Paying to Win in a VRMMO: Volume 4

by Blitz Kiva

  “Well, maybe I’ll walk you back to Glasgobara, then,” he eventually decided, and the four of them headed off to the same place together.

  As they prepared to set out, Felicia added in a whisper, “I’ve gotta get my own base of operations, rather than just leeching off of Iris Brand all day!”

  “Planning to strike out on your own?” Yuri asked.

  “I wouldn’t mind joining someone else’s guild, but yeah, more or less.” Lately, Felicia had finally begun to understand the fun of video games, and she was quite a competent NaroFan player herself. She couldn’t sit around drinking Kirschwasser’s tea in a guild made for Iris forever.

  Making cheerful conversation, the group began to descend the mountain.

  “Oh, is this it?” Kirschwasser asked, impressed, as he flipped through the design sheets Iris had prepared. “It’s very... eye-catching, very clever. You’ve done an excellent job...”

  “I feel like I’ve reached a new level as a creator, myself...” Iris said. But it had been worth it.

  Iris had incorporated the hint she’d gotten from the angelic campaign girl, and had used the various images burned into her eyes in Akihabara to create the most pandering design she could muster. She’d cast off her shame and her ridiculous pride, and she’d come up with a design tailored to the public from square one. She’d never felt that way before. There was something utterly refreshing about it.

  “Of course, it’s not finished yet,” she added. “I’ve got a lot of fine-tuning to do...”

  “Are you using maids as the base?” asked Kirschwasser.

  “Yes. But maybe I should mix something else in with ‘maid’... I want it to be something that would make men giddy when they saw Felicia in it...”

  “Your mind seems to have ended up quite deeply in the gutter,” Kirschwasser said, though not especially judgmentally.

  Ichiro wasn’t here right now. Iris doubted he would interfere at this stage of the game, and she doubted she would lose her morale at this point either way, but his absence had allowed her to devote herself to her design process for much longer than usual.

  “That’s right. It was gimmick armor, wasn’t it?” Kirschwasser asked. “What kind of gimmick will you use?”

  “Um, I was thinking... transforming armor. I’m using, what was it called... Insect Armor as the base.”

  “Ah, so that heroic armor will become this maid, eh?” Kirschwasser asked with interest.

  Insect Armor had been one of the recipes that Edward had given her. Its components were the bug-type monsters that lived deep in the Lancastio Spiritwood Sea, and it had the “Metamorphose” gimmick built into it. It typically had a cocoon or larva motif, which could then be changed into an “adult” form if the person wearing it struck certain poses. There was apparently a certain subset of male players who really liked this gimmick.

  “Which means there’s a second form, is there?” Kirschwasser added.

  “There is. That’s this.” Iris showed him another design sheet. This one was much closer to being finalized.

  Kirschwasser’s expression stiffened visibly. “Y-You’re going to put this... on Lady Felicia?!”

  Iris nodded. “I was wondering if she might have a problem with it...”

  “I could not speak for her, but...”

  The minute Iris had thought up the design, it had felt like a “eureka!” moment, and that feeling hadn’t wavered. But the thought of putting it on Felicia did make her hesitate. What if she hated it? Well, if Felicia dropped out, she would deal with it; she’d just wear it herself.

  Iris couldn’t feign innocence if she wanted to win. She couldn’t let that eight hours she’d spent holding back her vomit be for nothing. Iris would become a demon.

  “The design may not be to Master Ichiro’s taste, either,” added Kirschwasser.

  “I don’t care about him.”

  “True. He’s not going to wear it, so perhaps he doesn’t matter. And it was he who said he was looking forward to a design that was more in your style.”

  “I wonder what my style is...” Iris murmured. Could a newbie designer like her even have her own style?

  Iris was just mulling that over when she heard the guild house door open.

  “Iris, Mr. Kirsch, we’re coming in!” Felicia called out energetically. But she wasn’t alone.

  “I’m coming in.”

  “Coming in.”

  “Hey, coming in!”

  There was, in fact, quite a crowd marching in through the door.

  “Ah, Yuri! Hey!” Iris cried, waving.

  Yuri waved back. “Hey, Ai.”

  Iris had heard Yuri had been helping Felicia level up, but she hadn’t seen much of her old friend lately.

  “Allow me to make tea,” Kirschwasser said, as usual, without missing a beat. He was already preparing several cups with the tea set he had brought out at some point.

  “Ai, is that the design you’re working on right now?” Yuri asked, pointing to the design sheets.

  “Yeah,” Iris nodded.

  Felicia jumped up at the mention, too. “Ah, it’s done!”

  “It’s not finalized yet,” said Iris. “Almost there, though. Felicia, which do you prefer: knight, shinobi, or nun?”

  “Hmmm... shinobi!” Felicia cried.

  Then the additional motif would be shinobi. Iris wrote down a note.

  Kirschwasser whispered to himself with a frown, “Maid-shinobi, eh?”

  “Iris, may I see?” Edward asked. (Surely he wasn’t simply drawn to the phrase “maid-shinobi.”)

  “Sure,” Iris said. “You want to see it, too, Felicia?”

  “Hmm, I think I’ll wait until it’s finished!” Felicia said with a beaming smile.

  Iris felt a sting run through her heart. Would she really be putting a good girl like Felicia in an outfit like that? She felt her will to fight nearly crumble from an unexpected direction, but she shook her head internally.

  She had made her decision: if Felicia refused, she would wear it herself. Iris hardened her heart.

  In addition to Edward, Yuri and Kirihito (Leader) had also expressed interest, so she handed them the image file, too. The responses to the first sheet were all things like “Cute!” and “Clever!” but all eyes opened wider when they saw the post-gimmick design.

  “Miss Iris, this is...”

  “Impressive!”

  “Wow, Ai, are you serious?”

  The one who had called it impressive was Kirihito (Leader). She couldn’t pinpoint Edward’s reaction thanks to his mechanical body, but the sole woman, Yuri, was clearly repulsed.

  Well, they were more or less the reactions she’d expected. Iris folded her arms and nodded. “It’s serious. I’m totally serious.”

  “I see. Good luck,” Edward said, firmly. Surprisingly, he seemed to approve—proof that he was a man, after all.

  Having the approval of two men gave Iris greater confidence. She owed a great debt to the inspiration provided to her by the angelic campaign girl.

  Felicia just kept grinning and whispering to herself, “I wonder what it’s like! I can’t wait to see!” But Iris couldn’t let that bother her. She needed to harden her heart. She’d said that she would, so she would.

  It was then that Kirschwasser poured the tea. Once he had a cup for each member of the group, the silver-haired elder Knight spoke up. “By the way, if you’ll forgive the slight change of subject, Lord Matsunaga’s blog has written about the recent incident, as well.”

  “Mr. Matsunaga’s?” Felicia’s expression turned suspicious as the man’s name came up.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s right.” Edward lifted his teacup and opened the Miraive Gear’s proprietary browser. The others peered over his shoulder. It seemed Edward had bookmarked the vsoku@VRMMO aggregate blog that Matsunaga ran.

  “‘Iris Brand Challenges MiZUNO’...” Iris murmured. “So, he’s already sniffed it out, huh?”

  “Either that or he’s pulling the strings,” Kirsc
hwasser said. “I’m not sure which. As ever, he’s a master of spin.”

  As the article described it, Iris Brand had picked a fight with MiZUNO in order to test her mettle against the pro designer.

  Of course, everyone knew that the difference in talents between them was heaven and earth. Whatever one thought about Fuyo herself, from an objective point of view, it was like a high school baseball player picking a fight with a major leaguer. It was a sign of Matsunaga’s skill that he could twist things such that most of the reactions were to the effect of, “It was nice of MiZUNO to humor them.”

  “Ugh... I really do hate that guy,” Felicia whispered. “And he’s probably on Nem’s side this time.”

  “Oh?” Kirschwasser narrowed his eyes at her words. “I wonder why you think that.”

  “Well... it’s a secret, I guess. I’m not sure if I can talk about it.”

  “Hm.”

  Judging from their attitudes, Kirschwasser and Felicia were both conjecturing the same thing: Matsunaga was backing Nem, a.k.a. Megumi Fuyo. It was hard to imagine, but it wasn’t impossible. The casting of Amesho as Nem’s model—which Iris didn’t feel was something Fuyo would do—made much more sense if he was helping her.

  But it wasn’t just Matsunaga on Nem’s side. She also had the mercenaries Taker and Sorceress. They seemed relatively servile to Nem, but that didn’t necessarily mean they’d only act in accordance with what she wanted.

  “Well, even with Matsunaga on her side, the result will be the same,” Iris decided to say. “This is between Nem and me. I told the young heir not to interfere, and I’d say the same to anyone else. I won’t let anyone stick their nose in where it doesn’t belong.”

  Even if their talent was the difference between Betelgeuse and a turtle, a competition was a competition. Who said that a turtle could be no better than a heavenly body? Perhaps, somewhere in this enormous universe, there was a turtle that could compete with a red giant star. Such was the baseless confidence that Iris took refuge in.

  “Iris...” Felicia whispered. “Iris, you’re so cool.”

  “A-Am I?” The reaction was unexpected, and it made Iris blush a bit.

  “Yeah,” Felicia said. “I’ll cheer you on for your victory with everything I have. Though I doubt there’s much I can do.”

  “Th-Thanks...” Just as Iris was feeling a bit emotional at Felicia’s surprise comment, Yuri also spoke up beside her.

  “It’s not just Felicia. I’m on your side, too, Ai.”

  “I’ve already expressed the faith I have in you,” said Edward.

  “I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I’m still rooting for you,” Kirihito (Leader) chimed in.

  Iris steeled her nerve. It was two days until the competition. She would finish her design and create the armor. That was all she had to focus on. Then, on the day of the competition, she would make something that would shock the young heir.

  She would win.

  Iris’s severe biorhythms were currently on the upswing to their highest peak.

  5 - Noble Son, Overturn

  Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Morning and night, skipping meals, Iris devoted herself to finishing the maid-shinobi design.

  Referencing Japanese-style maids (she had been surprised to learn that such a thing existed), she integrated shinobi-like elements, as well as (for the sake of her own pride) resort patterns and body con trends that were “in” for summer right now. The result was a true melting pot of a design. She certainly had her doubts. Is this okay? Is this really a design in my style? But those thoughts just made her prouder of what she had accomplished. That was the way Iris—Airi Kakitsubata—did things.

  “Isn’t the skirt a bit short?” Yuri criticized.

  “That’s about right for a shinobi, I think... I could make it skinny pants, but then it would lose the maid aesthetic...” Iris said in response.

  Finalizing the design had taken longer than she’d expected. Now she just had to make the armor. She had already gathered enough components and recipes so that she could fail as many times as needed. She had the money, too—money she had worked herself into nausea to make.

  She’d had help from a lot of people to get this far. Kirschwasser, Edward, Felicia, Yuri, Kirihito (Leader)—actually, he hadn’t done much of anything—as well as her friend from school and the angelic campaign girl.

  And, while she was loath to admit it, the young heir had helped, too.

  He hadn’t actually shown himself at all these last two days. Perhaps he was busy with something, or perhaps this was simply his attempt to hold faithfully to his promise not to interfere.

  Kirschwasser was sadly missing today, as well. She had wanted to finish the armor with both of them present, but the deadline was today. She didn’t know how many failures she might have to run through, and she couldn’t wait for them to show up.

  “Okay, let’s do this!” Iris lay the recipe and the components down on her magic circle. She opened the window and selected “Overlay Original Graphics.” It showed a display of the amount of money required, with a warning message that she wouldn’t get back the money she paid even if she failed.

  She gulped, and with a trembling finger, pressed “Yes.”

  The “Yes” button she had once pressed so freely when making accessories now felt so much heavier. It was only spending 800 yen, yet she had never needed so much courage for anything in her life.

  “Ai?” Yuri knitted her brow in confusion as she watched Iris.

  “It’s nothing... nothing. It’s okay. I have money. I have money...” Iris murmured again and again, as if trying to convince herself.

  The 800 yen she was about to spend was 800 yen she had put herself through hell to earn. It was a portion of the daily wage forged standing beneath the blazing sun, dressed in a mascot costume, getting kicked by brats while on the verge of vomiting. Now was the do-or-die moment. Would that 800 yen become a pile of trash, or a dazzling armor design?

  This was the first time that the middle-class Iris really appreciated how eccentric the young heir was. He was bizarre! How could he waste something as valuable as money so frivolously, while here she stood, so hesitant to convert a trivial 800 yen into garbage?

  Iris, though... Iris knew. Eight hundred yen was a lot of money!

  “Okay, let’s do it!”

  With that cry, she made the payment. A sense of remorseful loss filled Iris’s heart. There went 800 yen she would never see again. All she could do now was pray that it wouldn’t go to waste.

  While Yuri looked at her uncertainly, Iris opened her Alchemical Circle. The light coalesced above it, and the components merged together.

  Please, my 800 yen! she begged. I know the chance of success is only two or three percent, but please, let me succeed on the first try!

  Clunk. Doodly-doodly-doo.

  The mocking BGM sounded out, and a blackened, charred item hit the ground in front of her.

  “Ahh...” She had failed. Despondency gnawed at her heart. “I’m sorry... I’m sorry, my 800 yen...”

  She could sense that Yuri, standing beside her, was put off by her behavior. “Ai, are you crying?” she asked.

  Yes, she was crying. She was mourning the lost 800 yen that had given its life for nothing. That 800 yen could have done something with its existence. It could have been snacks, or part of an outfit. It could have been a commuting fee, or a night of karaoke...

  Yet she had thrown it into the gutter! She had been forced to throw it into the gutter! With her own hands, Iris had closed the door on the unlimited potential of that 800 yen. And so, it had vanished into the darkness without a single word of complaint, with nothing but a prayer for Iris’s victory.

  This was all in Iris’s head, of course, but she really believed it. Such was the pleasure and pain of wasting of 800 yen.

  People sometimes referred to a payment as “a pound of flesh,” and Iris saw now that spending her own money really did feel like tearing out a part of her
self. She was not cut out for capitalism at all.

  Next try...

  Iris hardened her heart. The battle wasn’t over yet. To stop here, or stay her hand, would be a blasphemy to the 800 yen she had lost.

  She laid the components on the magic circle once more and paid another 800 yen. A few seconds later, another charred pile of scrap fell to the floor at Iris’s feet.

  An hour passed.

  The comrades with whom Iris had fought through that bittersweet summer battle were now gone without a trace, and she was embarking on a long campaign of grinding away at her New Year’s money. Her face was sunken and pale. Yuri continued to watch, uneasily, as Iris made payment after payment, her expression twisting in anguish every time.

  She had spent a whopping 40,000 yen. She had told herself she’d been prepared to spend that much, but as she watched her bank account gradually shrink, the trembling of her hand reached its zenith.

  If the young heir were here... if the young heir were paying... 40,000 yen would be a pittance. Even 80,000 yen would be nothing to sneeze at. Whether 400,000 yen or 4 million yen, he’d pay it like it was nothing.

  You scumbag, Iris thought.

  The suffering of earning money, and the pain of losing it. What meaning would there be in any victory achieved without knowing that? This was Iris’s fight. The competition hadn’t even officially started, yet here was Iris, battling hard.

  Iris activated her Alchemical Circle for the umpteenth time. With a feeling like prayer, she watched the light coalesce and take form.

  Clunk. Dat-data-dat-daaa!

  At first, Iris didn’t understand the meaning of that cheerful fanfare that rang out. What fell to the floor at her feet was not a piece of black, charred trash, but the maid-shinobi outfit she had designed. The eye-catching and clever armor she had designed, made out of elements men loved, with its teeny-weeny skirt and its outrageous plunging neckline.