翌日、木曜日の夜十時にTBへログイン。
前日に少しだけタートル系モンスターと戦ったが、経験値効率的には今一つだった。
ついでにホーマ平原の西部のみが期間限定でインスタンスダンジョンの形式になっていた。
これはライフが削れたイベントモンスターを横取りされない様にという配慮だろう。
......限定と聞くとマナー違反をしてまで必死になるプレイヤーがいるらしいので、これは妥当な判断だと思う。
今日は鍛冶の師匠であるセレーネさんと待ち合わせで『アルトロワの村』に戻って来ている。
ゲーム内のメールによると最初に会った鍛冶場に居るという事なのだが......。
「セレーネさん、どうしてそんな隅っこに?」
一番端っこの作業場の、更に隅......そこに彼女は丸まるようにして屈み込んでいた。
俺に気付くと、小動物のようにキョロキョロと周囲を警戒する。
「ハインド君、ちゃんと一人? 一人?」
「言われた通りに一人で来ましたけど......」
「ほっ......。前に、私が人見知りだって話をしたじゃない?」
「確かに言ってましたね」
何だか、俺が普段から複数人で行動していることを知っているような口振りだ。
疑問に思い、訊いてみると......。
「一昨日だったかな? キミがとびっきり可愛い
れするんだよ......男でも女でも関係なく」
そんなにセレーネさんと差があるかな......。
この人だって髪を整えて、眼鏡のフレームをもっとお洒落な物に変えれば周囲の目を惹くと思うんだけどな。
素材を活かせていないだけというか。
ゲームの素材は上手く扱えているのに......何故なのか。
「まあ、確かに俺は取り立てて美形でもないですから。それで話し掛け易くなったのであれば、それはそれで――」
「ち、違う違う! あの時はそういうの関係なしに、マイナー武器を語り合える相手が現れたのが嬉しくてつい......それにキミの話し方、何だか落ち着いてて安心するっていうか......」
「そりゃ光栄ですね。つっても、ちょいちょいラフな口調が混じってると思うんですけど、気になりませんか?」
「ううん、全然。伝わってくる感情が穏やかだから......かな?」
「「!?」」
急に大きな音が響いたかと思ったら、隣の作業場のプレイヤーが力任せに鉄に金槌を叩きつけている。
驚いて二人で視線を向けていると、今度は阿修羅のような形相で睨みつけられた。
何となく、他所でやれ! 失せろ! という強烈な思念を感じたので――
「え、ええと......ここで雑談するのは作業の邪魔になるみたいなんで、外に出ますか」
「そ、そうだね。失礼しましたー......」
俺達は場所を移動することにした。
すると、隣の男性は青筋の浮いた顔のままにっこりと笑う。
本気の殺意を感じたぞ......そんなにうるさかったかな? 怖い怖い。
入る時に作業場の使用料300Gを払ったが、何もせずに出ると戻ってくるので特に問題ない。
その後、人混みは苦手だというセレーネさんの言葉に従い、俺は人気の少ない見張り塔の下へと案内した。
前に防具の生産を行った場所でもある。
「ああ、なら俺から。NPCの挙動で色々と分かったことがあるので」
「鍛冶について無償で教えてくれた時点で、セレーネさんのことは信用してますから」
「それは、ちょっと嬉しいかも。なら遠慮なく」
「はい。実は――」
クラリスさんの事を中心に、掲示板で得た情報なども加えて整理しながらセレーネさんに話した。
特にクラリスさんが行商人になったことに関しては驚いた様子で......。
「道具屋の店主がおばあちゃんになったのは知ってたけど、まさかハインド君達が受けたクエストが原因だったなんてね......」
「誰にも言わないで下さいね? クラリスさんのファンは思ったよりも多かったみたいで......バレたらそこら中でPKに狙われちゃいますよ」
俺の念押しに対して、セレーネさんは
「どうしよっかなー」
「いやいや、本当に駄目ですって!」
「押すなよ! 押すなよ! って奴だね?」
「ふふ、やだなぁ、冗談だよ。そもそも私は掲示板なんかに関しては、基本的にROM専だからね」
俺が持っている情報はほとんど話し終えた。
セレーネさんは教えてくれる情報は、俺が持っていない基本的な知識の補完と、この前生産した「極上の」シリーズについてのことだ。
特に後者に関しては気になっていたのだが、セレーネさんは詳細を知っているとのことで......。
「極上っていう冠詞が付く装備品はね、素材のレアリティが関わってくるの」
「うわっ、それかぁ! そっかー......」
答えがシンプルだっただけに、予想が外れて非常に悔しい。
製作難度とか製作時間が関係していると思ったんだけどな......。
「その様子だと、色々と推測してたみたいだね? でも仕方ないよ。TBって素材のレアリティが非表示なんだもん」
「じゃあ、俺が作ったアルミラージアーマーと三角帽子は......」
「アーマーはアルミラージの皮が、帽子は羊毛のフェルトが貴重品かな」
ああ......言われてみれば、その二つの数量は他に比べて少なかった。
但しそこまで極端な差は無かったので、レアと言っても一つか二つランクが上なだけなんだろう。
膨大な数の装備を作製しているセレーネさんは、何となく素材のレアリティが分かる様になってきたのだという。
この人、ひたすら取引掲示板と作業場を往復しているらしいからな......俺と比べると生産者としての経験値が、比較にならないほど高いという訳だ。
ちょっと真似できない。
「でも凄いよ、特にアーマーの方は。現実でのレザークラフト経験者ってほとんど居ないから、TBでは精度判定が緩めに設定されてるらしいんだけど。それでも、極上の+8なんて初めて聞いたから」
「つまり、高レアの素材だと出来上がる装備の限界値が高くなると?」
「そういうこと。もちろん、腕が伴ってないと極上なんて出来ないから誇っていいと思うよ。裁縫、得意なんだね」
「本格的に始めてかれこれ五年になりますかね。良かったら、セレーネさんにも何か作りましょうか?」
俺の何気ない一言に、セレーネさんは鳩が豆鉄砲を食ったような顔になった。
そんなに変なことを言ったか?
沢山の装備を作っているにも関わらず、セレーネさん自身の装備は未だに初期装備だ。
俺としてはそれが気になったのだが。
「......男の子から、贈り物......? 私が......? 夢でも見てるんじゃ......」
「セレーネさん? おーい」
「はっ!? ななな、何でもないよ! 是非お願いします!」
「何が良いですかね。イメージ的には白衣とか......
で着てるものを知ってるの!?」
「えっ?」
「えっ? ――あっ!」
自爆。
どちらにせよゲーム内で着るものでもないので、おかしいだろうと突っ込みが入ると思ったんだが......意外なところに飛び火してしまった。
セレーネさんがうっかりプライベートの情報まで漏らし、少し場の空気が微妙になったものの、その後も情報のやり取りは続いた。
特にイベントの役に立つ情報......現在のレベルキャップ、暫定での最強武器、経験値効率の良い狩り場などに関してはありがたかった。
攻略に力を入れている訳でもないのに、どうしてそれだけ情報通なんですか? という質問には、検索にコツがあるとしか教えてくれなかった。
「じゃあ、私はこの辺で失礼するね」
「はい。色々と、ありがとうございました。今度、何か御礼に装備品を持っていきますね」
「う、うん。楽しみにしてる......。またね、ハインド君」
はにかむような笑顔を残し、セレーネさんはその場でログアウトしていった。
さて、俺の方は二人と合流してレベル上げに勤しむとしますかね。
The next day, Thursday, I logged to TB at 10 pm.
The previous day we had fought turtles for a bit but the experience gain was quite lacking.
Incidentally, the western part of the Homa plains had become an instanced dungeon for a limited time.
This was probably done to prevent people from stealing event monsters from others.
...When they hear about things being up for a limited time, there are players that breach the usual etiquette after all so I believe it was a good choice.
Today I have an appointment with my blacksmithing master Selene-san so I returned to [Altrowa village] .
She said in the in-game mail that she was currently in the blacksmith workshop we first met in but...
[Selene-san, why are you in that corner?]  (Hind)
In the furthest corner of the workshop...she was currently curled into a ball.
When she noticed me, she started to look around her restlessly like a small animal that had its guard up.
[Hind-kun, it's only you? You came alone?]  (Selene)
[I came alone as you stated but...]  (Hind)
[Oh...last time I told you right? That I was quite shy when it came to strangers]  (Selene)
[You did say that]  (Hind)
For some reason, she's talking as if she knows that I'm usually with other people.
The moment I tried to ask her about it...
[Was it the day before yesterday? I saw you with two extraordinarily cute girls and...I was wondering what I would do if you came together with them]  (Selene)
[Really? However, I'll feel shy when I meet a beauty...be it a man or a woman]  (Selene)
I wonder if there's really that much difference between them and Selene-san...
If she combed her hair and changed the frames of her glasses to a more stylish one, I believe she would attract the eyes of those around her.
It's like she's not making the best use of what she has.
Even though she's using the materials in the game really well...I wonder why.
[Well, you are right in saying that I'm not particularly handsome. If that makes it easier for you to talk to me so be it...]  (Hind)
[Y-You are wrong! At that time I was really happy that I found someone I could talk about minor weapons with and I suddenly...and the way you talk is kind of calming and gives me peace of mind...]  (Selene)
[I'm happy to hear that. Though I often mix in some rough sentences here and there, you don't mind that?]  (Hind)
[No, not at all. Because the feeling I get from you is gentleness...maybe?]  (Selene)
[[!?] ] 
Just when we thought we had heard a very loud noise suddenly, we saw the player in the workshop next to us hit the iron with all his might with a hammer.
When our line of sight met his, this time he glared at us like an asura.
Somehow I could feel strong thoughts like...go do that somewhere else! or...get lost!...
[S-So...since it seems like we'll get in the way of those working if we talk here, shall we go outside?]  (Hind)
[Y-You are right. Excuse us...]  (Selene)
We decided to move somewhere else.
When we did so, the guy next to us kept smiling while veins were popping in his head.
I did really feel killing intent from him...were we that noisy? So scary.
I did pay 300G to enter the workshop, but since there was no problem for them to return it to me if I didn't use it, it was fine.
After that, because Selene-san disliked crowded places, I led her to the watchtower since it didn't have many people.
It was the place where I last made our defensive gear.
[Yeah, guess I'll start. I have understood various things about the behavior of NPCs]  (Hind)
[Last time you did teach me about blacksmithing without asking me to pay anything, I trust you Selene-san]  (Hind)
[That does make me kind of happy. In that case, go ahead]  (Selene)
[Right. As a matter of fact...]  (Hind)
With Claris-san as the base and with the information I gathered from the BBS, I put everything in order and told Selene-san.
She was particularly surprised when I told her about when Claris-san became a peddler...
[I knew that the second-hand shop's shopkeeper had switched to an old lady, but to think that it was because Hind-kun and the rest took a quest...]  (Selene)
[Please, don't tell anyone, OK? There are more fans of Claris-san than I thought after all...if this information gets out, I might get PK'd everywhere]  (Hind)
When I reminded her, Selene-san made an impish expression.
[I wonder what I should do...]  (Selene)
[No no, it's really not a joke!]  (Hind)
[Don't press the button! Don't press the button! Is it that kind of situation?]  (Selene)
[Fufu, dear me, I was just joking. To begin with, when it comes to stuff like BBS and things like that, I'm fundamentally a lurker]  (Selene)
I had told her pretty much everything I knew.
The information that Selene-san told me about was fundamentally complementary to the information I currently had and also about the previous [First-rate]  series of items I managed to craft last time.
I was particularly interested in the latter and Selene-san had information about it so...
[Regarding those first rate equipment, they seem to be affected by the rarity of the materials]  (Selene)
[Uwah, so it was that! I see...]  (Hind)
Since the answer was far more simple than I thought, I was quite annoyed at it.
I thought it would have something to do with the degree of difficulty of the crafting or the time taken to do it...
[From that reaction, you have been thinking about various theories, right? However, it can't be helped. The rarity of the materials are hidden in TB after all]  (Selene)
[In that case, the Al-Miraj armour and the tricorne I made...]  (Hind)
[For the armor it was probably the Al-Miraj skin and for the hat it was probably the wool and the felt]  (Selene)
Ah...now that I think about it, I had less of those items.
However, I don't think there was that much of a difference between them, even if we talk about them being rarer, it was probably about 1 or 2 ranks higher at most.
This means that for someone that has made a lot of gear like Selene-san, she's able to understand the rarity of the ingredients.
She single-mindlessly goes from the trading BBS to the workshop and vice-versa after all...when it comes to things like crafting, there's no comparison in the difference between our experience.
There's no way I can do the same thing as her.
[However, you are amazing, especially when it comes to the armor. You had not that much experience with leather crafting and it's true that it's made so that the precision judgement is quite lax. Even then, to hear that you were able to make a first-rate armor +8 on your first try]  (Selene)
[To sum it up, making gear from high quality ingredients make it so that the gear is of higher quality?]  (Hind)
[That's right. Of course, if you are not skilled you won't be able to make first-rate items so you can be proud of yourself. You are quite skilled at sewing, huh?]  (Selene)
[It's probably been around 5 years since I started maybe? If you want to, should I make something for you?]  (Hind)
When I said so nonchalantly, Selene-san face turned like that of a bird.
Did I say something that weird?
Even though she had made lots of gear up to this point, Selene-san was still wearing the beginner gear.
That had bothered me.
[...A gift...from a guy...? To me...? Am I dreaming...?]  (Selene)
[Selene-san? Hey]  (Hind)
[Ah!? I-It's nothing! Please do so!]  (Selene)
[What would you like? From how you look something like a white gown...or a padded kimono would suit you. Selene-san gives the feeling of an indoor person after all]  (Hind)
[Eh!? How do you know what I'm wearing in the real world!?]  (Selene)
[Eh?]  (Hind)
[Eh?...Ah!]  (Selene)
She self destructed.
Anyhow, since it wasn't something that you would wear in-game, I was planning to say it would be weird but...I didn't expect it to go like this.
Selene-san revealed private information by mistake after all, for some time the atmosphere turned delicate, but in the end we were able to continue exchanging information.
Especially information that was useful for the event...the current level cap, what she thought was probably the strongest weapon at the moment and the most efficient hunting grounds. I was really grateful for this information.
It's not like she's part of the people that put effort into fighting, why is she so well informed?
[Well then, I'll excuse myself here]  (Selene)
[Got it, thanks for everything. Next time, I'll bring some gear as thanks]  (Hind)
[O-Ok. I'm looking forward to it...See you, Hind-kun]  (Selene)
Leaving with a bashful smile, Selene-san logged out right there.
Well then, guess I should group up with those 2 and start leveling up.
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