進路と勧誘
「――という感じらしい。周辺の地形の状態は」
全員が揃ったところで、俺達はどの方角に向かうかの相談を始めることにした。
場所は今夜の利用が最後になるだろう街の酒場。
パンとチーズをセットで注文し、相談ついでに満腹度を回復させておく。
酒場の主人も急激に人が減って少し寂しそうだ。
とはいえ、今後も新規プレイヤーは必ずこの街を通るのだから暇になるということはないと思う。
ここにギルドホームや個人のホームを構えたプレイヤーも大勢居るだろうし、ピーク時よりは少ないというだけの話だ。
「で、どうするよ? 山は普通に鉱物資源が豊富だろうし、島は......釣りとか漁業とかって出来るのか?」
「可能でござるよ。店売りでも最低ランクの釣り竿が売っているでござるし」
「私は魚よりも肉の方が好きだ!」
「今、そんな話をしていましたっけ......?」
「ちっとズレているが......まあ、あながち間違いでもない。食べるものも向かう先によって変わるだろうからな。といっても、取引掲示板を使えばその辺の融通は利く訳だが」
「向かった先で何をしたいか、何を優先するのかという話でござろう?」
トビの言う通り。
鍛冶メインなら迷わず山岳地帯だろうし、ポーションや農業系の生産をするなら森林地帯が良さそうだ。
今居る帝国に関しては『帝国』という名前からしてNPC、つまり人口が多いのではないかという予想をトビと俺はしている。
そのことから、恐らくNPCが絡む特殊なクエストを発生させやすい。
国力が高くないとわざわざ「皇帝」を名乗って他国に喧嘩を売ったりしないだろうし、地形もバリエーション豊かでバランスが良い。
これらの条件から、何をやるにしてもそこそこ出来そうな感じだ。
戦闘中心であちこちを飛び回りたいというプレイヤーは、中央という位置も考えてここに。
他にも、迷ったら大抵のことは出来そうなここに留まるのが最も無難な選択になると思われる。
故に、初心者ゾーンとしてもこの地域は優秀な訳だ。
スタート地点が帝国内にあるのも頷ける作りである。
「では、砂漠はどうなのだ?」
「砂漠なー......現実で言うと、ほどほどの鉱石と塩、それから――」
「石油ですかね。砂漠で価値のある資源というと」
「このゲームの雰囲気には合わんでござるな。燃料としては良かろうが」
「第一、適当に掘って出るもんでもないだろ。やるなら大規模にやらんといかんし、考慮に入れなくてもいいんじゃないか? 出たらラッキー程度で」
「つまり、他の地域に比べると?」
「総じて不利だな。帝国の逆パターンだから、そっちに行くプレイヤーは少ないだろう」
「ふむ......」
考え込むユーミルに、少し嫌な予感を覚える。
こいつが良く使う台詞として、普通と同じではつまらないという類のものがあるのだが――
「なら、私は砂漠に一票だ! やはり、人と同じことをしても面白くない!」
「......そう言うと思ったよ」
「ぬ?」
ユーミル以外の俺達三人は、顔を見合わせて苦笑いだ。
なんとなくこう言うだろうと予想出来ていたというか。
パンを咀嚼し、水を飲んでからトビに視線を向ける。
「トビはどうだ?」
「拙者、実は大層迷ってしまってござってな......言ってしまえば、どこも一長一短でござろう? なので、
「つまりユーミルに賛成と。お前ら、オフのゲームで最初から最高難易度を選ぶタイプだな。俺とは真逆だ」
「拙者はそれでもちゃんとクリアするでござるよ?」
「私は適当にプレイするから大体詰むな! それも序盤で!」
「威張んな阿呆。で、リィズは?」
「私はハインドさんが行きたい所に付いて行くだけです。どこまでも、ずっとずっとお傍に......」
「お、おう。そうか」
まあ、俺の意見は安定志向のつまらない物になりがちだからな。
誰も推す場所が無いようなら、帝国に滞在という形にしようかと思っていた位に。
しかし二人が行きたい場所があると言うのなら、それを反対する理由もない。
「じゃあ、砂漠にすっか」
俺の言葉に三人が頷き、あっさりと意見が集約された。
こうして当面の目的地は砂漠へ、ということに決まったのである。
その後、ユーミル・リィズ・トビの三人は食料・回復アイテムの買い込みに。
俺はその間、ゲーム内で遠出するにあたってセレーネさんに会いに行くことにした。
彼女はまだアルトロワに滞在しているので、距離が開くと会いに行くのが困難になる。
お世話になったお礼もしたいし、彼女が今後どこに移動するのかというのも是非聞いておきたい質問だったので。
「あー、こんばんはー......ハインド君......」
「こんばんは――って、元気ないですね。どうしました?」
鍛冶場に行くと、そこには一人で暇そうに座っているセレーネさんの姿が。
珍しく炉に火も入っておらず、いつもなら大量の完成品を並べている壁にも今日は何も置かれていない。
「うん......実は深刻な素材不足でさ。鉄が足りないし、タートル系が便利なせいもあって、プレイヤーのの武器の更新が遅くて。性能では勝ってるのに、在庫が全然はけないんだよね......」
「うーん、でもさ......私、未だにレベル5なんだよね。だから、ちょっと自力で到達するのは無理かなって」
「じゃあ、適当なパーティにくっついて移動すれば――」
「人見知りだって言ったじゃない! 無理だよ怖いよ何を話していいか分かんないよぉぉぉ!」
「あ......」
俺とは普通に話せるし会話もスムーズだからすっかり忘れていた。
――セレーネさんが、酷く人見知りする性格だということを。
「すみませんでした。でも、要はここでの活動に限界を感じているってことですよね?」
「うん、そうなの。取引掲示板とこことの往復で、もう暫くは楽しめると思っていたんだけどね......こんなに早く素材の供給が止まるなんて思わなかった。こうなると、自分で採りに行く必要があるよね......。仕方ないから、のんびりソロで進めるかなぁ」
「......あの、セレーネさんはゲームの他の要素――例えばイベントだったり戦闘だったりに、全く興味が無かったりしますか? 生産だけしたい感じですか?」
「そんなことはないよ? 単に鍛冶が一番好きってだけで......TBは良いゲームだと思うし、優先順位が低いだけで、その内ほかの部分にも手を出したとは思うよ。でも、どうしてそんなこと聞くの?」
そうか......そういうことなら、試しに訊いてみるのもアリなのかもしれないな。
「だったら、俺達と一緒に他の土地に移動しませんか? というか、俺達の創るギルドに入ってくれませんか?」
俺達は生産専門のギルドを作る訳ではないので、こういう質問する必要があった訳だ。
プレイヤーの中には非戦主義と言ってもいいほど戦闘をオマケとしか考えていない人も居るが、そういう人に合うギルドを作れる気はしないので。
TBのパーティの最大人数は五人......セレーネさんが加入してくれれば、戦力的な充実にもなって俺としては万々歳だ。
「え......本当に? 私、今ハインド君に誘われてる? 実は私の後ろに居る誰かに言ったのであって、勘違いした私が反応したら悲しいことになるという――」
「どういうマイナス思考ですか!? どこを探しても、ここには俺とセレーネさんしか居ませんよ!」
VRX3500の再生産がまだな事もあり、現在TBでは新規プレイヤーが減少傾向だ。
今週中には在庫が復活するらしいという情報があるが、とにかく今の『アルトロワの村』は閑散としている。
現に、鍛冶場には二人きりしか居ない状況だ。
セレーネさんは鍛冶場の中をぐるっと一周し、人が入れないサイズの備え付けてある棚を開き、窓を無意味にパカパカと開閉し、更にもう一度周囲を見回してから自分を指差した。
どれだけ自分に自信が無いんだ、この人......。
それに俺が頷くと、ようやく口を開く。
「ぜ、是非お願いしまひゅ――あ、ああっ! 舌がもつれた!」
「お、落ち着いて下さい! 別に何もしませんから!」
「何もしない!? つまり今の話は無しってこと!?」
「違います!」
どうも考え方が後ろ向き過ぎるが......。
ともかく、俺はセレーネさんから承諾の返事を貰うことに成功したのだった。
Chapter 41 - Path And Invitation
[-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)
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.
[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)
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.
[...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.
VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top Player no Shikakenin～
ＶＲＭＭＯの支援職人　～トッププレイヤーの仕掛人～
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/vrmmo-no-shien-shokunin-%ef%bd%9etop-player-no-shikakenin%ef%bd%9e/
Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Harem Slice of Life
Adventurers Beautiful Female Lead Blacksmith Brother Complex Calm Protagonist Childhood Friends Clan Building Cooking Crafting Curious Protagonist Dense Protagonist Elemental Magic Fantasy Creatures Game Ranking System Gamers Hard-Working Protagonist Healers Level System Love Interest Falls in Love First Love Rivals Male Protagonist Misunderstandings MMORPG Ninjas Possessive Characters Priests Siblings Siblings Not Related by Blood Sword And Magic Virtual Reality Younger Love Interests Younger Sisters
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4014ds/
二階堂風都