3 - Noble Son, Participate

Asuha Tsuwabuki was a 14-year-old girl attending a middle school in Nagoya.

She didn’t yet know what she wanted to be when she grew up. But she had a particular memory.

It took place during spring of the year she was to advance from her fourth year to her fifth in elementary school. She was the outdoorsy type, but she was also quite sensitive to the trends around school, and the big fad at the time was the new game where you caught monsters in balls and had them battle. Asuha enjoyed that game quite a lot.

But there are some less-than-mature adults in the world, and one day, when Asuha went to her friend’s house to play, her friend’s big brother challenged her to a battle. It was partly her own fault for bragging (half exaggerating) about how strong and great her monsters were, but that immature older man employed cheap tricks to render her helpless, and crushed all of Asuha’s precious monsters.

Her friend had apologized fervently, and she’d laughed it off, but on the way home her cheer turned to quiet seething. One of her core beliefs was that when you were frustrated, you should do something about it that same day. And she loved stuffed animals, so on the way home, she decided to stop by a 500 yen shop to buy one to calm down. When it turned out they were sold out, she sank further into depression.

Shortly after, she had happened to pass by an arcade, and noticed that one of the claw machines was full of stuffed monsters from the game she liked. Asuha found a stuffed animal of the monster the older boy had beaten, the one she’d chosen to be her starter partner. To say that she wanted it would not be quite accurate. It was more that she felt she had to save it.

It was a sad little bit of projection, but Asuha felt it sincerely. She had convinced herself that to rescue the stuffed animal from the claw machine would be saving her beaten partner in her 3DS.

She had 500 yen on her. The game cost 100 yen to play, but would give you six plays for 500 yen. She’d just have to try.

Asuha was just in the process of screwing up her courage when she heard a voice from behind her.

“Better not,” the voice said. She turned, wondering who it might be.

It was a child she’d never seen before, dressed in a neat shirt and shorts combo that was well-suited to a lanky frame, a wad of what was probably bubble gum in one cheek.

“It’s in a place you can’t get to with only six tries. You’d be wasting your money.”

“That’s an awful thing to say!” Asuha protested fiercely. She knew that he — or she, now that she thought about it — was clearly right, but her heart could not accept it.

The child looked back at Asuha with a gaze that screamed, “You’re a real handful, you know?” but seemed curious as to the tragedy that had led to such a ridiculous protest.

“You like it?” the child asked, meaning the game.

Asuha nodded.

She liked it. She loved it. That was why she was so frustrated.

“Give it here,” the child said.

She didn’t understand, at first, what the child meant.

“The 500 yen. I’ll get it for you.”

“Can you do that?” she asked in a trembling voice.

The child cracked up laughing. “I’ll do better than you, at least.”

It was a frankness that was, in a way, very cool.

In the end, the child failed to get the stuffed animal in six plays, added another 300 yen, and failed again. It was only after the child’s mother arrived — getting the stuffed animal on her first 100 yen — that Asuha finally received her toy. It was a rather pitiful showing, but Asuha thanked them both sincerely.

“Tell me the party you lost with,” the child asked as Asuha was getting ready to go.

Asuha explained in great detail all about where she had caught the monsters, her emotional attachment to them, and what moves she had given them. After finally expressing all of her frustration at losing, she felt satisfied and comfortable.

Then, just before she left, Asuha asked whether the child was a boy or a girl. The response was given with a firm scowl.

A week later, Asuha had met up with her friend again, and learned that the brother who had beaten her had himself been beaten badly by a party exactly like Asuha’s. It was another week after that that Asuha had learned that the person using that party was the child who had helped her get the stuffed animal before.

The child’s name was Sera Kiryu.

She had never forgotten Sera’s reaction when she declared it “a very cute name.”

Morning came.

Sakurako Ogi, servant to Ichiro Tsuwabuki, had woken up early as always, in her room full of figures, manga, and DVDs. As usual, the first thing she did was cast open the curtains.

Her master had generously given her a room facing to the east, and she took a deep breath as she bathed in the morning sun. She was glad that it was summer and that the sun was out early. If it had been the middle of winter, it would have been dark outside even with the curtains open, which would have made it hard to get enthused about much of anything.

The next thing she did was take off her pajamas and run to her attached shower room. The water temperature was always 25 degrees Celsius. The cold water droplets hit her head and soaked into her chestnut hair, gradually waking her up. She washed off the sweat from sleeping, dried off, brushed her hair and teeth, put on her clothes and makeup, and did various other appearance checks.

Once it was all ready, she attached her lace cap, completing the routine. For the irrepressible maid Sakurako Ogi, it was the beginning of a new day.

She walked around the room, stretching out her arms and twisting her back. Today, she had to prepare breakfast, do the laundry, and clean Ichiro’s Japanese-style room. It was going to be a busy morning, so she quickly headed down the corridor to the dining room to set up her plan for the day.

But...

“Morning, Sakurako-san.”

“Good morni... huh?”

Ichiro was there.

It wasn’t his being there that was odd, of course; it was his house, after all. It wasn’t that he was up early, either; he typically woke up early. Nor was it that he was in the dining room; normally he’d be in the indoor pool or his study at this time of day, but how he used his time was up to him.

But why on Earth was he holding a vacuum?

“I heard something interesting would be happening in the game today, so I thought I might assist you so that we could log in sooner,” he said.

As usual, he had the strangest ways of being considerate.

“You can’t help me with work I’m getting paid for,” she protested. “I’ll do the cleaning.”

Nevertheless, the young heir continued moving the vacuum, his expression cool. “Sakurako-san, I hope you’re not worried that it will diminish your worth if I’m able to do all the cleaning and laundry perfectly.”

“Ngh.” Sakurako was usually considered a very warm person, but this struck a nerve. “Ichiro-sama, even if you are an unparalleled genius, you cannot compete with me in housekeeping skills.”

“Why don’t we put that claim to the test?” he asked.

“Oh? I see you haven’t lost your mouth, Ichiro-sama.”

“It’s the same one I’ve always had. Why don’t we say that the winner will do a favor for the loser?”

“Very well. So be it.”

Sakurako grinned her assent, and the competition began.

“I’ll start with the laundry,” Ichiro attempted.

“No, I’ll do that,” Sakurako broke in, stopping him before he could flaunt an even greater lack of delicacy than usual.

And so the morning passed. The show of tremendous immaturity between the two of them got a day’s work of housework done by a little after 8 AM. As for who won the contest... we’ll leave that to the reader to imagine.

Breakfast ended up starting a bit late, and the two cooked and ate together while praising each other on the fight.

“Ichiro-sama, I never knew you were so competitive,” Sakurako murmured as she spread butter on the brown rice bread. With everything that had happened, breakfast had ended up being a simple affair.

“Hmm, I’ll acknowledge that I am. I always feel I must win at all costs.”

“Is that why you also picked a fight with King Kirihito... I mean, Sera Kiryu?”

“Nonsense. We merely came to an agreement about our mutual need for competition. It was not a fight.”

He was splitting hairs, of course.

He had explained the events of the game to her over dinner the night before. Sakurako had been surprised that they’d found King Kirihito so easily, surprised that he’d taken a Zombie Legion out that quickly, surprised that Ichiro had accomplished the same feat, and surprised that Felicia had slapped him.

She was not at all surprised that he had broken the 1,200 yen Monetary Sword. That barely qualified as news.

She also wasn’t terribly surprised that Ichiro had picked a fight with King. That fit her ongoing theory.

“When did you realize it might happen?” Ichiro asked.

“When Kirihito (Leader) was first telling us about King Kirihito,” Sakurako said, holding up her spoon triumphantly. “You were acting strangely, so I thought, ‘Ah, I bet he’s feeling competitive.’”

She truly was an observant girl. Her inference was right on the money.

“Though I can’t help but find it a bit immature to nurse a rivalry with a middle schooler,” she added.

“Nonsense. A worthy rival is a worthy rival, even if they’re only ten years old,” Ichiro argued as he stabbed a fork into his salad smothered in dressing.

“Even if you’re using money to win?” she responded.

“My money is but an extension of my genius,” he said loftily.

It was the money he earned via his genius; thus, it was a part of that genius, and using it in the game was not cheating in any way.

It wasn’t that she didn’t understand what he meant, but it still felt like cheating to her. Perhaps she was too Japanese when it came to money.

“But it must be so hard on Asuha,” Sakurako said, changing the subject to stop her mind from going too far down that path.

Ichiro nodded in agreement.

Asuha had been convinced that Sera Kiryu was escaping into the game world, and realizing that her friend was definitely King Kirihito seemed to make that an inescapable conclusion. A child had stopped coming to school due to being bullied in the real world, and now reigned over the game world as its ultimate player. Viewed objectively, what else could it be?

Asuha must have found it unforgivable.

It was likely that she had initially intended to say something more sympathetic. “Let’s go to school together,” perhaps. Maybe “I’m on your side.” She had probably intended to offer words of encouragement, to draw her friend free of the world of the game.

But the sight of the Kirihitters flocking around, praising “King Kirihito” to the skies, had set her off. It wasn’t wrong for them to have done so, exactly. The timing was just bad. To Felicia, it had likely seemed that King was basking in the adulation. Perhaps, Ichiro thought, he had been slightly in the wrong with his behavior, as well.

“Well, I think we should let Asuha do whatever she wants to do.” Ichiro said, gathering up the dishes. “And I’ll do what I want to do.”

“You’re going to go after Sera and try to fight her?” Sakurako asked.

“I’m not sure if Sera’s a him or a her, but yes, that’s the plan.”

“Huh? She’s a her, right?”

“I believe he’s a him.”

Realizing that they had come upon a slight misunderstanding, they stared at each other in silence for a few seconds.

“Well, never mind that,” Ichiro said, immediately.

Sakurako had noticed a slight change in Ichiro’s behavior since he had first begun playing a week ago. He was looking bored a lot less often than he used to.

He was actually looking forward to Narrow Fantasy Online. It seemed to have far outstripped his expectations. Looking back over the week’s events, that seemed clearly the case, and the incident with King Kirihito just confirmed it.

Ichiro himself had said that everyone enjoyed the game in their own way, and he was clearly figuring out his own unique playstyle. He had found something he never imagined he would: a friendly rival worthy of his skills. Perhaps what her master had wanted for so very long was just something to alleviate his boredom.

She couldn’t escape the nagging thought that this was a supervillain’s motivation, but that was only natural. Ichiro was certainly the “mastermind” type.

“Anyway, the initial agreement I made with Asuha was only that we would help her until she found Sera Kiryu,” Ichiro said.

“I’m not sure that’s a reason to immediately declare her friend your rival on the spot... but ah, well.” Sakurako broke off suddenly as if remembering something. “By the way, what was the interesting thing you mentioned before?”

“Hmm?”

“The thing going on inside the game.”

“Oh, I’ll tell you after we log in.”

Sakurako finished her meal, and the two put their hands together to offer thanks.

“Ah, Ichiro-sama, you really should let me handle the dishes, at least.”

“Please do, then.”

Ichiro moved to the living room to enjoy his post-meal downtime, and around 9:30, with plenty of time to spare, they were both in their Miraive Gear Cocoon seats.

They got into their Miraive Gear Cocoon seats at 9:30 and logged in with plenty of time to spare, arriving right at the frontline base in the Necrolands.

There was a large crowd of people for so early in the morning, in part because it was a Saturday. Felicia was one of them.

She averted her eyes awkwardly at first as she noticed Ichiro and Kirschwasser, but then approached them. “I’m sorry about yesterday,” she said.

“There’s no need to apologize,” Ichiro answered. “In my opinion, there was nothing incorrect about what you did.”

He had a bad habit of saying what he really felt in a very roundabout way, but Felicia just smiled, seeming to be relieved that he wasn’t angry.

“Incidentally, I see there are quite a lot of people here,” Kirschwasser said, gazing over the large crowd of players around them.

There certainly were a lot of them, and they weren’t just standing there. They all seemed to be buzzing excitedly about one single subject.

Felicia and Kirschwasser both looked around, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Do you remember the dungeon we visited yesterday? It seems a player made it to the bottom floor.” Ichiro selected “Config” from his menu window, then called up the Miraive Gear’s proprietary browser. It was an app that let you view web pages at any time while in a game, and it was so convenient that most players installed it despite the 300 yen monthly usage fee.

“Wow...” Felicia said.

“Oh-ho!” Kirschwasser cried.

Their reactions were the polar opposites of each other.

“Might I ask who it was that made it to the bottom?” Kirschwasser asked.

“Matsunaga, the man who runs this blog,” Ichiro said. His browser was opened to an affiliate site, “vsoku@VRMMO Aggregate Blog.”

“Ah, from the Dual Serpents,” Kirschwasser said. “His guild specializes in speed dungeon-diving, so that stands to reason.”

Matsunaga was one of the people Kirschwasser had spoken of so proudly the day before. Ichiro remembered him as an Elf dressed in a green coat who comported himself very elegantly.

“But that doesn’t mean the Grand Quest is finished, does it?” Felicia asked.

“It seems not,” Ichiro responded, after checking his status window to confirm that the special icon marking their participation in the Grand Quest was still there. He then switched back to the web browser and continued. “It appears that reaching the dungeon’s bottom floor is not the win condition. Matsunaga says there are quite a few triggers required to complete the quest, and he wants players from various other guilds to work together to achieve it.”

Ichiro went on to explain that there was a stone monument on the last floor containing information on the Grand Quest’s boss, a.k.a. the Grand Boss. Several spellcaster-class characters would be needed to set off the monument and the triggers around it, which meant that Matsunaga’s party alone wouldn’t be enough.

One thing he knew for sure was that activating the monument in the dungeon would cause the Grand Boss to appear on the surface. Since Matsunaga’s guild couldn’t trigger that alone, he was proposing the formation of a “United Guild” with other top players.

“Master Ichiro, you know an awful lot about this,” Kirschwasser said.

“As a matter of fact, I received an invitation as well,” Ichiro said offhandedly, opening up his messaging box. The newest message showed the name “Matsunaga” along with an account ID in the “sender” column. It was an invitation to join the United Guild, and to attend a strategy conference regarding it. “This is the ‘something interesting’ I mentioned to you this morning. I found the message on my tablet computer when I woke up.”

Felicia tilted her head in confusion. “I-Itchy, are you... famous here?”

“Are you satisfied?” Kirschwasser asked, expression blank.

Ichiro was struck by a feeling of déjà vu. The silver-haired Knight had looked at him in the exact same way when he’d described his microtransaction-based playstyle.

“But Itchy, haven’t you only been playing the game for a week?” Felicia asked.

“Much has happened in that week,” Kirschwasser said, gravely.

Felicia knitted her brow.

It was true that shortly before he’d met up with Felicia in the game, Ichiro had been the center of some controversy. She may have guessed that by this point, and Ichiro saw no reason to hide it.

“It’s on Matsunaga’s blog,” Ichiro said, bringing up one of his past articles to show Felicia.

Kirschwasser peered at it, too, and let out a faint groan. The article had gone up just a few days ago.

“What? Is it about Itchy?” she asked.

“Yes, but that article will not paint Master Ichiro in a flattering light. You may not enjoy reading it.”

“Okay, I won’t read it,” Felicia said.

As far as Ichiro could tell, the site was quite biased, so while it made for interesting reading material, he found it to be an unreliable source. Kirschwasser was right when he said that it painted Ichiro as the villain in a conflict that had happened several days before. But as Ichiro seldom cared what others thought about him, he wasn’t especially angry about it.

Felicia frowned. “So he wrote a smear article about you, and now he wants you on his quest team? That’s kind of...”

“Yes, it’s extremely shameless,” Ichiro grinned. Perhaps he had even meant it as a compliment.

Ichiro described the e-mail Matsunaga had sent to him in more detail. It indicated that there was a possibility that, after the event to trigger the Grand Boss below was activated, the dungeon’s bottom floor might be cut off from the surface. This was merely an unproven hypothesis, but at the very least, it would take a long time to travel from one to the other, which meant that the players who triggered the event on the bottom floor could not participate in the defeat of the Grand Boss.

“This is going to get messy,” Kirschwasser murmured as he listened.

“What do you mean?” Felicia asked.

“The common goal of all players is to defeat Grand Bosses and clear Grand Quests. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone willing to give up on that chance,” he said.

“But someone has to be on the lowest floor activating the monument,” Ichiro responded. “Quite a few someones, at that. You’ll need spellcasters to trigger the monument, skilled Thieves and Scouts to navigate the dungeon, and powerful damage-dealers, too, given the large number of monsters you’ll face on the way.”

In other words, in the battle against the Grand Boss, a significant force would have to be diverted to the lower levels. But, as Kirschwasser had explained, everyone would want to fight the Grand Boss themselves, and push for someone else to be on the dungeon team. It was, indeed, a messy situation.

Felicia grimaced openly. “So is that what they’ll discuss at the conference?”

“Perhaps. I think that when they read this, most players will attempt to recruit the aid of other guilds and top players to trigger the event down below while they fight the boss up on the surface.” Ichiro gazed into the eyes of the silent, scowling Felicia.

Felicia didn’t seem to much care for the way the discussion was going, demonstrating a self-righteousness characteristic to girls her age. It was clear that she disliked this sort of quasi-open calculation.

“Whom else has he invited?” Kirschwasser asked. He didn’t seem to mind in the least.

Ichiro went back to his inbox and checked the body of the message again. “It says he contacted the Red Sunset Knights, too.”

“Oh-ho!” Kirschwasser let out a noise of admiration. “An alliance between two of the Three Great Guilds?”

“You make it sound very impressive, but I’m afraid it doesn’t resonate for me the same way,” Ichiro said.

“Me, either.” Felicia’s reaction was a muted one.

Ichiro felt similarly. Perhaps it was because he had only recently learned of them. But then, even if he had been very familiar with them, it was very unlikely that he would feel the same admiration as Kirschwasser. Ichiro’s basic stance was to mind his own business and pay little heed to the concerns of others.

“I’ll read the message out,” Ichiro said. “It says they’ve assembled ‘only the finest’ for the party. ‘The leader of the largest guild and his four generals...’” That likely referred to the Knights. “‘The brave hero who has never logged out since the service launched, a beloved adventurer who has logged 2,000 friends, a warrior who has skipped school to max out all their skill levels... There are too many to name in all, but we’ll have a party strong enough to take out any Grand Boss. We even have a player who took out a Magi-Metal Dragon solo.’”

“Wouldn’t you die if you never logged out?” Felicia remarked, accurately. “And isn’t 999 the max number of friends you can have?”

“That message may be slightly exaggerated,” Kirschwasser spoke gravely. “But I more or less understand who he means. They’re all relatively famous players.”

“The one who beat a Magi-Metal Dragon solo is me, isn’t it?” Ichiro asked.

“When did that happen?!” Felicia exclaimed.

“Recently.”

It seemed that, aside from the Knights, the players Matsunaga had reached out to were not necessarily ones associated with large guilds, but instead those who had earned fame on their own terms. Perhaps he had deemed players like that easier to manage, given the unique needs of this quest. Ichiro didn’t know this Matsunaga very well, but he didn’t judge him to be the sort to form his United Guild haphazardly.

Still scowling, Felicia peeked into the open window Ichiro was looking at. “The player who skipped school to get maxed out skills must be Kiryu...” she said, pointing out the one line in Matsunaga’s message. “Which means that Kiryu might be at the meeting, right?”

“It’s entirely possible,” Ichiro said. He was definitely one of the game’s top players, and thus, he would surely have interest in beating the Grand Quest.

On the other hand, they called King Kirihito the ultimate solo player, so it was doubtful that he might want to participate in a coalition like this.

“Itchy, will you be going to the meeting?” Felicia asked.

“I plan to. Of course, King may be there, or he may not. To find out whether or not he will is part of the reason I want to go.”

The Grand Quest strategy meeting was to be held in the wilds of the Delve Necrolands.

“A joint operation between the Red Sunset Knights and the Dual Serpents,” Matsunaga’s aggregate blog proudly proclaimed. In addition to the two great guilds working together, the strength of the other names mentioned had gathered attention of many, which had resulted in the higher-than-usual attendance in the Delve Necrolands that day.

Matsunaga would be recording the conference with the video capture app, and streaming it live. Mid-level players who were curious but not strong enough to make it to the Delve Necrolands piled into the streaming channel to watch.

So it is a big deal after all, Ichiro thought as he took his place at the meeting.

He wasn’t sure why Matsunaga had chosen to broadcast it on such a wide scale, but either way, his advertising had been extremely effective. It was clear that disseminating information all over the web was one of the man’s strengths.

A round table object had been set in the middle of the field’s main thoroughfare to set the stage for the meeting. Several Acolyte class characters were projecting Saint Barriers to keep enemy mobs from interrupting. The many famous players invited directly by Matsunaga sat at the table, while many others crowded around it.

There was one empty seat at the round table. King Kirihito’s, most likely. In the end, he hadn’t shown up. Ichiro couldn’t find him among those sitting around the table.

“Greetings, everyone,” the Elf in the green coat said. “Thank you for accepting my invitation. As I believe you all know, I am Matsunaga.”

The players seated at the table included him, Stroganoff, and the Red Sunset Knights’ four team commanders. There were two players Ichiro had never seen before, as well as two of the Knights’ team commanders who were complete strangers to him. He knew they were supposed to be impressive, but it still hardly registered with him.

“This quest will need to be dealt with simultaneously on two different fronts,” Matsunaga said. “It is for this reason that I gathered you all here today. Now, shall we go around the table and introduce ourselves?”

“I believe I know everyone here,” Stroganoff said, crossing his arms from his seated position. “But I haven’t spoken to them directly. And introductions are necessary in the name of courtesy.”

“Well, then, if I may...” The Elf Scout Matsunaga cast the group an artificial smile and gave a small cough before beginning. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Matsunaga, leader of the Dual Serpents. My race is Elf. My classes are Scout, Thief, and Shinobi. As you can likely infer, I specialize in exploration and information gathering. I’m not especially good at fighting.”

As he finished, Matsunaga cast a glance to Stroganoff in the seat beside him. The red-haired giant grunted in response.

“Leader of the Red Sunset Knights, Stroganoff. Human Knight, subclasses are Fighter and Samurai. I’m a DPS-specialized heavy warrior, and my preferred weapon is the two-handed sword.”

“Gazpacho, also from the Red Sunset Knights. Dwarf, Fighter, Blacksmith, Knight. Axe is my main.”

After Stroganoff and Gazpacho introduced themselves, the rest of the Red Sunset Knights followed suit. The Paladin Tiramisu, the Mage Gorgonzola, the Ranger Parmigiano-Reggiano. All very delicious names.

It was becoming clear that the Knights weren’t just a large guild, but had a good balance among their commanders. The four of them, plus Stroganoff, would likely be the strongest party in Narrow Fantasy Online, even if they took on a dungeon by themselves.

Ichiro cast a glance at Felicia and Kirschwasser, who were sitting in the bleachers. Kirschwasser was looking on with great interest, while Felicia seemed indifferent. Well, it likely wasn’t very interesting to watch.

The introductions continued to Parmigiano’s left. This was one of the faces Ichiro didn’t recognize.

“I am the High Elf Tomakomai. I did not expect to be called to such an event, so this is quite novel. My class is Philosopher, to which I added the Grappler class for fun.” The androgynous High Elf with the faint green glasses smiled.

A buzz spread through the audience.

“Isn’t that the...”

“The player who hasn’t logged out since the service started...”

“Are you kidding me?”

Realistically speaking, it seemed impossible that you could play that long without ever logging out, but everyone appeared to have heard the rumor.

Next to Tomakomai sat an Anthromorph with cat ears. This one was female.

“I’m Amesho! Me-ow do you do?”

Ichiro winced. The others glared daggers at her.

Tomakomai turned to address her with a gentle smile. “Amesho, could you please speak normally here?”

“Aww, if mew insist... Okay.” The Anthromorph, Amesho, cleared her throat. “Let’s see... I’m an Anthromorph Thief, and I’ve got so many friends! Lots of rare items, too!”

This sent another buzz through the crowd.

“Isn’t that the...”

“The player who has over 2,000 friends...”

“Are you kidding me?”

Of course, the maximum number of friends you could register in the game was 999.

“Next, Mr. Tsuwabuki.”

“Hmm?” At Matsunaga’s prompting, Ichiro held up a hand and answered. “I am Ichiro Tsuwabuki, a Dragonet Magi-Fencer. I came because I was invited, though I’ve only been playing for a short time. I believe my abilities are easily on par with yours, though, so there’s no need to worry.”

Yet another buzz ran through the crowd.

“Isn’t that the...”

“The player who buys over a million microtransactions a day...”

“Are you kidding me?”

It wasn’t quite right, but not far from the truth. He cast a glance at Felicia in the stands. She looked mortified, but Ichiro didn’t care.