ログイン直後、ギルドホーム個室のベッドには毛玉......じゃない、ウェーブのかかったロングヘアの少女が横になって眠っていた。
何でここで寝てんだ。
ともかく、俺はシエスタちゃんを揺すって起こそうと試みたのだが。
軽く呻いて寝返りを打ったかと思うと、今度は仰向けになって幸せそうな寝顔で再び寝息を立て始めた。
寝返りを打った拍子に一部分だけが凄い揺れた......相変わらず心臓に悪いよ、この子。
「おおい、起きてくれ。俺に何か用事があるんじゃないのか? おーい!」
「へあ......?」
フラフラと上体を起こし、目を擦りながらようやく目覚めた。
俺の姿を視界に捉えると、にへらと緩い顔で笑う。
「......おはよーございます、せんぱい」
「おはよう。何で俺の個室で寝てんの?」
「先輩を待ち伏せしようと部屋に入ったら、気持ちよさそうな寝具が揃っていたのでー。あと、この部屋いい香りがします」
「布団は羽毛を集めて作ってみたものだね。現実だと高級で手が出ない物って、つい作りたくなってさ。香りの元はこれかな? ハーブと配合させたアデニウム」
「すぴー......」
「訊いたのはそっちだろう!? 起きろぉ!」
「やめてくれ!? そこで寝たことなんて数えるほどだけど、やめて!」
布団に匂いなんて付いてないだろうけど、恥ずかしいことに変わりはない。
明らかに俺にじゃれつくのが目的のシエスタちゃんをベッドから引き剝がすまで、そこから10分近い時間を要した。
個室を出ると、いつもの集合場所である談話室へと向かう。
シエスタちゃんは俺の服の裾を思い切り掴み、引き摺られるようにして歩いている。
神官服が伸びる! いや、ゲームだから伸びないのか? どうなんだ?
「他の二人は?」
「もう来てますよ。というか、渡り鳥の中でも多分先輩が最後です。私は妹さんが来た直後にこっそり移動してきました」
「マジでか。キッチンの掃除を始めたら止まらなくなってな」
「ウチのお母さんみたいなこと言ってますね、先輩......」
排水溝のヌメリに始まり、壁の油汚れ、換気扇のフィルター、魚焼きグリルの汚れ......。
最初は排水溝だけのつもりだったのに、つい細かい部分まで全て掃除してしまった。
重曹大活躍。
「それにしても、先輩の個室は快適でしたねー。実際のお部屋もあんな感じなので?」
「さすがに羽毛布団ではないけど。掃除はマメにしているし、物はそんなに無いから雰囲気はそれほど変わらないかな」
もっとも片付けやすさに関しては段違いだけど。
ゲーム内は汚れないし、アイテムボックスに物が大量に入るしな。
ちなみに個室は機能的にはアイテムボックスがあるだけなので、役割的には住んでいる雰囲気を出すためだけの物と言っていい。
RPGにはこういった、ゲームを進める上では特に意味を持っていない物も大事だと思う。
「はー、いいですね。私、先輩の家に住みたいです」
「......それは、何もしなくても世話をしてくれそうだから?」
「ですです。お料理上手だし、私の部屋も掃除してくれそうだしー。あと、朝もお母さんと違って優しく起こしてくれそうだし。妹さん、私と立場を変わってくれませんかね? チェーンジ」
「ひっでえ理由だなあ。試しにリィズに言ってみ? 怒ると思うよ」
「でしょうねぇ。やめておくことにします、今は」
何その思わせぶりな発言。すっげえ不安......。
談話室に入ると、シエスタちゃんの言葉通りに六人のメンバーが揃っていた。
今夜は幸いにも、全員用事が無いとのことですんなりと集合。
これなら一斉に移動を開始することが可能だ。
ただし、明日以降はこう上手くいくとは限らないので今夜中に目的地に可能な限り近付いておくのが望ましい。
「来たか、ハインド! 時間が無い、早く出発しよう!」
落ち着かない様子で足を揺すっているユーミルの隣の椅子に座ると、第一声がこれだった。
砂漠に来た際の時間の掛かり方を考えると、焦る気持ちは良く分かる。
リィズは俺とシエスタちゃんが一緒に入ってきたことに首を傾げたようだったが、シエスタちゃんは機先を制して「フラフラしていたら偶然そこで会いましてー」とリィズに向かって平然と言ってのけた。うん、ノーコメントで。
「おう。ヒナ鳥ちゃん達は、俺達と一緒に行くってことで良いのかな?」
「はい! そのままレイド戦もお手伝いできたら良いなって思ってます!」
「うみゅ。寄生させていただきまーす」
「ちょっと、シー! あの、精一杯頑張りますので......」
「はいよ。一緒に頑張ろう」
もう三人のやり取りにも慣れたものだ。
ユーミルに農業地の収穫は済ませたかと聞くと、俺が遅れている間に既に済んでいるとのこと。
薬草系の低レアリティ作物は現実時間で大体24時間あれば収穫することが可能だ。
ただし、収穫可能状態で更に24時間放置すると作物は枯れる。
しばらくここには戻ってこれないので、収穫を終えて何も植えていない状態にしておけばOKだ。
更に回復薬を各自多めに持ち、他に準備として必要なものは一つ。
「で、行く前に一個相談」
「なんでござるか?」
「村や町なんかの場所を跨ぐと、銀行が別扱いで金を引き出せなくなるのはみんな知ってるよな?」
「......お、おお、そうだな! 何故かというと、ええと、その、あれだ......」
「ユーミルさん、知ったかぶりは止めてくださいよ......。馬鹿みたいですよ?」
「ぐはっ!?」
「確かこのゲームでは、銀行はそれぞれ別の店の営業なのでしたよね? 何故か横の繋がりが皆無だと」
「そうそう。で、釣竿代に船のレンタル代、回復薬の補充資金は最低限持っていかないとならない。だから今の内に持ち出す金額について相談が必要なんだが......」
このゲーム、ホームを構えた地域で行われるイベントには若干のアドバンテージがある。
銀行に関してもその一つである。
「それとどの位の額の資金を持っていくかの他にも、分散させるか一元化するかも問題になる。今回のイベントを狙って、PKが横行すると俺は読んでいるんだけど」
デスペナルティとして所持金の半減というものがあるが、モンスターに負けた場合に何処かに消え去るそれは、PKの場合は所持金の半額を倒した側がそのまま奪うことが可能なのだ。
装備品の奪取こそ低確率だが、所持金はそうではなく確定だ。
山賊・強盗行為をするには、大金を持ったままのプレイヤーが増えるだろう今回のイベントは狙い目であると言える。
そういったロールプレイをしているプレイヤーも、多数派でこそないが確実に存在している。
「ああ、在りそうでござるな! ここの運営、PKをやるようなプレイヤーにも楽しむ機会を与えるつもりなのでござろうなぁ......その姿勢、嫌いではないが」
「先輩方の推論が正解なら、銀行が不便なのも元々そのためなのでしょうか? 以前から妙だとは思っていましたけど」
この仕様だと、必然的にフィールド移動中のプレイヤーがお金を持っている率は上がるからな。
ちなみにレベルキャップ開放の度にPK不可エリアは少しずつ広がっているから、初心者狩りの心配は少ないのだが。
最近になってレベル20以下のプレイヤーは全て、PK不可の仕様になったばかりだし。
他にも最近はPKへの懸賞金制度が適用されたり、それを狙ったPKKのギルドが発足したりと帝国領内は中々に楽しい状況になっているらしい。
ほとんどが掲示板で得た情報だが。
サイネリアちゃんの意見に、隣に座るリコリスちゃんが手を合わせて感嘆の声を上げた。
「おおー、サイちゃん賢い! 私は何でかなー、変だなーとしか思わなかったよ」
「リコはもうちょっと頭を使おっかー」
「シーちゃん酷いっ!」
酷いと言いつつも、リコリスちゃんはそれほど気にした様子もなく元気である。
ううむ、無垢な笑顔が眩しい......。
セレーネさんは三人の様子にクスッと笑うと、少し考えるように視線を動かしながら言葉を紡ぐ。
「確かに、移動の際には全員がそれぞれ資金を持っていた方がリスクは分散できるね。蘇生が間に合わなくても、一人分の資金の損失なら少額で済むから。でも、いざ全滅間際となったらお金を管理している一人だけ逃がすという手もあるか......どっちがいいかな?」
「ならば私は、ハインドに全て預けておくことにしよう。いざとなったら、あの一度は言ってみたかったセリフも言えることだしな!」
「何だよ、言ってみたかったセリフって?」
ユーミルはうむ、と一つ頷いて椅子から立ち上がった。
俺達は嫌な予感しかしなかったが、ユーミルシンパであるリコリスちゃんだけは目をキラキラ輝かせて待ち構えている。
「ここは私に任せて先に行け! なに、すぐに片付けて追いつい――」
「死亡フラグだ!?」
「ユーミルさんはすぐに死ぬので、何も間違ってはいませんけどね」
「にしても、もうちょいマシなセリフは無かったのでござるか......? そのセリフだと大抵は相打ちか負けでござるよ?」
「ユーミル先輩、カッコイイ......!」
「「「え!?」」」
そうだろう! と高らかに笑うユーミルとカッコイイです! を連呼するリコリスちゃん。
確かに、状況を選べば格好良い台詞ではあるんだけど......今のは別に格好良くなかっただろ?
二人のやり取りに、俺達はただただ首を捻るのみだった。
Immediately after logging in, there was a furball on the bed of my private room inside the guild house...wrong, there was a girl with long wavy hair sleeping on it.
Why is she sleeping here?
Anyway, I tried to wake Siesta-chan by shaking her.
When I thought that she would roll over to the other side with a light moan, this time she was laying there facing upwards with a face full of delight and kept sleeping.
The moment she turned over, there was a certain part of her that shaked like crazy...as always, this girl is bad for my heart.
[Hey, please wake up. Did you need something from me? Hey!] (Hind)
[Huaa...?] (Siesta)
While propelling her upper body upwards in an unsteady manner, she started rubbing her eyes and finally woke up.
Once I entered her field of view, she loosened her face with a smile.
[...Good morning, Senpai.] (Siesta)
[Morning. Why were you sleeping in my room?] (Hind)
[I was thinking about ambushing Senpai so I entered the room, but then I noticed that the bedding looked really comfortable so...
[Well the futon was made with the feathers that I collected after all. Since we can't really get a high quality one in real life, I got the urge to make one in-game. The source of the smell should be this? Herbs and a mixture of Adeniums.] (Hind)
[Supi...] (Siesta)
[You were the one that asked! Wake up!] (Hind)
[Stop that! I've only slept there a few times but...stop it!] (Hind)
It's not like my smell will linger in the futon but...it doesn't change the fact that it's embarrassing.
I needed about ten minutes to pull Siesta-chan, who clearly had come to prank me, from the bed.
Once we left the room, we headed to our usual meeting spot, the lounge.
Siesta-chan was grabbing the hem of my clothes and was pulled along as I walked.
My Shinto Priests' robes are going to stretch! Wait, I guess maybe they won't since it's a game? I'm curious.
[What about the other two?] (Hind)
[They are already here. Besides, I think Senpai is the last one to come from Migratory Bird. I stealthily went to your room as soon as the little sister came.] (Siesta)
[Really? I just couldn't stop after I started cleaning the kitchen.] (Hind)
[Senpai, you are saying the same kind of things my mom does...] (Siesta)
Started with the drainage, then the oil stains on the wall, filter of the ventilation fans, stains in the grill...
I was only planning to clean the drainage at the beginning, but I ended up cleaning all the small places.
Baking soda is really useful.
[That being said, Senpai's room was really comfortable. Is your room in real life like that too?] (Siesta)
[As you'd expect, there's no feather duvet though. I do keep it clean and since there's not many things in it, I guess it would be pretty similar.] (Hind)
To begin with, there's a great difference when it comes to keeping the room clean.
The one in-game won't get dirty, and you can place a big amount of items inside the item box.
For the record, the room came only with the item box, so you could say we needed things to make it seem like someone was living in there.
In RPGs like this, I believe that things that are not particularly important to progress in them are important.
[I see, that's nice. I, I want to live in Senpai's house.] (Siesta)
[...That, you say that because even if you did nothing, I would take care of you?] (Hind)
[Yes yes. You are good at cooking, you also would probably clean up my room. Also, unlike my own, you would wake me up gently in the morning. I wonder if the little sister would switch positions with me? Change.] (Siesta)
[That's quite the cruel reason. Why don't you try asking Riizu? Though she will probably get angry.] (Hind)
[Probably. I'll refrain from doing it, for now.] (Siesta)
What's with that statement that had a deeper meaning, I'm getting really uneasy...
Once we entered the lounge, as Siesta-chan had said, there were six people in there.
Luckily tonight, all the members didn't have anything else to do and were able to meet up like this.
Like this, we'll be able to start moving at the same time.
However, since we don't know if we'll be able to proceed smoothly like this from tomorrow onwards, I hope that we can get as close as possible to our objective tonight.
[You are here, Hind! We don't have time, let's depart immediately!] (Yumir)
These were the first words coming out from Yumir's mouth while she was impatiently moving her legs from her seat.
Judging from how long it took us to come here from the desert, I can understand why she's in such a hurry.
Riizu tilted her head when she saw me and Siesta-chan entering the room at the same time, but expecting this, Siesta-chan told her [I met him by chance while wandering around] in a calm manner. Yeah, no comment.
[Sure thing. I guess the members of Baby Bird are fine with coming along with us?] (Hind)
[Yes! I believe it would be nice if we could also help with the Raid battle!] (Lyco)
[Umyu. I'll just be a parasite.] (Siesta)
[Hey, Si! Eh, we'll do our best...] (Cineraria)
[Alright then. Let's do our best.] (Hind)
I have gotten used to their usual back and forth.
Once I heard from Yumir that they had finished harvesting the agricultural area, I realized that they had already finished that because I ran late.
When it comes to low rarity medicinal herbs, it's possible to harvest them after 24 hours pass.
However, if after they become able to be harvested you leave them for another 24 hours, they will wither.
Since we won't be coming back for a while, it's OK to not plant anything after we are done harvesting.
Furthermore, each person has a large amount of healing medicine, there's only one other thing we have to prepare.
[So, before we set off, I need to consult you about something.] (Hind)
[What is it?] (Tobi)
[Everyone knows that if you go to another village or town, you are unable withdraw gold from another bank right?] (Hind)
[...O-Oh, that's right! If you were to ask why, eh, hmmm, it's that...] (Yumir)
[Yumir-san, please stop pretending you know...you look like an idiot, you know?] (Riizu)
[Guhah!?] (Yumir)
[If I remember correctly, each bank is like its own business right? For some reason, there's no connection between each other.] (Selene)
[That's right. So, we have to at least bring the amount of money that will be needed for things like renting the fishing rods and ship. There's also the amount needed to buy healing items.
In this game, if an event happens in the area you decided to set your home at, there's a few advantages.
The bank is one of those advantages.
[On top of that, other than the amount we bring with us, there's also the problem of dividing the money between us or having a particular person have it all. I'm expecting that PKs will take advantage of this event to attack players.] (Hind)
There's the death penalty of losing half of your current Gold when you die, when you are defeated by monsters, that money disappears somewhere, but in case you are PK'd they can just steal that money from you.
The chances that they are able to steal your possessions is low, but they are guaranteed to steal your money.
You could say that bandits and robbers will aim for this event because the number of players that will bring a large amount of money with them will increase.
Even players that roleplay as thieves and form groups definitely exist.
[Ah, those definitely exist! I guess the developers are giving this chance for people that want to PK to have fun...though, it's not like I hate that kind of thing.] (Tobi)
[If what Senpai thinks turns out to be true, I wonder if the reason the banks are so inconvenient was because of that? I've always thought it was weird.] (Cineraria)
Using this method, inevitably, it'll increase the chances of players bringing their money with them while they are traveling on the field.
For the record, because they have increased the lv cap, little by little, the areas where you can't PK have been increasing. There's few worries of there being beginner hunters.
Until recently, it was impossible to PK players level 20 and below.
Other than that, they recently implemented a system that rewards you for killing PKs, PKK guilds have started to appear in order to take advantage of that and the situation in the vicinity of the Empire is quite fun these days from what I heard.
That's mostly information I've gotten from the BBS.
Listening to Cineraria-chan's opinion, Lycoris, who sat next to her, put her hands together in admiration.
[Ooh, Sai-chan is so clever! I only thought that maybe it was a bit weird or something.] (Lyco)
[Lyco, maybe you should use your head a bit more-] (Siesta)
[Si-chan you are so mean!] (Lyco)
Even though she was saying Siesta was mean, Lycoris-chan was still cheerful and didn't seem to mind too much.
Yup, her smile is so pure and dazzling...
Selene-san was looking at the situation and couldn't help but laugh, after thinking for a bit, she shifted her gaze and said.
[Well, it's true that if everyone has their own money, we can just divide the risk while we are traveling. Even if we are unable to resurrect in time, we'll only lose a small amount of the money after all. However, there's also the case where we are going to get wiped and we can have the one holding all the money run away...which one would be better?] (Selene)
[In that case, I want to leave everything in Hind's hands. If something were to happen, I'll finally be able to say that thing I've always wanted to say at least once after all!] (Yumir)
[What's that thing you want to say?] (Hind)
With an "Umu" , Yumir stood up from her seat.
All of us had a bad feeling about this, but only Lycoris-chan, who sympathized with her, had her eyes glittering.
[Leave this to me! No worries, I'll clean this up quickly and go after you guys-] (Yumir)
[Isn't that a death flag!?] (Hind)
[Yumir-san dies really fast so it's not like it's wrong.] (Riizu)
[That being said, didn't you have anything better to say...? When people say something like that, they are defeated right away most of the time.] (Tobi)
[Yumir-senpai, so cool...!] (Lyco)
[[[Eh!?] ] ] 
"Right!?" said Yumir with a big smile. Then Lycoris-chan repeatedly said "You are so cool!".
Well, it's true that it's a good thing to say if you were to choose the timing correctly...but this time, it wasn't really cool right?
Seeing that exchange between both of them, we could only tilt our heads in confusion.
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