VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top Player no Shikakenin～

「-So the vicinity is apparently like this.」 (Hind)

Since everyone was gathered, we started the meeting to decide which way we should go.

The place was the pub in town which we are probably going to make use for the last time today.

We ordered a bread and cheese set and recovered our hunger while discussing.

The owner looked a bit sad now that the number of people had suddenly decreased.

That being said, I’m pretty sure new players will reach this town later so he probably won’t have that much free time.

There are probably many people that will make their guild homes here and their private homes too, so we’d be talking about there being only few people outside peak hours.

「So, what are we doing? The mountains usually are abundant with mineral resources, the islands…I wonder if we could fish there?」 (Hind)

「It’s possible. Since you are able to buy the lowest-rank fishing rod from shops.」 (Tobi)

「I prefer meat to fish!」 (Yumir)

「Were we talking about that sort of thing now…?」 (Riizu)

「We did go a bit off-topic here…but oh well, it wasn’t necessarily wrong. The things we can eat will change from now on after all. Even though I say that, we can still just buy stuff from other places through the trading BBS」 (Hind)

「I take this is a discussion about what we want to do from now on or what we want to give priority to?」 (Tobi)

「That’s right.」 (Hind)

It’s as Tobi had said.

If you were mainly doing blacksmithing you would definitely go to the mountain area, if you were into stuff like potions and agriculture the woodlands seem like a nice place to go.

Then there’s the term 「Empire」we got from the NPCs, in other words, Tobi and I expect it to have a big population.

From those expectations, we think that there’s very likely that there are unique quests that you get from the NPCs.

As long as the national power is not that high, the 「Emperor」 probably won’t pick a fight with other countries and there’s a good balance between the different types of terrain.

Giving these conditions, no matter what we decide to do, I feel it will be reasonable.

For players that are focusing on fighting monsters here and there, they can also think of the option of heading to the capital.

Other than that, there’s also the safe choice of staying here for those that are currently hesitating on where they should go.

Therefore, as a beginner area, this area is excellent.

Making the starting point be within the empire was a good idea.

「In that case, what about the desert?」 (Yumir)

「The desert…if I were to be honest, there should be a decent amount of salt and minerals, other than that-」 (Hind)

「Oil probably? There’s value in the resources you can find in the desert.」 (Riizu)

「It doesn’t really fit the atmosphere of the game. Though it would make for good fuel.」 (Tobi)

「First off, we wouldn’t be able to properly locate and extract it. If we wanted to do it, it would have to be a large-scale operation, so I think it’s fine if we don’t take it into consideration? It would be at the level that if some oil came out we were just lucky.」 (Hind)

「So you are saying that compared to the other regions…?」 (Yumir)

「It would be unfavorable. It would be the opposite of going to the capital, if we go there, there will be fewer players.」 (Hind)

「Fumu…」 (Yumir)

From the brooding Yumir, I got a slightly bad feeling.

If I were to use the words she tends to use, it’s boring if we do the same stuff that’s normally done-

「In that case, I vote for the desert! As expected, it’s not interesting if we do the same thing as everyone else!」 (Yumir)

「…I thought you would say that.」 (Hind)

「Nuh?」 (Yumir)

The rest of us exchanged glances and forced a bitter smile.

We somehow had the feeling that she would say something like that.

After chewing the bread and drinking some water, I turned to face Tobi.

「What do you think, Tobi?」 (Hind)

「To be honest, I’m kind of hesitating…if I had to say, there are merits and demerits? So I think that jumping into an unfavorable situation does sound kind of interesting.」 (Tobi)

「So you approve of Yumir’s idea. You guys are the type that play on the hardest difficulty from the start in offline games after all. The opposite of me.」 (Hind)

「Even then, I properly clear them you know?」 (Tobi)

「Since I play them my own way I usually run into a wall! At the start of the game at that!」 (Yumir)

「Don’t go putting on airs, you idiot. So, what about you, Riizu?」 (Hind)

「I’ll just go whenever Hind-san wishes to go. No matter where, always always close to Hind-san…」 (Riizu)

「O-Oh. I see.」 (Hind)

Well, my opinion would be the boring option of just playing it safe after all.

If there’s no place recommended to us, I would just stay in the capital.

However, if there’s a place they want to go to, there’s no reason for me to oppose it.

「In that case, guess we’ll go to the desert.」 (Hind)

The three of them nodded, we have been able to collect our thoughts smoothly.

Like that, we decided to set the desert as our current destination.

After that, Yumir, Riizu and Tobi went to buy healing items and food.

Meanwhile, I took a trip and went to visit Selene-san.

She was still staying in Altrowa, so the distance to go and see her was quite long and a bit troublesome.

I want to thank her for everything she has done and I wanted to ask her if she had any plans to move somewhere else after this.

「Ah, good evening…Hind-kun…」 (Selene)

「Good evening…eh, you don’t seem well. Did something happen?」 (Hind)

I went to the blacksmith’s workshop, there I saw Selene-san sitting down without doing anything.

The fire of the furnace was unusually extinguished and even the wall that usually held many completed products was empty today.

「Yup…the truth is, I don’t have enough of an important material. I don’t have enough iron, it might be because turtle type gear is convenient, the players take their time to upgrade their weapons now.

「Even though their performance is better, I’m unable to sell them…」 (Selene)

「Well that’s…in that case, I recommend you to head to the mountain area in the north side.

「It sounds like it’s full of mineral resources after all, I believe it’s perfect for a blacksmith.」 (Hind)

「Yup, however…I, I’m still level 5. That’s why, it’s almost impossible for me to get there with my own strength.」 (Selene)

「In that case, if you moved with a proper party-」 (Hind)

「I told you that I had a fear of strangers, right!? It’s impossible, it’s scary, I wouldn’t know how to talk to them!!」 (Selene)

「Ah…」 (Hind)

Right.

I completely forgot about it since I was able to talk to her normally and our conversations went smoothly.

…The fact that Selene-san was terrible at talking with strangers.

「I’m sorry. However, the main point is that you feel like you have reached the limits of what you can do here, right?」 (Hind)

「Yup, that’s right. I thought I would have been able to enjoy the trip from here to the trading BBS more for the time being…but I didn’t think that the supply of materials would stop so fast.

「Now that it has come down to this, I’ll probably have to go and get them myself…

「Since there’s no other choice, guess I’ll progress solo at my own pace maybe?」 (Selene)

「…Eh, so regarding the other aspects of the game…like participating in events or fighting monsters, do you have no interest in them by any chance? Are you the type that only wants to do crafting?」 (Hind)

「Not really? It’s just that what I like the most is blacksmithing…I think that TB is a good game, it might be low on my priority list, but I believe I have tried the other things too. But, why are you asking this?」 (Selene)

I see…in that case, I guess it’s worth asking.

「In that case, why don’t you move to other regions with us? At that, why don’t you join the guild we are planning to make?」 (Hind)

It’s not like we are making a guild that’s focused on crafting, so it was necessary for me to ask like this.

There are players that you could say have a no-combat rule and think of fighting as a bonus, but I don’t plan to make a guild to fit those kind of people.

The party limit in TB is 5 people…if we added Selene-san to the party, our fighting force will be complete and it would be a matter for congratulations for me.

「Eh…really? Am I being invited by Hind-kun right now? Or in reality that was for someone that’s standing behind me and if I misunderstand here and I react, it’ll turn into quite the sad-」 (Selene)

「Why are you so pessimistic!? No matter where you look, the only people that are here at the moment are Selene-san and me!」 (Hind)

They still haven’t made more VRX3500, so currently, the number of new players are on a decline.

There’s news that they’ll resupply before the end of the week, but anyway, 「Altrowa village」 is currently deserted.

Actually, the only people that are in the blacksmith’s workshop are the two of us.

Selene-san did a spin within the blacksmith’s workshop, opened the shelves that were of a size that a person wouldn’t fit in, meaninglessly opened and closed the windows, looked around the workshop one more time and finally pointed at herself.

This person, just how little self confidence does she have…?

When I nodded at her, she finally opened her mouth.

「Please let me joui–A-Ah! I slurred!」 (Selene)

「P-Please calm down! It’s not like I’ll do anything to you!」 (Hind)

「Won’t do anything!? So you mean that you take back what you just said!?」 (Selene)

「You are wrong!」 (Hind)

No matter how I look at this, she’s way too negative…

Anyway, I was able to get Selene-san’s approval.