[Solo] Novasphere Pioneer Incident

[Raitei]

...His eyelids felt heavy... well, this is what you get for waking up for so long just to play a gam-- eh? Wait, where is he? He... he definitely was in front of his monitor and booting Elder Tale for the first time, but... but what is this? Oi, oi tell him, what the hell is this? Where the heck is he? Tall buildings that far beyond what he ever seen, they're definitely not Japan for sure... he haven't seen anything of sort in his town, so... where is he? Is this just a dream?

Yukihiro stared at his own hands... rougher than he expected, bigger for sure... and... the calluses on the fists was like those of his own, but... yes, this is unnatural, mainly because he never, never, ever got this kind of huge muscle on his forearms. It's... just a bit too weird. He clearly doesn't have this many of scars, nor the feeling that his feet could support his body all this well. Back then, even standing hurts a lot. He doesn't like to stand too much. His Achilles tendon would hurt way too much, and he would need to sit for a while... not that 'short kind of break' either regardless. He tried to assess the situation... First, let's see, he's in some strange world... Not clear where this is, but it seems like a building, a ruined one, that is. He's alone in here, which is... a good thing. It's afternoon right now... but the thought of something might jump out at this point kind of scares him.

...Seriously, where is he? And... what kind of body he's i---

A status screen just jumped out of nowhere. Eh!? What's that? That's status screen for sure, but... wow, wait wait wait wait, the hell, he's [Raitei]? Isn't this the character he tried to make several days ago? He clearly could see the avatar and the status... OK, let's recheck... buff body... check... scars, check... and... skills? ...Damn, this is not funny. If somehow a MMO become a VRMMO, that's the time for---

"Let's log out, then!" damn, his voice doesn't sound that deep like Raitei he made in other MMO. How he hate this a lot already. He need some vocal training like this. Yukihiro, or rather, Raitei, tried to click the menu, and was quite happy that he found the log out option... And the moment he clicked it...

"...Eh!?"

What the heck, what the heck, it won't log him out! Why!? He tried once more, panic building up inside him. He pressed the button again and...

"AGAIN!?"

He definitely can't log out. He fell to his bottom in shock. Kay, so... uh... calm... down?

"...The neep I could," he muttered, only loud enough for him to hear.  "...Shit, what the hell, where the neep am I? OK, the interface is like Elder Tale, but... to get absorbed in MMO, that's beyond... something like that trash raitonobe. It's VRMMO, this is just a mere MMO! Am I going to die or something? Am I somehow... like, if I killed off myself I'll probably die in real life, too? I totally didn't sign in for this... guh... shi-- all of this is way too much to process. OK, let's... let's think of the situation... I did not lock the door, so it's most likely by dinner they'd find my comatose body if my consciousness was transferred here... and then, I guess... I guess I must to look a way to get out of here, right? I don't know how to call the GM anyway, so... urk... this is so... stressing..."

The good thing is, he's not entirely sure about the mechanic in this world. It sounds almost the same as most MMO he played, but now without any shortcut, he probably need to improvise... Anyway, he think that it might be good to try and... probably see how it is in the city. Because this is like a second life now, it's best to get used to it... it doesn't mean that he's calm, though, but he have to do it, at least before he somehow got in much bigger problem.

[Raitei]

First thing he noticed... the ground felt hurt. He felt a bit odd with the much longer legs and much heavier steps. Despite so, he didn't thought that it could be THIS crippling. He'd take his crippled left leg anytime, thank you. It's better than being humiliated like this.... well, at least he's not alone. He saw several other people seem also have the same difficulty when they walk... Whew. Knowing that he's not alone, maybe people will be more understanding that... he's actually upped his height by several centimeters. He thought it'll be fun to be seen as taller, but... well, if this is like this, he can't even roleplay his character. It's already bad as it is, and if someone remembered that he's one of that 'stumbling peoples'... that could be really embarrassing. Oh well, whatever. Let's just ignore it for no---

"Sir, are you OK?"

...Huh? What was... huh?

Raitei looked at two small hands that reached out for him. One belongs to a boy, another belongs to a girl. They seem to be... huh, another status pops out, too. Their name is... it immediately translated to Japanese he know. Damn, this game is quite good... The boy is Rolf and the girl is Lene, or at least how he read it. Mmm, yeah, it's also like that in alphabet. This is good. Now, they're both lv 1, and doesn't seem to be of strength either. Despite so, for some reason, those two, in this kind of situation somehow held out their hands at him politely. This is a chaotic afternoon, yet their heart set on the right place... It was rather a touching scene, but...

"...Ah, I lack training... Looks like I tripped because I was too tired."

...A smooth reasoning, flew out of his mouth without him thinking, and automatically in deep voice, too. Goddamnit.

He of course smiled at them, not the usual way he smiled, but more mature way. He stood up once more and patted their head. "...This situation is a bit chaotic, though... isn't it... better if you go home?"

...He hope they're not player but that kind of thing... is highly unlucky. Between shouting and cursing, he could heard some mentioning their level down to lv 1. That's... a really bad situation somehow. But this means that he have equal standing to pro in term of fighting strength. It's another matter altogether when it's not fighting related, though, for example, their experience in-game. That's completely different. A monk, a lv 1 and a lv 90 that nerfed to lv 1, would stay as pro as when they're lv 1. Heh, well, that's beyond the point...

"...But Mister, what about you? You seem completely unfazed..."

"...You can't exactly said so, young one. I... for one, was quite... afraid of the situation."

"Eh? But aren't you adventurer?"

Is that how they call the player? So they're people of the land, landers, was it?

"...That was the case, but even so, I'm just fresh out of my training and just recently gone to the city after my master decided that I need hand on experience... What about you guys?"

They looked at each others and stare at him. "...We're not actually calm either, but... if we don't have any people who would stay at our inn--"

"Inn?"

"W-well, it's not actually, one, but... our big sister is sick, so father and mother... recently... um, I mean, today, we're opening for a spare change, you know... um, it's not really lodging, but it's enough for three people or so..."

"...How many the cost per day?"

The two stared bewilderedly at him. Yukihiro used this chance to pull the two from the main road and to an alley to discuss more.

"I repeat again, how many the cost per day?"

"...Um, it's about 35 gold... uh... breakfast, lunch and dinner included... of course there's bath, too, but---"

"...I see..." he have no idea if that's a good idea at all, but he guess it's better than nothing. He could probably have a better chance staying with landers for now, anyway... He really hope that no one would be that stupid enough to attack the house, or raid it for that matter.

"...Let me stay in your house, you two."

[Raitei]

Entering a quite small building that seem to be two floored but half as wide as a normal lander's house, Raitei was greeted by smell of tea. It's seem to be some sort of a herb shop before the sudden change... but he wondered if the two kids are really fearless, or this is the mentality of the people of the land? Whatever the case was he was quite reminded of lot of old days RPG where there are lot of wood tiled houses and the homey feeling it offered to the people who wanted to get some rest... Yes, this is a nice house. It's also properly equipped, too.

"P-please don't stare too much, it's a bit embarrassing," Lene scolds him.

"Ah, sorry... I don't know how to put this, but... it was quite homey. It's a good house for sure."

"I-is that so...? T-thank you. Before, our sister run a store... a herb store... but because we can't get any good herbs lately, we decided to close it down, but it's still quite nice to nurture some herbs like teas, so sometimes we make teas for ourselves..."

"That explains the scent... It seem to be quite a delicious one, hm..."

"What's that? Do you want to try sis' homebrewed tea?" Rolf asked, seem to be trying to solicit him of the tea of their sister. Huh, cheeky brat, but he doesn't hate that attitude. Smile crept to Raitei's face.

"If that's for free, I'll take it."

"You're a cheapskate, mister." Rolf pouted. They guided him to the kitchen, where he took seat on the dining table's chair.

"35 gold per day alone is already enough, and plus, if I like it here, maybe I can stay so you guys doesn't need any sort of bodyguard, you know?"

"Huh, but... I thought you adventurer, Mister?" Rolf took a seat in front of him while Lene poured the tea. Smell of mint and lavender filled the room, it's also quite sweet, too.

"What's the relation of being adventurer and not staying here?"

"W-well, I mean, you're not going to quest?"

Hmm, it's true that he have to quest now and then. It's not something that is out of question if he really want to get some money... but at the same time, he's worried about the state of this building. He need to protect them somehow... But he need some way to buy it... right? Or he'll have them to move somehow... He need to inquire them further.

"Questing is important, yes... but more than that, I need to sharpen my body, my teacher once said that whoever it is, they need a home to return to. If their heart have a home to return to, they'll feel at ease, and they'll be more motivated to train, to face the next day. Constant training without rest will only make you mentally tired. If you try to sharpen knife a lot, you'll get a sharp knife, that's true, but... try to sharpen it more than enough just because you want to have the sharpest knife without caring about it at all... you'll get chipped knife. The logic works well with everyone. No matter what kind of hero you landers think us as, we're actually pretty much just much stronger humans..."

"...I see..."

"But that's not really important, say... because I'm completely new in this stuff, can you tell me more about adventurers? I mean, how does adventurers generally treats you and so?"

"Huh, well... they're usually very curt, or downright ignores us if we doesn't run shop or have a quest for them. They rarely talks, so it kind of surprises us when they're this confused when they're usually... you know, just ignore us..."

"But we're kids, even adults tends to ignore kids... So we don't mind it that much."

"...Then? Why do you choose me among most of those adventurers?"

"Well... how to say this, but... you doesn't looks like them at all..."

....He wondered if they meant that he's an easily approachable person, or it's another thing altogether, like "hey, you looks noobish, unlike those 'stronger than thou' peoples'"... But whatever, he guess that both means very little anyway. But right now, he'll help himself with the tea. It's as good as he hoped it to be... but the moment he ate the cookie, he was greeted with... the blandest taste he ever tasted. ...it's almost like the two items are somehow... accidentally switched taste. To add more of the needed taste, he put three sugar cubes to the tea and dip the cookie there.

...not good, it's just very sweet cookie... Now he felt like crying.