Volume 1, Chapter 83 – So I’m Actually a Mascot?

After entering the Northern Fortress, Tianyin and the others found that unlike the bustling and lively towns they had seen elsewhere, there wasn’t a single trace of such liveliness here.

Instead, the streets were filled with fully armed soldiers clad in armor, holding a variety of weapons as they patrolled back and forth.

It could be said that the entire Northern Fortress was shrouded in a tense and grim atmosphere. The flags of the Seven Kingdoms and Three Empires were planted in every corner, and in each corner stood soldiers from the Kingdom Faction, armed to the teeth.

Seeing the soldiers patrolling back and forth, Tianyin couldn’t help but recall what the guard at the entrance had just said to her.

“Wuu, looks like the Beastmen from the Stronghold really are about to attack the Northern Fortress~”

She muttered to herself.

“Master, Master, should we join this battle? It feels like there’ll be a quest we can profit from!”

Hearing her loli disciple’s words, Tianyin rolled her eyes at Mengyao.

Tianyin knew that Mengyao was a player, and according to the System’s logic, in places where large-scale battles were about to break out, there would definitely be story quests allowing players to participate.

But even though she knew that, saying it out loud was another matter entirely.

After all, in Tianyin’s current view, the battle between the Beastmen Faction’s Stronghold and the Human Alliance of the Kingdom Faction… What did that have to do with a neutral race loli girl like her?

Thinking that, Tianyin almost laughed. She even wanted to say “rain girl has no melon ¹ A Chinese phrase that means ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ ” while she was at it.

“Xiaomengyao, now isn’t the time for us to get involved. Seriously, what we should be doing is using the teleportation array here in the Northern Fortress to reach Storm City. That’s what really matters…”

Tianyin patiently explained.

“Eh? Fine, Master, I don’t really have any particular thoughts about joining the battle anyway. I just thought that if we joined, it might help raise Master’s level, and that’d be great~”

Mengyao sighed lightly, her tone sounding as if she were lamenting something.

“Wuu… leveling up is a small matter, it’ll definitely get better later. This kind of thing… this kind of thing isn’t a problem at all!”

“Pfft, yes yes, not a problem. But Master, even if your level is low, thanks to your Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense skill, there’s practically no one in this world who can hurt you. That’s why Master isn’t afraid of anyone~”

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The words “Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense” were something Tianyin never wanted to hear again. Hearing Mengyao say it made her mood instantly sour.

“Xiaoyin doing Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense is very cute. I like it.”

The undead girl Bingxue quietly wrote a line of words and showed them to Tianyin. Her small, expressionless face seemed to turn a little red.

“Pfft. Wait, what do you mean it’s cute when I’m doing Hug-Your-Head Crouch Defense?! And you’re an undead! How can an undead even blush?!”

“Master, that’s where you’re wrong. When you’re being cute, even undead can’t help but blush~”

“What kind of twisted nonsense is that?!”

Tianyin felt like her loli disciple was going to be the death of her. Thinking back, why had she taken this girl as her disciple in the first place? It must’ve been because she’d been deceived by Mengyao’s cute appearance back then…

“Hey, Master, where’s the teleportation array?”

Seeing Tianyin about to blow up, Mengyao quickly changed the topic.

“Wuu, almost there. Let me see… well, it should be just up ahead, somewhere around…”

Tianyin brought up the map to check their location. Although she was a loli, one pleasant surprise was that she wasn’t a total direction idiot.

“Master… I think you’re looking at the map upside down…”

“That’s impossible! Your Master is not directionally challenged. There’s no way I’d ever look at a map upside down!”

Tianyin said confidently while pointing toward the direction she thought was right.

“But Master… that’s the fortress entrance…”

“…”

……

In the end, the group finally arrived at the location of the Northern Fortress’s teleportation array.

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But just when they thought they’d reached their goal, something unexpected happened.

“What? The teleportation array can’t be used for the time being?”

Tianyin looked at the gatekeeper NPC explaining it to her with a puzzled face.

“Why is that? Wait, aren’t teleportation arrays supposed to be open to everyone?”

After all, teleportation arrays in the game were practically broken features. As long as one could afford it, a player could travel across the entire game world in a single day.

Of course, that was assuming they had an absurd amount of gold to waste in the first place.

“I’m very sorry, but the teleportation arrays won’t be available to the public for a while. The Stronghold attack is about to begin, and the Kingdom has requisitioned them. So for now, you should find somewhere safe to hide. Once the battle is over, you can return and use the teleportation array to go wherever you need.”

The NPC gatekeeper was polite, but what he said still caught Tianyin off guard.

“I see…”

Tianyin felt quite disappointed. She had thought she could use the teleportation array to easily reach Storm City… but things had turned out this way instead.

After saying goodbye to the NPC, Tianyin had no choice but to leave the Northern Fortress temporarily, planning to hide elsewhere until the battle ended before returning to take the teleportation array to Storm City.

……

“What? We can’t leave? Why not?! The Beastmen haven’t even arrived yet! Why can’t we go out?!”

To Tianyin’s surprise, when they tried to leave through the main gate, they were stopped by Kingdom soldiers.

“We’re just following orders. We don’t know the details, but you’re not allowed to leave right now.”

The soldier blocking them spoke firmly, his tone making it clear that leaving was impossible.

Faced with this, Tianyin’s mood turned gloomy.

All she wanted was to get to Storm City, so why did she have to run into this kind of trouble, right when the Stronghold decided to attack the Northern Fortress?

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And if she remembered correctly, the System’s description of the Beastmen’s annual attack on the Kingdom said it always happened after the autumn harvest…

But it was only March or April right now. Even if it was early, wasn’t this way too early?

“Master… what should we do now?”

Knowing they couldn’t leave, Mengyao seemed at a loss.

“What else can we do… let’s find a place to stay for now. Once the Stronghold’s attack is over, we’ll head to Storm City…”

For now, waiting was the only option. Given the situation, the three lolis couldn’t go anywhere anyway, so staying put was the most logical choice.

So, Tianyin and the others found an open inn in the Northern Fortress and checked in.

Although it was called an inn, they were really just staying in a tiny partitioned room on the second floor. The space was small, and there was only one bed…

Still, since all three of them were lolis, even if the bed was small, they could just barely fit together.

Inside the cramped room, Tianyin sat in a slightly sulky mood, thinking about the day’s events, while Mengyao and Bingxue seemed carefree, chatting quietly, one speaking, one writing, and occasionally sneaking glances at Tianyin.

“You two can chat all you want, but why do you keep staring at me? Am I really that nice to look at?”

After catching them a few times, Tianyin finally spoke up, exasperated.

“So, what are you two talking about? Why keep looking at me?”

“Nothing much, Master. I was just discussing with Bingxue what kind of person Master really is~”

“Suu…”

Bingxue nodded, confirming Mengyao’s words.

“Oh? Discussing what kind of person I am? Let’s hear it then.”

In truth, Tianyin herself had no clear idea what kind of person she had become. Ever since that damned System had installed that weird “plugin,” her personality had grown stranger and stranger.

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Sometimes even she couldn’t tell if she was still the same person she used to be…

“Master, do you really want to know? I think it might be better if I don’t say…”

Mengyao seemed hesitant.

“What’s there to be shy about? Don’t worry, I won’t get emotional over something trivial like that. You can relax, Xiaomengyao~”

No, Master, you definitely will… Mengyao thought, but didn’t say it aloud.

“Then I’ll say it?”

“Go on, I want to know how I look in others’ eyes~”

“Mm… after discussing it with Xiaobingxue, we came to the conclusion that the Master is a really gentle person. Of course, you’re also very cute, an adorable and kind person, whose angry look is even cuter. Even though you can be pretty dumb sometimes, that just makes you feel like a mascot, someone who can make others happy without even trying… Well, to sum it up, Master, you’re really just a very good person~”

“So I’m cute when I’m angry? I’m actually that dumb? And I’m a good-person mascot?”

For a moment, Tianyin doubted her very existence.

“So in your eyes, this Tianyin is just a mascot meant to be cute?!”

Translator Note

The remaining chapters are the main plot of the first volume and finally we will have action battle scenes again. There are 11 chapters remaining until the end of volume 1.

So, I will try to release them as premium chapters all at once tomorrow ya~