Chapter 2
I stood helplessly, my feet rooted to the ground, as I watched a giant boar with glowing red eyes charge toward Songoku. "Nanashi, do something!" Goku cried as the boar got closer. But I couldn't do anything. I couldn't move. I couldn't even speak.
"Aaaagh!" Goku screamed as the red boar's tusk pierced his gut. I watched his HP drop to zero and his avatar burst into countless polygonal shards. The word "DEAD" appeared over his HP bar in the top left corner of my vision.
"Goku!" Mathilde shrieked. She roared furiously, with tears in her eyes, and ran toward the boar. As she got close she lifted her sword above her head, but before she could strike the boar leaned forward on its forelimbs and kicked. Mathilde choked as the blow hit her square in the chest and she flew back several meters. I reached out to her, my hand trembling, but my feet still wouldn't move. I could only watch as the red boar strode to where Mathilde lay on the ground.
She couldn't get up. She had probably been stunned. As the boar stood lazily on its hind legs Mathilde squeezed her eyes shut and covered her head with her hands. I saw one last tear fall from her cheek as the boar's hooves pierced her armor and her frame burst into nothing.
"Mathilde…" I felt hot tears streaming down my cheeks as I watched, still rooted to the ground. The red boar finally turned its attention to me. It pawed the ground, kicking back dirt, and snorted. I lifted my sword and stood ready but my hands were still shaking. I knew I wouldn't be able to beat it on my own. I was going to die here. My HP was going to drop to zero, and then the ExcelRig on my head in the real world would trigger as much pain as physically possible before I went into shock and my heart stopped.
The boar began to charge. It felt like an eternity passed as it stampeded toward me. It got closer, closer. I couldn't stop my hands from shaking. I couldn't turn to run. There was only a meter between the boar and I now. It roared and lowered its head to strike.
And then I rolled out of bed and hit the wooden floor with a painful thud.
"Ow…"
I rubbed my eyes and checked the clock in the top right corner of my vision. 11:24.
"Tch…"
Was that all I'd managed? I hadn't even slept through half the day. I wondered if I could fall asleep again, but as I started to crawl back into bed I heard a knock on the wooden door frame.
"Nanashi! Rise 'n' shine, kiddo!"
"Hm…?" Who the heck could that be? I wondered. I got to my feet and wrapped my blanket around my shoulders and over my head like a cloak, then sauntered to the door frame and pulled back the canvas flap that separated my room from the hallway.
"Hello…?" I poked my head through the doorway and looked to each side, but I didn't see anyone. "Hm… Guess it was nothing." I turned around and let the canvas sheet fall back into place.
"Hey!" a high-pitched and nasally voice pierced my ears and a small hand shot forward and caught the canvas door flap. "I'm right here! Are ya blind or somethin'!?" The hand pulled back the canvas sheet and a small, hooded figure stepped into the door frame. The tiny avatar stood with their hands on their hips and looked up at me with an irritated frown.
The cloaked figure was about a head shorter than me and had a slight frame. Under the hood I could just make out a pair of light brown eyes and even lighter brown hair, almost blonde, which fell in short curls beside pale cheeks with long bangs nearly covering the eyes.
"Uhm… Who are you?"
"Who am I? C'mon, I don't look that different!"
"Uh… Sorry, kid. I don't recognize you."
"Kid!?" The cloaked figure pouted and folded their arms across their chest. "Who're you callin' 'kid'? You don't look that much older than me, an' I'm fourt—" The person clamped their hand over their mouth, but it was a little too late. "Forget you heard that."
"Right… Already forgot," I lied.
"At any rate… Ya seriously don't remember me?"
"Uh…" I scratched my head. "Remind me…?"
"Well, I could tell ya," the small figure chimed, smirking slyly. "But I'd have ta charge ya fer that info."
"Charge me…? Wait a minute…" I leaned a bit closer. I hadn't seen it at first in the darkness, but when I squinted I could just make out three whiskers on each of the cloaked figure's cheeks. "Nezumi!?" I reeled back in shock and let my blanket fall to the floor, then stared at the girl, my eyes bulging and jaw agape.
"Hey, don't look at me like that!" she huffed. "It's not like I'm the only one who looks different! Take you, for example. You're… You're… Hm." Nezumi's eyes darted up and down, scanning my avatar. She folded one arm across her abdomen and rested her elbow in her open hand, then propped her head up on the other hand. "You're actually kinda cute, aren'tcha?"
"…Huh?"
"Way better-lookin' than that lame, generic fantasy avatar ya made."
My outfit wasn't anything special—a moss green shirt, loose-fitting pants made of brown cloth, and plain leather boots—and I had relatively plain features, too. Blue eyes—I'm only half Japanese—long, shaggy, brown hair, and a pretty standard build. I couldn't see myself as "cute" or anything of the sort, so I assumed she was teasing me.
"Hey, that avatar took me forever to make!"
"Preachin' to the choir, kiddo."
"Right…" I remembered the beautiful avatar I'd met the day Legacy had launched and coughed, hoping it would cover up the laugh I was holding back as I looked down at the childlike girl before me.
"Well?" she said, her hands on her hips.
"Hm?"
"I just gave you a compliment. The polite thing ta do would be to return it, 'specially if it's from a cute girl. Right?" She grinned and raised an eyebrow.
"W-well…" I scratched the back of my head and felt my cheeks get hot, then looked away. "Did you come here for a reason?"
"Oh, that's right!" She pounded her fist into her open palm. "I almost forgot." Nezumi invited herself in, strutted across my room and dropped herself onto my bed, then lifted her foot and rested it on her knee. "I got a proposition for ya."
"Proposition…?"
"Yep. There's a tough quest I need ta finish, and I need someone ta watch my back."
"Pass."
"What!? But ya haven't even heard all the details!"
"I don't need to. There's no way I'm going out there." I sat on the windowsill and stared through the glass as an excuse to avoid making eye contact.
"So yer just gonna sit here and do nothin'?"
"Until we're rescued, yes. There's no point in risking our lives."
"Nanashi…" Nezumi's posture tightened and she looked down at her feet. "No one's—"
"Don't."
"…"
I knew what she was going to say. I didn't need to hear it.
"Oh well," she said, shrugging. "Guess you win."
"That easily…?"
"Yep! I won't ask ya ta help me. But…" Nezumi exaggerated the length and pitch of the last word. "Why don'tcha let me treat ya to lunch? Y'know, as an apology for bargin' in all uninvited and whatnot."
"No thanks," I said, waving dismissively. "I'll just have something here." I didn't like the look in her eye.
"Ku ku ku," she laughed villainously. "If you're fine with just eatin' the same crummy black bread day in and day out, I won't say nothin'. It's yer choice, after all…"
"What're you saying…?" As far as I knew, there weren't any options for food around Tent City other than the black bread sold by a few vendors around town. The assumption was that the menu would expand as we progressed through the game. Unlocking new areas would grant the vendors access to new types of ingredients, allowing them to prepare different foods. There was a cooking skill in the game, but that faced the same dilemma. There weren't many ingredients in the areas around Tent City, and even if there were, not many players were wasting their precious few skill slots on a skill like cooking. For those reasons, it was impossible to come across anything other than the tasteless black bread found throughout town.
"No, no, it's fine. To each their own, an' all that. I mean, I think it's a little plain, but…" Nezumi stood up and went for the door, ducked under the canvas flap, and left the room.
"W…wait…" I bolted across the room and poked my head outside in time to see Nezumi skipping downstairs. "Nezumi!?" I threw the door flap out of my way and ran to catch up with her. "Wait for me!"
Nezumi ignored me, humming merrily as I followed her to the first floor. She passed the front desk and pushed through the saloon-style double doors, leaving what passed for an inn in Tent City, then crossed the dirt path and plopped down on a shoddily-crafted wooden bench.
"Ugh," I squinted and shielded my eyes from the sunlight as I crossed the path and sat down beside her.
"You need ta get out more, kiddo," Nezumi said. "Sunlight is good for ya."
"It's not real sunlight, though. And this isn't my real body, so it's not like I can get Vitamin D from basking in the sun or anything."
"True. But shuttin' yourself up in a dark room all day ain't good fer yer soul."
"Whatever you say…"
I stayed quiet for a moment as I watched the droves of players solemnly dragging themselves along the trail, looking as though they'd lost all sense of purpose and hope.
"I can't believe we've been stuck in here for a month already… Has anyone found the boss for this area yet?"
"Nope. Even though it's just a small fragment o' the overall game, this area's massive. The Assault Team only has a handful of players, so it's takin' 'em forever just to explore it."
"Assault Team?"
"The players workin' ta clear the game. There aren't a lot, unfortunately, because so few folks are willin' put themselves in danger. At this rate…"
"Did you say something about lunch?" I snapped, hoping to steer the conversation elsewhere.
"Oh, yeah. Almost forgot."
Nezumi waved her hand in the air to call up her menu and poked around a bit. Then, after a moment, two rolls of black bread materialized in her hand. She handed one of them to me with a mischievous smirk.
"This…looks just like ordinary black bread."
"Patience, my child."
Nezumi poked a few more items in her menu and a small pot appeared in her hand. She placed the pot on the bench between us, then tapped the lid and the tip of her finger began to glow. Her finger left behind a trail of thick, golden cream as she ran it across the top of her bread slice.
"Whoa!"
"Try some," Nezumi said before she started to nibble on the bread.
"Wait… What's the catch?"
"Catch!?" Nezumi gasped mockingly, putting a hand over her chest to indicate having her heart broken, and turned to face me with an exaggerated look of pain. "Why, Nanashi! There is no catch. I just wanna do somethin' nice fer a friend!"
"So…you're not gonna charge me?"
"Nope. On the house, kiddo. Help yerself."
"OK…" I tapped the lid of the tiny pot and my finger began to glow. Then, I ran it across the top of my bread. My stomach growled when the cream appeared, and I swallowed in anticipation. I took a bite out of the bread and froze for a moment, then stuffed the rest of it into my mouth all at once.
"Heh. Pretty good, right?"
"Yeah… It's delicious! Where'd you get this stuff?"
"Heheh…" Nezumi half grinned, half smirked, and the evil glint in her eye was back. "Well," she started, kicking her feet back and forth as she nibbled on her bread. "I can tell ya. And ya won't even have to pay for the info."
"Not with Col, anyway…"
"Nyaha, you really are a smart boy."
"So, you'll tell me how to get this cream if I help you with that quest you mentioned earlier. That right?"
"Bingo."
I tightened my grip on the edge of the bench and took a sharp breath, then let it out slowly. "Why me? I couldn't have been your first choice."
"Nope. You were pretty much last on my list, actually," she chimed carelessly. "Everyone else is either busy with their own stuff or too scared ta leave town."
"Don't I fall into the latter category, though?"
"Maybe… Maybe not…"
"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"
Nezumi sat up straight and looked serious for the first time since I'd met her. She stopped kicking her feet, then gazed off into space and spoke softly. "You're scared, I get it. We all are. But you're not like the rest of these people. Sittin' here on your hands, wastin' away in bed, waitin' for a rescue that'll never come… That's not who you are. Ya just don't know it yet."
I held my breath as she spoke and my eyes widened a bit. "What makes you say that…?" This sounded to me like one of those moments in anime where someone tells the hero that he's destined for greatness or something like that.
"Hm…" Nezumi bit her lip and lowered her head, then began to fidget, touching the tips of her index fingers together. Then, just as I let myself think she looked cute like that, she snapped back to her usual self and shrugged. "I dunno."
"Huh…?" I asked, confused.
"I guess I just said that stuff 'cause it sounded cool in the moment."
"…What…?" I asked, outraged.
"Nyahaha. Anyway, ya can't give up. Aren't there people in this world that ya wanna protect?"
I blushed a bit and felt my heartbeat quicken. "What makes you think so…?"
Nezumi jumped to her feet and clasped her hands together at her chest, then began to flutter her eyelashes. "Mathilde! Mathilde!" she sang.
"!?"
"I'm coming, Mathilde! I'll save you!"
"Where did you hear that!?"
"You talk in your sleep."
"I thought you couldn't hear through another player's door!"
"Nyahaha, maybe ya left it partially open by accident. So, who's Mathilde, anyway?"
"Shhh!" I hissed. I looked around and noticed that several people, player and NPC alike, had stopped what they were doing to watch Nezumi's performance. "Alright, I'll help you with your stupid quest!"
"Really!? Yay!" Nezumi clapped her hands and hopped once, grinning from ear to ear.
"Just…promise me we'll be careful."
"Don't worry, kiddo. I'm not gonna let anything happen to ya."
"You'd better not. Because if I die, I'll come back as a ghost-type mob and haunt you."
. . .
Just before we reached the main gate leading out of Tent City I opened my menu and equipped the leather chest piece, fingerless gloves, belt, and short sword that came by default with every avatar, as well as a brown leather jacket I'd bought from a street vendor. Spending my precious Col on a jacket instead of food was probably not a smart move, but I thought it looked cool. Plus, its stats were nothing to sneeze at.
Nezumi snickered. "Is that really all you have?"
"Yeah. I haven't gone outside since the first day."
"Seriously…? Wow, your level must be pretty low. What're you, like, level three?"
"Nailed it."
"…Oh, boy…"
"…What?"
"N-nothing!"
"…Why'd you stutter just then?"
"No reason! It's nothing ta worry about."
"Nezumi!"
"Hey! Relax, kiddo. I said I'd keep ya safe, and I meant it. The plan was ta be careful from the get-go, so everything'll be just fine. Nothin's changed."
"…Right…"
We pushed the gate open and headed into the huge field just outside Tent City. There were Frenzy Boars everywhere, but no players in sight. I assumed that the few who were working to clear the game had already moved on to hunting fields with higher EXP yields.
"So, where are we going, anyway?"
"In there." Nezumi pointed to a dense, massive forest across the field.
"In there…?"
"Yep. To complete the quest we need a 'Little Nepenthes's Ovule.' It only drops from a mob called a 'Little Nepenthes,' and only a specific variant, at that. Nepenthes only spawn in the forest area, so, naturally, we've got ta go in there."
"Of course we do…"
I followed the tiny girl across the field, carefully mimicking her actions as she wove quickly and quietly between groups of Frenzy Boars to keep from drawing their aggro. We reached the treeline without a hitch and followed the path into the forest. The trees were light at first, but as we got deeper into the forest the path disappeared, the trunks of the trees grew thicker, and there were more of them, with their leaves interlocking to block out the sun almost entirely. For a moment I thought it had become nighttime already, but my clock read "13:02". When I asked Nezumi how much further we had to go she told me we weren't even close, so I sighed inwardly and kept my mouth shut for the next forty five minutes.
"Wait a sec…" I stopped in my tracks and and signaled Nezumi to stop as well.
"Hm?" She looked back at me over her shoulder and cocked her head to the side.
"Shh… Do you hear that?"
"…Yeah, I hear it." Nezumi's voice got low and she drew her dagger as the sound of rustling leaves got closer.
"What is that?" I took a step backward instinctively and frantically whipped my head from side to side, looking for the source of what sounded like rapid footsteps.
"Probably…" As Nezumi spoke, a massive shape leaped out of the darkness and into the tiny clearing we were standing in. The huge, canine creature, considerably larger than me, snarled and growled as it bent low to the ground. "Dire Wolves! An' this one's an alpha!"
Nezumi dashed toward the Dire Wolf quickly without a hint of hesitation. "Hurry, Nanashi! We have to kill it quickly!"
"What…? Why?" I drew my sword with a shaky hand, trying to hold back the panic steadily building in my chest. Even on day one I had frozen up in fear, and back then it was still just a game for all I knew. But now I knew the consequences of losing here. I clenched my teeth and gripped my sword tightly, trying to force my body to move, but it was no use.
Nezumi reached the wolf and the blade of her dagger glowed bright blue in the darkness. She darted past the wolf with impossible speed, cutting its flank on her way past, then twisted her body to face the creature again and drove the point into its haunch. "Nanashi! What are you waiting for!?"
When the Dire Wolf turned to face Nezumi and bared its fangs I was finally able to force myself to move. I dashed forward, trying to steel my nerves, and when I got close enough I used Slant, kicking off the ground with my left foot and cutting diagonally upward.
"There ya go!" Nezumi cheered. Her dagger glowed again and she hit the Dire Wolf four times before I could blink. As soon as I could move I hit the wolf with Slant again.
The wolf bounded away from us and lowered its body, growling loudly. I followed Nezumi's lead and we closed the distance as quickly as we could. The Dire Wolf snapped at Nezumi, but she used a Sword Skill to stop the attack, leaving both of them stunned.
"Nanashi! Switch!" Nezumi said.
"Wh-what…!?" The random use of an English word threw me off and I froze, blinking uselessly.
"Hurry up!"
I stood there in a daze, staring at Nezumi and the wolf. In hindsight, "switch" wasn't all that difficult a concept to grasp. But I'd never heard it before, and there were so many thoughts racing through my mind that I couldn't latch onto any of them for more than a second, the most frequent of which being the question "am I going to die here?"
"Tch!" Nezumi clicked her tongue as her and the wolf's post-skill animations wore off. As soon as the Dire Wolf was free to move it sat back on its haunch and threw its head back, then let out a long, ear-piercing howl.
"Dammit!" Nezumi leaped backward and landed beside me.
"What's happening?" I asked, my head darting side to side as I scanned the treeline.
"Reinforcements."
The word had barely escaped her lips before three more Dire Wolves jumped into the clearing.
"We can't handle this…" Although I said "we", what I meant was "I." "We should run!"
I turned around, but Nezumi grabbed my collar before I could take a step. "No!" she screamed. "Nanashi, you can't outrun these things! At level three your AGI stat isn't high enough."
"But we were having a hard enough time with just one!"
Nezumi narrowed her eyes and looked directly into mine. "You're right. If we stay here and fight, we might die. But, Nanashi, if you try to run you will die."
"…" I felt a shiver envelop my body. My every instinct screamed at me to run, but, faced with the two choices I had, even a coward like me could make the right decision.
"OK. I'm with you."
"Ya sure you can handle this, newbie?" Nezumi jeered casually.
I drew in a shaky breath and held it for a moment, then let it out slowly. "Let's go."
"That's the spirit."
Nezumi and I turned around and pushed off each other's backs. I raced toward the pair of wolves on the right side of the clearing while Nezumi closed in on the other two. Once I reached the wolf closest to me I gripped my sword with both hands and swung while roaring savagely. The wolf yelped and recoiled a bit. As the other one got closer I turned my blade over and swung the other way, hitting its snout. It backed off a bit and, as it did, the first wolf lunged forward and sunk its teeth into my ribcage.
I cried out and winced. The creature held on, slowly draining my HP with each second of contact. I bashed the wolf's skull with the pommel of my sword and it let go, shrinking back again.
The other wolf crouched low, baring its teeth. I could tell by its stance that it was about to jump, so I waited, fighting the urge to run. As it leaped toward me I ducked low. The Dire Wolf passed over my head and I quickly cut its belly as it did, taking out a small chunk of its HP. I stood up in time to meet the other wolf's lunging attack, knocking it back with Slant, but as I did I felt four claws tear into the flesh of my back and choked as I watched my HP bar turn from green to yellow.
I glanced quickly at Nezumi on the other side of the clearing. From what I saw in that instant she was carefully repositioning herself so that she and the wolves formed a line with one wolf behind the other, facing her, so that she only had to fight one at a time.
"Of course…" I let the first wolf get off its lunging attack, stepping quickly to the side and letting it pass me. I darted to my left, lining the two wolves up in front of me.
The one closest to me lashed out with its claws, and I held my sword horizontally in front of me, bracing the blade with my left hand. The wolf's claws made contact twice, taking two small chips out of my HP. When its attack ended I executed two sloppy cuts, afraid a Sword Skill would give the other wolf enough time to circle around. Those two attacks did next to nothing, though. The Dire Wolf attacked with its claws again, taking two more chunks out of my HP despite my best effort to block.
At this rate…
Nezumi seemed to be handling herself without issue, but she still had another wolf to deal with after she finished off the first. That meant I couldn't count on backup any time soon. If things went on like this, I would be dead in a matter of minutes. A wave of fear came with that realization, scrambling my thoughts and nearly paralyzing me. I ordered my brain to think…
I couldn't win this with just one Sword Skill. It was impossible. But just before I allowed myself to sink into despair I remembered something. I didn't have just one Sword Skill. I had two.
"What was it…?" I interrogated myself as I held the wolf's gnashing maw at bay with my sword, watching my HP bar dwindle and turn from yellow to red. "What was the other Sword Skill!?"
But it was no use. There was no way I could remember the second Sword Skill that was unlocked by default in the One-handed skill category. Because I had never looked at it. My heart sank and I felt my eyes well up with tears as I prepared myself for the end.
No. Not yet.
I pushed back against the wolf, knocking it into the other one. As it it growled at me I stepped back and repositioned myself so the two Dire Wolves were lined up. "Please…let this work…"
I still had no idea what the second Sword Skill in my arsenal was, but I knew which one I needed it to be. If I was wrong it wouldn't matter, anyway, so I thought I might as well give it a shot. I pulled the hilt of my sword back by my shoulder, parallel with the ground, as I'd seen Mathilde do so many times on the day this nightmare began. It felt as though my heart had grown wings and was trying to fly out of my chest as I heard that whirring sound effect kick in and a blue glow filled the dark clearing. Yes! I screamed internally. The Dire Wolves growled viciously as they charged straight toward me and I roared right back.
"Raaaaaagh!"
The sound that escaped my throat was primal and desperate as I thrust my blade forward and, as I did, my body shot forward like a bullet, my blade leaving a faint trail of blue light in its wake as it tore through the flank of the first Dire Wolf, then the second just an instant later. The first wolf's HP bar shrank considerably, turning red, while that of the second disappeared entirely. The Dire Wolf just behind me stood frozen as its body glowed white before shattering harmlessly. I sighed in relief as I turned to face the remaining wolf.
"!?"
My Sword Skill had sent me flying well past the wolf to the edge of the clearing. The distance, paired with the fact that it was no longer facing me, had caused the Dire Wolf's aggro to shift.
"Nezumi, watch out!"
Nezumi looked over her shoulder at the incoming Dire Wolf. Without blinking, she activated a Sword Skill and dashed forward, passing the last of her two wolves and cutting its flank as she did. The wolf shattered and the polygonal shards disappeared. Then, Nezumi twisted her body as her foot touched the ground and dashed back toward the last Dire Wolf. She drove the point of her dagger into the wolf's chest, depleting its HP and killing it. When the colored fragments had disappeared Nezumi casually returned her dagger to the sheath at her hip.
"Look at that, yer still alive," she mused. "I knew ya had it in ya."
"That makes one of us…" I huffed, my heart still pounding from the battle. "You were awesome back there. How did you manage to stay so calm?"
"Experience, kiddo. I'm used to fightin' in VR."
"Yeah, but not like this…right?"
"Well, it's true that the stakes have never been life or death before. But the feel of it hasn't changed. I know what ta expect, and I know how much I can handle. It's an unfair advantage we veterans have over the newbies."
"Yeah… It's hard to get used to fighting under these conditions."
"Even though ya say that, you're doin' pretty good. For a noob, that is."
"Thanks…I think?"
"At any rate, we're not gonna get very far if ya don't know how to use 'Switch', so I'll show ya before we fight the next mob."
"Sounds good."
It only got darker as Nezumi and I continued deeper into the forest and the sun began to set. Except for the sound of the branches and leaves crunching underfoot as we marched it was quiet, and we made it all the way to a large clearing at what I assume was the center of the forest without any more Dire Wolf attacks.
"There. Ya see 'em?" Nezumi and I crouched low behind a bush at the edge of the clearing and she pointed toward a mass of dark shapes bouncing and squirming in the darkness.
"Sort of…" I squinted, trying make out the shapes. There were six of them in the clearing, and they were grotesque. They looked like massive plant bulbs with huge, gaping mouths filled with human teeth and two tendrils protruding from their bodies, each with a large leaf at the end.
"Those're Nepenthes. That's what we're after."
"Great. Let's get this over with and go home, already."
"Nyaha…"
"What…?" I grumbled.
"It's not gonna be that easy, kiddo. Y'see, those are just the regular 'Little Nepenthes.' What we're lookin' for is one with a flower on top of its head."
"OK… So should we look somewhere else?"
"Nope. My intel says this is the best spawning ground for Little Nepenthes."
"But you just said the mob we're looking for isn't here. So…"
"So we have ta make it appear."
"'Make it appear'…?"
"That's right. If we clear out all the Nepenthes in this area it'll force 'em to respawn. We'll have ta do that until the special mob with the flower on its head shows up."
"OK… How long will that take…?"
"Well, if my intel is ta be trusted, the special variant of Little Nepenthes that drops the 'Little Nepenthes's Ovule' has a spawn rate of less than one percent."
"…"
"Ready ta get ta work, kiddo?"
"Hey, Nezumi…"
"Hm?"
"Where did you get this intel of yours, anyway?"
I looked at her seriously, but she answered with a sly smirk and a wink. "Sorry, kiddo. Trade secret."
Nezumi crept quietly into the clearing, drawing her dagger and keeping low to the ground. She gestured for me to follow and I did so, climbing over the bush and into the clearing—although reluctantly, and not nearly as quietly as she had. I kept close behind Nezumi as she circled around the edge of the clearing and stopped about ten meters away from a lone Nepenthes.
"OK, before we get started," she said, pulling a small throwing pick from her belt. "You're gonna need ta learn how to use Switch. Just do as I say, exactly when I say it. Cool?"
"I'll do my best."
"Guess that'll have to do." The throwing pick glowed faintly as she drew it back by her ear and she threw it with a shocking amount of force. It hit one of the Nepenthes, getting its attention, and the thing flailed its tendril-like vines angrily as it turned to face us, wriggling across the ground with roots that served as tentacles. I uttered a silent "thank you" to the powers that be, grateful that Nezumi had successfully pulled just one Nepenthes's aggro.
"OK, Nanashi, get ready." The Nepenthes came right up to Nezumi and when it reached her it wound its body, pulling one of its vines back behind its massive head. Nezumi reversed her grip on her dagger and twisted her body in turn. A whirring sound effect signaled the Sword Skill's activation, but she waited for a moment instead of using it. Then, as soon as the Nepenthes began to move again, Nezumi unleashed her Sword Skill. She leaped into the air, her blade soaring vertically to meet the Nepenthes's tendril. The impact visibly stunned the Nepenthes, causing it to reel backward and flail its tendrils exasperatedly. "Now, Nanashi! Use a Sword Skill!"
"Right!" I took a few rushed steps forward and activated Slant as quickly as I could. The impact knocked the Nepenthes back even further, and the thing shrieked as its HP went from green to red in an instant. "Whoa…!"
"Not bad, kiddo!" Nezumi chimed.
My post-skill animation ended before the Nepenthes could recover, so I was able to move if I had to defend myself, but I was still a bit shocked by the effectiveness of Nezumi's 'Switch' technique. Nezumi noticed and hit the Nepenthes with a quick, two-part Sword Skill and the last of its HP vanished. She sheathed her dagger and turned to face me as the creature glowed white before exploding colorfully.
"See?" She said, grinning. "With that technique, we'll be done here in no time flat."
"You're not kidding. Where did you learn how to do this?"
"Sorry, kiddo."
"Let me guess…trade secret?"
She smirked. "Bingo." I followed Nezumi back to the bushes at the edge of the clearing. "By the way, do you really only know one Sword Skill?"
"Nuh uh." I puffed out my chest and beamed. "I know two."
"Great… Are you able ta learn any more? This would go a whole lot faster if ya had more than one Sword Skill."
"Two."
"Whatever. Just check, will ya?"
"Sure…" I swiped my hand downward to call up my menu and pressed the "Skills" option for the first time since day one. I looked at the two Sword Skills I had unlocked. I was all too familiar with the first one—Slant. The second one, Rage Spike, was the skill I'd learned in our battle with the Dire Wolves. "OK… Now what?"
"What's your level in One-handed?"
"Fifty two."
"Sweet, there should be two more Sword Skills you can unlock at that level."
I tapped the two grayed out icons in my skill tree that were marked as "Lvl 50."
"Let's see… Horizontal and Sonic Leap… Sonic Leap sounds kind of cool…" I moved to click on Sonic Leap's icon, but Nezumi grabbed my wrist suddenly.
"Wait! How many skill points does Sonic Leap cost?"
"Five…"
"And how many do you have?"
"Uhm…" I scanned my skill tree until I found a number in the top right corner reading "Skill Points." "Six."
"Get Horizontal for now, it'll work better for us."
"…If you say so…" I growled and jabbed at the icon for Horizontal and bought the skill with five skill points, then quickly noted its pre-motion and closed my menu.
"Oh, stop pouting! You can unlock Sonic Leap later."
"Hmph." I puffed out my cheeks and looked away from Nezumi.
"Anyway, ready ta get ta work?"
"Yeah, I'm ready."
"OK, follow me, but not too close. I'll set 'em up for ya."
"Roger."
Nezumi leaped over the bush and dashed toward a pair of Nepenthes. They spotted her and began to wriggle toward her, waving their tendrils in the air frantically.
"We have ta take 'em out quickly before the others reach us. So don't screw up, 'kay?"
I growled, but before I could respond Nezumi hit the Nepenthes closest to her with a four-part Sword Skill, stopping it in its tracks. By the time I was close enough to strike, both Nepenthes were side by side, focused on Nezumi with their backs to me.
"Alright, Nanashi, let 'em have it!"
"Right!" Standing directly between the two Nepenthes I leveled my sword with the ground by my left side and kicked off the ground, leaping a short distance to my right. As I did, my sword traveled horizontally to my right, cleaving a red gash in each of the Nepenthes's backs. The blow took out the rest of the first Nepenthes's HP, and as its form burst into polygonal shards Nezumi hit the second one with the same four-hit skill, killing that one as well.
"Nice work, kiddo," she said, flashing me a "V" with her fingers.
"Thanks. You, too."
"Heads up." She lowered her stance and faced the three Nepenthes that were heading our way.
"Horizontal is still on cooldown…"
"No worries. Just stay calm and go with the flow."
"But—"
"Hey. Didn't I promise I wasn't gonna let anything happen to ya?"
"Y…yeah…"
"So don't worry. We can do this."
"Right…" I drew in a steady breath, narrowed my eyes, and grasped my sword tightly.
The Nepenthes reached us and one of them veered off toward Nezumi while the other two set their sights on me. I remembered what Nezumi had done against the Dire Wolves and circled the Nepenthes so they were in a line with only one visible, then used Rage Spike to zip past them, cutting their flanks in the process. I turned around as soon as my post-motion delay ended and braced my blade with my left hand to block a tendril attack from the nearest Nepenthes. In the corner of my view I noticed that Horizontal's cooldown was almost up. I moved so that the Nepenthes were both in front of me, the three of us forming a triangle, and let them get a little closer before hitting and killing them both with Horizontal.
Nezumi, having already beaten her Nepenthes and sheathed her dagger, clapped her hands slowly. "Wow. Two mobs all by yerself. Li'l newbie's all grown up!"
"Yeah, yeah." I sheathed my sword in the scabbard on my back and folded my arms across my chest. "Did you get the item you needed?"
"Of course not. Weren't you listening before?"
"Oh, right. We have to kill one with a flower on its head. So…how long before the next batch spawns?"
"Should only be a few minutes."
We waited quietly for the Nepenthes to respawn. I began tapping my foot on the ground and Nezumi twirled a lock of hair around her finger. After a few long moments of nothing, flashes of white light popped up around the clearing and dissipated, spawning in five more Nepenthes. None of them had the flower that marked them as the special mob Nezumi was looking for, so we got to work clearing them out. We killed the Nepenthes in about two and a half minutes and waited for another five for the next batch to spawn. Six more appeared, which we cleared out in about three minutes. Then we waited another five minutes and killed the four Nepenthes that appeared. Then we waited for five minutes, then killed five more Nepenthes. This went on for about forty five minutes before I sighed with frustration and stomped my foot like an angry child.
"How long is this going to take!?" I demanded.
"Statistically speaking, it could be another two hours before the flower variant spawns."
"Seriously!?"
"Nyaha, butcha never know, we could get lucky this round."
"Ugh…"
We didn't get lucky that round. We farmed Little Nepenthes for roughly two hours and forty five minutes, taking them out as quickly as we could, then waiting impatiently for them to respawn, repeating this process so many times I lost count. Finally, the special variant of Little Nepenthes with a flower on its head appeared. When we saw it we were so excited that we threw caution to the wind, dashing straight for it and getting ourselves surrounded. I nearly lost all of my HP—again—and, to make matters worse, once my panic attack had subsided Nezumi told me that the flower variant mob hadn't dropped the item she wanted, triggering an entirely new type of episode: a nervous breakdown. Nezumi watched with amusement for a few minutes before opening her inventory and setting her menu to "visible," then showed me the "Little Nepenthes's Ovule" in the item list. The roller coaster of emotion continued. By that point I'd gone from fear to despair to a mixture of elation and blinding rage over the course of just twelve minutes. Once my fit had come to an end I had to wait another two and a half minutes for Nezumi to stop laughing, and by then it was already nearly eight o'clock.
"Ahaha! Ah…" Nezumi wiped a tear from the corner of her eye—a real one this time. she'd laughed so hard that the system had actually generated a tear effect—as we walked through the woods away from the clearing full of Nepenthes. "You crack me up, kiddo."
"Yeah, that's great. Real great. I'm glad you're having yourself a good ol' time. Can we go home now?"
"Hmm…" Nezumi tilted her head to the side and tapped her chin with her finger, looking upward in contemplation. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"What!? What do you mean 'not a good idea'?"
"It's dark, so visibility is a problem. Not ta mention headin' back would mean cuttin' through the woods with all those Dire Wolves 'n' who knows what else. That'll take a long time, and with the light levels this low and our fatigue runnin' high, probably not a smart move."
"OK… I guess that makes sense. But what are we supposed to do, then? Wait around until the sun rises?"
"We camp out, of course."
"Camp out…?"
"Duh." Nezumi stopped when we'd reached a small patch of grass surrounded by tall, thick trees and opened her menu. I watched over her shoulder as she tapped the items in her menu and a large roll of cloth materialized in front of her and dropped to the ground with a muffled thump.
She crouched to the ground and poked the roll of cloth, calling up another menu, and after a few seconds of tapping options within the new menu the cloth unrolled and took shape with a loud pop, forming a small, canvas tent.
"Wow… If camping were that easy in the real world, I bet a lot more people would do it."
"Yep. Pretty nifty, eh? So, ya gonna set yers up or what?"
"Mine…?"
"Yeah, yours. Don'tcha have one? With the size of the game world, the lack of civilization, and the number of vendors sellin' different kinds of tents, it looks like camping is gonna be a pretty big factor in Legacy's gameplay."
"Of course I don't. Why would I have one?"
"That's right, I forgot. You've been hidin' in Tent City all this time, haven'tcha?"
"…That's right."
"Well, I guess it can't be helped. You can share mine. But just this once, clear?"
"Yes, ma'am. But…are you sure that's OK?"
"Yeah, it's fine." Nezumi pulled back the flap and crawled into the tent, then turned around and poked her head out. "If ya try anything the system will force yer hand back and send me a message askin' if I wanna send ya ta the stocks back in Tent City for harassment. It's called the 'Anti-Harassment Code,' and you betcha I'll click 'yes.'"
There was an audible gulp sound as I swallowed. I wasn't planning to try anything like that, but now I was worried that if I rolled over the wrong way my hand would wind up in the wrong place and I'd end up stuck in those medieval stocks with angry players throwing tomatoes at me before I got the chance to explain.
"Anyway, come in. Make yourself at home." Nezumi's hooded head disappeared into the tent.
This situation wasn't exactly ideal, but I was exhausted and there was no alternative. Or, at least, if there was an alternative I was too tired to think of it. So I dropped to my hands and knees, pulled back the tent flap, and said "pardon the intrusion."
"Haha! You dork," Nezumi teased. By the time I'd gotten inside she was lying on her side with her menu open and had already removed her hooded cloak and dagger, and I saw a flash of light as all of her leather armor dematerialized, then three more flashes as she removed her gloves, boots, and belt so that all that was left was a long, thin, light tan tunic and brown cloth pants that came just below the knees. "I'm pretty sure ya don't have ta say that if it's a tent."
"W-well…" I felt the temperature rise in my cheeks and looked away from Nezumi as I became all-too aware that I was probably the only person to have ever seen her in this state. "I'm not exactly well-versed in camping etiquette, so I thought the rules for visiting someone's home would be a good substitute."
I crawled inside and closed the tent flap behind me, then lay down on the canvas floor and let out a long sigh. "So…we're not gonna get attacked by monsters in our sleep, right?"
"Nah, tent's are little portable safe zones. But they only work fer twelve hours at a time, and they hafta be at particular sites a certain distance away from where mobs spawn. Look next to yer clock—there's a li'l picture of a tent that tells ya we're in a camping zone."
"Oooh…" Sure enough, there was a tent icon beside the clock in the top right corner of my vision.
"Anyway, aren'tcha gonna take off yer armor?"
"Oh, right…" With my eyes half closed I opened my menu and removed my equipment until only the green shirt and brown cloth pants were left, then waved my menu away and let my hand drop to the floor. "You know, it's funny," I said, looking at my clock, which read "20:17" now. "Back in the real world, eight o'clock is just about when I was getting started playing games, not when I was calling it a night. I guess that's just further proof that this really isn't a game…"
"Isn't it, though?" Nezumi said.
I opened my eyes and looked across at her. "Hm?"
Nezumi was curled up with her arms tight against her chest, her whiskered cheeks smiling casually. The sight caught me off guard and I found myself staring for a moment, but she didn't seem to notice. "Games're all about havin' fun, right? Are you sayin' ya didn't have any fun today?"
"I don't know if 'fun' is the right word to describe almost dying."
"Beats lazin' around an inn room all day, though, doesn't it?"
"At least my inn room is safe."
"Haha, maybe. Even so, I'm glad ya decided ta come with me. I had fun."
"Y…yeah…?"
"Mhm." She smiled a little wider and my heart skipped a beat. "Anyway, we'd better get some sleep. I wanna turn in this quest as soon as possible."
"Yeah, alright… Good night."
Nezumi closed her eyes and it wasn't long before she fell asleep. I lay awake for a while, staring at the tent ceiling—if you could call it a ceiling. When I looked over at Nezumi she was still curled into a ball with her arms wrapped tightly around her body. She shivered and whined quietly in her sleep. I thought it was a little strange that Nezumi, as experienced and prepared as she'd been so far, hadn't thought to bring a blanket with her or something of the sort. But then I realized that she probably had one stashed in her inventory. She only had one, most likely, and sharing it with me would be way too awkward, so she was probably refraining from using it to be polite. In other words, she was suffering right now because I was unprepared.
I opened my menu and found my brown leather jacket. It wasn't possible for me to equip it on her myself, and I couldn't give it to her in a trade without waking her, so I pressed "drop" and the jacket materialized in my hands. I closed my menu and covered Nezumi's body with the jacket. She shivered one last time, then the tension left her body and she breathed softly. I smiled and lay down, folded my hands beneath my head to serve as a pillow, and closed my eyes.
It was freezing, with it being December and all, and Nezumi had the only source of warmth between the two of us. But I didn't think hypothermia was a feature in Legacy, and if it was it was probably a debuff at most. So I did my best to ignore the insufferable shivering and eventually drifted off to sleep.
. . .
"Nn-yaaah!" Nezumi stretched lazily like a cat and looked around the tent. She spotted me on the opposite end and crawled over to me, then began poking my ribcage incessantly. "Hey! Wakey wakey! Rise 'n' shine!"
"Nngh… Five more minutes…" I shivered and rolled away, hugging myself for warmth.
"No can do. If ya don't get up right away, I'll collapse the tent with you in it and stick ya in my inventory!" The poking intensified.
"I'm pretty sure that's not possible." I sneezed and shriveled up into a ball.
"What're you all sneezy and shivery for? I slept like a baby."
"Ah…" My cheeks got a little hotter as I remembered covering her with my jacket last night. "That's good…" I pushed myself up to a sitting position and rubbed my eyes.
"Finally! I've been tryin' ta get you up fer, like, ever! Lazy bum."
"I'm pretty sure it's only been a few seconds. Hey…" I looked at Nezumi, then scanned the tent floor. "Where'd it go…?"
"Hm? Where'd what go?"
"My jacket…" I started feeling around the floor.
"Eh? Isn't it in your inventory? I saw you unequip it."
"That's…uh…" I scratched the back of my head and looked away, blushing.
"Hm…?" She tilted her head.
"Well, you see…you were shivering last night, so I took it out of my inventory and threw it over you…"
"…Huh…?" She blinked at me for a moment. "But…didn't you know that items you take out of your inventory are treated as abandoned? Their durability decreases all the way to zero unless they're picked up."
"Wait…what…?"
"Yep. Sorry, kiddo, that thing's long gone."
"Seriously!? Oh, for the love of—this is what I get for trying to do something nice."
"Nyaha! I can't believe you did that! You really are a big noob, y'know that?"
"Gee, thanks…" I growled and crossed my arms.
"That's my line, kiddo," she said softly.
"Hm?"
I looked at her, but the earnestness of her smile was a bit more than I was prepared for and I looked away just before my entire face turned red.
"Oh… I-it was nothing," I stammered.
Nezumi and I opened our menus and equipped all the armor we'd had on before—except for my jacket, which was gone now—and crawled out of the tent, which Nezumi collapsed and put back in her inventory, then started the walk toward Tent City.
We made the journey in silence, for the most part, the peaceful quiet interrupted only by the occasional Dire Wolf attack. We killed each wolf that appeared quickly, bombarding it with Sword Skills before it had a chance to make a peep. Neither of us felt an overwhelming desire to face another horde of them.
We reached the town gate, but instead of going inside Nezumi veered to the left and headed down a narrow trail between the town wall and the treeline. At the end of the trail was a small cottage, outside of which stood a woman with a gold "?" above her head, which marked her as a questgiver. Normally, since I hadn't accepted any quests from this NPC, there would be a "!" instead, but the quest was marked as "in-progress" for all of Nezumi's party members.
"I got the stuff, lady," Nezumi said as we approached the woman. She had phrased it oddly, and I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, wondering just what sort of quest she'd gotten me into, but the woman's response quelled my suspicion.
"Oh, thank heavens! Come in, come in!" The NPC opened the door and stepped aside, ushering us into the cottage. I entered behind Nezumi and looked around.
The cottage was small, but not uncomfortably so. It had a rustic, cozy feel to it, with a small fireplace on the far wall and a warm rug made of wolfskin, and whatever was cooking in the pot on the stove smelled awesome. Unfortunately, however, there was no time to taste it.
"Please, follow me." The NPC woman darted up the stairs and Nezumi and I hurried after her. The woman led us through a door at the top of the stairs and into a small bedroom. When I entered, my heart sank. Lying in the bed against the far wall was a small, frail-looking girl, probably only a few years younger than I was. She was breathing heavily, but other than the strained rising and falling of her chest she didn't move at all. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her skin was pale—almost gray—and she was grasping the bed sheets tightly, both hands balled into tiny fists. I was just about to ask if there was anything we could do for her when the NPC woman spoke again.
"Please, hand it over, if you could. Quickly…"
Nezumi opened her menu, produced the Little Nepenthes's Ovule, and handed it to the woman who then tossed it into a mortar and ground it into dust before adding it to what I assumed was tea. She hurried over to the bedridden girl and lifted her head, carefully pouring some of the liquid between her lips. The three of us watched, holding our breath. A few moments passed and the girl's expression grew softer and her breathing eased, and we all sighed in relief.
"I can't thank you enough for your kind deed, miss," the woman said as she turned to Nezumi.
"Don't sweat it," Nezumi said, shrugging. "All in a day's work."
"We don't have much, but let me give you something for your trouble."
"Well, if ya hafta." I saw the corner of Nezumi's mouth crawl upward toward her ear as she anticipated the reward.
"This sword has been passed down in my family for generations. May it serve you well."
"Yes! I knew it!"
The NPC woman smiled awkwardly at Nezumi's outburst and continued. "And please, take this as well. I hope that it will protect you on your journey."
"Wait—wha?"
The NPC didn't physically hand anything over to Nezumi. Instead, a window popped up in front of her with a list of quest rewards. I peered over Nezumi's shoulder at the window which listed one hundred Col, a sum of EXP, and two items as the rewards for the quest we'd just completed which the window told me was called "Secret Medicine of the Forest."
"What's the matter, Nezumi?" I asked.
"Yer aware that Legacy uses a lot o' the assets from the old SAO server, right?"
"Mhm."
"Well, I'm willin' ta bet that a lotta the quest data's been recycled, not just aesthetic data. This quest proves that much…sorta."
"'Sorta'?"
"Yeah. I heard o' this quest before. 'Secret Medicine of the Forest' is a quest that has ya collect an ingredient for a medicine to cure a sick girl. Back in the SAO days, the reward was this, right here." Nezumi pointed to an item on the list called "Annealed Blade" with an icon marking it as a one-handed sword.
"Cool."
"But I don't remember hearin' anythin' about this guy right here," she said, pointing to the second item.
"Huh… Well, two rewards are better than one, right? Guess you lucked out."
"Nah, you lucked out, kiddo. I think you should have 'em."
"Really? Why, though?"
"That crappy short sword yer usin' has got ta go. And the second item here is to replace the other thing ya lost on my account. Figure I owe ya for it."
"Well…thanks, Nezumi."
Nezumi opened up a trade window and dropped her two quest rewards into her side, then pressed "accept." I accepted the trade as well and closed the window, then opened my menu and clicked on the "Equipment" tab to find the new items. I dragged the Annealed Blade to the right hand slot of my equipment mannequin and felt the weight of my short sword disappear, replaced shortly after by a newer, heavier one. I looked over my right shoulder at a finely wrapped leather grip and a sleek, silver crossguard, but I'd have to wait to see the rest of it.
I clicked on the other item to bring up a description and read it over quickly, then chuckled. "Hey, Nezumi, check out this flavor text: 'Once worn by a great hero who discarded it in favor of finer garb, this coat has been passed on from wanderer to wanderer by means of looting.' So, in other words, it just gets picked off the corpse of the last guy who wore it."
"Guess the question is," Nezumi said with a teasing smirk, "will you be the 'great hero' or the next unfortunate wanderer?"
"Probably the option with 'unfortunate' in the title."
"Nyaha, maybe. Ya gonna try it on or what?"
"Yeah, sure." I dragged my new "Coat of Midnight" into the appropriate slot on my equipment mannequin and a flash of white light surrounded me for an instant, and when the light was gone I was shrouded in darkness.
"Whoa…" I looked down at the black sleeves, the dark hem that fell to my ankles, and noted the black collar now blocking a portion of the lower part of my vision. "Do I look as cool as I feel like I do?"
"Nyahaha!" Nezumi doubled over and laughed, clutching her sides. "You look like some edgy chuunibyou cosplaying an even edgier anime character. Can I call you 'Master of Darkness' from now on?"
"Not a chance," I growled, then smirked. "Henceforth you shall address me as the Master of Dark Flames.' And you can be my partner, 'The Evil Lord's All-Seeing Eye'! Cool?"
Nezumi laughed even harder. "Stop it, yer killin' me!"
Now I was really getting into the bit. I covered my face with my hand, peering between my fingers like the protagonist from an anime that was too gritty for its own good, and spoke dramatically. "None but me could possibly bear the suffering that I endure along my journey…"
"But you are not alone!" Nezumi shouted theatrically, clutching her hand at her chest. Then, she leaned against me, her back against mine, and mirrored my pose, making a "V" with her fingers just in front of her eye. "For The Evil Lord's All-Seeing Eye and the Master of Dark Flames are bound by an eternal contract!"
Now we were leaning on each other not for dramatic purposes but for support, as we were both laughing so hard we could barely stand, and we kept laughing that way until an unexpected sound stopped us short.
"It suits you." The soft, melodious voice came from the girl on the far side of the room who was now awake. She was sitting up and looking directly at me.
"I, uh… Huh…?"
"The mantle of a swordsman—of a hero. It suits you well." The girl smiled softly and innocently, but her gaze was strong and unwavering.
"Well…" By now my smile had vanished, and I found myself looking at the floor. "Sorry, but I'm no hero."
"You're my hero. You saved my life, after all."
"W-well, I, uh…" My heartbeat quickened and my cheeks got hot, and I looked at Nezumi and whispered as quietly as I could. "How is an NPC capable of this kind of conversation?"
"Sword Art: Origin was a huge experiment for developing artificial intelligence. I guess we're seein' the fruits of their labor."
"No kidding…" I turned back to the NPC girl who was waiting patiently for my response. "Well, it was no big deal. I did what anyone would have done."
"That isn't true…" The girl's smile vanished and she looked down at her hands which were folded tightly in her lap. "Not just anyone would have gone to such lengths. So many people turned down my mother's request because of the danger. When I think about what you must have faced on my behalf, I—"
"Hey," I cut her off, taking an involuntary step forward. There were tears forming in her eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment. But now she looked at me, her eyes wide. "Don't sweat it, alright? I'd do it all again if I had to." I regretted my words instantly, and Nezumi wasted no time in making me suffer for it. She nudged my ribs with her elbow and smirked slyly, raising her eyebrow.
The NPC girl gasped softly enough that it was only barely audible, then her smile returned twice as warm as before. "You're so kind… Thank you, mister."
"W-well, it's not really me you should be thanking…" I shot Nezumi a glance that screamed "save me!"
"What're ya talkin' about, Nanashi? This one was all you. The way you cut down Dire Wolves and Nepenthes with one swing, shouting 'I will save her no matter what!' Very heroic."
"That's not even close to what happened!"
The girl giggled. "You two seem very close."
"Who, me and this big lug? Nah, he's just a stray puppy I found in town. Lucky for him he's cute, so I let him follow me around."
"Har har…"
"At any rate, we'd better get goin' so you can rest up." Nezumi waved politely to the girl. "Hope ya feel better, miss."
"Yeah," I said, offering the girl a friendly smile. "Same here."
"Goodbye, my brave hero. Thank you very much. I will never forget you—either of you."
. . .
Nezumi and I had found a patch of grass to sit on near the center of town and had two more pieces of black bread smothered in cream as a late lunch, at which time she gave me a few extra pots of the stuff before finally telling me how to get it for myself. It was a reward for a repeatable quest called "The Heffer Strikes Back" given by a farmer just east of Tent City. But I wasn't planning on going on another quest any time soon.
My clock read "14:34" when we stopped in front of the inn I was staying at.
"Well, that was fun," Nezumi chirped. "Let's do it again some time, eh?"
"Risking my life isn't exactly my idea of fun."
"Well, it certainly ain't boring."
"Can't argue there, I guess…" I looked down at my feet and sighed.
"What's eatin' ya, kiddo?"
"It's just… Would you mind taking these items back?"
"Huh? You mean the cream? Well, if ya don't want 'em, more for me."
"Not those!"
"Damn. Well, it was worth a shot."
"I meant the quest rewards. The sword and the coat."
"Huh? How come?" Nezumi tilted her head to the side. "I think you look really cool, Master of Dark Flames."
I didn't laugh or even crack a grin. I just clenched my fists and stared at the ground, feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt.
"That girl…the NPC…she's wrong about me. I'm not some hero."
"Oh, that…"
"So do me a favor and take these items back, will you? If you're not going to use them, give them to someone who needs them more than I do. Someone who's working toward clearing the game."
"Hmm…" Nezumi furrowed her brow and scratched her cheek, deep in thought. After a little less than a minute, she shrugged casually. "Sorry, kiddo. No trade-backs."
"Seriously? What, are you a grade-schooler?"
"If ya wanna get rid of 'em so bad I guess you can sell 'em ta someone. It's yer decision, after all." Nezumi turned her back to me and waved over her shoulder, already walking away.
"But—"
"I gotta get goin'. This info ain't gonna sell itself, y'know? See ya around, kiddo."
And with that, she disappeared.
I pushed through the inn's double doors and dragged myself up the stairs and to my room, pushing the canvas flap out of my way, and dropped myself on the bed without bothering to unequip my gear. I was exhausted from the past couple of days and all I wanted to do was sleep. But I couldn't.
"You're my hero…" I said aloud. What that girl had said should have filled me with pride. Joy, even. But I only felt guilt. She could have been scripted to say that to the player for all I knew. Hell, she probably was. But that didn't change the fact that I didn't deserve it. Here I was, lying in the safety and comfort of an inn room, while others risked their lives on the frontlines trying to clear Sword Art: Legacy. Trying to save the people who couldn't save themselves. People like me. As I lay awake staring at the ceiling I found myself wondering whether anyone had told them that they were heroes, too.
. . .
