NoveLight ™
Frey Guild Headquarters.
The other guild members had all left, leaving just Sasha and me to have a conversation.
“You didn’t know it was Yuna?”
“Yeah! Her face and hair color were different, right?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Look at this.”
Sasha showed me a community post.
[Who is the red-haired demon next to her?]
It vanished in an instant?
[Comments]
[Who is the demon next to the demon lord? (Photo)]
With black hair and a cute appearance, she’s totally my type!
[Comments]
[Is this what the game company is doing?]
Even capturing a single self-made demon requires a raid, and now a demon lord!? No, more importantly, why are they not making any announcements!? Why are they silent!?
[Comments]
[I want to see the demon lord, quest or not!!]
How do I get to the demon realm? I’m going to see the demon lordㅋㅋ
[Comments]
The first main scenario quest had been introduced, but the game company seemed to just let it slide with a casual attitude.
They hadn’t communicated with the players even once during the service. Most players wanted them to at least not terminate the service without warning, given that they had never sold any paid items.
I had no idea how they were running things. No information about what company was even operating the game.
Yet, despite everything, it held its firm position as the number one game.
According to experts, no better virtual reality game exists than Arcana Online, and none will exist in the future.
Because of that, all the attention was focused on the appearance of the demon lord.
Among all the beauties I had seen in my life, she stood out the most.
With a sigh, I closed the community and logged out of the game to return to the real world.
Arriving in the City of Stars, I went to visit Sister Erica at the information guild.
After hearing she was away, I left the shop and walked along the street when I spotted a blacksmith.
While I was contemplating whether to change my staff, which didn’t quite match my outfit, I entered the blacksmith to take a look and found the dwarf I had met before.
“Welcome. Oh, is this who I think it is? The little lady from back then?”
“Hello! It’s been a while. Have you been doing business here?”
“That’s right. Even though I look like this, I’ve been running a shop in this city for over 30 years.”
As we chatted about various topics, I mentioned that I came to check out staffs, and he shook his head at my appearance.
“We don’t have any staffs that would suit a little lady like you.”
“What!? Then where should I go?”
“My hometown. How about visiting the Iron Village?”
[Iron Village]
A village inhabited by dwarves with numerous blacksmiths.
He handed me a letter.
“It’s a recommendation letter. Take this and find the Silver Blacksmith in the Iron Village.”
I thanked him and left the blacksmith.
Checking the map, I realized it would take about three days to walk to the Iron Village.
Couldn’t I get there faster by using a bear taxi?
If I camped on the way...
“Alright! Let’s just buy some camping gear and head out, Yuna!”
“Kyuu!”
As I entered the general store to buy camping supplies, I purchased a camping set that included everything from tents to sleeping bags.
[Beginner’s Camping Set]
Contains all the equipment needed for camping, easy for beginners to use.
After completing my purchase, I stepped out of the City of Stars with Yuna, heading towards the Iron Village when I saw a bear taxi approaching in the distance.
“Graaar!”
“Yep! This time, we’re trying to go to the Iron Village. Is that okay?”
“Graaar!”
“How many do you want!? 15!? Isn’t that too much!?”
“Graaar!”
“It’s the round trip fare!?”
After negotiating down to 10, I climbed onto the bear’s back as it took off at high speed.
It felt faster than the last time I rode it.
The scenery outside whizzed by, and I thought about wanting to camp for at least a night.
“Bear! Let’s camp for a night!”
“Graaar!”
“You want an extra fare!? That’s too much!”
“Graaar!”
The bear claimed it would let me sleep in its soft embrace as a service.
That was tempting.
After paying the extra fare, the bear stopped at a great camping spot.
Taking out the camping set I had purchased, I set it up, creating a pretty decent campsite.
I handed a magic stone each to Yuna and the bear, and as I lit a fire to cook some meat, a delicious aroma filled the air.
After seasoning it with salt and pepper, I took a bite and it was delicious!
While it didn’t compare to the food Sister Belle made, it had a cozy feel to it and was good enough to eat.
While I was eating the meat, the bear, who had been lounging around, suddenly got up and began to be on guard as I heard rustling in the bushes.
“Graaar!”
“Kyah!”
At the bear’s shout, something sprang from the bushes—a cute little fox.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed it had been injured.
“Are you okay!?”
“Kyah!”
It initially looked at me warily but slowly approached as it relaxed.
I took out a potion from my inventory and poured it on its wound, which healed instantly.
As the wound disappeared, it looked at its body in amazement before snuggling up to me.
“Kyah!”
With its adorable voice, it tried to charm me, and I couldn’t resist giving it a magic stone.
“You’re so cute!? Here, have this!”
“Kyah!”
I handed over a magic stone, and it devoured it in one bite, looking up at me with its adorable eyes. That’s when I locked eyes with Yuna.
“Kyah!”
With a sudden yelp, the fox ran away.
I looked in disbelief at the direction it had fled, then turned to see Yuna also looking at me in surprise.
“No way, right?”
“Kyuu!”
Yuna asserted her innocence, claiming it was all a misunderstanding, but the truth was clear.
Our Yuna was just too cute.
If our paths crossed again, I’m sure I would see it again.
After finishing off the remaining meat and rubbing my full belly, I leaned against the bear, feeling its soft fur.
The bear cuddled me warmly.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Yuna, bear.”
“Kyuu.”
“Graaar.”
I bid them farewell in a comfortable position and logged out.
After removing my gear, I checked my phone.
But something felt off.
I hadn’t received a single message lately.
Usually, there should be a few spam messages by now, but nothing had come through.
“Is it broken?”
After turning the phone off and back on, the alarm finally went off.
Among the spam messages, I noticed one from Sister Lea.
And there were numerous messages.
[Is everything alright?]
[I was worried since you didn’t reply. Is something wrong?]
[Are you really okay? Please contact me whenever.]
As I read the messages and was about to reply, the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“I’m so glad to hear from you! I was worried since I couldn’t reach you. Is everything okay?”
“I’m sorry. My phone broke, so I couldn’t check.”
We exchanged greetings, and I informed her about the events that had happened, including that I was moving to the Iron Village recently.
“So, you’ve reached level 50?”
“Yes! I just finished a quest and reached level 55!”
“I’m glad to hear that. I’ll send you a guild invitation. We can discuss the details when we meet.”
“Alright! I’ll see you then!”
While I felt comfortable talking over the phone, I couldn’t shake off the jitters I felt when we met in person.
It was an awkward situation in various ways.
As I lay on my bed, my hungry stomach protested for food.
I got up, stopped by the bathroom, and headed to the kitchen. I took a triangular rice ball from the fridge, put water in the kettle, and set it to boil.
Lately, I found cup noodles more convenient than bagged ramen, so I’ve been eating like this.
After finishing my meal, just as I was getting up from my chair to return to my room, I suddenly felt dizzy.
When I regained consciousness, I found myself collapsed on the kitchen floor with no memory of what happened.
Checking the clock, it hadn’t even been ten minutes; why was this happening?
Perhaps due to the shock of collapsing, my whole body ached, and chills and headaches started to set in, so I took some cold medicine and made my way back to my room, shivering.
Barely making it to my bed, I covered myself with a blanket. Why was it so cold...?
With trembling hands, I pulled out a few hot packs I had set aside in a corner and tucked them into the blanket, feeling their warm heat envelop me. It was only then that my eyes slowly closed, and I drifted off to sleep.