VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top Player no Shikakenin～

The day they were going to announce the results of the contest, in the lounge room of the guild home, including me, there were five members of Migratory Bird and three members of Baby Bird, for a total of eight people.

We placed chairs around the table and most of us were seated down around it.

Soon, the Queen will start announcing the results, but it is possible to watch this outside and inside the game.

In our case, our representative, Yumir, had expanded her menu window and projected it onto a wall.

We thought that we might have been able to enter the royal palace since we were in Sala, but unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to watch the announcement directly.

That being the case, we ended up in this situation that was close to watching it on TV.

With it being projected as if it was magic, it was pretty close to watching it in person.

「Susu…puwah. Senpai, another cup of tea please.」(Siesta)

「Hmm, it’s not starting yet…」(Lycoris)

「There’s five minutes until the scheduled time. Ah, Hind-senpai, me and Lyco want a cup too. Sorry about this.」(Cineraria)

Siesta-chan was asking for another cup of tea, Lycoris-san was walking around while hugging the pillow they didn’t submit, and Cineraria-chan just opened her menu window to check the time.

Selene-san, who was sitting next to them, gave me a smile.

「Hind-kun. Lycoris and co seem to be quite relaxed…」(Selene)

「I get the feeling these girls are hardly ever at their own guild home…」(Hind)

With this, there’s like no meaning in us splitting the guild…well, not like I mind.

I’m happier if they approach us proactively like this instead of avoiding us.

「You two, just relax, sit down and watch it. Especially today, it’s just us watching the results in a relaxed manner-」(Tobi)

「Oh? This is quite a surprise, Tobi-san. Is it OK for you to not go “It’s the Queen, Uhyooo” like you always do?」(Riizu)

「It has to be like that, Riizu. Simply, the Queen is not to this guy’s liking!」(Yumir)

「Yumir, that’s correct!」(Hind)

「Hind-dono, don’t just go saying it’s correct on your own! I haven’t even said anything, right!?」(Tobi)

「Then, are we wrong?」(Hind)

Once I asked him, in an easy to understand manner, Tobi just stayed silent.

If I remember correctly, this guy’s type was 「A girl that just makes you want to protect her」, so the Queen was probably outside his strike zone.

That Queen, she’s quite strong willed no matter how you look at her…so she’s probably not that type.

「By the way, Tobi-san. The one you liked the most was Maou-chan right? As I thought you are a lolic-」(Riizu)

「You are wrong! Didn’t I deny liking Maou-chan already!?」(Tobi)

「But this guy, he didn’t have any reaction when it came to Philia-chan.」(Yumir)

「Philia-chan has a masculine personality that’s closer to her dad after all…maybe she’s just a bit different from what he likes?」(Hind)

「I’m telling you guys that it’s not like that! Hey, are you listening to me!?」(Tobi)

「Tobi-kun…don’t mind it.」(Selene)

「Selene-don, you too!?」(Tobi)

Being teased by Selene-san, who was the only one in the guild with a conscience, Tobi seemed to genuinely be shocked.

Seeing him look so miserable, the three members of Baby Bird couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

The relaxed atmosphere in the lounge room was suddenly filled with tension.

Noise could be heard from the screen and the blurry image gradually started to clear up.

After correcting her posture, she looked towards us.

『Not done yet, Jiiya? If this goes on, you’ll be a laughing stock to myself and the visitors, you know?』(Queen)

『Please wait a moment until the magical wavelength stabilizes. Princess, there sure are times where you act childish and short tempered.』

『Arbol-dono, watch your tongue! Even if you are her former educator, that’s not a tone you should address her Majesty wi-』

『It’s fine, Miles. Jiiya, just do it already.』(Queen)

The voices kept cutting off but if you concentrated enough, you were able to hear quite a bit.

You just connected the words you could make out and while you wouldn’t be able to know what they said word for word, you could guess what they were talking about.

When the picture sort of stabilized, the Queen sat down on her throne while two men stood next to each other.

The one on the right should probably be the one she called 「Jiiya」, he was an old man wearing a mage robe.

Opposite to him on the left side, there was a young muscular man with tanned skin.

He was the current leader of the Imperial Soldier Squad, the「Desert Owls」.

It seems like he admires the Queen and has also taken the role of her attendant.

『Do you hear me? Visitors…I’m the Queen of the Kingdom of Sala, Patra・Adenium・Sala.』(Queen)

Fixing the posture of her legs and giving a sweet smile, the Queen looked towards the players and threw those words.

Watching those movements that gave you the feeling that you would be able to see but at the same time not be able to, Tobi and I unconsciously gulped and made a sound with our throats.

In an instant, under the table, my foot was attacked in unison from multiple sides.

「O-Ouch!! What!? What’s going on!?」(Hind)

「? Did something happen, Hind-senpai?」(Lycoris)

「No, just no-」(Hind)

I refrained from saying the words I was going to say to Lycoris-chan.

My instincts are telling me that I shouldn’t do it.

Don’t say anything more, you are going to get kicked again…or something like that.

「…It’s nothing. My leg just kind of cramped up a bit.」(Hind)

「Eeh!? Be careful, even if it’s inside the game, if your leg cramps up it’ll hurt!」(Lycoris)

「Lycoris-chan, are you speaking from experience?」(Hind)

「Lyco is quite hasty, so she strains herself more than needed on the first fight after she logs in…hah…」(Cineraria)

「I see, you can get leg cramps even inside the game. That was dangerous, Hind-dono.」(Tobi)

「…Yeah.」(Hind)

It seems like my instincts were right, like that, the mysterious feeling of tension in the air dissipated.

But right now, I’m pretty sure kicks from four sides hit me…

One with great vigor, one that grinded against my foot, a reserved and soft one that I couldn’t feel any pain from, and one that felt unmotivated but just thought “Well, guess I’ll just start by stepping on it”.

Right now, all the people that haven’t participated in the conversation looked suspicious.

I get the feeling which one was which but at the same time I kinda don’t want to know.

「Muh, she finally finished the introductions. She sure loves putting up airs!」(Yumir)

「The introduction was unnecessarily long, right? Good grief, this is why middle-aged women are…」(Riizu)

When Yumir and Riizu let out those thorny words, I returned my gaze towards the screen.

With a snap of the Queen’s fingers, the surroundings of the throne darkened, when she snapped them again, a light akin to that of a spotlight illuminated a mountain of items.

Judging from the amount, it seems like all the items from a single category were there.

Which means…

『First off, I’ll announce the results for the items called 『Items・Others』 by the visitors. The items here are the top one hundred…if you are able to see yours within these, you should feel happy.』(Queen)

Hearing those words, we all stood up and approached the screen to look more closely.

Showing in this category were Yumir’s 『Adenium』 and Baby Bird’s 『Cotton Pillow』.

「Hey hey, did you see it!? Is our pillow there!? Sai-chan!」(Lyco)

「I get the feeling it’s this white one, but also not at the same time. I can’t say it with confidence.」(Cineraria)

「Hmmm…according to my pillow sensor, I believe there’s no doubt that, that’s our pillow.」(Siesta)

「「「What’s a pillow sensor!?」」」

Not only Lycoris-chan and Cineraria-chan, but everyone retorted and when she heard that, Siesta-chan acted as if she didn’t care and just let out a big yawn.

Leaving aside whether there’s such a pillow sense or not, what about our potted plant!? Where is our Adenium!?

「It’s no good, Hind, I can’t find it! Or rather, I can’t see the small items further in the back! Like this, I can’t tell at all if it’s there or not!」(Yumir)

「Zoom in the camera! Like this, the only thing we can see clearly are the big items!」(Hind)

『Well then, we’ll now proceed to announce the top ten. Just wait there.』(Queen)

「「Aaaaah!!」」(Yumir and Hind)

My and Yumir’s cries were in vain, the mountain of items just disappeared from the screen.