then, Kasumi did not have useful storage items like that. She really was defenseless.
Jun smiled bitterly and left the lobby, both him and Eri pulling Kasumi by her hands.
Though there were a lot of tall spires in the city, it felt very s.p.a.cious. The congestion was almost just like that of Shinjuku and Shibuya [1].
“Seems almost like Rome.”
“The city center doesn’t even end there.” Eri smiled. “It’s like I’m dreaming. I just didn’t know that there was a place with so many people in this world.”
“It’s even more so in the eighth island ring, ’cause most adventurers decided to settle down there. Here, the adventurer grouping service is very strong, and there are many player communities here. People even come to get information. It gets very congested when players gather together in convenient places. If this were a normal MMO, people would freak out&h.e.l.lip; however, in this way, it is a bit like the real world.”
Jun took out a communication stone and began busily calling. He needed to understand the situation before choosing an inn. He spent nearly one month on Altaria Island. He didn’t know what happened in Sky World during that time. Or how much prices changed. Or which quests were found&h.e.l.lip;
There were a lot of things he had to know and a lot of things he had to do.
“Jun-san, how are you so lively?”
“I’m the kind that likes drowning in a sea of information.”
Eri shrugged and sighed. Jun glared at her, as if saying “Don’t say a thing”, then put his hands on his hips and smiled.
“Hey, what are you gonna do? Since our one death penalty still hasn’t fully elapsed, are we going to hang out here and rest for a while?”
“Don’t say silly things.” Removing the communication stone from his ear, Jun shook his head. “First of all, I’m going to fill up my quest list for this island. I’ll set whatever I can’t do by myself aside for later.”
“Yuck. Are we going to be your errand runners?”
“Get yourselves well equipped. I hope that’s okay with you, Kasumi-san.”
“Yes, you can count on me, Jun-san.”
Kasumi looked at Jun.
In the end, Jun never told the two of them about what had happened with Sakuya. Though Eri seemed like she thought something was up, right now, she kept her mouth shut.
He would have to talk about it eventually. However, that time had yet to come.
Kasumi Yukasaki. He wanted to make her strong. Even if it was just her character, or her individual person, he wanted to show Sakuya and surprise her.
“After all this,” thought Jun.
Sakuya. He wanted to surprise that cheeky and haughty best friend of his.
That was the most recent and biggest quest that Junichiro Mikimori had chosen to undertake.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTES
[1] – Very congested areas of Tokyo. Comparable to Manhattan.