A/N: Wow, I actually got some reviews. Thank you all, let's check the mailbag:

Anon: Thanks. I'm trying to make Koei not the typical Kirito OP AF douchebag who gets all the ladies. I'll fail, but I'm trying, dammit.

TheEnderThief: Thank you! Though you bring up an interesting question with shipping.

Short answer: Kinda.

Slightly longer answer: Koei himself is a bit awkward to ship, considering that I've made it clear that he's a self-insert and I'm not into that, personally.

Canon characters though? I'm all for that. One ship particular I want to sail may be appearing later~

Blacksout123: I think starting from after this chapter (As I said it's a part 2 to Chapter 4), I'll start posting less frequent, but chunkier chapters. While I like a chapter that I can bang out in a few hours or so, the shorter length might turn some people off.

I feel that 3-5k words is a perfectly fine length for a chapter personally, but that's me. I'll definitely start slowing down the pace of posting at least. Might get a backlog going.

RedBurningDragon: I prefer to think of IF as a true neutral rather than working for Planeptune exclusively. The Wind of Gameindustri or something like that. Why she's in Lowee in particular? Well, I have been dropping a few hints.

Also you know how IF kinda acts like a Chuunibyou with her overly dramatic names for moves and her fucking qatars? (There's a reason I brought up her 5 year old self, who is even worse in this regard, if not technically Hyperdimension canon.)

Yeah, the Guildmaster thing is totally part of that. Once again, all will be revealed~

(Also it was a bit of a plothole, along with the "Inventory" thing I brought up way back in chapter 1, oops.)

Enough rambling, on with the carnage!

Understandably, I wanted to catch up to White He- Blanc and attempt to explain myself and maybe apologise for pushing her too hard. Grabbing my backpack and Serenity, I rushed down to the lobby of the hostel.

The bad news is that she wasn't there. The good news is that IF was there, as disinterested and fiddling on her phone as ever.

"Heeey, IF! Did you happen to see a girl covered in white sprint out of the door in disgust and anger?" I asked, as if that was a normal thing to ask someone. I took a moment to realize what I just said, but IF seemed to shake off the very easily misinterpreted comment.

"You mean Blanc, right?" IF barely turned away from her phone. "Yup, she seemed pretty pissed." No shit.

"Look, as a guildmaser, I'm sure you know the best way to track down an angry CPU, right?" I asked, hopefully.

Surprisingly, IF put down her phone and turned to look me in the eyes. "Yeahhh, guildmaser isn't exactly a real thing. It just sounded cool."

"I… See…." For the first time since coming here, I felt my eye twitch out of fustration. This raised further questions. Actually, fuck it. I have more questions.

"IF, I have… several questions." I state calmly. Probably too calmly given the current situation. IF didn't seem to notice the unsettling aura I was giving off.

"So, about the fact that I just so happened to be at the Lowee Guild when you turned up, the fact that I just so happened to be at the hostel where you and Blanc were or the fact that I know exactly who you are and where you're from?" Right out of the gate, that's certainly not suspicious.

"Just… how. To all of these." I felt my sanity drip away again as I took a seat opposite to the brunette.

"Well, your "arrival" so to speak wasn't totally out of the blue. I'm originally from Planeptune, actually an-"

"So why are you in Lowee?" I cut in.

"Save all questions until the end Arsonist," IF cut back before continuing. "So, I'm from Planeptune. However, the Oracle, Histoire… Well to put it lightly she felt a disturbance. She's a tome who records all of Gamindustri's history. She wanted me in particular to go investigate because sending the CPU would be… Problematic."

"Is it because of the Console War? Because it doesn't seem much like a war…"

"Partially. But also because the CPU is an absolute ditz who would end up revealing herself and her mission if asked politely. It makes things such as this absurdly difficult. Hence why I had to come alone." IF took a moment to place a finger underneath her chin, as if contemplating something.

"So why did you turn up at the Guild, call yourself a Guildmaster and "approve" my spellblade? Am I even authorized to use this?"

"Don't worry about the spellblade thing. It took a bit of extra paperwork and the approval from one of the actual higher-ups. I only turned up to make it seem more personal and get a look at you."

"So… You've been stalking me this entire time, haven't you?" I would have phrased it like a joke, but now I had legitimate concerns that this IF weirdo had been stalking me over the last two days.

"Yes." Wow, that was… Painfully honest. "Sorry, but when dealing with someone from another dimension, you have to take precautions. If it makes you feel any better, you don't seem to be half-bad, Koei." IF gave a ghost of a smile.

"That's nice at least," I think I deadpanned a bit. "But where does Blanc fit into all this?"

IF raised an eyebrow. "Oh, her? Yeah, that was entirely coincidental. She didn't even know who you really were until I let her in. This may also explain why she rescued you at Aqualentis Lake-"

"And called me and I quote, "other-dimensional fuckbag."" I interrupted to give out that quip."Girl has anger issues."

"Speaking of," IF quickly changing the topic. "You wanted to know where she went, right? I believe at this point she'd just head to the Lowee Basilicom, north-east of here. Can't miss it, considering it's a giant castle with mushrooms on." IF helpfully described.

"Ah, thanks. Guess I'll head to the Basillicom and see where I can go from there. See ya, guildmaster." I chuckled before giving a wave to the angry middle schooler and briskly walked out of the door.

Feeling the crunch of fresh snow underneath my tread, I hustled over to the general store once again. Why? Because by god, I am bad at directions. You can point somewhere, say "go there" and I'll be fine but anything beyond that and you might not see me for three weeks.

So, a compass will do. Why not a map? Because maps don't help when you have no idea where North is. And as my destination is to the north-east… You can figure out why I'd want the simplicity of a compass.

Along with this, as this may be a bit of a long trek, I decided to stock up on some Nep Bulls. I hear these are good for restoring stamina and look like energy drinks, so I bought a 6-pack of them and stuck them in my backpack.

Now if this was like one of those post-apocalyptic survival games, I'd say I'm approaching my weight limit at this point. At the very least, with all the clothes, extra beer and healing items I now have, the bag is looking pretty tightly packed and that's a problem.

I really need to learn how to open the "inventory" already. Hammerspace is a skil I sorely need. Ah well, no time like the present. With my supplies ready and my new shiny Compass pointing north, I trudge out of Toadstool Town's north exit, take a look at my right and-

Goddammit I can see the Basilicom from here. If this was anything like any normal open world game that thing would not be visible from here. Whatever, it only cost 100 Credits. With a hearty sigh, I pocket the useless trinket and head off to the Basilicom to right wrongs and possibly get a place to stay.

If anything, this felt like the start of a new arc of my time here. I have the ropes down and now I'm travelling from Toadstool Town for the first time. I'm sure it's nothing major, though.

Arc 1 Complete!

Current Status:

Koei Tech: Level 7 Novice Spellblade

Party Members: None

Lily Ranks: IF (Okay) Blanc (Hate)

Current Skills: Frostball, Frostbolt, Frostblast, Fireball

Would you like to save your progress? Yes | No

A/N: Okay I'm sorry, I had to leave off on a definitive end before I started working on the next arc of the plot. These last 5ish chapters have been, well, Arc 1. I feel that I've wrapped up at least some of the foreshadowing I sprinkled throughout earlier chapters, without losing too much of the overlying mystery of how and why Koei is here.

As I said at the top of this chapter, this is where the pace slows down a bit in terms of writing. I'm going to need more time to work on longer, more substantial chapters, rather than the shorter vignettes that I've been plopping out. Hopefully I won't either lose the charming writing I have for Koei or that I just burn out entirely and forget about this little passion project of mine.

Why do I feel like I just set a flag? Oh well, next time on Koei Tech, actual fucking plot! See you then!