「......」
「なー、わっち。今日はどうしたんだよ? 朝からボーっとしちゃってさ」
昨夜の光景が目に焼き付いて離れない。
気を抜くと、何度も何度も頭の中であの場面を再生してしまう。
セレーネさんの唇、柔らかかったな......。
「返事がねえ! おーい、わっちー。俺、もう腹減ったよー。なあってばー」
「! あ、何だ、秀平。どうかしたか?」
「どうかしたか、じゃないよ。昼飯だよ、昼飯。早く食いにいこうぜ」
「あ、ああ」
もう昼だったのか。
授業の内容がほとんど頭に入らんかった......。
気が付くと、クラス内は人が少なく閑散とした状態になっている。
うちの学校は教室内で食べる人間の方が少数派なので、クラスメイト達は既に昼食を摂りに出て行った後なのだろう。
俺は鞄から弁当を二つ取り出すと、秀平と一緒に中庭へと降りていく。
「おー、亘。私の弁当は?」
「おう。ほらよ」
先に到着していた未祐に弁当を渡す。
クラスが別なので、どちらが先に来るかは日によって違う。
今日は一人か......未祐にくっついて女子が増えることもあり、その時は普段よりも賑やかな昼食になる。
未祐にならい、けやきの木を囲んでいるベンチに腰掛け、自分も弁当を開く。
――ん?
「あれ......箸を入れ忘れた」
「ええ? 何やってんのさ、わっち。ほんとに今日はどうしたの? 珍しく理世ちゃんから俺にメールも来てたし」
「理世からお前に? なんて?」
「昨夜から様子が変だから、フォローしてやってくれってさ」
「そうなのか......?」
――いかんいかん、しっかりせねば。
理世の勉強の妨げになるようなことがあってはならない。
折角進学校に通っているのだし、余計な気を回させるのは駄目だろう。
しかし、箸もちゃんと入れたつもりだったんだけどな。
秀平も今日は弁当を持参していて、近頃はどうやら母親の機嫌を損ねてはいない様子。
そういえばこの前、スーパーで買い物中に偶然秀平のお母さんに会った。
俺と一緒にゲームをやるようになってから生活が規則正しくなったと礼を言われたのだが、どう反応するべきか少し困った記憶がある。
言ってみれば、一緒に遊んでいるだけだからな......。
あー、それより箸だが......こういう場合は学食か。
おばちゃんに頼めば貸してくれるだろう。
弁当をベンチに置いて立ち上がる。
「すまん、学食で借りてくるから先に食べていてくれ。未祐の方は大丈夫だったか?」
「そうか。じゃあ、ちょっと行ってくるわ」
日差しが降り注ぐ中庭をゆったり歩く。
はー、今日はあったかいなぁ。
「自分のだけ入れ忘れるとか、ある意味わっちらしい失敗......未祐っち、折角だからその箸で食べさせてやれば?」
「な!?」
中庭を出る寸前、背中を思い切り叩かれて悲鳴を上げる秀平の声を聞いた。
余計なことを言うから......。
食堂で知り合いに絡まれてやや手間取ったが、無事に箸を借りることが出来た。
中庭に戻ると、未祐と秀平はまだ弁当に手をつけずに待っていてくれたようだ。
礼を言って座り直し、再度弁当を広げ直す。
「うん、まあまあ」
「うーまーいーぞー!」
「未祐っち、うるせえ!! メシは静かに!」
「いや、秀平も充分うるさいぞ......」
ぼんやりしていても、やはり腹は減るものだ。
今日は春巻きが割と良い出来だったな。
皮がパリッと揚がり、ごま油の香りと合わさって美味しかった。
餡のトロミも狙い通りで、野菜の食感も上手く残せた感じ。
二つの内の一つは秀平に強奪されてしまったが......。
ちなみに弁当の中身が一緒の未祐から奪おうとすると、容赦なくボコボコにされるので注意だ。
かといって、俺からなら奪っていいという話でもないが。
箸を食堂に返却し、弁当を食べ終えた後は恒例の雑談タイムだ。
未祐が他の女子を連れてきた場合は、話題は学校内のことが多めになる。
しかしこの三人の場合、最近の話題は決まってTB関連のことだ。
主に話のネタを持ってくるのは秀平なわけだが。
「そういえば、公式で次のアップデート内容が告知されてたよ」
「アプデ? 何かのイベントでもやるのか?」
未祐が缶ジュースを傾けながら応じる。
俺はその隣で、温かい緑茶を水筒から
「うん。次はPvPの大会だってさ。詳細はまだ伏せられてるけど」
「へえ。でも、PvPって絶対にやらない人も居るだろ? 対人戦は好き嫌いが別れるもんな」
PKは別として、決闘の申し込みをオプションで最初から拒否にしている人はそれなりに居ると思う。
ゲーム性にもよるが、タイトルによってはPvPをやる人間の方が少数派ということもしばしばだとか。
「そういう人用に、ある程度大会が進んだら優勝者を予想する賭け事が開催されるんだってさ。もちろんゲーム内通貨で、オッズによって当選時の配当金も上下するとか」
「なるほど。そうやって非参加者の観戦意欲を煽るわけだな!」
「しかし、賭け率で変動ってことはブックメーカー方式ではないんだな。もしPvP的に不遇な職業が優勝したら、荒れるな」
こういう賭けのやり方は、スマホで調べたところパリミュチュエル方式というそうだ。舌を噛みそう。
予想が集中すると配当金が下がるので、もし大穴狙いが当たれば......という夢が膨らむな。
まあ、これはまだ先の話だからいいとして。
今の俺達は拠点もまだ無い状態なわけだから、それどころではない。
「グラド帝国以外の地域の、プレイヤーの進出状況はどうなんだ?」
「砂漠以外は良い感じだよ。各地域、三つ目の街くらいまで到達してそれぞれが首都に行き当たったみたい。この土日で大きく進んだねぇ。で、国名も判明」
秀平によると、判明した三国の名前は以下の通り。
北、山の国・ベリ連邦。
東、森の国・ルスト王国。
南、海と島の国・マール共和国。
西が未判明、そして中央がグラド帝国と。
「ってことは、あの速度でも西では前線寄りなのか。俺ら」
「競争相手が少ないだけだがな!」
嬉しそうに言うなぁ、本当。
でも、確かに自分達の足で調べる楽しみはあるんだよな。
どうなってるんだろうな、あの荒野の先......。
「それと、例のわっちの予想も当たったらしくて、盗賊はプレイヤーが積極的に捕まえると徐々に数が減るみたい。早めに帝国外に行ったプレイヤーは、最初から囲まれる運命にあるみたいだね......」
「プレイヤーが中心になって治安維持をする必要があるのか。NPCが無能ってよりは、プレイヤーの影響力を大きくするための措置かな......?」
それとも単に帝国との国力差を表現してるのか?
でも、帝国にも山賊は居たしなぁ。
それとも、あれはクエストだけの特例なのか......? 分からん。
「金も稼げるし、難しく考えなくて良いのではないか? ただし、ほどほどに限るが」
「だよね。多過ぎても捕まえきれないし、昨日みたいなのはね......」
三人で思い出し、似た様な顔でげんなりとする。
あれだけの数で来られると、対応が難しい上に報酬が苦労に見合わない。
用意していた回復アイテムがゴリゴリ減ったしな......また補充が必要だ。
昨日みたいにリーダーだけを捕えても、どうせ別の奴に代替わりするだけだろうし。
西側にもっとプレイヤーが増えないことには、どうにもならない問題だろう。
「最後にもう一個。街によっては乗り物も売ってるっていう情報があったよ。ロバは安いんだけど馬は高額で、簡単に買える額じゃないとか」
「へえ。でも、ロバで良いから取り敢えず何か欲しいよな......歩くよりは断然速いだろうし」
「砂漠というと、馬よりもラクダじゃないか?」
「あー、あるかもね、ラクダ。今夜、ログインしたら探してみる?」
「そうだな。もし入手できれば、探索も捗ると思う」
「よし、なら今夜は乗り物探しからだな!」
未祐が力強く宣言した直後、予鈴が鳴る。
俺達はその場を片付けると、雑談を続けながら他の生徒と同じ様に教室へと戻っていった。
[...]  (Wataru)
[Hey, Wacchi. What's wrong with you today? You've been absent-minded all day.]  (Shuuhei)
What happened last night had been etched in my eyes.
If I let my mind wander, that scene repeated over and over in my head.
Selene-san's lips...they were soft...
[He's not even reacting! Hey, Wacchi. I'm hungry already. Hey...]  (Shuuhei)
[!! Ah, what is it, Shuuhei? Did something happen?]  (Wataru)
[What are you even saying? It's lunch time, lunch time. Let's go eat already.]  (Shuuhei)
[A-Ah.]  (Wataru)
Is it lunch time already?
I can't remember the contents of the lessons...
Once I noticed, inside the class there weren't many people and it was deserted.
In our school there are not many students that eat inside the classroom, so my classmates probably already took their lunch and left the classroom.
I took out two bentos from my bag and headed towards the courtyard with Shuuhei.
[Oh, Wataru. Where's my bento?]  (Miyu)
[Oh. Here.]  (Wataru)
I gave a bento to Miyu, who had arrived first.
Since we are in different classrooms, who arrives first depends on the day.
She's alone today huh...there are times when girls cling onto Miyu and lunch gets lively when they do.
It was normal for her, I sat down on a bench surrounded by Zelkova trees and opened my own bento.
...Hmm?
[Eh...I forgot to put in chopsticks.]  (Wataru)
[Eh? What are you doing, Wacchi? What's wrong with you today? It was unusual for Rise-chan to send me an e-mail.]  (Shuuhei)
[Rise sent you one? What did she say?]  (Wataru)
[That you had been acting weird since last night, so I had to keep an eye on you.]  (Shuuhei)
[Is that so...?]  (Wataru)
-No good no good, I have to get a grip.
I can't become an hindrance on Rise's studies.
She has been able to get into a prep school after working so hard, it would be bad if she started worrying about unnecessary things.
However, I did plan to put in chopsticks properly though.
Shuuhei is bringing his own bento today, seems like lately his mother hasn't been in a bad mood.
Now that I think about it, a while back I did find Shuuhei's mom in the supermarket by coincidence when I was buying things.
She thanked me saying that since he had started playing with us, his lifestyle has turned for the better, but I was slightly troubled about how I should have replied to her.
How should I say this, we are only playing together after all...
Ah, more importantly the chopsticks...in this case I should go to the cafeteria.
If I ask auntie, she'll probably lend me some.
I left the bento on the bench and stood up.
[Sorry, I'll go get some from the cafeteria so eat before me. Do you have yours, Miyu?]  (Wataru)
[I see. In that case, I'll be back soon.]  (Wataru)
I started walking while the sunlight was pouring onto the courtyard.
Hah, today is quite hot.
[Only forgetting his, in a sense, it's a failure that's so like Wacchi...Miyucchi, since this is quite the chance, why don't you feed him with those chopsticks?]  (Shuuhei)
[Wha!?]  (Miyu)
Just before I left the courtyard, I heard Shuuhei's scream from being hit in the back with all her strength.
That's because you said unnecessary things...
I was delayed because I met some people I knew in the cafeteria, but I was able to successfully get some chopsticks.
When I returned to the courtyard, I saw that Miyu and Shuuhei were waiting for me without having touched their bentos.
I thanked them and sat down, then we opened our bentos again.
[Yup, it's so so.]  (Wataru)
[It's so gooooood!!]  (Miyu)
[Miyucchi, you are being noisy! You have to eat your food quietly!]  (Shuuhei)
[Well, you are being quite loud too Shuuhei...]  (Wataru)
Even if you spend the time being absent minded, as expected, you still get hungry.
I think the spring rolls came out quite well today.
The wrapping is crispy, and they were delicious along with the fragrance of the sesame oil.
The stickiness of the red bean paste came out as planned and the vegetables left a good after taste.
One of the two was stolen by Shuuhei though...
By the way, if you tried to steal from Miyu since the contents of the bentos were the same, she would mercilessly beat you to a pulp so you have to be careful.
Even though I say that, it's not like it's fine if he steals from me.
I returned the chopsticks to the cafeteria and the time after we ate our bentos was reserved for idle talk.
Whenever Miyu brings another girl, we tend to talk about topics related to the school.
However, if it's just us three, lately it would be all related to TB.
Though it's usually mainly Shuuhei bringing information.
[Right, they announced the contents of the next update.]  (Shuuhei)
[Update? Is it going to be some kind of event?]  (Miyu)
Miyu replied as she was tilting her canned juice.
Meanwhile I was sitting next to her and I poured some warm green tea from the thermos onto the cap.
[Yup. The next one will be a PvP tournament. They haven't released the details yet though.]  (Shuuhei)
[I see. However, there are people that definitely won't do PvP right? There are people that like and hate that.]  (Hind)
Leaving PK aside, I believe there are people that disabled the option to have duels requested from the beginning.
It's part of the game, but I believe that in this kind of game, the number of people that are into PvP are a minority.
[For people like that, it seems like they are holding bets on who'll advance through the tournament. Obviously using in game currency, regarding the odds, the dividend will go up and down throughout the betting times.]  (Shuuhei)
[I see. So they are trying to get normal people to watch the tournament that way!]  (Miyu)
[However, since the betting odds fluctuate, there won't be any fixed-odds betting. If some random person wins, it's going to get rough.]  (Wataru)
After searching about it on my smartphone, it seems like this way of betting is called Parimutuel betting. That's a word you'd bite your tongue trying to pronounce.
The dividend will go down down if everyone bets on that person, so if you try to aim for a lucky break and win...that kind of dream is possible.
Well, we can leave this for later.
We still haven't set up a base, so we are not at that point yet.
[What about the progress players have made in areas outside the Grado empire?]  (Wataru)
[Other than the desert it seems to be going well. They have reached around the 3rd town in each area and have reached the capital.
According to Shuuhei, the names of the three countries are as follows.
North area, mountain country, Beli confederation.
East area, forest country, Rust kingdom.
South area, sea and islands country, Mahl republic.
The west area is still unknown and the Grado empire is at the center.
[Which means, we are part of the ones exploring that area first even at that speed.]  (Hind)
[Though that's only because there are few competitors!]  (Miyu)
She sure says that happily.
However, it's true that there's fun in exploring the lands with your own feet.
I wonder what it is like, beyond those wastelands...
[Other than that, it seems like Wacchi was right, if players catch bandits, their numbers will gradually decrease.
[So there's a need for players to maintain the public order. The fact that they made NPCs incompetent, maybe that was in order for players to have bigger influence...?]  (Wataru)
Or is this simply to show the difference in national power with the empire?
However, there were also bandits within the empire.
Or was that only a special case because of the quest...? I don't get it.
[Since you can earn gold from it, is there any need to think that hard about it? Provided that you do it in moderation.]  (Wataru)
[You are right. There are too many of them so you wouldn't be able to catch them all, like yesterday...]  (Shuuhei)
The three of us remembered and made similar fed up faces.
If that many came to us, being difficult to deal with aside, the reward wouldn't be worth it.
We were forced to use a lot of the healing items we prepared...we need to buy some again.
Even if we catch their leader like yesterday, another guy will probably take his place anyway.
Unless the number of players in the west side increase, it's a problem we can't really deal with.
[There's one last thing. There was information about rides being sold in towns. Donkeys are cheap but horses are expensive, it wasn't a small amount of money.]  (Shuuhei)
[I see. However, I don't care if it's a donkey, I'd like to have something for the time being...it would definitely be faster than walking.]  (Wataru)
[If we are speaking of a desert, wouldn't it be a camel instead of a horse?]  (Miyu)
[Ah, there probably are camels. Shall we take a look once we log in tonight?]  (Shuuhei)
[Right. If we are able to get some, I believe we could make progress in the exploration.]  (Wataru)
[Alright, in that case, tonight we are looking for a ride!]  (Miyu)
Right after Miyu made such a declaration, the bell rang.
We started cleaning up and we headed to our classroom while chatting like the rest of the students.
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