Published at 25th of March 2019 11:06 pm

Volume 2: Chapter 01: Return to Akihabara

1

Rose, red, yellow, and orange colored.

Three griffons flew over the ocean that sparkled in the dusk.

The night scene from the east gave the sky a purplish glow. As the sun set in the west, it took the red light with it, leaving a long trail and a beautiful scene.

Upon the leading griffon, a man in silver armor turned and waved his hands widely with a big smile on his face, signaling something to his companions.

Shiroe saw Naotsugu's signal and gently told the lady behind him, "Hang on tight."

Shiroe signaled the giant 'griffon' he rode with his heel, and it tilted the tip of its 3 meter wing slightly. The monster cut through the air as it slowly glided towards the ground in a smooth arc.

The five who left Susukino - Shiroe, Akatsuki, Naotsugu, Crescent Moon Alliance's young Druid Serara, who had been rescued in the mission, and her protector Nyanta, a werecat, had been flying non-stop since their escape, flying across the coast of Ezzo, and moving towards Eastal territory where Akiba was.

As the sun set in the west, darkness covered the world.

Even though they possessed a rare flying mount not available to normal Adventurers, Shiroe's party still wished to get as far away as possible from Susukino and they kept moving late into the evening by normal traveling conventions.

Setting up camp required a lot of effort.

Setting up the tents and preparing food took a lot of time. Because of the general lack of experience with the outdoors, even picking up firewood might take up to an hour.

After the Catastrophe, Shiroe's party learned how to survive in the wilderness of this world, and had not been pushing too hard on their way to Susukino. But after rescuing Serara, they wished to cross the coastline as fast as possible, going at a pace where pursuers would not be able to catch them.

The three griffons coordinated with each other and took a beautiful curving path to land on a hill.

"I wasn't afraid, ok?"

Holding Shiroe's hand while climbing down the griffon, Akatsuki said with shifty eyes. The truth was, of course that she was still scared, even though she was now used to the sensations of flying.

The thing she was afraid of was the griffon itself.

The griffon had the upper body of an eagle, and the lower body of a lion, with strong wings that spanned between 5 to 6 meters, and with its sharp claws and beak in addition to its big size, it should be able to bite off Akatsuki's head in one bite.

Akatsuki kept her distance after landing. Shiroe smiled, being careful not to let Akatsuki notice, and took a piece of meat from his Bag of Holding to feed the griffon.

Although the beast looked scary, it was very loyal to the Adventurers who summoned them by flute. As Shiroe stroked its neck, it happily swallowed the meat in one bite.

"The mission was a success."

Naotsugu walked uphill towards Shiroe after dismounting from his griffon.

"Correct, your plan was brilliant nya~."

Nyanta and Serara approached Shiroe from the other side.

"Erm, thank you very much, everyone! I am very grateful!"

"Anyway, don't mention it, we didn't do anything great."

Shiroe replied to Serara who bowed her head in gratitude. He also felt his attitude was too cold, but he was tongue-tied, and so he just averted his eyes shyly.

Shiroe opened his menu and used telepathy to report to Maryele. Maryele who was waiting anxiously all this while let out a sigh of relief after receiving Shiroe's report.

If you think about it, Shiroe's party forcefully took over Maryele's rescue quest and traveled north.

In the aftermath of the Catastrophe, the city had a gloomy mood, frustrating the populace.

Shiroe took over the rescue quest because he found the mood too depressing.

He was genuinely concerned for the Crescent Moon Alliance, and was happy to help Maryele and Henrietta, but that was not the sole reason. Shiroe had a feeling of irritation deep in his heart.

"Seriously, don't be too concerned."

Shiroe only did what he wanted for himself.

Hence, he could not translate his thoughts into words, and could only speak broken phrases.

"Shiroe-chi has always been shy nya~."

Nyanta spoke in a relaxing and comforting tone.

"Chief Nyanta."

"Shiroe-san and Nyanta-san already knew each other?"

"That's right, and I was their friend too."

Naotsugu interjected.

"That's right nya~, when Elder Tales was still a game, Shiroe-chi, Naotsugu-cchi and I used to adventure together nya~."

When it was still a game.

Those words echoed sadly in their hearts.

This was not Elder Tales anymore. The Catastrophe happened, and this was just a world that was similar to Elder Tales, but was ten times harsher.

Serara made a depressed expression, making Shiroe troubled, but he was unable to find the words to comfort her.

"My lord, we need to prepare for camp."

Shiroe felt saved by Akatsuki's suggestion and started the preparations with the others. Nyanta and Serara also understood that being depressed wouldn't help the situation, so they picked themselves up emotionally, and started looking for a suitable place to camp.

The sky was dark, but there was no sign of strong monsters in the area.

Naotsugu and Serara set up a small tent. In this season, there would be no problem sleeping under the stars with sleeping bags, but it would be troubling for them if it rained.

Akatsuki and Nyanta headed towards the forest without a word, probably to pick up firewood.

It was inefficient to prepare to camp this late at night.

Even with magic light illuminating the area, it was slow to set up tents in the dark. The party dug up the grass, set up stones to block the wind, and started the campfire two hours after they landed.

It was possible that they wouldn't get a full night's rest but the five of them were in a happy mood, as they had already succeeded in the most difficult part of the rescue quest.

Since they had crossed several zones using the griffons, they did not need to worry about pursuers. The only thing left on the agenda was to return safely to Akiba, so there was no need to rush, unlike their journey to Susukino.

They could even spend another night here if they wanted to.

The leisurely mood was reflected on the faces of everyone.

Nyanta and Akatsuki headed into the forest that looked more like an overgrown jungle to pick up firewood, Naotsugu headed towards the river for water, and Shiroe and Serara set up tents in the meantime. Canvas tents were not magic items, but were a necessity for adventurers. They were heavy items, but the weight disappeared when they were placed inside a Bag of Holding, so they were not a hassle to bring along.

Before setting up the tent, Serara contacted Maryele via telepathy.

Maryele always had a happy smile on her face, but that didn't mean she was not worried. When she listened to Shiroe's report, her voice had become shaky with emotion, probably due to a sense of relief.

Maryele was so happy listening to Serara's call, such that even Shiroe, who was packing things outside the tent was able to imagine by Serara's reaction.

"I'm back with the water."

The one walking up the hill was Naotsugu.

He went to the pond and used his bottle to collect water. The sun had set completely, and the forest cast a clear silhouette under the clear night sky. Nyanta and Akatsuki should be back from the forest soon.

No matter how you looked at it, the rescue mission was a success.

2

"What is this? This is fantastic!"

Naotsugu let out an emotional voice.

In front of the five was a campfire.

"My lord my lord, how do I describe this? This is absolute bliss!"

Even the usually emotionless Akatsuki shouted with a red glow on her cheeks.

Naotsugu nodded at them, and Shiroe was not calm at all, but filled with joy. But the socially awkward Shiroe wasn't able to express his happiness to the others.

"Nyahaha, there is still more nya~."

Naotsugu concentrated on his meat, and didn't seem to hear Nyanta's words.

The deer meat was sizzling in the fire, and gave off a splendid aroma.

Such a simple thing was an incredible discovery.

The beginning of the incident started when Akatsuki and Nyanta took down a deer on their way to pick up firewood.

In this world, wild animals were not rare. The human population was only one percent of Japan's overall population, so the wild animals had a good environment in which to breed.

In the forest and hill zones where nature flourished, you could see wild animals like deer, birds, boars and goats. But there were dangerous ones like wild dogs, wolves, and bears too. Especially wild boars and bears, which were as powerful as goblins, so adequate care should be taken.

But if you avoid the dangerous beasts, deer and birds were easy to handle, perfect for low level players to practice on and an important source of food.

Akatsuki and Nyanta hunted a deer on their way to pick up firewood.

Nyanta carved up the deer in front of the bewildered eyes of the rest of the party, and skewered the meat into delicious kebabs.

Looking at the sizzling kebabs cooking in the fire, you could tell it was totally different from the food they had tasted.

The aroma of food.

Only real food could give out such a wonderful smell, which dumbfounded the group. Shiroe and company felt a sudden hunger which they were unable to bear.

Eating the meat that was seasoned with salt and spices by Nyanta, your tongue was assaulted with the sweet taste that fills your whole mouth. This wasn't something you ate to live. This was something you ate to feel alive.

The difference was beyond description.

"Delicious… But why?"

Shiroe was puzzled.

Naotsugu and Akatsuki were also dumbstruck; only Serara and Nyanta smiled proudly.

This was the best food they have had in a month.

'All food has no taste' was one of the cruel phenomena of this world. Shiroe and the gang… no, the thirty thousand Japanese players all felt sadness because of this.

It doesn't matter if you had omelet rice, curry, soup or grilled fish, the taste was always like 'soggy crackers'; without the taste of salt, it was worse than soggy crackers. Naotsugu described it as eating cardboard.

They had given up hope of fixing this phenomenon, and yet the issue was suddenly solved in front of their eyes.

Nyanta did not create any special dish, he had only carved up a deer, seasoned it with salt and spices, and cooked it in a pan over a fire.

It might not be top class, but compared to the life of 'tasteless soggy crackers,' this was heavenly food.

"This is amazing! Incredible, Chief Nyanta you are the best! My love for you is second only to that of panties!"

"You are exaggerating nya~."

Nyanta took out skewers from his bags and prepared more kebabs. Serara beside him laid out dishes and started to cut onions as a side dish.

"Chief, wait a minute! Nyanta-sensei! What happened? Why does it taste like this? Why doesn't it taste like soggy crackers? Requesting the testimony of the accused!"

Naotsugu held a kebab in each hand as he asked. He seemed wary of Nyanta's guarantee that there was still a lot of meat, and was securing his portions in his hands.

Akatsuki who usually called Naotsugu out as a pervert also said "delicious, wonderful, wonderful" as she put the meat into her mouth.

Nyanta carefully removed the inner organs while he explained.

"When preparing a meal, you need to collect the ingredients, then open the menu to select the food you want to make, correct nya?"

He was describing the basic methods of creating items in Elder Tales.

"Using this method, you will always get food of that taste nya. You just need to collect the ingredients, but do not open the menu. Instead, you just manually cook the food, and it will appear as you know in the real world nya."

Nyanta explained calmly.

"But we…"

Akatsuki said halfway with her mouth full and had to stop to swallow.

Shiroe gave her a water bottle, and said:

"We tried that too, but using that method, we would end up with mysterious items. When we grilled fish, it either became black coal or gooey slime… It is impossible to perform normal cooking in this world, right?"

This was Shiroe's knowledge of the world.

Since it was a game, if you didn't use in-game techniques, the actions would fail. This was common knowledge.

"If you are not a Chef, or if your Chef level is too low, that is what will happen nya~. Even if you use manual cooking, you still need the in-game skills. In other words, those with the Chef subclass can make delicious meals as long as they do it manually nya~."

Nyanta's words shocked Shiroe, and he was finally able to accept it.

If you thought about it, being able to sprinkle salt on food was a weird phenomenon. If you can only make food via menu, even the action of sprinkling salt would need to be done through the menu.

Even if the player doesn't choose to be a Chef as their subclass, they would still have 5 EXP in it. The ability to sprinkle salt was a default skill which was the best players who didn't choose the Chef subclass could do.

"Chief, does that mean…"

"You are right Naotsugu-cchi, I am a Chef nya~. Want another kebab?"

Shiroe and party ate lots of meat under the encouragement of Nyanta.

A mid-size deer was more than enough for a group of five, and should last them for tomorrow as well. Nyanta took out an apple brandy he made in Susukino to celebrate, and the party continued.

Nyanta introduced Serara to the trio once again.

"It is nice to meet you all. I apologize for greeting everybody so late and I am very grateful for everybody's assistance. I am Serara, level 19 Druid, subclass Housekeeper, a beginner in Elder Tales."

Serara bowed her head.

(What an energetic girl.)

A girl's gentle face, small and smooth shoulders with her hair tied behind her that was the impression Shiroe had of her.

"Seems like she is probably one of the top three girls in her class, ranked number three in fact, but has received the most love letters."

"Hmm… What?" - Naotsugu said something that is hard to comment on by someone he had just met for the first time. Serara struggled to find the words to respond. Akatsuki's knee made a sharp sound as it met Naotsugu's face.

"Don't knee people! No kneeing!"

"My lord, there was someone who is rude, so I gave him a flying knee."

"You are reporting after doing it?"

The reason why Naotsugu didn't protect his face was because he was protecting the kebabs in his hands, which made Serara giggle.

"Heehee…"

"Ara, this is Naotsugu, a Guardian, reliable and strong."

"But perverted and stupid."

Serara nodded cheerfully at Nyanta's words.

"I saw him in action before, I am sorry for my low-level healing support."

Naotsugu replied,

"Don't worry, that was already a big help."

Serara apologized repeatedly for her low level, but Shiroe felt the same as Naotsugu, acknowledging Serara's commitment and resolve. Anyway, things like levels could be improved with time, so there was no need to apologize.

"Naotsugu-cchi has been like this ever since I met him, don't take it to heart. Also, he was praising you nya~."

"Ah?"

Serara raised her head to look at Nyanta, who smiled gently with squinted eyes.

"Naotsugu-cchi means that you are the most popular girl in class, he has a shy nature nya~."

"Chief, wait a minute, that's not what it means, I like panties more than pretty girls!"

As if to interrupt Naotsugu, Akatsuki's flying knee struck again.

"That hurts shortie, you are getting more cruel!"

"My lord, I kicked the pervert's face in and confiscated his meat."

"Huh? Ah, ah!"

Akatsuki bit into the meat she stole from Naotsugu.

"How did it end like this…"

Nyanta handed a new kebab to the depressed Naotsugu and asked, "What about this young lady nya?" shifting the attention to Akatsuki. Shiroe introduced her to Nyanta.

She had been traveling together with Naotsugu and Shiroe. Akatsuki was an Assassin with sub-class Tracker and was both powerful and reliable. Akatsuki looked seriously at Nyanta and bowed her head to greet Nyanta.

"Teacher, I am Akatsuki."

Naotsugu complained loudly about the difference from his treatment, and Akatsuki stuffed some half-cooked meat into his mouth. The two of them bickered with each other with words like "shortie" and "pervert" and the rest of the party laughed heartily.

"As for Shiroe-chi, he was the strategist of a group I was in nya~. He is a brilliant young man nya~."

Shiroe nodded his head at Nyanta's introduction, Serara thanked Shiroe all panicky. Shiroe felt that she was a cheerful and nice girl.

How old is she? Shiroe wondered.

In this world, your face was affected by your face in the real word, but your body size and appearance were determined by the game data. So, one shouldn't assume anyone's age by their height as that would be rude and probably wrong as well. Shiroe learned about this from Akatsuki.

From her manner of speech, she didn't sound elderly.

(High school, or maybe middle school?)

Elder Tales was a monthly subscription game, so the average age group was higher than free to play games. But that was only the average, it was not surprising for middle-schoolers to play this game.

If I recall, the twins were also about this age.

The chain of events in the rescue mission had tensed Shiroe up, so maybe it was because the tedious part of the quest was over, or maybe it was the celebratory mood and the food, but Shiroe reminisced of the time before the Catastrophe.

3

Shiroe knew the twins back when Elder Tales was just a game world.

Shiroe was a unique solo player, since a high level Enchanter could only be described as unique, based in Akiba, living his daily life in Elder Tales.

After the Debauchery Tea Party dissolved, Shiroe became a true roaming player. This was not a negative description, as he enjoyed this type of gaming life.

In the town center of Akiba, there were people recruiting parties for raids everywhere, using the game server chat channels.

Shiroe would sometimes join a group using this method, or join friends like Maryele in their quests, or even go by himself to explore or collect treasures.

Shiroe's subclass was Scribe, a production class, with the ability to duplicate scrolls, maps and magic tomes. In Elder Tales, production was the transformation of ingredients into items, so getting raw ingredients was an important step.

For Scribes, the ingredients were paper and ink. For normal scrolls, the cheapest ingredients would do. But for high level magic tomes, you would need ink with magic properties. Making special ink was also the job of Scribes, which needed ingredients like dragon's blood or rare minerals.

If you wanted to get rare ingredients, you would need to travel to different places and defeat monsters. Even with the Debauchery Tea Party gone or <her> not dragging Shiroe adventuring around anymore, Shiroe was still busy with all sorts of business.

As Shiroe was living his daily gaming life, the twins were the ones to approach him.

"Niichan, Niichan, please wait a minute!"

"Excuse me, I'm very sorry. Is it convenient for you to talk? We want to find out something."

The twins were only up to Shiroe's shoulder in height.

The boy wore cheap armor with a sword on his back.

The girl wore white robes, holding a staff with bells on it.

"No problem, what's the matter?"

Shiroe remembered that it was in a crowded area of Akiba.

Judging by their equipment, the twins were beginners, using default weapons. From their manner of speech and the sounds of their voices, they were either middle schoolers or younger, giving a child-like feeling.

"My magic is too weak, I am unable to cure Tohya's wounds. I asked someone just now, and he told me to purchase better tomes. But I do not know where to buy them. Can you tell me where to buy them?"

From the choice of words and the voice of the girl, she seemed very well-mannered.

"I also want to learn skills, if you know, then please teach me, Niichan."

The green status bar above the twins showed that the girl was Minori, the boy was Tohya, and both were level 6.

The first quest in Elder Tales was a beginners' tutorial. Players choosing Akiba as their starting city would be sent to Major Colonel's battle training camp to learn the basic controls.

Major Colonel looked like a gentlemen with a white mustache, but you never knew what he would do if he got angry, a troublesome NPC. And his name 'Colonel' was also a military rank, confusing players of his actual rank, and as a result he was quite famous among the players.

Major Colonel's training lasts for about an hour; beginners would reach level 4 after completing the tutorial. Considering this fact, the twins probably began playing either yesterday or today; they were total beginners.

"Is this your first day playing?"

"Yes." “That’s right!"

The voice of the twins overlapped each other.

Even though Shiroe was socially awkward, he did not hate other people. He was only wary of people who approached him with ulterior motives.

Because of this, Shiroe did not hate beginners, since they did not understand Shiroe had above average wealth, and they were not concerned with the idea of party efficiency and taking advantage of Shiroe.

Leaving such depressing thoughts behind, Shiroe wished to welcome beginners as a player of Elder Tales, believing it to be the duty of experienced players.

"I see. I will lead you, this way."

Just bringing them though the familiar streets was no trouble, Shiroe thought as he led the twins.

Just like that, Shiroe became friends with Tohya and Minori, teaming up with them occasionally.

Tohya is very outgoing, greeting Shiroe loudly when he saw him in town. Minori on the other hand would thank Shiroe politely.

The two were twins, Minori was the elder sister, being born shortly before her brother. She had the air of a class monitor, taking care of her rude brother, which is how the twins lived.

They were both in their second year of middle school, which was very young from Shiroe's perspective. Shiroe had played the game for a long time, but he seldom met middle schoolers. Because of the generation gap, even when Shiroe met such young players, they didn't have much in common and so wouldn't ally together for raids.

But the twins respected Shiroe and had no problem inviting him to play.

When Shiroe first met them, the twins informed him that Elder Tales was their first MMORPG, and they were very excited.

The first adventure was a disaster.

Tohya was like a homing missile whenever he saw a monster, rushing them immediately, Minori would follow in a hurry, and they would be in for a tough battle that brought them to the verge of tears.

And this scene repeated itself over and over again.

Elder Tales had a 'Mentoring' system.

In simple terms, it lets high-level players play with low-level players by dropping their levels and stats to match the lower level players.

Shiroe was an experienced player with deep insights into the game as well as having top tier equipment. Using the 'Mentoring' system, Shiroe would be roughly one or two levels better than the twins, which was an ideal level to lead the twins as a mentor.

Shiroe would use his spells to disable the enemy, but the attack power of Enchanters was low, and even more useless after the level drop. But it was still a big help to the two beginners.

"Thank you, Niichan! Ok, let's attack the enemies over there as well!"

"Tohya, wait a minute, your HP is dropping!"

Shiroe was dragged around by the twins all over the place to play.

Tohya was a Samurai of the warrior class.

Elder Tales called magic and fighting skills 'techniques', each of which had a name and values like MP, cast time and cool down. Cast time is the period between selecting the technique and the technique being used. Cool down is the time time needed for activated skills to be available for use again.

Most of the Samurai's techniques have a long cool down time.

Their techniques were powerful, but most of them can only be used once or twice in a battle, which was the opposite of Monks who chained many techniques during a fight.

Samurais were strong for short battles, and could deal the most damage in such situations, which made it a fun class to play.

But on the other hand, if you did not use the techniques with care and activated all your techniques, you would not be able to do anything before their cool down ends. Losing the ability to adapt to sudden changes by exploiting or covering new changes made mastering this class very difficult.

"Let's go! Helmet Slash!"

Tohya charged with his sword raised high, attacking a goblin directly. This damaged the goblin greatly, but Tohya couldn't move for a while after performing this technique.

"Wryyy!" "Growl!" "Hiss!"

The goblins seized the chance to gang up on Tohya. Tohya panicked as he was being attacked, but he was still stuck for the moment.

"Tohya! Retreat, it's dangerous! Protect Shield!"

Minori shook her staff and a barrier blocked the goblin's attack.

Minori was a Kannagi of the healer class.

A healer's duty included recovering HP, removing status ailments and using various spells to support allies.

All three of the healer classes had the ability to recover HP, and they all had their own unique skills as well.

Channeling the power of the ancient gods, Kannagis specialized in blocking damage, setting up barriers protecting a single ally or the whole group. The barriers could negate a set amount of damage before breaking.

By looking at healing powers, Kannagi was the least powerful of the healer classes. But the potential of negating damage could give a huge advantage in the right situation.

On the other hand, this technique depended on the user's ability to predict the type and range of the enemy, and was hard to master.

All the classes in Elder Tales were designed to be difficult to master, but the twins were not concerned with it, and were just enjoying the game.

Shiroe took the twins all over the beginner levels around Akiba at the request of the twins, accompanying them to the shops and answering all of their questions.

Shiroe once asked them: "I have better gear, how about I give them to you?" Even though it was good gear, it was only about level 10; Shiroe at level 90 had no problem buying a few hundred sets.

But Tohya replied, "Nah, I don't want it, I already started playing. Collecting treasures is the most interesting part, if I were to receive gear for no reason, then what is the point of playing?"

Minori said: "I apologize for my brother's arrogance, I am very sorry. Shiroe-san you have been very kind to us, but rather than giving us items, we would be happier if you continued playing with us!"

Because it was these twins, Shiroe could also play the role of mentor. The twins would also not view Shiroe as someone to take advantage of, so it was a joy playing with them.

Days like this continued. Until the Catastrophe.

4

"Oh, so you knew a pair of twins, and what else?"

"What?"

"My lord, do you know how they are doing now?"

Shiroe talked about his encounter with the twins, and his teammates raised this question.

Under the orange light of the campfire, the group's shadow danced on the tent, giving a calm camping atmosphere.

"They are online. I have seen them a few times after the Catastrophe."

"So they are stuck here too."

"We were together shortly before, and we were dragged back to Akiba. We got separated right then."

When the Catastrophe happened, all players were forcefully sent to the nearest village. Serara and Nyanta seemed deep in thought recalling the incident.

"Maybe you should have contacted them. They are probably deeply troubled too. They are just beginners and yet they are caught in this hellish event." Naotsugu said.

Shiroe knew that the Debauchery Tea Party was full of generous and helpful people, especially Naotsugu who diligently looked after his juniors and beginners.

(A Guardian who protects his teammates must be a guy who gives his all in helping others. But for Naotsugu, his way of expressing himself might affect his image.)

"Anyway, Shiroe-chi also has things he needs to attend to nya."

Nyanta said as he poured hot tea into a metal mug. This was not real tea, just a drink made with fragrant dried leaves and apple peelings. But to people who have been drinking tasteless water, this was bliss. Akatsuki nursed the mug carefully to warm her hands.

"You are right. In the beginning, we could only take care of ourselves, unable to spare any effort to take care of others. By the time I met them again, they had already joined a guild."

Not just Shiroe, all the players also didn't have the energy to consider things other than themselves.

"Is that so…"

"At that time, all the guilds were also busy recruiting people."

Akatsuki's words reminded Naotsugu of the situation and he nodded his head.

"I remember they were about level 20?"

"I think they should have progressed a bit more since then."

"Then it is a good thing they joined a guild, since they can't take care of themselves."

Naotsugu stretched himself as he talked, then turned and faced Shiroe.

"And so, is Minori cute?"

"Ah?"

Shiroe started recalling. He only saw their avatars in the Elder Tales game, and the screen only displayed a standard character model, so there was no way to know if she was cute. Shiroe had not talked with them face-to-face after the Catastrophe, so Shiroe was unable to answer.

"Nope, for this kind of thing you don't need to see her in person. You have talked to her through voice chat right? You know whether she is cute from her voice right?"

Naotsugu pressed Shiroe.

Akatsuki was speechless, listening to their conversation, throwing them a cold look.

Shiroe looked toward Nyanta, the only one who could save him. "Serara-chi, are you cold?" Nyanta displayed the concern of a gentleman. Can you spare some chivalry for your old friend too? As Shiroe thought about this, Naotsugu pressed on.

"Hmmm… To judge if she is cute… Her manner of speech is polite like a little girl… Feels like she is from a high class family? I feel that her family is high class, but not like Henrietta-san."

As Shiroe talked, Naotsugu nodded at his every word with a happy look.

"That's right! That is how a middle schooler should behave!"

"Why did you guess her age now?"

"Stupid Naotsugu…"

You are correct! Shiroe nodded at Akatsuki, but she just said "My lord is also stupid."

"Let's contact them after we go back! A date, I will be the vanguard, Shiroe will be the backup! Girls are great!"

"This I agree with you."

"Shiro likes panties too right?"

"Not particularly. My interest in panties is at the average level among males."

Naotsugu's suggestion made Shiroe feel troubled, but he still agreed. It was not contacting the twins that was troubling, but getting ready for the punch line with Naotsugu that was troublesome. But it could not be helped.

Naotsugu had been bullied by Akatsuki a lot lately, so there was a need to be gentle with him.

The party carried on late into the night.

Guild matters, each others' experiences, delicious food, the star of the world, the group kept on chatting deep into the night.

Enjoying the feast in the orange glow, their laughter overlapped, the atmosphere was relaxing and no one wanted to call it a night.

Akatsuki and Serara leaned towards each other as they dozed off. The two of them were very cute, and even the constantly bullied Naotsugu smiled as he covered them with blankets.

When Nyanta finally declared it was time for bed, the sun was already rising from the east.

"Ah, I am so full! It's been a while since I have had such a good meal! Just this meal is worth the trip to Ezzo. This is what traveling should be like!"

Naotsugu's footsteps were wobbly because of sleepiness and breakfast, but his words resonated with his companions.

The five of them slipped into their sleeping bags, enjoying the warmth of the campfire as they dreamed.

5

The journey started anew the next day.

Shiroe's group completed the quest with just three people.

With the addition of the excellent melee attacker Nyanta and Serara the Druid who could heal minor wounds, the group was even more prepared for battle.

Even so, they did not rush in getting back.

In fact, the group intentionally slowed their return speed, sleeping late into the morning after the first night. They chose the best timing to ride the griffons which could only be used for 4 hours before proceeding on horseback.

They broke for camp early in the evening and built their tent before the sun set, leaving plenty of time for dinner preparation. The food was all ingredients from the wild, but it was still a feast when compared to the food they had before.

Nyanta put in lots of effort in preparing the meals, with his soup being the favorite.

The group chatted about all sort of things.

Serara did not go into detail of her troubles in Susukino, but even if she was traumatized, she had now overcome it, and the group was relieved that she was ok.

Unexpectedly, Serara liked Nyanta, but Nyanta didn't seem to realize it. But Serara seemed to think she hid her affection very well and no one realized it yet, which amused the others greatly.

Whenever Serara left Nyanta's side, she would sneak a peek at him. During dinner, she would sit beside Nyanta with a gleeful expression on her face.

The best news for Serara was when Nyanta said he would accompany her to Akiba and settle down there. When Serara heard that, she hugged Nyanta tightly, almost knocking over the pots.

Seeing Serara like this, Naotsugu made a mischievous face. Even though Shiroe thought that was not cool, he understood Naotsugu's feelings.

Nyanta always claimed to be an old man in the Debauchery Tea Party, and had never had any scandals. For the two former-Tea Party members, this was a spectacular piece of news.

"But come to think of it, why would she like a middle aged man…"

"Naotsugu, you are too much, we are talking about the Chief here. That is the charm of the Chief."

"Serara has good taste."

The two of them laughed as Akatsuki replied.

"Akatsuki feels that Nyanta is OK too?"

"Teacher is a first-class swordsman."

A mildly shocked Shiroe asked, and Akatsuki dutifully answered. This answer was vague with regards to Nyanta's charm, so it should be Akatsuki's respect for Nyanta as a fellow melee fighter, and Shiroe accepted this answer.

In terms of maturity, Nyanta was very reliable.

He claimed to be an old man, but that was in comparison with the younger kids. He should be about 40. He was skinny and tall, had small eyes, but looked good on the whole.

(Hmm, so Nyanta is OK too.)

Shiroe had the habit of putting his fingers on his chin when he was thinking. Akatsuki thought of something and approached Shiroe, tugging at his sleeve.

"My lord, my lord."

"What is it."

"My lord is not a swordsman, but I think you are strong."

“She is comforting me. ” Shiroe realized this and thanked Akatsuki while gently patting her hair. Akatsuki showed a troubled expression and said, "I didn't say anything worthy of thanks", and turned her head away. Shiroe felt a tug at his heart.

As the group flew over the Yappa highlands, dark clouds approached from the southwest. Naotsugu could see bits of white in the clouds rolling in.

"Shiro-! Chief Nyanta!"

Too lazy to use telepathy, he shouted directly at his companions who were flying about 10 meters below him.

"There's a storm coming!"

Shiroe looked to the west after hearing Naotsugu. The sunlight had been blocked by the clouds, and the air was heavy, and the griffons had difficulty maintaining altitude.

"Shiroe-chi, it's a bit early, bit early, but let's look for shelter nya."

Nyanta calmly advised Shiroe through telepathy. Checking the directions of the clouds again, Shiroe raised his right hand, and they started to drop in altitude.

Shiroe flew towards a village on the Yappa highlands, which had about 20 buildings in the junction of several unpaved roads.

Just as the griffons landed, thunder boomed and the weather changed in a blink of an eye.

The party rushed into the center of the village.

This was a typical village that can be found anywhere in all five Japanese servers.

The setting of Elder Tales was that of a world with a destroyed ancient civilization, the environment regained its vibrancy over thousands of years as flora and fauna flourished. Farming was possible in areas where there were less monsters.

The people living here were not Adventurers, but NPCs who called themselves People of the Land.

A majority of Elder Tales' game quests involved visiting these villages and solving various problems for the people, with stories involving the villagers as the background.

Noticing the sudden change in weather, a women wearing a white blouse and a kid with a dog and a cow jogged across the village roads.

Villagers of various age and dress collected their farm tools and rushed to get all the sheep back into their sheds.

As Shiroe predicted, the large building in the center of the village was the town hall, which was common for such frontier villages.

"Hello!"

Naotsugu greeted loudly as he led the group into the town hall which smelled of dry grass.

"Coming! Are you travelers?"

A NPC elderly man introduced himself as one of the village elder. He had short white hair and glasses with thick lenses, he seemed to be about 60 years of age. But his back was straight and he had a build of a younger man. He calmly listened to Shiroe's introduction and explanation and offered to provide shelter for the group at a cheap price for the night. The group thanked the old man and went into the shed.

This seemed to be a place to store hay for the winter, with stacks of them placed all over the place. The summer rain was not cold, but was falling down hard, sounding like golf balls were striking the village.

Shiroe stood at the doorway looking at the sky, and a cheerful voice boomed behind him.

"This is great, I love hay!"

Naotsugu shouted happily.

This world inherited the convenience of the game world, with the sleeping bags and tent being of amazing quality. Even though you can sleep comfortably, at the end of the day it was still a sleeping bag, and you would lose body heat and become stiff after one night.

In comparison, sleeping on hay was as comfortable as sleeping on a hotel bed.

"That's right, it is a comfortable place to be in nya."

Nyanta said as he inspected the interior, windows and the doors. Even though it was made of wood, the wall had been painted with some form of concrete to block the wind, so the shed remained dry and cool with a clean smell.

With the rain pouring down so heavily, being in the village was a great stroke of luck.

"Is there any place we can start a fire nya?"

"I see a stove over there Nyanta-san!"

Worried about dinner, Nyanta left the shed following Serara. Naotsugu and Akatsuki left the problem of dinner to them and started making five hay beds for the group.

"Why is this bed so small? Is it a bed for a hamster?"

"Shut up Stupid Naotsugu, go make your bed in the corner!"

Shiroe smiled awkwardly as he listened to the two bicker while the elder approached him.

"Are you from Tsukuba? Are you Adventurers?"

"Yes, we are Adventurers, we are on our way to Akiba."

Shiroe replied. 'Adventurer' was the term NPCs used to describe player characters.

"Would you like a drink?"

"Thank you very much… Is this… tea?"

Shiroe took out the tea made by Nyanta from his Bag of Holding and poured a cup for the elder in a metal mug, while he poured a cup into the flask cap. He sat on a sawing table while the elder sat on a wooden stool.

"How is it?"

Maybe it was because he experienced it for the first time, the elder was surprised at the bittersweet flavor of the tea. The elder praised the quality of the tea as Shiroe smiled.

"Why are you making this bed so carefully?"

"This is my lord's bed, of course it needs to be done with care."

"Oh I see, it must be hard making a bed for normal-sized people right?"

"Don't look down on me you pervert!"

Naotsugu and Akatsuki continued to bicker as they made the beds, while Shiroe and the elder chatted with the bickering as background music. The roads had been reduced to mud tracks, but from the reaction of the elder, the rain was nothing out of the norm.

"Your companions sure are energetic."

"Yes they are, I apologize for the disturbance."

"Don't say that, if you are going to travel, you need this kind of energy. But since you are Adventurers, this is to be expected."

The biggest change that occurred after the Catastrophe was the change in the NPCs.

The NPCs in Elder Tales were the same as other games, and they did not possess their own personalities. Although they were better programmed than other RPGs, they were limited by their AI in their conversation with the players.

But after the Catastrophe, NPCs appeared to be the same as normal people. Members of Brigandia may disagree, but Shiroe believed it to be so.

They could think, breathe, eat, and were alive.

They could drink tea together and talk about all kinds of topics. Each of them had their unique names and memories. They were not humans, they were not monsters, but they were an important element in the world.

Shiroe's party had been training in the wild most of the time after the Catastrophe, spending little time in Akiba.

Furthermore, NPCs were fewer in numbers in a Adventurer city like Akiba.

Hence, Shiroe didn't have a chance to interact with NPCs, but chatting like this made Shiroe think they were more and more human.

"The People of the Land seldom travel."

The elder said as he looked at Akatsuki with peaceful eyes.

The People of the Land was not a term describing humans, elves or dwarfs, but used to differentiate between Players and NPCs.

When Elder Tales was just a game, this term was already in place, but seldom used by players, who referred to them simply as NPCs.

But it was different now.

"People of the Land…"

"Yes, and this is a good village, we can live here with no worries."

They referred to players as Adventurers, and viewed them with fear. In their minds, Adventurers had a different culture, and their abilities were totally on another level.

Adventurers would grow stronger as they experienced battles, gaining powers hundreds of time more powerful, and possessed an undying soul. They did not disappear when they received fatal injuries, and would revive after returning to the cathedral. They could travel to places all over the world and even win battles against giants, the undead, and dragons.

Beings with such an incredible existence were known as Adventurers.

People of the Land did not have such battle prowess, they would fall when injured, could not revive when they died, representing the common folks in this world.

But there were NPCs who had equal or greater strength than players because of the game setting. The People of the Land viewed them as being different from themselves and Adventurers, calling them Ancients.

If you categorized them this way, People of the Land were the most helpless. If Adventurers wished to, they could take all their belongings and even their lives.

After the Catastrophe caused the increase in population, the amount of People of the Land increased 5 to 10 fold, but the difference in battle prowess remained the same.

From what Shiroe observed, they did not bear any grudge about this, treating this as a natural phenomenon. Because for them, this was the world they lived in, it had always been like this.

(From the name People of the Land, that should be the way. They live and are at one with the land, which I can never match up to them.)

As Shiroe chatted randomly with the elder, this was what Shiroe felt. How many People of the Land were there in the world? There must be at least a hundred villages like this in Yappa.

(We have no knowledge about the People of the Land. We don't even know what they eat or do for leisure… We are really lacking in this front…)

Shiroe felt a deep curiosity to question the elder, but a cheerful voice broke his train of thought.

"Good news Shiroe-chi nya!"

Nyanta approached with Serara beaming at his side. It seemed like she already knew what the good news was.

"What is it?"

"We went to visit a few households in the area, and they sold ingredients to us nya!"

"It's wonderful! This is milk, this is cheese, and we have sausage bacon and eggs! There are even eggs! I bought sugar back in Susukino, so we can bake cookies!"

"We also brought cabbage and potatoes nya."

The couple showed their goods with pride. With so many ingredients, we won't need to hunt on the way back to Akiba anymore.

"Is this OK?"

Shiroe inquired to the elder. The elder nodded in agreement.

"The weather in spring is good, our livestock is abundant. The villagers would be happy to exchange them for some coins. By the way, I have a barrel of strawberry jam, would you like to buy some?"

The elder added. He must be happy for the chance to earn some coin.

"I would be happy to."

Shiroe followed the elder who led the way.

6

Tohya wiped the mud off his face with his left hand.

His gauntlets were made from animal skin and wires, so it hurt when they rubbed against your face. But this amount of pain was just right.

The pain was enough to stop his tears from falling.

"Faster, stop dragging your feet!"

The party leader bellowed in an angry voice.

As usual, he was angry because of the formation falling apart.

Tohya could understand this feeling. Tohya was a Samurai, one of the three warrior classes, which served as a tank.

Tank refers to vanguards at the frontline of the formation. Any team has at least one tank. They are responsible for aggravating the monsters and withstanding their attacks. This would free up the damage dealers who could position themselves to maximize their damage potential without fear of attacks.

There are two important aspects to being a tank. First was that you must not die. If the tank dies, there would be no one left to keep the monsters at bay, leaving the mages and healers, who were weak to attacks, open, and the formation would crumble. The second was the need to draw the enemies' attention to yourself to ensure your teammates' safety. If you did not draw their attention, there would be no point even if you did not die, as your teammates would be attacked, leading to the formation collapsing.

(Shiroe-niichan taught me before, I understand the basic concepts, but…)

Even if you understood the concept, putting it into action was a different matter.

Keeping the formation in place was the duty and the reason for tanks to exist. Tohya was also unwilling to endanger his party. But this was also dependent on the support of his group.

In order to keep the tank alive, support and healing was necessary. Even the hardest tank would fall under the constant attacks of monsters. To avoid this, support and healing from the back was needed, and the tank needed to draw the monsters' attention so the healers could concentrate on healing.

They were two sides of a coin, missing any one of them would result in Tohya dying and the formation breaking.

As well as attracting the attention of the enemies, tanks needed to aggravate the enemy more than his teammates, making himself the prime target. Warrior classes had many skills that attracted the enemies' attention, knownenemies' attention, known as taunts. They were able to control the psyche of the enemies, making them lose track of the warrior's teammates' presence.

After attracting their attention, the problem would lie in having the guts, presence of mind, and trust in the healing of your allies. Tohya trusted Minori, so this should be simple.

(That is what Shiroe-niichan said… but that is not enough…)

Usually, if the powers of the group are about the same, the warrior's taunt could operate without issue. But if there was an ally who was higher level than the tanks, or if the damage of the attack was too powerful to handle, then the taunt would not work.

In other words, the enemy would judge the high level damage dealer or healer to be a bigger threat and prioritize them as the target. This was the case for Tohya's team.

The leader of the group was level 46, halfway to the level cap in Elder Tales, and twice the level of Tohya.

Compared to his power as a Summoner, Tohya's ability to hold the enemies' attention was inadequate. The enemy would judge the Summoner as a bigger threat than Tohya.

The powerful attacks of the leader aggravated the monsters, who then switched priorities from Tohya to him. But even though the leader was twice the level of Tohya, his defense was lower than his.

Because the damage was split between the two of them, the healer would need to heal on both fronts. The effectiveness of the heals would drop and they ran the risk of losing on either front.

As things didn't go as planned, the formation would also become a mess. Damage dealers would not know which enemy to prioritize in order to salvage the situation. Should they target the enemy attacking Tohya or the Summoner? The confusion resulted in the team not concentrating on their attacks in order to take down enemies one at a time.

This caused the battle to drag out, causing the formation to worsen, a vicious cycle.

(That's why Shiroe-niichan used the mentoring system to avoid aggravating the monsters.)

Tohya finally understood Shiroe's reasoning.

Shiroe did not use the system because of vanity or pity for the twins. He did it because this was the way to teach battle formations.

Speaking of which, his current leader was different.

Today's grinding spot consisted of level 25 lizard men. For Tohya and the other beginners, that was a high level.

But to the leader, monsters 20 levels below him were easy. He was unable to tolerate taking much time to finish them off. He spoke plainly to the team before: "You should be the one to adjust to me, not the other way around."

As for the leader, he was just a nanny forced to babysit the scrubs and earn gold for the guild. He risked getting a warning from higher management if he didn't meet their targets.

Tohya and the rest were just a burden in his eyes.

The leader in the red robe did not bother to conceal his frustration.

Tohya's teammates were exhausted, with hollow and tired eyes.

There were 4 deaths today. The trips to and from the cathedral annoyed the leader even more.

Despite all of this, he refused to change his ways. If he used the mentoring system, he would be able to achieve balance in his formation, but he was unable to stand the idea of lowering his level. "Doing this will make things slower, and we won't be able to reach the target."

In the alley of Akiba, a Bard tripped and almost fell.

"I'm sorry… I'm losing strength in my legs."

The girl apologized to Tohya who stopped her fall. There was only exhaustion and a deep hollowness in her eyes.

"We are almost there, you can do it."

Tohya helped the girl as he cheered her on. She was a level or two below Tohya. She was very light, and her cloak smelled of sweat and dirt. Tohya was the same. They did not have the time or energy for showers.

(This must be hard on her.)

Tohya looked at the girl, who had no strength to be concerned with her appearance, just counting her footsteps to distract herself from falling due to exhaustion.

Tohya bit his lips.

How did it come to this? He has thought of this over and over again, unable to find his way through his anger and confusion.

The group gathered in the city square under the guide of the leader. The leader snarled at the group and collected the day's bounty from each member.

Even in the guild houses, there were still limits to how many items you could store. Items that were not worth keeping were sold in the market, this was the style of Hamelin.

"Tohya, you collected so much."

Leader said in an irritating tone. Tohya may be a low level warrior, but his arm strength was still stronger than his allies', so he could carry more items. This was just his way of shouldering his teammates' burden.

"I brought this back using all my effort."

The leader surely understood this. Tohya didn't look at him straight as he answered. Even if he had the urge to punch him, he knew that fighting was prohibited in this zone. His teammate was exhausted anyway, so he did not want to cause a scene and waste their precious resting time.

"Hmph."

The leader snorted loudly as he put all the collected items into the market.

"For people of your caliber, you can only collect worthless items such as this. You should be grateful that you get to eat anything at all. You should also be thankful for the 'Holy water' too."

Tohya ground his teeth loudly.

All of this was for Minori.

If Minori was not held hostage in the guild house, he would never allow any bad guy to talk so arrogantly. Tohya could feel the hatred in his eyes, as his anger grew in his heart. He shifted his gaze to the streets to avoid detection.

His leader was only a low level member.

(Killing scum like this will only dirty my blade… How long will days like this last? How did it come to this? Why are we in this situation… We don't need 'Holy water', we don't want stuff like that, just take it if you want. But Minori was at her limits, if we didn't join a guild…)

"… Just came back. Yes, thank you… It's OK."

A white light entered Tohya's dusty and gray world. It's a voice that he missed so much in just a month, he almost forgot Shiroe's calm manner of speaking.

Tohya raised his head and searched the streets with his eyes.

Shops… Nope. Open air market… Nope. Blacksmith… Nope. Weapon store, armor store, bar, hotel… searching everywhere for that familiar presence… and feeling hopelessness. Tohya didn't know what he looked like.

Tohya only knew his voice through voice chat, he didn't know how he looked after the Catastrophe. Realizing this, Tohya felt a depressing feeling squeeze his heart.

But a loud group of about ten plus people entered from a door which connected the central square and the main street, drawing the attention of Tohya. A small crowd surrounded a well-traveled group that appeared to have just returned to the city.

Even though he was at the center of the attention, his expression was still moody and troubled. That young man was Shiroe.

"Don't worry! The Chef I knew went out of his mind after hearing about it. Every day was a taste-testing storm. In English the word will be "storm". When I mentioned Shiro-bou was coming back, he started preparing for a big party!"

"Wow, there will be a feast? I will be looking forward to it!"

"That's wonderful nya."

"Maryele, there is no need to make such a big deal."

Tohya rushed to open the menu in his mind. He stopped the cursor on the man in front of him to ascertain his name by using the system. Guild: Nil. Name: Shiroe. Class: Enchanter.

He was the one that spent his time with him and Minori, sharing his experience and knowledge freely, the one he and Minori addressed as "Niichan".

"Niichan-"

Tohya shouted, but he froze midway.

Shiroe seemed to turn his head and looked his way.

Maybe it was his mind playing tricks on him, but the Shiroe that was facing Tohya seemed to give the sense of more determination.

Shiroe was also living in this post Catastrophe world.

The moment Tohya felt this, he felt a shock and his words froze.

The world had changed.

After the Catastrophe, the world had turned onto a different path and changed irreversibly. This was a world dreamers longed for, and it was a game becoming reality, an incident that only occurred in fairy tales.

But if you looked beyond the surface, the truth was this was a grey prison.

"This is a guild that helps beginners," tempted by these words, the twins who fell into this trap were also at fault. But if you ignore this point, Tohya thought this world was where only the strong would rule.

Money, items, EXP, all these resources allowed the owner to gain more benefits. The rich become richer, those with items gained more items, and those with more EXP could fight monsters that yielded more EXP. It was survival of the fittest.

'Those who have' would gain more, 'those who don't' would always be one step behind and could only watch the dust of 'those who have'. This was the world of Elder Tales, the truth behind the online game world. Now that it was reality, this cruel fact was emphasized even more, because the players could no longer log out.

Tohya's childish logic was unable to comprehend this truth fully. But despite that, he was able to smell this truth because of his childish innocence.

There was no difference.

In any place in any world, this was the law of nature. Since it was a survival of the fittest, the strong and the weak would need to be differentiated. It was not cruel because it was a game. The original world was just as cruel. Excessive squeezing and double standards was prohibited, but that didn't mean it didn't happen.

Tohya understood this logic.

His legs that couldn't move understood this logic.

Minori and Tohya were both beginners.

They had low fighting prowess and had limited knowledge of the world. They had no wealth, and all this meant that they were powerless.

No one understood this more than himself. Not only was he powerless, but he was also a child. Tohya thought he tasted the iron in his blood as he bit his lips. The weak didn't have the strength to protect themselves. Miracles that could save the weak without asking for anything in return do not exist.

The words Tohya swallowed, was it "help me" or "save me"? Even Tohya wasn't sure.

Tohya was sure that Shiroe was a high level gamer, more knowledgeable than anyone in Elder Tales. Maybe he thought that Shiroe would save him regardless of how deep in trouble Tohya was.

But, why did he think that?

He, Shiroe, was just a random guy who played Elder Tales with him for a week, just a friend at the most. Did Tohya have the right to request for his aid?

For example, a debtor wouldn't request help from people that were not related to him by blood. Reality was such a thing, Tohya understood this concept.

Even Shiroe needed to pay a price to continue living in this world.

There was no room for such naive thoughts.

Tohya lowered his clenched fist.

He did not know when the city square started drizzling.

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