Vol 2 Chapter 1 (1/2)
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 frolow 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 ar s to his companions
shi+roe saw Naotsugu's signal and gently told the lady behind hiht”
shi+roe signaled the giant 'griffon' he rode with his heel, and it tilted the tip of its 3 h the air as it slowly glided towards the ground in a smooth arc
The five who left Susukino - shi+roe, Akatsuki, Naotsugu, Crescent Moon Alliance's young Druid Serara, who had been rescued in thenon-stop since their escape, flying across the coast of Ezzo, andtowards 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 noret as far away as possible fro by nor conventions
Setting up camp required a lot of effort
Setting up the tents and preparing food took a lot of tieneral lack of experience with the outdoors, even picking up firewood ht take up to an hour
After the Catastrophe, shi+roe's party learned how to survive in the wilderness of this world, and had not been pushi+ng 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 shi+roe's hand while cliriffon, Akatsuki said with shi+fty 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 shi+roe s careful not to let Akatsuki notice, and took a piece of riffon
Although the beast looked scary, it was very loyal to the Adventurers who summoned them by flute As shi+roe stroked its neck, it happily sed the meat in one bite
”The mission was a success”
Naotsugu walked uphill towards shi+roe after disriffon
”Correct, your plan was brilliant nya~”
Nyanta and Serara approached shi+roe from the other side
”Errateful!”
”Anyway, don't reat”
shi+roe 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
shi+roe opened his menu and used telepathy to report to Maryele Maryele aiting anxiously all this while let out a sigh of relief after receiving shi+roe's report
If you think about it, shi+roe's party forcefully took over Maryele's rescue quest and traveled north
In the afterloo the populace
shi+roe took over the rescue quest because he found theHe was genuinely concerned for the Crescent Moon Alliance, and was happy to help Maryele and Henrietta, but that was not the sole reason shi+roe had a feeling of irritation deep in his heart
”Seriously, don't be too concerned”
shi+roe only did what he wanted for himself
Hence, he could not translate his thoughts into words, and could only speak broken phrases
”shi+roe-chi has always been shy nya~”
Nyanta spoke in a relaxing and co tone
”Chief Nyanta”
”shi+roe-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 gaether 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
Serarashi+roe troubled, but he was unable to find the words to comfort her
”My lord, we need to prepare for camp”
shi+roe 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 the 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 s 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 caht
Even withthe 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 u headed towards the river for water, and shi+roe and Serara set up tents in the ic items, but were a necessity for adventurers They were heavy iteht 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 shi+roe'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 shi+roe, as packing things outside the tent was able to iine 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 elow on her cheeks
Naotsugu nodded at them, and shi+roe was not calm at all, but filled with joy But the socially aard shi+roe 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 ave off a splendid aroma
Such a si 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 aniood environment in which to breed
In the forest and hill zones where nature flourished, you could see wild anierous 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 sroup shi+roe and coer 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 wholeyou ate to live This was so you ate to feel alive
The difference was beyond description
”Delicious But why?”
shi+roe 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 pheno no, the thirty thousand japanese players all felt sadness because of this
It doesn't rilled fish, the taste was always like 'soggy crackers'; without the taste of salt, it orse 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 ht not be top class, but coy crackers,' this was heavenly food
”This is a! 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 fros 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 seeuarantee that there was still a lot ofhis 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 reans while he explained
”When preparing a redients, then open the menu to select the food you want to make, correct nya?”
He was describing the basicitems in Elder Tales
”Using this et 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 halfith her ave her a water bottle, and said:
”We tried that too, but using that rilled fish, it either becaooey sli in this world, right?”
This was shi+roe's knowledge of the world
Since it was a gaame techniques, the actions would fail This was coe
”If you are not a Chef, or if your Chef level is too low, that is ill happen nya~ Even if you use ame skills In other words, those with the Chef subclass canas they do it manually nya~”
Nyanta's words shocked shi+roe, 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 onlysalt 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?”
shi+roe and party ate lots of ement of Nyanta
A roup of five, and should last them for tomorroell Nyanta took out an apple brandy he made in Susukino to celebrate, and the party continuedNyanta introduced Serara to the trio once again
”It is nice toeverybody so late and I arateful for everybody's assistance I ainner 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 shi+roe had of her
”Seeirls in her class, ranked number three in fact, but has received the most love letters”
”H that is hard to comment on by soled to find the words to respond Akatsuki's knee u's face
”Don't knee people! No kneeing!”
”My lord, there was so 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 le
”Heehee”
”Ara, this is Naotsugu, a Guardian, reliable and strong”
”But perverted and stupid”
Serara nodded cheerfully at Nyanta's words
”I saw hi support”
Naotsugu replied,
”Don't worry, that was already a big help”
Serara apologized repeatedly for her low level, but shi+roe felt the sa Serara's cos like levels could be iize
”Naotsugu-cchi has been like this ever since Iyou nya~”
”Ah?”
Serara raised her head to look at Nyanta, who sently with squinted eyes
”Naotsugu-cchi irl in class, he has a shy nature nya~”
”Chief, wait a minute, that's not what it irls!”
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 u
”How did it end like this”
Nyanta handed a new kebab to the depressed Naotsugu and asked, ”What about this young lady nya?” shi+fting the attention to Akatsuki shi+roe introduced her to Nyanta
She had been traveling together with Naotsugu and shi+roe 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 ords like ”shortie” and ”pervert” and the rest of the party laughed heartily
”As for shi+roe-chi, he was the strategist of a group I was in nya~ He is a brilliant young man nya~”
shi+roe nodded his head at Nyanta's introduction, Serara thanked shi+roe all panicky shi+roe felt that she was a cheerful and nice girl
How old is she? shi+roe wondered
In this world, your face was affected by your face in the real word, but your body size and appearance were deterae by their height as that would be rude and probably wrong as well shi+roe 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 her than free to play ga for ame
If I recall, the tere also about this age
The chain of events in the rescue mission had tensed shi+roe 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 shi+roe reminisced of the time before the Catastrophe
3
shi+roe knew the twins back when Elder Tales was just a game world
shi+roe 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, shi+roe becaative description, as he enjoyed this type of ga life
In the town center of Akiba, there were people recruiting parties for raids everywhere, using the game server chat channels
shi+roe would so this method, or join friends like Maryele in their quests, or even go by himself to explore or collect treasures
shi+roe's subclass was Scribe, a production class, with the ability to duplicate scrolls, ic toredients into iteredients was an important step
For Scribes, the ingredients were paper and ink For norh levelspecial 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 one or <her> not dragging shi+roe adventuring around anymore, shi+roe was still busy with all sorts of business
As shi+roe was living his daily ga life, the tere 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 so”
The tere only up to shi+roe's shoulder in height
The boy wore cheap armor with a sword on his back
The girl hite robes, holding a staff with bells on it
”No problem, what's the matter?”
shi+roe remembered that it was in a crowded area of Akiba
Judging by their equip default weapons From their manner of speech and the sounds of their voices, they were either”My ic 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 knohere to buy them Can you tell me where to buy them?”
Froirl, 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 ry, a troublesome NPC And his na players of his actual rank, and as a result he was quite fa the players
Major Colonel's training lasts for about an hour; beginners would reach level 4 after co 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 shi+roe was socially aard, he did not hate other people He was only wary of people who approached him with ulterior motives
Because of this, shi+roe did not hate beginners, since they did not understand shi+roe had above average wealth, and they were not concerned with the idea of party efficiency and taking advantage of shi+roe
Leaving such depressing thoughts behind, shi+roe wished to welco it to be the duty of experienced players
”I see I will lead you, this way”
Just bringing theht as he led the twins
Just like that, shi+roe beca up with them occasionally
Tohya is very outgoing, greeting shi+roe loudly when he saw him in town Minori on the other hand would thank shi+roe politely
The tere twins, Minori was the elder sister, being born shortly before her brother She had the air of a classcare of her rude brother, which is how the twins lived
They were both in their second year offroa tieneration gap, even when shi+roeplayers, they didn't have ether for raids
But the twins respected shi+roe and had no proble him to play
When shi+roe 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 ho them immediately, Minori would follow in a hurry, and they would be in for a tough battle that brought thee of tears
And this scene repeated itself over and over again
Elder Tales had a 'Mentoring' system
In sih-level players play with low-level players by dropping their levels and stats to match the lower level players
shi+roe was an experienced player with deep insights into the ga the 'Mentoring' systehly one or two levels better than the twins, which was an ideal level to lead the twins as a mentor
shi+roe would use his spells to disable the enemy, but the attack power of Enchanters was low, and evenhelp to the two beginners
”Thank you, Niichan! Ok, let's attack the enemies over there as well!”
”Tohya, wait a !”
shi+roe was dragged around by the twins all over the place to play
Tohya was a Samurai of the warrior class
Elder Tales calledskills 'techniques', each of which had a name and values like MP, cast ti the technique and the technique being used Cool down is the tiain
Most of the Sa 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 ht
Sa for short battles, and could deal the e 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 changesthis class very difficult
”Let's go! Helmet Slash!+”
Tohya charged with his sword raised high, attacking a goblin directly This dareatly, but Tohya couldn'tthis 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 shi+eld!”
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, re 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 dale ally or the whole group The barriers could negate a set a
By looking at healing powers, Kannagi was the least powerful of the healer classes But the potential of negating daht 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 tere not concerned with it, and were just enjoying the game
shi+roe took the twins all over the beginner levels around Akiba at the request of the twins, acco all of their questions
shi+roe once asked theive theear, it was only about level 10; shi+roe at level 90 had no proble a few hundred sets
But Tohya replied, ”Nah, I don't want it, I already started playing Collecting treasures is the ear for no reason, then what is the point of playing?”
Minori said: ”I apologize for ance, I am very sorry shi+roe-san you have been very kind to us, but rather than giving us ite with us!”
Because it was these twins, shi+roe could also play the role of mentor The tould also not view shi+roe as so 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 kno they are doing now?”
shi+roe talked about his encounter with the twins, and his teammates raised this question
Under the orange light of the ca a cal 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 ere 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 see the incident
”Maybe you should have contacted theinners and yet they are caught in this hellish event” Naotsugu said
shi+roe 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 tea others But for Naotsugu, his way of expressing hie)
”Anyway, shi+roe-chi also has things he needs to attend to nya”
Nyanta said as he poured hot tea into a rant dried leaves and apple peelings But to people who have been drinking tasteless water, this was bliss Akatsuki nursed thecarefully 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 tiuild”
Not just shi+roe, all the players also didn't have the energy to consider things other than themselves
”Is that so”
”At that ti people”
Akatsuki's words reu of the situation and he nodded his head
”I remember they were about level 20?”