Theodoran brooded a moment before speaking up.
"It's my sister. She's the only family I have, and..."
He trailed off. Well, that sure sounds familiar. I didn't know exactly why she needed magic potions, but for my part, I'd heard enough.
"If you did this for your family, that's good enough for me. Write up a new contract. I'll sell you the potions you need for cheap. A steady supply."
I was ready to burst out laughing. So we'd been fighting for the same reason all along, eh? No wonder he'd been in such a rush to patch things up.
"But why...?"
"I just can't hate a guy who goes to the wall for his family."
I was giving Theodoran a long-suffering shrug when something warm and soft pressed against my back and a hand descended on my head and began patting me.
"That's a good boy. You're such a dear."
Seriously? It was nice and all that Deneb had brought us tea, but she was really taking the wind out of my sails. It's hard to look like a badass when an overindulgent elf is patting you on the head.
◇
"I'm all done making potions for the day, Aoi!"
I was lazing around in bed, reading a gaming magazine Karumi had brought me from Japan and fighting off the drowsiness of the potion poisoning, when Ann slipped under the covers and wrapped her arms around me.
"Ann, I don't mind if you wanna snuggle, but could you maybe stay above the waist?" I was under strict orders to avoid all medicines, and that included my go-to sedative herb. I hadn't had to endure the full force of Ann's cuddling in a while, and keeping my composure was proving difficult.
When Ann had told me about how she'd taken Donnel, Carla, and their crews into the labyrinth that day and gone after the straggler hunters from behind, I'd scolded her for putting herself in harm's way. But then Mary had muttered under her breath about how I'd already nearly died just from facing nine of them, and it'd come out that Ann had saved me from another twenty. After that, Ann had gotten hopping mad at me instead and chewed me out for always overdoing it. The way she'd teared up as she chastised me was horribly unfair. I never stood a chance.
"Aoi, Mary, let's take a nap! C'mon, we already wrapped up our work for the day, so we deserve a break."
Ann and Mary were even closer of late. Had something nice happened between the two of them? Mary was playing Gun Gust more and more on her new computer, which she rationalized by saying she had to keep training. Yeah, she was hooked.
"That's a splendid idea, Ann. To tell the truth, I'd been hoping our whole family could sleep together today."
Even Mary hopped into bed. She looked happier these days, and I felt like she'd been taking on some of Ann's carefree nature.
Ann's soft snores tugged at me to go to sleep, but when I tried to close my eyes, Mary whispered to me.
"Aoi, isn't my salary a burden?"
"I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, it's going to be tough to scrape up the money."
Mary had signed a contract and was formally my labyrinth guardian, and her rate was not cheap. Well, I mean, I'd set it myself. But after I'd gone so far to recruit her to my party, I didn't want to compromise on her pay and look bad just because I was kind of broke.
"I've been fretting over it, to tell the truth, but I think I've come up with a solution, a way you won't be obligated to pay me anymore. What do you say we give it a try? I think it will solve all our problems."
She was right, but that was something we were better off saving for the future. She murmured something about just not feeling right without a last name.
"...Not just yet. I think we're fine the way we are."
I was half-asleep thanks to the potion poisoning, but even in that state, my instincts still preserved me from danger, like the way I dodged mines in an FPS game.
"What a stubborn man. Oh, wait. Does that mean we'll do it someday?"
"Someday... Okay."
"It's a promise, then, and I never forget promises. I look forward to that day."
Mary nodded, looking satisfied by my answer, and closed her eyes with a cute little yawn.
"Wait. What?"
I came wide awake, my eyes popping open. I had the strangest sensation, which was somehow incredibly familiar, like I'd put my foot down on a trap and felt it sink in, and yet I'd still miraculously evaded it.
"Hmm...?"
I sat up and looked around, but all I could see was Ann and Mary, both sound asleep. Maybe it'd just been my imagination?
I lied down again and looked at Mary. As her little hand clung to the hem of my shirt and her angelic face drifted up and down from the deep breaths of sleep, I made her a promise in my heart. Mary, I know you've been through a lot of hard times, but I promise you, I will never let you face them alone again. No matter what life throws at you, playing on a team makes it more fun. I can't guarantee there will be a reward at the end of every stage we clear, but even if there's no treasure waiting, Ann and I will make one for you. I mean, c'mon, you never read about a character going through hell in the main game, finally reaching a happy ending, and then see the fandisk come out and undo all the good things, right? No writer is that dumb. They'd get flamed right off the internet. Hell, their company building would probably get burned to the ground. I'll spoil you every day. I'll make you so happy you change class from Dark Knight to Delight. So prepare yourself, because you're going to see just how fun the game of life truly is.
The End
Extra
"Aoi, I don't suppose I could... borrow some money."
"Wh-What?"
One day, as I was making magic potions, Mary turned my way and begged me in a voice utterly devoid of hope.
"I was ambushed, and I lost my beloved spear and armor."
"Ah. Now I get it."
I was worried for a moment that she didn't consider her salary good enough, but when I realized she was looking despondently at the computer monitor, I understood. She meant she'd lost the equipment of her Gun Gust character, Mariet.
Mary was one of those players who used their real name. She'd said it would feel strange to manipulate a character with a different name. She used a sword and shield in real life, but those were expensive in-game, so she'd gone with a spear for now. Newbies like her usually had money problems, so they couldn't afford to go buy a decent sword and shield that wouldn't break after a few uses. So, she was having to make do with the much cheaper option of spears, until she'd built up a stable gold supply.
"What about the spares? You had two whole sets in your inventory box, right?"
The only penalty for dying in Gun Gust was the risk of losing all your items. Not just your equipment, but everything in your bags was left with your corpse. This made it very easy to lose everything. You could always do the run back, of course, but it was all too common to return to find your corpse already looted, either by the one who killed you or just by passersby. All things considered, when you died, you were probably best off considering all your stuff as being forfeit. That was why I'd made sure she kept two spare sets of gear in the town's item box. I distinctly remembered teaching her about switching out gear and stuff yesterday, and I was absolutely certain I'd put the equipment in the box. Don't tell me...
"Did you die three times in a row without replacing any of your equipment?"
"..."
Mary nodded, sniffling.
"Well, these things happen. Bad luck can be streaky."
It was easy to make mistakes in rapid succession, especially after the first one made you panic to try and fix things.
"Still, you must've had some rotten luck there."
Fortunately, strength in Gun Gust wasn't particularly dependent on your gear. Your skills and weapon proficiency were far more important. So, even if she had to use basic equipment, Mary's character was already stronger than it had been yesterday.
"It wouldn't really be all that bad for me to give you enough money to buy that same equipment again, but, well... Thing is, when it comes to onli
ne gaming, lending money is kind of frowned upon."
And you know, struggling is an important experience. Surviving hardships is just a part of life!
"I've got an idea."
"A-Aoi?"
Mary looked scared, oddly enough. I didn't make my scary face again, did I?
"You've got nothing left to lose, right?"
"I suppose that's true..."
Mary's character was equipped with nothing but the white robes one wore after revival. Unlike normal clothes, they couldn't be trashed or sold; they were just a way to prevent the revival area from being overrun with naked avatars. Well, if there were no consequences to worry about, why not go for it?
"There's a fort east of town, right? Head there."
"Um, you mean around here? It appears people are fighting."
"There's a guild rumble going on. People are fighting for control of the east side of this city. It's a busy time of day for the U.S. players, and this is a pretty typical control fight."
Since the game had players from around the world on the same server, they had this area control event four times a day. It was kind of nice, and kind of not. From one point of view, there would always be some events that you could make it to. From the other, you were always getting screwed out of some event or other.
"See that dead player over there?"
She entered the fort to find the corpse of an unlucky player who'd been stabbed on his way up a ladder and had fallen to his death.
"Y-Yes."
Mary bore a look of dawning horror, as though she knew what I was going to say but didn't want to believe it.
"Well, loot them already."
"I-I can't just---"
"You have absolutely no possessions, right?"
"But I'm a knight. I can't just---"
"Do you have any other options?"
"Aww..."
"Just take their wallet and their gear. It's easy money."
The game wasn't going to get any easier in deference to her knightly pride. It was time to throw away her dignity and live like the masses.
"Mary, these people are fighting for control of the city. They've got it made. They won't mind losing a little bit of money by dying. If you can't do this, you're going to be stuck stealing vegetables from farmers or mugging day laborers."
"..."
Oh good, she took the stuff. It seemed she'd come to terms with it.
"Aoi, they're chasing me!"
Mary had only taken the wallet when the unlucky player, accompanied by two others, came running.
"Well, duh, you did steal from them. Better not let them catch you. I suggest running back to the center of the city."
There was an important distinction, in multiplayer games, between what was allowed by the game and what was allowed by the players. Gun Gust gave you a remarkable amount of freedom, in that it didn't penalize you for theft or murder. However, that didn't stop the players from coming after you for revenge.
"They're gaining on me!"
"Okay, take the money out of the wallet and throw it on the ground. Hurry!"
"Are you certain?"
"Just do it."
She took all the money from the wallet and tossed it by the roadside.
"Aoi... They got me. I'm dead again."
They'd caught up to Mary, skewered her on a sword, and taken the wallet back.
"Well, you did rob them."
"I revived. What do I do now?"
"How about you go back and pick up the coins you threw on the road? Those players are in the middle of a castle siege. They're too busy to go scrounge for coins in the dirt."
If she'd managed to snag the equipment, she could've made even more money, but she would've had to make it to the item box before they caught her.
"...Very well."
Mary reluctantly picked up the coins. She'd made a good amount of money.
"Aoi, I think I may cry."
"If you'd saved up enough to buy a spear, you could've joined a party and done a little grinding."
If I hadn't helped her from the start, she would've learned how it felt to have nothing. She would've understood how important it was to save money and take care of your spare equipment. Maybe it would've been a better experience for her to join the battle wielding a wooden stick. At this point, I was just glad to see Mary wasn't still crying over losing her stuff. She would remember this pain and learn from it, but if she was hurt too badly she might end up dropping the game. At first, it was hard to tell just how much the experience had hurt her. And she'd learned an important lesson. Robbing from the ruling class was better than robbing from the working class, and that in turn was better than robbing from the peasants. Peasant areas were always bustling with beginners looking to make a quick buck, and thus they were also chock full of players looking to kill them for the same reason, so those areas were actually the most dangerous.
"Oh yes, this shall do nicely! I obtained a commander's helmet, with horns and everything!"
A mere half a day later, Mary was now an old hand at looting corpses. Her inventory box back home was nearly full, so she had enough money to buy equipment for a while now. Her smile may have lost a bit of its innocent shine, but as a gamer, she'd leveled up.
"Oh, there's something I forgot to tell you. Everything you have is tagged as stolen, so it won't sell for that much."
"What?"
"The game lets you get away with a lot, but it still puts some penalties on you. Selling that stuff will remove the stolen goods debuff, but you won't get much money for selling it."
Guilds generally frowned upon the practice as well, so I advised against doing it too often.
"Anyway, I recommend you sell it all off, buy a new spear, and go kill some players fair and square. If your equipment is bad, everyone is going to treat you like small fry, but if you can kill off a knight or soldier player in a fair fight, your rewards will be much bigger."
"Aoi, I don't know that I can go back to making money honestly."
"Be patient. With a little luck, you'll have your original equipment back in no time."
"R-Right! I'm going to be a knight!"
"That's the spirit. It's a dirty business when you're getting started, but I can show you how to level up your skills and make some money at the same time."
"Okay."
I figured even knights-in-training had to dirty their hands until they really made it. Mary had been blessed, born into nobility and wealth, and had never been forced to endure that kind of hardship. This was a good experience for her, even if it was just a game.
"Okay, I'm going to give it a shot, so, um, will you cheer me on?"
"Yeah. You're such a hard worker, Mary---the best knight ever!"
"All right! I'm going to beat everyone!"
I stroked her hair softly, and Mary smiled like a little kid.
You know, I kind of felt bad. I probably shouldn't have pushed her to go against her nature. Maybe I should make a dessert for her tonight. Yeah, good idea. Wash away those tears with something sweet.
Afterword
Hello, I'm game-loving novelist Yuuki Shinobu, and I'll be your host for the evening. Did you enjoy my story about recruiting a new party member to the labyrinth team, and the hard-mode mechanics along the way? For those of you reading the afterword before the novel itself, I hope you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.
Let me talk about games for a bit. PvP-centric games aren't that popular in Japan, but there's still a lot of variety if you're willing to search. A lot of people think PvP games aren't fun unless you're good at them, but the truth is, nobody would play those games if the only way to enjoy them was to be a master of the controller. There's no shortage of games that value decision-making, planning, and teamwork, rather than raw skill.
Dealing with people can be difficult sometimes, but you don't stand to lose anything by trying it out. Like, there was this one survival game that was recently brought over here, with zombies and dinosaurs. I wonder if anybody
else plays it? Anything goes, as long as your computer has the specs to run the game. No notion of right or wrong, just individual accountability. Groups form and compete, fighting until one side runs out of resources, money, or willpower. There's no button to report harassment or bullying to a mod or anything like that. I'm sure a lot of people think it's too difficult and awkward, since there's barely a Japanese community. But for me, it was at least interesting to experience that novel world, so detached from Japan, and all I had to do was reach out and try it. If another player approached you, pointing your weapon at them threateningly was a common greeting. Sometimes other players would just attack you without a word. Farming locations for precious resources were a major point of contention. It was really different from what you typically see in Japanese games.
Strongest Gamer; Let's Play in Another World Volume 2 Page 23