Spirit Offline
“—In order to defeat the evil player [Fatima] who was causing trouble in the popular MMORPG Polaris Online, [Ani] embarked on an adventure with two allies. However, during their quest, [Ani] and his party encountered an explosion, and were severely injured! Seriously, what on earth happened?! And the true form of the mysterious figure that appeared there is—! Episode 23: [Sleep well in my arms, friends.] Be sure to stay tuned!”
“…Who are you talking to, Nia?”
Kotori asked, her eyes narrowed as she looked at Nia who had been talking to herself loudly. By way of reply, Nia looked back at her while laughing.
“No one. I guess you could say I’m just trying to set the scene here.”
“What’s with all of that drama… More importantly, I don’t see any mysterious figures, so it doesn’t make any sense. And what’s with that title? You’re obviously making it sound like Origami and I died, right?”
“No, No! The title has to be as sensational as possible! Don’t you think that anyone who watches the first episode with such a dramatic narration would automatically want to watch the next episode, Imouto-chan?”
Kotori was currently staying in the apartment where Nia lived, because Nia had asked her to help her play some online games with Origami.
“—So, Nia, do you have any ideas about what caused that explosion?”
Origami’s own character [Orion] asked.
“Hmm~… I know that was a blast trap. Someone must have set a trap there; probably for us.”
“You mean that [Fatima] set that trap from the beginning?”
“It’s very possible. They probably got angry because they walked into a trap that I set, and then set up a blast trap to retaliate… I think it makes sense to think so, at least.”
“So that’s what happened…”
Origami and Nia talked seriously. Meanwhile, sweat trickled down Kotori’s cheeks.
“No, wouldn’t it have made more sense to have it been done by the people who lived there? You set up a sticky trap in the place where they lived, so they got angry and retaliated in response…”
“Well… even if that were the case, isn’t it weirder that the house and farmland is now an empty lot? I have a bad feeling that PK was using blasting magic to destroy other people’s homes after they walked into that trap.”
“Hmm… could that be the case?”
“Yes! Ah, such a thing is unforgivable! I have to catch them, freeze their account, and then find out their address and real name and post it on the Internet!”
“I’m very proficient at this kind of thing, so just leave it to me.”
“Oh! Oririn, you’re so reliable!”
“Uh, I’m pretty sure that’s a crime…”
After narrowing her eyes, she quickly changed the subject and said:
“…Anyway, where are we going right now?”
“Oh, we’re going to Central City, which is the biggest, most developed area in Polaris. I want to replenish my healing supplies, plus I need to get more gear. Also, I want to see if I can find some more information—oh, we’re almost there. It’s right there.”
“Okay…”
At Nia’s urging, Kotori moved the camera and noticed the huge city just ahead of them.
◇◇◇
In the largest city in the Polaris: The Central City.
As the name suggested, the city at the center of the continent was an adventuring hub, the foundation of life, and the resting place for all of the Polaris players.
It was said that in the past that it used to not be such a large city. However, because Polaris players could build in their favorite places, players most interested in convenience have built buildings here, and over the years, a huge city similar to a large maze was formed.
And a peculiar team of three people were walking in the corner of this city built in cooperation between officials and players.
One of them was a tall and beautiful woman wearing a witch hat—the senior alchemist [Crime], and two young girls were walking behind her—the farmer [Yoshua] and the carpenter [Katoh].
“Whoa! What a big place!”
“There’s so many people…!”
[Katoh]’s player, Tohka, and [Yoshua]’s player, Yoshino, spoke energetically in front of their computers.
However, [Crime]’s player Natsumi, who was leading them, was carefully manipulating her character.
“Player characters have their name and status on top of their heads, and are different from real life. Try not to give away any real life information.”
“Muu? Why?”
Tohka tilted her head curiously. Seeing her innocent reaction in that moment, Natsumi sighed and frowned as she answered:
“…Because there are player characters in this game means that there are real people controlling them in the real world, and unlike the game characters who only speak specific lines… why do you have to worry about other people when playing a game…?!”
“Yes… Is that true…”
“Muu, then why did you come to a city when there are so many people?”
Tohka raised a natural question. Natsumi nodded slightly and answered:
“…There’s no other way. We need the building materials that we need to rebuild the destroyed house and farmland, after all.”
Natsumi muttered resentfully and then sighed.
She tried to avoid blocking other players’ characters as much as possible, walking on the side of the road so she grumbled.
“I want to leave as soon as possible after we buy the necessary tools and gear. I don’t want to spend anymore time around other people than I absolutely have to, plus I also need to find a forest where no one will pass by like the last place—”
It was then—
Natsumi froze. Because [Crime] in the picture suddenly actually crashed into another character.
Moreover, the name and status plate could be seen on the other character’s head. It was another player.
“…!”
Natsumi’s shoulders trembled as she immediately began typing into the chat window.
[—Oh, what do you think you’re doing? Are you pretending to be careless, or did you act like that on purpose?]
Then,she noticed Tohka and Yoshino who both wore surprised expressions. After seeing their reactions, Natsumi frowned and said, “Whoops.”
“W-What…? That was just what [Crime] said.”
“Natsumi, you are really powerful!”
“Wow, you type so fast!”
“…Ah, so that’s what you’re surprised about.”
Natsumi’s shoulders slumped, dumbfounded as she sighed and glanced back at the screen again.
As Natsumi thought about how to cope with this new character, the status meter shown on the character’s head quickly decreased.
“Huh…?
“Ugh…”
It seemed that the character had sustained injuries all over their body, and was bleeding heavily.
Immediately afterwards, the character slumped into a coffin—a sign of death in this game.
“H-H-How could this be…?”
[AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!]
While Natsumi was stunned by what had happened, other players noticed this and screamed.
This wasn’t a surprise. This city was considered a safe area that monsters couldn’t enter, and it was usually impossible to die in the city, so it made sense that everyone would be so surprised.
As a result, at that moment, another player character approached [Crime].
[Get back here! That guy killed him!]
“H-Huh?”
The other party spoke clearly and confidently and continued to catch Natsumi by surprise.
…It was obvious that trouble was just waiting to happen. Natsumi took a deep breath and while facing the keyboard, she wanted to leave the scene smoothly.
[“Sorry, I’m in a hurry right now. Hahaha, sorry—”]
However, while she was typing—
The screen suddenly turned a blinding flash of white light and then a new character appeared in front of [Crime] and the others.
◇◇◇
“Whoa… What a lively place. Is this the so-called Central City?”
Shido stepped into the city and admired the city in awe.
This city is so different from the cities they’d visited in the past. It was certainly much larger and the way the buildings were organized and the number of people coming and going were very different. The surroundings were bursting with life, and most of all: vocal. Shido could understand why some players would rather not fight monsters and rather simply enjoy life in a fantasy world.
“That is to say, it’s so lively here~! And I can’t help thinking about how many girls there are. This is really fun~! I always thought people who play these kinds of games were usually boys~!”
Miku excitedly said as she was playing next to Shido.
So Yamai Kaguya and Yamai Yuzuru, who were sitting across from them, flashed an evil smile.
“Hehehe… If you take everything you see as true at face value, you will suffer.”
“Advice. Someone using a female character does not always indicate a woman.”
“Eh?!”
Miku listened to what the two said and shrieked in horror. The Yamai sisters laughed, amused.
“I hate this! Why would they do that kind of thing? This sort of trap is too disgusting~! I think that boys should only be allowed to use male characters, honestly~!”
“…Hey.”
Shido heard what Miku said and glared at her blankly.
This was understandable. Shido looked around the four characters standing side by side on the screen.
Kaguya’s Dark Knight [†Phantom Night†], Yuzuru’s Silent Hunter [Yuzu], Miku’s Magician [Milk]—and Shido’s beautiful Priestess [Shiorin].
It was clear that Shido’s character was Miku’s fault, as she had secretly transformed him into a cute girl when he left his seat vacant for only a moment.
However, Miku had probably either forgotten that, or didn’t care about the contradiction in her words. Shido only sighed cynically and then said:
“Anyway, where’s the armor shop?”
That’s right, Shido and his team were visiting the city to gather intelligence, replenish their supplies, and buy some new gear.
There was a rumor that the legendary player [Fatima] has hidden treasure. Kaguya and Yuzuru stumbled upon a clue for where that treasure might be by mistake, so they asked Miku and Shido to help them find it, leading them to start playing this game… but on the way to finding the treasure, they got caught in a mysterious sticky trap and ended up losing their equipment.
“Ah, I found it!”
After speaking, Kaguya pointed to the store just in front of them. There stood a large store with a shield-shaped emblem.
“Guidance. Come, let’s all go in.”
At Kaguya and Yuzuru’s urging, Miku and Shido stepped into the store after them.
The store itself had a wide variety of armor and robes. He could see characters who he figured were adventurers looking for useful goods in the store.
“Okay, you two should first look for gear that your profession can actually equip and use.”
“Oh, I see.”
“I understand—A-Ah!”
Miku suddenly shouted and Shido couldn’t help but widen his eyes in surprise.
“What’s the matter? Is something wrong, Miku?”
“[Blessed Vest]! This! I really want this!”
Miku pointed excitedly at what looked like a combination of both underwear and corset, and also picked a pair of garter sets along the way.
“H-Hey… don’t just judge it just by the appearance! You have to confirm that it’s a good piece of gear…”
“We have to buy this for [Shiorin] to wear!”
“Why?! I would never wear such a thing!”
Shido couldn’t help but shout out loudly. Even if it was just a game, walking around outside with that kind of clothing, you’d have to be out of your mind!
Ding-dong! At that moment, the doorbell of the Itsuka household rang.
“…”
He suddenly felt an ominous premonition, and Shido remained silent. Rather than because of the unexpected guest, he was concerned about leaving his computer unattended while Miku and the Yamai sisters were around.
“…I’ll just say it now: don’t touch the computer while I’m away.”
“H-Huh? What are you talking about~? I would never do such a thing~!”
Miku’s eyes were wide and innocent as she spoke such nonsense. Shido could feel sweat trail down his cheeks.
But he had to answer the door. Shido then left the living room after the doorbell rang again and walked towards the entrance.
So a few minutes later—
“I told you not to touch my computer!”
He quickly rushed back to the living room and returned to his monitor as he shouted.
His reaction was understandable. Because Shido’s character [Shiorin] on the screen was wearing the [Blessed Vest] mentioned earlier.
“Ah~! It really suits you, [Shiorin]~!”
“Acknowledgement. Not only does it look good, it also has a high defense, and can tolerate many abnormal conditions, such as poison, paralysis, sleeping… avoiding DB? What’s that?”
“Doesn’t that mean debuff? If you can avoid being weakened by the enemy’s attributes and abilities, wouldn’t it be super strong?”
“But you shouldn’t force me to wear this kind of thing! I don’t want to wear this!”
Shido was quick to operate the mouse to change [Shiorin]’s gear.
However, no matter how many times he clicked, only a skull symbol and the “wrong” sound effect was displayed.
“Cursed?!”
That’s right. Contrary to the name [Blessed Vest], this equipment was cursed and could not be removed.
“Hey! How do I take this thing off?! Is this shop cursed or something?!”
“Ah, no, it’s not. We bought this gear and then used an item to cast a spell. That item was called [Bell of Grievance], and it’s very rare.”
“Description. By the way, there are no items that can lift the curse on that gear.”
“What the hell are you talking about? I’m serious!”
His high pitched voice went up another octave to indicate the intention of protest, but… there was no way to change it, only to hope to get the gear to remove the curse quickly. Thinking that, he waited for everyone to buy their own equipment.
Soon, everyone finished shopping. The dark knight in dark armor, the silent hunter equipped with leather armor for easy movement, the magician in cute robes, and a priestess who was somehow wearing only sexy lingerie formed a very strange team.
“Okay, let’s go and find [Fatima]’s treasure!”
“Answer. Whoa~”
“Wow~”
“…I won’t forget this…”
Shido muttered resentfully as they walked out of the armor shop together.
At that moment, more and more noises were heard among other player characters walking down the road.
“Wow… um…?”
Shido thought in the beginning that it was because of [Shiorin] walking down the road in only underwear, which was too striking, but it seemed not to be the case. It sounded like something was going on in the street.
“What happened…?”
[“AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”]
[“He’s dead!”]
[“It’s a PK! He was killed by a PK!”]
With such shouts, the player characters that were originally gathered began to scatter.
“A PK… are they in the city?”
“It’s strange. If this kind of commotion took place in the Central City, I feel like they’d be targeted by the Self-Defense Forces.”
“…”
After hearing this sentence, Shido said nothing. The reason was obvious, because Kaguya’s eyes were shining with excitement.
“We should also make a run for it…”
“What are you talking about? Encountering a PK is rare; we can’t afford to miss this opportunity!”
“Acknowledgement. Let’s go, Shido, Miku.”
“Okay!”
“Anyway, it’s just a game so it doesn’t really matter, but you have to settle down.”
Shido sighed while operating [Shiorin] to chase behind [†Phantom Night†] and [Yuzu].
Soon after, they spotted five characters standing in the middle of a deserted road. There were four female characters and one male character facing them.
In terms of the situation, the lone male character seemed to be the PK, a silver-haired man wearing a dark coat. Although it was just a game screen, there was still a strange sense of oppression and an ominous atmosphere.
“…I have a really bad feeling about this… umm?”
Shido couldn’t help but frown when he spotted the man’s status plate. But that was to be expected of course. Because what was listed there:
[Fatima] Level 99. Sex: Male. Occupation: World Destroyer.
This player must be the one that Kaguya referred to as the legendary player.
“H-Hey, so this guy is…”
Just when Shido was about to talk to Kaguya, he suddenly noticed something.
[†Phantom Night†] and [Yuzu] had disappeared while Shido was confirming the man’s information.
[“…Yes, maybe…”]
[“—Wait a minute!”]
[“Appearance. Since [Yuzu] and the others are here, they must draw a blade to assist!”]
The muscles in Shido’s face twitched with an ominous premonition, [†Phantom Night†] and [Yuzu] spoke out loud as they intervened between the man and the four girls.
His ominous hunch came true. In such a typical scene, how could the heroic Kaguya and Yuzuru not want to join the fight?
[“Hey, are you okay?”]
[“Huh? Oh, I’m fine. How about you?”]
[†Phantom Night†] finished speaking, and the beautiful woman wearing a witch hat answered with a confused expression.
[†Phantom Night†] gently pulled on her hair and said:
[“Ah! Anonymous pawns are not enough! I can’t just sit back and let players bully those weaker than themselves—!”]
Without so much as speaking, [Fatima] raised his hand and the spot where [†Phantom Night†] stood promptly exploded.
[“What are you doing! You can’t attack while someone else is speaking. Don’t you understand even that common courtesy?!”]
[“Um, would people who follow the rules consider PKing…?”]
Shido whispered curiously, [Fatima] simply raised his hand again toward [†Phantom Night†].
“This isn’t good…!”
Kaguya frantically clicked the mouse to get [†Phantom Night†] out of the way, but it was too late—! But at that moment—
[“—Holy stab!”]
That voice sounded from… somewhere, and countless blades of light immediately descended towards [Fatima].
[Fatima] promptly jumped away from the spot to avoid the attacks.
[“This is…”]
They looked toward the source of the attack and spotted the figures of three adventurers.
One of them, the Paladin [Ani], looked around and pointed his sword at [Fatima].
[“—I finally found you, you thief! Let us settle things right here and now.”]
[“…Oh?”]
Then, [Fatima] who had been silent up until now finally said:
[“Hearing your voice… so it turns out that’s what happened. Oh… I only came here on a whim, I never would have guessed I’d run into you here.”]
After he finished speaking, [Fatima] smiled arrogantly.
Noticing this, Kaguya let out a disappointed groan.
[“…Hey! What’s with the atmosphere of this dispute! They shouldn’t be leaving me out of this!”]
[“That, uh…”]
[“—Interesting. Goodbye, old body. Before long, the name [Fatima] will belong to me alone.”]
Just when Shido didn’t know how to answer, [Fatima] waved his hand. The screen then glowed with a dazzling light and no one could see anything for a moment.
[“Huh…!”]
The next moment, the image was back, and [Fatima] had disappeared without a trace.
[“…So?”]
Several minutes had passed.
In a tavern in the corner of Central City, the character [Crime] sighed in dissatisfaction.
[“Why do we have to deal with this? We’re just victims implicated in what happened.”]
[“I understand. I just wanted to ask about something about the guy that appeared just now.”]
It was the Paladin [Ani] who managed to repel [Fatima] just now as he tried to appeal to [Crime].
That’s right. After that incident, [Ani] said that he wanted to ask about the full details of what just happened, so he invited all the characters present to this tavern.
Shido looked around at all the other characters sitting at the round table in sequence.
[†Phantom Night†] Level 38. Sex: Male. Occupation: Dark Knight.
[Yuzu] Level 38. Sex: Female. Occupation: Silent Hunter.
[Milk] Level 10. Sex: Female. Occupation: Magician.
[Shiorin] Level 10 Sex: Female. Occupation: Priestess.
These four were all members of Shido’s team.
[Ani] Level 80. Sex: Male. Occupation: Paladin.
[Toriko] Level 21. Sex: Female. Occupation: Warrior.
[Orion] Level 21. Sex: Male. Occupation: Thief.
These three were members of [Ani]’s team, who’d rescued them.
[Crime] Level 45. Sex: Female. Occupation: Senior Alchemist.
[Yoshua] Level 1. Gender: Female. Occupation: Farmer.
[Katoh] Level 1: Gender: Female. Occupation: Carpenter.
These three were the girls who’d been confronted by [Fatima], and—
[Mary] Level 16. Sex: Female. Occupation: Bard.
—A young girl who’d asked them for help.
[“So who is the other party, do you have any clues about them? Why would he just stare at you?”]
[“I don’t know. We were just implicated.”]
[“Are those two people over there the same?”]
[Ani] addressed the topic to the two people who were sitting next to [Crime]. After a moment’s pause, [Yoshua] and [Katoh] replied:
[“Hello. I am Yoshua.”]
[“7gspj”.]
“…What did you say?”
[Ani] asked, confused. [Crime] clapped a hand to her face with a frustrated look.
[“…Sorry, these two aren’t used to typing just yet.”]
[“Eh…”]
[Ani] scratched his head uncertainly and then turned his gaze on [†Phantom Night†] and his party.
[So what about you?]
[“Oh, we were just trying to be brave.”]
[“Question. More importantly, [Ani], what is your relationship with [Fatima]?”]
“…”
Faced with [Yuzu]’s question, [Ani] immediately fell silent.
At the same time, Kaguya said aloud, “Huh was that really [Fatima] just now?” And Yuzuru spat at her: “Amazement. How did Kaguya not realize it?”
[“Doubt. [Yuzu] is unwilling to believe that the legendary player [Fatima] is a villain. Before asking other people for information, shouldn’t you explain your reasons first?”]
After hearing what [Yuzu] said, [Ani] sighed in defeat.
[“…I guess that there’s no helping it. I hope you can keep this a secret…”]
[“Actually… I am [Fatima]…”]
[“Eh…?”]
[“…What do you mean by that?”]
Having heard such an unexpected confession, everyone sitting at the round table in the tavern was filled with confusion. [Ani] only shrugged and then said:
[“It’s exactly like I said. [Fatima] was originally a character that I created. After continuous training, I was the first person in “Polaris” to reach level 99… but a few years ago, after not playing for a long time for personal reasons, when I went to log in, it showed ‘Wrong Password.’”]
[“Doesn’t that mean someone stole your account?”]
After hearing what [Crime] said, [Ani] nodded in response.
[“Then, at that time, rumors of an evil PK named [Fatima] started coming out. Someone has been using my [Fatima] to cause chaos everywhere—of course, I tried to complain to the developers, but I never got a response, so I want to hunt him down and teach him a lesson myself.”]
After he finished speaking, [Ani] slammed his fist into the wooden table.
Shido rubbed his chin and muttered, “So that’s what happened.” But what [Ani] said couldn’t be believed from his words alone. …Though based on what he said, he could understand why [Fatima] behaved the way he did.
At that moment, Kaguya clapped her hands as though she remembered something and then started typing on the keyboard.
[“Oh, so if you are [Fatima], then would you be able to recognize this?”]
At that moment, [†Phantom Night†] and pulled out the “letter” from her inventory. That’s right. The main reason they went through everything was to discover [Fatima]’s whereabouts.
[Ani] stared at the letter intently for several seconds before letting out an “Ah…” in realization.
[“I forgot all about it. But yes, I did write such a thing. After beating the Big Demon King, I managed to get a series of legendary equipment. But, because it was too powerful, it could disrupt the balance of this world, so I had to hide that equipment in the corners of the world.”]
[“S-So these treasures are really real!”]
[“Question. However, when we searched, there were no treasures located in the places mentioned. Could it be someone—for example, someone like [Fatima]—already found out about them and robbed them?”]
[“Hmm? Not necessarily. If something that powerful was discovered, wouldn’t it be strange if they weren’t using it? What’s more, even if they knew the location, it still may not be easily accessible.”]
[“Eh? What does that mean?”]
After [Milk] inquired, [Ani] raised a finger (the fact that each action was so detailed in a game was really impressive) and said:
[“I used two different types of the teleportation spell on a timer, so the treasures would randomly move around to other locations all around the world. So to be completely honest, I don’t even know where the treasures are now.”]
[“Huh? Then you might as well have never gotten them!”]
[“Hmm… perhaps. A while back, there used to be a way to know exactly where those pieces of equipment were, but now, for various reasons there’s no way to use that trick anymore.”]
[“Well… then let me ask you this. Is this series of legendary equipment really that powerful?”]
[“Ah… there’s the [Undead Chain Armor] that can restore health the moment it’s lost, the [Death Sword] that can kill an opponent with a single strike, and the [Speed Boots] that allow you to move 100 times faster. As long as you have at least one of them, you can avoid all abnormal states and weakened attributes and enemy abilities.”]
[“This… wouldn’t those really break the game… More to the point, can’t just the [Speed Boots] alone cause some major problems in the game?]
[“That’s exactly right. To be honest, just looking at it made me feel dizzy immediately, so I decided to seal them away.”]
[Yuzu] looked up as though she remembered something else.
[“Remembrance. [Yuzu] and the others walked into a trap nearby on our way over to this place. That wouldn’t be from [Fatima], would it?”]
After hearing that sentence, [Ani] made an “Ah…” sound as he scratched his chin and responded:
[“It is possible. It’s really efficient to lay traps at the sites where the treasures are buried to catch any adventurers who want to steal the treasure.]
After [Ani] finished speaking, [Toriko] and [Orion] who were sitting next to him nodded their agreement.
[“Hmm… so because of this, we also got caught.”]
[“So it really was left by [Fatima]?”]
He nodded when he finished speaking. It seemed that they had also suffered at [Fatima]’s hands.
[“Ah~! There was one other thing I’m very concerned about, can I ask about it~?”]
It was at that moment that [Milk] controlled by Miku spoke up.
[“Well, what is it?”]
[“[Ani], the tone of your speech is just like that of a girl… could it be that you are a girl~?”]
[“Oh, yeah. Didn’t I mention it before? Ah, by the way, [Orion] here is also a girl who prefers to use male characters.”]
[Ani] replied casually. In response, [Milk] bounced up and down excitedly.
[“Ah~! So that’s what it was! Ah, if that’s case, then let’s just talk about that~!”]
[“Ahaha, sorry, sorry. However, isn’t such a thing pretty common in this game? Using different gender roles, I mean. For example, [†Phantom Night†], are you also a girl?”]
[“H-How did you figure that out!”]
[Well, as long as you pay attention to the small details in speech and movement, you could probably figure it out…]
[Ani] spoke while looking around the round table.
“…!”
Shido breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that [Ani] was a very experienced veteran player; even if she’d pretended to be the opposite sex, it could be seen through. That is to say, she could also see that Shido who was using the beautiful female character wearing little else aside from underwear was a boy—
[“Well, everyone else here is a girl, so there’s are no problems here.”]
“…Why?!”
After reading [Ani]’s sentence, Shido couldn’t help but shout out in the real world. Miku and the Yamai sisters laughed at his misfortune.
“Well…?”
At that moment, [Crime] made a faint noise.
She seemed to be focusing on the “letter” that [†Phantom Night†]. She slowly read it word for word and remained silent for a moment.
[“…These coordinates, won’t it be where I live…”]
After a moment, [Crime] suddenly looked up.
[“…Let me ask this, is [Fatima] the kind of person who would destroy a house that’s already there if they were searching for a treasure?”]
[“Eh? This is the PK we’re talking about, so he would likely do that kind of thing without a second thought.”]
[“…So your name is [Ani], right? You need to find that guy [Fatima] and punish him severely?”]
[“Oh, um, yeah.”]
[“If you don’t mind, we also want to help find him… Actually, we also have a deep hatred for him.”]
[Crime] explained, but the resentment was clear. [Ani] was momentarily startled but nodded.
[“Really? Of course, I would be grateful for help. I would love to have help from high ranking players. However, the two of you should probably get some more practice.”]
[“I’ll try my best.”]
[“g;pks.”]
[“Ahaha! OK! OK! Just leave it to me!”]
[“[Ani] laughed confidently as she flashed a thumbs up.”]
[†Phantom Night†] then added:
[“Come on! I’m also someone with the same goal: to punish the fake hero that tricked me!”]
[“Translation. [†Phantom Night†] says that she wants to join your team too.”]
[“Really? That would be a big help. Even though my level is pretty high, with this character alone, there’s no way I can beat [Fatima].”]
[“Hehe! Leave it to me! Let me show you my dark power!”]
Everyone sitting at that round table in the pub showed a motivated attitude.
But at that moment, [Toriko] spoke calmly:
[“—But what should we do specifically? Not only do we not know where [Fatima] is, he usually uses… is it called a “Shadow Curtain”? …That equipment that can conceal names and other such information. So where do we even start? Do we just have to wait for another attack to occur?”]
“Well, that…”
It was here that when [Ani] said that—
[“Then… that…!”]
The girl who’d kept silent so far—[Mary] suddenly spoke up.
[“Thank you so much for helping me. I’m sorry for thanking you so late.”]
[“Oh, it’s okay, it’s okay. I did do it without permission.”]
[“Don’t say that…”]
[Mary] hesitated and then continued:
[“I c-can help out too…!”]
[“Huh? Do you want to join the team too?”]
[“T-Then… how about this? I don’t deserve such a thing, but… I think I probably know where that guy is.”]
[“…? What do you mean?”]
After [Ani] asked, [Mary] fidgeted nervously and began to speak:
[“That… actually, my boyfriend was the one who was murdered by [Fatima].”]
[“Huh, is that true?”]
[“Yes… well in the game, it’s a relationship between a man and a woman, but in reality I haven’t actually met him myself.”]
[Mary] scratched her head in embarrassment and then said:
[“So, something like that… It’s a little difficult to tell, but my boyfriend seemed to work with that [Fatima] to do bad things…”]
[“So, something like that… ]
[“Do bad things?”]
[“Yeah… When [Fatima] got stolen rare items, he then takes them to RMT for money…”]
[What is RMT~?”]
The person who asked the question was [Milk]. [Crime] was the one to explain it to her:
[“RMT means Real Money Trading. In short, it means to illegally sell gear in the game for real money. A ban is being considered as a result…” ]
[“Ah! So that’s what it means! So in short [Crime], you are so smart and beautiful. I seemed to have gotten a disease that would like me to spoil the pretty older sister! Can you please treat it?”]
[“…What is she even talking about? That’s a bit surprising…”]
[Crime] spoke with a confused expression while Shido smiled weakly.
[Ani] ignored the two of them as he slowly put a hand to his chin thoughtfully.
[“So~ When the PK wasn’t satisfied with what he had, he decided to steal my [Fatima] to do those sorts of things.]
[“That’s right… after I talked to him, he said that he would stop doing these terrible things and go to the other party to negotiate… originally, that was supposed to be the end of it…”]
[“So… he’s just killing other players to vent his anger. He really does whatever he wants. I really want to beat him just to deal with my anger.”]
After hearing that sentence, Shido felt his breath catch in his throat. Despite this, he was still able to reply calmly even as he felt the anger course through—wait, his character was a female…
[“So, [Mary]. Can you tell me where we can find this guy?”]
[“Y-Yes… I remember that my boyfriend mentioned a place before, where he said that they keep gear stolen from other players’ characters… There’s no doubt that he will appear there…!”]
[Ani] heard what [Mary] said as she crossed her arms and muttered to herself.
[“It turned out that I actually got some important information. However, I don’t think that he’ll always be guarding that stronghold. Even if the traitors are killed, their real-world counterparts are still alive and well. And there’s no doubt that they’re also going to want revenge. If we want to attack here, we have to do it today. Sorry, but there’s no chance for anyone to level up.”]
Finally, [Ani] looked around at everyone else sitting around the round table. It seemed he was asking for their opinions.
So everyone else responded to her with understanding responses.
[“Rice kdsd point k.”]
[Katoh] managed to type some sort of message, and [Crime] was quick to translate for him.
[“S-Sorry, but may we take a break?”]
[Huh? Sure, but what was she saying?”]
[“This one said that she was hungry.”]
“Huh…”
[Ani] nodded in understanding.
At that moment, Shido also let out a quick noise before glancing at the clock hanging on the living room wall. It was 6:00 pm. At that moment, it wasn’t a surprise that everyone was starting to get hungry for dinner.
“Oops, it’s already that late, I still have to prepare dinner…”
Shido sweated from his forehead before typing a message of his own on the keyboard.
[“Sorry, I also have to go offline to prepare dinner.”]
[Oh, [Shiorin] could it be that you’re a housewife? Oops~ It’s good for a wife like you to be able to play characters with such sexy underwear~!” ]
“…”
He was starting to doubt that [Ani] was actually a female player. Shido remained silent while Miku and the Yamai sisters laughed.
[“Hmm… OK, OK. So how about everyone go eat dinner, take a shower, and then gather here again at around 10:00 pm?”]
[“Sounds good. I understand.”]
[That’s fine. I’ll see you at the appointed place.]
[Okay… I’ll be relying on you…”]
Everyone from each team replied like this—as they logged out in quick succession.
◇◇◇
—The time was 7:00 pm.
“Oh, thank you for the food!”
“Thank you for the food!”
Everyone sitting at the Itsuka dining table said loudly.
Before, the Itsuka household was only occupied by Shido, the Yamai sisters, and Miku, but now several other Spirits had now gathered. The dining table could not seat so many people, so the living room was also filled with dishes.
Today’s dish was hand-rolled sushi. Although it took a little bit of time to make vinegar rice, it was a relatively quick dish to prepare, and it was easy to adjust the quantity according to how many people were coming, which made it an easy dish to make.
“Ah~ Um… um!”
Because the bread was loaded with ingredients, the shape of the sushi was a little ugly. However, that didn’t stop Tohka from stuffing it into her mouth with a delighted expression.
“Umu… this is delicious! It’s really delicious, Shido!”
“Haha, I’m glad you like it.”
After Shido finished speaking, Kotori tilted her head with a puzzled expression on her face.
“Still, didn’t you make any other dishes?”
“Huh? Oh, that’s…”
Shido didn’t know how to answer that question. The reason was, of course, because he didn’t have any time to prepare dinner since he was distracted playing the game… but Shido would feel guilty having to admit that, so instead he coughed a few times to dodge the question.
“Ah, no, never mind that… Anyway, everyone came to dinner late today. What happened?”
“Muu? Oh! Oh, right, Shido! You have to listen to this! I was playing a game online with Natsumi—!”
“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Tohka was halfway through the sentence when Natsumi suddenly started shouting.
“Hey, Tohka… don’t talk about that…”
“Muu… I know! Keep the fact that we were playing online games with Natsumi a secret!”
“Just say that you’ll keep it a secret!”
Natsumi couldn’t help but yell at her. Faced with the usual conversation, Shido chuckled wryly. It seemed that Tohka was playing a game in Natsumi’s room. There was nothing to hide…
After noticing Natsumi’s appearance, Nia’s glasses glinted in the light.
“Hmm? What’s the matter, Nattsun? Why are you so nervous about playing games? Could it be that—”
“Eh…!”
Natsumi heard what Nia said and her body began to tremble. After Nia snickered, he suddenly pointed at Natsumi.
“Nattsun! I bet you had Tohka play an erotic game, right?! And she looks so shaken… so not a pure love game, but rather a humiliation game?!”
“Pooh—!”
After hearing what Nia said, both Natsumi and Shido couldn’t help but choke on their food.
“N-Natsumi, you shouldn’t…”
“D-Don’t believe her! Ahhhhhhhh! How can I play that kind of game?!”
“Eh~ You should be honest about it, Nattsun. Oh, I’m so happy right now. I didn’t expect to have beautiful girl gamers around. Let’s talk all night long~ I really want to learn more about Nattsun’s hobby. My personal guess is that it’s for all ages or for newbies.”
“Don’t just try to guess other people’s hobbies!”
Natsumi slammed her hands on the table as she wailed. After laughing for a while, Nia suddenly remembered something as she thumped her fist against her palm.
“…Ah, yes. Sorry, I have something to take care of at 10:00 pm tonight. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“10:00 pm? What’s going on then~?”
Miku tilted her head as she asked. Nia, in reply, simply narrowed her eyes mysteriously and sighed.
“Hmm… it’s a bit troublesome. To put it simply—it’s a man’s business.”
“E-Eh…!”
Nia’s vague speech made Miku’s eyes widen.
“Nia, you… what do you mean?”
“It’s not anything serious. I’m also an adult woman so is it really surprising to have something like this?”
Finally, Nia flashed a charming look at them. The Spirits, in response, cast looks of amazement, suspicion, or frustration with her.
◇◇◇
And that night.
The temporary team gathered together to defeat [Fatima] made their way towards Devil’s City, a challenging maze located on the eastern end of the main continent.
It was a huge and ancient city with a very ominous atmosphere, filled with magic and illuminated by the moon’s glow. Although it was just the game’s visual design, looking at the appearance alone gave off a sense of intimidation that made new players want to run away.
[“I never would have guessed that he would hide in such a place. It makes sense that no one would want to come anywhere near here.”]
[Ani] rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he spoke. Shido tilted his head as he typed.
[“Is there something special about this place?”]
[“Well, it’s one of the most difficult labyrinths in “Polaris”. The enemies aren’t as strong as that makes it sound, but still, you need a super high level character to get in and out easily.”]
[“If that’s the case… then wouldn’t that mean that we can’t get in either?”]
[“Don’t worry!”]
In response to [Shiorin]’s question was [Mary] who brought them there.
[“According to what my boyfriend told me, to get into this area…”]
[Mary] spoke as she began to fumble around the city walls.
Soon after, she pressed on a particular spot with a “click” and a piece of the ground split open, revealing stairs that led underground.
[“Oh! A secret door!”]
[“Hmm, indeed, he would have to take care of it himself. If business partners couldn’t get in and out freely, it would become quite troublesome. It makes perfect sense that they would have such things in place.”]
[Ani] nodded in agreement and glanced back at the rest of the party.
[“—Alright, everyone, are you ready? The plan is just as I explained before.”]
Everyone nodded… or rather, it was suspected based on how well the players were able to operate their characters as they nodded in response.
They had all discussed the important matter of their battle plan before coming here.
[Shiorin], [Milk], and the other defensive magic characters were to continuously chant support spells to strengthen the team while weakening the enemy’s defenses. Meanwhile, the higher-level professional groups led by [Ani] would surround and attack [Fatima] from all sides.
Incidentally, because [Katoh] and [Yoshua] were both level 1 characters, their responsibility was to keep pelting [Fatima] with stones which dealt a fixed amount of damage to the opponent regardless of their level. It was a combat strategy that used the character’s characteristics and sheer numbers to defeat the enemy.
In fact, when the player now controlling [Ani] used to play as [Fatima], they’d dealt with this kind of tactic before in disputes with larger guilds, but she was able to use all the gear in her inventory to save herself and get out.
[“In order to win a war, we need a large number of forces. A hero can’t hope to beat a hundred enemies on their own. It’s a foolish dream to think that one can reach the strongest of titles alone, just based on how the game is designed.”] Honestly, no one wanted to hear such a legendary player say that.
Shido and his team, however, would also be relying on this strategy in order to defeat [Fatima].
Of course, if [Fatima] had an ally of his own, then it would be a different story. However, given the fact that the other party took it upon himself to deal with traitors, they suspected that there were simply not enough people for that to work.
[“—Good. So while everyone is fighting [Fatima], [Orion] and [Toriko] will handle stealing his account information.”]
[“Just leave it to me. Once I discover his account username and password, I can determine his address, name, age, and even how many cavities he has.”]
[“Whoa! You are really reliable, [Orion]! I feel like if we were enemies, my whole body would turn to fluff just thinking about it.”]
[“…You shouldn’t say such terrible things. That’s terrifying.”]
[Toriko] spoke helplessly. In fact, both [Crime] and [Mary] were clearly terrified. [Orion]… what was he planning to do with that sacred information?
[Don’t worry. I don’t plan on misusing his personal information. I just intend to get back [Fatima]’s account and then send a threatening letter to his house at the same time to warn him not to do such a thing ever again.”]
[“The first thing seems reasonable enough, but the second thing feels that it would be a violation of public security regulations…”]
[Toriko] crossed her arms disapprovingly. However, [Ani] didn’t care. She raised a hand and then led the others down the stairs.
[“Alright everyone, let’s go. Don’t fall behind!”]
[“Yeah!”]
All of the team members responded to her as they snuck underground in the order of strikers, senior members, auxiliary, trebuchet, and then [Mary] bringing up the rear.
Shido was so nervous that he found himself swallowing his saliva to moisten his throat, as all of their characters walked down the stairs.
They’d lost track of how long they had been walking down the steps, but the group finally reached the door.
[“Alright—Let’s go!”]
[Ani] took the lead as he broke through. The rest of the team immediately swarmed around the room. [Shiorin] immediately followed their lead and promptly began to chant her first spell.
Although he was outnumbered, the opponent was the most powerful character [Fatima]. Shido and his allies had to take advantage of the situation and win by defeating the enemy as quickly as possible.
However—
[“…Huh?”]
Because of what [Ani] just said, the tension among their surroundings immediately disappeared. The reason was simple: [Fatima] was not in the room.
[“Huh… He is not here yet. Then let’s go look at that storage box. If there’s any gear in there, it means he probably hasn’t had the chance to sell it yet, so let’s set up a trap there first.”]
[“Understood!”]
Following [Ani]’s instructions, everyone began to investigate the equipment storage boxes placed around the room.
At that moment—
[“—Dress Break.”]
Such a spell came suddenly from out of nowhere.
[“Huh…!”]
[Ani]’s voice sounded panicked.
The next moment, the whole room was bathed in light—and the gear worn by all the team members suddenly shattered.
[“H-Huh?!”]
Someone made a panicked noise. However, such a reaction was reasonable. This was because the now half-naked characters blushed and made a gesture to cover their bodies with their hands.
Incidentally, male characters like [Ani], [†Phantom Night†], and [Orion] also acted in the same way which was incredibly humiliating.
[“What! How is this happening?! I can’t move!”]
[“Panic. The screen displays the text “Too embarrassed to move.”]
[“Does such an abnormal state actually exist?! I had no idea!]
[Ani] shouted anxiously.
At that moment, the figure standing behind [Shiorin] trembled a little—it was [Mary].
[“Huh?”]
[Shiorin]’s breath got stuck in her throat. [Mary]’s attractive figure suddenly turned black, and then turned into a man dressed in black.
This was the appearance of [Fatima] that [Shiorin] remembered seeing on the street before.
The [Shadow Curtain] was an item that could change the appearance and personal information of the user.
[[Fatima]! What did you do to [Mary]?]
[Shiorin] demanded, [Fatima] shrugged and snickered.
[“She should be waking up soon on the street where the game starts—Fortunately, we’ve been away for a while.”]
[“Huh… so you’ve been pretending to be [Mary] since everyone split up?!”]
[“Exactly. I didn’t expect my creator to be fooled—you are so careless. While your ability to understand [Fatima] is indeed outstanding, you should just give up here.”]
After hearing what [Fatima] said, [Ani] groaned regretfully.
[“But I never taught [Fatima] a spell to destroy a character’s outfit! Where did you learn that?!”]
[“After the game was updated a while ago.”]
[“…Wha—”]
[Ani]’s eyes widened as she realized what he meant: Online games were always changing with each passing day, and new features were added regularly. It was understandable that [Ani], who hadn’t played the game for a few years, wouldn’t know.
[“But… there’s still one person who managed to escape my spell.”]
[“Huh?”]
At that moment, Shido realized that among all the characters who couldn’t move because of a semi-nude state, only [Shiorin] was still standing, her previous state unchanged. …Since he was essentially already semi-naked to start with, he hadn’t noticed it before now.
[“Was it really just a fluke—no, that shameful costume has the ability of avoiding Dress Break… right? I just assumed that you were dressed like that just out of interest and just happened to forget about its actual function.”]
[“…”]
It seemed that DB did not mean debuff… but he was still annoyed by the second part of that sentence. Shido remained silent but glared angrily at [Fatima].
Of course, the other party simply did not understand the reason behind this vicious look. Regardless, [Fatima] raised a hand.
[“Hmph. I’ll just use ordinary magic to deal with you.”]
“Whoa…!”
Only [Shiorin] managed to avoid the DB. But if [Shiorin] was defeated here, the team would be wiped out. Since none of them could resurrect each other, everyone would have to accept the penalty and get sent back to the beginning of the game. Additionally, all of the gear and items they’d brought to defeat [Fatima] would also be taken.
But even though they had to avoid such a situation, the levels between the two of them were very far apart. [Fatima] chanted spells leisurely as beams gathered in his hand.
However, at that moment—
[“Vhlkl;:”]
A strange line of text appeared on screen and a stone hit [Fatima].
[“—Huh?”]
[Fatima] looked around at the source of the stone with a confused expression on his face.
Then he saw that among the half naked adventurers, a figure of the carpenter [Katoh] who was holding a stone—one of the level 1 players.
“…Tohka? How is [Katoh] able to move freely!”
In the Spirit Mansion, Natsumi made a startled noise while looking at Tohka.
“I don’t know! However, I can still fight! Take this!”
After Tohka finished speaking, [Katoh] on screen continued throwing stones at [Fatima]. But… [Fatima]’s health hardly changed.
But the most important thing was to figure out why even [Crime] who had a high resistance to magic was still weak to the dress breaking magic but [Katoh] was able to survive. As Natsumi peaked at Tohka’s inventory—
“—Eh?”
Spotting an odd item at the bottom of her inventory, Natsumi’s breath caught in her throat.
“T-Tohka! Where did you get that item?”
“Muu…? Oh! It’s something that came out of the mud and stone when I was digging in the ground before.”
“This is impossible…”
Natsumi took a breath.
Back when Natsumi was teaching Tohka how to prepare the ground as Tohka didn’t understand how to do it herself.
And this was deep in the forest where Natsumi built her house, which was one of the places where [Fatima] hid some treasures—
“…! Tohka! Do exactly as I said!”
“Muu? Oh, I got it!”
Tohka listened to what Natsumi said and nodded vigorously.
[“…Oh? It looks like there’s another person who can move.”]
[Fatima] looked up from the stone as he turned to face [Katoh].
[“Although I didn’t take any real damage, it’s still annoying. I’ll take care of you first.”]
[“Ah! [Katoh], run for it!]
Just when [Fatima] was about to cast a spell on [Katoh]—
There was a beep and a message icon appeared on the screen that read:
[“[Katoh] gave you a gift.”]
[“Huh…?”]
Shido frowned in confusion. The [Gift] feature was a method to exchange items between team members, but… why would [Katoh] use it in this situation? After all, [Katoh] wasn’t very good at typing or talking, maybe it was accidentally pressed—
However, Shido couldn’t help but widen his eyes when he saw the name of the gift.
[“Whoa…”]
This was understandable. Because what he received was—[Fatima]’s legendary sword, the [Death Sword] that was previously sealed away.
[“This… what’s going on…?”]
Faced with this sudden turn of events, Shido’s thoughts couldn’t keep up with the situation. The other members who discovered this through the team chat also reacted with surprise.
[“What…!”]
[“This is one of [Fatima]’s treasures…!”]
[Crime] seemed to have anticipated such reactions from everyone and frantically typed:
[“There’s no time to explain! Just finish [Fatima] off now!”]
“…!”
Seeing this, Shido immediately equipped the dark magic sword to [Shiorin].
Then he moved around to [Fatima]’s unprotected back as he was busy chanting to cast a spell on [Katoh].
At that moment, [Fatima] began to tremble slightly.
[“What—That couldn’t be the [Death Sword]?! How did you get that?!”]
[“Take this!”]
[Shiorin] swung the [Death Sword] with all her might as she interrupted [Fatima]. Everyone watched this situation and screamed out in unison and the sound overlapped with the blow.
[“Go!!!”]
[“Teach that guy who dared to use my [Fatima] however he wanted a lesson! Avenge me!”]
[“He tried to kill us all with that blast trap! Just finish him off!”]
[“…He dared to destroy my house and farmland!”]
[“Setting a sticky trap to destroy our equipment is a serious sin! He must repent for it!”]
[“…! Those things have nothing to do with me—!”]
The strongest character [Fatima] only managed to get out part of the sentence before the sword connected with his back and he fell to the ground on the spot.
The [Death Sword], as its name suggested, was a sword that could kill the opponent in one blow.
Although they didn’t know how [Katoh] had such an item, they could figure that out later.
Now, however, everyone was reveling in the joy of victory.
[“We did it~!”]
[“We won!”]
[“Admiration. That blow was impressive.”]
Everyone was cheering happily. Shido manipulated [Shiorin] to bow to his fellow party members and then answered:
[“Haha, thank you everyone. It was all thanks to everyone’s help. …Anyway, how do we get rid of that DB state—”]
A dazzlingly bright explosion rang out and [Shiorin]’s health points hit zero.
“Huh…?”
Shido couldn’t help but make a panicked noise as he stared at the screen.
He spotted [Fatima] with 1 health point remaining, still standing.
[[Fatima]! How could he be alive?!”]
[“No way! Isn’t the [Death Sword] supposed to kill the opponent with one blow?!”]
[“…! I know, it must be the [Resurrection Talisman]! It’s a revival item that can revive you with 1 health when you die!”]
[Crime] shouted in alarm. As a result, Shido held his breath. In contrast, [Fatima] laughed.
[“W-Wow… hahahahahaha! It really would finish me off in a single hit! But—for now…”]
[“Ugh…”]
Shido frowned as he frantically operated the mouse. Of course, the dead [Shiorin] remained still… even if he had the strongest item, it was useless to him now.
[“Just as a reward for pushing me this far, I’ll let you see the most powerful spell of the world’s destroyer, infinite destruction—”]
However, at that moment—
There was a faint knocking sound, and [Fatima]’s remaining 1 health point fell to zero.
[“Huh—?”]
In the face of this unexpected turn of events, all the team members’ eyes widened in surprise.
However, just as quickly, they immediately understood what happened.
[“Hey hjkl;”]
Because [Katoh] spoke as he made the gesture of throwing a stone.
—It was because of that that they managed to defeat the most powerful character, [Fatima].
And few people would ever learn that the fatal blow that killed him was actually thanks to a stone thrown by a level 1 adventurer.
◇◇◇
“Oh~! Everyone, thank you very much! Thanks to all of you, I can finally fulfill my purpose!”
An hour after defeating [Fatima]:
A group of people who’d recovered or were revived held a celebration in a pub in Central City.
[“No, if anything, I should be thankful. He destroyed my house and farmland so it was thanks to you that I was able to get revenge.”]
[“Confirmation. I also got the equipment that he had, so [Yuzu] also walked away with an advantage.”]
[“I managed to get the target’s information. We can act at any time.”]
[“…We already managed to beat him. Shouldn’t that be enough?”]
Everyone talked happily about either dangerous or peaceful things and the atmosphere around them was very lively.
Not long ago, everyone sitting at this table was a stranger, in a strange new world, but managing to work together to fulfill a goal produced a wonderful sense of unity. This sort of feeling could really only be experienced in online games…
[“—Ah, yes…”]
Just as Shido was thinking about such things, [Ani] suddenly spoke up.
[“Everyone, if it’s convenient, would you all be interested in meeting in real life next time? I don’t usually make such a suggestion, but what can I say? I feel a strange familiarity with this team—and everyone here is a woman so it wouldn’t be awkward to meet, would it?”]
Naturally, [Milk] answered joyfully:
[“Ah~! This is a beautiful idea~! Let’s all come together and meet in real life~!”]
[“…No, I don’t like that idea very much. I don’t want to get too close to [Orion] and [Milk]…”]
On the contrary, [Crime] frowned. [Milk] responded: “Why, big sister~?”, and [Crime] became even more alarmed.
[“I want to go.”]
[“Hmm jkl;”]
However, [Yoshua] and [Katoh] responded in opposition, [Crime] was annoyed but nonetheless nodded reluctantly.
[“…I guess it can’t be helped, since both of them want to go…”]
[“Okay, then it’s decided! Let’s determine the date and location!”]
After cooperating with [Ani]’s suggestion, the characters all raised their glasses to congratulate each other.
The already lively night only got livelier and livelier.
Needless to say, the subsequent parties became hotpot parties at the Itsuka household.
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