Chapter Three: Different Strokes for Different Folks
Chapter Three: Different Strokes for Different Folks
Having gotten my hands on new gear, I returned to our plot of land to find Olto sitting with his back against the well. I watched him wipe his sweat away with his Earth Spirit’s Scarf, looking for all the world like a young boy hard at work in the fields. All he needed was a straw hat to complete the look.
“How’s it going, Olto?”
“Mm? Mm-mm.”
“You seem bored.”
It looked like he’d already finished sowing all of the seeds I’d given him. There were a variety of plants sprouting, which I was able to distinguish by the green markers above each sprout.
“Mm?” Olto cocked his head to the side and tugged at the hem of my robe, apparently curious about the new digs.
“Oh, this thing? I just bought it. Pretty cool, huh?”
“Mm.” Olto nodded vigorously in response.
“So, you done with the farm?”
“Mm!” Olto raised his hand in salute. Damn, he really was adorable.
If he was done farming for the day, I figured it ought to be fine to take him to the Magical Beasts Guild, so the two of us set off to complete some quest requirements.
“Mm-mm, mm-mm.” Olto hummed a tune as he skipped. He seemed to be enjoying our outing.
“You’re in high spirits.”
“Mm!”
It was then that I remembered something important.
“That’s right, I haven’t fed you yet today.”
I selected a honey dumpling from my inventory and handed it to Olto.
“Here, eat this. How is it?”
“Mmm...” Olto mumbled.
Olto nibbled tentatively on the dumpling, a clear dissatisfaction on his face. Hang in there, buddy, I’ll get you something nicer to eat soon.
“Your Command ability has leveled up.”
Hey, nice! It looked like you could gain skill XP just by traveling with your monster. I’d have to take Olto out more often.
We arrived at the Magical Beasts Guild in no time. I couldn’t help stealing glances at Olto along the way; he was just too darn cute for words.
“This is it.”
“Mm.”
“Let’s go check out the quest board.”
With Olto in tow, I could tick off several boxes at once.
“I’ve brought my monster with me, Barbara,” I called out to the receptionist.
“My! A gnome, and a unique specimen at that! Hmm, it looks like it’s acquired both a rare skill and an EX skill—Arboriculture and Forced Cultivation EX.” Barbara squealed at Olto, pure delight on her face.
I decided to overlook her occasional pats atop Olto’s head, since he didn’t seem to mind it. I had to say, though, it still killed me a little inside to see a gorgeous girl like Barbara losing her shit over a gnome like this.
“Phew. Thanks, that was lovely! Consider your quests fulfilled.”
“You have successfully completed this quest. You will now receive your reward.”
“Your base level has increased to level 4. You have acquired two bonus points.”
“Your Job level has increased to level 4.”
No surprise there; I’d just completed three special quests at once. My in-game currency had also increased to 11,350 G. There didn’t seem to be any more special quests that I could immediately fulfill, however, so this was probably the last advantage I could take of my initial bonuses.
“Your Tamed Monster, Olto, has leveled up.”
“Mmm!”
“You too, Olto?!”
A double level-up, and a ton of money. Seriously, special quests were the bomb.
“What should we buy with all this? Hmm... What do you think, Olto?”
Ha ha, as if Olto would actually answer me... I thought, until I noticed Olto trying to catch my attention.
“Mm, mm-mm.”
“What’s up?”
He brought both hands together above his head and repeatedly made a downward swinging motion.
“Pounding mochi?” I offered.
Nope, that wasn’t it. Olto held his hands up in an X in front of his chest and shook his head.
“Consecutive powerbombs.”
“Mm.”
“Kendo swings?”
“Mm-mm.”
That wasn’t it either. What on earth was he trying to tell me...?
“Hm, what now?”
Olto seemed to sense that this was going nowhere and changed motions.
“You’re pushing a button...”
“Mm-mm.”
“No? You’re poking a hole into something, then?”
“Mmm!”
Olto thrust his thumb and forefinger out dramatically in my direction as if to say Yes, you nailed it! Why the JoJo pose, though?
“You’re making a hole and placing something in—oh, you’re sowing seeds!”
“Mm!”
Bingo.
“So, that gesture just now... You were miming a hoe?”
“Mm!”
So putting that all together, what he was telling me was...
“You want a farm?”
“Mm-mm!”
Man, he sure knew how to wrap me around his little finger! Farms didn’t come cheap, but...how could I possibly say no when he was staring up at me with those puppy-dog eyes?
Damn it, devs! This is how you plan on making me spend more money, eh?!
“Listen, Olto...”
“Mm...”
Olto apparently sensed my reservation. He hung his head dejectedly and turned his back on me, before kicking a pebble at his feet. Could he get any cuter?! That said, though, perhaps buying a proper farm wasn’t such a bad idea. If I mass-produced potions and sold them by the dozen, I’d be able to rake in the cash, and it’d help me level up my skills too. It might take some time to recover the initial investment, but that didn’t seem too difficult a task otherwise.
“Hmm...”
“Mm?”
Olto seemed to sense that I was wavering as he glanced back at me.
“Do you really want a farm?”
“Mm!”
“I see.”
“Mmm...”
Olto clung to my leg and gazed up at me with a pleading look in his eyes. Now that was what I called a killer move. Just look at that face! How could I win against that?!
“Shall we buy one then?” I caved.
“Mm?” Olto looked at me questioningly.
“I mean, you are pretty good at growing.”
“Mm-mm!”
Olto rolled up his sleeves as if to show his determination.
“All right, let’s do it!” I exclaimed.
“Mmm!”
As we started to leave the Magical Beasts Guild, I heard someone laughing. I turned around to find a blonde-haired elf girl roughly my height, chuckling with her hand over her mouth. She was a Tamer, with two tamed monsters, and her gaze was very obviously directed at me.
I guessed we’d been too loud. Embarrassed, I decided to leave before I attracted any more attention.
“Aren’t you a weird one?” the girl smirked.
However, my escape was thwarted; the girl was already approaching me.
“I mean, farms are pretty expensive. They’re not something you just decide to buy on a whim. Don’t you agree, Nagamasa and Tadataka?”
“Grunt.”
“Squawk!”
Her two monsters were Nagamasa, a tortoise the size of a compact car, and Tadataka, a creature resembling a bald eagle, which was perched atop the girl’s shoulder. Hell of a name for some monsters. Was she some kind of history nerd? She was probably a beta tester, though. I’d never seen either of these monsters before.
“Well, seemed like a necessary purchase,” I replied.
“I’ve never seen anyone talk like that with their monster before,” the girl chuckled.
“No?”
Hmm, she didn’t seem like a bad person. I supposed she was probably just chatting me up on a whim. She reminded me a little of Alyssa, although she appeared younger than her.
“Wouldn’t expect less from the Silver-Haired Pioneer. You’re not like other players, are you?”
What...did she just say? I could’ve sworn I heard her speak that infamous title of mine. Or had I just imagined it?
“Um, come again?”
“I said, wouldn’t expect less from the Silver-Haired Pioneer!”
So my ears weren’t playing tricks!
“H-How do you know about my title...?”
Sure, my hair was silver, but she couldn’t have guessed my identity from that alone, right? I thought she had just taken a stab in the dark at first, but she seemed pretty sure of herself.
Could it be Alyssa? Was she selling my information? But she promised she would keep it between us! Crap, my secret was bound to spread like wildfire at this rate.
“Hey, where did you hear that?” I asked again.
“Huh? I found out from a woman at a stall...”
Yep, that settled it. I had seriously underestimated how money-hungry those Cats could be! I never thought Alyssa would leak my personal information that easily.
“Sorry, gotta run. Let’s go, Olto.”
“Mm.”
“Hey, wait up!”
“Catch you later!”
I could chat with my fellow Tamers later. First, I had to shut Alyssa up!
Olto and I raced through the bustling city streets.
It was probably inevitable that I, as a titleholder, would attract some attention, and I did dream of fame and VIP status as much as the next person. However, I had no interest in becoming known for that title.
“Alyssa!” I yelled, rushing towards her stall the moment I spotted it.
“Hey again, Yuto. It’s been, what, two hours?” Alyssa replied, showing me a friendly smile. Nice try, I thought, but I’m not going to fall for that!
“You’re selling my information, aren’t you?!” I grilled, putting on the scariest expression I could manage.
“No, I’m not.”
“Bullshit! I ran into someone who knew about my title! They told me they got the information from a woman running a stall.”
“But there are plenty of women running stalls.”
Okay, she did have a point there.
“Anyway, information brokers have rules, or rather common courtesy, I should say. We especially make it a point never to sell our clients’ personal details. The only thing I’m selling is information about the title itself—cross my heart. It is a hot-ticket item, after all.”
“But you’re about the only player who knows my secret!”
“Are you sure about that?” Alyssa smiled wryly.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“You’re in luck, my friend. This news is hot off the press; I just got it a few minutes ago. Do you want to know about the woman who’s giving out your information to other people?”
“A-Absolutely. I’ll buy it.”
“Don’t be silly, I won’t charge you for this.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. As a self-proclaimed information dealer, I can’t overlook this sort of harassment.”
Nice! Talk about reliable!
“So, who is it?”
“Calm down now.”
“Hurry up and tell me!” I urged. My embarrassing secret could be making the rounds this very minute.
“Just a sec, I’m marking it on the map for you... Okay, all done. You know that there are stalls in the Southern Town Square too, yeah?”
“Kind of. I’ve seen them before.”
“There’s a stall there called Mirei’s Apothecary, which appears to be the source. Here’s the location.”
“Mirei’s Apothecary. Location: the square with the clock tower,” I read.
Mirei... I pondered the familiar-sounding name, and then remembered—she was that hottie who was advertising her shop on the first day! I was certain she had called herself Mirei.
“It’s a store run by a pink-haired weredog girl,” Alyssa informed me.
It sounded like my hunch was correct.
“Got it. I’ll pay her a visit,” I said, bidding farewell to Alyssa.
“I’ll see you around!” I heard Alyssa call after me as I took off again, weaving through the crowd of pedestrians and heading for the Southern Town Square. I came to a screeching halt, however, as I very nearly collided with someone.
LJO had a system known as a harassment block—a measure designed to prevent sexual harassment towards women—which placed a barrier between players to stop them from coming into physical contact with each other unless they were friends in-game. Therefore, I couldn’t actually have bumped into the people, but you know, reflexes.
“Sorry,” I courteously apologized to the two men in front of me before turning around to leave, but it seemed the men had other plans.
“Not so fast,” said one.
“So I’m guessing you’re the Silver-Haired Pioneer?” asked the other.
The two guys blocked my way, smirking.
“What?”
Unbelievable. How did they know who I was?
“Thought so,” one of the men said. “Guess Mirei’s intel was good: look for a silver-haired Tamer with a kid. That has to be you.”
“Hey, fess up. You’re the Silver-Haired Pioneer, aren’t you?”
These dudes were obnoxious as hell, not to mention how jarring it was to see two avatars as handsome as theirs acting like common thugs.
“Eh, who knows? Anyway, I’m kinda in a hurry here.”
“C’mon, just answer yes or no.”
“Too good to talk to us, huh? You think you’re so great just because you have a title.”
Why the hell would I be proud of that stupid title?! If anything, you’re the ones with inflated egos! You think you can get away with anything just because this is a game, don’t you?! I thought at them, fuming.
I hated these kinds of assholes, the ones who acted big online but usually turned out to be average Joes with barely any presence in real life. I had no intention of voicing any of this aloud, though. Never mind them, I needed to get out of here.
“Sorry, gotta go.”
“Hold up. Tell us what your title does.”
“Huh? Even if I was the guy you’re looking for, how is that any of your business?”
“Yo, what’s with that glare?” asked one.
“Hurry up and spill the beans,” the other insisted. “What’s the big deal? You some kind of info hoarder?”
Well, clearly not, considering that I’d already told Alyssa everything. However, they had another thing coming if they thought they could get anything out of me with attitudes like that.
“C’mon, tell us.”
“Spill it.”
“If you think bossing me around is gonna get you anywhere, you’re dead wrong,” I spat. “See ya!”
Yikes, now I’d done it! Look who’s getting an attitude now! If this were a real-life scenario, I would’ve just faked a smile!
“Let’s go, Olto!”
“Mm!”
With that, we took off running.
“Why you...! Get back here!”
“Come back, you respawnin’ bastard!”
Since PKing wasn’t allowed in LJO, there was no way those dudes could hurt me, considering they couldn’t even touch me. Regardless, it was a chore to deal with idiots like them, so I figured my best course of action was to give them the slip. Although they had the upper hand in terms of speed, the streets of the town were labyrinthine, full of twists and turns. Taking a zigzagging path would keep them on their toes. After running for what seemed like ages, I finally seemed to have shaken the pair.
“Did we lose them?”
“Mm?”
Jeez, this is annoying. Anyway, I had to hurry to the square and put a stop to Mirei’s gossiping.
“Oh, looks like we actually ended up near the square. Let’s go and see her.”
“Mm-mm!”
I started sprinting again to the Southern Town Square, which was now packed with stalls, many more than on the first day. There were still only a handful of player-run shops, though. The apothecary was in the same spot as it had been yesterday. Even if it had moved, though, it would be impossible to miss, with Mirei hollering the words, “I have information regarding the Silver-Haired Pioneer!” at the top of her voice.
Several other players had gathered in front of the store, roaring with laughter at something the girl was showing them. Was it about me? Were they laughing at me? Damn it, Mirei, how dare you?!
As much as I wanted to storm in there this instant, I resisted the urge, lest I became a further laughing stock. Patience, Yuto, I told myself. Once the men had left, it was time to put things into motion. I approached Mirei’s Apothecary slowly and calmly, hoping to remain inconspicuous.
“Step right up to Mirei’s Apothecary for details about the one and only Silver-Haired Pioneer! I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the holder of this joke of a title!”
J-Joke? Though, to be fair, she’s not wrong.
“Hey!”
“Welco—” the girl began, but shut up immediately once she saw me, her face drained of color. That was a pretty neat graphical touch on LJO’s part... Wait, now wasn’t the time to be impressed. Back to the matter at hand.
“You seem to know who I am,” I snapped.
“Heh heh,” Mirei chuckled dryly, as if to laugh off the accusation. Nice try, but I heard everything you said.
“So you think this is funny?”
“I-I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she stammered.
“Quit trying to bluff your way out of it. I heard everything. Also, show me that screenshot you just hid.”
Mirei blinked at me helplessly, tears in her eyes. It was pretty cute, but I wasn’t about to fall for that kind of crap. I checked the pop-up that Mirei had on display, and sure enough, it was a picture of me standing in the square.
“So you have been talking about me.”
Mirei had been showing her customers a screenshot of me just after one of my respawns.
“That’s it, I’m making a GM call,” I snapped. This clearly went against gaming etiquette.
The GM here stood for Gamemaster, and referred to the managerial staff who oversaw and kept things running smoothly in-game. In other words, they were the moderators. GM calling was a function that allowed you to get in touch with the gamemasters to report serious bugs, as well as players who broke the game or etiquette rules. Typically, a GM’s workload and scope of authority varied significantly depending on the scale of the game; their main job in LJO was to crack down on players who violated the rules.
Now then, how would this girl react to a GM call? Would she fly off the handle? I wouldn’t forgive her if she did.
“I’m sorry!”
Surprisingly, she apologized, not even putting up a fight. I wasn’t going to let her off the hook that easily, though.
“You do realize that what you did is a breach of etiquette, right?”
“Uh-huh...”
“How many people did you tell?”
“Like, fifty?”
“Fifty?! Are you insane?!”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
“Why did you do this?!”
“I was trying to get a head start with my stall. I’m still new at this, so I was trying to figure out ways to sell my products, and I thought maybe I could get people to buy my stuff if I gave them an interesting tidbit of info as a bonus.”
Well, that was kind of understandable... But hang on a sec, why was I empathizing with her? Besides, I had yet to get to the crux of the matter.
“How did you learn about my secret?” I asked.
“I set up my stall yesterday and I’ve been here ever since. I didn’t get a lot of customers, so I was bored out of my mind, and decided to watch the square instead. You can see that there’s a pretty good view of the Obelisk of Return from here, right?”
The Obelisk of Return served as a checkpoint for those who died in the game. These stone monuments existed in all large towns as landmarks for respawning, assuming that players had pinned the location.
“I remembered you since you were the first to return. You stood out because you had a small boy with you. You then respawned two more times. Pretty hard to forget that.”
So that was how she figured it out. I supposed you would stand out if you respawned three times on the first day.
“I’ve got to say, though, even I didn’t expect how well it’d work. Everyone was dying to know who the joke title belonged to.”
“Joke...?”
“People were laughing their socks off. They couldn’t believe that anyone could seriously be that much of a loser. I was just like, ‘I know, right?!’ and everyone kept buying extra herbs and stuff! I’m telling you, business is booming!”
“...”
“Uh-oh.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna call the GMs.”
“I’m sorry! I swear I won’t do it anymore, please! If you call them they’re not gonna let me log back in!”
“Not being able to log in is probably the least of your worries.”
“But I don’t wanna get banned!” Mirei wailed.
“You brought this upon yourself!”
Turn on the waterworks all you want; I’m still not forgiving you... Also, what’re you all looking at? I’m the one who’s been wronged, here! I defended myself inwardly, sensing the judgmental stares of passersby.
“B-But I didn’t tell anyone your name or anything!”
“That’s because you don’t know my name!”
“Aw, c-come on, don’t be so mad. What do you say, huh?” Mirei cooed, trying to seduce me. She was having a hard time trying to hook her arm around mine, though, as again, players who hadn’t friended each other were unable to make physical contact.
“Damn it, I forgot we couldn’t touch.”
Did she think I wouldn’t catch that? Her true colors were shining through. It was already obvious from how she was trying to justify her rule breaking that she wasn’t a decent person, but it seemed she was even scummier than I’d imagined. Knowing that she couldn’t touch me, she now resorted to clasping her hands in front of her chest, edging as close to me as possible and smiling up at me sweetly.
“Forgive me. Pretty please?”
Damn was that adorable! What the heck? She was almost idol-level cute...
“Earth to Yuto. Stop thinking with the wrong head. This is just an avatar—it’s nothing but a heavily Photoshopped illusion!”
“What are you muttering about?”
Whoops. I hadn’t realized I’d been talking out loud.
“Are you okay?” Mirei asked, tilting her head slightly.
Gah! She definitely knew what she was doing!
This is an avatar. I repeat, this is an avatar. Besides, her personality is shit. She’s ugly as hell on the inside, I told myself.
“Phew.”
There, I’d cleared my mind and rid myself of worldly desires. Temptation, begone!
I glared again at Mirei, who seemed to realize that she’d failed to seduce me. Changing tactics, she picked up an item and pushed it towards me.
“Mirei has sent you an item transfer request. Would you like to accept it?”
“What do you say we let bygones be bygones?”
“Are you trying to bribe me?”
“Come ooon! Just press ‘Accept’! Please?”
Trying to placate me now, eh? I had no intention of accepting this pitiful peace offering, however. It was mostly filled with medicinal herbs and the like, not a single rare or expensive item. It was glaringly obvious that she hoped to sweep the matter under the rug with this; there was not a trace of remorse on her face.
“O-Okay, I’ll compensate you! That should make us even, right? Please! Here, you can have these too!” Seeming to have noticed my icy stare, Mirei sent another item transfer request, pleading desperately.
“Are you seriously sorry about what you did?”
“Of course! Please, you forgive me, right? You’re not going to call the GMs, are you?”
“I suppose I’d stand to gain more if I accepted your bribe and overlooked this case.”
“Exactly! You do just that!”
“But I refuse!”
“Wh-Why?! You’re kidding, right? Tell me you were just making a manga reference for fun there or something.”
“Nope, I’m serious. I’ve had enough of this bullshit. I’m making the GM call,” I told her. Abruptly, she did a one-eighty.
“Don’t you dare! All I did was share a little gossip over some business talk! How is that any different from chatting on online forums?!”
“Having a discussion online and making a joke out of other people’s personal information for your own gain are two totally different things.”
“Are not! Anyway, are you getting a kick out of threatening me or something?! You’re pretty messed up!”
“What the?! Look who’s talking!”
“Shut up! You’re just full of yourself because you got a title! Are you that proud of being labeled a noob?! I’m putting that sorry disgrace of yours to good use, you know? If anything, you should be grateful that I’m making you famous!”
“I’ve had it up to here with you.”
“I said stop! Don’t you dare, you *bleep* *bleep* bastard! I didn’t do anything wrong! Why are you treating me like this?!”
Yikes, this was hella scary! Although I was doing my best to maintain my composure so she wouldn’t walk all over me, my brain was screaming for me to run. She was terrifying. Honestly, it was kind of impressive how easily she was able to justify her actions to herself. One glance at the look on her face and I suddenly got the feeling that I knew what demons looked like.
Well, at least it looked like I’d be able to call the GMs now without feeling any guilt. If anything, I hoped Mirei did get banned. It finally seemed to dawn on her that she wouldn’t be able to stop me from making the call, as she abruptly got down on her knees and began apologizing.
“I’m sorry! I’ll do whatever you want, so please don’t do it!”
“...Too late.”
“I’ll do anything, I swear! So please, anything but that!”
“Let’s go, Olto,” I sighed.
“Mm.”
I couldn’t stand to spend another minute with Mirei, so I turned my back on her and started walking away.
“Go to hell, you bastard! I don’t give a rat’s ass—”
Mirei hurled insult after insult at me as I left the square. While walking, I proceeded to open my status window and press the GM call button, but before I could do so, a ringing sound reverberated inside my head.
“Hm? Is this supposed to be a phone ringing? Are the devs, like, calling me?”
Much to my amazement, it was in fact the moderators on the line.
I ought to pick this up, right? What was going on?
I decided to answer.
“Hello? LJO GM Center speaking.”
“Uh, hi.”
Since I couldn’t see the other person’s face, it felt like I was talking to them on my cell phone.
“Did you need something from me?” I asked.
“We’ve received a report that a certain player has been inappropriately harassing you. We’re currently investigating the issue to confirm if this statement is true. Is this correct, Mr. Yuto?”
Could they be referring to Mirei? I guess someone else had already reported her to the GMs. I had to make sure they weren’t talking about a different player, though.
“What exactly do you mean by ‘inappropriate’?”
“We’ve been told there’s a player who’s been spreading your personal information with malicious intent. Did you consent to your information being advertised in this manner?”
As I suspected, the player in question was Mirei.
“I was just about to call you about that, actually.”
“Were you affected by said player’s actions, then?”
“As a matter of fact, I was...”
Our exchange went smoothly after that. I told them our names and described the type of harassment I’d received, and then the GM checked the logs. LJO apparently kept a record of everything that happened in-game, and as long as you had concrete details of the event, such as the exact time and the names of the players involved, the GMs could replay the scene on the spot.
“This is terrible. It’s just one violation after another,” the GM exclaimed, sounding sympathetic.
“I know, right?” I replied.
“We’ll deal with it right away. I estimate the matter will be resolved in less than an hour, in-game time. Depending on the severity, we’ll most likely be deleting the player’s account.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. There’s no telling how she’ll retaliate, what with her resenting me and all.”
“I’m sorry you had to deal with this. Thank you for your time and patience.”
“I appreciate your help.”
“Enjoy your otherworldly travels,” the GM said before hanging up.
Ooh, nice turn of phrase. That ought to have gotten rid of all the rumor-spreading bastards, right?
Online Forum [Southern Town Square Drama?] A Summary of the Fight that Went Down in the Square
Information wanted on the commotion that occurred in the Southern Town Square.
13: Leroy
There was a huge commotion in the square. What happened? I heard that someone got down on their knees or something.
14: ThunderKing
Yeah. Apparently, a hot girl got down on her hands and knees and apologized to a short dude. Drama much?
15: Leroy
What kinda asshole makes a pretty girl do that?! Doing that to anyone has gotta be against the rules, though! That’s clearly power harassment.
16: ThunderKing
I think it depends on what the reason was. Was it some sort of lover’s spat, maybe?
17: Leroy
You’re saying people are dating in this game already?
18: ThunderKing
No, I meant maybe they’re dating in real life and had a fight while gaming. It’s possible.
19: Leroy
Friggin normies! Leave your problems offline, damn it.
They should just break up already. Serves ’em right!
20: Rougarou
You know, I was there when it happened.
I saw a woman and a man arguing; next thing I knew, the man tried to run—or did he just turn his back on her?—and the woman got down on the ground, but the dude ignored her and left.
Here’s the video:
***
I couldn’t catch what they were saying, though, since they were too far away.
21: ThunderKing
I saw the video. I know this guy—I’m pretty sure he’s the Silver-Haired Pioneer.
22: Leroy
Hey, that’s Mirei who’s apologizing!
What a douchebag! So he’s that Silver-Haired Pioneer?
23: ThunderKing
I’m sure of it. He matches the description I heard from an acquaintance: a short, silver-haired Tamer with a kid monster. It has to be him.
24: Raven
I’ve met the guy. It was shortly before the incident in the square, but he did seem like bad news.
The whole title thing’s definitely gotten to his head. He totally ignored me when I begged him to tell me about it.
25: Rock
Mirei’s account got deleted.
26: Leroy
Huh? What do you mean, and how do you know?
27: Rock
We were friends with each other, and I contacted her to ask about the details of the incident. But when I did, I got a message saying, “This player’s account has been deleted.”
28: Leroy
Does that mean Mirei left the game after the argument?
29: Raven
So it’s the Silver-Haired Pioneer’s fault? He probably hurt her feelings and turned her off the game.
30: ThunderKing
It’s possible.
31: Leroy
Unforgivable! Who does he think he is?! I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind!
32: Rock
Me too!
33: Rougarou
I want to know more about his title. I’m sure he’ll talk if we all go after him.
34: Raven
Good idea. Let’s go teach that cocky bastard a lesson!
***
After asking the GMs to handle the case with Mirei, Olto and I were about to head to the Farming Guild to find out if there were any quests I could fulfill, when I suddenly heard people shouting angrily at me.
“There he is! It’s him!”
“Hey, you there! You’re the Silver-Haired Pioneer, aren’t ya?!”
At first, I thought those two idiots who’d pestered me on my way to the square had returned, but these men were wildly different in appearance. While the dudes I’d run into had been human, these guys were both anthros. One of them appeared to be half-cat, half-human, and the other half-dog.
I had a bad feeling about this. They had clearly heard about me from Mirei and come to pick a fight.
“Let’s get outta here, Olto,” I whispered, turning my back on the hybrids.
“Mm!”
“Hey! Get your ass back here, ya respawning bastard!”
“You piece of scum!”
Hang on. I could understand if they’d called me a noob, but why scum?!
As I ran, even more people yelled after me.
“Hey, that’s the guy who forced Mirei to grovel in front of him!”
“Found him!”
“Apologize to Mirei, ya douchebag!”
Don’t tell me these guys were all friends with Mirei?! Or were they simply idiots who were all in love with her? Come on, everyone is hot in this game! How could they be deceived so easily? She had a horrible personality. Not that I was in any position to criticize others, though, seeing as I had nearly fallen for her charm myself.
“I-It’s her fault for spreading my personal info.”
“Huh? So you’re sayin’ it was okay to make her do that?!”
“Actually, she did that hersel—”
“In the first place, why’d ya gotta get so mad at her for just talkin’ about you? Get off your high horse!”
“But...”
“You think you’re better than everyone, is that it? Just because you got a unique title!”
It was no use. They obviously had no intention of hearing me out. Well, I should’ve known. There was no way I could have a rational conversation with morons like these.
“...See ya!”
“Hey!”
“He’s getting away!”
The men pursued me as I took off running. As I ran, more and more people started chasing me. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but the number of angry shouts was clearly increasing.
“He went that way!”
“Over there!”
“Tell us about your title!”
Other players were beginning to join in on the mob.
Wait, my title...? Could they actually be jealous of me?
“As if.”
It’d be understandable if I had a boastworthy title like the other two guys, but a scarlet letter of an achievement like mine? No way. They probably just wanted another reason to laugh at me.
“That’s him!”
“So he’s the Silver-Haired Pioneer!”
“Interesting.”
Yikes! They were catching up to me!
I was running out of places to escape to, though. There seemed to be someone awaiting me at every corner. Damn it! Though, come to think of it, why did I have to run? I hadn’t done anything wrong! If anything, didn’t their yelling and chasing me around constitute harassment? This was definitely one for the GMs. I could report this to them, right?
Oh, but wait... Although someone else had called them on my behalf earlier, it probably wouldn’t look good for them to receive another report about me so soon. I didn’t want them thinking I was some sort of troublemaker...
“Wait up, dipshit!”
“Yo, Silver-Hair!”
There had to be somewhere I could hide. Think!
“Come on, come on... Hey! Isn’t this near that place?” I recalled.
I ducked into the alley beside me and immediately rushed into one of the buildings.
“Hi again!” I greeted the innkeeper breathlessly.
“Why, hello, otherworldly traveler. Welcome,” the woman replied. It was the inn where I had done the dishwashing gig last night.
This location wasn’t visible from the outside, and I doubted anyone had seen me entering. Short of my pursuers combing the whole area, I’d be able to bide my time here for a while.
“So, what brings you here today?”
“There are some folks after me...”
What the hell was I saying? The innkeeper was an NPC. No matter how advanced her AI system was, there was no way she was going to harbor a fugitive when there wasn’t even an event going on. I was so lost in my own worries it took a split second for the innkeeper’s next words to sink in.
“In that case, why don’t you stay for a bit? Make yourself at home.”
“Huh?”
“I’d actually like you to do me a favor. I’m sending you a request now.”
“You have received an urgent request from an NPC.”
I quickly checked my inbox to discover that I’d received another dishwashing quest. The reward was exactly the same as yesterday: one medicinal herb.
“Wow, you can receive quests without visiting a guild?”
“I’m only asking you because I know I can trust you.”
I had no idea what I’d done to earn her trust, but this was a godsend. Doing dishes was definitely a good way to kill some time.
“I’ll do it!”
“Thanks, dear. Off to the back with you.”
That’s right. The sink was located in a keep-out zone, which was normally off-limits to players. Areas such as NPCs’ living quarters that, if entered without permission, could be considered trespassing in real life, were designated as keep-out zones. These areas were sealed off by an invisible wall that blocked you from entering them, unlike in a certain famous JRPG, which allowed the hero to indiscriminately break into houses and rummage through closets and vases. In LJO, however, you were only allowed in such places if you were undertaking a quest, like Olto and I currently were.
“Mm!”
“Wanna help me with the dishes, buddy?”
“Mmm!”
Doing the dishes didn’t require any special skills, and besides, Olto was a humanoid monster. I was pretty sure he was more than capable.
“Here you go, little one,” the innkeeper said, bringing Olto a stool to help him reach the sink.
“All right, let’s get to work!”
“Mm-mm!”
The two of us busily scrubbed away at the dishes the innkeeper brought to us.
“Mm-mm.”
Although I could tell that Olto was serious, he looked like a kid at play, with all the bubbles surrounding him.
“You’re getting all soapy, Olto.”
“Mm?”
I’d been wiping away the suds on him every now and then, but during the few seconds I’d taken my eyes off him, Olto had disappeared behind a sea of bubbles. His entire body, except for his face, was covered in them.
“Don’t get too carried away.”
“Mmm...”
Oh well, getting a little messy was kind of inevitable. I guessed we could clean up once we were done.
Olto and I continued to wash the dishes in earnest. The task, while tedious, wasn’t too bad with Olto humming happily by my side. Just then, an alarm went off.
Beep beep beep!
“Gah! What’s that noise?! Turn it off!” I yelled, abandoning the washing-up altogether.
I covered my ears with my hands, but the sound still rang loud and clear. Olto gazed at me, puzzled. Apparently, he hadn’t heard the alarm.
“This is an important announcement from the management team. Please read our message as soon as possible. Once you open this message, you will be isolated from the game temporarily. Would you like to proceed?”
Management team? Important notice? I hadn’t a clue what this was about, but I figured I might as well read it.
Right after clicking on the message, I found myself standing in an unfamiliar white room instead of the kitchen. Thankfully, it wasn’t the type of sterile, all-white room that tended to be depicted in characters’ inner psychological worlds in fantasy novels, the kind which would drive you crazy after a few hours. The floor was covered with beige-white tiles, and the walls and ceiling were a milky cream color. There was a smallish table and two chairs in the center of the room, which were also white, but the different types of houseplants placed in the four corners of the room prevented it from feeling overly dull. I still didn’t want to stay here for too long, though.
As I was staring around the room in confusion, a stranger appeared before me. Their avatar was dressed in a black suit and tie—hardly something you’d expect from a fantasy setting. They gave off the impression of a business person, one who was extremely good at their job.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Yuto,” the avatar greeted me.
“H-Hi. Nice to meet you too, I guess?”
“My apologies. I am from the LJO management team.”
“Huh? Management team?” I echoed. I hadn’t been expecting to meet one of the higher-ups.
“Um, where are we?”
“This field is known as the Reception Room, which we use when we meet players in person. You’ll return to the game in the exact same state you were in when you arrived here, so please don’t worry.”
“Uh-huh...”
“This is a special room: the time spent here will not affect your time spent in the game. Please, have a seat.”
“O-Okay.”
The administrator waited until I was seated before sitting down across from me. They then proceeded to explain the situation.
“First of all, I’d like to make it clear that you have in no way violated the rules, nor has another player made a GM call. I’m not here to punish you, so you can relax.”
Phew, thank goodness for that. I was worried that I’d perhaps unknowingly done something wrong and been brought here as a warning.
“We have several reasons for summoning you here, the first one being in regards to your report to the GMs. The player known as Mirei will be having their account deleted. As stated in the terms of use, they will be unable to create a new account for two months. In addition, when they log in to the game again, they will be added to the blacklist and monitored carefully.”
It looked like I wouldn’t have to worry about running into Mirei for a while. Besides, this would probably teach her not to do something so stupid again. All things considered, this was a huge setback for her, so she might not even play the game anymore.
“Thank you very much.”
“Not at all; this is what we do. Next, we’d like to discuss the players who were chasing you. The GM Center also received reports of multiple players forming an angry mob to pursue a single player.”
“Right...”
“We tracked down the player in question and found out that the person being chased was none other than you, Mr. Yuto. We came to the conclusion that these were not isolated incidents, which is why I’m here to give you a rundown.”
I then received a lengthy report, which could be summed up as follows:
The idiots who had pursued me and the players who had made slanderous assumptions in the in-game forums had been identified and punished. The most vicious players’ accounts had been deleted, while the players with lighter offenses had their accounts suspended for one real world week. The management team was additionally preparing to make an announcement both server-wide and through in-game mail regarding the incident. Their intention was to notify the public that players who broke the rules would be punished accordingly.
While I couldn’t care less about some boring announcement, I couldn’t very well ignore it either, given that this case concerned me. The management team, who were basically gods in this game, were humbly asking me for permission, and I didn’t have the heart to turn them down.
“Er, either way is fine with me. I’ll leave it up to you guys.”
“Very well. That’ll be all from us. Thank you for your time. Do you have any questions?”
Hmm, that was a hard one. I couldn’t think of anything off the top of my head.
“If you have any questions regarding this matter, please feel free to send us a message.”
“Sure thing.”
“Also, this is for you. It isn’t much, but we prepared a small reward in exchange for your cooperation.”
“Huh? Three thousand G? Are you sure?”
That wasn’t the only reward from the management team. Seriously? Did they really mean it?
I pressed the ‘Accept’ button, and several new items were added to my inventory. The bundle included medicinal herbs, life sunflowers, water pumice, red panther caps, energy drinks, and a weird type of incense.
Name: Incense, Red (Town of Beginnings)
Rarity: 3 / Quality: 5★
Effect: Attracts unique monsters. Effective for 25 minutes.
Incense was a single-use item that could be used to lure out monsters within the vicinity. The effects of incense varied depending on their color; red attracted unique monsters. If the item specified a town, it could only be used in the town’s neighboring areas.
“Interesting.”
“I believe it will benefit you greatly since you’re a Tamer.”
It certainly looked like it would come in handy, although it was kind of useless to me at the moment. I could see using it eventually, though.
“And a plant booster, huh?”
Name: Plant Booster, Red
Rarity: 3 / Quality: 4★
Effect: Sprinkle on farmland to increase the rank of crops by one. Effective for one day.
Another amazing item. Could I really have it for free?
“We retrieved this item from Mirei’s possessions since it should prove useful to you.”
“I can have this? You sure?”
“Please do. It’ll just be deleted otherwise. I’ll return you to the game now.”
“Oh, okay.”
Immediately after, I experienced a floating sensation, like I was on an elevator, and found myself transported back to the kitchen in the inn.
“Mm?”
Olto looked up at me suspiciously. Since time wasn’t supposed to have passed in-game, it probably seemed like I’d just paused in the middle of washing dishes.
“Mm!”
“Hey, take it easy. I’m not trying to slack off or anything.”
“Mm?”
All right, back to the task. If what the administrator had said was true, the guys who had chased me should’ve been eliminated by now. Still, I wasn’t going to give up on my quest halfway.
An hour later, we finished.
“We’re done.”
“Mmm.”
I received no word from the management team after that, and the two of us completed our quest without a hitch.
After receiving our reward from the innkeeper, we observed the situation outside.
“Let’s see if things have died down a bit...”
“Mm-mm...”
I poked my head out of the door to check if there was anyone nearby. The town was still once more, as if the commotion just an hour prior had never happened. It looked like we were in the clear.
“All right, shall we head back to our farm?”
“Mm!”
Online Forum [Southern Town Square Drama?] A Summary of the Fight that Went Down in the Square
Information wanted on the commotion that occurred in the Southern Town Square.
221: Yodel-Ay-Hee
Saw the official announcement. Everyone’s been talking about it.
222: visitorfromanotherplanet
I saw it too. Those players definitely had it coming, though. I’m sure some people think otherwise, but I support the devs’ decision.
223: Yang Yang
Me too. Gotta hand it to the devs. They did a great job.
224: visitorfromanotherplanet
Yeah I mean, they suspended, like, forty players all at once. Talk about making an example lol
225: Yodel-Ay-Hee
Seems like most of them got heated over the fake rumors in the forums. A bunch of idiots got the wrong idea about Silver-Haired after watching that whole thing with the woman who got her account deleted getting down on her knees.
226: Yang Yang
I’m pretty sure some of them were just jealous of him for that title too.
227: visitorfromanotherplanet
Don’t forget those idiots that fell for Mirei’s act.
I’m guessing they totally believed her when she said, “I didn’t do anything wrong! I was deceived!”
What a load of crap.
228: Yodel-Ay-Hee
Did you read the conversation log between her and Silver-Haired that the devs made public? It was hilarious. I’m amazed anyone could believe her.
Women are scary as hell!
229: visitorfromanotherplanet
I know, right?! I saw the log too, and for real, the chills I got when that chick did a one-eighty on him...
230: Yang Yang
Silver-Haired talking to himself cracked me up.
“Earth to Yuto. Stop thinking with the wrong head. This is just an avatar—it’s nothing but a heavily Photoshopped illusion!”
True dat XD
231: visitorfromanotherplanet
Guy has one helluva will. He succumbed to neither temptation nor bribery
232: Yodel-Ay-Hee
Actually, it looked like he was wavering quite a bit lol
Still, he didn’t give in. I admire that part of him.
233: Yang Yang
That “But I refuse!” was the cherry on top.
I love how he threw in a JoJo reference.
234: Yodel-Ay-Hee
All hell broke loose once Mirei revealed her true colors.
235: visitorfromanotherplanet
Apparently, there were quite a few people who tried to defend her until the end, all, “Mirei would never do anything like that!” or, “Mirei’s a sweet girl!”
Shut them right up once they saw the log, though.
Idiots.
236: Yodel-Ay-Hee
There’s no way that someone who basically doxxes people like that could be a “nice person” anyway. I don’t get how they convinced themselves otherwise.
237: Yang Yang
I bet most of them are miserable bastards who can’t even talk to a woman in real life. They’re such virgins they’d fall for anything.
238: visitorfromanotherplanet
Stop! You really gonna rub salt in our wounds like that?!
239: Yodel-Ay-Hee
Pot, meet kettle.
240: Yang Yang
Huh?
241: visitorfromanotherplanet
Wait, don’t tell me...
242: Yodel-Ay-Hee
Wait dude, do you actually talk to women then...?
243: Yang Yang
Yeah...? Do you not talk to women? Do you like, live in the middle of nowhere or something?
244: visitorfromanotherplanet
NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
245: Yodel-Ay-Hee
Traitor.
246: visitorfromanotherplanet
Yeah, how could you?!
247: Yang Yang
Wait, you guys weren’t joking? You seriously don’t have girlfriends?
248: visitorfromanotherplanet
Girlfriend?!
I thought you were just talking up the “conversations” you had with the women at your job!
I’ve never been more upset about this game not having PvP.
249: Yodel-Ay-Hee
Better watch your back when you go out at night, f-ing normie.
250: Yang Yang
Seriously? Come on, what’s the big deal?
251: visitorfromanotherplanet
SHUT UP!
252: Yodel-Ay-Hee
What’s a normie doing playing games, huh?! Why don’t you go make out with your girlfriend or something?!
***
After all the commotion died down, Olto and I returned to our farm.
“I really need a break...” I sighed.
I showed Olto the red panther cap that I’d just obtained.
“Mm?” He looked at me curiously.
If we could grow this mushroom along with our poison hemlock and paralyzing plants, I’d be able to concoct something known as a Hunter Potion, a useful item that could both paralyze and poison my opponents. I heard it fetched a pretty good price on the market as well.
“Can you grow this, Olto?” I asked.
“Mmm...”
“Is that a no?”
“Mm-mm!”
“So you can grow it?”
“Mm-mm.”
Which was it? He kept flipping between shaking his head and nodding. If I had to guess, that meant there was some way to cultivate this crop—just not at the moment.
“What’s lacking? Your skills?”
“Mm-mm!” Olto stomped about, pouting indignantly. So it wasn’t a lack of ability.
“Hey, I’m sorry. Don’t get mad.”
“Mm-mm-mm.”
“Hmm, what are we missing then? Tools?”
Olto nodded in reply. Bingo. It appeared we needed some type of tool, but what kind? As if to answer my question, Olto busted out one of his moves again, miming. He looked like he was hugging something, then moving up and down...?
“You’re a...koala clinging to a tree?” I offered.
“Mmm...”
“Come on, don’t look at me like that.”
“Mmm.”
“Did you just sigh?”
“Mm?”
“Hey, no cocking your head! You adorable little rascal.”
“Mm-mm.”
“And quit blushing! Jeez. What are we missing, though?”
I knew he was trying to mimic some sort of shape with his hands, but... If it was something we needed to grow mushrooms, then it was most likely...
“Are you talking about a mushroom log?”
“Mm!” Olto nodded.
Bingo. Where could we possibly get our hands on a mushroom log, though? Do we go to a forest and cut down a tree?
“Guess we should ask at the Farming Guild.”
When in doubt, to the Guild. Since I needed to buy a new plot of land anyway, I figured I might as well ask them.
“Mmm!”
The two of us set out for the guild, Olto swinging his arms and skipping along the way. Although I’d been feeling sort of dejected after everything that had happened, one look at Olto was enough to soothe my frazzled nerves. He truly was a healing presence. Ten minutes later, we arrived at the Farming Guild.
“Guess I’ll ask about the mushroom logs before we buy more land,” I decided, approaching the desk.
“Sure, we do sell them here, but...ya can’t buy one yet, sonny,” the old man at the reception replied in response to my query.
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Yer rank isn’t high enough. Players who belong to a guild are assigned a rank depending on how often they contribute to the guild. You can raise your guild rank by completing more quests. Unfortunately, you’re still at rank 1. Your rank needs to be 2 or higher to buy mushroom logs.”
I opened my status window to check the section titled Guilds. I belonged to three guilds at the moment—the Adventurers’ Guild, the Magical Beasts Guild, and the Farming Guild—which were all currently at rank 1.
I asked the old fellow how to raise my rank. He kindly obliged by explaining that item delivery and gathering quests granted fewer rewards but higher contribution points, while special quests had better rewards but fewer contribution points. Hunting quests were high-return both in terms of reward and contribution points. Normally, you’d probably go about raising your rank by completing hunting quests, but...
“Yeah, right. No way I’m hunting any monsters.”
That left me with gathering and item delivery quests, which weren’t exactly a walk in the park either. Leaving town was pretty much a suicide mission.
“I guess my only choice is to grow and deliver crops.”
“Good idea. Why don’tcha buy some seeds and grow them? Unfortunately, I can’t sell ya any more since your rank isn’t high enough, but there are shops in town that do.”
Hmm, if my memory served me correctly, I might be able to buy seeds at the general store, which I could then grow and deliver to the guild. Either way, it looked like I wouldn’t be able to get my hands on a mushroom log right now.
“In that case, guess I’ll buy a farm first.”
If the growing didn’t pan out, I might end up going to the forest to gather items as a last resort, in which case I would still need medicine and potions. So, there was no harm in making more either way. The farm-buying process was more straightforward the second time around, and I was able to obtain a spot right next to our current piece of land.
The only crops I had to plant at the moment were the medicinal herbs and life sunflowers I had just obtained, plus the one remaining edible grass seed from before. That was hardly enough; I still had fifteen empty planting spots left. Seeing as my crops would be ready for harvest tomorrow, I could sow my new seeds right away after that. However, it felt like a waste of space to let the farm sit idle for even that long.
“All right, let’s go buy some vegetable seeds.”
If all went well, the seeds might grow fairly quickly, which would allow me to complete some item delivery quests and increase my contribution to the guild.
Oops, almost forgot to ask the most important question.
“How much do mushroom logs cost, by the way?”
“Forty-five hundred apiece.”
That was more expensive than I imagined. Clearly not an item for lower-ranking players like me.
I currently had 8,350 G in my pocket. While it would be enough to buy one log, I wanted to make more money first.
“Hmm. How else can I make money aside from completing special quests...?”
As I studied the list of quests on the Farming Guild’s notice board, one of them caught my eye.
“Resurvey the map...?”
Labor Quest
Requirement: Walk around the Town of Beginnings and update the current map.
Reward: 600 G
Time Limit: Three days
“What kinda quest is this?”
Prompted by my curiosity, I asked the old man to explain it in more detail. Basically, the job entailed creating a map by exploring every nook and cranny of the North, East, South, West, and Central Squares in the Town of Beginnings. The purpose of the task was to add new farmlands, stalls, and player-run shops to the map and confirm that there were no errors.
While the job would be rather time-consuming, it wasn’t a bad deal. Two hundred per day was probably way too cheap for most people, but for someone who was unable to fight, this quest was practically a godsend. You could say that we were a match made in heaven.
“Not many people have been interested in this one. In fact, you’re the first person here to show any interest in it.”
I bet. If I were a regular player, I wouldn’t want to get stuck doing a three-day quest this early either.
“Well, there are loads of places I haven’t visited yet in the Town of Beginnings. I’ll think of it as a sightseeing tour.”
“Glad to hear that. I’m counting on ya.”
After leaving the guild, I opened up the blank map that the old fellow had given me. Only the outline of the town and some streets were drawn on it—nothing out of the ordinary. With the map still in hand, I started walking.
“Nice, looks like it automatically maps my movements.”
My tracks had been filled in with a light wash of color. This way, I could immediately tell which areas I hadn’t explored yet.
“Let’s go buy some seeds. We can fill in the map while we’re at it.”
“Mm.”
The first place I headed to was the general store where I had sold my armor, which indeed stocked several types of seeds.
“Spinach, blue carrots, and amber pumpkins, eh?”
“That’ll be 100 G, 200 G, and 250 G, respectively,” the owner informed me.
“Hmm...”
Wait a minute, who said I had to buy seeds? Couldn’t I just purchase vegetables and propagate them? The general store sold vegetables as well; spinach, for instance, only cost 50 G per bundle.
According to the old lady, however, that wasn’t an option.
“You can propagate vegetables purchased from guilds or other adventurers, but not the ones from our store.”
Apparently, sourcing from NPC shops would be out of the question.
“Guess I’ve no choice but to buy seeds, huh?”
I decided to purchase the cheapest packet—spinach—which cost 100 G for five seeds. All I had to do now was give them to Olto to grow.
“Let’s see, I already have fertilizer...”
I wanted to buy mulch as well, but unfortunately, it wasn’t available here. Did I have to obtain it myself? Well, that wouldn’t be happening. I had stumbled upon it purely by chance deep inside the forest; I’d really hoped I could just buy it somewhere.
“Might as well swing by Alyssa’s place before I head back.”
I might have luck finding mulch at a player-run store. I could also browse the other stalls in the square while I was at it.
“The map’s really lighting up.”
I checked the map I’d been given for my quest, and sure enough, the areas I’d traveled through had been filled in. The path from the Farming Guild to the general store and up to the small square in the south had been colored blue. However, that was only a tiny portion of the map. It looked like it would take quite a while to fill in the whole thing. Was there any way for me to cover ground faster...? Just then, an idea came to me.
“Olto, can you try walking that way?”
“Mm?”
“Yep, that little path over there. Ten steps should do it.”
“Mm! Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm...”
Olto mumbled as though he were counting his steps, taking slow, wide strides in the direction I pointed. The map, however, showed no changes. It looked like I would have to do all of the walking myself.
“That’s enough, Olto. Come on back.”
“Mm-mm.”
Olto toddled back to my side, and I patted him on the head. We then headed to Alyssa’s stall.
“Hi,” I greeted Alyssa.
“Welcome. Thank you for your continued patronage!” she replied cheerfully.
“I don’t visit your shop that regularly.”
“Oh, please. I’d say visiting my shop several times in one day definitely makes you a regular.”
Now that she mentioned it, it was my third time visiting today.
“Looks like you had it pretty rough.”
“Tell me about it... Oh, by the way, are you the one who called the GMs?”
“Nope, wasn’t me. Just goes to show that not everyone’s out to get you, right?”
“I see. I would’ve loved to thank whoever it was, then. They didn’t tell me who did it.”
“Huh? Are you telling me that someone on the management team came to see you personally?”
“More like I was summoned by them.”
I told Alyssa about our exchange, and she nodded as though impressed.
“Impressive. They sure are quick.”
“They were really polite and thorough too. I wouldn’t have minded if they’d just sent me an email or something.”
“That gossip really made quite the rounds, didn’t it? Given that Mirei was showing off that screenshot, I bet there’s more than enough people who know your face now. That’s probably why management was so diligent about your case.”
“Oh well, guess there’s no point dwelling on it. Once people realize that the player harassing me got her account deleted, they’ll probably ease up a bit in person, so I’ll wait for the rumors to subside. The management team avatar did mention making a public announcement about the players who got suspended because of this.”
“It’s already out there—the names of the players, plus the punishments they received. They also uploaded the conversation log between you and Mirei, I think.”
“Huh? What conversation log?”
Alyssa showed me the log in question, which, sure enough, was of the exchange between Mirei and me, although the higher-ups had been careful to obscure my name. I hadn’t said anything weird, had I?
“Well, I’m sure no one will side with Mirei after watching this, so I’d say things worked out in your favor. I’ll let other players know that those idiots got their accounts deleted. That way, there’ll be less trouble for you, right?”
“You’ll do that for me?”
“Yeah. After all, I didn’t get to make a GM call in time. As someone who sells information on titles, this incident concerns me as well.”
By the time Alyssa had heard the rumor about a player spreading my personal information and verified the details, someone had already called the GMs. So she did try to report Mirei on my behalf. I felt a pang of guilt at my earlier accusation.
“Here, this is for you,” Alyssa said, handing me a mug filled with a bluish-green liquid.
“Huh? Honey carrot juice? Are you sure? But why?”
“Cheer up, kid.”
“...Thanks.” I gratefully accepted the drink and took a sip.
Whoa, this was good! It tasted like a fresh fruit punch. As I was busily gulping down the juice, I noticed Olto staring up at me with obvious envy in his eyes. D-Don’t look at me like that, buddy. There’s not enough to go around. I eyed him somewhat apologetically.
Noticing Olto’s begrudging look, Alyssa handed me another mug of juice.
“And one for your little munchkin.”
“No, please, you really don’t have to do that. Besides, I’ve already fed him today.”
“In that case, consider this payment for telling me about your conversation with the devs. He can drink it tomorrow.”
While I didn’t feel like that trifling piece of information was worth such a delicious food item, I was sure Olto would be unhappy if I turned down Alyssa’s offer. I graciously accepted her gift.
“So, you here to buy more info?”
“Shopping, actually. Do you sell plants I can grow, or mulch?”
“Sorry, I don’t. I just sold the last of my stock, and I didn’t have a lot of ingredients to begin with. Some crafter-type player bought me out.”
“Gotcha...”
“Mm...”
I couldn’t help but crack a smile as Olto mimicked my movements, drooping his head in disappointment. He never failed to lift my spirits; there was not a dull moment with this little guy.
“Let’s see... If you want that sort of stuff, you should visit Maple’s Tool Shop in the plaza in front of the Southern Gate. She’s an ex-Farmer turned Merchant, so she stocks those kinds of items.”
“Huh. Interesting.”
Sounded like I might be able to get mulch there.
“It’s a nice place all right. I’d go if I were you.”
“I’m guessing this Maple is another clan member of yours?”
“That obvious?”
“Yeah, seeing as you didn’t charge me for the info.”
“Well, she does sell a wide variety of items!”
“Hey, I didn’t say I wouldn’t go.”
“Say hi to her for me!”
Thanks to the map, I easily found my way to the plaza in front of the Southern Gate. There were three NPC shops plus one player stall in the square.
Due to this area being an agricultural district, the player-run store didn’t seem to be very popular. That must be Maple’s Tool Shop, I thought.
“Excuse me.”
“Hi there. Welcome.”
The woman sitting behind the counter had long, red hair and was fairly tall—at least 170 centimeters by my estimation. Her figure was nothing to scoff at either, her curves accentuated by the cut of her outfit.
“Are you Maple?”
“I am indeed. And you are...?”
“Yuto. Alyssa recommended your place to me.”
“Ooh, did she? I’ll make sure to give you a very thorough walk-through then.”
Maple had a distinct way of speaking, somehow elongating her vowels without it sounding like she was talking too slowly. She gave off a mature and kindly air.
“Do you sell mulch?”
“Why yeees, I do. Are you a Farmer by any chance? Would be a nice change; aren’t too many Farmer-types yet.”
“Uh, no. I just happened to buy a farm.”
“Is that so? How interesting. If your job class isn’t related to farming, though, you’ve got a hard road ahead of you. Are you sure you can manage?” Maple asked worriedly, resting her cheek on her hand.
I guessed that was a valid concern, considering how you normally needed skills for plowing and stuff. No need to worry, though—I had Olto.
“Well, I get by.”
“I see. Hmm, I’m guessing Alyssa knows something about this?”
“Probably.”
“All right, I’ll ask her later then.”
“So, about that mulch...”
“Ah, yes. I have some, although the quality isn’t very good.”
“This is good enough, right, Olto?”
“Mm!”
“Oh my.”
Maple suddenly seemed aware of Olto’s presence. She leaned over the counter to take a closer look at him.
“Is that your tamed monster? Isn’t he a cutie?” she cooed.
She waved at Olto, who waved back. Maple gasped and squealed in delight. Yep, my boy sure knows how to steal hearts.
“I get it now. Yes, you should be fine if you have him.”
“Oh, so you know about his type?”
“It has to do with farming, after all. Oh yes, the mulch. It’s 250 G apiece.”
“That’s a lot more expensive than fertilizer.”
“Well, it is far more potent than your basic fertilizer.”
“It is?”
“According to our experiments during the beta phase, premium fertilizer was the most effective. Next was mulch, then lastly, regular fertilizer.”
There was some overlap between the effects of fertilizer and mulch too. The higher price point made sense.
“Also, do you have any crops I can propagate?”
“Oh, plenty. I have herbs and plants from around here, vegetables...”
“Not vegetables, ideally.”
Maple showed me a bunch of herbs I was already familiar with: medicinal herbs, poison hemlock, paralyzing plants, and life sunflowers.
“...Dried medicinal herbs?”
“Mm-hm. Dried them myself.”
Come to think of it, one of the NPC shops was selling dried red panther caps. Did drying them change their effect?
Name: Dried Medicinal Herb
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 3★
Effect: Recovers 7 HP. (10-minute cooldown) Slight boost in potency. Can’t be propagated.
Getting a slight boost during concocting was undoubtedly a plus. Too bad it couldn’t be propagated, though. I’ll skip it for now, I decided. I could also try drying plants myself. I was sure I could manage that by hanging them to dry in the shade for a few days, although whether I would be successful was an entirely different matter. This shop belonged to one of the Quick-Eared Cats, though. I didn’t want to ask too many questions, lest I end up being badgered into buying information. I feigned indifference and returned the dried medicinal herb to its original place.
“I want to propagate my crops, so I’m not really looking for dried stuff...”
“Ah, right. How about this then?”
“Hemorrhaging grass? Never seen that one.”
Name: Hemorrhaging Grass
Rarity: 1 / Quality: 1★
Effect: Slight chance of Bleeding when ingested.
Bleeding referred to a type of status ailment. Since LJO was intended for players ages twelve and up, there was a possibility that children would be playing. Therefore, neither players nor enemies suffered any actual blood loss when they took damage. When afflicted with a Bleeding status ailment, however, you ended up with speckles of fake blood on your body, and you received slightly more damage.
“You can find a few occasionally in the Northern Plains. Once you get to Zone Two, you can probably find them anywhere.”
“How much is this?”
“That’ll be 100 G.”
That was slightly more expensive than poison hemlock. I supposed it was a reasonable price, though, given that it was a rare find in Zone One. If this item functioned in the same way as poison hemlock and paralyzing plants, then there was a good chance that I’d be able to create Hemorrhaging Potions with three of them.
“You can grow this, right, Olto?” I asked.
“Mm!” Olto responded with a hearty thumbs-up. No problem!
“Okay, I’ll take some mulch, three clumps of hemorrhaging grass, and one poison hemlock and paralyzing plant each.”
I would use these plants to create seeds to sow on our newly purchased farm.
“That’ll be 530 G, please.”
I had to leave some money for the mushroom log, so I figured that was enough for now.
“Buh-bye, Yuto and Olto! Come again soon!”
“We will.”
“Mm-mm!”
Maple waved after us, and we left the plaza in front of the Southern Gate. I was sure we’d be visiting her store again in the future.
Once we returned to our farm, I immediately handed Olto the herbs I’d bought.
“Time to work your magic, buddy.”
“Mm-mm, mm-mm.”
Was that some kind of song? Olto hummed a cheery little tune as he propagated the plants, then plowed the field and sowed the seeds he’d just created.
Thanks to Olto’s hard work, all the slots on our second farm were now filled.
“Ah, that reminds me. I should use the plant booster,” I said, handing Olto the small vial filled with liquid.
“Mmm.”
He planted the item in the middle of the patch, and for a moment the field glowed green. The plant booster definitely looked like it was working.
“All right. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s harvest.”
I headed to the well to fetch water for the crops, scarcely able to contain my excitement.