翌日、月曜の午後九時。
未祐と約束した時間よりも一時間早く、俺は家事が終わって暇になってしまった。
気が付くと、誰に言われるでもなくVRギアを装着してベッドの上で横になっている。
自分で思っているよりも俺はTBに夢中になっているらしい。
始める前にしっかりと体をほぐし......早速、電源を入れてゲームにログインすることにした。
すると景色が一瞬で切り替わり、前日にログアウトした場所である『アルトロワの村』の広場に俺は立っていた。
念のためにフレンドリストを開き、ユーミルの項目を見るが当然『オフライン』となっている。
時間になればログインして連絡を入れてくるだろう。
......今の内に装備品の調達をしておけばスムーズに協力プレイが出来るな。
一時間もあるのだから不要なアイテムを売ったり、どうにか生産の基礎くらいは学ぶことが出来るだろうと思われる。
まず最初に俺は、気になっていたゲーム内の取引掲示板の方へと向かった。
結果、このゲームの現在の相場をおおよそではあるが把握することが出来た。
まだ二日目なので安定性は皆無だろうけれど、参考までに頭に情報を入れておく。
通貨の単位はゴールドで、基本的にはGと表示されている。
その辺で採取出来る雑草や石ころが9,999,999Gで売られているのは正直どうかと思った。
誰が買うんだ、こんなの。
装備品はやはり高く、手間を惜しまないのであれば当然ながら自分で作製した方が安価だ。
その内、生産専門の職人に世話になるかもしれないが......序盤は無視だ。
金も足りないし、まずは自分で作ろう。
その後、村の武器屋・防具屋も見て回ったが、やはり掲示板で取引されていたプレイヤーの作った装備品の方が性能が高そうだった。
武器名の頭に『上質な』とか後ろに『+1』などのおまけが付いたりしていて、同じ武器であってもそれらの品は性能が高い。
例として『上質なブロードソード+3』だと、無印に比べて随分と性能が上になっていた。
お値段も悪い意味で驚きの価格だったが。
村の商店で売っているのは通常の何も付いていない状態の武器と、金欠用の『粗雑な』シリーズだけのようだ。
『アイアンランス』、『粗雑なアイアンランス』といった感じに。
こうなると村の武器・防具屋が不要に感じるがそうでもないらしい。
そちらのメインの用途は、どうやら武器や防具の耐久力を回復させる『修理』ということになりそうだった。
アイテムとして携帯砥石などはあるようなのだが、どうも長いダンジョンなどの特殊な用途を想定しているようなやや高い値段であり、店での修理費の方が断然安いという特徴がある。
修理費用は大体、武器の販売価格の一割弱といった所。
例として店売り価格が50Gの『粗雑なブロードソード』を修理した場合の費用は、たったの5Gで済む。
ちなみに未祐のように武器を『破損』状態にしてしまうと、直すこと自体は可能なようだが――
「150Gだ」
「高っ!」
足みたいな腕をした、ゴツイ武器屋のオヤジが無慈悲な金額を告げてくる。
このように一気に金額が高騰するようだ。
しかも普通の『ブロードソード』が150Gなので、直す意味は正直言って皆無だ。
恐らくだがプレイヤー作の一点ものの武器までいってようやく、破損状態から直す価値が出てくるのではないだろうか。
今回の場合は全く割に合わないので、『壊れた粗雑なブロードソード』は1Gでオヤジに売却することにした。
「むぅ......これを買い取れと言うのか......」
そんなに嫌そうな顔をするなよ。
っていうか、ゴミを売りつけると良い顔をされないのか......細かいな、TBのAI。
鉄に溶かして再利用すればいいじゃないか。
残念ながらプレイヤー側には武器を素材に解体するような概念がないので、これしか処分方法がない。
捨てるよりは1Gでも無いよりマシ、ということで。
これで現在の所持金は2031Gとなった。
次に鍛冶に関してだが、作業場はギルドを作って共同のギルドハウスを建てるか、個人で家を購入すると設置することが出来るという仕様のようだった。
無い場合は――というか、ほとんどのプレイヤーはまだその段階だと思うが......村や町の作業場を借りることでも鍛冶が可能になると、村民のNPCから情報を得る事が出来た。
基本的に武器に必要な材料は『鉄』と柄に使う『皮』の二種類。
それから『鍛冶セット』というアイテムを道具屋で買わなければならないらしい。
プレイヤー間の取引が不可能なタイプのアイテムで、本人が道具屋から買うしか入手ルートがないのだそうだ。
材料になる鉄と皮に関しては、それなりの量がインベントリの中に納められているので、取り敢えず道具屋に行ってみようか。
道具屋らしく、ポーションマークが描かれた小さな店の入り口をくぐる。
「いらっしゃ――あら、貴方は......」
「こんにちは。昨日、ゲートの前で――」
「まあまあ、もちろん覚えていますわ。ようこそクラリス道具店へ。ゆっくり見て行って下さいな」
「はい」
お世辞にも広いとは言えない店内では、昨日出会ったクラリスというNPCがカウンターの奥で接客をしていた。
も数人居て――って、何でこっちを見てるんだ?
「なあ、クラリスさんにあんな台詞言われたことあったっけ?」
「んにゃ、俺はない。常にいらっしゃいませー、だけだわ。顔を覚えられてるかも謎」
「だよなぁ。何か条件があんのかなあ......ゲートがどうとか言ってなかったか?」
なるほど、分かり易い会話をありがとさん。
どうやらNPCであるクラリスさんが普段と違う反応をしたので、こちらを見て不審に思っていたらしい。
そう考えると俺は運が良いのかな? それで何か得をするのかは知らないけれど。
それから俺は目当ての鍛冶セットを見つけたので、購入しようと値札を見たのだが......。
「せ、1200G......」
高い......。
鍛冶場の使用料金が一回で300Gなので、これでは回復アイテム等を買う資金が足りなくなってしまう。
価格は体力回復用の初級ポーションが一つ50G、聖水は一つ200Gだ。
特に蘇生アイテムである『聖水』をほとんど買えなくなってしまうのが痛い。
俺はまだ蘇生魔法を一つも覚えていないので、デスペナルティが非常に怖い。
最低でも二個は買っておきたい所だ。
相棒があの猪だからなあ......今、習得している回復魔法だけじゃとてもフォローがきかんぞ。
「!」
急に肩に手を乗せられ、思わずびくっと反応してしまった。
振り返ると、クラリスさんがこちらを見てにっこりと微笑んでいる。
動揺した所為で、つい俺が素直に白状しそうになると......クラリスさんは俺の唇に人差し指をそっと乗せた。
――NPCなのに、艶っぽい仕草に何だかドキドキするんですが!?
クラリスさんはそのまま顔を寄せると、小声で
「この前のお礼に、皆さんには内緒でサービスしますよ? ......四割引きでどうですか?」
四割引き!?
すごい好条件だな......思わず飛び付きそうになるが、俺はそこでぐっと堪えた。
何だか妙な胸騒ぎがするのだ。
このゲームのNPCの特殊な挙動を考えると、素直に喜んでいいものかどうか。
......ここはダメもとで、直感を信じて安易に受けない方を選択してみた。
「ありがたいですけど、俺にとって都合が良過ぎやしませんか? 転んでいる所を助けた程度に対するお礼としては、度が過ぎています。何だか、裏がありそうで怖いんですが」
「あら、意外と疑り深いんですのね。商人としては、むしろ好ましいですけど......では、後で私の個人的な依頼を受けて下さいますか? それほど難しい事は頼みませんし、今回の割引とは別に何か報酬を差し上げますから。どうです?」
おっ!? 話の流れが変わったぞ!
もしかしてこれは......いや、でも、まだ不透明な部分があるな......。
ここまで来たら、気になる所は突っ込んで聞いておかないと損をしそうだ。
「その依頼、もし内容を聞いてから断ったとしても――」
「勿論、構いませんよ。断ったとしても、今日の割引分の代金を請求したりしませんわ。約束します」
クラリスさんはニコニコと、俺との会話の駆け引きを楽しんでいるような気配すらある。
ううむ......何だかこのキャラクター、底が読めなくて怖いのだが。
ついでと言っては何だが、厚かましく割引範囲の拡大についても言及してみる。
通るかな? それともさすがに図に乗り過ぎと怒るか?
「そういう事なら、ありがたく。それと、ついでに聖水と初級ポーション、それとこの裁縫セットも欲しいんですが。まとめて買っても他の商品に割引は効きますかね?」
「ふふふ、良いですよ。買い物上手ですね? では明日、もう一度店に来てくださいね。待っていますから」
よっしゃ! 初クエストゲット&全品割引成功!
NPCが自動でクエストを依頼することがあるって、こういう事だったのか!
武器屋のオヤジも随分と感情を表に出していたし、どうもこのゲームのNPCは大事に扱った方が良さそうだ。
いかん、ちょっと興奮し過ぎた......さっきの二人が再度こちらを不審そうに見ている。
落ち着こう。
どんなクエスト内容かは分からないが、断る余地も残したし全品四割引きになったしでもう言う事は無い。
それに序盤という事もあるし、そこまで酷い内容の依頼をされることもないだろう。
鍛冶セットを購入し、残りの金額で初級ポーションを5個、聖水を3個、更には気になっていた裁縫セットを480Gで買うことが出来た。
残金は321G。
ギリギリだが、何とかなるだろう。
俺はホクホク顔でアイテム屋を出ると、今度は武器の作成を目指して鍛冶場に向かうことにした。
The next day, Monday, 9pm.
An hour before the time I had promised to meet up with Miyu, I had finished my domestic chores and had some free time.
Before I noticed, I had already put on the VR gear and lay down on top of the bed without anyone telling me to do so.
Seems like I'm more immersed in TB than I thought.
Before starting, I relaxed my body...and immediately turned it on and logged in.
Then, the scenery completely changed, I was standing in the plaza of [Altrowa Village]  where I had logged out the previous day.
Just in case, I opened my friend list and checked Yumir's name, naturally, it said [Offline] .
Once she has some time, she'll probably log in and contact me.
...If I prepare our equipment now, we can proceed to play smoothly once she logs in.
Since I have an hour, I should sell all the unnecessary items and I think I should be able to learn the basics of crafting.
First off, since I'm a beginner, I headed to the trading BBS that I was interested in that was in the game.
As a result, I was able to grasp an understanding of what the current market prices were.
It's still the second day so it was still unstable, but it was still enough to give me an idea.
The currency used is gold, it's usually displayed as G.
When I saw normal weeds or pebbles you can find anywhere being sold for 9.999.999G I honestly didn't know what was going on.
Who is going to buy that?
Gear is expensive as expected, if you don't mind working for it, it's naturally cheaper to craft them yourself.
Eventually, I'll have to look for another crafter to help me...but I should ignore that for now.
I don't really have the money after all, I should craft them myself for the time being.
After that, I went around to check on the weapons and defensive gear being sold at the shops, but like the BBS had stated, their performance was lower than that of the ones crafted by players.
Sometimes [Good quality]  was attached at the start, other times [+1]  appeared at the end and even if they were the same weapon, their performance would be better.
For example, the [Good quality broadsword +3]  when compared to a normal one, its performance was extremely above it in comparison.
For better or for worse, you could say I was surprised at its price.
The ones that were being sold in the village's shops were the ones that usually had nothing attached to the name or the ones for poor players that had [Crude]  attached to the name.
[Iron lance]  or [Crude iron lance] , something like that.
You would think that there's no use for these shops in the village, but it doesn't seem to be the case.
Their main use is to repair your current gear, thus recovering their endurance.
There seem to be whetstones that you can carry, but they are expensive, giving the feeling that their use is for things like long dungeons, making repairing your gear in shops much cheaper.
The repair costs are generally on the cheaper side.
Take for example the [Crude broadsword]  that is sold for 50G, in the case that you want to repair it, it'd only be 5G.
By the way, in the case of Miyu's weapon that got [damaged] , it's possible to repair it but...
[That'll be 150G] 
[So expensive!] 
With arms the size of his legs, the old man from the weapon shop ruthlessly informed me of the price.
Like this, the price can suddenly just go up.
Besides, a [Broadsword]  is usually being sold at 150G so you could say that there was no point in repairing it.
There's probably no point in repairing gear from that status until players are able to obtain unique gear.
Since there was no point this time, I sold the [Broken crude broadsword]  to the old man for 1G.
[Mu...are you telling me to buy this...?] 
Don't make that dissatisfied face.
So, they won't make a good face when they are being sold trash...they are so sensitive, the AIs in TB.
Isn't it fine if you just melt the iron and re-use it?
Unfortunately, there's no way for players to dismantle weapons like this into materials, that's why this is the only way to get rid of them.
It basically means that it's better to get 1G for it rather than just throwing it away.
With this, my current gold was 2031G.
The following is related to blacksmithing, you can build a workshop after making a guild and building a guild house, but there's also the method of buying your own house and setting a workshop.
You can also borrow the workshops in the village, that's information I got from the NPCs in the village.
Fundamentally, what you need to craft a weapon is [Iron]  and a [Sheath]  for it design, these two.
After that, you apparently need to buy a [Blacksmithing set]  from a second-hand shop.
It's an item you can't trade among players, seems like the only way to obtain it is to go and buy it from the shop yourself.
When it comes to those ingredients, I already had a good quantity in my inventory, so guess I'll go take a look at the second-hand shop for the time being.
I passed through the entrance of a small shop with a potion mark drawn in it that looked like a second-hand shop.
[Welco-...Oh, you are...] 
[Hello. Yesterday, in front of the gate...] 
[Oh my, of course, I remember you. Welcome to Claris' second-hand shop. Please, take a look around] 
[Thanks] 
In a shop that you wouldn't be able to call spacious, Claris-san, the NPC I met yesterday, was looking after customers on the other side of the counter.
Inside the shop, there were various customers...wait, why are they looking this way?
[Hey, did Claris-san ever say those lines?] 
[No, not to me. Usually, she just says [Welcome] . It's mysterious how she even recognized him] 
[Right? There might be a requisite for it...didn't he say something about the gate?] 
I see, thanks for having a conversation that was easy to understand.
It seems like Claris-san, who is an NPC, usually reacts in a different way, so they were looking over here because they found it strange.
If I thought about it like that, was I lucky? Though I don't really know if there are any benefits to that.
After that, I found the blacksmithing set I was looking for and looked at the price tag but...
[1-1200G...] 
So expensive...
Each time you use the blacksmith's forge you have to spend 300G and it would make me unable to buy healing items.
The price of a beginner healing potion is 50G and a bottle of holy water is 200G.
Particularly, not being able to buy many of the revival item called [Holy water]  would hurt.
Since I still haven't learned any resurrection spells, I'm particularly afraid of the death penalty.
At the very least, I'd like to purchase two of them.
My partner is that wild beast after all...with the healing spells I currently have, I wouldn't be able to keep up with her.
[!] 
Having her hand placed on top of my shoulder so suddenly, I reflexively jumped.
Once I turned my head around, Claris-san was looking at me while showing a sweet smile.
Because I was agitated, I suddenly started to confess honestly...and Claris-san placed one of her index fingers on top of my lips.
...Even though she's an NPC, my heart is somehow beating really fast because of her coquettish behavior!?
Claris-san proceeded to bring her face closer to mine and whispered to me.
[As thanks for last time, I'll give you a discount but it has to be kept secret from everyone else. ...How about 40%?] 
40%!?
They were such favorable terms...I reflexively nearly agreed to it, but I held back and stood where I was.
For some reason, I was feeling a strange uneasiness.
When thinking about the unique behavior of the NPCs in this game, was it OK to accept her offer?
...Since there was nothing to lose here, I should just trust my intuition and simply accept her offer.
[I would be really grateful, but aren't the conditions too favorable for me? I believe it's too much as thanks for helping you when you fell down. Somehow, I'm scared that there's more to it] 
[Oh, you are more distrustful than I thought. Though, as a shopkeeper, I like that more...in that case, how about you take a personal request from me later? I won't ask for anything too difficult, I'll even add a reward on top of the discount. What do you think?] 
Oh!? The flow of the conversation has changed!
Is this...no, but, it's still a bit unclear.
Having reached this point, it would be a loss if I didn't hear more about it.
[If after hearing the contents of that request, I decide to refuse...] 
[Of course, I don't mind. Even if you decline my request, I'll still provide today's discount. I promise] 
Claris-san was smiling, as if she was enjoying our bargaining talk.
Hmm...for some reason, I can't read her character at all and it's scary.
Since we are already here, should I try to increase the scope of the discount?
Will she let it go through? Or will it be going too far and she'll get angry?
[In that case, I'll take you up on that offer. While we are at it, I would like to purchase: holy water, beginner potions, and this sewing set. If I bought all of it, would the discount still apply?] 
[Fufufu, that's fine. You are quite skilled at shopping, huh? In that case, come back tomorrow. I'll be waiting for you] 
Alright! I got my first quest and the item discount was a success!
When they said that NPCs would give you quests on their own, they meant this!
The old man in the weapon shop also showed his emotions on his face, so it seems like treating the NPCs in this game well is very important.
No good, I got a bit too excited...the previous two people were looking at me again with suspicion.
Let's calm down.
I don't really know the contents of the quest, but she left me room to decline if I wanted to and I still got a discount on everything, so there was nothing more to say.
Besides, we are still at the beginning of the game, I doubt it'll be a harsh request.
I had bought the blacksmithing set, the remaining gold I used to buy: 5 beginner potions, 3 holy water and I was even able to buy the sewing set I had taken an interest in for 480G.
That left me with 321G.
I just barely had enough, but it should be fine.
I left the item shop with a happy face and this time, I headed towards the blacksmith's forge to craft the weapons.
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