3 - Noble Son, Tell

“By the way...” Felicia spoke up. Ichiro had suggested they go somewhere else to tell the story, so the four of them had left the Iris Brand guild house together. “...Is Iris the one who designed your equipment, Itchy?”

“That’s right.” Ichiro smiled and spread his arms to show off his clothing.

Iris looked away self-consciously.

It was the typical embarrassment of the inexperienced creator who wasn’t yet accustomed to having her designs shown off. Felicia, though, was incapable of understanding that. All she saw was the rapture in Ichiro’s expression, and it confirmed her suspicions. She had tried to ask Ichiro about his equipment a little while ago, during their trip to the Necrolands during the Grand Quest. He had just brushed her question away with a cryptic smile.

The Ichiro Tsuwabuki that Asuha knew almost never smiled in such a satisfied way. Beneath his usual unflappable visage was always a sense that he was bored to tears. Asuha knew that.

There hadn’t been a trace of that the other day, either, when Ichiro had crossed swords with King Kirihito. That should be a reason for her to be a bit jealous of Sera Kiryu, too, but setting that aside...

Setting that aside, the existence of a strange woman who could make Ichiro smile with such satisfaction was dangerous in her mind. Her second cousin sensor was starting to ping. Everything about Iris set off warning bells. Even though Iris herself had protested that their relationship wasn’t like that, she was still dangerous.

“Of course, I like the suit’s design. But I think my favorite part is the brooch,” Ichiro said, indicating the butterfly on his lapel.

It must have been Iris’s design as well, but the graphic was a little sloppy compared to the others. It didn’t look all that great to Felicia, but she knew that she was somewhat biased herself, so she didn’t say that out loud.

“Young heir, could you please stop talking about that brooch?” Iris murmured, causing Ichiro and Felicia to both turn back to her.

“Why?” Ichiro asked.

“You know why!” Iris looked up at him, shouting. “It’s embarrassing! It’s like a big neon sign saying ‘novice designer at work’! Not that I think of the rest of your equipment as perfect, of course!”

“Nonsense,” Ichiro said. “Regardless of how you may feel, I greatly enjoy this brooch. It’s far from a masterpiece, certainly. The graphical rendering is sloppy, the aesthetic sense is poor...”

“So you realize it!” Iris shouted.

So, Felicia thought, it’s not actually that great...

“Iris, are you a designer in real life?” Felicia asked.

“The story you’re about to hear should cover that, I believe,” Sir Kirschwasser said, standing at the head of the party. “Now, right this way.”

Felicia looked up, surprised. They’d only walked twenty steps. “That was fast.”

It was the house of the Akihabara Forging Guild, diagonally across from the Iris Brand building. One of the three great guilds of NaroFan. As a fellow crafting guild, they were likely in competition with Iris Brand. Was this really where he was going to tell the story?

“This is where you’re going to tell the story?” Iris’s face betrayed clear discomfort, as well.

“This is where I’m going to tell the story,” Ichiro confirmed. “It will allow us to hear from a greater variety of people.”

He did not immediately open the door, though. Instead, he turned around as if on a sudden inspiration, and gazed out over Glasgobara’s main street.

“What, heir, did you see someone you know?” Iris asked.

“No... it’s nothing,” Ichiro said. “Let’s go inside.”

In response to Ichiro’s words, Kirschwasser opened the door. A bell attached to the door jangled, notifying those inside of their upcoming entry. Felicia peeked in and saw the guild house lobby, which was very different from Iris Brand’s. If anything, it was on the cramped side.

Or perhaps it only looked small because of how it was packed with items on display, and customers who were browsing through them. Many of them looked surprised as they saw Kirschwasser opening the door, and Ichiro standing in front of him.

“H-Hey... Isn’t that...”

“Is that Tsuwabuki?”

“What does he want?”

Their voices spoke in hushed whispers, but they could be clearly heard.

“Itchy, what did you do?” Felicia asked.

“Nothing in particular,” he said. “Isn’t that right, Iris?”

“Your definition of ‘nothing in particular’ is different from that of a regular person,” Iris retorted. “Right, Mr. Kirsch?”

“Hahaha... Iris has your number, sir.”

In other words, he had done something quite serious. That made sense. Felicia was reminded of that post on Matsunaga’s blog about some big tumult Ichiro had caused. She hadn’t read that article then, but she wondered if that had been related to this.

A door at the back of the lobby opened, and a man came lumbering out of it. “Oh, it’s you, brother. How can I help you?”

This avatar had the short stature and girth associated with the Dwarf race. On top of that, he had a long, shaggy mustache that resembled the steel wool she used after cooking experiments. The hammer and tongs that hung at his waist were the “weapons” used exclusively by the Blacksmith class.

Above his head was his avatar name, “I’m With Stupid →”

“I’m With Stupid →?” Felicia tilted her head, confused. “That’s his name?”

“It’s what we call a gag name,” Kirschwasser said, responding to her question. “It’s not unusual to see someone set a name like that as a joke, and then regret it later.”

“He is very skilled, though,” Iris leaned in and whispered to them. “But because of his name, you wonder what to call him, right?”

“Hey, I can hear you,” Mr. Stupid said, arms folded and glaring at them. “You can call me whatever you like.”

“I call him ‘Bossman’ myself,” Ichiro said. “I believe everybody does. Though I hear Stroganoff calls him ‘Sakata the Stupid.’”

“What the heck...” Felicia tilted her head.

“What the heck...” Iris also tilted her head.

“A reference from before our time, I believe,” Kirschwasser said, gazing into the distance with folded arms.

“Now, can I ask what you want?” Mr. Stupid demanded. “You’re not here to mock us, are you?”

“I was hoping to explain to Felicia about the incident that occurred,” Ichiro said. “I’m not here to mock you.”

“You are mocking us, then.” But despite Bossman Stupid’s words, he shrugged and pointed to a set of chairs at a table in the corner of the lobby. It was of clumsy design, completely unlike the ones at Iris Brand. “Well, I won’t throw you out. If you want to talk, you can do it over there.”

“Thank you,” Ichiro said. “By the way, is Ed here today?” It was another name Felicia didn’t recognize.

“Who’s Ed?” she asked.

“Edward.” Iris gave a clipped response to Felicia’s question.

Edward. She felt sure she had heard that name somewhere before. Certainly, it was not an uncommon name. But she felt like wherever she had heard it, it had not been in an English textbook, or a manga. She had heard it somewhere before in this game.

“He’s not here yet, but he will be soon, I expect,” Bossman Stupid said. “Well, have a seat.”

“Ah, certainly.” Ichiro leisurely walked towards the chair that Bossman had indicated.

“Th-Thank you for your hospitality...” Felicia bowed politely, then followed after.

Iris and Kirschwasser murmured similar pleasantries as they entered the lobby after them. The eyes of the customers followed them curiously. It made Felicia feel a bit self-conscious.

“Okay, Itchy. Why did you bring us all the way out here?” she asked quickly.

“I thought you might wish to hear various objective accounts of what happened in the week before I met you,” he said. “I did make some trouble for Bossman and Ed here.”

“You’re actually aware of it?” Iris breathed in disbelief.

“Yes, though nothing that merits, for example, what the men browsing equipment over there are saying about me. And, as I was merely doing what I wanted to do...”

“Yeah, yeah. We get it. Of course!”

Ichiro’s assertion had been sounding like it was going to run long and be pointless, so Iris forcefully cut him off. Despite that, Ichiro’s expression was far from dissatisfied. In fact, there was a definite feeling of glee mixed in with it as he arrived at the table.

It really did give her chills. A shiver ran up Felicia’s back. She had never known her second cousin to enjoy talking with a woman that much. Of course, she knew that he wasn’t the kind of narrow-minded man who would let Iris’s occasional objections get under his skin, but what was with that... that strangely peaceful, satisfied expression?

“Does it bother you?” Kirschwasser smiled from where he stood beside the obviously nervous Felicia.

“Y-Yes, of course,” she said. “Doesn’t it bother you, Mr. Kirsch?”

“I knew what Master Ichiro had in mind when he approached Iris... being a loyal retainer.”

“Th-That gets under my skin! It really annoys me!” she cried.

“Ha ha ha. If I may say, Miss Felicia, you seem determined to look at Master Ichiro through a certain filter.” Even Kirschwasser’s lighthearted laughter was exactly like that of Ichiro’s when he was in a good mood, which just served to make Felicia feel even crabbier.

Asuha Tsuwabuki, age 14, was still subject to rampant attacks of ego. It was the age where it was very hard to control one’s feelings. Felicia puffed out her cheeks and stomped her way to a chair.

“Now, let us begin,” Ichiro said softly, hands folded on the table.

An audience had already formed around them. Of course, they had all originally come to the Akihabara Forging Guild to buy the guild’s superior equipment, but the sight of Ichiro Tsuwabuki — who had grown quite (in)famous over the incidents of the past few days — made them very curious to see if he was about to start something else.

“It all started the day after I spoke to you at Great-grandfather’s party,” Ichiro said. “First, I began playing NaroFan...”

◆　◆　◆

Ichiro Tsuwabuki had bought the commercial-grade game hardware, the Miraive Gear Cocoon. More precisely, he had bought two of them.

The machine, developed by Pony Entertainment, Inc., was sideways compatible with their personal headset VR Drive machine, the Miraive Gear X. The Miraive Gear X already had an incredible eight teraFLOPS of processing power, but the Cocoon came mounted with a laser cooling system on top of that, giving its processing a floating point number of up to 200 teras. These specs gave it the processing power of the supercomputers of old, and the thought that you could buy such a thing for just a bit over 100 million yen was a terrifying sign of the march of technology.

When he mentioned this to Sakurako, she just shouted, “I don’t know about that!”

A moment later, she calmed down enough to add, “But I’ve heard that a Senjo no Kizuna cabinet can go for about 15 million apiece, so from that point of view, I see why so few arcades carry the Cocoon. And since it’s for playing internet games, that would change the price point.”

“I have no idea what Senjo no Kizuna is,” Ichiro answered. They occasionally had conversations like that, too.

Usually, only arcades licensed by the Entertainment Business Law could buy cabinets that had an internet connection, but Ichiro had sent out a request to Pony and been approved for the purchase. The Tsuwabuki family and Pony Entertainment, Inc. usually had a rather complicated relationship, but as customer to seller, it was different.

And so on that early summer day, as the sweltering sun beat down, the proudly hard-nosed Director of Sales for Pony Entertainment, Inc. and a few of his subordinates brought that monster machine which was the size of a compact car.

“Mr. Tsuwabuki, for your direct purchase of our Miraive Gear Cocoon, we offer you the most heartfelt...” he said.

“Right,” Ichiro cut him off. “You can skip the pleasantries. They’re all nonsense, anyway.”

“I am Daigo Aragaki, Sales Director for Pony Entertainment... Regarding setup and installation...”

“Oh, I’ll handle that, too,” Ichiro said. “I intend to play it myself, after all. The thought of someone else tampering with it is nonsense.”

Ichiro Tsuwabuki’s ability to deal so flippantly with that hard-nosed Director of Sales suggested he had a bit of a hard nose himself.

The men in their work clothes entered the apartment. It was awash with the sort of luxury that they would probably never again witness in their lives, yet they did not stare nor bat an eye. They were model professionals.

Following Ichiro’s directions, they brought the load, still in its packaging, into a room, then tore the cardboard, styrofoam, and plastic wrapping apart to reveal it. The surface was all flawless, metallic silver curves, punctuated by the engraving “Mi-L/RiveGear COCOON” written in stylish blue letters. The transparent black plastic facings atop the silver body gave it a truly futuristic image. A form that could encase an entire human body with room to spare.

“Wow. You did buy the Cocoon!” A maid entered the room with a joyful cry.

This was something that got the attention of the workmen. She was holding a tray in both hands with several glasses on it.

“You’ve all been working very hard, and it must be hot out there. Why don’t you wet your whistles?” The maid — Sakurako, obviously — walked between the men with a beaming smile, and offered them each a glass of ice. She then poured a sweet-looking liquid into each glass. The men, including Aragaki, all hesitantly put the glasses to their lips, and their eyes widened at how delicious it was.

“I couldn’t believe he bought one for me, too,” the maid said excitedly. “I’ve never been happier to work for Ichiro-sama.”

“Well, it’s hardly a dent out of my bank account,” Ichiro said.

The maid giggled. “I think I’ll be able to have a more fulfilling NaroFan life than ever before. Hehehe...”

“Yes.” Ichiro looked over the documents Aragaki had handed him while the package was being opened. He also flipped quickly through the nearly 300-page tome of a manual.

Once he finished reading, he took the toolbox that Sakurako had brought and removed the cabinet panel with seemingly practiced hands. He removed the bundle of cords, gave them a look-through to discern precisely what they did, then extracted them one by one and began hooking them up. He seemed to have no trouble with it whatsoever. Even Aragaki was amazed.

With nothing left for them to do, they had no choice but to leave as Sakurako saw them off with her angelic smile.

About half an hour later, the online connection for the ultimate VR game system in the penthouse floor of the luxury apartment complex Tsuwabuki Pavilion Sangenjaya was ready to go.

“Which means it’s time... for this!” As she spoke, Sakurako pulled out the Narrow Fantasy Online premium package.

The limited edition had originally had a very small first printing, and the used games shop he had bought it from hadn’t hesitated to mark it up. To find it, Sakurako had had to roam all over Akihabara, using black market sale routes known only by staunch otaku.

And so, the young heir Ichiro Tsuwabuki could finally begin playing the game. The VRMMO, rather.

First, there was a need to make an avatar. According to Sakurako, the game’s avatar options were so extensive that a person could spend a whole week or more fussing over them, but after a mere five minutes, Ichiro rejected them. It seemed that no matter how he combined the options, he couldn’t recreate his own face.

Ichiro bought 3D modeling software on the spot, worked it to make a face that looked enough like his, then overlaid the modeling data onto his avatar. Overlaying original graphics required a payment in real-world money, but to Ichiro, the cost was basically like throwing a coin into the charity box.

The pride that compelled him to be himself even within the game was an admirable thing, although it walked the line of disgusting narcissism.

Afterwards, Ichiro finished setting various parameters for his character. After choosing his race, class, and beginning skills, he received an announcement:

“Choose your pay-to-download course and additional options. You can change this later.”

In addition to the basic fee, there was the “Extra Course,” which increased the wares available in NPC shops and lowered their cost; and the “Royal Course,” which slightly increased the money and EXP you got from defeating monsters (by 10%). There was also the “Starter Course,” which thankfully could only be used during the first month of play, and gave you extra bonuses for things like income and EXP.

“Additional options” referred to helpful pay-to-download services. The “Basic Item Pack” let you buy packs of potions and other consumables with real money, and “Booster Pack” gave you significant boosts to the money or EXP you earned for 24 hours. Some might say there were almost too many options, but for working adults who didn’t have a lot of time, they were useful methods for catching up with the heavy users. The pay-to-download equipment was also beneficial to players who preferred fashion over effectiveness.

Ichiro couldn’t be bothered to explore them thoroughly, so he just bought them all.

With that all finished, Dragonet Magi-Fencer Ichiro Tsuwabuki was ready to touch down on the stage of the game.

When he opened his eyes, he appeared to be in a small room. There was a wood-grain floor and a simple bed, and a small, unvarnished table in the corner that felt rough to the touch.

Naturally, there was nothing electric of any sort. Through the glass of the room’s lone window, he could see a peaceful townscape with brick-lined streets.

To his five senses, everything seemed perfectly natural. He walked around the small room a few times, feeling both the hard texture of his boots and the familiar weight of his own mass. The provided dresser wasn’t well-made by any stretch, but he could see the attractive face of “Ichiro Tsuwabuki” that looked just like his own, and his symmetrical form clad in leather armor, within it.

Could human ingenuity really deceive the brain to this degree? Ichiro was, for once, speechless. This was quite extraordinary indeed. He could see why so many people were obsessed with this game.

He knocked three times on empty air with the back of his fist, a key motion that caused the menu window to open up in front of his eyes. It worked with a combination of thought activation and virtual touchscreen. (Technically, it was possible to control the system only with the former, but giving a real sense of “I’m in control” was better to prevent detachment from the conscious mind; thought activation alone often caused accidental call-ups.)

The menu window contained many options — he could check his stats, his equipment, assign Skills and Arts, and more. He touched “Config,” which brought up a menu regarding pay-to-download items. One could check their virtual currency balance for the logged-in account (he hadn’t bought any, so this was zero, naturally) and credit card information here.

There was also a list of items already bought, and a list of course names and pack names. Each pack name was accompanied by a wrapped box icon, and touching each one caused a message window to appear.

“You got Potion x5. You got Antidote x5. You got Remedy x5. You got Reviver x5. You got Fatigue Restorer x5...”

Ah-hah, so that was how it worked.

Ichiro opened the game items he had bought with real-world currency one after the other. Then, he touched the “equip” listing on the menu window. It displayed an image of Ichiro himself dressed in his leather armor. There was a list of things he could equip to each area of his body, and the lists also included armor and accessories that could be bought with microtransactions. The pay-to-download equipment did seem to have better abilities than the starter equipment, though the defense bonuses didn’t seem to be much of an improvement. Many of these items were tie-in from popular anime series; purely for fashion, most likely.

Very good.

The leather armor was insufficiently suited to Ichiro’s vanity, so he tapped a few choices from the list and equipped them instead.

He walked down to the first floor and left the building, where he found a Knight he didn’t recognize calling out to him.

“There you are, Master Ichiro!”

References to external appearance meant nothing in a VRMMO, where one could lie about how they looked. Nevertheless, the man standing before him was a virile middle-aged man with striking slicked-back silver hair. The name above his head was “Kirschwasser.” The broad one-handed sword on his belt and heavy-looking kite shield on his back indicated a high strength stat. The clink of metal upon metal sounded out as he walked towards Ichiro.

Several seconds later, Ichiro spoke. “...Are you Sakurako-san?”

“That’s right!” The voice was deep and resonant, nothing like the usual voice of Sakurako Ogi.

“Oh, nonsense,” he complained. “This does no one any good.”

“Aw, what do you mean by that?” Sakurako Ogi’s Knight looked surprised when Sakurako realized that Ichiro’s avatar looked exactly like Ichiro himself. When he explained that he had even used modeling software to accomplish the look, she seemed dumbfounded.

“Of course, it does cost a lot of money to overlay original graphics, doesn’t it?” she asked, as Ichiro tested his avatar with a few basic motions, opening and clenching his fists, twisting his torso. He was enjoying being able to move the fictional body as he wished, as well as the impediments that the game’s strict stat systems placed upon such movements. Of course, these too were all sensations created by quantum signals, but to bring that up would be nonsense.

“Sir, I assume you’ve never created your own designs with modeling software, then?” Ichiro asked.

“I lack the technology,” the Knight said. “And, well, to change item graphics, you need a crafting class. Master Ichiro, are you that obsessed with appearances?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Ichiro said. “It’s not that I care what others think about me, but I do want to look like myself, in a way that satisfies me, personally.” In that regard, his current Faerie Armor did not quite make the grade.

“Well, at least you admit to it, Master Ichiro,” the Knight said, looking annoyed.

“Is something the matter?” he asked.

“There are quite a few NaroFan players who are obsessed with appearances... Of course, it’s not something I’m particularly concerned with.”

One of the most popular features in any MMORPG was the character editing function: the ability to painstakingly craft your character from their face to their silhouette, and pick the equipment that was most flattering, or coolest, or cutest, as you preferred. There was no small number of users who used their avatar more like a dress-up doll than anything else.

Narrow Fantasy Online, and VRMMOs in general, made full use of that multitudinous character edit function, and many, many users worked hard to create the most attractive avatar possible. Some of them even used it to present as another sex, as made obvious by the maid-cum-Knight that now stood in front of him.

But that was not the real problem.

However much effort someone put in to their character editing, the nature of VRMMO was that the player became their character completely. They had to move that character with their own hands and feet, and see through their eyes. They couldn’t watch themselves heroically slaying all those mobs.

They could not, to put it bluntly, ogle their own character.

This was a blind spot of VRMMOs that its creators failed to realize, and it had caused internet crossplayers to flee the game in massive numbers.

“And so, to appease those who still wished to view their characters in action, they added a skill known as ‘Perspective Change’ that allows one to view their avatar from a third-person perspective,’” the Knight concluded.

“Ugh, nonsense.” Even the young heir had to let out a groan at that. “I see you didn’t pick a female character, Sakurako-san.”

“Well, just think of it as a form of cosplay,” the Knight said. “I really enjoy this sort of roleplaying. I’m not using it right now, but I took ‘Perspective Change’ for fun, too.”

“Though you more or less cosplay every day in real life, as well,” Ichiro said.

“Ha ha ha!” Knight-Sakurako let out a cheery laugh in his gravelly voice, then cleared his throat. “Master Ichiro, Master Ichiro, I am the dedicated Knight, Sir Kirschwasser, of a line that has served House Tsuwabuki for generations. I’ve come to act as your bodyguard as you explore the new continent of Asgard. What do you think?”

“Hmm, I see,” Ichiro said. It seemed Kirschwasser was already mentally designing the scenario. Of course, from the game setting standpoint, it was hard to imagine how such a long-standing master-servant relationship could exist between Dragonet and Human families, but it wouldn’t matter in terms of their progress through the game. To nitpick would be nonsense; if that was what his servant wanted to do, he would allow it.

But now that he’d begun playing, what to do next? He’d started playing because of Asuha, but she currently had tests, and so wouldn’t be around for a week. Which meant that Ichiro Tsuwabuki had no particular objective. The closest he had was a desire to explore every corner of the fictional space created by the Drive technology.

When he ran that by Kirschwasser, the Knight assumed the smug look of the experienced gamer, and responded, “Let’s raise your level.”

And so they did.

They went out the front gate of Starter Town into a grassland that spread as far as the eye could see. Vispiagna Meadow contained no powerful mobs, and it was easy to acquire provisions and healing items there. Thus, it was considered a sort of practice stage for newcomers to Narrow Fantasy Online to grow accustomed to the controls and the game system.

Tsuwabuki Ichiro and Kirschwasser ignored all that and headed straight for the Volgund Volcanoes.

This region was designed for characters of level 20 to 30. Once a player had gotten used to NaroFan, taken off their training wheels, and formed a party, the Volgund Volcanoes were usually their next destination. It was not an appropriate place to take a player who had debuted less than an hour ago, but there was a method to Kirschwasser’s madness.

“This place has the most delicious mobs,” he said. “Wait here while I go looking for one.”

To someone of Sir Kirschwasser’s level, the monsters in the Volcanoes were nothing to fear. Ichiro noticed small fire-breathing lizards here and there, but they must have been programmed to avoid high-level players, as they merely roared at them from afar.

A dialogue box popped up in front of Ichiro. “You got Fireweed. Add it to your inventory?”

It seemed it was an item that allowed him to breathe fire. Fantasy, indeed.

He answered “Yes” to the dialogue box, which caused the Fireweed he had extracted to glow and disappear. He then selected “Item” from the menu and found the Fireweed mixed in with the consumables he had bought from the microtransaction menu.

While Kirschwasser was searching for mobs, on a whim, Ichiro decided to pick up a small rock on the ground. He did not receive the prompt to add it to his inventory; perhaps it was too small to be of any use.

Curiously, he brought it to his mouth. It had a strange, bitter taste and a gravelly texture. Right after he put it into his mouth, a message window appeared with a buzz of warning.

“That is not a consumable item!”

So he wasn’t allowed to swallow it, then. Even so, it was incredible that he could put it into his mouth and experience the taste and texture. His little experiment had left him even more impressed by the attention to detail put into the setting.

Obviously, every little pebble on the roadside couldn’t have its own stats programmed into it. He wondered what possible program they could have written for it.

“Master Ichiro, I found one,” Sir Kirschwasser said. “Let’s get moving.”

Ichiro didn’t see anything that looked like a monster nearby, but Kirschwasser insisted. Perhaps the Skill he had employed earlier had been Far-Sight or Clairvoyance, or some kind of radar-like ability. Ichiro stood up and began to follow after.

As explained earlier, the Volgund Volcanoes were an area designed for adventurers level 20 or higher. To a level 1 adventurer like Ichiro, with equipment not much better than the starter set and the poor defense stats that implied, even one hit from a minor monster would prove fatal. Nevertheless, he strode forward, unafraid. (Of course, much of that fearlessness stemmed from the understanding that this was only a game.)

After walking for a while, Kirschwasser suddenly restrained Ichiro with one hand. They hid behind a boulder and peeked around it.

“Sir Kirschwasser, you remind me of my local guide, Mario, who showed me around during to my trip to the Amazon last year,” Ichiro said.

“Oh, did you find him reliable?”

“Thanks to him, I was able to know the rare experience of being attacked by crocodiles and jaguars.”

“He wasn’t useful at all, then!”

Ichiro had been able to save Mario, and they had managed to survive none the worse for wear, but he might not be able to get them out so easily this time. Programs could be very inflexible, after all. For the moment, at least, he had to accept that the character Ichiro was much less capable than its real life counterpart.

In which case, he might as well put his full trust in Kirschwasser.

At his guide’s urging, Ichiro peeked past the rock to see what lay beyond. It was a monster, its appearance difficult to describe, patrolling the area cautiously. It was like a bipedal lizard with black and white stripes. It wore a helm and armor dulled by volcanic ash, but the blade it held in one hand still gleamed.

“Lizardman Zebras,” Kirschwasser said, then offered a concise explanation. “They have by far the highest Technique Points offered by mobs in this level range.”

In NaroFan, in addition to distributing the bonus points acquired by leveling up, a player could also increase their stats by hunting monsters and using Skills. Some characters spammed these methods to acquire higher stats relative to their level, while other players avoided it because it made things too easy. The Technique Points that these Lizardman Zebras had were a hidden attribute related to the advance of Skill and Arts levels.

There were five kinds of Lizardmen in the Volgund Volcanoes, including the Zebra, and each was customized to a different stat, such as Strength or Dexterity. The location’s usefulness as a place to grind stats led heavy users to refer to it as the “Lizardman Dojo.”

This had all come to light through voluntary player investigation. Ichiro would later learn that that “volunteer” who had figured all this out was a man named Matsunaga, the same one who ran the walkthrough wiki and aggregate blog. But setting that aside...

“Knowing you, Master Ichiro, you’ve bought a number of pay-to-download bonuses, haven’t you?” Sir Kirschwasser asked.

“You make me sound like an unpleasant rich fool who spends money indiscriminately.”

“So, you did buy them?”

“Well, yes.”

“If you’ll pardon me, Master, from an objective point of view, that would make you an unpleasant rich fool...” Kirschwasser cleared his throat, then said...

“I brought you here to use those bonuses more efficiently. Let’s raise all your Skill levels so that you can have an exhilarating, enjoyable NaroFan life.”

“Setting aside the question of whether raising Skill levels will give me an exhilarating life, I am willing to try,” Ichiro said.

The Lizardman Zebra, wielding a scimitar, cautiously approached them. Ichiro readied his Magi-Fencer’s starting weapon, the Mage Saber, and Kirschwasser stood in front of him protectively.

It was rare for Ichiro Tsuwabuki to feel reassured by the sight of someone else’s back. Of course, that balance of power would be overturned a week later... but at the time, they didn’t know that.

The battle that followed was extremely mechanical. In fact, that was the intent.

Kirschwasser was a Knight/Fighter/Acolyte, so he specialized in protecting his comrades. Over and over again, he protected Ichiro from the Lizardman Zebra’s slashes, then stunned it with Shield Bash. Ichiro then fervently slashed at the now-defenseless Zebra, and once its health bar got low, Kirschwasser healed it and returned it to normal.

The Zebras had a low spawn rate, so they had to use a single Zebra as much as possible. There was something almost inspiring about how it sprang back up vigorously every time, without a trace of dejection.

“Sir Kirschwasser, did you build your character primarily for support?” Ichiro asked.

“Not especially. The Knight has an Art known as ‘Pain Charge,’ so the damage I take doesn’t go to waste.”

Ichiro kept attacking and attacking, making the utmost use of all the Arts and Skills he learned, and each time his fatigue bar built up over 60, he drank a Fatigue Restorer from his inventory and resumed attacking. His Skill and Art levels skyrocketed, and the increase in his damage was obvious.

“That was your third Fatigue Restorer,” Sir Kirschwasser said. “Shall I give you one?”

“No, that’s fine. I get them for free, anyway.” Ichiro selected the microtransaction menu from Config. Kirschwasser looked horrified.

“You do not get them for free! You’re spending real money on them!”

“Nonsense, nonsense. In terms of time-to-earnings ratio, game currency is more expensive than yen. Thus, this way is more efficient.”

During this bourgeoisie comedy routine, the Lizardman Zebra attacked a few more times, but Kirschwasser blocked with his shield, knocked it back, stunned it, then healed it. It was, indeed, “delicious.”

How many times had he attacked at that point?

The high-speed swordplay weaving together Skill Level 21 “Sword Technique” and Arts Level 36 “Bash” allowed him to unleash damage digits unthinkable from a Level 1 player, which began to take gouges out of the Lizardman Zebra’s HP gauge. Even taking into account that the “Staggered” status ailment was reducing its defense, the 272 damage was still impressive.

Letting out a baleful cry at the one-sided slaughter, the Lizardman Zebra fell prostrate on the ground of the Volgund Volcanoes. The painstakingly detailed 3D model then disappeared into points of light.

“Splendidly done,” Sir Kirschwasser said.

“Yeah.” Ichiro had no trouble fully accepting the praise.

A light fanfare rang out, and a window listing his rewards for defeating the mob appeared on the screen. His many boosts led to an unbelievable amount of experience points and gold obtained. His level skyrocketed to 17 at once.

“Master Ichiro, for your first kill to be a Lizardman Zebra is truly impressive,” Sir Kirschwasser said.

“Well... ah, it was a bit of nonsense. I only did it because you prevented him from attacking.” He could deal with the allocation of bonus points from his leveling up later. If he dumped it all into strength, he could get “Break Object” immediately, but there were a great number of attractive Skills with prerequisites in other stats.

“Shall I search for another Zebra?” Sir Kirschwasser said. “Or if you want to increase your strength, there’s one called a Lizardman Big Body, as well.”

“I’m sorry, Sakurako-san, but it’s 6:00.” Ichiro looked at the clock display at the corner of the window, then shrugged.

When he said something like that, the middle-aged Knight, Sir Kirschwasser, had no choice but to revert to Ichiro Tsuwabuki’s personal servant, Sakurako Ogi, once more. Her avatar wore a hangdog expression not befitting a dignified middle-aged man. When the 3D models rendered overreactions like that, it was a sign that the player had gotten overly emotional.

“Ichiro-sama, why don’t we have cup ramen tonight?” she asked hopefully.

“Nonsense. You must work for your paycheck.”

Kirschwasser slumped deeply. “Very well... I understand... I’ll go on ahead and get things ready... Is 8:00 acceptable for dinner?”

“That sounds best,” he said. “I’ll let you pick the menu, but I would prefer to have fish today. It’s possible to send messages to the player in the Drive directly using the Cocoon’s exterior terminal, so when things are ready, use that to let me know.”

“Okaaay.” Sir Kirschwasser cheerfully began preparations to log out, then suddenly seemed to remember something. “Master Ichiro, there’s an item that will take you back to Starter Town. Let me give it to you. I’ll be logging out now, and while your Skill levels are high, it’s too dangerous for you to be out in the volcanoes alone.”

Kirschwasser moved to open his item window, but Ichiro held out a hand to stop him.

“No, that’s all right. I’d like to go exploring on my own for a while.” He continued, “The death penalty in this game is to lose your inventory and equip items, yes?”

“You’re left with only your starter equipment. It’s extremely unfair to the players, isn’t it? Well, I’ll be going now!” With those last words, Kirschwasser reflected Sakurako Ogi’s usual excitement.

Now, what should I do until dinner? Ichiro wondered after Kirschwasser was gone.

Perhaps he should head back to town, exploring on the way, then take one of the beginner quests to gain class-exclusive Arts. He wanted to do a bit more scrutinizing of potential stat distributions, though...

While Ichiro was thinking, he heard a low growl from behind him. He turned back around and saw the mob he had just defeated — more precisely, another of the same type — flitting out its tongue as it walked towards him. A second Lizardman Zebra.

Seeing it up close, he felt once again inspired by the craftsmanship that had gone into these monsters’ creation. The texture of their skin was so realistic, and gazing upon it through his character’s eyes made it even more awe-inspiring. He often went out to observe unusual insects in great detail, and this reminded him of the reverence he felt during those times; towards the mysteries of living things and to their maker.

Ichiro was struck by an idea, and approached the Lizardman Zebra fearlessly. The Zebra seemed excited by the approach of such defenseless prey.

“Graaaah!” A second later, it slashed at Ichiro with an eerie cry.

Ichiro simply watched with the cool gaze of a scientist waiting for the results of an experiment. The scimitar collided with Ichiro’s head, taking his HP immediately down to zero.

The world around him went black. Then an unsympathetic message window popped up, reading, “You are dead.”

When he woke up, he was in Starter Town. That stood to reason; where else was he going to respawn?

He opened his item inventory from the menu window, and saw that, indeed, all the consumables he had bought earlier were now gone. His equipment had also reverted to the starting leathers. Since their design was not to his taste, he quickly went through the microtransaction menu once more.

He then checked the status screen and confirmed that one of his Skills had received a slight bonus. It was the Dragonet race-exclusive Skill, Dragon Scales. He opened his browser and checked the wiki, which explained that it was a Skill that reduced damage based on its level. It also said it wasn’t very useful in practice. For one thing, it was hard to raise levels of defensive Skills if you weren’t a defense-oriented character like a Knight, and it wasn’t useful enough to spend a Skill slot on either way.

Well, that was nonsense. Ichiro would figure out his own way of doing things.

Certainly, he could imagine that it would be difficult to raise defensive Skill levels. Skill levels typically increased when they were triggered during combat, relative to the Technique Points of the opponent they were used against. In order to grind defensive skills, then, the only choice was to get hit, again and again. It would be boring work, and it would come at a cost.

“Hmm...” Ichiro rubbed at his chin thoughtfully.

Incidentally — now, this is a total digression, of course — that day, from a little after 6:00 PM to about 8:00 PM, players claimed they had repeatedly sighted a mysterious Dragonet coming and going between Starter Town and the Volgund Volcanoes. He would walk deep into the volcanoes, “return by death” to Starter Town, somehow re-equip all the armor he should have lost, and then march triumphantly back to mountains. This mysterious, terrible zombie avatar, Ichiro Tsuwabuki, became the subject of a bit of speculation among new and intermediate adventurers.

When Ichiro received Sakurako’s message that dinner was ready, he was gazing at the “Dragon Scales Lv 42” message in his skill window and feeling a strange sense of pride.

“I’d like some new armor,” Ichiro announced from the dinner table. It was his third day of playing Narrow Fantasy Online.

“Armor?” Sakurako asked, looking up as she set the dishes on the table. “Ah, but first, dinner is served.”

“Thank you. Sakurako-san, you may join me.”

“Okay! With your permission, I will join you.”

He made this offer every day, of course. But the ritual was necessary to maintain the boundary between their oftentimes fuzzy master-servant relationship. Once, as a tease, he hadn’t said it, and so Sakurako had remained standing in her designated spot the entire time with tears in her eyes. Feeling bothered and guilty, Ichiro had lasted a mere five minutes before he’d given in. It was a bitter memory of defeat.

“Now, you asked about armor?” Sakurako continued.

Ichiro skillfully extracted a bit of horse mackerel from the plate with his chopsticks, and gave her a nod.

“You’ve been grinding your basic stats the last few days, and your Dragon Scales Skill has grown quite advanced, hasn’t it?” she asked. “You probably wouldn’t need new armor to explore the higher-level areas...”

The pay-to-download armor that Ichiro Tsuwabuki currently wore didn’t offer much in the way of defense, but it opened quite a number of skill slots. The past three days, to increase his Dragon Scales Skill level, he had thrown himself on the swords of Lizardman Zebras over and over again. He had lost that armor an absurd number of times to the game’s death penalty, and bought it just as many times. He must have bought it at least a thousand times.

Since he knew that he would be returning by death, most people would assume he would hold off on buying it again until his Skill level was where he wanted it to be. Indeed, that is what most people would do. But the young heir simply could not stand being clad in that most basic of leather equipment. So each time he died, tirelessly, he paid another 1,200 yen to buy himself a new microtransaction suit. It was extremely bourgeois.

“But this is still tie-in equipment,” he said. “It wasn’t made just for me. It’s a bit unsatisfying, you know?”

“Well, I understand what you mean...” Sakurako said, slurping her miso soup. “But Ichiro-sama, aren’t made-to-order items expensive?”

“Nonsense; I have the money.”

“Not yen, galt!”

“I expect I can handle that, as well.” Ichiro had an extreme money booster just like his experience booster, and any time he got a rare drop item, he sold it without mercy. He had incredible negotiating skills provided by “Bartering Lv 38.” On top of that, he never bought items from NPCs, and, well, a life without spending tended to add up.

“If you want armor made, you should go to Glasgobara Merchant Town, I suppose...” Sakurako mused.

“That’s the large town beyond the volcanoes, yes?” Ichiro confirmed.

“It hosts a lot of events for crafting class players, and it’s easy to get both components and recipes there,” she said. “Of course, given the name, the dev team likely intended it to be for them, I suppose. The name comes from Glasgow plus Akihabara.”

“I’m not sure if that makes it easier to picture, or harder.”

“In practice, it’s a bit like a big avenue lined with large crafting guilds,” she said.

That, too, made it both easier and harder to picture.

At any rate, Ichiro wanted his own unique armor. Though Ichiro wasn’t the type to fuss over how people saw him, he did care about his clothes acting as an extension of himself.

His trademark outfit in the business world was a black suit with light purple necktie and handkerchief — all made-to-order, naturally. It was only natural that he would feel that way about his game avatar, too, and thus, he longed for a highly original, made-to-order costume. High-level crafting class players could take existing equip items, tweak their stats and special abilities, and create items that matched a person’s individual taste and style.

“Sir Kirschwasser, your shield is made-to-order as well, isn’t it?” Ichiro asked.

“Hmm, I suppose it is... but it’s just a slightly enhanced version of the existing Kite Shield,” Sakurako replied. “For a bit of fun, I had an image of cherry blossoms textured onto the shield’s surface.”

“An original design, then?” Ichiro asked.

“Merely texturing on an image rather than trying to replace the whole graphic doesn’t take especially long,” she explained. “All the guilds make up their own unique mark and have their members texture it somewhere on their armor.”

“Replacing the whole graphic” referred to what Ichiro Tsuwabuki had done during his character editing stage; creating new graphics from scratch, and paying real world money to have it skinned on. Using original 3D graphics increased the data bus and the burden on the server, which cost real world money. Specifically, Sakurako had discovered through a bit of later research, it cost 800 yen.

“Hmm...” he murmured.

“Ichiro-sama, you’ve barely touched your food.”

“Really?” he asked. “I’ve always been a light eater, though...” But it was true that he had been so busy thinking that he’d found it hard to engage with his meal. “Anyway, I’d like to go to that merchant town you mentioned.”

“To get a made-to-order armor that pleases you?” Sakurako asked. “It seems like it would be an expensive order. Or perhaps it would be surprisingly inexpensive. It’s hard to say.”

“Well, I don’t intend to make a difficult request,” he said.

“But it’s the merchant who will decide if it’s difficult or not, after you tell him what you want.”

“Hmm, true.” The exchange caused Ichiro’s expression to cloud very slightly with worry, and he nodded in agreement.

Whether she knew what weighed on his mind or not — well, she probably did — Sakurako changed the subject. “Ichiro-sama, it’s a bit early yet, but would you like your after-dinner tea?”

“Yes, lightly brewed roasted green tea,” he said.

Their conversation continued on through after-dinner tea. Ichiro logged in to the world of NaroFan about an hour later.

◆　◆　◆

“...And that is how I ended up coming to Glasgobara,” he finished.

“This is taking too long!!” Felicia shouted. “Way too long! Iris isn’t even in the story yet!”

“You expressed interest in my first week of the game, so I decided to tell that, as well,” Ichiro said, his expression diffident.

For some reason, Kirschwasser had prepared a tea set with a teapot, and was offering a cup to Iris, who was looking rather bored.

“Incidentally, this tea tastes quite similar to the roasted green that I made him that day,” Sir Kirschwasser said.

“Thanks.” Iris took the cup, with a somewhat puzzled expression. “Mr. Kirsch, I don’t know much about your real life, but do you cook for the young heir, too? You seem a bit more than just his butler...”

“Hmm? Oh, well... ha ha ha. I also serve as Master Ichiro’s driver when he leaves the house.”

“You’re his chauffeur, too?” Iris asked, looking surprised.

Felicia suddenly realized that Iris didn’t yet know that Sir Kirschwasser was Ichiro’s maid, Sakurako Ogi. She wanted to shout “He’s a woman!” but that would just make things more complicated. It was also against game etiquette to reveal someone’s real-life affairs, as she had learned from the King Kirihito incident.

Ichiro continued, “Anyway, I then headed to Glasgobara... that is, to this very town we’re in now.”

“To make equipment!” Felicia added.

“Yes, to make equipment. The first person I met there was Bossman...”

“We still haven’t gotten to Iris?!” Felicia exclaimed.

◆　◆　◆

Ichiro arrived in Glasgobara Merchant Town sooner than he had expected. As he walked, he opened his menu window, and checked the NaroFan wiki in the game’s proprietary browser. It explained that Glasgobara had been the first new town unlocked since the service had started, via a large-scale Grand Quest two months in. The players had defeated the volcanic dragon Volgund who ruled over the area, securing a settlement for craftsmen, primarily Dwarves. All players who’d participated had received the rare item “Volgunnic Alloy.” In the hands of NPC merchants and Blacksmith players, it could be used to develop powerful weapons and armor.

While there was no harm in visiting, Ichiro was starting to realize it might not be so easy to get the armor he wanted made. He could hear the sounds of steel-upon-steel ringing out from the houses, which all seemed to be homes of crafting class players. Most of the equip items lined up in the booths on their porches were mail and helmets. As Sakurako had said, many of them had simple graphics textured onto them, and they all more or less looked the same.

He walked down the road with a rather gloomy feeling in his heart. Of course, Ichiro meant no disrespect to the players he saw leaving those shops with such elated smiles. He wasn’t aware of it, but he was the kind of person who couldn’t feel comfortable unless he was special. It was childish, yes, but the truth was that he had managed to become an adult without ever meeting someone who could cure him of his more childish aspects.

“Hey, buddy. Are you a whale?”

Ichiro heard a hoarse voice from behind him, and turned to look. It was a short, stout man with a dirty-looking mustache. He was such an archetypical Dwarf that Ichiro at first assumed he was an NPC. But of course, an NPC would never ask a question like that. His most startling trait of all was the arrow icon and avatar name that hung above his head.

It was the man Ichiro would later be instructed to call “Bossman,” the leader of the Akihabara Forging Guild. In other words, it was “I’m With Stupid →.”

“What brings you here, Whale?” the man asked. “Glasgobara offers everything from potions to missiles.”

“I have as many potions as I need, and I don’t expect to run out anytime soon,” Ichiro said. “I was looking for some new armor.”

“Oh-ho!” Bossman narrowed his bulging eyes and examined Ichiro’s current armor.

Judging by his ability to recognize that Ichiro was a whale at a glance, Mr. Stupid likely knew that his armor was pay-to-download. It wasn’t exactly everywhere, but it wasn’t a rare piece of equipment to see, either. It was his Dragonet race that made him stand out more than anything.

“I beg your pardon, but I have ‘Insight: Armor,’ and as far as I can see, that equipment’s durability hasn’t dropped low enough for you to require new armor just yet,” the man observed.

“Nonsense. I’m looking for an armor to call my very own.”

“Ah, made to order? I see.” Bossman grinned and introduced himself.

He ran the biggest manufacturing guild in NaroFan, and his ability to say that like it was a blunt fact rather than a boast was quite a likable trait. Of course, he also didn’t seem especially obsequious, either. He simply held an implicit trust in his own ability, and that of his guild members. Ichiro thought he seemed like a fine tradesman.

“Is it all right for the leader of such a guild to go walking around on his own?” Ichiro asked.

“Well, we are the game’s largest crafting guild, but it’s not as if I’m putting hammer to tongs all day,” the man said.

Any player with a crafting class could restore the durability on any weapon or armor. Player-created items were an exception, though. To repair equipment forged by another player required an Ironmaking skill level higher than that of the player who made it. Since the Akihabara Forging Guild were the top crafting players in the game, for the most part, only members of their own guild could repair the weapons they made. Apparently the vast majority of their customers were repeaters seeking said durability restoration, or improvements to their equipment to match their level.

“Hmm, excellent business sense...” Ichiro mused.

“I run a small electronics shop in Akihabara,” the man said. “To be honest, it’s smaller than my blacksmith shop. I mostly sell computer parts through the mail.” He made it sound like he was applying his real-life business skills to the game, but it was hard to tell if he was joking or not.

Because they didn’t want to keep talking out in the street, Bossman led Ichiro to his guild’s personal workshop. Ichiro followed the eccentric Dwarf, feeling a strange sense of hope. Given the man’s name and sense of dress, he seemed to have a unique aesthetic, and originality was something Ichiro prized above all else.

“Hey, you guys, we’re back!” Bossman shouted out hoarsely as he opened the door to come into his guild house. The shop floor was filled with customers and guild members, who all returned their leader’s greeting.

“As long as you’re here, buddy, I’m going to take you to our guild’s most trusted member,” Bossman added.

“I would love to meet him.”

Bossman strode through the lobby to a door with an “authorized personnel only” message window pasted to it, and showed Ichiro in.

The workshop echoed with the piercing sounds of hammer hitting hot steel. Just like in the Volgund Volcanoes, Ichiro could feel the heat and humidity crawling over his skin.

“The atmosphere really does create a mood, doesn’t it?” he commented.

“That’s right. To be honest, to make weapons and armor, we just put all the materials on the anvil, hit it with the hammer, and it’s done.”

That made sense to Ichiro, given that it was a game. But it still seemed somehow crucially lacking.

Most of the craftsmen in the workshop stopped as they noticed the honored guest their boss had brought in. Only one man continued hammering on his anvil silently. Bossman walked up to the man and greeted him, and only then did he finally stop.

“Hey, Ed.”

“Welcome back, Bossman,” the man named Ed responded in a rather monotone voice.

“Let me introduce you, buddy,” the man told Ichiro. “This is my number-one apprentice, Edward.”

“You have apprentices?” Ichiro asked.

“Of course. Though there’s no Skill for handing down techniques or anything like that...”

The only motion for striking steel with a hammer was the one that came with the Blacksmith-exclusive Art, “Iron Forge.” That plus Skill effects like Ironmaking and Refining were what allowed a player to combine component items and make new equipment. Of course, the success rate changed depending on the player’s Skill and Art levels, which could also confer some numerical bonuses.

In other words, not one of these players knew a thing about blacksmithing; they just randomly swung the hammer around and around. Even so, the sight was enough to awe a typical newcomer.

“Ed’s a premium pack user just like you, buddy,” the man added.

“...A pleasure,” Ed said.

“Yes, a pleasure indeed,” Ichiro agreed. “If you introduced us, does that mean you want him to make my armor?”

“The sort of thing you’re asking for will probably be expensive,” Bossman said. “But I think he can handle it. And if he can’t, I’ll do it.”

“Hmm...” Ichiro thought for a few seconds. He didn’t doubt that these were the best crafting players Glasgobara had to offer. But first, he’d like to see some of the work they produced.

“I’d like to see some of Ed’s pieces. Then I’ll decide.”

Ed twitched at the use of his nickname, but nodded and pointed to the item on the anvil he was hitting with his hammer. Several component items lay there, packed all together.

“I’d like made-to-order armor, if possible,” Ichiro added.

“I’ve taken a number of orders customized to match the owner’s battle style,” Edward answered once again in his flat, nearly monotone voice. “Normally, anyone can make armor with a recipe and the necessary components, but you can also add secret components not listed in the recipe to provide new item abilities or greater stat bonuses. Messing around with that is my specialty.”

“Hmm...” Ichiro folded his arms with a hint of dissatisfaction.

Edward didn’t seem to notice it, and took the hammer off his belt once more.

A recipe was indispensable for making any kinds of weapons or armor with desirable stats. They could be purchased from NPC merchants in Glasgobara, but Alchemists or Blacksmiths got a huge discount when buying them. There was an unspoken rule, however, that when buying made-to-order items, the customer should be the one to buy the recipe. Thus, buying the items a craftsman had elected to make on their own tended to be much cheaper than buying your own items made-to-order.

Once the craftsman had prepared the item, they would be visited by a pop-up window which would let them choose the item’s design. They could combine multiple parts, patterns, and colors based on the component items and recipe, and come up with the final armor design based on that. With all that done, Ed readied his hammer in his hand, and swung it down hard on the components.

Bang, bang, bang, bang.

A satisfying metal-on-metal sound rang through the blacksmith’s shop.

“It’s done.”

The completed armor used components taken from the plant-type monsters that lived around the Lancastio Spiritwood Sea. It was colorful enough to belie the metallic components that went into making it. A truly radical design. Ichiro touched it lightly to check its stats.

Defense bonus +72, Skill slots +12, Durability 102/102. The price was 7,200 galt.

The reason Ed let him inspect it so casually was apparently because he considered it already sold. Certainly, the stats were much higher than those of the Faerie Armor Ichiro was currently wearing...

Standing behind him, Bossman nodded in satisfaction. But Ichiro was not pleased.

“Could you let me think about it a while?” he asked.

Edward flinched at Ichiro’s question. “...Are you unsatisfied?”

“From an objective point of view, there’s nothing wrong with the stats. From an objective point of view.” Ichiro didn’t try to keep up appearances with even a half-hearted smile, though he was attempting to spare Ed’s feelings in his own way. “But what is or isn’t ‘good armor’ is something I decide for myself.” Making concessions for no reason is nonsense. So I’d like a little time to think.”

“You’re pretty insensitive there, buddy,” Bossman murmured, but Ichiro just waved a hand dismissively.

“Of course, if I walk all around Glasgobara, and can’t find a single acceptable item... Well, I’ll think about it then. As I said before, the stats on the armor Ed makes are excellent.” With that, Ichiro left the workshop behind.

As he made his way out of the forge, many of the craftsmen stopped and turned to watch, having noticed a change in the atmosphere. For just a moment, Ichiro was struck by the realization that he may have done something hurtful to the young man named Edward. He instantly dismissed it, though. Nonsense. Ichiro wasn’t the kind of man who could compromise himself in order to protect someone else’s pride. The armor Edward had made did not fulfill Ichiro’s request, and that was the truth.

Back to square one, then. With gloomy footsteps, Ichiro wandered through the merchant town. He strayed from the thoroughfare into a back alley, looking at the mysterious potions and things lined up in front of a small outdoor booth, when suddenly something caught his attention.

An accessory.

And of a design he’d never seen before.

Even in Glasgobara, he’d never seen original accessories. The “Craft” Skill required to make them was largely considered undesirable, because no matter how hard you worked to make an accessory, their abilities were little more than add-ons.

“Excuse me. About this accessory...” he began.

“Welcome to Iris’s Shop!” the woman he talked to responded with a smile, but he quickly realized there was no player inhabiting it. It wasn’t an NPC, either. It was what was known as a Seller Avatar, which would sell the items in a player’s shop for them while they were logged out. Which meant that she could not give him the answer he sought.

“Do you know when your shop’s owner will return?” Ichiro asked.

“Iris is scheduled to log in every day at 7:30 PM.”

“Hmm, then I suppose I’ll wait. Ah, and could I buy all the items you’re selling in the storefront here?” Ichiro asked.

To think that this would be where he made his first in-game purchase... But the money spent was trivial. Once the items were transferred from the shop to his inventory, he took one out and looked it over in his hands.

It was a silverwork brooch styled after the butterfly wings Ichiro liked so much. The polygon rendering was a bit sloppy, of course... but that was just all the more evidence that it wasn’t native to the game.

It was handmade: a true one-of-a-kind design.

A smile appeared on Ichiro’s face; it was the kind of smile that he rarely showed to anyone. The piddling bonuses the accessories offered didn’t concern him. Ichiro had found it. The player with the crafting skill that he had longed for.

Ichiro couldn’t wait to meet this Iris person, the owner of the store.

◆　◆　◆

“So this is the brooch you bought, then?” Felicia stared in disbelief at the butterfly brooch pinned to Ichiro’s lapel.

“Please, stop staring. It’s so embarrassing...” Iris murmured, keeping her eyes averted.

Ichiro said nothing, but merely brought his teacup to his lips with a thoroughly pleased expression. Still, if what he’d said was true, that brooch must have been the first item he’d bought in the game.

The polygon rendering really was sloppy.

“Did you really think it was all that great?” Iris ventured.

“In all honesty, I found the design crude.”

“Well, excuse me!” Iris said, glaring at Ichiro. “It’s the first thing I ever made for the game. I know that’s not much of an excuse, but it embarrasses me.”

“But you were happy he bought it, weren’t you?” Felicia asked.

“Well...” Though she seemed to agree with Felicia’s suggestion, Iris wouldn’t admit to it outright.

It really did get under Felicia’s skin, and she was determined not to let the subject continue. She tried to think about something else instead.

That’s right. Ichiro had mentioned a man named Edward, and Felicia was sure she’d heard that name somewhere in the game before.

It was just as she folded her arms and began to think that a sound rang out, announcing that a player had logged in to the guild house lobby. Iris, Kirschwasser, and the other players listening to the story all turned to see who it was.

Felicia looked as well, then stared speechlessly, in shock.

The player who’d appeared was far from the usual humanoid silhouette. Nonhumans were not unusual. Felicia often saw players, like Ichiro, who had horns and tails, and characters who wore full-body plate mail could look quite enormous. But this one was fundamentally different. It had a protruding breastplate that resembled an inverse triangle, large gauntlets, and wore what looked like a full-face helmet over an unusually small head. Instead of eyes, it had two glowing, narrow lenses.

“Hey, Ed,” Ichiro greeted him.

The man froze in his tracks as Ichiro addressed him. His eyes darted about — or rather, his lenses flickered. “M-Mr. Tsuwabuki...”

“Oh, is this person Ed? That is... is he a person?” Felicia looked between them quickly, while Ichiro remained perfectly calm. Judging from Iris and Kirschwasser’s reactions, it seemed this was indeed the Edward in question.

“He’s Ed, yes,” confirmed Ichiro. “He’s a Machina. That’s a premium package-exclusive race.”

“Oh, is that... what a Machina looks like?”

“It is.”

Edward didn’t respond, but from the way he went silent and the light of his blue lens-eyes dimmed, he clearly wasn’t feeling well.

“Ah, s-sorry...” Felicia stammered.

“No, it’s not your fault...” A synth effect overlaid Edward’s voice as he spoke.

The air around them was tense. Ichiro’s presence clearly made Edward ill at ease. The story suggested that the animus must have drawn from Ichiro’s snub of Edward, but that wasn’t enough to explain this atmosphere.

When Felicia looked to Iris for answers, she saw the other girl cringing, as if she was trying to disappear. There was none of her in-your-face attitude from before.

“Oh, Miss Iris,” Edward said. “I’m sorry about before.”

“Oh, yeah, um, it’s okay...” Iris mumbled. “Don’t sweat it. It’s all his fault, anyway...”

The sight of Edward apologizing politely to Iris, and Iris blaming it all on Ichiro, just made things even more confusing.

“...Ah!” Despite her confusion, Felicia traced back the thread of memory in her mind, and at last arrived at her goal.

The name Edward... The leader of the Red Sunset Knights, Stroganoff, had mentioned it when they were wandering the Necrolands looking for King Kirihito.

“I remember now! You’re the one Itchy knocked out with one punch!” Felicia clapped her hands as she finally made the connection in her mind, then realized she had made a fatal mistake.

“I’m sorry...” Felicia apologized again as she saw the light in Edward’s eyes dim once more.

“No, it’s okay... That is what happened...” Edward slumped despondently and shook his head. He was seeming to her like a rather decent person.

Ichiro Tsuwabuki, who had apparently taken out this decent person in one punch, merely set his empty teacup down on his saucer with a satisfied expression. “I was just telling Felicia here about how Iris Brand came to be founded.”

“Though he hasn’t actually gotten to that point yet...” Iris murmured.

“I was just getting to the meat of the story. Ed, would you like to join us?”

“Me?” If Edward had had a normal human face, it probably would have been contorted in horror. Machinas had a variety of facial parts to choose from, and it seemed quite a few of them were human-like. But with Ed, the eyes were the only part from which you could read his emotions. Judging from the way he acted, that might have been intentional.

“Very well. I’ll join in.”

But surprisingly, he accepted the offer, and with a murmured “excuse me,” he sat down in an empty seat.

Judging from the way he was acting, he didn’t seem like he was looking forward to a harmonious discussion. Rather, he seemed to have only joined in because the thought of turning Ichiro down made him uncomfortable.

“Mr. Ed, are you the kind of person who really doesn’t like to lose?” Felicia asked idly.

Edward said nothing.

“I’m sorry...” she said.

“It’s okay...”

The apology-and-dismissal interaction had happened a third time.

Sir Kirschwasser spoke up. “Sir Edward, here. A humble cup of tea.”

“Thanks.” Edward took the tea that Kirschwasser laid before him. He raised the cup to his mouth instinctively, but the cup hit his face-plate and let out an empty clank.

Seeming slightly embarrassed, Edward removed the obstructing plate. There was no mouth beneath it; just a small slot.

“Being a Machina must be hard, huh, Mr. Edward?” Felicia asked politely.

“Well, I’m the one who chose the race...” Edward dexterously poured the tea into the slot.

“Now that we’re all here, let’s continue the story,” Ichiro said, seeming genuinely glad to have Edward around.

He had always been this way. Felicia knew that well. He had a tendency to like someone more the more they hated him, so it was only natural that he had taken a shine to Edward.

But, that meant...

Felicia raised her eyes to the ceiling for a moment. The thought was too frightening to pursue.

“Iris, I’d like to hear the story from your own lips,” Ichiro said.

“Huh? Mine?” The red-haired Elf startled as the conversation was abruptly thrown to her.

“Yes. I’ve told the story up until I met you. I’d like to hear what made you decide to create my equipment.”

“Easier said than done...” Iris’s gaze became rather distant. “Well, don’t expect me to make it sound interesting...”

Despite that, she took a deep breath, and picked up where Ichiro had left off.