Prologue: Fever Lure

As you might recall, we’d just set off from Cal Mira in search of new lands, but...we were clued in on the Fourth City—or rather, the new continent—surprisingly easy.

Apparently, the update that happened right after the wave ended opened up some sea routes and automatically installed NPC ships bound for the new continent. Alto broke into a cold sweat once word got out, worrying that Cal Mira would soon become little more than an afterthought.

Based on the accounts of the players who got there ahead of us, it was a special city that couldn’t be set as a return point for Return Transcripts.

On top of that, there were a whole plethora of restrictions that made it an inconvenient place overall... Rumors spread around Cal Mira about the new city potentially being more of a halfway point rather than a proper base.

So, naturally, we decided to head to this new continent ourselves.

We docked our ship at a humble little fishing port called Lora, alongside the vessels of countless other players.

“Come on in, pen! It’s the Pekkle Pop-up Store, bringing you goods all the way from Cal Mira, pen.”

For some reason...there were already Pekkles at the port touting their wares. It looks like their revenue counts as Cal Mira tax income.

“Is this the new continent...?” asked Shouko.

“I daresay, we found it far quicker than I thought we would,” Yamikage replied.

Then came the usual, nonchalant “Uh-huh,” followed by an “I can’t wait to check it out!” from my sister.

“There’s got to be some unknown quests calling my name!” L’Arc exclaimed.

“I wonder what kind of events they have here!” said Therese, matching his energy.

As we walked through a port bustling with countless players, we took in the sights of this new continent. A vast, open plain stretched out just beyond the harbor, with a major road that cut right through the middle of it. There was a grand procession of players streaming down the road.

“Shall we follow the other players and head out?”

“No, I’m going to fish at the port.”

I curtly shot down Shouko’s suggestion, earning me a tired sigh from Yamikage.

“Again, milord...?”

Why are you asking questions you already know the answer to?

“You were fishing on the way here, weren’t you?”

“Shouko. A new place means a new fishing spot. This isn’t the open sea anymore; it’s Port Lora. I can’t miss checking what I can catch here.”

“The little lady’s as consistent as ever. I can respect that.”

“Isn’t that precisely why he became the island lord?”

“Uh-huh...”

As a gamer, fishing was my lifestyle. The first thing I had to do upon arriving at an unknown location was to fish.

“Sounds like my brother,” Tsumugi said.

“I understand that it is pretty much a tradition at this point, but to prioritize fishing instead of moving forward is very...Kizuna-esque.”

“So, I daresay. What shall we do?”

“Split up.”

Good idea, Sheryl. I’m with you on that.

“What are you gonna do now, Sheryl?” I asked. “Your dream was to find a new continent, and here we are.”

“It’s not like we’ve discovered everything yet... I’ll keep searching,” she replied.

“Fair.”

It wasn’t like we’d filled in the entire world map. We definitely needed to continue exploring the ocean. The problem was that the game was set up in a way that we couldn’t find new places without a new update. Perhaps it would be best to...take on those new challenges in moderation.

“Aight, back to the sea, then?”

“No... Search new continent... Columbus.”

“So we’re searching on land, then?”

Sheryl nodded.

“Hmm... Conversing with Sheryl is a bit unique,” L’Arc said.

“I think she can adjust her settings to make it a bit easier for her to speak the language. Do you want me to help with that?” Therese suggested.

“No.”

Sheryl turned her right hand toward L’Arc and Therese, firmly rejecting the idea. Her tone was a bit stronger than usual.

“Studying... Can’t slack.”

Study? Slack? I don’t really get it, but it seems like Sheryl’s got her own set of rules.

“I daresay, I offered as well, but she turned me down,” Yamikage added.

“You’re a tough customer... Or maybe you actually prefer it when Kizzy understands what you’re saying even if you can only say a few words?”

“Uh-huh?”

Again, Sheryl nodded. I wasn’t entirely sure, but there seemed to be something going on when she talked to me. I got the feeling she wouldn’t explain even if I asked her, but it didn’t really matter as long as we could communicate. She was playing the game in her own way.

“Well, whatever. I’ll be fishing at the port, so you can all go ahead,” I said.

“Hmm, what about us, L’Arc? It might be fun to stick with Kizzy, just to see if something interesting happens,” Therese asked.

C’mon... I know there was that special event in the last wave, but it’s not like interesting stuff happens just because I’m there.

“There might be a hidden quest near the port too, so I want to go around chatting up the NPCs.”

“Okay, then I’ll watch over Kizzy while looking for quests. L’Arc, you go with Shouko.”

“Huh? Therese, you got to see the hidden quest during the wave. It’s my turn. I’ll stay by the port, and you go with Shouko.”

L’Arc rejected Therese’s offer and replaced it with his own. No...it’s not like weird quests are constantly popping up around me.

“You’re very popular, milord.”

“Do those two really think I’m the type to always get caught up in strange stuff?” I asked.

“Am I wrong? You found that hidden fishing quest, didn’t you?” L’Arc responded.

Oh, right...that was the one related to the cooking recipe quest. The one where players who managed to fish the lord would get bonus fishing gear.

“If you’re that curious, why don’t you both just learn how to fish? Let’s all fish together, why don’t we?” I offered.

“Nah, I get bored too easily. It ain’t gonna work out.” L’Arc turned me down.

“I don’t wanna stand around forever holding a rod if I can help it.”

Erk... So you’re saying Shouko’s the only person willing to fish with me?

“We’re getting off track. Anyway, let’s settle this with rock-paper-scissors!” Therese suggested.

“Now we’re talking! Rock, paper, scissors...”

“Shoot!”

The match was settled. L’Arc came out the victor and won the right to search for quests at the port.

“Let’s go! Therese, I’ll tell you all about it later,” L’Arc said.

“Yeah, fine. I lost, fair and square.”

“They’re almost as laid-back as you, Kizuna,” Shouko said.

“It’s hard to argue when milord’s off-kilter actions so often lead to success, I daresay,” Yamikage added.

“Aha ha! We’ll be off then, bro, L’Arc! I’ll let you know if I see anywhere with water!”

“Got it!”

“Go get ’em! I’ll be looking for quests and hunting spots over here!”

And so, L’Arc and I let Shouko and the others go ahead while we stayed at the port to focus on our own interests.

†

L’Arc immediately began wandering, on the prowl for any available quests, while I sat on the ship with my rod hanging over the water.

“Hey... Isn’t that the Fishing Master over there?” someone called out.

“Oh, the one who pulled in the whale?” another passerby asked.

“She’s devoted, if nothing else. Fishing first thing when she’s just got to the new world...”

“There are people who say they saw her fishing day in and day out when the game first kicked off too. She’s probably the top fishing player now.”

“I hear there are players desperately picking up fishing nowadays, thinking they’ll make it big if they imitate her.”

I could hear passersby pointing at me and gossiping. It wasn’t exactly a bad feeling, but... Copying me? It’s not like fishing was the only thing that helped me discover new places. I mean, I do love fishing in new places, but...there are plenty of other skills I want to learn from the latest update.

I let the line drift as I checked out the list of skills I was mulling over.

Oh? A bite. I wonder what you can get here. Hmm... It’s harder to reel in than I expected.

Not only was it hard to hook, but the fish began thrashing as soon as it was on the line. I actually struggled a bit. Still, with my high Fishing Mastery, it wasn’t too much trouble in the end.

“Striped beakfish!”

In Japan, striped beakfish referred to the younger specimens of rock bream. Rock bream, their fully grown counterparts, were often considered a challenge and a dream catch for anglers, so reeling in a young one made me a bit more confident in my abilities.

If I can catch striped beakfish here, maybe I can find rock bream around the rocky areas nearby.

The problem was the hook. I’d need a stronger one, or they’d just bite straight through it. It seemed I’d have to start paying attention to more than just the rod.

Other than that, it seemed I could catch black sea bream and surfperch. Then what would the lord be like? Just thinking about it set my heart ablaze.

As I was testing out a few things...

“Kizuna.”

“Hmm? Oh, Shouko. What’s wrong?”

Shouko had sent me a chat request, and I answered it.

“Could you come over here for a bit? I found something I want to try.”

“Sure, I guess...”

“Thank you. Just follow the path for a bit.”

Just when I was getting into my groove...

“Umm, L’Arc is... Hey! L’Arc! Shouko’s calling me for something, so I’m heading over.”

I called out to L’Arc, who was still talking to NPCs nearby.

“Hmm? They already found something? Dang, maybe I chose wrong.”

I put away my fishing gear and set off with L’Arc.

“Hey, bro. Were they biting?”

“I didn’t catch too many since you called me pretty quick, but I did catch a striped beakfish.”

“Wow... I don’t know what that means, but that’s amazing.”

Tsumugi. If you don’t understand, then that’s not a compliment.

We regrouped to find Shouko and the others standing in front of a towering castle wall with a fortress-like gate smack-dab in the center. There was a line of players stretching out from it.

“Whoa, it’s like we’re waiting at some famous restaurant. Looks like a busy place.”

“I’d probably call in sick if the shop was this crowded,” Therese chimed in with a less-than-respectable sentiment. Was that really what a working adult was supposed to say?

“Apparently, this new continent is a country called Mikakage, and we need to pass through this checkpoint to enter...”

“Hmm...”

“According to the gatekeeper, we need to apply for something called a travel permit—like a visa—to pass through. If we get a visa, we can stay in the country for three days, but we will be returned to the checkpoint once the time is up.”

“To stay past the due date, you must go through a daylong application process, I daresay.”

“Uh-huh. Visa...makes sense.”

So there’s a time limit on our stay. That feels strangely realistic for visiting a foreign country.

“Plus, the visa issued here won’t even get us past the next checkpoint. Reaching the capital takes days, so three days won’t be enough.”

“Huh... Sounds like a time-gated quest. It’s like when you have an online game with staggered content releases,” L’Arc said, sounding like he knew all about it. I guess being older came with greater gaming experience.

“Hmmm... So what did you call me here for?”

“Well, bro. Can you try talking to the NPC at the desk over there?”

There was a separate counter from the one the players were queueing behind. This one was practically empty—though the odd player would occasionally approach it, they’d quickly retreat back to the main queue.

When a person in front of me tried approaching the desk...

“Well met, and welcome to Mikakage... This is the reception for those of noble status. Regular adventurers, please use the adventurer window over yonder,” the NPC said, pointing to the lengthy line.

Might as well give it a shot.

“Well met, and welcome to Mikakage... Lord of Cal Mira Island!” the NPC said.

Whoa. That’s a different reaction.

“Here is your honorary pass granting an unlimited stay in Mikakage. Please accept it!”

“Th-Thanks, I guess.”

I received a travel permit item. The letters are written in gold...

“In our glorious Mikakage, we impose a stay limit on our foreign visitors. Regular adventurers must obtain a permit and complete quests or defeat dangerous monsters to build up achievements and upgrade the permit. That extends the stay and grants access to further checkpoints.”

The NPC launched into a rather lengthy explanation. All the while, Shouko and the others were standing behind me with triumphant looks on their faces.

Anyway, it seems like normal players have to get in the normal line for the normal permit... They have to work to upgrade their visas, slowly progressing further and further into the country.

“However, you are the Lord of Cal Mira Island, an important trade partner for Mikakage. This also applies to members of your guild. Please enjoy your time in Mikakage.”

Umm... In short, we’re exempted from all the hassle, huh? We already got so many benefits in Cal Mira, and we’re even getting preferential treatment in the next area... Is this really okay? Won’t this get us hated by the other players?

Then again...after all the work we were forced to do on Cal Mira, perhaps this was the payoff. Thinking back on it now, the island development could have dragged on a lot longer than it did, and maybe it wouldn’t have gone as well if I hadn’t called in the right people.

In that sense, we were saved because I knew a lot of competent people.

“You did it, I daresay!” Yamikage cheered.

“It seems like we can go through now,” Shouko added.

“Yeah! What did I tell you? Getting my brother here was the right choice,” Tsumugi said.

“Let’s go...” Sheryl nodded.

“This doesn’t feel half bad. It’s like we got the fast pass at a theme park,” Therese said.

“In a way, this is like a hidden quest too. Those lord perks are crazy,” L’Arc added.

With that, Shouko and the others passed through the checkpoint as directed by the NPC. A glance to the side, and I quickly found myself greeted by the shocked and frustrated looks of the other players. They looked to be too far out of earshot to know exactly how we’d done it... Hopefully, they wouldn’t hold a grudge about it.

“Thanks, bro,” Tsumugi said.

“Yeah, call me if anything else comes up.”

“So you’re going back to fishing, Kizuna?” Shouko asked.

“Of course! You think I’ve fished at the port enough to be satisfied?!”

“You’ve been granted access to a new map, and you’re still fishing, I daresay...”

There was a somewhat weary look in Yamikage’s eyes.

Are you just realizing that now?

“So. L’Arc, are you going back with Kizzy? We can swap out if you’d like.”

“Hah. Not a chance.”

Oh, Therese and L’Arc are glaring at each other. They get along...well, right? I don’t want them fighting...

“Look, see how uneasy Kizzy is?”

“This ain’t a fight, relax, little lady. Now let’s get back to the port!”

“Y-yeah... See ya.”

And with that, I took my unlimited visa and headed straight back to the port for more fishing.

†

As the sun set...and as the crowd thinned, I remained on the ship at the port, fishing rod in hand. Thanks to the lamp Sheryl set up, I didn’t have any issues with night fishing. I could go without relearning any of the necessary skills.

“This setup seems like my best bet... No, for the float and the weight... Maybe I should consider throwing in some chum too...”

If I could just see what was down there, I wouldn’t be going through this much trouble. But that’s what made it fun—trial and error.

“You’ve been fishing all day, little lady. I guess you’ve been doing thorough research, huh?”

L’Arc, back from his quest hunting, plopped down in a chair next to me.

“Pretty much. Fishing ain’t as easy as casting a line.”

“Definitely not for me, then.”

“It’s the same as picking the right gear for a hunting ground. You try guessing a monster’s attribute from its appearance, right? That’s something you do even if it’s your first game.”

“No doubt about that... I guess you got one over me.”

Right, Brave Pekkle gave me that skill—Fever Lure. What exactly is it? I might as well give it a go.

“Fever Lure.”

Fever Lure

A support skill for fishing rods.

Imbues your lure with a light that attracts fish.

1000 Energy consumed upon use.

Upgrade Condition: ???

Urp... That just cost me 1000 Energy.

The hook at the end of the line transformed into the same unnecessarily flashy lure Brave Pekkle had handed me when I got the skill.

“Oh? That’s a skill I don’t recognize.”

“Brave Pekkle gave it to me when we cleared that Dimension Wave. I didn’t know what it did, so I figured I’d give it a shot.”

“Hmm...”

“There we go.”

With a snap of my wrist, I cast the line into the sea. Then immediately—a tug! I could feel it in my hands.

“Oh?”

I wound the reel and pulled in a striped beakfish. After hastily stowing my catch away, I checked the lure.

It was still active. I cast again and got another instant bite.

“They’re biting like crazy.”

“Looks like the name’s literal... You’ve got yourself a lure that causes a feverish feeding frenzy!”

Chapter 1: Blue Shark [Sinner of Thieves]

Fever Lure! It did exactly what it said on the tin, and its effects were way stronger than expected. From my point of view, it was a broken skill!

“Whoa... Seeing you haul them in one after another like that actually looks kinda fun.”

“Ha ha ha! Are you finally interested in fishing, L’Arc?”

“Nah. It’s fun to watch, but I’d probably lose interest if I actually started doing it.”

Why you little...! Do you even know what you’re saying?! Do you even realize how amazing this lure is?!

I kept casting the Fever Lure into the ocean in a fervorous, feverish frenzy. After all, I’d get a bite the moment it hit the water’s surface—and it happened every single time. Best of all, my Fishing Mastery level was higher than what the port required, making it pretty easy to reel them in.

It was practically a nonstop battle with the local fish population.

“I mean, yeah, it’s amazing, but it looks too repetitive for my tastes. I’m impressed that you can keep at it like that.”

“I’ve been doing it since the First City.”

“Yeah, guess so. I heard about it from Kanade; she said you’ve got a real stubborn streak.”

L’Arc seemed to know a lot of people, and my older sister happened to be one of them.

“Kanade, Tsumugi, and me, we all get absorbed in what we love. It runs in the blood... Though Tsumugi gets bored pretty easily.”

“She’s got the skills, even if she lacks the attention span. Looks like each of the three sisters has their own quirks.”

“Say that again. I dare you.”

I was a man; I’d just been tampered with when I got into the game. Why was I being included among the sisters?

“That lure... It’s probably boosting your fishing a lot, right? You might even catch stuff that normally wouldn’t bite.”

“I can see it happening...”

While we were talking, my rod suddenly bent sharply at a sudden jerk.

“Oh? This tug...”

The sensation was unlike anything else I’d hooked at the harbor—I knew I had a big one. Even as I activated the mechanized reel I could feel it resisting just as hard as the giant catfish.

“Looks like you’ve got a good one.”

A faint creaking sound filled the air as the pull grew strong enough to tilt the boat ever so slightly. Yeah, if it’s this unbelievably strong... It’s probably a lord.

“Hey look, the Fishing Master hooked something big. Look at her fighting with the rod on that ship.”

“Break a leg.”

Great, now the guys on the docks are cheering for me. How long have you people been watching?

I gave them a brief wave before refocusing myself on my battle with the fish.

“I’ve seen the Fishing Master fishing before, but it actually looks pretty tough... Fishing, I mean.”

“You said it.”

What a laid-back conversation. Could you not chat so casually while pointing at me? Whoa! It’s trying to dive under the ship!

“Pole Fishing!”

I gave a big pull, attempting to finish it with a skill, but my foe continued to put up its stubborn resistance.

“Hah!”

Splash! I got a good look at the fish as it breached the water’s surface.

Oh? That’s quite a large black sea bream.

It splashed back into the sea, but if I kept reeling, I was sure I’d catch it eventually.

That has to be the lord! Or so I thought. But then...

A massive shark suddenly burst from below and bit into the sea bream I was fighting. I’d seen it before—it looked like an oversized version of the Blue Shark monster we’d encountered at sea.

“Whoa!”

The rod bent even more, the reel spinning against my will as it began to lose line to the ocean’s pull.

“Now that’s a fun quest! I knew sticking with you would pay off!”

L’Arc excitedly clenched his fist, but now wasn’t the time for that!

“Huh? H-Hey!”

All I could do was shout out in surprise.

I frantically reeled in, but the pulling force was on a whole nother level. There was absolutely no comparison to how it had been only moments before.

“Wha... Wha...”

The peanut gallery was just as stunned. Why was another fish—no, a monster—crashing the party and stealing my catch mid-fight?!

“A shark, lol!” one of the peanut gallery said.

“Crazy stuff! That’s the Fishing Master for ya! I didn’t know that could even ’appen!” another chimed in.

“See? That’s why you gotta keep your eyes on him!” L’Arc responded smugly.

“Ah, it’s L’Arc. Figures you were keeping an eye on the Fishing Master.”

Stronger and stronger, I was being dragged away by the insane pull.

Oh crap! I’m going to fall overboard!

“You doing all right, little lady?”

L’Arc grabbed my arm, pulling me back for support. That helped stabilize me a bit.

“Thanks. But I’m good.”

I hooked a foot on the railing to steady myself.

Meanwhile, the massive Blue Shark was thrashing wildly, pulling left and right, and making it very clear it had no intentions of being fished.

Does this even count as fishing anymore?

“L’Arc, I’d like to weaken it a bit. Can you attack from here?”

“Ah... My weapon’s a scythe. If I let off a skill, I might slice through the line. Flying slashes are too risky... Gimme a sec. I’ll target it with the ship’s ballista.”

L’Arc seemed keen on helping, but he was right. The scythe was known for its large AoE, and there was a good chance he’d snap the line by accident. That was especially true when he was targeting a foe that was thrashing around unpredictably underwater... It was better to get him on the ballista.

I could use more help, though.

“C’mon Pekkle!”

“Pen!”

I summoned Chris, the crowned King Pekkle, alongside a helmeted Pekkle and designated my target.

“Go! Weaken the shark!”

“On it, pen!”

Chris briskly dived into the sea, spinning rapidly before leaping out of the water to charge at the Blue Shark that had surfaced to attempt to sever the line. The spinning charge created a whirlpool, trapping the shark within.

What a flashy effect.

“Whooooaaa!”

“Wow... That’s some production value! Hey everyone, get a load of this!”

The gallery grew as more people gathered to see what was going on.

“What’s that? A Blue Shark?”

“The Fishing Master hooked a big one, but the shark went and snatched it, so now we’re in round two.”

“And the Pekkle’s backing her up, huh...”

“Awesome!”

Splash! The huge Blue Shark burst through the whirlpool, diving back into the sea before leaping out again.

Hrah! Just settle down, would you?!

Chris was hot in pursuit, slapping and smacking the shark.

Isn’t there anything I can... Oh, there! I kept up my side of the battle while inching closer to one of the ballistae Sheryl had set up. Then, with one hand... No, how am I supposed to operate it with one hand?!

“Okay, we’re good to go! Firing!”

L’Arc loaded a ballista bolt and fired it off at the Blue Shark. Then, I heard the sound of a meaty impact effect.

Nice! It’s starting to weaken.

“Keep at it!”

“So you can actually attack big catches like that? It’s not all about fishing?”

“Should I be trying to copy that?”

“I don’t see why not. I never thought the fish’d be big enough to need it.”

Those encouraging cheers had me feeling a bit conflicted.

“Whatever... Let’s finish this! Pole Fishing!”

Seeing the shark sufficiently weakened, I activated Pole Fishing one more time to drag it onto the deck.

The shark flopped around and thrashed violently, but it eventually gave in and went still.

“Pen!”

The two Pekkles tied a rope around its tail and hung it from a large hook at the stern. With its gaping maw hung open, the Blue Shark was left dangling like something out of that giant shark movie.

“She did it!” one of the onlookers cheered.

“The Fishing Master wins!” another chimed in.

“What a good showing!”

“That’s the Fishing Master for you! The little girl who pulled in the white whale!”

I could hear some sparse applause, but...this wasn’t the kind of showdown that should have happened within a safe zone. Rather... Why was I even able to fish up a Blue Shark?

And who are you calling a little girl?! At least call me a crossplayer!

“You did it, little lady. A big catch right off the bat!”

“Yeah... I didn’t expect to catch something like this.”

“It was fun to watch. You reckon this will lead into a quest chain?”

“I’m not so sure about that. Are you gonna look for it?”

“Well, I doubt I can trigger or progress it without you... I’ll have to poke around and see.”

“I guess so... If you find any NPCs that seem to fit the bill, just tell me.”

“You got it.”

It was at that point in the conversation that I removed the hook... Oh, at some point, Fever Lure reverted to a regular fishing hook.

I checked my stat screen and saw the cooldown time... Looks like I’ll need a whole day to get it back.

The lure that the skill summoned triggered a feeding frenzy, and it also had an unlisted effect of enhancing my fishing gear for a while... That seemed to be the gist of it. At the very least, I wasn’t using gear meant for shark fishing, so it had to have been boosting me in some way.

Anyway...a catch is a catch. Let’s get a rubbing.

I mimed having my hands around a camera and captured a screenshot.

“Aight! Peace!”

“Pen!”

L’Arc and the Pekkles all puffed out their chests proudly, striking poses.

Victory poses, huh...

“It’s huge...”

“Yeah, that’s one hell of a catch.”

Now that I was getting a better look at it, it was definitely a lot bigger than any Blue Shark I’d seen before. And by Blue Shark, I meant the monster Blue Shark, not the one that actually existed.

I thought it might be some other type of monster, but its name was still Blue Shark.

Blue Shark [Sinner of Thieves]

It’s got a weird epithet!

Sinner of Thieves... Was that because it tried to steal my catch?

The Blue Shark was a bit over five meters long. If it had gotten to eight meters, it would’ve rivaled that monster from the famous shark movie. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to feel disappointed about that or not.

“You reckon that shark woulda attacked me if I went surfing in the port?”

“The inspiration’s there.”

L’Arc was clearly thinking the same thing I was.

“But I guess I’d just have to ram a gas tank into its mouth and fire away, problem solved!”

He inserted himself into the main character role as if it were the most obvious thing in the world... Granted, he had been the one firing off ballista bolts at it not too long ago.

Still... Why did I catch this thing at the port? If it’d been offshore, I’d get it. But this is supposed to be a safe zone.

The folks too stingy to pay for an inn who had instead stayed on their boats were pointing over at us. Well, it was more like they were gawking at the Blue Shark.

“Therese! Therese! You won’t believe what I just saw!”

L’Arc promptly opened up a chat with Therese. Maybe I should report it to my party members as well?

I brought up the menu and designated Shouko, Yamikage, Sheryl, and Tsumugi.

Brrring... There was a rather outdated dial tone before the chat connected.

Wait...Yamikage’s not picking up.

“Ah, Kizuna. It’s quite late. Did something happen?”

“I just felt like talking. What about Yamikage?”

“She’s already asleep.”

I see. She does tuck in early.

“This Mikakage place has tons of quests, bro! There’s monster hunts, herb delivery, and a lot more too. Therese is pretty excited.”

“The quest offerings seem to change daily, so it is not the same requests over and over. Also, the monsters are quite tough. It will take some time to reach the deeper areas.”

“And using a Return Transcript boots us out of the country. Traveling’s a real pain.”

“Uh-huh...”

“They won’t even sell you weapons or tools without a high enough visa rank. The other players are complaining about how inconvenient it is.”

Hmm... The unique system here feels more like a shackle than anything else.

“For starters, we’ll go as far as we can and check the shops. Maybe they have some good gear for sale!”

Yeah, this sort of setup seems better suited to Tsumugi. Gear up, level up, rank up, upgrade, and repeat.

“Perhaps because she was granted the best equipment from Cal Mira, Yamikage is having an easier time.”

“That bracelet is insane, after all. We might have had a hard time if Yammy wasn’t around.”

“Uh-huh.”

Well...we did give Yamikage the best gear we could conceive at the time.

For the record, my equipment still incorporated the Santa hat that a certain Pekkle had left behind. I was painfully aware of how surreal and out of place I looked.

“How have things been for you, Kizuna?”

“Did you fish up a lord?”

And then—Ping!—a chat request from Therese popped up. I added her to my call with Shouko and the others to make things easier.

“Kizzy! I hear you pulled in the big one!”

“I’ve never heard her this enthusiastic, bro!”

“L’Arc was bragging like crazy! Ah, this is so frustrating! He said it was insane!”

“I thought I hooked a lord, but then a Blue Shark snatched it mid-fight, and I ended up catching the Blue Shark instead. It turned out to be a huge one with a weird epithet too.”

There were about ten-odd seconds of silence after I’d explained myself.

“Err... Could you please say that one more time?”

“As I was telling you, I thought I hooked the lord, but then this big Blue Shark crashed in on the scene, and I ended up reeling in a Blue Shark with a strange thing tacked onto its name.”

“L’Arc said you caught something just like in the shark movie!”

“He’s exaggerating. It’s not that big, don’t worry.”

L’Arc...you’re hyping it up way too much to your girlfriend.

When I glanced at L’Arc, he casually gave me a thumbs-up as if to say he meant no harm.

“We haven’t been gone long, but it looks like a lot has happened in our absence.”

“Aha ha ha ha! My brother never misses. He explained it twice and I still don’t get it.”

Tsumugi couldn’t contain her laughter.

Can it. Even I can barely understand what just happened, let alone why it turned out like this. I couldn’t even begin to understand what the devs were thinking with this setup.

“Uh-huh...”

“I’m feeling this overwhelming urge to check it out, but what should we do? Shouko?”

“Yes, well, you did contact us just when I was thinking about taking a break... But if we start heading back now, it will take quite a bit of time.”

“Therese wants to see!”

“If we go now... We’ll have to leave Yammy behind.”

Oh right... She’s asleep.

It would probably be possible to make the round trip before she woke up, but that would cut down on sleep time for everyone else. And if Yamikage woke up first, she’d get bored waiting for everyone.

Incidentally, I considered dismantling the Blue Shark on the spot, but since the game registered it as “successfully fished,” it did technically belong to me. It was currently categorized as a ship decoration, so...it couldn’t be stolen.

That’s some decor, huh.

“I’ll wait to dismantle it. How about you just take Yamikage over tomorrow morning?”

“Certainly. But...we’re all over the place, aren’t we.”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s because too many fun events happen around you, bro.”

“Urgh... Why wasn’t I there... Why did I have to lose at rock-paper-scissors?”

It’s not like I had any control over it. I was just trying to fish the lord.

“So, between staking out my brother to see if something happens or exploring a new map, which sounds better?”

“What are you staking me out for? I’m being honest when I say things don’t usually happen.”

For quite a while after the game kicked off, I’d stayed in the First City without anything particularly eventful happening. All I did was fish up empty cans and sell them to Alto for money.

When I did finally fish up the herring lord, I’d made sure to show it off to both my sisters.

“I mean, sticking with Kizuna does seem like the best way to stumble into strange happenings...”

Et tu, Shouko?

I knew L’Arc and Therese saw it that way, but was that seriously how the others saw me too? Was that my role in the group?

“I’m busy fishing. And there’s no way something like that is gonna happen again.”

My primary goal in Dimension Wave was fishing. If there was a fishing spot, I’d fish—it was as simple as that.

“In fact, it’s got to be because I’m fishing by the sea—that’s why something so crazy happened. I should be fine if I stick to rivers. Yeah, I’ll go river fishing next time.”

“Really?” Sheryl asked.

“You sure about that, little lady?”

“Kizzy?”

Stop with the pressure. You’re making me doubt myself.

“Probably.”

“You don’t sound too confident.”

Oh, sister of mine. Just cut me some slack.

“Have you run into any rivers yet?”

“We have not. We are in one of Mikakage’s villages right now, and the only water source is a well.”

“Oh, and it’s not one of the ones with a bucket and rope. It’s the kind where you crank a lever to draw up water.”

“It’s got that countryside charm to it.”

Tsumugi and Therese promptly shot down my fleeting hope.

Erk... No fishing spots, then.

“I do hope we find a place where Kizuna can fish in peace...”

“You’ve got it rough, bro.”

“Uh-huh...”

“Well, whatever. Let’s just meet up tomorrow.”

“Yes, please show us the Blue Shark you pulled in.”

“Maybe I’ll go sneak a peek beforehand.”

Hey now! Well... Therese is older than me. She’s a working adult, so maybe it’s fine if she goes out at night. How should I put it... I can picture her drinking the night away with L’Arc.

“Night, bro.”

“Good night...”

“Guess we’ll save the fun for tomorrow.”

And with that, we ended the chat.

“Man, it’s getting nice and lively. This is how a game ought to be, eh?”

“Well... Yeah, I guess.”

“I think it’s great how everyone in your group just does whatever they want. The bigger guilds tend to take it too far when it comes to efficiency, and that can make it a little stifling at times. A place that lets people do as they please is important.”

I wasn’t so inexperienced that I couldn’t understand what L’Arc was getting at. In fact, my play style...probably wouldn’t fly in a large guild.

“I was sure you’d join one of the big ones, L’Arc.”

“It hasn’t been too long since the guild system was implemented, but yeah. Some of the big names have already reached out to me.”

As I thought. L’Arc ranks pretty high in the Dimension Waves. He’s probably one of the more well-known players.

“There’s definitely strength in numbers. But the more people you have, the more trouble and the more fatigue. I think your group’s doing pretty well with so few members. Everyone’s a celeb too.”

Wait, we’re really that famous? I mean...people do call us the Island Lord Party, and they were calling me the Fishing Master earlier. Given our achievements, it makes sense that we’ve become famous.

“You ever plan on turning your guild into one of the big ones, little lady?”

“Hmm... I’m focused on fishing, and managing a big guild would be too much for me. I know we’re at the top right now, but I’ve already resolved to see the day when the other players surpass us.”

Our creed was to enjoy ourselves. We weren’t aiming to win our way to the top.

“Well, it seems like fighting isn’t all this game’s about, so who’s to say? If you keep playing it your way, you might just stay on top all the way to the credits.”

I’d love it if that were the case, I thought.

“Your quest-focused play style sounds pretty fun too. You get to learn all sorts of important things about the world and all. In some games, world-building is just an afterthought.”

“Ha ha, no doubt about that.”

“Being real, I haven’t been doing any of that, so I don’t know the first thing about the game’s lore or how the NPCs live their lives. What’s it like?”

Learning the lore secondhand like this felt a bit wrong. If I really wanted to know, it was better for me to look into it myself; but perhaps this much was fine to ask.

“Ah, that... So far, most of the quests are about incidents happening here and there, errands and fetch quests mostly. As for what you might consider main quests, they mainly revolve around people living in fear of the waves and prepping for them.”

That seemed to fit the setting, at least.

“Digging a bit deeper, it seems like the waves have happened twice in the past, and back then, twelve people known as the heroes worked together to stop ’em.”

“Hmm... Like Brave Pekkle?”

Brave Pekkle was considered the hero of all the Pekkles.

“Not so sure about that one. But there’s definitely something to those twelve heroes. Bits and pieces, hints lying all over the place.”

“They might add something in a future update, then—new NPCs or weapons.”

“Maybe. But for now, I haven’t found anything major about the root of what’s happening. The world’s core, you could call it.”

By the sound of it, they were still rolling out events to primarily keep the players entertained. The bigger story developments were still under wraps. Apart from the waves themselves—which encouraged the participation of all players—everyone was free to do as they pleased.

With all the quests, L’Arc’s got a pretty deep understanding of how the world works.

“That said, even if I find a place offering quests, you sometimes need the right skills to get the conversation rolling or to take the job. Completing everything’s gonna be tough.”

“This game threw in some convoluted systems, huh.”

“You said it. And to top it all off, they throw in surprises like this. They really know how to keep us from getting bored,” L’Arc chuckled, his thumb pointing at the Blue Shark I’d caught. “Anyway, Kizuna, I think you should just keep doing things your way.”

“Thanks. But still... Part of me does want to explore all sorts of places with Shouko and the others.”

Fishing was good, great even. But I needed to find a way to balance it with spending time with everyone. Up to this point, we’d stuck together because it was convenient. We were all trapped in the same place, after all. But my fishing lifestyle no longer meshed with their spirit of adventure.

To be completely honest, I was interested in the new continent, but I just couldn’t get the fishing spots out of my head. Different areas—even in the same sea—could yield completely different fish and monsters.

“What should I do...?”

“Hopefully, you’ll find a solution. If you could fish while adventuring—basically, traveling the whole way by ship—that’d be ideal.”

“It can’t always be that convenient.”

Fishing and hunting monsters together... I should think of a way to make that work.

“Now then... It’s about bedtime for me.”

“Go on ahead. I’ll chat a little with Therese and some friends before turning in. Night.”

Thanks to Fever Lure, today’s fishing results had been excellent. I really wanted to fill in the game’s fish catalog in its entirety.

With that thought in mind, I headed to my cabin and went to sleep.

†

The next day.

“This is incredible, I daresay!”

Yamikage muttered as she marveled at Blue Shark [Sinner of Thieves], which had become a decorative fixture of the ship.

“Seeing it for real is something else; it’s really like that scene from the shark movie.” Therese raised her voice as she observed the Blue Shark’s mouth from up close. “Oh, but Kizzy, you fished up the white whale before. Maybe this isn’t a big deal?”

“Yeah, the pull back then was pretty strong.”

Thinking back, reeling in the Dimension White Whale had been quite the struggle, though that one had been more of a special gimmick to create an extra opportunity for attack.

“This Blue Shark sure is huge—it’s practically a boss monster!”

My sister had the same reaction. She probably would have preferred to fight it.

“I wish I had been here to see it firsthand...”

“Bad timing, I’d say.”

“The early bird gets the worm!”

L’Arc proudly showed off the Blue Shark as if he’d been the one to catch it.

Hey. That was me. That’s my catch.

“I never expected to fish up something like this in the port either.”

“So does that mean this is the lord? Bro?”

“I’m not sure...”

It wasn’t like there were any strategy guides or anyone else testing out these things, after all.

“If I had to take a guess, I’d say this isn’t the port lord. It’s a randomly occurring boss encounter.”

“Ah... That makes sense. I’m surprised you managed to reel it in on your first try.”

“Well... I used the supplies we got from Cal Mira, I had L’Arc’s help, and I used the Pekkles too.”

It had been quite the labor to bring in, even with all of that.

“Now that we know that things like this can happen, perhaps simply fishing and increasing fishing skills will no longer be enough to keep up.”

It’s possible... Come to think of it, I’ve been catching fish that should have been categorized as monsters since the start of the game. Not to mention there are skills specifically designed for fighting monsters with a fishing rod... I wouldn’t be surprised if I reach a point where fishing skills alone aren’t enough to keep fishing.

“Uh-huh.”

Sheryl nodded before cocking her head quizzically and handing me an item.

Electromotor

Type: Attachment Part

Grants the lightning attribute to tools that use a motor.

“What’s this?”

“Reel... Shock the fish.”

“You mean electrofishing?”

“Uh-huh...”

“What’s that?”

“Hey now. Isn’t that illegal? You sure about this?”

As expected, L’Arc seemed to know about it. He quickly furrowed his brow.

“It’s a fishing method where you use electric shocks to stun the fish and catch them. It’s generally prohibited in Japan.”

“Oh, you mean like dropping a stun gun into a river and zapping everything?”

“That...would count, I guess. It’s a cheap trick, so I don’t wanna do it, but...”

“You need to be prepared if you’re going to fish up monsters.”

Sheryl’s words left little room for rebuttal.

She had a point—if I ever ended up having to catch monsters, there was a chance that traditional fishing methods would no longer cut it. Perhaps there’d come a time when I’d have to modify my rod and reel specifically to match my target.

And it wasn’t like I was completely above that sort of thing... I’d already been attacking the fish for a while now.

“Yammy, do you think we’d get any fish if we cast lightning magic on the ocean?”

“I’d rather not find out, I daresay...”

Therese posed the question to Yamikage. I don’t like the thought that there might be an easier way to get fish. This game has too much freedom in that regard. After all, they let us attack lord-class fish no problem.

“So, Sheryl. What am I supposed to do with this part?”

“Romina will make it.”

“Oh, so I need to enhance my motorized reel at a smithy?”

Sheryl nodded.

“Fishing sounds like quite a lot of work.”

“Yeah, sure seems like it...”

The problem was that fishing didn’t give Energy or experience points in general.

“That aside, Kizuna. Are you going to dismantle it?”

“Yeah. I just wanted everyone to see it first.”

I’d been fishing all morning as I waited for everyone to gather. The results were fantastic... But there was no telling if the port had another lord. I couldn’t leave no matter how much I wanted to.

“It looks like dismantling has become a lot more common these days. Apparently, having someone with dismantling skills in every party is now the norm.”

“There are also people running specialized dismantling shops in town.”

“Then should we leave it to a specialist?”

“What are you talking about, oh brother of mine? You’re the top dismantling player.”

“Yep. You don’t seem to realize it, little lady, but you’re way ahead of the others in that regard.”

“I cook a lot, but Kizzy’s dismantling skill is higher than mine.”

Really? I’m struggling to believe that someone like me—who’s just been fishing day in and day out and doing whatever I want on Cal Mira—is the best at anything besides fishing.

“You’ve gathered quite an assortment of dismantling weapons, and you’re very experienced too. There’s no reason for us to rely on a shop.”

“I daresay.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Fine, got it. I’ll make sure to keep working on that to meet your expectations.”

So for now, my role is to dismantle everything they hunt. With monsters, some materials can’t be harvested if you don’t dismantle them on the spot, so it’s pretty tricky.

The bigger the monster, the more likely this was. The fact you had to be fast on the scene was one of the downsides of dismantling.

“Aight, let’s begin.”

I took out my Isana no Tachi and began taking apart the Blue Shark [Sinner of Thieves].

I should raise my Dismantling Mastery as much as I can...just in case.

Thanks to all the dismantling I’d done so far, I’d managed to raise it to rank VII. Normally, I kept it lower to conserve Energy, but temporarily raising it when needed wasn’t too wasteful.

At first, it hadn’t been this clear. But the more I advanced in dismantling, the more it became like a minigame. I’d see the lines I needed to cut, and I’d have to trace my weapon along those lines. The system assisted me along quite a bit, making it a smooth and brisk process.

At this point, I’d gotten so used to it that even high-difficulty dismantling didn’t pose too much of a problem. I’d definitely come a long way from when I first tried filleting a herring.

Still...yeah. This Blue Shark [Sinner of Thieves] has an incredibly high dismantle difficulty. It’s got to be as tough as the dress Romina failed to smith. Even with Isana no Tachi and Cerberus Slaughter, it’s not enough.

I had to pass the blade along the line several times before it cut through. Perhaps that was a sign that it was time for me to get some new dismantling weapons.

“Such a huge shark is being taken apart in no time at all, I daresay.”

“Kizuna is quite impressive.”

“It’s just because I raised my dismantling skills.”

With that, the dismantling was done.

Oh, I managed to cut the head off cleanly. It looks like I can process it into a trophy if I want to, but let’s not. The materials are more important.

Thieving Shark’s Tooth, Thieving Shark’s Fin, Thieving Shark’s Pectoral Fin, Thieving Shark’s Sharkskin, Thieving Shark’s Fillet, Thieving Shark’s Muscle, Thieving Shark’s Cartilage, Thieving Shark’s Heart, Thieving Shark’s Stomach.

We got lots of materials listed as Thieving Shark’s this and that. They had to be pretty rare, going off the fact that the text was glowing.

“That about does it.”

“Whoa... These are some pretty rare materials.”

“L’Arc, L’Arc! Grroowwr.”

Therese was holding the Blue Shark’s fangs in both hands, snapping them together to playfully threaten L’Arc. She had a gyaru-ish vibe, yet she could easily put on a business smile when she had to, and she could be childish too—what couldn’t she do?

She perfectly embodied her color-changing Alexandrite-inspired Jewel design.

“Hey, bro. Why don’t we head over to Romina to have her make some new gear?”

“Fine by me, but what are you planning to get her to make? You might want to check out the new continent’s equipment first.”

“Yeah, that’s the thing... To be honest, there’s so much to do that it’s like we’re still fumbling around, and if we get something made only to find something better at the shops, it’ll feel like such a waste...”

“Indeed...”

“Then I daresay, why not use it as a temporary set until you find something better?”

“That is an option. Besides, Romina would probably be happy if we brought her some peculiar materials.”

Sure enough, Romina enjoyed hammering stuff out of interesting materials. She’d probably have more fun forging something out of these than working with the same old stuff.

“Come to think of it, we haven’t asked her to make anything out of the white whale materials yet...”

“She said her skills needed some catching up before she could work with them.”

“But milord keeps bringing her unusual materials one after the next, I daresay.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, we can’t exactly ask her to make something for us then, can we?”

“Right? These are Kizzy’s hard-earned materials, after all.”

“I get it, but still...”

It was at that point that the sound of a ringing phone distracted me.

Who could it be? I wondered, checking the popup window to see that Alto had sent a chat request.

“I just got a call from Alto.”

“So it seems.”

“I’m picking up.”

I pressed the button to accept the chat.

“Ah, Kizuna. Sorry to bother you when you’re off exploring the new continent, but I have a favor to ask. Could you come over sometime soon?”

“Did something happen?”

“It’s something I could probably handle on my own, but I figured it would be best for you to weigh in on it too.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a quest that I suspect triggered because you’re the lord of Cal Mira Island. Plus, there are some new expansion options and a few other things that got added in the last update.”

“Got it. We’ll all head over.”

“No, just you is enough, Kizuna. It’s a rare chance to explore a whole new region, isn’t it? And knowing you, you’ve probably been fishing at the port this whole time, right?”

“Correct.”

“You got that right!”

“I missed my chance to see it.”

“Uh-huh.”

“My brother’s aiming to fill out the entire fish list for the port.”

“As per usual, if I daresay myself.”

My whole party answered for me.

And what’s wrong with that?! That’s how I want to play the game!

“Are you sure Kizuna alone is enough?”

“For now, yes. In fact, Shouko, I’d rather have you and the others continue your investigation of the new continent. I’ll send Kizuna back as soon as we’re done with business, of course.”

“So you want us to split up...”

“We already split up, I daresay.”

Shut it, Yamikage. I want to hunt with everyone too.

But there were a lot of things I had to test, so there wasn’t much I could do about it.

“So many quests popping up one after another. It’s hard to keep up.”

“A lord quest, huh... What do you think, Therese?”

L’Arc and Therese, always so sharp on quests, seemed intrigued.

“What to do, what to do...”

“For now, I’ll go back to Cal Mira to make a report. We can see where things go from there.”

“If that’s okay with you, Kizuna...”

Well, it’s about time I worked out a way to enjoy the game alongside everyone else. Not that I have anything against fishing on my own, but I should at least try searching for another way. The undiscovered fishing spots are calling to me.

“Have you two decided on what you’re doing yet?”

“Hmm... It’s a tough choice,” said Therese. “I get the feeling things will be more interesting on your side, Kizzy, but I don’t want to leave the quest hunting to the girls.”

“Ah, don’t take that the wrong way,” L’Arc chimed in. “If you’re offended, let me apologize. It’s just you sometimes want to check stuff out for yourself.”

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t bother us.”

I could understand the fear of missing out. Even in other games, I’d feel frustrated if I noticed a missing entry on the quest list or if I realized I left an important one unfinished. And of course, I completely understood the desire to catch every fish in the area.

“L’Arc, since Shouko’s group is completely splitting off, I’d feel bad to just send Kizzy off alone. How about we go with him?”

“Got it. I wanted to exchange intel with some of my friends on the island anyway.”

“All right, then. If you find a good hunting or fishing spot in Mikakage, let us know. I’ll be scouring for fishing spots too.”

If combat broke out in Cal Mira or aboard the ship, I could call up the Pekkles and make it out one way or another. And if we ran into a monster too strong to deal with, we could just run away.

Fortunately, the Pekkle-operated pirate ship that Sheryl modified could move incredibly fast, so we hadn’t run into any difficult opponents on our way to Mikakage. And worst-case scenario...I could make the trip back to Cal Mira in an instant.

“Understood. I will report to you every day, so please make sure to reply, Kizuna.”

“Of course. I’ll tell you if we get any nice equipment.”

“All right, then we’ll be counting on you, Kizuna.”

And so, L’Arc and Therese ended up going back to Cal Mira with me.

Chapter 2: Aquarium Construction

We touched down at the port and promptly headed for the castle. The port’s as lively as ever... Ah, that line is for...the library?

“What do you suppose that line’s for?”

“I’m kinda curious. You mind if I go ask, little lady?”

“Fine by me, but wouldn’t it be faster to ask Alto or Romina?”

“Point taken. Besides, I’m more curious about the quest that only the island lord can take, so let’s prioritize that.”

“Cal Mira’s getting a whole bunch of new features, huh.”

Though a fair few players were setting off for the new continent, plenty of them were still enjoying the new island content unlocked by the last update.

We greeted Alto, who was waiting in the guild members’ area.

“So, what’s this quest that you need me for?”

“Yes, well, first, take a seat on the throne.”

“I’m not really a fan of sitting there...”

“Well, you are the island lord, Kizzy!”

“Ain’t that where you should be? Given your position? Even if it’s just a game.”

I sat on the throne as Alto directed me. Immediately, a system message popped up, showing the list of things I could do as the local lord—including a quest menu. Alto pointed me to one quest in particular.

“A large-scale fish order?”

“That’s right. It’s a request from the First and Second Cities. If we ignore it, fish restaurants and specialty shops in both cities will eventually run out of stock, triggering a penalty quest.”

“Huh... That’s a pretty unusual one.”

“A penalty if you don’t complete it? Now that’s a troublesome quest you’ve got on your hands.”

“So it’s like a duty for those who stand on top? You have it rough, Kizzy.”

Wow, how easily they wrote it off as someone else’s business. If we ignored it for too long, other players would be affected.

“You have to play king, I guess. You’d be managing food supply for the citizens and players alike.”

Just how many different quest types does this game even have?

“Is it the one listed as Cal Mira Island Fishery?”

“Yeah. It’s a delivery quest, and here’s the requirements.”

The numbers Alto showed me were absolutely overwhelming—unimaginable amounts of herrings and sardines. It’s literally tons... There’s no way a single player could handle this alone.

“If it’s too much, you can open it up to general players—though you would have to pay their rewards. But hey, our tax income should cover it.”

“I see...”

For a fishing enthusiast like me, it was a perfect quest. I’d be able to handle it eventually if I just kept fishing day after day. Oh, it looks like I can submit other kinds of fish too. I only need to deliver herrings and sardines to solve the food crisis, but if I go the extra mile, I can also unlock the ability to tax NPCs.

There were benefits for regular players too—apparently, donating enough crab parts would unlock new equipment at the shops. It wasn’t actually a terrible quest after all.

“Still, it sounds like a huge pain, little lady. It’s only really worth your time if you think you can handle it with just you and the guild.”

“It’s not too bad as long as there’s a way to solve it. Oh, and we’ve also started building an aquarium on the island,” Alto added.

“An aquarium?”

“Yes, it seems to be a collection-based facility where you can donate fish. Freshwater, saltwater, rare species—anything goes.”

I like the sound of that.

Up until now, fishing had just been about catching fish, but this gave a whole new way to enjoy it. Not bad at all.

“Sounds like a quest for Kizzy.”

“Completing the whole collection would be a dream.”

“I figured you’d say that. The facility’s still small and in its preopening phase, but the size will increase with more donations. Also, it keeps a record of players who catch lord-class fish, so their info gets displayed.”

Ah, so even if I fish them up and dismantle them, there’s still a record. That’s actually pretty nice.

“It also logs where the fish were caught, so it can work like a field guide too. You want as much info on fish as you can get, right? There’s only so much you can figure out on your own.”

“Ah... I could tell, watching you yesterday. You’ve got some insane patience for trial and error.”

L’Arc seemed pretty impressed when he was watching over me. But maybe it would be better to have that info if it’s out there.

“I wouldn’t call it a strategy guide, but a facility like that would be nice to have.”

“In any case, Cal Mira Island’s quests are steadily expanding. That’s why I called you back.”

“I see...”

“We’ll help out too. It sounds like fun.”

“Right?”

L’Arc and Therese’s help would definitely make things easier.

“By the way, donating fish to the aquarium rewards you with special coins that can be exchanged for good equipment, items, and fishing gear. Once the place is fully open, I bet the other fishermen will join in too. It’ll be like a pseudo-fishing guild.”

This game really knows how to play with my collector spirit.

“Alto, in your personal opinion, what do you think is the best course of action?”

“Right, well...I want you to look over that fishing quest before anything else. Also, Kizuna, there’s an issue at Romina’s smithy—she needs to craft a wider variety of items in order to improve her skills.”

“You mean not just swords and spears, but anything that the game lets her craft?”

“Precisely. Production skills now require experience not just from quantity, but from making a diverse assortment of items.”

“So if someone wants to pick up Craftwork and get into crafting right now, they should start by working with a variety of things, like different gemstones?”

Come to think of it, Therese did say she wanted to pick it up.

“Alto, Kizzy, would you be able to get me some jewels and that sorta stuff?”

“They’ve been left with Romina. If you want to craft with gemstones, you should be able to do that at the workshop. Therese, do you want to give it a try?”

“Yes, well, I should focus on leveling my skills up for now. Only until we meet back up with Shouko’s group, of course.”

“Mmm, aight, then I’ll help with the quest.”

Therese was going to work on Craftwork, while L’Arc was going to help me.

“As for our resident fishing specialist?”

“If fishing’s the same as crafting, I might need to start working on variety on top of quantity...”

That could very well be the case. Maybe the conditions for getting my next skill have to do with catching ten new fish species or something like that. I think that’s what Alto’s getting at.

“Fishing should get me quite a bit of experience...well, Proficiency, in my case. It’ll help me rank up my mastery too.”

“Now don’t be hasty. If you find something you want to do other than fishing, there’s no need to push yourself to progress the quest. What do you think? I could handle everything on my end if you want. I could hire some people and assign more Pekkles to fish, and I think we could manage somehow or other.”

At its core, Dimension Wave was not a fishing game. It was a game where you were meant to enjoy a second life. You could enjoy combat, or adventure, or—like L’Arc—do quests to learn more about the world. Crafting was also an option. But my play style revolved around fishing, with fishing by ship being an extension of that.

What exactly did fishing mean to me? Did it just mean dropping a line to catch fish? Sure, that was one way to look at it. But I’d also done free diving on Cal Mira, and I enjoyed gathering shellfish too. I was pretty open to all kinds of seafood.

Catching sharks...was also still fishing to me. I’d had a lot of fun reeling in the white whale too. Sure, it was unorthodox, but it was just another way of life.

Come to think of it, the shellfish I got from Sheryl’s diving were delicious too.

So far, I’d always had more fun when I expanded my interpretation of it.

Fishing was also a form of hunting.

Yeah...hunting. Heading out to sea on a fishing boat to secure a steady supply of fish was also hunting. And...I wanted to enjoy an adventure going hunting with Shouko and everyone else too. But if I prioritized those adventures, I’d ultimately have to neglect my fishing.

“I think I’ll have to work on the quest for the time being. I do like fishing, and I do feel an urge to complete the aquarium on my own. But Alto...I also want to go on an adventure with the others.”

“I get it. There’s actually something else I wanted to show you. It seems to be something you can craft with the new update...and I think you might be able to pull it off. They were selling it at the market.”

With that, Alto showed me a certain item.

“Th-This...is...”

“I see. That’s an interesting thing you’ve found there.”

“L’Arc? What is it?”

“It’s one of those things. It’s definitely perfect for the little lady’s request. I mean, it’s not exactly fishing, but it’s close enough.”

Seeing it, I realized it could be a hint to resolving my current predicament.

†

“It’s only been a few days, and you’ve brought me yet another strange material...”

Romina gave a wry smile as I showed off the materials from the Blue Shark [Sinner of Thieves].

“Okay then, Rominaaa! I’m going to start polishing some gemstones into nice and shiny accessories, so don’t mind me!”

“Break a leg, Therese!”

Therese quickly pranced into the back room to work on raising her Craftwork Skill.

“Think you can use them for something?”

“I’ve been focusing on boosting my skills ever since that last failure, you see. The white whale materials require a lot of complex processing steps, so they’re still tough to work with, but this one’s simpler in that regard. The difficulty is still high, but I should be able to get started on it right away.”

“Got it. So what can you make?”

“Looks like they’re treated as unique materials, which limits what I can craft. With the teeth...yeah. A fishing rod won’t work out, but I can whip up a dismantling weapon. Most blades, really.”

“New gear already? Nice. I’m jealous,” L’Arc lamented.

“What about a fan, scythe, or harpoon?” I asked if she could make anything my party members could use, but Romina shook her head.

“Hmm? You try’na make something for me or Tsumugi? We’re not in need of an urgent upgrade, you know.”

“A scythe might be possible. My skill levels aren’t high enough yet, so I can’t say for sure... But I’d like to try it on something smaller. Let’s start with a dagger first. Lately, I can’t tell the details of something until I actually craft it.”

So if this works, I’ll be asking for a weapon for Tsumugi or L’Arc next.

“A dagger, huh... I’ll ask if anyone wants to swap weapons later, so for now, go ahead and make one.”

“Got it. Give me a bit.”

Romina began the crafting process with the materials I’d brought in. She struck them again and again with her hammer, gradually molding their shape as though they were made of metal.

Since crafting took a bit of time, I spent the wait browsing the market at Cal Mira’s port, stocking up on supplies I thought we might need down the line. Once I returned, Romina was beckoning me over.

A private chat? Does she want to talk in secret? She must not want any eavesdroppers to hear it.

“I’m guessing you want to keep this between us. What’s up?”

“We ended up with something insane,” L’Arc excitedly reported, as though it were his own handiwork. “That shark must have been a seriously impressive catch.”

By the sound of it, he’d been watching the process closely, but...was it really that incredible?

“The materials you bring in are always so quirky, Kizuna. Color me impressed.”

“I’ve heard that one already. And wait, now that dismantling’s become mainstream, there’s got to be loads of other people bringing in similar stuff.”

“True, but you’re the first one to bring me this one. The least you could do is hear me out.”

“Yeah, yeah. So what is it?”

“Well, I made the dagger and found out that it’s got some pretty decent attack power, and it also comes with an enchantment called Auto-Steal. During combat, you’ve got a chance to steal an item from the enemy.”

Oh...yeah. I’ve heard of skills like that in other games.

It was usually somewhere around a ten percent chance for it to randomly activate and take an item from the opponent. Mug, Steal, Plunder... It went by various names.

“I could see that being a skill.”

“It is. It pops up if you raise your mastery with daggers or other light weapons.”

“And we got it on an item, huh...”

“You won’t get the same performance as someone who specializes in it, but they might cry when they see you got it as a built-in weapon effect.”

“It could also be a decent way to make money too. I’d like one for myself, but...I think the little lady comes first.”

“You think so? We could make a scythe and have you and Tsumugi share it.”

“Scythes have wide swings, but they’re slow. Auto-Steal works better with fast weapons that can land a lot of hits—and more importantly, upgrading your weapon will probably make it easier for all of us. I’m sure Shouko would tell you the same thing,” L’Arc insisted. He was adamant that the weapon would be for me.

“What about using it for Craftwork?” I asked, directed at Therese. “A powerful accessory could be better in the long run.”

“No way, Kizzy! My skill level isn’t high enough to work that material, and in times like these, weapons are the way to go!”

“It’s a rare material at this point in the game. If we’ve got any left over, then we can consider using that for an accessory.”

“Romina can even make accessories! It’s amazing—I totally respect it!”

“Ha ha... I’ll teach you the basics, and you’ll be making them in no time.”

“Thanks a bunch! Friends are the best! I’m so glad that everyone’s a good kid! I’m feeling the love!”

Yeah. Therese is...chatting with Romina in her youthful tone. It still feels like a bit much for me. It’s a bit overpowering... It’s easier to talk to her in her customer service mode.

“The material is difficult to work with, but I can manage somehow or other. I think making a dismantling weapon for Kizuna is the best option for now.”

“I know I’m fighting a losing battle here, so go ahead.”

There wasn’t much I could do if the material itself wouldn’t allow it. A fishing rod was fishing gear—not a weapon. And dismantling was one of my specialties.

“I’ll still have some material left, so I can make one more if need be. We can decide what to craft when the time comes.”

“Got it.”

“The dismantling knife I’m making this time is called Blue Shark’s Ice Knife [Sinner of Thieves].”

“How should I put this... That’s, err, a bit of an embarrassing weapon name.”

What kind of weird name is that?

“It’s got that gangster style to it! I get it! I used to mess around with that stuff when I was younger. It’s like it’s been branded with a gang name. Just imagine being called out to the port to meet Port Town Sinners or something.”

Thanks to L’Arc, I could now only picture that Blue Shark as some low-level thug from back home. Was it a peculiar lord, or a small fry? I just didn’t know.

“The dismantling knife made from Blue Shark materials is called the Blue Shark’s Ice Knife, and this version had that cryptic title tacked onto it. It might look similar to the normal one, but its performance is on a whole nother level.” Romina continued her explanation, ignoring L’Arc.

It’s got the same vibe and appearance as another weapon, but it performs completely differently, huh? I think I saw something like that in one of the monster-hunting games; they were endgame weapons that looked like common ones, and my sisters spent ages grinding for them.

The knife was well camouflaged, or rather inconspicuous. Perhaps that was for the best—that is, assuming this weapon continued to be as hard to obtain as it was right now.

“If I’m remembering right, you have an Iron Poultry Knife, right? I’ll need to use one as a material, so could you pull it out?”

“You need this?”

You’re using the weapon that I’ve pretty much been using as a normal cooking knife?

For the record, my Iron Poultry Knife was top-of-the-line. It was not one of those knockoffs made from the lower-grade Empty Can iron.

“I’ve tested out a few things, and one thing I’ve learned is that using a well-worn weapon as a material not only saves on resources but oftentimes produces a better result too.”

Hmm... So there’s a hidden mechanic like that. A longtime partner being reborn as something stronger—there’s a certain appeal to that.

“Powering up a trusty partner, eh? I’d love to buff up my pal too.”

“Thanks to the recent update, weapon enhancement is now a thing. I’ll add that in while I’m at it.”

“Thanks for that.”

The update had introduced a smithing enhancement system. If you were lucky, you could get a +1 or +2 when crafting an item, but now, you could get a separate, additional modifier as well. It showed up in parenthesis like (1), and you could safely get up to (5) without risks, but from (6) onward, the game introduced a chance of failure. Failure destroyed the weapon, as was the unfortunate norm of online games.

If you managed to get into the failure range, the weapon would gain a glowing sheen. It was a fine way to awaken the gambler within all of us.

Based on Tsumugi’s judgment, (7) to (8) was the safest stopping point.

Before we left the island, we’d all reinforced our gear up to an even safer (5).

“Over-upgrading is the dream.”

“But breaking my trusty old partner would be a tragedy.”

“Yeah, I don’t know how I’d get over snapping the weapon that’s carried me this far. It feels like something only people who don’t have any attachment to their weapons would do. Do you think they boost the enhancement rates for weapons you’ve used for a long time?”

“We’re still experimenting on that one. But...since you can still reforge a broken weapon from the scrap, you could argue that your partner still lives on, in a way.”

That was one way to look at it, but I wasn’t entirely convinced.

In any case, I handed over the Iron Poultry Knife and waited for it to be completed.

“Oh yeah, Romina. I saw a huge line in front of the library. What’s that about?”

The line had still been there when I’d left for the market. Were there really that many people interested in the island’s history and records? Curious indeed.

“I saw it too. What’s going on here?”

“Oh, that. That’s the line for the Memorial Dungeon.”

“Memorial Dungeon?”

“Yeah, it lets you reexperience the events from the Limited Dimension Wave. The one that let you acquire the island.”

“Hmm? So everyone can play it together? That’s a nice feature.”

I didn’t know they had something like that.

“I think it happened a few hours after you left the island? News spread across the island through word of mouth, and people started calling the quest a test of skill... A lot of them failed, so it became quite a commotion as they all tried to figure out how to clear it. The conclusion they came to, and I quote, ‘It’s insane that the Island Lord’s party managed to get through it first-try.’”

Even if you tell me that... It just kinda turned out that way.

“You’re quite the gamer, little lady.”

“We just went with the flow and managed. As long as you can figure out the loops and warp points and then get to that blatant hint in the captain’s quarters, you should be able to solve it.”

It wasn’t that difficult, all things considered.

“In the end, Alto started charging people for the clearing method.”

Is that the only thing that guy knows how to do? That’s the Merchant of Death for you. He’ll sell anything so long as there’s money to be made.

Even when he was already getting tax revenue from the island, he still wanted more. His desire for wealth was something I had to admire at this point. And the fact he’d done it without a word to me—that was utterly terrifying.

“The Merchant of Death’s in full swing. He’s gathering even more resentment, so I can’t really praise him. Maybe I’ll try out that quest later. You and your party’ve already done it, so I’ll have to drag in some other friends.”

“At first, I thought things would start settling down. But then one of the victorious parties mentioned that the boss dropped a powerful one-handed sword. And get this—it had double the attack power of any weapon we knew of.”

Ah...yeah. Stuff like that can happen. But the drop rate’s probably something crazy like 0.1% or something, right? Typical cash grab.

“Weapons aren’t easy to come by in the new continent, and the ones crafted from the monsters there are barely better than what you can find in Cal Mira’s normal dungeon. So naturally, everyone’s flocking to hunt for that boss drop.”

Yeah. Sounds like an online game to me.

“Huh, that’s pretty crazy. But...the update just came out, so wouldn’t it be better to try making progress in the new continent for something even stronger?”

L’Arc had a point there. If it were me, instead of camping out for a rare drop, I’d be fishing in a brand-new fishing spot. As a matter of fact—that was what got me a new weapon.

“Oh, and the boss drop...can also be enhanced and evolved. I had the chance to work with one myself. Apparently, I’m the only one who can do it.”

“Sounds rough.”

“Yeah, it’s a pretty brutal system. But there was one really lucky player. You have to enhance it to at least (7) to evolve it, but fortunately, you can get all the necessary enhancement materials by farming the boss at a low probability.”

Oh...that’s some insane luck.

“For what it’s worth, that weapon has the highest attack power of anything I’ve ever seen. The frontliners are all drooling over it.”

“The fact you took the job...means they weren’t a bad player.”

“Of course not. You know him too—it’s Rosette.”

Rosette... Oh! Him! That guy who was doing pretend death games with Tsumugi. He’s one lucky bastard.

“Rosette, huh? That kid’s got some serious luck.”

“The first weapon is called the Pirate Captain’s Saber, and it’s a one-handed sword. You can use it as a material to craft the Habenburg Cutlass, raising its output to two and a half times the previous strongest weapon. It’s making waves—right now, the island is feeling the Memorial Quest Fever.”

According to lore, Habenburg was the previous owner of the island. Since he wasn’t actually a pirate captain, you could say that the weapon evolution was actually restoring it to its rightful form.

So there’s another sort of fever going on here.

“You should try going for it too, Kizuna. He’s the former owner of the island, right?”

“Getting in that line is a bit...”

The line was more than long enough to dissuade me, and anyone who failed the quest would be pushed back to the end of it. There was clearly some kind of entry limit.

“I guess the party that set out to sea looking for better hunting grounds isn’t really interested in old content... It’s a quest you guys have already cleared, after all.”

“Pretty much... Worst case, we can just buy one.”

“You’ve got some deep pockets, little lady.”

“It scares me sometimes, knowing how deep the pockets can go,” Romina grumbled as she finished up the Blue Shark’s Ice Knife [Sinner of Thieves].

Blue Shark’s Ice Knife [Sinner of Thieves] +3 (5)

A knife designed to carve frozen meat, made using the teeth of a Blue Shark. However, since it was made using the Sinner of Thieves, its edge is a cut above the knives made from other Blue Sharks.

Fixed Skills: Auto-Steal, Freeze Attack, Inflict Bleed

Oh...it has a nice grip, almost like it’s being sucked into my hand. And my attack power just went up by a ton. The equip requirements are almost the same as the Low-Grade Ancient Dress.

Thanks to the update automatically increasing my Energy cap, I was able to equip it, but it completely outclassed Cerberus Slaughter. A simple kitchen knife had just shot up to the top of my repertoire.

That said... I now no longer had a proper knife for dismantling flying monsters.

Not that it really mattered with stats like these.

“Incidentally, this thing’s stats are on the same level as the Habenburg Cutlass we were just talking about.”

“As I thought. No point camping out for drops. Move forward, and a better weapon will pop up. No doubt about it.”

It wasn’t like anyone in my party even used one-handed swords, so it wasn’t really my concern. This should make the dismantling easier... Or so I thought, but since it was more of a kitchen knife, the blade was a lot shorter than my Isana no Tachi.

It’s going to be a hassle to cut up larger monsters. It’ll take some getting used to.

“You’re a huge help. Thanks.”

“It goes both ways. I’m getting good experience and diverse weapon orders. I’ll be able to make even better weapons now.”

And with that, I got a new piece of equipment from Romina.

“Oh... Right. Could you leave your Isana no Tachi with me? I’ll need it to make a dismantling weapon out of the white whale drops.”

“I’m fine with that, but...I’d rather you prioritize making equipment for everyone else.”

Equipping Shouko and the others with better stuff would contribute far more to our future battles and adventures.

“Of course, I always have them in mind. It’s just...they specifically told me to make sure I take care of you too. You’re indifferent to anything that isn’t fishing gear, so they insisted I made something for you with the good materials you bring back.”

“I’ve heard that too.”

Erk...looks like they launched a preemptive strike.

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t mind letting Shouko and the others handle the fighting while I focused on fishing.

“Also...Sheryl placed an order to upgrade your fishing rod.”

“Oh yeah!”

I handed over the item I got from Sheryl, along with my motorized reel, and Romina completed the upgrade in an instant.

Checking the fishing rod... Oh, there’s a new section labeled Additional Skills, with an entry called Electric Shock.

“Now, you can launch an electric attack on whatever you’ve hooked.”

“I’m not sure if this is even fishing at this point.”

“It just goes to show that fishing’s going to get a lot tougher from here on out. But you know...seeing you this much happier about this than when I gave you the dismantling weapon makes me feel a bit conflicted as a blacksmith.”

I hadn’t meant it that way. I must have given off the wrong impression as my mind raced to all the new kinds of fish I’d be able to catch.

Anyway, my fishing rod’s offensive capabilities just got an upgrade...and I feared for whatever the game planned to throw at me in the future to justify it.

“All righty then... Time to get things rolling on my end.”

“I heard from Alto. Good luck with that quest.”

“Yeah, I plan to wrap it up in about a week before regrouping with everyone. If we put in any extra weapon orders before then, I’ll take them with me.”

“Got it. I’m waiting to hear any useful info about the new continent.”

“Until next time...”

I casually changed into my Pekkle Costume...

“If you’re coming with me, you might as well wear one too, L’Arc.”

“I’ll pass on that one.”

“Oh no. The island lord is leaving my shop in a ridiculous outfit.”

“Says the person who made it. The quest will progress a lot more efficiently if I wear this.”

And so, to complete the quest, I set sail with L’Arc and a bunch of Pekkles. For the next whole week, we focused on fishing from the ship...using nets to maximize our haul.

“Little lady, you did a good job teaching me that fighting isn’t everything. Getting to experience all this is pretty interesting.”

L’Arc was enjoying the process of casting the net into the water. Well...all he had to do was fire off the ship’s net launcher at a school of fish. The Pekkles were the ones handling the reeling.

As for the monsters at sea, we were managing just fine with the ballistae Sheryl had prepared. Any that tried boarding were quickly taken care of—L’Arc would lead the charge, while my new Blue Shark’s Ice Knife could take most of them out in one hit.

We also had Brave Pekkle’s protection, so...yeah. That was a huge help.

“This is pretty easy. Little lady... You could probably do this solo since you can bring as many Pekkles as you want.”

“Still, I’m glad to have you on board.”

Maybe it was thanks to my equipment, but I no longer struggled against any of the monsters I’d previously had a hard time with. I would have been able to do it alone, but having someone with me gave me peace of mind. That alone kept me motivated.

“That said... This quest makes it clear how you’re different from most other players I know. You gotta go this far to really enjoy the game.”

For some reason, L’Arc seemed impressed by—well, whatever it was I was doing. I didn’t know what part he was taking note of. Was I really that strange?

Of course, whenever we ran into a powerful-looking monster...as soon as it looked risky, I’d quickly grab the helm for a speedy escape. Sure, it was a large ship, but with the massive Pekkle as our power source, it was never too hard to get away.

We even encountered something that looked like a fish dragon from a monster-hunting game. It looked way beyond our league, so we prioritized escaping over anything else. Our preemptive ballista shots just glanced off its scales, so that thing was definitely bad news.

Even L’Arc agreed it was too strong and urged a retreat. Perhaps we could try challenging it after we had Shouko and Yamikage back aboard.

For what it was worth, I’d done some net fishing back when we were stuck on Cal Mira, and...I’d learned a thing or two. For starters, the variety of fish we could catch was far more limited than expected. Also, it was impossible to net a lord—which made sense.

The most common catches were herring, sardines, and bonito. And naturally, the types of fish varied by sea region. With the radar, we just had to detect a school and fire the net to round them all up. It was an easy job...I suppose. Once we hauled them in, the Pekkles would automatically store them in the ship’s hold.

I kept in touch with Alto, constantly reporting the amount of fish we collected. And, of course, I made sure to do some proper fishing in between.

Still...I had to admit it felt like I’d been doing nothing but sea fishing lately. It was about time I tried some river fishing too.

Oh, and the aquarium that had been in its preopening phase? It was finally opened for real. I’d already donated plenty of sea fish, and I planned on checking it out before I regrouped with my party.

As we sailed around, I noticed we could now access places with drifting ice, as well as places where the waters were warmer. Clearly, the update had expanded the explorable map.

The problem was that those waters—where even more new continents might lie—were swarming with tons of monsters way too strong for me and L’Arc to handle on our own.

As we tried to dodge and weave our way through them, a fog set in, blocking us from making any progress.

“We can’t go any farther. I wonder if there’s a quest to get through, like the one you had to go through.”

It felt like the map was waiting for an update. That was my hope, at least—I wasn’t keen on running into another ghost ship when it was just the two of us... A chill had run down my spine the one time I felt the entire ship being pulled by a mysterious force.

“The island lord can’t go beyond here, pen.” Chris bumped into me and offered a warning.

It seemed there were events that I couldn’t access precisely because I was the island lord. It was a pretty common game mechanic—either you couldn’t progress because you didn’t meet the conditions, or you couldn’t progress because you did.

“If you can’t go, then what about me?”

“Want to try it?”

“Give me a sec.”

L’Arc pulled out his surfboard and tried to head toward the blocked-off area...only to be back before long.

“It’s no good. It kinda feels like how it was when everyone was searching for you.”

Oh...maybe some other player got there ahead of us.

And since I was the island lord, or perhaps for some other reason, that caused the Pekkles to spout a special line of dialogue.

“It doesn’t look like there’s anything we can do. Let’s try somewhere else.”

“Right, then off we go.”

I steered the ship and set off for a new region to explore.

Chapter 3: The Lord Log

“Aight...that should just about do it.”

With one fishing trip behind us, L’Arc and I returned to Cal Mira and regrouped with Alto.

“Yes... I knew you could handle it, Kizuna. You’ve gathered nearly all the fish we need for the quest—or at least, all the ones that can be found in the ocean.” Alto congratulated me.

“It was pretty much just busywork. We were just casting a net at schools of fish and bringing them in,” I said.

“Before I knew it, my fishing skills were rising too,” L’Arc added.

The system could be pretty loose about what counted as fishing. I’d managed to learn and upgrade plenty of fishing skills myself—probably all the ones that let net fishing count toward their conditions—but there were limits. Even if a skill needed you to catch a certain number of fish to upgrade, some simply wouldn’t register unless you caught them by hand.

“So, how’s the you-know-what?” Alto asked.

“It’s going well. The initial investment was worth it—it keeps going up. I already contributed my part,” I replied.

“As expected, you’re the best with these sorts of things, Kizuna. To think you’d make so much progress in such a short time...”

“Yeah, that...” muttered L’Arc. “If anyone else saw what we were doing, they’d be in for a shocker.”

L’Arc was helping out with the work, and that meant that people were looking at both of us as though we were both insane. And yet, he never let that change how he treated me. He was pretty mature about it.

I turned back to Alto. “I’m not gonna give you any bonuses just because you complimented me.”

“Ha ha ha, harsh. Anyway, this quest will probably appear again after some time, so I’ll be counting on you again when it does,” Alto said.

“The fact you can’t just be done with it is a real pain,” I complained.

“I’d say it’s standard fare for the genre.”

Well, he has a point.

Whether it was online games or mobile games, that sort of thing was everywhere.

“As for me,” said L’Arc, “I had my fun, but I think you should get someone else next time.”

“Either way, thanks to your accomplishments, Cal Mira now has more local specialties and new equipment for sale too. We’ll be able to earn more money from players again,” Alto declared with a gleam in his eyes.

Lately, he was starting to look more and more like a true Merchant of Death.

“Alto, you’re helping next time.”

“Sure, I get it. It doesn’t seem too hard. It might even be a good business experience.”

Something about the way he says it...rubs me the wrong way. But whatever. Let’s just be glad that he’s enjoying the game.

“So there’s new equipment, huh? You think that cutlass is gonna be old news soon?”

“I’d imagine so. You should upgrade your gear too, L’Arc. It’ll be easier to get stuff now.”

“Well...yeah, point taken. But little lady, you and your group are seriously amazing. You’re younger than me, but you’re doing things on the level of top-rank players.”

Is this the evaluation of a working adult? I didn’t think I was doing anything too impressive. We were simply using what the game gave us...

“And you too, Alto. Can’t say I appreciate your business spirit, but I guess that’s important to have in our society... Maybe I should start taking a page out of your books? No...never mind. I’m here to play a game, not take a business course!”

For some reason, L’Arc’s muttering to himself...

Learning job skills in a game...was more common than you’d think. I’d heard of people who studied for their exams within the Second Life Project... You could spend years in-game with only a few days passing in reality. And they’d use that time just to cram the info into their heads.

Whether that was fun or not was another story... But surely it wasn’t in the spirit of living a brand-new life.

“Now then...how about we check out that new aquarium?”

“Sure. It’s over here.”

Alto led us to the newly built aquarium, which was stationed in an area adjacent to the port. Where there had once been a dense wall of trees behind a library, now a path to newly developable land had been installed.

There were a few...just a sprinkling of players going in and out of the building.

Right at the entrance, visitors were greeted by a massive skeletal display of the Dimension White Whale, which filled the place with a sense of wonder and awe.

“There’s an entrance fee, but of course, we don’t have to worry about that.”

“Good to know.”

As we stepped inside, the Pekkle at the counter called out to us.

“Welcome, island lord, pen! For the island lord...based on the number of donated fish, your total reward is 386 coins, pen! Here you go, pen!”

A jingling filled the air as the coins were passed over.

“That’s quite a lot, there. As expected of our fishing maniac.”

“I take my fishing seriously. If I remember right, you can trade these coins for items, yeah?”

“Yeah. But personally, I think you might be better off waiting for the next update. Just looking around, I can see the item lineup expanded after you cleared that quest.”

This...reminds me of that medal-collecting system from that famous RPG series. I’ll check later to see if there’s anything worth exchanging for.

“But hoarding them so long that you never use them isn’t good either,” L’Arc prodded. “If it were me, I’d exchange them right away to get the most use out of them. Instead of saving up for one ultimate piece of equipment, I’d go for a handful of useful ones.”

L’Arc shared his approach. That, too, was a valid way to go at it.

“There are plenty of updates to come, and there’s no telling if there’s a limited number of coins. For now, I’m going to wait and see.”

I decided to put the coin issue aside for the moment and checked the guide map.

“They’re planning to gradually expand the place, but for now, it’s divided between salt and freshwater exhibits. Fish are categorized based on where they’re found, like at the port or the open seas.”

It was quite a lot like a full-blown aquarium.

“And...over there’s the reference section. A portion of the library’s books got transferred over.”

“To think an update would do this much...”

“Yeah. It’s a game from the Second Life Project, I know, but I must tip my hat when I see them going this far. They did their best to design it so you wouldn’t get bored,” Alto said as he pointed a finger at the map.

Even though we called them updates, the content was already there. In all actuality, they were just unlocking features as time went on. Considering the fact that we were forced to play the same game day after day, it made sense for them to change things up every time there was an event.

“This is the display for lords and other special fish. The ones you caught are displayed there too, Kizuna.”

“I thought I dismantled them...”

“That’s just one of those mysterious game mechanics. Even the Blue Shark [Sinner of Thieves] is on display. You should go check them out.”

Well... That’s what I’m most curious about. I might as well have a look, I thought as I headed toward the lord exhibit.

Along the way, I spotted a display featuring the Dimension White Whale. At most, I’d regarded it as the boss of the wave, but the exhibit had a full model along with detailed descriptions of its ecology. They’d put quite a lot of work into making that thing.

They seemingly referenced real whales and other similar animals for most of the data. There were even notes about what was found in the contents of its stomach and a measurement of the length of its intestinal tract mixed in with the actual whale facts, each entry making sure to specify if it applied to real whales or not.

“L’Arc, why not visit the aquarium with Therese?” Alto suggested.

“You mean like a date?”

I felt an urge to grin and tease them a bit. L’Arc and Therese were a real-life couple, after all, and I was at that age where I was curious about dates and that sort of thing.

“You shouldn’t go around teasing adults, little lady.”

“But you’re gonna do it anyway, right?”

“With Therese, well, she prefers museums over aquariums. She’ll definitely look at the fish and start asking what they’d taste like.”

Hmm...so Therese automatically equates fish to food. Perhaps she’s the kinda gal that kills the mood on dates... I can see it.

When it came to museums, I bet that she was definitely into ornaments, decorations, that sort of thing... Especially the ones that featured gemstones. I remember how passionate she got about them. She didn’t care about the monetary value—she was most enthused about their natural beauty. And she could go on and on... Perhaps she was the type that was tough to date.

Maybe L’Arc has it tough...

“Well, what about you, little lady?”

“Ha ha, how’s romance supposed to work when I was forced to play a girl?!”

“Whoa! What kinda excuse is that?! Even crossplaying, you get along great with Shouko, don’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll go check out the aquarium with her later.”

“Grr... Go build up a museum for me! C’mon, Alto!”

“It’s...hard to tell which one of you is the adult here.”

And so, our little trio of guys continued exploring the aquarium.

“Ah, this must be the Pekkle exhibit.”

There were countless Pekkles swimming in a massive tank. And...in the deepest depths, in front of what seemed like a holy shrine, Brave Pekkle sat as though he were meditating.

“C’mon Brave Pekkle.”

Feeling a bit mischievous, I tried summoning him.

“Pennn.”

Brave Pekkle appeared right at my feet. However, the one inside the tank continued to meditate as if nothing had happened.

“Why are there suddenly two Brave Pekkles?”

“You sure love jumping the gun, little lady. I mean, I won’t fault you for trying things out.”

“Maybe that one’s just part of the exhibit? See that telescope? If you focus it on one of the Pekkles and press the switch, you can bring up their individual profiles.”

Each individual Pekkle had its own lore. That must have taken some effort.

“Some people even come here to find their own personal Pekkles. And they can, apparently. If you visit the aquarium, your hired Pekkle will be in the crowd.”

They really put a lot into this.

I could understand why people would get attached to their helpful NPCs, and I could understand why they’d want a personal one too.

“Yeah, I’ll definitely have to come back and explore it more thoroughly with Shouko,” I said.

“You mean like a date?” Alto teased.

“Well, I just thought this ain’t a place to be visiting with a Merchant of Death,” I responded.

“Agreed...not really a place for three dudes,” L’Arc added.

“Yeah. If you want to take your time looking around, that might be for the best,” Alto agreed.

I just went along with it.

We hurried onward to the lord exhibit. An area lined with massive tanks.

Uh? The giant catfish and the herring I fished up in Lurolona are on display like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

Herring Lord

A great herring that makes its home in the seas around the First City, Lurolona. It has grown massive over the years—having stolen the bait of countless anglers and taken in nutrients in abundance—making it a seasoned veteran of the waters.

Habitat: Lurolona Coast

Or so it read, its plaque even detailing its exact size.

“Oh... I heard rumors about you pulling it in, little lady. Didn’t think I’d ever see it in person.”

I see... I never measured its precise length, but they included it anyway.

Donated by: Kizuna†Exceed

The sight of my own name caused a smug look to cross my face. But, at the same time, a question came to mind.

“Hey, Alto.”

“What?”

“Does a lord disappear if another player fishes it up? Did you hear anything about that?”

“In regard to this Herring Lord, I’ve heard of a handful of other players catching it too. But...there was a gap between when you caught it and when the next person did. We don’t know what the conditions are to get it to respawn.”

Hmm...so it does respawn. Makes sense.

As I continued scanning the exhibit, I noticed something... A massive sweetfish.

Sweetfish Lord

A ferocious sweetfish that dominates the rivers of the Second City, La Ilfi. Its violent nature and commanding presence have allowed it to rule over a vast turf.

Habitat: La Ilfi

Whoa! So the lord of the Second City is a sweetfish? I would have loved to catch it...

But was it great to know that there was another angler skilled enough to catch the Lord of the Second City?

“Oh? So it was that guy who caught it?”

L’Arc seemed to recognize the name of the player who’d reeled it in. At this point, it felt like nearly every player in the game was a familiar face to him.

The next thing to catch my eye...

Dark Bass Lord

The lord of the koi inhabiting the spring within the Forest of Everlasting Darkness. In the many years it has spent lurking in the dark waters, it has grown into a shadowy being like darkness itself.

Habitat: Forest of Everlasting Darkness

So there was a fishing spot in that forest?! Urgh... That just makes it painfully clear how little I explored.

I suddenly felt like I’d suffered a crushing defeat.

There were several other lords from different fishing spots on display. It seemed like way more players were into fishing than I’d expected. It was a treasure trove of valuable information.

Still...after cross-referencing the map of known fishing spots Alto showed me, I had a vague idea of which lords had yet to be found. There had to be a few more near the Second City. And of course, the First City as well. Perhaps there were even some on Cal Mira.

As a sidenote, my name was listed as the donor for the white whale.

“Hey! Kizuna!”

“Wh-What?”

“You were spacing out. So, if you had to choose between going on an adventure with Shouko or completing the aquarium, I guess you’d focus on the aquarium, then.”

Alto’s words got me thinking... Hmm, might as well be greedy.

“I’ll go for both, of course. I’ll fish and adventure at the same time.”

“Sounds like you.”

“Very well, then. This is a good place to gather information if you want to keep fishing, and you’ve donated more lords than anyone else. I’m sure a lot of other players are going to get serious about catching more now. Incidentally...” Alto gestured to one of the displays.

Blue Shark [Sinner of Thieves]

A Blue Shark bearing a despicable title, infamous for stealing the prey of others. A menace that even the Pekkles are struggling with.

Habitat: ???

Hmm...so it was a lord after all. But there’s something different about this exhibit.

“A special lord... Maybe the Blue Shark didn’t have a fixed spawn point?”

I was on the same page as L’Arc.

I knew it... It wasn’t the lord of the port; it’s a lord without a home.

“I tried asking around after I heard about it from you. Apparently, ever since the update, there’s been an increase in cases where a bigger fish will eat the one that was initially hooked, continuing the fishing battle with a new target. The fishing community is calling it a Fishing Combo, it seems. It’s a way to hook even larger catches.”

“So it really is a thing, huh.” I nodded.

Truth be told, I’d had it happen a few times while I was fishing out at sea. For the first time, I’d hooked an albacore tuna, only for a spearfish to snatch it up.

Thanks to the electrified reel upgrade I’d gotten from Sheryl and Romina, I got through it with no trouble, but it was undoubtedly a big catch. Unfortunately, that Spearfish was not considered a lord.

“I don’t know how true it is, but one player was bragging about how they landed a lord after a two-chain Fishing Combo. Your Blue Shark might be part of the system. Maybe we should start calling them Epithet Holders or something.”

“They added another troublesome mechanic.”

“That they have. But...you must have received quite a few coins for registering the Blue Shark with the epithet.”

“You think so?”

“Well, unfortunately, I haven’t gotten much feedback from the donors... There are some fishermen, but their numbers are still low.” According to Alto, some only picked up fishing after what they’d seen in the Cal Mira wave. “And with that said, this facility could be a good source of information, so make sure to make good use of it.”

“Yeah, with pleasure. Looks like they even showcase fishing gear setups.”

As I browsed further, I found the freshwater exhibits to be particularly eye-opening. I’d definitely been focusing too much on ocean fishing. It was time to expand my scope to river fishing too.

I should get some fly-fishing gear while I’m at it.

“Now that the lord quest is wrapped up, what are you planning next? We’ve mostly reached the goal.”

“I told you, didn’t I? It’s about time I met back up with the others.”

We’d spent the past week operating separately, but we’d still been chatting back and forth every night. Shouko and the others were still testing out various things in Mikakage.

“By the way, what about that fish farm you suggested to make completing the quest easier?”

“It’s going smoothly, thanks to you. It’s practically done.”

With the Cal Mira update, an aquaculture system was unlocked. Although it took a hefty initial investment, the farming of herring, sardines, and saury was now well underway. At the very least, we’d secured a stable environment to fulfill the fish delivery quests whenever they popped up. Even without active fishing trips, we could now sustain the supply. It was all falling into place.

“Aight! Then let’s grab Therese and head out.”

“Yeah.”

I needed to make sure everyone knew that the week we spent hadn’t been a waste. We’d already arranged to meet up at Mikakage’s port.

With the lord quest behind me, it was time to reunite with my party.

Chapter 4: Mountain Stream

“Ah, if it isn’t my big bro. Yoohoo! Been what, a week?” Tsumugi called out.

“Kizuna, L’Arc, Therese, a good day to you,” Shouko greeted us.

They were waiting for us in a port with noticeably fewer ships than there had been a week ago.

Since we’d been in contact every day, I didn’t really feel a sense of longing as we reunited.

“Hey, hey! Is that new gear going around because you completed the Cal Mira island quest?” Tsumugi asked, pointing at a player walking by in the new equipment.

The Crab Armor Series had been unlocked in the shops as a quest reward. Nicknamed crab gear, it boasted decent defense with a nice buff to slashing attacks. It was quite decent equipment overall.

“Yeah, that’s about right.”

“It’s pretty nice stuff. It’s about on par with the equipment sold past Mikakage’s third checkpoint.”

“Indeed... And quite stylish too.”

It seemed my party members had changed out their gear too. L’Arc had already equipped the crab gear that Romina had crafted for him and Therese—while she hadn’t traded in her main equipment for aesthetic reasons—was outfitted with the accessories she’d created herself. Apparently, she’d swap them out for the ones Brave Pekkle crafted when in combat.

Now... As for the rest of my party. Tsumugi’s armor looked quite similar to the red Crab Armor, but it was black. It was safe to assume she’d obtained it somewhere in Mikakage. Shouko, too, had changed her Haori. Sheryl was...dressed in baggy clothes complete with harem pants.

“What’s that equipment?” I asked her.

“Drop,” Sheryl responded.

“Oh, it’s a monster drop?”

“Uh-huh.”

Everyone seemed to have gone through some gear changes since I last saw them.

Is my Ancient Dress going to fall behind soon?

“Yamikage hasn’t changed much...” I noted.

“I daresay, you were most gracious with me.”

Well, in Yamikage’s case, we did give her incredibly specialized equipment. The accessory Brave Pekkle made is also incredibly high-spec.

She had bonus effects too, so perhaps it was hardly worth replacing for just a little bit of extra defense.

“But! I did find scrolls and talismans for sale, I daresay! Nin, nin!” Yamikage proudly showed off the large scroll and talismans strapped to her waist.

“Hmm, I didn’t know those were in the game,” I said.

She was becoming more ninja...ish by the day.

“Talismans are single-use magic items,” Shouko explained.

“And that scroll is an accessory that helps with casting. But the bracelet you gave her is way better for combat, so she switches out when hunting,” Tsumugi added teasingly.

“L-Lady Tsumugi! I daresay, you promised to keep that a secret!”

What a tragic revelation.

Hey, prioritizing looks in a game is totally valid in my books.

“Yammy’s so cute!” proclaimed Therese. “I want a little ninja just like her!”

“I’m not cute! I daresay, don’t treat me like a child!”

“Ha ha, her reactions are cute at least.”

What a lively exchange it was.

“This is a knife made from that shark I caught the other day,” I said, taking out the Blue Shark’s Ice Knife [Sinner of Thieves].

“Wow! But...I don’t think I’ve seen anyone besides you using dismantling weapons in combat, bro.”

There was no doubt about it. It was an unfortunate weapon—one that wouldn’t be understood no matter how much I bragged about it. Support characters didn’t stand out too much, but there was some fun to be had in playing the unsung hero.

“All right, then how about you show us around Mikakage?” I asked.

“Yes, of course; please look forward to it. We’ve already looked into some of the quests that L’Arc and Therese might be interested in.”

“Oh, thanks!” L’Arc rejoiced.

“It’s taken you an entire week to enter the new map, milord. I daresay, you truly take things at your own pace.”

“Uh-huh.”

Oh, shut it. The island lord has a lot of work to do. A lot of preparations, mostly.

“Hmm...?” Shouko cocked her head, staring at the boat we’d ridden in on. “Was the ship always like this?”

“Huh? Did something change?” Tsumugi asked.

Tsumugi and Yamikage both looked at it too, their heads just as tilted.

Yes, after a week, it was hard to pick up on the subtle differences.

“I think it’s the same, I daresay.” Yamikage shook her head.

Sheryl seemed to pick up on it but kept her silence. Evidently, she had realized what we were trying to do.

“Heh heh heh.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.”

L’Arc and Therese had some nasty smiles on their faces... They were clearly enjoying the anticipation as they waited for someone to notice the difference.

“Are we going?”

“Yes, very well. Then, let’s go. While we were apart, I found a place that you might like, Kizuna.”

“Let’s all head there first and do some hunting. I daresay, the hunting grounds are still empty since the other players haven’t reached there yet!”

“Yep, yep! They’re open and efficient and just perfect! The place might be recognized as a great hunting spot before long.”

It seemed like everyone was enjoying their time in Mikakage. Being part of the island lord’s guild meant they could go wherever they wanted.

“And because you completed that quest, Kizuna, we even get discounts at the inns and shops now. As a special means of transportation, they’ve opened up an express carriage.”

“Whoa.”

“Though it didn’t look like it, I guess that quest had a huge reward! You helped everyone out, little lady.”

“All the effort paid off, huh, Kizzy?”

Even the hassle of travel time had been cut down significantly. In a country that only allowed limited stays, time was literally money. Perhaps it was only natural that they prepared some way to shorten the journey.

It seemed that regular players couldn’t use the carriages...at least, not yet.

They’d eventually gain access after racking up a few more achievements. Me completing the quest actually made it easier for everyone to accumulate those achievements.

Sure, the achievement point system could be a hassle, but going at it as a party could make it surprisingly enjoyable.

“But you can only use the carriage to get to places at least one party member has visited before. You can’t skip ahead.”

“Were you able to make it to the farthest area?”

“No, it seems the unlimited stay visa does not grant access to the capital.”

Oh, yeah, I should have figured that the lord perks didn’t extend that far.

There was probably some quest or requirement to gain access.

“But thanks to your quest, we’re close to getting past the checkpoint.”

So trade achievements are factored in... That’s pretty convenient. I’m glad I did it.

“There’s a small town past the second checkpoint. Let’s go.”

And so, after entering Mikakage, I quickly passed through the first two checkpoints under the guidance of my party and arrived at a small town. Well, it was less a town, and more like a scattering of shops with a river running down the center.

They were Japanese-style buildings all centered around a bridge that spanned the river, and for a moment it felt like I’d arrived at an old-towny Japanese tourist site.

Apparently, Mikakage had plenty of places like this, each serving as a rest stop for those adventuring across the lands. Finding a place to relax wasn’t too difficult. One could stay at one of these settlements and work out of them like a makeshift base of operations.

There were plenty of quests too—just calling out to one of the NPCs in town would usually get you some job or other.

It really feels like a completely different experience. That’s a new map for you.

“We were talking about how this place might be good for you, bro. What do you think?”

“Not bad. There’s a river, so I can fish when we take breaks. It’s time for my new fishing gear to show its stuff.”

This might be a good place for fly-fishing. I’m starting to get a bit tired of catching nothing but ocean fish. It’s time to challenge the river! I’ll put all my aquarium-acquired knowledge to good use!

“I’m glad to hear it. We wanted to find a place where we could go with you, Kizuna.”

“Same here. That’s what I’ve been preparing for.”

“All that’s left is to mine at the new excavation site for Lady Romina, I daresay. We’d like your help with it as well.”

Oh, right, that’s also a thing.

That meant the area had other resources too.

“Uh-huh,” Sheryl said, taking out her drill.

Oh, right, she has those skills too.

It was time for Machinery to prove its worth. As long as we got to have fun together, I didn’t really care what we did. After all, fighting monsters wasn’t all there was to the game.

“An excavation site?! I want to go too!” cried Therese. “I want to find new gemstones and craft with them! Invite me when you go.”

“We’ll be looking for quests on our own, so you all can go ahead to the hunting area.”

L’Arc and Therese seemed keen on finding quests with their own two feet.

“Got it. Having you around’s been a huge help.”

“That’s our line.”

“Okay, Kizzy, everyone, have fun.”

With that, L’Arc and Therese headed into town.

“Let’s get to the hunting, then. You were stuck doing that quest for a week, so we need to get you back up to snuff, bro.”

“Since I’m a Spirit, I don’t think I’ve fallen too far behind, but yeah, I can’t deny there are a few conditions I need to start working toward.”

For example, it turned out that some skills needed Energy gained from sources outside of Energy Production, while others needed me to defeat unknown monsters. A lot of things the other races would get naturally had to be unlocked through esoteric stuff. Spirit wasn’t a purely advantageous race.

I guess that’s part of the game’s balancing.

“Is everyone good with getting straight to monster hunting?”

“Yes. But taking on a specific monster-hunting quest first would be more efficient. I have already told L’Arc about what is here, so he should be searching for what we haven’t found yet.”

“Material delivery, dismantling assistance... There are tons of quests,” Sheryl added.

Was she trying to say that there were plenty of things even I could do? That was also a staple of online games. I was starting to get a bit excited.

“Let’s go!”

We set off to hunt together for the first time in quite a while.

“The mountain stream is our hunting ground this time. The Red Iron Bears that appear here are the target for our quest—they’re monsters that are just the right difficulty for us.”

“Got it.”

“You can cast your line while we’re searching for enemies, I daresay.”

Yamikage, stop reading my mind.

Or rather, I could tell that everyone had taken that side of me into consideration. I felt bad that they were being so mindful of me.

Just as I was mulling over it, three red-furred bears lumbered their way out of the thicket.

“Here they come! Red Iron Bears always launch a preemptive strike! Brace yourself!”

“Got it!”

I took my stance with the Blue Shark’s Ice Knife [Sinner of Thieves]. Supporting from the back line with a bow was all well and good, but today, I felt like being on the front lines.

“I will take the front! Tsumugi, let’s go!”

“Here I come!”

Shouko burst forward, with Tsumugi following close behind.

Two of the Red Iron Bears locked onto them.

“Aight, I guess it’s you and me, Sheryl. We’ve got the last one. Yamikage, keep an eye on our rear and support us with magic.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Understood. I daresay, I can’t wait to see how exceptional your weapon truly is, milord.”

“Yeah, I’d like to know too,” I said as I closed in on the Red Iron Bear and let off a skill.

“Cleaver!”

There was a nice, solid impact, my follow-up slashes sending a spray of blood through the air.

All right! That’s the bleed effect kicking in!

“Grrnnngggh!” the bear roared as it lifted its massive forepaw and swung.

Whoa! It’s fast!

Unlike Shouko and Tsumugi, I wasn’t too great at combat. Dodging was not my strong suit. I braced an arm to intercept the hit.

There was a clang as sparks flew off my Ancient Dress and I took damage.

“Kizuna! Are you all right?”

“No problem. ’Tis but a scratch.”

Thanks to my equipment, I only took around 120 points of damage.

“Bomber Lancer!”

Sheryl unleashed a skill, causing the tip of her harpoon to burst as it struck the bear.

Oh... She can handle the enemies in Cal Mira Dungeon’s later half pretty easily, but this one barely flinched. The monsters here really are strong.

“Take this! And this!”

As I slashed away with the Ice Knife, I could feel each hit sinking in nicely.

“Wow! Your weapon is seriously strong, bro!”

“Kizuna, that’s quite an impressive weapon you’ve obtained.”

“I don’t mind if one of you guys uses it. I’m not exactly good at fighting.”

I could tell just how inferior I was just by watching my more combat-savvy comrades in action. Sometimes, it was necessary to hand off a good weapon to someone who could handle it better.

“C’mon, I haven’t fallen far enough that I need to steal from my brother.”

“Indeed. If that helps you fight on par with us, then that’s more than I could ask for.”

Their kindness was getting to me. Being berated for not being efficient enough really wears down the soul.

I’m glad this is where I ended up, I thought as I slashed through the Red Iron Bear once more. This time, I heard a metal clink, like the sound of a coin dropping. Auto-Steal seemed to have activated.

Acquired Iron Ore

“Looks like you can steal Iron Ore from them.”

“Oh, does that weapon have Auto-Steal?”

“That’s right.”

“Nice! Two birds with one stone!”

“I’ve also got the dagger Romina made from the same stuff. Want it, Tsumugi?”

“Hmm... With skill proficiency and all that, switching weapon types feels like a waste at this point.”

It didn’t have as much attack power as my Ice Knife, and none of us specialized in daggers.

Maybe we should just sell it.

“In fact, why don’t we just give it to Alto?”

“Now that you mention it...”

If anyone could wield a dagger like this, it was the Merchant of Death.

Maybe we should invite him out hunting next time we get the chance.

“Drain, I daresay!”

While we were chatting, Yamikage cast Drain. With a meaty, squelching sound, the Red Iron Bear we were fighting collapsed.

“Incoming!”

“Reinforcements, I daresay!”

With a thump and a thump, two more Red Iron Bears charged at us.

“What a rough welcome,” Shouko exclaimed.

“Right,” said Tsumugi. “Maybe we should take this a bit seriously.”

“Wait a sec.”

This was the perfect moment to use the skill I’d recently picked up.

A loud clang filled the air as I...installed traps right in front of the charging bears. That’s right, the skill I’d been grinding out recently was Trapping Arts.

“Bear Trap!”

This time, I’d fittingly set up bear traps. The Red Iron Bears found themselves treading on metal traps that were only visible to my party members.

The traps snapped shut, digging into their legs and stopping their advance.

All right! It worked!

“A trap skill for stalling?”

“When did you learn a skill like that, bro?”

“Finish them off while we have the chance!”

“Understood, I daresay!”

Thanks to the traps holding the reinforcements in place, Shouko and Tsumugi swiftly took down the Red Iron Bears they’d been locked in combat with. By the time the traps wore off, we were ready for battle.

“Let’s finish this! Wind Ball, I daresay!”

For the final blow, Yamikage—despite being a backline spellcaster—cast her spell while closing the distance. She conjured up a sphere of wind in her hand and slammed it into a Red Iron Bear before striking a dramatic pose.

“Nin, nin!”

The last bear fell, torn apart by the winds.

She’s seriously turning herself into a “believe it” sort of ninja, huh?

“Yammy. You really like slamming that spell into enemies, don’t you?”

“She does it a lot.”

“Presentation.”

Ah, I see. So it’s just a completely unnecessary manga reenactment.

“Now that Kizuna’s here, we can fight with consistency. We barely took any losses.”

“Right?”

“I daresay.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll start dismantling them.”

“Uh-huh...”

I promptly got right to it. At first, I had no idea where to even begin, but with my Dismantling skills as high as they were, I could clearly see where I had to cut. It wasn’t long before I’d finished up the job.

The loot this time: Bear Paw, Bear Liver, Bear Meat, Bear Pelt, and Bear Bones. Some of the bears had also dropped the occasional Iron Ore or Copper Ore.

Going off vibes, the paws and livers seemed to be for medicinal purposes...maybe? I could see them being used for herbal remedies. The meat was obviously for cooking, but with my current skill level, I could only make bear hot pot.

Therese’s been working on her Culinary Art. I should ask her.

“Okay, done. Let’s move on.”

“It didn’t feel right without you, Kizuna.”

“Yeah, leaving the corpses behind felt like such a waste, you know.”

“Agreed, I daresay.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Well, now that big bro’s back, we should seriously consider challenging the boss.”

Oh, so they’re counting on me to dismantle it.

“Sheryl tried doing the dismantling, but she said it was difficult. You really are the best at it, Kizuna.”

So Sheryl’s learned dismantling too.

“What’s the boss around these parts?”

“The Frigid Thunder Beast—a tiger-like creature that wields both ice and lightning,” Shouko explained. “It changes its elemental attribute mid-battle.”

“We’ve beaten it a few times already, but we haven’t figured out all its drops. Well, if it spawns, we’ll take it on.”

“Got it.”

We continued dispatching the monsters that showed up. The Frigid Thunder Beast was not among them.

If I had to wager a guess, it was still on a respawn timer from when Shouko and the others defeated it last time.

“How about we take a break?”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

Once we’d met the quota for the quest, we decided to take a breather. All that was left was to return to town and report our completion.

“In the meantime, I’ll do a bit of fishing.”

“Go ahead. I’ll keep watch, so take your time.”

“Gotcha.”

And so, I took out my fishing gear and started fishing in the mountain stream. This time, I was going to attempt fly-fishing.

Umm... First, you need to check under nearby rocks for local bait... Yep, found some insects. Mayflies and stoneflies. I should be able to make do with the flies I brought with me.

I’d gained the ability to craft my own flies after I picked up the skill. I’d even begged Alto until he let Brave Pekkle enchant my fly with a buff that raised its ability to draw fish.

The rod sliced through the air with a swish as I searched for a promising spot; the fly barely skimmed the water’s surface a few times before I let it settle and drift.

Then—a tug! The rod gave a sharp bend.

“Here we go!”

I swiftly reeled it in and checked it.

Cherry Trout Acquired

“Oh! A splendid catch, I daresay. Such refined movements.”

“You’re getting pretty good at this, bro.”

“Pretty much.”

I continued on for a while more, but it wasn’t really a challenge for me. I did manage to catch some char and amago, for what it was worth. I sprinkled them with salt and grilled them on the spot.

“With you and Sheryl around, we’ll never have to worry about running out of fish.”

“Well, for Sheryl...”

For some reason, Sheryl decided to compete with me and started spearfishing. She’d thrust her harpoon into the water, expertly capturing fish with precise strikes.

“Those squid-filled days are a thing of the past, I daresay. River fish are a delight.”

Was the whole squid thing really that traumatic for her?

Since it was a mountain stream, there weren’t any particularly large fish, but my goal...was to catch a salmon through fly-fishing. That would be my ultimate target in the real world as well. However, since Dimension Wave operated under game mechanics, I had no way to know how much real-world fishing knowledge was actually applicable here.

Okay...time to try a different approach. I’ll set some of the bait I gathered on the hook.

“Huh? You’re changing your setup already?”

“Yeah. Different methods should yield different fish. Ah...I forgot something. Fever Lure.”

I attempted to activate Fever Lure.

Hmm, looks like it doesn’t work with bait fishing. I’ll have to switch back to using a fly.

Once the skill was applied, the fly turned into a gaudy, enhanced version of itself. I flicked it onto the water’s surface, and as soon as it hit the water, its shape elongated a bit. A large, round shadow rapidly approached and bit down.

The tug was immense. I was nearly dragged in, rod and all.

What? A lord?!

Sheryl quickly stood, steadying her aim to weaken our foe.

Good assist. They’ve got to let you attack a fish with a pull this strong.

“Is it fish?”

“No clue.”

Going off the shadow, I suspected it wasn’t a normal fish.

“Bomber Lancer.”

Sheryl raised a huge column of water with her attack.

“Bro! Should we join in?”

“Just don’t cut the line.”

“Ah... That’ll be hard for me. Shouko.”

“Indeed.”

“Allow me, I daresay!”

Yamikage began chanting a spell.

“Drain, I daresay!”

As per usual, the Drain Ninja was still going strong.

Her attack landed with a squelch, and I could feel the resistance on the line weakening.

“Now! Pole Fishing!”

With a splash, the shadow’s owner broke the surface.

“Ka...”

Everyone stared dumbfounded.

“Kappa?”

The kappa flopped on the bank, flailing and thrashing.

Yep. Definitely a game. I went and fished up a freaking kappa.

As a monster, it was identified as a Wicked Kappa.

My Fever Lure had adapted and mimicked a cucumber just for the occasion.

I see... So you can fish kappa here...

Chapter 5: Kappa

What the heck is this?! How was I supposed to figure out how to catch a kappa with no hints? Is there an NPC giving out clues or something?

It was then, at that very timely instant, that a chat request popped up.

“Yo, little lady. You went to the mountain stream, right? I just heard this NPC talking about how you can catch kappa there. You want me to bring you a cucumber to test it out?”

L’Arc and Therese had perfectly called me a few seconds too late.

“I just caught one.”

“What?! Therese! He got one up on us! Pulling that off blind is insane!”

“Wow! We can never take our eyes off of Kizzy! You never let us down.”

“You gotta fish up another one when we get there!” L’Arc insisted. But now wasn’t the time for that.

“Graaah!”

The kappa stood and pounced, its hostility on full display. Huh? The monsters I catch usually just go straight into my inventory. Is this an event battle?

“Leave it to me!”

“Here I come!”

Shouko and Tsumugi launched their attacks.

“Huh? With how it’s pushing back...this monster’s actually pretty strong.”

“Indeed. Yamikage, could you provide some support?”

“Of course, I daresay.”

Shouko deftly fended off the fearsome swings of the kappa’s webbed hands while Tsumugi took a sweep with her scythe and Yamikage fired off her Drain. Then, as if reacting to the magic, the kappa suddenly and rapidly closed the distance with Yamikage. It immediately slipped behind her, a golden glow enveloping its hand as it...attacked her behind.

“Eeeeeep!”

Hey, ninja! You’re breaking character.

“Urgh... Weakness and stun status effects... I daresay.”

“It got your shirikodama, huh.” According to some myths, a kappa will try to attack your behind to extract something called a shirikodama. This enemy seemed to have taken some inspiration from that.

“Yammy, take this.”

Tsumugi casually tossed over a potion to lift Yamikage’s status ailments.

She seems used to this.

“You’ve got the best reactions, Yammy.”

“I daresay, I’m not happy to hear that!”

“Umm... Thanks to Yamikage’s noble sacrifice, we now know what kind of attacks we should be looking out for.”

What’s my best course of action...? If I screw up here and get my shirikodama snatched, I’ll be the next laughingstock.

Just then, the Fever Lure fell from the kappa, hit the ground, and...

“Grooooaaarrr...”

The trees near the stream rustled and shook as three Red Iron Bears emerged from three different directions.

“Reinforcements? Now?”

They had us closed in on all sides.

The other monsters are starting to flood in.

“They’re swarming?!”

“What’s going on?!”

“Is it just me, or did the air change when my bro’s lure hit the ground?”

“It’s a lure that causes a feeding frenzy, but...”

“You mean it pulls in monsters too?”

I swung the rod to get some momentum before flinging the lure far into the distance. The monsters soon started heading toward it... That settled it.

“Bro! Put it away, quick! It’s dangerous!”

“But if I put it away now, we’ll have to take on all those monsters.”

“That would be a struggle, I daresay. Can we handle them?”

“It’s not impossible, but we’ll need to be prepared to take damage.”

Yeah, pretty much.

We needed to do something before my lure ended up pulling the boss as well.

“Aight! I’ll try to spread them out a bit. Sheryl, back me up.”

“Roger...”

Swinging the Fever Lure back and forth, I rushed away from where we’d set up camp. Sheryl followed closely. Once I was sure I was far away enough that the monsters I’d lured wouldn’t shift their focus to Shouko and the others, I let the lure hit the ground once more before switching my weapon and disabling the lure.

Now without a target, the monsters locked onto Sheryl and me instead.

“Time to run!”

“Uh-huh.”

I set up bear traps as we fled, stalling them and spacing them just enough so we could pick the bears off one by one. When we finally made it back to Shouko, Tsumugi, and Yamikage, the three of them were still locked in battle.

“This thing’s tougher than it looks.”

“Yes, it’s putting up a fine resistance. I never expected this.”

With the kappa focused on Tsumugi and Shouko, I slipped behind it and slashed, hoping to get the bleed. As luck would have it, the Steal effect kicked in instead.

Kappa’s Shell Acquired!

My eyes darted to the kappa’s back. Yep. The shell’s still there. Well, it’d be pretty ridiculous if I could just steal it outright.

“Thunder Ball, I daresay!”

Yamikage closed in and slammed an orb of lightning into the kappa. It was a bit hard to tell if she was trying to look cool or trying to get some revenge. Maybe it was a bit of both.

“I daresay, it’s sturdy, plain and simple.”

“Hah!”

Then Sheryl drove a harpoon straight into its skull. There was a crack as the plate atop its head shattered, sending the kappa reeling back. Shouko and Tsumugi swiftly seized on the moment, finally taking down the Wicked Kappa for good.

“It suddenly softened up,” Shouko exclaimed. “It seems the plate was its weak point. Well, for the time being, we managed to defeat it, but...”

“It wasn’t boss-level strong, but it was stronger than the normal monsters. Maybe an event monster? Or maybe it’s one of the lords you were after?”

“Umm...”

Is this a lord? No, no, it’s got to be a monster. I mean, a fish is finished once you fish it up; you’re not supposed to fight it like this.

“I doubt it. I daresay, even that mighty Blue Shark didn’t have to be fought.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The way the Fever Lure had changed shape like that suggested it could ignore the regular conditions needed to catch certain things. It was pretty flexible like that. Plus, it attracted monsters when dropped on the ground.

Then...would I be able to store monsters in my inventory too, if I managed to fish them all the way? The Fever Lure made me feel feverish in all sorts of ways.

“As for drops... We have a Kappa’s Plate and a Shirikodama.”

“Yamikage’s?”

“I daresay not!”

“So, what shall we do with the kappa?”

“I’ll try to dismantle it.”

Might as well try. For Yamikage’s sake.

And so, I set to work dismantling the Wicked Kappa. It felt kinda gross carving up a humanoid monster, but hey, I’d already done it with the Dark Knight Lizardman. It was just whatever at this point.

This time the drops were a Shirikodama, Kappa’s Plate, Kappa’s Shell, Kappa’s Webbed Hand, and Kappa’s Meat.

“So this one’s Yamikage’s shirikodama, then.”

“I daresay, drop that joke already! It made off with quite a bit of my Energy!”

Yamikage was quite clearly annoyed.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway...the Fever Lure could be pretty risky if I don’t use it right.”

“But it could come in handy too. We won’t have to search for enemies.”

“Indeed. It could prove quite useful when we actually want to attract monsters.”

Though I couldn’t shake the feeling that our most recent crisis was my fault, no one else seemed to mind it one bit. I didn’t know how to express my gratitude.

“For starters, we should head back to town and figure out this whole kappa fishing thing. Bro, Shouko.”

“I just got in touch with L’Arc and Therese. They said they heard something about it.”

“So we’ve got a lead.”

“Yeah... So let’s call it a day and head back.”

“Agreed. If there’s a related quest, we ought to take it before we do anything else.”

So we returned to town and split up to enjoy our free time however we pleased.

†

After getting back to town, I headed straight for the river and sat on the bridge facing the water. After rigging something I’d prepared in advance, I cast my line.

Shouko, Yamikage, and Tsumugi went off with L’Arc to talk to a few NPCs. As for Sheryl, she was standing beneath the bridge, staring absentmindedly at my setup.

Oh? I’m catching cherry trout and sweetfish here too... If I remember right, you can use sweetfish as bait. I should try targeting those, then, I thought. And so I started out fly-fishing, but I eventually felt an urge to try other setups too. And so, I slapped some bait on my hook and got back to standard fishing.

“Hmm?”

Not long after I’d cast the line, the rod sharply bent.

It’s not another kappa, right? I glanced at the shadow in the water and—thankfully, it was most definitely a fish. Getting this anxious about what I might catch...yeah, that made me feel a bit pathetic.

Am I even fishing at this point? Also, there’s no way I’m gonna trigger a Fishing Combo...right?

I reeled in and pulled up...a rainbow trout. Nice and simple. If it swam all the way to the sea, it’d be called a salmon trout instead.

“Rainbow trout?”

“Yeah, rainbow trout.”

“I see... Meunière would be good.”

“I’ll cook it up later, and we can all have a taste. No, wait, we have Therese. She’s a better cook than me, so I’m sure it’ll turn out great.”

Sheryl gave a firm nod.

All right...it’s about time. I should start figuring out what the lord is and adjust my setup accordingly.

I stowed the rainbow trout away and cast my line yet again.

Another hit? That was fast.

I lightly pulled it up and...?!

“Gyaaah!”

A feathered flash of blue shot out from beyond the water’s edge, swiping the fish I’d just caught and attempting to fly off with it.

“Oh...”

Wait, why am I just standing here in shock? Darn it...so that’s how Fishing Combos work in the river. Your catch gets snatched by a bird.

I could hear the grating, jarring tension on the line as my back-and-forth with the blue bird began. Although... This time, I had the electrified motor attached. I could at least weaken it.

Go! Electric Shock!

A crackle of electricity shot down the line and through the blue bird.

“Gyah?!”

The bird reeled back as the damage set in.

Good—just one Pole Fishing and we’re done.

I now held a convulsing bird in my hands. Hooray.

Umm... Looks like it’s called an Ice Heron.

“Heron.”

“The bird?”

“Uh-huh.”

So an ice-element heron, huh? But seriously...if I’m reeling in birds with fishing combos, what exactly does that make me? Am I still a fisherman? I mean, it’s a bit late to complain about that after all the Pekkles I fished up, but still...

At the very least, monsters caught with Fishing Combos seem to stay down after they’re caught. I’ll probably be able to store this one without an issue.

As I was sorting things out, Shouko, Tsumugi, L’Arc, and Therese came over.

“Kizuna! We figured it out!”

“Hmm? I’m getting a sense that the little lady is up to something interesting.”

What does L’Arc even find so interesting about the stuff I do? Let’s just focus on Shouko.

“Figure out what? The lord of the river?”

Maybe there’s an NPC out there giving intel on the lord?

“Wrong.”

“As for you... What’s an Ice Heron doing here, bro?”

“He fished it,” Sheryl curtly explained.

Then Shouko sent me a troubled look, and Tsumugi burst into laughter.

“See? Interesting after all.”

“Aww, I wish I was there to see it.”

“It’s just a Fishing Combo. We’re not breaking new ground here.”

“But it wasn’t a fish, right? Was it in the water?”

“No, it tried to snatch my catch when it was still on the line. I ended up nabbing it instead.”

“Oh...I see.”

“Seriously, you never know what’s gonna happen when my bro’s around. You can’t step away for even a minute!”

“Totally! You should never take your eyes off of Kizzy.”

What even is my life?

I sighed and shoved the Ice Heron into my inventory.

“You really went and stowed it, huh?”

“If any other player saw that moment, they’d probably start asking how to store monsters.”

“Milord...”

Right on cue, Yamikage appeared. What timing—though that was just the sort of position Yamikage occupied in the world.

“I daresay, how did you manage to store a living monster?!”

After the usual back-and-forth and a quick explanation, we shifted to what we actually needed to talk about.

“According to an NPC, there’s a rough gang of kappas living upstream,” L’Arc explained. “Let’s do the quest together.”

Shouko continued, “They said it’s easier to attack the main body after breaking the plate.”

“Did this quest stem from us beating the first kappa?”

“Sure did. Now that they know we can do it, they want us to beat up a bunch of them.”

“I never knew there were quests like these; I wouldn’t have noticed if I didn’t join your party, bro. And L’Arc, it looks like you’ve been pretty diligently talking to everyone—just going with the flow won’t cut it.”

Maybe it was better to leave the quest-hunting to a specialist like L’Arc. If we’d known about the kappa beforehand, we would have been better prepared for it.

“Milord, your lure basically acted as a stand-in for what the quest actually required, I daresay.”

“Yeah, probably. Either way, I’m glad we made some progress on the quest.”

Finding stuff like this was part of the fun, honestly.

“Judging by how strong that kappa was, it might be better to hunt a few more with everyone before we decide to do the full operation.”

“Whatever you think is best.”

That was what I’d been preparing for, in any case.

“I kinda wanna go hunting again,” grumbled my sister.

“Well, why not?” L’Arc said. “We’ll tag along this time.”

“Ah, there’s something I want to do before that. Could you give me a bit?”

“Sure.”

I made my way down beneath the bridge to check if my little contraption had done its job.

“Oh?”

I’d set up a traditional bamboo fish trap—a one-way funnel that let fish in and not out. When I checked it...I found a river eel inside.

“Aren’t eels supposed to live downstream near the river mouth?”

I’d set it under a bridge where the flow was pretty calm. But whatever. A catch was a catch. As I slid the eel out of the bamboo tube, I noticed everyone staring at me.

“Kizuna,” said Shouko, “it seems like you’ve improved your skill with traps...”

“Yeah. Once I figured out that trap fishing was an option, I realized I could be catching fish while I’m hunting with everyone.”

I need to test what happens if I set a trap in a stronger current next time.

Over the past week, I’d confirmed that Fishing Combos only triggered when fishing with a rod. In that sense, trap fishing had actually become a safer and more reliable way to secure catches. This was a nice overlap between Trapping Arts and Fishing Mastery.

“The little lady’s been experimenting with those traps for a while now. I think it’s a pretty good compromise.”

I continued checking the other traps under the bridge—there were three more eels along with some river crabs and purple clams. Not bad, I guess. The ecosystem feels like a complete mess, but it’s a game, so I’ll let it slide.

“You’re really covering all your bases, bro.”

“Well, now I can pretty much hunt and fish at the same time.”

“You’ve hardly been in this village for long, but you’ve already set up a whole bunch of them.” L’Arc grinned as if he were holding in laughter.

What? What’s so funny?

“You’ve covered the river from end to end! I daresay, you’re ruining the scenery!”

“Nah, it’s set up so only the person who placed the trap and their party members can see them. Don’t worry about it.”

I’d already tested it with Alto. I hadn’t been just playing around—I was experimenting with item and skill mechanics.

“Ah! That’s why I felt something was off with the ship when we met up at the port,” exclaimed Shouko.

“Correct! You finally caught on! Man, it was hard keeping quiet about it!”

Naturally, since I’d set up traps all around the ship, my party members would have seen them. L’Arc and Therese must’ve been having fun, waiting to see how long it would take someone to notice.

“Uh-huh.”

Sheryl had clearly known the whole time.

“That was an eel, right? The thing you just caught.”

“Yeah. Should we slice them up and do some kabayaki? We might be better off leaving it to Therese.”

“Hmm... Why don’t we cook together, Kizzy? Something might happen.”

I don’t want to start triggering events in cooking too... I thought, though I decided to help Therese out anyway.

“I wanna eat eel! Eel rice! Eel rice!”

It probably went without saying, but Tsumugi loved eel. So did Kanade, actually—she’d always been into expensive foods.

“If it’s eel, I daresay a true connoisseur would go for shirayaki,” Yamikage chimed in with an air of sophistication.

Was it because she was a ninja? She seemed to have a penchant for eastern fare.

The mention of shirayaki reminded me... Eel kabayaki was prepared differently from region to region. Shirayaki meant to grill it with salt as the only seasoning—a light and simple dish. In the Kanto style, the eel would be cooked with simple seasoning like shirayaki before grilling it again with sauce, while the Kansai style would have it taken straight to the grill.

Which one was better? That was a matter of personal preference. Now, whether or not that actually made a difference in the game... I’d need to do a bit of experimenting to figure that one out.

“Kabayaki is pretty great if you’ve got some nice, cold sake to wash it down. Not that I’m expecting any booze here.”

Since Dimension Wave allowed minors like us to play, drinking alcohol was not an option. Though various wines could be used as cooking ingredients, the dishes would be deemed inedible until the alcohol was sufficiently burned off.

“Jellied eel...” Sheryl muttered.

“That is...I daresay...I am not a fan.”

You’ve eaten it before? I think that’s a British dish...or was it French? I always get them mixed up.

All right, if we’re bragging about rare dishes, I’m not backing down.

“Then I’ll counter with unarizushi!”

“That would be the specialty of a certain city in a certain prefecture of the same name, I daresay.”

Wha... What...?! She knows about a local specialty that was created in the late 2010s? This girl’s not just a joke-build enthusiast... She’s a true foodie!

“You know your stuff, Yamikage.”

“A refined palate, huh? Since skilled cooking improves the taste in this game, I’ll need to do my best to make something good.”

“Hurry up, hurry up!”

“What about the quest?”

“And how are we supposed to quest without eel rice, bro?!”

Just like that, Tsumugi continued getting more and more hyped-up, while Shouko, Yamikage, and Sheryl remained quite composed. L’Arc and Therese, being adults, just smiled at the scene.

Don’t tell me...my family’s the only one getting worked up?

“Shouko, are you not excited about eel?”

“I am quite excited. The dishes you prepare with the fish you catch are always delicious, and with Therese helping out, I have very high hopes.”

Ah, her trust in me hasn’t really changed... She’s just giving a mature reaction.

“I daresay, I look forward to seeing how you and Lady Therese will prepare the food, milord.”

“Sounds...tasty.”

Rather, Tsumugi was just abnormally excited.

By the sound of it, Sheryl knew about Japanese eel cuisine, but that was the extent of it. She likely had never tried it herself. She wasn’t all too invested.

“All right, guess we’ll need to cook and eat some eel before my glutton of a sister can go questing.”

“Yay! Love you, bro!”

What a shrewd, shameless little sister—only showing affection when food’s involved! I mentally cursed her as I put my cooking skills to work.

“Therese, what’s your cooking ability at these days?”

“Hmm... I got pretty into it at one point, so my Culinary Art’s at Level 10. From here on, it’s just about expanding my repertoire.”

After all the effort she put into grinding out her Craftwork, her Cooking was far higher. That was pretty impressive.

“I’m surprised you managed to get it that high.”

“I used to cook for hunting parties, you know. Bigger groups meant better skill growth.”

“Hmm...”

“By the way, Kana’s cooking is also pretty high.”

Well...Kanade... She was the one in charge of cooking at home. I could cook too, but she was just on another level.

“All right, let’s begin.”

Chapter 6: Cooking with Eel

As I started preparing the eel and Therese began gathering the seasonings...

“Huh?”

The word “COOPERATION!” spread out across my field of view.

“What’s this?”

“A cooperation skill. I was testing it out with Romina at the workshop, but it probably triggers easier with cooking.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?”

“We just need to work together on the dish. You’re good at handling eel, right, Kizzy? I’d like you to take care of the prep. I’ll do the grilling.”

With that, I started to clean and fillet the eels, and after I’d finished the first one, Therese got to work. She started by cooking them up shirayaki-style before slathering them in a savory sauce to turn them into kabayaki.

My high Dismantling skill level let me clean them pretty nicely. The bonuses from my Culinary Arts boosted the result even more. Dismantling and cooking had great synergy—I never felt that either was wasted.

“Ah, Yamikage!”

Even though I was in the middle of working with the Cooperation skill, I called Yamikage over.

“What, I daresay?”

“It looks like I can make a hot pot with the kappa meat and shirikodama. Wanna eat it?”

“Why am I the only one you’re asking?!”

I held in the urge to tell her, Well, you’re the one who had it stolen, so I thought you might want to put it back. Some jokes were best left unsaid.

“Fine, fine. I’ll get some eel for you too.”

“I daresay, don’t change the topic!”

Rice was widely available in-game, so that wasn’t going to take much effort. I pulled out my cooking equipment—along with rice, eel, and sauce—and got right to work cooking up something that the whole party would be satisfied with.

There was some depth to the system; you needed the right ingredients to get the recipe to register properly.

Since I’ve got tea...yeah. I could make some hitsumabushi too.

Hitsumabushi was chopped kabayaki eel over rice. Pouring some light tea over it would change the dish completely into a fragrant rice and eel soup.

On another note, Brave Pekkle also had Culinary Arts. I’d recently figured out that he’d cast buffs if you just kept him nearby, so lately, I’d been keeping him around on standby. It seemed that having multiple players with cooking skills in one area was what triggered the Cooperation skill.

To add to that, the cooking process involved a minigame... The higher the score, the easier it was to get a “+” bonus attached to the finished product.

“And...done! Wow...” Therese gasped. “I heard that Cooperation Skills boosted the quality of finished dishes, but this is incredible.”

I checked one of the completed eel dishes.

High-Grade Eel Kabayaki +9

A dish prepared with high-quality wild-caught eel, grilled to perfection by a master chef. The rich sauce enhances the eel’s flavor, greatly increasing stamina.

HP Recovery +70%, Max HP/Energy/Stamina +60%

That was just the eel itself. Placing it over rice only further boosted that effect. We’d ended up with something that temporarily boosted max HP and Energy.

That’s crazy. With all my trial and error, I’ve never made anything high-grade.

We put together enough dishes for everyone and handed them out.

“Yay! Eel! Eel!”

Tsumugi was practically vibrating with excitement as the feast arrived.

“Eel rice is delicious... I’ve heard...”

The way Sheryl’s looking at the food, it’s got to be her first time seeing it.

“Huh? Kizuna. Is this hitsumabushi you’ve prepared for me?”

“Yeah, I got the impression you’d like it better like this. Tsumugi and Sheryl are getting the eel rice.”

I also went with hitsumabushi for myself, and just in case someone wanted more, I’d prepared plenty of extra rice.

“I’ll have shirayaki!”

“Me too, I daresay!”

“Then I’ll get the same as L’Arc and Yammy.”

“On it.”

“Aight, time to eat.”

“Way ahead of you!”

Tsumugi’s loud and enthusiastic voice kicked it off, and everyone dug into their personalized eel dishes.

“Mmm! This is amazing, bro! I’ve had eel in other VRMMOs, but the flavor replication rate here is way better!”

“Glad you like it.”

Tsumugi spoke between mouthfuls of eel rice, looking like she was in total bliss.

“It’s very nice. You’ve gotten better, Kizuna.”

“Well, Therese handled the grilling—the most important part, and I’ve been investing in a few skills.”

“The Cooperation skill made all the difference. That’s what let us make something incredible, Kizzy. The proficiency gain was also totally worth it.”

With dismantling being one of my specialties, it was easier for me to improve my skill at cooking. Breaking down the eel was simple enough.

“A fine taste, I daresay.”

“Apparently, the system’s detailed enough to determine if it’s Kanto or Kansai style based on how you cook it.”

“So it’s knowledgeable enough not to lump them together. That’s some depth, I daresay.”

She’s right about that... As for Sheryl, she’s eating her eel rice in silence.

“Sheryl? How’s the eel?”

“...”

It was like she didn’t even hear me. She just kept eating. Should I take that as a positive sign...?

After finishing her bowl, Sheryl finally raised her face.

“Delish.”

“I see.”

“Can I have more?”

“If we manage to catch more eels you can. I’ll work with Therese to get you some.”

“Uh-huh.”

She seemed to like it quite a bit.

“It’s fragrant yet soft, and the flavor is excellent. The sauce is perfectly balanced too. It is truly an outstanding dish,” Shouko explained.

We all relished in the glory of eel together, and once we felt sufficiently recharged, we set off on our quest.

†

We started off taking some time defeating Red Iron Bears to gather Energy before heading to the quest site to check out the Wicked Kappas.

“Looks like there’s a hidden path over there. See? It turned visible after we picked up the quest.”

One of the bushes had turned translucent, and passing through it made it disappear entirely. Looks like it leads into a cave. It’s cold as heck. There are even icicles hanging here and there.

We stepped in. And before long...

“Gyah!”

A splash echoed through the cave as several Wicked Kappas leaped out of an underground river.

“Here I come! Hah!”

Shouko skillfully struck the kappas’ plates, smashing them one by one.

“It’s too cramped to swing a scythe. I’d love to fight with a little more room, eh, Tsumugi?”

“Right on... But it’s not too hard since we just need to aim at their heads.”

L’Arc and Tsumugi were in the same boat; they had to switch from horizontal sweeps to vertical swings to avoid getting their scythes caught on the narrow cave walls.

“Reinforcements.”

More Wicked Kappas rushed at us from deeper within.

“I’ve already set a trap.”

I flicked my fishing rod, sending a lure flying. It struck the ground, and with a click, triggered my own rockfall trap. Rocks rained down upon the Wicked Kappas, shattering their plates and leaving them stunned.

“Now! Thunder Ball, I daresay!”

Yamikage—still holding a grudge over that whole shirikodama thing—was quick to cast and struck at the kappas’ elemental weakness.

“These traps are quite useful.”

“Yeah, they’re a huge help, both with fishing and with combat.”

“Even if you’re not fighting directly, you can still make things way more efficient for the rest of us!”

“Uh-huh...and more reinforcements. Not a kappa this time...”

“Oh? New monster?”

I readied myself as the newcomer emerged—an Ice Monkey. Quite literally a monkey made entirely out of ice.

“Hey, L’Arc, your buddy’s here.”

“Ook! Hey, what are you making me say?!”

L’Arc and Therese’s banter faded into the background as I pulled out my ice knife.

“Oook!”

If it’s an ice knife, then it should carve ice! This has got to be effective! I thought as I took a swing.

Slash! I could feel a satisfying feedback in my hands as blood sprayed through the air and the Ice Monkey went flying.

“Oh! Bro just landed a crit!”

“Yeah, I suspected this weapon would cut it.”

I followed up with a few more swipes and managed to take the Ice Monkey down without suffering significant losses.

Whoa...it might be too effective. I ended up tearing the monkey to pieces.

And just like that, the battle came to a close.

“We’re doing quite well.”

“Yeah. Oh, looks like I unlocked something.”

“A new skill? What sort?”

“Give me a second.”

I opened my skill menu and checked the new entry. I was now able to pick up a new attack skill for dismantling weapons.

Let’s see...looks like it’s called Blood Flower.

Blood Flower I

An attack skill for dismantling weapons.

The effect will change based on the charge level. 100 Energy consumed upon use.

Required Mana to Acquire: 400

Unlock Condition: Completely destroy an enemy with a dismantling weapon, perform dismantling 150 or more times.

Upgrade Condition: Defeat 200 or more monsters with dismantling weapons.

“Looks like it’s a charge skill for dismantling weapons.”

“Hmm.”

“A new dismantling skill, huh...and it’s one of those.” L’Arc seemed to have some idea of what it was.

And so did Therese. “When it comes to charge skills, Shouko uses a lot of them, right?”

“Correct. They can be very powerful if you charge them properly. Why not give it a try, Kizuna?”

“Yeah. It’s important to try things out.”

I picked it up right away.

“How many do we need to kill for this quest?”

“Let’s see... We need to defeat fifty as a party.”

That’s a lot. Then again, with how many of them popped out at once, maybe it’s not that much after all.

“Then let’s keep at it; I’ll test this new skill out along the way.”

We hadn’t proceeded much farther before another Wicked Kappa and Ice Monkey appeared to block the path. Perfect timing.

When I focused my mind on casting Blood Flower, light began to gather around the ice knife. I could even hear a whirring sound as more and more energy was stored within.

Ah—Shouko probably listens to these sounds to time her charges. And, judging by how Shouko fights, you can still dodge and use normal attacks while charging.

“You there yet, bro?”

Tsumugi pressed me while keeping the enemies pinned down.

“A little more. You fight with Shouko all the time. Shouldn’t you know how long it takes?”

“I mean, yeah, but...”

There was a cling!—a sharp sound signaling that I had reached the maximum charge level.

“All right! Here goes—Blood Flower!”

As soon as I activated it, my body accelerated all on its own, charging swiftly at the Wicked Kappa I’d targeted. I barely registered the slash through the sensation in my hands, and by the time I realized it, I had landed behind the kappa with both my arms raised in the air.

Was that a nice “shhnk” I just heard?

“Oooooh!”

“How flashy, I daresay! How very cool!”

“Yeah, flashy indeed.”

“That one’s a popular skill with dismantling weapon users. Its output is... Well, looks like it’s incredible when you’re the one using it, little lady. You can’t compare it to anyone else’s.”

“Nice work, Kizuna.”

“Good job, bro.”

When I turned back, the Wicked Kappa was erupting in a spray of blood, almost like a crimson flower was blooming from its mangled body. What a dramatic effect.

“Gyaaah!”

The Wicked Kappa was torn to shreds, automatically dismantling itself and bursting into item drops.

Everyone clapped.

“It’s like a finisher, I daresay.”

“It’s nice that it saves you the trouble of dismantling it afterward.”

I need to keep the Energy cost in mind, though.

Eventually, we reached our quest quota and did a bit of extra hunting after that. Once we felt that we’d reached a nice stopping point, we headed back to town. It was already dark by then; we decided to call it a day and rest at the inn. Everyone was left to relax however they saw fit.

I was, as per usual, fishing off the side of the bridge. I wonder what the lord is here.

“Hey, bro. We made progress on the Wicked Kappa quest,” Tsumugi reported.

“Word is that the head kappa’s somewhere in the cave,” explained L’Arc. “They want us to take it down.”

We’d eaten dinner together, and I’d just gotten back to fishing when the gang came to report to me. Nothing happened, by the way. It was just perfectly ordinary fishing.

Incidentally, dinner was grilled rainbow trout and kappa hot pot. Therese and I made it with the Cooperation skill, so the end result was top-notch.

Yamikage had a doubtful look on her face when she was eating the hot pot, but she claimed it tasted just like soft-shelled turtle stew. That girl’s eaten a lot of strange stuff.

Oh, she also forced the shirikodama on me. It had a crunchy, kinda weird texture.

“It feels like a standard quest. I’ve got nothing much to say about it.”

“I know, right?” my sister sighed.

“Don’t be like that, little lady,” L’Arc grumbled.

“Once we’re done here, we should be able to cross the next checkpoint,” said Shouko. “Should we hop to it?”

“I kinda wanna catch the lord here before I go.”

“There’s no telling when it might show up. We might be here for a while.”

“Nah, if we unlock the next town, we can just make that our base. And if they’ve got a fishing spot there, all the better.”

It wasn’t too expensive to travel from place to place, and I wanted to keep hunting with everyone as much as I could.

“Thank you for being so considerate.”

“I could say the same to you.”

The unknown fishing spots are calling to me! And with that thought in mind, I analyzed the fish that had been caught in my traps.

The Sweetfish Lord could be caught in the Second City, so maybe it was a cherry trout or something along those lines? My fishing instincts were calling to me. Based on my surroundings, it wasn’t going to be a stream fish.

I’m suspecting it’s a rainbow trout or an eel. Let’s go with an eel setup. If I’m remembering right, you can catch them with simple bait fishing.

Night fishing would probably be my best bet. Sure, I’d have to potentially pull an all-nighter, but I was up for the challenge.

“I’m gonna try to catch the boss tonight.”

“Understood. Then shall I watch from the sidelines?”

“You guys worked hard today, so you should get some rest. I’ll stop and sleep when I get bored.”

I wouldn’t have been able to get my attacks in if Shouko and the others hadn’t been managing aggro. Even if physical fatigue was nonexistent in Dimension Wave, mental exhaustion was definitely still a thing. I really wanted them to get some proper rest.

“Well, if you insist, Kizuna... I can still see you from my room at the inn. I will be watching, okay?”

I’m not...sure how I feel about that, I thought. But it felt too tiresome to retort, so I decided to let it slide.

She’d probably fish with me if I asked her, but she’d already done plenty. Matching my sluggish pace had to have been tiresome for her.

“L’Arc! Let’s look for more quests and see if there are any we can handle ourselves!”

“Right! We’ll meet back up tomorrow!”

With that, L’Arc and Therese took off without resting.

They sure are energetic, those two...

“Night, bro.”

“Night.”

Shouko and Tsumugi headed off too.

As for Yamikage and Sheryl, they left soon enough. I suspected Shouko called out to them privately at some point.

As I cast my line, I could vaguely see Shouko sitting at the window of the inn, waving at me. The lantern next to me probably made it easier to spot me in the night.

Watching the river flow below me filled me with a sense of peace.

†

After several hours of bait fishing, my haul had grown larger and larger... I was definitely getting more bites with bait than with lures and flies. I’d also heard that fly-fishing at night could be pretty risky.

“Got one!”

With a swift tug, I pulled in another catch—an eel. Just as I thought, the river had plenty of them. They were a lot easier to catch at night.

Maybe I should focus on catching them in bulk? I mean, everyone seems to love eel.

Sure, I could wait and fish only when my Fever Lure was off cooldown, but that thing seemed to attract monsters in certain locations. Monsters that needed to be dispatched in combat. For now, I just wanted to relax and fish in peace.

That reminds me... Tsumugi brought up how VRMMOs reproduce taste.

Some people used it for dieting, while others, who couldn’t afford good food in real life, would satisfy their cravings with in-game meals. But ever since someone nearly starved to death because of it, most games now put restrictions on taste simulation.

Since Dimension Wave only lasted a few days in real life, there was no such concern; that was probably why flavors were being faithfully reproduced.

Just as I was thinking it over... Thud! I got a conspicuously strong pull.

“Oh?”

What? What did I hook?

I cautiously wound the reel, activating Electric Shock to weaken it, but the pull was still intense!

Don’t tell me... Is this the lord of the river?!

The line screamed out as it was stretched to the limit, but I kept reeling, the sore loser I was.

“It seems like you’ve got a big one, Kizuna.”

I was so preoccupied I didn’t even notice Shouko coming over from the inn to watch the battle from up close.

“Yeah, came to watch?”

“I did. Do you need help?”

“I can manage this time.”

“Is that so?”

“Where’s everyone else?”

“Asleep, I’d imagine. Although Sheryl was working on something with machinery and wood when I last saw her.”

I see...

Under Shouko’s watchful eyes, I continued my back-and-forth with this powerful supposed lord. From what I could make out from the shape on the water’s surface...it seemed to be a huge snake. No...

“Oh, an eel.”

It was wriggling and writhing, thrashing up quite a storm.

Just how strong is this thing?! It’s putting up a good fight with the electrified reel! But I’ve been shocking it down. It’s finally starting to lose steam!

“It’s over! Pole Fishing!”

With a huge slash and one final pull, I hauled the massive eel out of the water.

All right!

“Fish on!”

I struck a victory pose over the flopping eel as Shouko offered a bit of applause.

“Now then... I could roughly tell from the shadow, but let’s see what you really look like.”

As expected, it was a massive eel.

“Since it’s big, and it’s an eel, shall we simply call it the giant eel?”

“Nah, the giant eel actually exists as a separate species known as the giant mottled eel. It’s also called the crab eater in some regions.”

“Is that so? I didn’t know that.”

It was an easy mistake to make. A bit of fish trivia. Good thing I did my research before entering the game.

“Following the naming pattern so far, this is probably the Eel Lord.”

“I see...”

For now, let’s snap a screenshot... Lords are automatically registered in the aquarium, so I can dismantle it without worry. But this time, I think I’ll hold off a bit.

The thing was huge. Even after cleaning it, I feared that it was too hefty for the flavor to seep in. This would take a bit of testing.

“That was some good luck.”

“I’m glad it didn’t take too long!”

I was grateful for my fortune. The excitement of pulling it in was unbearable.

“Shall we tell everyone tomorrow?”

“Yeah. I’ll brag a little at breakfast—though it feels like they’re starting to get sick of it.”

“That’s true, but the materials from the lords you catch always turn into powerful weapons, so they’re actually looking forward to it.”

Fair... I mean, most of my weapons were forged from lords, after all.

“Tsumugi’s probably gonna demand lord kabayaki.”

“I can see it. How should I put this... She was like a different person when she was eating eel rice.”

The simple joys of good eel...

“So, what sort of weapon are you planning to make with this eel, Kizuna?”

“Hmm... I haven’t decided yet. But if I had to guess, it’ll probably inflict poison.”

“How do you figure?”

“Because eel is poisonous until you cook it.”

“Oh...I see. That makes sense.”

“Also, dismantling it is pretty tricky.”

Eels were slippery, and while I could handle them, anyone with subpar dismantling skills would definitely struggle.

“I’d better wait until it’s bright before I take it apart.”

“Agreed.”

“Well ’n, I got what I came for. Let’s pack up... Right, I should check my traps before that.”

I headed under the bridge to check my bamboo tools. Inside them I found four more eels. Not bad.

“Let’s head back to the inn, then.”

“Yeah.”

And so, with an Eel Lord in tow, we returned earlier than expected.

Chapter 7: Delicious Crab

The next morning.

“Waaaaaaaaaaah!”

“It’s crab, I daresay!”

“Crab...”

For breakfast, I served everyone a set meal of boiled crab.

“That’s super fancy for breakfast! What happened, bro?!”

Tsumugi’s eyes were sparkling. She looked like her blood was boiling at the sight of such a feast.

“I also made crab hot pot. Feel free to dig in.”

“Let’s eat!”

“Do you want some crab, Shouko?”

“Well...”

Shouko hesitated a bit. It seemed like she was trying to avoid something heavy first thing in the morning but didn’t want to say anything when everyone else was so excited.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got a grilled fish set ready to go.”

I handed her a grilled fish meal that she gratefully accepted.

“Thank you.”

“I wanted to keep my breakfast light too.”

“You two sure act like adults.”

“And what about you, L’Arc?”

“Well, I already had a big meal before meeting up, so I’ll stick to grilled fish.”

“Same here. Come to think of it, you know how everyone goes quiet when eating crab together? It’s kinda awkward, don’t you think?”

Therese had a point. That definitely happened when eating crab. I wonder why...

Fortunately, our party wasn’t the type to sit and eat in silence.

“This is red snow crab, I daresay! It falls short of snow crab, but it’s still delicious!”

“You can really tell?”

“It’s true! Red snow crab is what’s usually used for crab buffets. I daresay, it’s a substitute.”

Yamikage sure knew her stuff. The name of the dish in my inventory had changed after boiling—it just said crab. But she managed to figure out which kind of crab it was just from the taste.

While Tsumugi, Yamikage, and Sheryl voraciously devoured the crab, the rest of us finished our set meals.

“You got any more crab? I want more!”

“I daresay, you mustn’t be too indulgent, Lady Tsumugi.”

“I’ve got more.”

I set down another serving of crab. Yamikage’s eyes widened and she immediately started eating more too.

“This is just like a buffet, I daresay!”

Sheryl stopped at a reasonable point and wiped off her mouth. Meanwhile, Tsumugi kept scarfing down whatever I served her.

“Lady Tsumugi, just how long are you planning to keep eating, I daresay?”

“I mean...”

“You can eat forever,” muttered Sheryl.

Oh...she’s talking about how the hunger system works in Dimension Wave. Although you could feel full from eating, you could keep eating for as long as you set your mind to it. Tsumugi was already stuffed, but she was fighting that feeling to pack in even more.

“She’s really going for it, huh?”

“Impressive.”

“If this keeps up, she’s going to discover ‘Stomach Expansion’ or some skill like that.”

Yeah...I can see it happening. Maybe there’s a skill tree for gluttons. Leading to the ability to eat monsters whole or something... I’m morbidly curious.

“Anyway, enough about food... Guess what? I caught the lord yesterday!”

“Congrats!”

“Congratulations, I daresay.”

Everyone congratulated me.

While they’re being so supportive... I pulled the Eel Lord out of my inventory.

“Whoa... It’s huge! That’s one massive eel!”

“It’s enormous, I daresay. A giant eel even bigger than real giant eels.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’m amazed you manage to catch those things so often.”

“Right? But maybe it’s something like a boss battle you don’t need to hunt for.”

“I see. So it’s like a boss no one’s looking for. Ripe for the picking.”

After checking everyone’s reactions, I got started on dismantling the eel.

Thanks to my improved toolkit, I managed to finish up without any major issues—though there were a few close calls along the way.

Mid-Tier King’s Skin, Mid-Tier King’s Fin, Mid-Tier King’s Cartilage, Mid-Tier King’s Slime, Large Eel Skin, Large Eel Cartilage, Highest-Tier Eel Meat

“Mid-Tier King... The Herring Lord was a Low-Tier King, so I guess this is a standard drop across a number of lords.”

If I had to guess, certain lords just gave out these universal materials. I was just lucky with all the rare materials I’d been running into...

“Can you make eel rice with this one?”

“You ate that much and you still want more?”

“I mean...”

“We should check if we can craft any gear out of it before we eat it.”

“Boo.”

She’s a bottomless pit! This sister of mine!

“That was quite the post-meal performance, I daresay.”

“Yeah. It’s not like anything strange happened this time around, so I don’t feel like I missed out.”

Yamikage’s odd comment made it sound like I was putting on some sort of spectacle. L’Arc’s made it sound like I was the spectacle.

“Then I daresay, it’s time to take down that Wicked Kappa boss!”

“Yeah. To make sure Yamikage’s shirikodama is never stolen again.”

“Why are you singling me out?! Lady Therese is just as likely to get targeted, you know!”

“Aww, then maybe I’ll be careful and stick to using support magic.”

“It’s not fair! Lady Therese should get targeted too!”

Well, you know. That’s just kinda Yamikage’s place in all this.

We joked and jabbed as we headed off to face the boss monster.

Jumping straight to the results, the Wicked Kappa boss appeared after we investigated an object deep within the cave, triggering the fight.

It was a kappa around three times larger than the standard Wicked Kappa, and its attacks were brutal.

I managed to keep damage to a minimum by summoning Brave Pekkle. His high defenses really came in handy.

As for me? I used my fishing rod skill Lure: Double Needle to provide support while Shouko, Tsumugi, Sheryl, and L’Arc hammered away relentlessly. Yamikage’s and Therese’s powerful magic helped us bring it down easier than expected.

I should note that Yamikage had her shirikodama stolen twice during the fight. Therese, on the other hand, managed to avoid being targeted entirely... She was a master at controlling her positioning in battle.

Since the boss reacted to magic, it made sense, but...the rate at which Yamikage was getting targeted was starting to become a problem.

“That was one big kappa, I daresay.”

“Indeed.”

“That should finish up the quest. These hidden quests really are the best part. Can’t get enough of them.”

L’Arc probably had to gather intel from all sorts of NPCs to find this one.

I wonder what kind of reward we’ll get?

The materials from the dismantling were pretty much the same as what we got from a regular Wicked Kappa—just labeled as “Big Kappa’s so-and-so” instead.

“That was a solid challenge. I can’t wait to see what lies beyond the next checkpoint.”

“Yeah! What kind of monster will we face next?”

We’re making good progress, I thought.

That thought carried me all the way to the next checkpoint.

After we showed our pass, the NPC opened the gate and let us pass.

We continued down the road... Our first priority was to find a place to stay. And after walking and chatting for around half a day, we reached a new town. Or rather, a waypoint with nothing but an inn and a handful of facilities.

This time...it looked like a festival ground with rows of stalls lining the streets.

“Wow, it’s like a festival’s going on here.”

“More like it is a festival.”

I could hear festive music being carried on the wind. An NPC at the entrance explained that this was Festival Town.

“They’re selling shaved ice.”

“Candy apples too. And I daresay, look at all the lanterns—it looks like fun!”

“The problem is that it feels a bit sparse when we’re the only players here. Even with all the NPCs.”

It was lively, sure, but it didn’t have that cramped, chaotic feeling you’d get from a real festival. If I had to say, it was like a somewhat run-down festival that had seen better days. They say a festival’s true atmosphere came from the crowd... Maybe they were right about that.

Well, I’m sure this place will fill up eventually.

“But it does look fun. Why don’t we enjoy the atmosphere?”

“Sure, why not.”

“I like this sort of vibe. It’s a nice place.”

“It feels like we’re on a holiday.”

There were wooden buildings alongside the stalls. We saw an inn, and what seemed to be a few restaurants...alongside a building so packed with NPCs it was nigh impossible to get in.

“What’s that, I daresay?”

“Umm...”

“Freak show.”

Sheryl climbed on a nearby ladder, glancing down at the scene.

Freak show? What’s that?

“Freak?”

“They show off curiosities.”

“Uh-huh...”

“Curiosities...? I don’t get what’s so curious about them, but there are so many NPCs we can’t even get in.”

“Maybe it’s the sort of event where it clears out at nightfall?”

Sounds standard enough, but shouldn’t we figure out what’s on display before we jump in?

On that note, the sign...seemed to show a woman wearing a robe of feathers.

Is she supposed to be like an angel? This seems like an obvious quest flag.

“I’m not so sure... Either way, we will probably be questing out of here for a while.”

“I’ll gather some intel around town and check the quest counter!”

“So we gotta find the right quest to get into that place, right?! Therese! The hunt is on!”

“Jeez, L’Arc, calm down.”

“Yeah, yeah. Then I’ll let L’Arc and Therese handle that. As for me...”

“I daresay, there aren’t any rivers or wells in Festival Town, milord.”

“Shall we take the carriage back to the last town?”

Yamikage pointed out a sobering fact, while Shouko was already thinking ahead.

“You underestimate me, Yamikage. I already know there’s a place to fish right here.”

“Is there really?”

“Come on, people. There’s only one place the little lady could go.”

L’Arc caught on faster than anyone else. His eyes were locked onto the right place as he said it. Yep, right on the mark.

“Heh heh heh...” I led everyone along to the closest...goldfish scooping stall.

“That’s not a fishing spot, I daresay!”

Oh, isn’t it?

“Welcome on in! Goldfish scooping is ten Serin per go!”

“Here.”

I handed ten Serin over to the NPC.

“Pleasure doing business with you!”

I was handed three scoops. But instead of using them, I dropped my line into the tank...

“Kizuna...”

“I daresay, this is a disease at this point.”

“Just what I expected from you, Kizzy!”

Is it just me, or are they looking at me like I’ve lost it? I mean, there’s water right here!

“Kizuna, why don’t you play it normally? I doubt you’re going to find a lord in there.”

“Oh, are you sure about that?”

“Hey now, we can’t have that in here!” the NPC cried out. “If you want to fish, use this one—it’s thirty Serin a round.”

I promptly had a toy fishing rod shoved into my hands.

A hidden event? Here? This would’ve been quite a tricky event to find. I was just doing a bit...!

“Another hidden feature, I daresay.”

“It’s impressive that they accounted for someone trying to fish in the goldfish tank.”

“I’ll be! How many things did they throw into this game?”

“I thought Kizzy’s actions would defy expectations, but they already had a quest ready for him. It really is a surprise.”

Ignoring them, I borrowed the toy rod and dipped the line.

It’s light...but I can feel the tug!

“Fish on!”

I successfully pulled up a goldfish.

“Hey, everyone! I caught a goldfish!”

“Of course you did...”

“I daresay, I’m too tired to retort.”

It was basically a fishing pond at this point. But only for goldfish. At best... I could expect to catch a fancy one.

“All right, Kizuna, you can stay here and fish. We will be searching for quests.”

“Got it.”

So we split up, and I continued dropping my line at the goldfish scooping stall.

Getting to the results, I ended up catching a wide variety of goldfish: ryukin, demekin, and even edo nishiki. I also caught a loach, a turtle, and a frog.

Pond sliders are banned in Japan, I think... I guess it’s to fit with the traditional setting.

In the time I spent fishing, Shouko and the others managed to find a bunch of new quests. From delivery quests to hunting quests, there were plenty to go around.

“No luck finding anything about the freak show, though... We’ll keep looking,” L’Arc reported before getting right back to the hunt.

“Defeating the Wicked Kappa boss did unlock a follow-up quest,” said Shouko. “It was only a delivery quest, though.”

“Yeah. We just had to turn in a few shirikodamas and it was over.”

“Enchantment hint.”

“Right, I think we should bring some shirikodamas over to Alto. They’ll unlock some new enchantments.”

Oh, so the real reward for the quest was the hint.

“If Romina clears this quest with us, she might unlock some new forging recipes. That smith guy seemed pretty interested.”

“Right. They said something about needing someone with smithing skills.”

“Well, no rush. We can quest out of here for a while. Let’s call over Romina later.”

“Sounds like a plan!”

Over the next few days, we defeated monsters around town and collected items, completing the local quests. I stuck to the goldfish scooping stall, clinging to the faint hopes of catching a secret Goldfish Lord.

And I did! I caught a massive goldfish with a shimmering nishiki pattern! I had everyone floored.

Dismantling it got me Low-Tier King materials; it seemed to be a lord on the same level as the herring.

Moving over to a different relay town felt like a pain, so I continued fishing at the tank and made out with a Loach Lord too. It was another member of the Low-Tier King series. But despite the quality, crafting something from the materials didn’t sound like a terrible idea.

We checked out a nearby mining site too. There, you just had to press a drill against the excavation points and start the motor to get ores. Sheryl lent me a drill to chip away at the rock. The only new metal we found was Magic Iron. Stalactites and rubies fell into the gemstone category.

“We’ve really loaded up with supplies.”

“I daresay.”

She wasn’t wrong. We’d gathered up a lot of supplies at the new relay point.

When I used my lord privileges to check the list of available gear, I saw that the equipment here was listed as part of the Festival Series. The effects were purely cosmetic—basically joke gear.

Still, while in town, I went ahead and put on a happi coat to go along with the festive spirit. I mean, it was a festival, after all. Might as well be happy, right?

With a mask on my head and the air of an everlasting fair around me, I kicked back and thought, This is a good town.

“Where the heck is the quest for this place?” L’Arc complained as he eyed the freak show that was still too crowded to enter day or night.

“Maybe it’s part of a chain quest?”

“Probably. Or maybe it’s tied to a future update.”

“Dang it... We’ve come this far—I’m gonna find it no matter what.”

Apparently, he couldn’t brute force his way in.

He sure is persistent. Does he really want to get in that badly?

“Anyway... I need to head back to Cal Mira for a bit. What about you guys?”

I’d done plenty of hunting with everyone. It was about time to check in on things back on the island.

“You still rack up points when you do stuff back on the island,” said Tsumugi. “It’ll help with the next checkpoint.”

Shouko went on, “It’s starting to feel a bit repetitive here anyway. Helping you out sounds like a nice change of pace. That fish dragon you mentioned is still out there, and I doubt the others can handle it without us.”

“Checking on things over there sounds like a good idea, I daresay!” Yamikage exclaimed.

“And we eat like royalty around you, bro.”

Eel, crab, and more... Lately, I’d been serving up some pretty high-end meals. The bar for satisfying my gluttonous sister was rising.

Sure, there were still a few rare ingredients I hadn’t cooked up yet, but...

“Aight, this time we’ll be questing over here. You take the others, little lady. We’re rotating out from last time, so it works out just right.”

“Got it. We’ll let you handle things.”

No one questioned me at that moment. Or more accurately, I hadn’t even pieced it together myself.

For the record, let me just state that everything traces back to that Merchant of Death.

“Yes.”

“I was just wanting some crab gear. Let’s go!”

“I’m starting to miss the ship, I daresay.”

Everyone agreed without hesitation.

Save for a silent Sheryl.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing...”

Only Sheryl seemed to have an inkling of what lay ahead of us.

Chapter 8: Crab Trapping

We returned to the ship, then to Cal Mira, and finally to Alto’s side. Romina was absolutely thrilled when I handed over all the materials. I also arranged for her to take on some quests at the relay point Festival Town.

“Hey! There’s an all-you-can-eat crab buffet running in Cal Mira! They’re even selling canned crab!” Tsumugi cried out, practically bouncing with excitement.

What’s gotten into you? You’re already eating crab almost every day.

After that, we hauled Alto on board and set out fishing.

Two days later, in a region of the sea speckled with drifting ice...

“Aight! Here’s today’s haul!”

Yamikage, Sheryl, and Tsumugi looked dead-eyed as they silently carried the freshly caught crabs and fish I’d hauled in down to the storage below deck.

In the time it took me to reset all the traps, we’d repositioned the ship and boiled the crabs. Boiling crabs didn’t require any particular technique, so even the Pekkles could do it. Yet still, it contributed to my Culinary Art skill.

Every burner in the ship’s kitchen was roaring with fire, boiling crab after crab. Once boiled, the crabs would be handed over to other Pekkles and to my party members, who would process them into canned crab and other products.

Thus, the cycle continued.

At first, Tsumugi had been having fun with it, but over time, I could see the life draining from her eyes.

“What even is this, I daresay?!” Yamikage finally snapped.

You’re a bit late on that one. You’ve been at it for two whole days, you know.

“When is this quest gonna end?! This is dragging way too long!” My sister came out with some nonsense.

“Huh? Quest?” I responded.

Quest? Did we have one of those? If she’s talking about the island lord quest, we finished that up before we reunited...

Although that quest renewed itself every so often, I’d already cleared the latest batch.

I glanced at Alto, my head cocked in confusion. Then, for some reason, he averted his eyes.

So he’s up to something again.

“Hold on a bit. Bro. This isn’t a quest?”

“It seems...the truth has come out at last.”

Alto finally pulled back the curtain.

I’d thought it was odd that they were putting up with this without a single complaint—as it turns out, they’d been tricked all along.

“We’re just processing crab for the buffet...” I explained.

Even L’Arc hadn’t been keen on helping out once we got things up and running.

“Huh? That was a player-run shop?!” Tsumugi gasped.

“I daresay, why are we doing this?!” Yamikage asked.

“It’s all to earn money,” Alto replied.

“This isn’t a quest, I daresay?!” Yamikage yelled.

“Oh, so that’s what you thought it was?” I asked.

Last time, L’Arc, Alto, and I handled the island lord quest by ourselves. Maybe they felt bad about that and assumed they were helping out with the next one.

By the way, the canned crab worked as an emergency ration. It was also an ingredient in healing potions, and, thanks to our steady supply, high-quality recovery items had started to circulate on the market. At some point, players started calling them...crab potions. They were being made by a player who had a contract with Alto and good compounding skills.

The boiled crabs went to the buffet while the scraps went to make more crab gear. Romina’s made her fair share of crab gear by now.

Truth be told, that gear required a massive amount of materials to make, but as long as we kept processing enough crab, they were surprisingly easy to throw together.

According to Romina, this wasn’t the original way it was supposed to be made; this was a work-around like the empty can business model. The real materials came from giant crab-type monsters that spawned on a nearby island. Although the quest definitely unlocked the gear, the island was the main unlock.

The issue, however, was that those crab monsters were terrible for EXP farming. To make matters worse, they, being crabs, had insanely high defense, making their hunting ground pretty unpopular. Only parties specialized in lightning magic would hunt them for some pocket change, and even then, it wasn’t a prime spot. There were plenty of spots far more lucrative for those parties.

To make matters worse, since we started selling crab-related products for dirt cheap, fewer and fewer people bothered to hunt them. The island turned into a dead map, not entirely uncommon in MMOs.

To put a positive spin on it, it was a quiet, isolated space where you could enjoy a sense of solitude. A dreamy fantasy beach.

“Why are we running a crab cannery ship when this isn’t even a quest, I daresay?!”

“I’m surprised you knew about that,” I replied.

The Crab Cannery Ship was a miserable old novel that depicted people suffering under terrible working conditions.

“Yeah, exactly! I’m sick of crab already!”

“Say what you want, but it’s thanks to us that the whole Cal Mira crab industry’s thriving, you know.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll split the earnings, of course. The crab buffet is insanely popular. People keep eating even when they’re full.”

“This is the dark side of the game system, I daresay! Since they can eat past full, it’s becoming a habit for them to engorge themselves up to the last second!”

Bingo. The mastermind behind the growing crab buffet empire on Cal Mira was none other than Alto.

The item he introduced me to—the one that kicked off my whole trapping arc—was an installable crab trap. With Alto’s connections and my wealth, we set up so many crab traps underwater that to anyone who could see them, it might as well have been an island. We’d been running an all-you-can-eat buffet and completing quests with the crabs caught in those traps.

Of course, we did some net fishing on the side, but it had become a whole industry at this point. Thanks to that, my trapping skills...rose incredibly fast. Wherever proficiency was concerned.

“Why, Yamikage,” said Alto, “you were all going on about how useful traps were, so I figured I’d let you participate so you could pick up the skill yourself should the need ever arise...”

Setting up crab traps was a huge hassle and cost a ton of money.

However, since I took a week installing them across various locations, the infrastructure was in place. Harvesting the crabs wasn’t too difficult. Resetting the bait was a bit of a pain, but hey, it was all part of the fun.

“None of your business! I daresay, what is this overwhelming list of achievements?! If I had the mana, I would be able to pick up advanced trapping skills right this instant. Even Sir L’Arc fled the moment he heard we were going to do this quest!”

“Impressive, right? I’m not so sure what to do about L’Arc... He did help out up to about halfway through.”

“I completely forgot... If my brother gets into a slow-life game, the entire screen gets packed with automated systems! He’s the kinda guy who sets up a ridiculous number of facilities that work on their own time!”

“It’s efficient,” I retorted.

“But there’s a limit to that! Remember when you took it so far the game crashed?! In that awful farming game?!”

She went and brought up my dark history. Once, in a farming simulator, I set up so many convenient systems that the game lagged out and corrupted my save file. I’d put so much effort into it that I was depressed for an entire day.

Apparently, the devs never accounted for someone filling every bit of available real estate with automaters. Sure, the game had beautiful graphics and a cozy rural atmosphere—but that became its downfall.

If the graphics had been simpler—say, spritework or low-poly 3D—my machine would have probably handled it.

Yes...I’m still a little bitter about it.

“Shut it. I’ve forgotten all about that!”

“Slow-life games, eh?” muttered Alto. “In most cases, you can never actually take it too easy. The protagonist always ends up with a packed schedule. Even I didn’t think you’d take it this far, Kizuna.”

He was right about that. In those farm management games, even if you wake up at dawn and work to the dead of night, there’s still never enough time. And going about it the conventional way means you’ll be working to the bone forever.

Trying to imitate that in real life would be a fast track to dying from overwork.

Even in games without farming—like the ones where you just interact with animal villagers—the protagonist is still sent running all over town on endless errands. Catching bugs and fishing until midnight just becomes the norm. In a way, perhaps that was just the fate of all slow-life games.

The only reason we could keep this up was that Dimension Wave was a game as well. We’d all be beyond exhausted if we were doing this with our own flesh and blood.

“You’re lying!” Tsumugi shouted, her finger pointed squarely at the merchant. “You knew exactly how my brother is!”

“Milord may seem like the mastermind at first glance, but it was Sir Alto pulling the strings all along! It’s exactly as I expected!”

By the way, I’d swapped out Brave Pekkle’s headgear for a beret to give him a military drill sergeant vibe. This is a workplace where Pekkle dreams go to die... That’s the kind of vibe I was going for. Yamikage and the others? They might as well have been prisoners.

“Well yeah! What else is new?”

“You Merchant of Death!”

I won’t deny it; that’s how Alto is. The fact that he acknowledges it himself, though...

“Are you telling me you and my bro have stockpiled enough crabs to feed every player in the game?!”

“Ha ha ha, I wouldn’t...say you’re wrong!”

At least try to deny it, my guy.

“This is an MMO, you see. If someone’s doing well or making good money, you’ll find imitators in no time at all. But crab trap fishing requires a considerable investment with the current market prices.”

True. Each individual crab trap was pretty expensive. And we bought...about a thousand of them, give or take. Alto kept on bringing in materials to make them and sometimes just bought more of the traps themselves. I’d lost track of how many we actually had.

I learned how to make them myself, you know.

For now, my routine was to collect all the deployed traps, refill the bait, and reset them. If I had any spare traps lying around, I’d add them to the system. Traps had to be left sitting for a certain amount of time before they could catch anything. Thankfully, I was able to use that waiting time to play around with Shouko and the others. Of course, the type of fish or crab and the quantity depended on where you placed the traps and how long you waited.

“And more than anything, even retrieving the traps becomes a huge hassle with this volume. Only someone as diligent as Kizuna could even hope to imitate this.”

“Yeah, I know!” I said proudly.

“I daresay, what I’m asking is why we’re the ones being made to do it!”

Yeah, I could see where Yamikage was coming from. I had thought they were being weirdly cooperative, but it turns out they’d assumed it was another quest.

“Sorry about that.”

“Nah, it’s mostly that Merchant of Death’s fault. Don’t worry about it.”

Wow, my little sister forgave me. Thanks to Alto being more than happy to play the villain, I guess. Or rather, she just understands how I play.

“With that said, there are some people mimicking us on a smaller scale.”

Perhaps in an attempt to change the topic, Alto brought up the other players.

As he previously brought up, Dimension Wave was an MMO. Whenever someone came up with a successful strategy to get rich or skilled, others would inevitably try to copy them. To copy would mean to get stronger or richer faster, after all.

Of course, good hunting grounds, powerful skills, and useful items were quickly discovered and widely adopted. Even skills with quirky acquisition methods tended to spread a lot quicker than you’d think. Although large-scale crab fishing was hard to replicate because of the startup costs, there were still some people trying to copy it.

It was the same with skill builds. If a weapon type was easy to predict, its optimal skill configuration would be quickly shared. Shouko and Tsumugi were famous as powerful players, with some people switching to fans and scythes because of them. For those two, a large part of their strength came from player skill, so I wouldn’t recommend blindly imitating them. Still, it was human nature to want to copy skilled players.

On the other hand, someone who didn’t get copied...was Yamikage. Although she was our party’s primary magician, Yamikage’s output was quite clearly below average when level or Energy was equalized. Her skill build was more suited for the curious sorts. In other words, it was a gimmick build.

If you wanted a traditional magician, Therese was a better example to follow. If played properly, her offenses were simply stronger than Yamikage’s, though she tended to hold back to avoid drawing enemy aggro. Yamikage, on the other hand, had the reflexes to dodge attacks even if she did get targeted.

Since she fought alongside Shouko and Tsumugi, some players did try to copy her, but they found the build weak and unsustainable. They wound up quitting before long.

Wait... Does that mean that Yamikage is actually pretty amazing...?

“Personally, I don’t mind it. Honestly, it’d be a lot easier if you could just look up a guide. Then again, the slow spread of information is what makes certain things profitable.”

The game did not allow players to log out and check strategy guides. There were message boards in the cities that functioned a bit like online forums, but they were nowhere as convenient as having the whole internet at your disposal.

“That doesn’t mean scalping is okay,” Sheryl retorted to cut off Alto’s sophistry.

This guy made a fortune through reselling. Scalping has a pretty bad reputation. It’s not outright illegal, just a gray area, so there’s not much we can do...but still. It’s not a good word to be associated with—especially in a VR game, where people meet face-to-face. It’s easier to get into fights over that stuff.

“Well, what do you want me to do? Browsing the marketplace is a hobby to me just like Kizuna’s fishing. If I see something significantly lower than market value, I buy it even if I don’t need it.”

Hmm... That’s a tricky one. I’m not sure if I can fault him for it. He’s not exactly breaking any rules.

Plus, it was because Alto was always scouring the marketplace that we were managing to get items and equipment at good prices... It did add a bit of excitement to the game.

And wait, I didn’t know you were doing that.

Despite everything, Alto was diligent in his own way. Since shopping didn’t grant any experience or proficiency, it was purely a gold-making strategy.

“But I’ve had enough of crabs!”

“Kizuna!”

Suddenly, Shouko stormed in from the deck, raising her voice to join in the protest.

Looks like it’s time to call it a wrap, I thought with a sigh. By the way, Sheryl had already caught on. A white whale lover like her probably figured it out almost instantly.

She too wanted to hunt marine creatures that would make certain conservationists red with rage, so she was on Alto’s side. Even now, she was probably on the lookout for whale-type monsters. But aside from the Dimension White Whale, we’d yet to run into any of them.

“Hmm... How about some oysters, dear Tsumugi? We even have fresh ones!”

“Oysters?!”

My sister was a simple soul. Indeed...we could harvest oysters too.

With the aquaculture we’d set up, we’d soon be able to open an all-you-can-eat oyster buffet. Actually, a full seafood buffet would be ideal.

“Don’t fall for it! Oysters are delicious, I daresay! But you can just eat them when you want to eat them! Why must we be the ones gathering them?!”

Yamikage quickly snapped back to her senses and avoided my appeal. She savored good food but didn’t let it control her. That was probably one of her strengths.

“Too bad, Kizuna.”

“I’m honestly surprised that that easily distracted sister of mine actually put in this much effort. By the way, this raises fishing proficiency too.”

“I didn’t want to raise it, I daresay! Stop trying to make a fishing comrade out of me!”

I see...that’s a shame. I always wanted a junior fisherman.

But now, I’d at least gotten everyone enough proficiency that we could all go on a fishing trip if they were in the mood for it.

“Well then, how about we hunt some fish dragons? We could use some more materials.”

Between the crab hauling, we took breaks to fight the fish dragons together. It helped relieve some of the stress. Sheryl wielded her harpoon with dauntless courage, and of course, Shouko and Tsumugi helped out too.

Man, those things are massive, but once you get a lure in their mouth, it’s pretty easy to control their movements.

For the record, their meat tasted like eel, much to Tsumugi’s delight.

I was looking forward to handing the materials off to Romina and seeing what sort of equipment we could get out of them.

“I daresay we tie Sir Alto to the bow and use him as bait!” Yamikage declared.

“Heck yeah!” Tsumugi responded.

“That sounds reasonable enough,” I replied.

“Kizuna?!”

For some reason, Alto wasn’t fully on board with the idea. But he’d sown plenty; it was time to reap.

“Kizuna is just as guilty!”

“Ultimately, yes.”

Even though I didn’t know what was going on, thinking about how I’d wasted everyone’s precious days working on a crab boat for something that wasn’t even a quest... I could understand why they were so upset. If it had been L’Arc, he would have been furious with me.

“I’m not particularly upset at him, given the circumstances...”

Shouko was kind enough to say that.

But, as we were messing around...

“Urgent Message from Mikakage.”

“Oh? What? An event?”

A global announcement went out to all players. It was the same kind of notification as when Cal Mira opened up for the first time.

“Maybe some player managed to build up a second Cal Mira?”

“In Mikakage?”

That country, huh... If that’s the case, things might finally quiet down around here. Maybe we should do some touristy stuff for once.

“We of Mikakage have just confirmed an invasion by the Demon Lord’s Army. While the nation is mustering its forces to resist, we are short on numbers. Please, adventurers, we humbly ask for your assistance.”

“Ah...this is probably some large-scale event like a Dimension Wave. An army subjugation quest, maybe?”

“Yeah, probably. Maybe the rest of the players will get unrestricted access if we manage to clear it.”

“As a token of our appreciation, any adventurer who assists will have their visa rank increased based on their contributions. We look forward to your participation.”

The message was repeated a few times.

“Increasing the visa... So they can just cross a few more checkpoints...”

“Most regular players are still struggling to get past the first checkpoint, you know? You’re all just moving too fast, Kizuna. You could say we were the ones blocking progress, though.”

Oh, so this is a side effect of me completing almost all of Cal Mira’s trade quests.

The problem was that those quests were designed for most players to be able to clear them in time with relative ease. It had only been about two weeks since we gained access to Mikakage—and then this announcement? Those quests definitely weren’t meant to be completed that quickly. Besides, the monsters themselves hadn’t gotten that much stronger yet.

“On the way back to the ship, I saw some players around the second checkpoint. I think those are the frontliners.”

So there are already some players at the river relay point...the one before Festival Town, huh.

We couldn’t underestimate the rate the frontliners were progressing. And considering they were combat specialists, their levels had to be high.

“So, what are we going to do, Kizuna?”

“We’re participating, of course. It looks like we just have to head to Mikakage. L’Arc and Therese should contact us soon.”

“Anything’s better than being on a crab cannery ship, I daresay!”

“Yeah!”

I didn’t mind spending my time like this, but when an event popped up, the event took priority. In the first place, the crab traps needed to be left out for a while. We could just come back to check on them later.

“You’re all so cold to me. Even when we’ve been together for so long.”

“You can just keep fishing forever, I daresay!”

“My big brother can be a bit out-there.”

“And yet, Tsumugi, you were the one devouring all the high-class meals your brother cooked for you.”

Shouko was pretty restrained. She ate a perfectly normal portion of eel and didn’t overindulge in crab either. The one who ate the most was definitely Tsumugi. She had the right to complain about me, but I could at least call her out for it.

“Let’s end things here before everyone starts hating me. I’ll just keep everything else I did with L’Arc a secret.”

“...”

Sheryl, what’s that silence supposed to mean?

“Milord, I daresay I must admit it’s impressive how you can keep doing this without getting bored.”

“It’s important to put effort into things that seem pointless. If efficiency was all that mattered, none of us would be playing games in the first place.”

“Erk... I can’t argue with that, I daresay!”

Despite everything, Yamikage was a gamer. She understood that enjoying the game was the whole point of it.

“Sheryl doesn’t seem the least bit fazed. Maybe this is the difference between players who focus on crafting skills and those who love combat.”

“So in the end, we are the battle junkies... Sir L’Arc...curse you...”

Yamikage took Shouko’s words to heart. Meanwhile, L’Arc got put on her hit list.

“We should be grateful to Romina and Sheryl,” Shouko concluded.

“What about me?” Alto chimed in.

“And me?” I added.

“Please act in a way that actually deserves gratitude.”

Oof... Looks like we crossed a line.

Even among gamers playing the same game, everyone comes in with a different mindset.

“Well, thanks to you, milord, I managed to meet the requirements for trap detection. It wasn’t a total waste, I daresay.”

“Since we spent so much time on the ship, our ocean-related skills increased too.”

The way she stuck up for me was one of Yamikage’s good points.

In the end, no one really came down too hard on me. It seemed, despite everything, they’d still had some fun.

“Then let’s start by returning to Cal Mira. We’ll get our gear in order before setting off for Mikakage.”

“Yeah!”

With that, we set course for Cal Mira, then Mikakage.

Chapter 9: Party Quest

“Where are they holding the Demon Lord Army subjugation quest?”

As soon as we arrived in Mikakage, we set off to find where we could take part in the event.

“Ah, there’s a crowd at the checkpoint. Maybe over there?” Shouko pointed to a crowd.

A large number of players were gathered around an unfamiliar sign and an unfamiliar NPC.

“Oh? Finally here, little lady?”

L’Arc was already there. We approached just in time for the NPC’s explanation of the event.

The NPC’s recount told us the following:

First, the invasion would occur in about two days.

Second, the battlefield would be divided into four zones, with players split into four groups to defend against advancing enemies.

Third, even players in the same party could randomly end up in different zones.

Fourth, once assigned to a zone, it would be impossible to move to a different one.

Finally, if players successfully fended off the invading forces, the quest would be considered complete.

“Looks like the kinda event where you have to form a temporary party once you’re on the battlefield.”

“Yeah, it happens now and then. Those events that really push you to meet new people.”

Online games did occasionally hold these kinds of cooperative events that encouraged players to team up with strangers. These were events for players who only went on adventures with their usual parties and didn’t interact with anyone outside the friend group. The idea was that new experiences came from meeting new people.

Come to think of it, we’ve mostly stuck to the same party ever since we started traveling together, though that’s mainly because of Cal Mira.

“So there’s a chance I won’t be fighting alongside you, Kizuna?”

“Sounds like it. I’m not too confident in my ability to fight properly.”

At the very least, I wasn’t great in direct combat. Most of the time, I was supporting Shouko and Tsumugi from the back line with a bow or fishing rod.

Of course, I could hold my own decently well with dismantling weapons, but it was the weapons doing the heavy lifting there. I myself wasn’t contributing too much. Though I could handle weaker enemies, I’d have to resolve to lose some Energy against the stronger foes.

I wasn’t particularly good at dodging either. In VR games, action mechanics became a huge factor since you had to actually move your body in a virtual world. I could understand why it was like that—if it played like a traditional RPG where your accuracy depended on an arbitrary hit rate rather than your actual actions, it would ruin the immersion.

Dimension Wave followed the same logic. And unfortunately, my player skill wasn’t anywhere near Shouko’s or Tsumugi’s level.

In the early days of VR, there were some games where just lightly brushing against an enemy would register as an attack and deal damage. People would just spam tiny, rapid hits to efficiently take down foes. That kind of system eventually got phased out as the genre evolved.

“Well, what’s the harm? It’s important to take on challenges with different people now and then.”

“Right. Having a fixed party is nice, but this is an event. It’s such a waste not to enjoy meeting new people.”

L’Arc and Therese had a point, but...our party did have a few who weren’t great at socializing. Namely, Yamikage and Sheryl.

Yamikage had it bad enough that she went around announcing her own communication problems, and Sheryl... Well, she expected people to just pick up on what she was trying to say.

“If I end up in a different field, I daresay, I shall fight in complete silence,” the socially awkward ninja flat-out declared.

Come on. At least try to form a temporary party.

“Uh-huh...” the other difficult person concurred.

“With my bro, even if he’s alone, can’t he just call up the Pekkles to fight? In fact, everyone’s got a Pekkle.”

“Yeah, I can see the little lady summoning them if he’s in a pinch.”

Well...Pekkles were pretty much the only in-game pet, and while everyone had only one of them, I could call up a whole bunch.

Honestly, they could be more useful than a random temporary party that I couldn’t coordinate with... The only issue was that I wasn’t great at fighting in the first place. Still, if I used the Pekkles as shields and had Brave Pekkle take the vanguard, maybe I’d actually manage.

And I’ve been using traps too, lately... Let’s hope this works out.

“Hmm... In that case, I should stock up on some extra recovery items. That’s a safe bet.”

Alto, ever the merchant, had no intention of stepping onto the battlefield himself. Same old, same old.

“Hey, with the Merchant of Death around, we’ll have a better chance of stumbling into someone we’re at least familiar with.”

“Ha ha, nice try. If I set foot on the battlefield, there’s a high chance I’ll be MPK’d before anything else.”

So he’s fully aware that he’s got enemies.

“At least you get it.”

“Alto, you should consider running your business in a way that earns you some goodwill for once.”

“I daresay. Honestly, we were debating whether or not to make you walk the plank on the way here.”

At some point I wasn’t privy to, they’d apparently discussed executing Alto.

“You’re surrounded on all sides, Alto.”

“Can’t hear you.”

The merchant had some thick skin. I could never let my guard down around him. Honestly.

“We all need to get prepared; that much is clear. So, where exactly is that quest taking place?” Romina asked.

This time, Romina had joined us. Or rather, we needed her to clear Mikakage’s quests quickly to increase the scope of her smithing. Since this was a large-scale event, we wanted to be as well-equipped as possible.

“If it’s the quest you want, just leave it to us! Therese and I will show you all the ropes!” L’Arc said.

“Yep, yep. I’m curious to see what kind of reward Rommy will get,” Therese added.

“Alto, make sure you’re stocked up. That’s what we’re paying you for, after all.”

“Naturally. There’s no benefit in slacking off in business outside of my personal ventures. I’ll also gather intel on the other players and set things up so we can complete the event efficiently.”

His information was usually trustworthy when it came to this sort of thing. Of course, he was probably going to keep most of the profitable details to himself.

Chapter 10: The Demon Lord Defense

First things first, we led Romina around Mikakage and helped her complete her quest within the day. Just as expected, the rewards included a few new crafting recipes that required someone with high smithing skills.

With even more possible evolutions of existing items, the variety of what she could craft had increased even further. Romina seemed to be growing more and more.

Alto, meanwhile, exchanged information with the other players to identify those who could take command if the need arose.

With plenty of healing potions and other essentials to go around, we braced ourselves for the impending invasion of the Demon Lord.

“It’s not just weapons; there are loads of different armor too.”

“Even just a slight boost in performance is enough.”

Shouko had apparently layered Red Iron Bear fur over her Quake-Quelling Haori to increase its durability. From what she told me, the process also added fire resistance.

L’Arc and Tsumugi had done something similar to their equipment too. The ornamentation on their crab gear had changed, making them look a little more extravagant. This equipment—according to my sister’s explanation—increased attack power.

“Uh-huh.”

For some reason, Sheryl looked a little proud of herself.

Was I supposed to say something about the noble’s outfit and captain’s hat she’d put on?

After staring at Sheryl, I glanced at Romina and got a wry smile from her.

“You keep bringing all sorts of lord materials to the workshop, see? She took a liking to the design and the specs are good, so she decided to go with it.”

And...that leaves Yamikage, Therese, and me.

We hadn’t made any real changes to our gear. Therese seemed to be holding off on an upgrade, since she cared more about the aesthetics.

“I really like what I’m wearing right now.”

“I daresay, when will I get an equipment upgrade?”

“If you want one, why don’t you just get one?”

“The equipment you crafted for me is still top-tier, I daresay!”

Back when we had it made, we’d used the best materials we could get our hands on. We were super picky about its performance too. Not to mention all the bonus effects were perfectly tailored to Yamikage’s skill set.

If I’m being honest...her equipment might just be the sort of thing the frontliners are secretly drooling over.

Even though the update brought new equipment, it wasn’t a big enough improvement for her to warrant a replacement.

I was in a similar situation... No, technically, I did have something that...could be considered an upgrade. It was the sort of equipment so absurd that everyone refrained from bringing it up.

“If you want one that badly, we have just the thing...” I said. “As long as you don’t mind how it looks.”

Everyone averted their eyes. Even my little sister, as carefree as she was, wouldn’t dare touch that joke equipment. It was an armor piece developed using the Pekkle Costume. Indeed, we had advanced beyond mere Pekkles—into the Kappa Costume.

As the name suggested, it was crafted from kappa materials and took on the shape of a cartoonish kappa mascot costume.

Hey, Pekkles and Kappas both have beaks, and they’re both good at swimming. They...might be related... The sixth installment of that fantasy series had a status effect that changed you into a kappa, didn’t it? There’s nothing wrong with looking like a kappa.

Anyway, unlike the somewhat underwhelming Pekkle Costume, the Kappa Costume boasted some of the highest stats of all the armor we possessed. Perhaps owing to the shell, it had exceptional defense and insane water resistance. It even kept all the fishing boosts of its predecessor, making it an outstanding piece of gear...if you ignored how it looked.

It also had a unique ability called Shirikodama Extraction, and eating cucumbers granted a healing effect... It pretty much turned you into a complete kappa. If only it hadn’t looked like a mascot costume from an amusement park or a sushi restaurant, it would have been perfect.

Seriously, what were the devs thinking when they threw it into the game? I mean, I get it. Stuff like this isn’t exactly uncommon in an MMO.

I’d apparently unlocked the crafting recipe as a bonus reward for one of the quests in the quest chain from finding our first kappa to beating the boss kappa. Since all its enhancement materials were dropped from kappas, it was incredibly easy to upgrade too.

“I mean, it’d be funny if I used it. But nah.”

“It’s time for your personality to shine, Yammy!”

“We even have a special scroll for Yamikage to use.”

With that, Romina handed Yamikage a scroll that, at a glance, looked like a perfectly ordinary cucumber. It formed an equipment set with the Kappa Costume, boosting the effects of both items even higher.

“I refuse to be a walking joke, I daresay!” Yamikage threw a fit.

“We don’t know what might come up, so I’ll stow it away for now. We just need to pull it out if we need it. I mean, it’s not bad enough to throw in the trash, right?”

“True, but I don’t want to be a laughingstock, I daresay!”

“Honestly, Kizuna, I think you’ve reached the point where no one would dare laugh at your group.”

“True, true. If Kizzy and the others wore a few of these, everyone would probably hop on the bandwagon. It’d be the latest trend.”

So even Therese agrees...

We were somehow riding our wave of success and enjoying the game to a ridiculous extent. If we walked around wearing these things, people would probably assume that something was up.

Anyway, just to be safe, I stashed the Kappa Costume in my inventory.

“It’s about time I cracked down and started forging some more weapons. Unfortunately, I don’t have everything I need yet. If you do some more lord fishing, we might make some progress in the weapon upgrades. That’s how things seem to go.”

Heh heh, how’s that? I’ve got Romina’s seal of approval, I thought smugly as I turned to the others. All I got were frowns and furrowed brows.

“I understand that Kizuna’s dismantling knife is incredible,” Shouko hesitantly said.

“But if we’re talking about pure attack power,” Tsumugi chimed in, “our weapons aren’t that far behind, bro!”

“It’s such a beautiful blade, isn’t it? Even I can’t help but want one,” Therese added.

L’Arc and Tsumugi regularly swapped out—or rather, reforged—their scythes to keep up. They weren’t over-enhancing or anything; it was more like they were carrying along their old, trusty comrades and only enhancing them within the range that Romina deemed safe.

My sister’s scythe, being a mix of crab and dragon zombie materials, had begun to take on a rather sinister look that reminded me of a crab’s claws.

Shouko’s weapon was a similar story. The Keystone Fan that had originally come from my catch had been enhanced and evolved into...Keystone Fan 2.

Meanwhile, Sheryl’s Ahab Spear went through what seemed like a natural evolution with Dimension White Whale materials, transforming it into the Moby Dick Spear. It was now imbued with a lightning attribute.

Romina was definitely getting better at weapon enhancement.

Personally, I was planning on asking for an enhanced fishing rod sometime soon. I hadn’t yet encountered any river fish strong enough to consider a worthy foe, but I just knew I’d lose my precious lures if I ever let my guard down.

I’d already asked Alto to help me stock up on lures with elemental attributes.

“Speaking of, you looked like you wanted some new fishing gear, Kizuna, so I went ahead and asked a skilled tackle craftsman to make some for you. He said it was worth the effort if you’re the one using them,” Romina said while handing over two lures.

The first was called the Blue Shark Lure [Thief of Thieves]. It was vaguely shark-shaped and reminded me of the huge one I’d hauled in. As for its effect, it inflicted slash and bleed damage if I got a hit with it.

The other one was a bony, skeleton-looking lure called the White Whale Bone Lure. This one had Bubble Shot and Smack Down...?

“Hey, Romina... What’s with these lures?”

“Something wrong?”

Wrong? Well, yeah... Are they really lures?

Rather than lures, the effects made them seem more like slingshot ammunition or something like that. They were like bullets that had been made somewhat lure-shaped.

And hold on—slash and bleed on hit? Am I supposed to be attacking the fish?

The White Whale Bone Lure was the same. Bubble Shot and Smack Down? Those sounded completely like combat skills.

I could just use them like normal lures. No one said I had to use the skills, but...something just wasn’t sitting right with me. Then again, I’d used the Lure of Light to attack before, so maybe I didn’t have the right to complain.

I’ll just gratefully accept them.

“I’ve made a bunch of other stuff too. Feel free to use them.”

“Thank you for everything.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’ve given me an incredible work environment. I can say with certainty that I would’ve quit blacksmithing if it weren’t for you guys.”

Romina left us with all sorts of useful items.

On another note, I contacted my big sister, Kanade, but she told me that her party’s equipment and supplies were sufficient and that they didn’t need our assistance. Perhaps she was trying to prioritize her relationship with her comrades? They were a high-ranking party (according to Alto), so they probably had their own community and dedicated blacksmith.

With our preparations complete, we waited patiently for the Demon Lord Invasion quest to kick off.

I looked up at the countdown timer.

“It’s almost time.”

“So it seems. Is everyone all set?”

“Of course! We’ve got plenty of crab potions and the best equipment we could manage!”

“Ready to go, I daresay.”

“Uh-huh.”

Now then, how is it going to play out this time? Oh, and I shouldn’t forget about Chris and Brave Pekkle.

Brave Pekkle was a special Pekkle that could be strengthened if you handed him various materials. On top of the normal stuff, we’d been giving him rare and unusual materials that Alto found at street stalls.

Speaking of which, Alto’s appraisal and bargaining skills apparently improved the more he handled unappraised and unfamiliar items. Despite everything, he was working to strengthen himself in his own way.

“Aight then, everyone! If we end up in the same field, I’ll be counting on you!”

“Certainly!”

“Of course, I daresay.”

“Uh-huh.”

The timer hit zero; the quest to repel the Demon Lord’s invasion began.

†

I was instantly transported to the army’s base of operations.

A swamp...huh. It’s a strange battlefield with countless puddles of water.

In the distance, I could see what looked like hordes of monsters on the opposite side, ready to advance on us. Based on the event description, this was a defensive battle. We had to prevent the destruction of the checkpoint and the defensive wall behind us.

And at the same time, we had to defeat the Demon Lord Army’s general while holding the line—that would signal the end of the quest.

The strategy itself is pretty straightforward, I thought. But just then, a blast of heavy rain began coming down from above, lasting for around thirty seconds.

What the...?

The rain let up quickly, and it didn’t seem like anything had happened.

“First off, let’s discuss personnel...” the person who’d been designated as a leader said while raising his hand. Then, he saw me. “Oh? If it isn’t the island lord and Fishing Master, Kizzy.”

As soon as he called out to me, all eyes turned in my direction.

“Don’t call me Kizzy! I mostly just fish, so I’m not that strong in combat, but I’ll do my best. And yeah, I know that I get through my problems by throwing money at them. You don’t need to tell me.”

“Oh, what a humble Fishing Master we have here. All right, everyone. Don’t bully her too much.”

There was a bit of light laughter and a smattering of applause. The mood didn’t seem too bad.

“And you’ve got the Reaper Ninja with you too? Looks like we hit the jackpot.”

I followed the leader’s gaze to the ninja with the ominous nickname.

“A-A pleasure, I daresay...”

Of course, it was Yamikage. Judging by her reaction, she didn’t seem to know why she’d gotten that nickname.

She looked...well, pretty nervous. I didn’t need an expert eye to tell that.

“It seems we are on the same battlefield, milord,” Yamikage said, stepping closer to me.

“What about Shouko and Tsumugi?”

“I daresay, I haven’t seen them.”

And just then, a chat request came in from Shouko.

“Kizuna, Kizuna, can you hear me?” Shouko asked.

“Loud and clear. Did you end up somewhere else? I think I’m in some kind of swamp.”

“Yes, it seems like it. The battlefield here is like a prairie. I am with Tsumugi.”

With Tsumugi, huh. That’s pretty unbalanced. We’d sure as heck have an easier time if either of them were here.

“And Sheryl?” I asked.

“She isn’t here.”

I shot a chat request to Sheryl.

“Uh-huh. Desert. Different field. With...L’Arc.”

“Yo! Looks like I’m on the desert field.”

“Are you okay?” I asked Sheryl.

“Uh-huh...”

That was a positive uh-huh. She seems fine.

“Rose too,” Sheryl added.

“Yeah, that Rosette kid’s with us. I think we’ve got a solid team going here.”

Oh, then I don’t have to worry. He’s a frontliner who used to be in the same party as Tsumugi.

I’d talked to him a bit before the event started, and he didn’t seem like a bad guy at all. If anything, he was happy that Tsumugi was having fun with the game.

Yeah, they seem covered over there. Since L’Arc’s there too, I don’t have to worry about it.

That leaves...

“Heeeey, Kizzy, L’Arc, it looks like I ended up on a different field. I’m in some kind of mountain range. I ran into Kanade and said hi for you.”

Therese and Kanade are together... My sister hasn’t sent me a message, but what’s up with that? Maybe she’s just chatting with her comrades.

As I was exchanging messages with the usual crowd, the operation leader raised his voice.

“Could you all tell me the type of enemy your most powerful weapon is most effective against? I want to see if there’s a reason we were divided up like this.”

Analyzing the situation, eh?

The most powerful weapon in my possession was the Blue Shark’s Ice Knife [Sinner of Thieves].

“For the Fishing Master... Let me guess: You’re good against water-attribute monsters.”

“It’s an ice knife. A weapon for cutting up frozen fish,” I replied.

“I see. And the Reaper Ninja...darkness magic?” the leader asked.

“I’ve been raising my lightning magic lately, I daresay!”

“Thank you. I see... I think I get the pattern now. It looks like we were divided up based on equipment and skills.”

That was fast. I guess this kind of analysis is what separates us from the frontliners.

Thinking about it...Shouko’s Keystone Fan was strong against earth-attribute enemies. But, if that logic was to hold, then shouldn’t Sheryl have been sent to our battlefield?

L’Arc and Therese specialized in pretty much the same enemies, but...maybe there were other factors in play. If the system deliberately put Sheryl on a different battlefield, maybe it was because of her armor.

She was wearing something that looked like a naval officer’s outfit... What kind of resistance did it have? I assumed it had high water resistance, but maybe it was something else.

“Everyone, please check the map. It’s just like the one for the waves.”

“We’re stationed around C-1. Meanwhile, the Demon Lord’s Army seems to be advancing from row 6 from end to end. You might have to fight alongside unfamiliar players who aren’t usually in your party, but make sure to form up properly and take down the enemy!”

“Obviously!”

“You gotta do this kinda stuff once in a while!”

“Let’s finish up fast and raise our visa ranks!”

The players were all fired up.

“All right, we’re going to divide teams based on the top performers from the last wave. Try to pull your weight!”

Suddenly, something occurred to me. The person who usually gave commands over the map-wide chat during the Dimension Waves wasn’t saying anything.

Are they on another battlefield? I’ll have to check during the next wave.

With that in mind, we followed the leader’s instructions and got in formation—to put it simply, we were being divided into attackers, tanks, healers, and such. Except, no matter how long I waited, I wasn’t being assigned anywhere.

Yeah, I get it. But still.

“What about us?” I asked.

“You’re on the raid team. You’re basically a one-man army, right? Plus, you’re Spirits, right? So assigning you a healer won’t do you much good.”

Shield Energy could still be restored with healing magic and potions. As for the rest of our Energy, once it was gone, it was gone... That made it tricky to manage.

We had a small population, and most people didn’t know how to handle us. It was both a blessing and a curse.

“I’m not the one-man army. You’re thinking of Yamikage.”

“M-Me, I daresay?!”

Yeah, you. Have you forgotten your track record? How are you managing to pull off those results with your build?

“Don’t mind our ninja’s rambling. I’ll do what I can to help out.”

A fishing rod, a dismantling knife...and now, traps and a bow. I could at least focus on support.

“I’m counting on you, Fishing Master. Or is it Pekkle Master now?” the leader joked.

Wait, that’s what people are calling me? Pekkle Master...

With the raid team consisting of only me and Yamikage, it seemed we wouldn’t be meeting anyone new.

Well, fine. As a good Pekkle Master, I’ll call up some Pekkles, pen.

“I’ll summon Brave Pekkle and Chris...along with Cleric Pekkle and Warrior Pekkle.”

A Pekkle in a cleric’s hat appeared alongside one wearing a samurai helmet. Two standard Pekkles plus Brave Pekkle and Chris, along with me and Yamikage... Thus, the party was complete.

“Milord...it seems we won’t have to work with anyone new. What a relief, I daresay.”

The socially awkward ninja was babbling again. I was a production character—a fisherman. I’d just end up slowing down those frontliners. It was best if I just focused on supporting Yamikage.

“All right, let’s move out!” the operation leader declared.

“Yeah!”

“Rocker!”

“Whoo-hoo!”

Their spirits were through the roof as they charged at the Demon Lord’s Army.

“I’m going too, I daresay!”

Yamikage’s feet barely touched the ground as she broke into a full-on ninja dash with me struggling to keep up. Yeah, her stats are definitely higher than mine.

The distance between us kept growing, and the other frontliners were fast too.

I could already tell just how much of a power gap there was between us.

Hmm...?

Just as I tilted my head in thought—KABOOM! A massive pillar of water exploded on the front lines, blasting our leader sky-high.

“Waaaaaaaaah?! What’s going on?!”

I could tell at a glance that he was completely disoriented. Then, just a short distance away, I heard a familiar kchnk sound. A bear trap made of water clamped down on a player’s foot, causing them to trip over. One after another, more players fell victim to the same trap.

“It’s a trap!”

“Ants!”

“Acid!”

Hey, don’t just start throwing in random acid. I don’t see any ants or acid.

It was probably a joke from R*mancing Sa*a, or one of those E*rth Defense games, but the fact they could coordinate it in the heat of the moment like that was impressive in its own way.

Yamikage quickly turned to take in the chaos around us.

“What...?”

“Traps on the battlefield?! What’s going on here?!”

“Start disarming them!”

While tripping more traps along the way, the frontliners began attacking and destroying the traps themselves. But more and more people were getting snagged, leaving only a sparse, scattered few at the front.

Coordination? That was thrown right out the window. How were we supposed to fight in sync if we had to constantly keep an eye on our feet?

I got to work freeing the frontliners so they could keep moving forward. Yamikage—though shocked at first—quickly snapped out of it and dashed ahead.

“I can’t tell where the traps are! I don’t have any trap skills!”

“The guy who usually disarms them is on a different field!”

“Dangit, it’s hard to move!”

“Thanks, Fishing Master!”

I kept on helping out struggling frontliners and built up a bit of goodwill.

As for why Yamikage and I weren’t getting caught in the traps...it was thanks to the crab fishing. All the time spent hauling in traps had built us enough proficiency to unlock high-level Trapping Arts.

Never expected them to come in handy here.

With Trapping Arts active, I could faintly see where the traps were set.

“Burst Thunder Rain, I daresay!”

The incoming monsters showed themselves... Cold Mermen, Electro Octopi, Black Seahorses, and Water Salamanders were all water-attribute creatures that could ignore the traps entirely. Yamikage locked onto them with wide-reaching lightning magic to wipe them out, but she couldn’t cover everything.

The front line was gradually being pushed back.

“Anyone with Trapping Arts, start clearing out the traps! We can’t fight like this!”

Rangers aside, most of the frontliners were hard-pressed by traps they couldn’t even see. But with the orders given, those with the right skills started running around and systematically disarming them.

Unfortunately, these traps...weren’t the kind of traps that players could use. They were mostly magical in nature. The moment they were disarmed, they would shatter and vanish.

The required Trapping Arts level was...around six, as far as I could tell. You could still see the traps if you were lower than that, but disarming them would take too much time. The bear traps were the simpler ones, but there were other, more complicated traps mixed in.

“Hyah!”

By shooting an arrow at a bear trap’s mechanism, I could trigger it and render it harmless.

“You never know what skill might come in handy, I daresay!”

Yeah, I didn’t intentionally make her fulfill the conditions for Trapping Arts.

“Gyoooooh!” a Cold Merman cried out as it lunged at me.

“Pennn!”

Brave Pekkle intercepted the attack; I took the opportunity he gave me and slashed with my ice knife.

There was a nice, crisp sound effect as the blade cut clean through, sending a spray of red through the air. I’d bisected the Cold Merman in one strike.

The edge was still as sharp as ever.

“Pe-pennn!”

The ink spray of a Black Seahorse spread a blindness effect. Chris kept his distance from the dark fog as he pulled a hammer from his crown, charging in as soon as it dissipated. He led Warrior Pekkle and Cleric Pekkle to beat his foe down.

Despite the chaotic battlefield, we gradually regained control and pushed the line forward to row 5. But then...from column E... Even though we were fighting on what seemed like wetland, a massive wave surged in as if in an attempt to clear away the whole battlefield.

“Tsunami! Watch out!” someone cried.

“How are we supposed to ‘watch out’ for a tsunami?!”

“Whooooaaaah?!”

Having no countermeasures, I was promptly swept away.

What kind of battlefield gimmick is that?! What a pain! And it doesn’t even recede—it just disappears.

“Everyone, grab onto your Pekkle! If you ride the current, you won’t be swept away as easily!”

How is anyone supposed to pull that off, spur of the moment?! What kind of reflexes does that take?! Can I just give the Pekkles some auto-commands? I wondered, looking at Brave Pekkle and Chris.

“Pekkle is not a monster, pen.”

“I got told off again!” I complained.

And it’s raining again...and it stopped.

“Don’t give up! No matter how much we’re pushed back, the traps are almost gone! The enemies’ movements aren’t as dangerous anymore!” The leader shouted out words of encouragement.

But then...I noticed something.

“The traps are back! Watch out!” I yelled.

Immediately after the rain, countless traps respawned all across the battlefield, tying us down yet again.

“Gwah?!”

“Urgh... You’re kidding me.”

Immobilized and forced to take on monster attacks, some of the frontliners had begun to fall in battle. They were sent back to the last respawn point...in this case, the Mikakage checkpoint we used to enter the field.

It’s going to take some time before they can get back.

“This is troublesome beyond belief... I daresay, it’s only a matter of time before the line collapses.”

“Yeah... We’ll have to buy some time until the fallen can return!”

Yamikage and I set up a defensive position where the front line had fallen apart. We had to stall the Demon Lord’s army until the others could regroup.

As for me, I was barely managing to hold my ground thanks to the Pekkles.

Chapter 11: Akvol of the Water

“Khh... It’s getting rough out there.”

My Shield Energy had gradually bottomed out, and now my main Energy was starting to chip away. I wasn’t as athletic as Shouko—or any of the others for that matter... Making decisions on the spot was tough for me.

“I’m getting pissed, pen...”

“Hmm?”

Just when I was considering a retreat, Brave Pekkle started acting strange.

Crap...don’t tell me his stress gauge just crossed the threshold.

I thought it’d be fine since that accessory of his helped soften his stress buildup in combat, but I checked his stats just in case. He was only at twenty-four percent.

“I’ll beat the hell out of them, pen! Peeeeeeeeeeeeh—”

And suddenly, Brave Pekkle transformed and took on the form of Wrath Pengu.

This is bad! Is he seriously going to go berserk here?!

Flames erupted around Wrath Pengu as he charged at the enemy, incinerating everything in his path. That alone was enough to completely wipe out the advancing forces of the Demon Lord’s Army.

A moment later, Brave Pekkle was back to normal as if nothing had happened; he promptly resumed the battle.

So it’s not a rampage... Maybe it’s a special move that triggers when he’s sufficiently charged up?

I had to thank my lucky stars he didn’t drag any allies into the mix.

“That’s pretty convenient.”

“Pekkle is not a monster, pen.”

“What was that thing you just did?”

“I’ll protect you, so hurry up and attack, pen.”

Yeah... I didn’t give any orders. It’s got to be a special that goes off automatically or at random. I better not count on it happening again.

“Wh-What?! That Pekkle just fired off something crazy!”

“It’s gotta be one of the Pekkle Master’s exclusives.”

“Whoa...I’m so jealous.”

“If we go by how the special unlocks have been thus far, a downgraded version of that will probably show up for the rest of us after a while. Let’s try it out then.”

Just wiping out the mobs wasn’t enough to end the battle.

Considering how much of a hassle it was to get Brave Pekkle, it made sense that he was strong... Items and characters that were slightly above average tended to get outclassed by later updates, and the older ones became easier to obtain.

“Hey now, this is getting a bit dicey!”

“Insane, more like it. Were the devs even considering the difficulty level?!”

“Trap duty, get out there. Otherwise, we’ll be locked down by all the respawning traps!”

Even the ones who were messing around and role-playing with joke builds were starting to lose their composure. The situation demanded complete seriousness. To make matters worse, even when we did manage to push the front line forward, we’d just be sent back by a tsunami or be tormented by the traps that came back each time it rained. The gaps between each downpour were growing shorter and shorter.

And now, something like a huge orb of murky water was heading toward us from C-6, dragging along a horde of monsters. Anyone could tell—our defenses would fall apart the moment that thing reached row 1.

Is that the boss?

The leader and his team on the front line were focused on stalling—or rather, they were trying to attack, but the enemy offensive was too strong and they were getting pushed back.

The orb released sharks made of water, deploying several of them around it to attack from all directions. It summoned watery tornadoes, raised tsunamis, and fired off powerful water cannons to pierce through everything.

It was pretty much spamming all sorts of water attacks.

“Hey, Yamikage.”

“What is it, milord?”

After defeating the latest wave of foes, we took a step back from the front lines to focus on recovery.

“Looks like we can’t afford to be picky with our methods. If we don’t stop that thing, we lose.”

The traps and the orb were too troublesome—even the reliable frontliners were struggling to break through.

“Milord...don’t tell me... If I may dare ask, you’re not seriously suggesting that, are you?”

“What else can we do?! Go forth, Yamikage! This is our best shot at dealing with its water attacks!”

“I daresay, why me?!”

Because you’re the fighter, and I’m the fisherman, of course!

“I don’t want to! I daresay, I won’t do it unless you’re with me!”

“C’mon, don’t throw a tantrum!”

“I will throw a tantrum! I will, I daresay! I don’t want my whole experience with this game to begin and end with me being a laughingstock!”

Dang...what a pain.

But if we didn’t go through with it, we’d fail the event. And that would seriously suck. Not that there was that much to lose by failing, but still. If we didn’t give it our all, then what was the point of playing the game?

“Fine, whatever. Let’s do this thing! I’m a man who doesn’t know when to give up!”

“You’re a little girl, I daresay.”

“No nitpicking! Just get results, and nobody’ll dare laugh at you! Now let’s go, Yamikage!”

“Urgh...fine, I daresay.”

And so, amid the chaos of the battlefield, we slipped away from the front lines and stealthily sank into a nearby swamp to conceal ourselves...before pulling out the powerful armor we’d been keeping in storage and changing into it.

†

“Wh-What?!” the leader guy cried out. He’d been slashing away at the water orb with a lightning-charged sword from the front lines.

“Whoa, what’s with that getup?”

“It’s a kappa! Didn’t know they had something like that!”

“Don’t show up in joke gear, Fishing Master. And you, too, Reaper. Are you supposed to be the Kappa Duo or something?”

The frontliners furrowed their brows in disapproval—clearly, they weren’t having it.

Well, just watch.

“Urgh... This is all to do my part, I daresay!” Yamikage insisted. She pulled out a cucumber-shaped scroll and chanted her magic. “Burst Thunder Rain, I daresay!”

That alone was enough to blow away the low-level mobs around the orbs, and half of the water-formed sharks were eliminated as well.

“Hate & Lure!”

As soon as I drew aggro, the sharks charged straight at us all at once—but Brave Pekkle and I stood at the forefront to intercept them. I wasn’t going for the sharks. My real aim was to draw the orb.

The first shark reached me. It slammed again and again with wet, slopping impacts, but the damage was far lower than what I’d been taking while wearing the Ancient Dress.

“Whoa...that’s kinda crazy. The Fishing Master’s crew is no joke.”

“Water resistance gear, eh?”

“Yeah, yeah, just attack it already! I didn’t want to fight in this thing either!”

“I get how you feel...but that looks a bit fun.”

“Kapapa!”

Shut up. Just shut up and fight.

“Here I go! Haaaaaaah! Thunder Ball, I daresay!”

Even here, even now, and even as pointless as it was, Yamikage conjured up a ball of lightning, charged at the water orb, and slammed it in with everything she had.

“Follow the kappas!”

“At least call me Fishing Master!”

As I shouted, I swung my rod and landed a hit with the White Whale Bone Lure. The moment the lure made contact, a spectral recreation of the Dimension White Whale’s tail appeared and slammed down on it.

Yamikage’s lightning orb struck as well, and the attacks of the other players weren’t far behind. Attacks were coming down on it like rain.

“Don’t let up, I daresay! Haaaaaaah!”

A bright light erupted from Yamikage’s hand as she circled around behind the orb and struck again. This was the armor’s unique skill—shirikodama extraction.

Then with a sudden splash, the orb burst open...revealing the figure that had been hidden inside the whole time.

“Urgh... To think I’d have to reveal myself to mere humans... Not bad. I am Akvol of the Water, one of the Four Heavenly Kings.”

So said...a beautiful mermaid girl holding a harpoon.

Wowza, she was definitely designed to pander to fans. That’s the type of monster that’d get a fanbase from appearance alone. She even has speaking lines, so...I guess she’s the boss?

“Whooooooaaaaah!”

“A beautiful boss lady!”

“If Lady Akvol has ten fans, I’m one of them. If she has only one fan, then it’s me. If Lady Akvol has no fans, then that means I’m dead and buried. Akvol Fan Club, now recruiting.”

“Oink, please smack me with that tail!”

“’Tis the era of big curves!”

Shut up, all of you! What, are those lines obligatory or something?! I wondered as I watched the map-wide chat go wild. A large majority of them probably weren’t even serious.

And well, neither are we, really. I mean look at us. Two kappas.

“But so be it. A battle without resistance is hardly a battle worth having. Prepare yourselves!”

After spouting a line that sounded straight out of a script, Akvol’s body began to transform. Her face took on the features of a scorpionfish while her arms and tail became encased in ice. Her body grew larger, and finally, we were faced with a massive mermaid armed with a large, icy spear.

Is this her true form?

“No way...”

“Welp, we’re dissolving the fan club.”

“You tricked me! I’ll never forgive you, you monster!”

“I guess we’re back to lolis, huh.”

God, these guys are shameless.

Anyway, the boss’s HP bar finally appeared. It was time for the real battle to begin, but...there was another bar beneath her HP.

What’s that about?

It wasn’t MP or anything like that—those were visible to allies but not to enemies—so it had to be connected to some other boss mechanic. Just going off my gamer intuition. Most likely, it would reveal its purpose soon enough; we’d need to keep an eye out for it.

“Haaah!”

In typical voiced boss fashion, Akvol let out a dramatic shout as she lifted her massive spear high and took a fluid sweep with her tail. A splash effect surged toward us.

Whoa...even with the Kappa Costume, I still took some ice damage. But it’s not unmanageable.

“Keep up the offense, I daresay!”

Yamikage took some distance and continued to pepper the boss with spells.

“Naturally! We just need to beat her, right?! Hit her hard, and hit her fast!”

“Yeah!”

“You’ll pay for tricking us!”

With that, both the frontline fighters and the players going along with the bit got back into the fight.

“Hang in there, pen!”

Brave Pekkle stepped in to shield us from Akvol’s attacks. Perhaps because he was a Pekkle with naturally high water resistance, he didn’t take any significant damage.

He was incredibly helpful. I was still too clumsy to dodge anything properly. Sure, I’d gotten a bit of training from Shouko, but still... I was still too slow to react where it counted.

“The Fishing Master’s party and the Pekkle are actually holding on pretty well.”

“That little girl... She’s got moves!”

“Time to establish the Kizzy Fan Club.”

“Nah, he’s a guy IRL.”

“Source?”

“The man himself.”

“What are you saying? That’s exactly why she understands us! I’m going all in on Kizzy! This is a second life! Who cares if she was a guy in the first one? I don’t!”

“Looks like we’ve got a gender bender fan in the making.”

“I see! She’s a little girl now! So who cares who she was before?!”

“Guess that means the times are finally catching up with us!”

“But I liked her first!”

“Dibs don’t mean jack.”

Seriously, shut up... At least care about it a little. Have some shame. And don’t call me a little girl!

Don’t go throwing around garbage logic like “it’s fine because she’s a girl right now!” I didn’t die and reincarnate! That’s not how it works! And don’t start some creepy fan club either! Also, there’s clearly some pervert mixed in with the group! Don’t lust after me!

Dangit...because of this avatar my sisters worked needlessly hard on, I’m attracting all the wrong people...

“Taste the trap of water!”

Akvol raised one hand high, summoning the rain that reset all the water traps on the battlefield.

“Don’t falter! Anyone with trap removal, get on it!”

“On it!”

If we just concentrated on the area around the boss, disabling the traps was still manageable. I quickly disarmed all the conspicuous ones.

“Khh... I’m dealing less damage than expected.”

“Her HP’s ridiculously high—it just doesn’t feel like we’re doing anything!”

Looking at Akvol’s HP gauge, it didn’t seem like the frontliners or Yamikage’s attacks had even put a dent in it. The bar below her HP was depleting quickly enough, but...Akvol would periodically raise her arm and—almost like she was casting a self-heal—that bar would restore itself.

Is there any way for us to create an opening for an attack?

A way to distract that Big Merman-esque Akvol... If only there was some gimmick we could exploit to drop that gauge in one fell swoop.

Judging by her appearance...Akvol is kinda like a fish, right?

I pulled out my fishing rod and snapped it forward, aiming my cast straight at her face—her mouth. My lure flew true, striking right where I wanted it to. But despite the crisp sound and the attack effect, it didn’t hook.

No, I felt something...like it almost worked. Maybe I’m just missing something.

“Who was it?! Who’s tossing lures at Akvol’s face?!”

“The Fishing Master.”

“The Pekkle Master.”

“Hey, hey, you’re at it again?!”

“She’s kinda fishlike, so it might just... Well, looks like it didn’t do anything.”

“I doubt the devs planned for anyone to try fishing up Akvol.”

Erk...the devs who even anticipated I’d fish in the goldfish scooping tank didn’t anticipate this? Is that possible? I can’t deny the reality of what just happened, but...I definitely felt something. Like I’m just a little short on skill level—that sort of sensation.

“Right. But that aside, it looks like attacking her head’s effective! If you’ve got range, you know what to do!”

So at least my attack helped them do a bit of analysis. Everyone started testing out what they could do to damage Akvol’s head.

Right now, I’m using the epic and rare-grade fishing gear I got from questing. You’d be hard-pressed to find anything better at this point in the game. Even then, it’s not enough to hook Akvol. What else can I even do?

If I had specialized equipment or buffs, maybe I’d stand a chance, but I didn’t have anything on hand.

I should’ve brought some cooking that boosted fishing, I thought. But, wait...I do have one thing. It’s not its main function, but L’Arc did say that skill might give a fishing buff. If I’m just short, then maybe...

“Fever Lure!”

If I screwed it up and let it hit the ground, the enemies would swarm me, but drawing aggro wasn’t the worst outcome.

“Milord? Are you going to try again?”

“Yeah. All or nothing. The crowd will go wild if this one works—or something!”

I swished the rod around to build momentum as I waited for the right moment—then cast the lure right at Akvol’s mouth and pulled. And then...a chomp! The lure was lodged firmly in the boss’s mouth.

“Argh...?! You dare?!”

Oh! I got a special line of dialogue!

“Whoa?!”

The time I first hooked the Herring Lord flashed through my head as a massive tug nearly dragged me away. I remembered how I’d shown such a disgraceful display.

“Grrr... Don’t underestimate me! From Electric Shock to...Pole Fishing!”

Crackles and pops filled the air as the electric motor attached to the rod jolted to life and launched an attack on Akvol—all while I pulled her straight into the air with Pole Fishing.

“Ugyaaaaaaaah?!”

There was a twang as the line was pulled taut; Akvol was reeled into the air by my fishing skill, spun around, and finally slammed into the ground.

But...just like with the white whale, the hook was still lodged in.

“Curse you! Urgh... I can’t get it out!”

That was proof I hadn’t managed to stun her yet. I needed to keep up the pressure.

I recalled a gimmick from a hunting game I used to play with Kanade and Tsumugi, where you could fish monsters in to create an opening. If you want to set up a decisive opening, you must never loosen the line!

“Hrah!”

Whether it was calculated or by reflex—even thinking back on it later, I couldn’t tell—but before I knew it, I’d raised the rod again and repeatedly slammed Akvol into the ground.

“Urgah! Gah!”

Thud! Thwack! Again and again, I kept bashing Akvol into the ground with Pole Fishing.

“Whoa... The Fishing Master just keeps reeling her in and beating her down!”

“What a cheap combo!”

“No way... You can attack like that with fishing? She’s wrapping and slamming almost like she’s using a whip or wire.”

Each time I slammed her down, the bar beneath Akvol’s HP dropped drastically. This is working!

“Yeah! Keep it up!”

“Okay! Here I go!”

I followed up by comboing into Cleaver to shave through the last bit of that lower bar. It was at that moment that the hook finally came loose, and the lower bar shattered.

“Gwaaaah!”

With a loud crack, Akvol lurched before being blasted back, reverting to her previous mermaid form.

“Yeaaaah! She’s back!”

“Lady Akvol’s beautiful face is back!”

“I get it now! This is her true form! That bar was a transformation bar! When it’s down, you get to see her real self!”

“The Akvol Fan Club is back in business! The Kizzy Fan Club is dissolved!”

“Mankind just wasn’t ready for a cross-dressing loli.”

They were getting all hyped again—these guys really were enjoying the event from the bottom of their hearts.

“The Fishing Master just hooked his lure in Lady Akvol’s holy mouth and brutally slammed her down.”

“Don’t tell me you launched a preemptive strike to take her out because you knew?!”

“How was I supposed to know?!”

Don’t turn this into some sort of weird foreshadowing. This isn’t a girl-on-girl catfight.

“Quit playing around and attack her! Looks like you need to deal some damage after the transformation is undone!”

Oh, looks like the leader’s more focused on clearing the event than on that pretty face.

“Burst Thunder Rain, I daresay!”

And Yamikage was already attacking away, undeterred by the mood. Honestly, I was relieved that she wasn’t the type to get heated over that sort of thing.

“Urgh...you insolent pests!”

Recovering from her stun, Akvol stood back up and transformed again. Naturally, the gauge beneath her HP had reappeared.

Yeah. The strategy is clear now.

But, right after that—

“Feel my wrath! Maelstrom!”

A swirling vortex of water condensed right in front of Akvol, sending shock waves and towering waves out in all directions.

“Urgh...”

“Whoa!”

“Gwaaah!”

The frontliners, who’d been carefully measuring the distance while staying close to keep up the offensive, were caught up in Akvol’s ultimate attack. Most of them lost a good chunk of their HP, and a fair few of them fell on the spot.

Urgh...that’s some crazy firepower. She melted through them in an instant.

I didn’t know if the team leader who’d been giving orders had instantly died or if he’d been blown away. Anyway, he was gone. The frontline tankers took massive damage too and were blown back. They’d need some healing time before they could return.

The only ones still standing properly were me, Yamikage, and the Pekkles.

“’Tis a good thing we threw our shame away and wore the costumes, I daresay.”

Yeah...against high-powered water attacks, only someone in a Kappa Costume—with its insane water resistance—can withstand.

Even so, I’d taken enough damage to completely wipe away the Shield Energy I’d recovered, so perhaps another attribute had been mixed in. Still...some MMORPG bosses were just ridiculously overpowered. It was just as likely that she’d overcome my Shield Energy with raw strength.

There were plenty of games where even min-maxed tankers died instantly the moment they were touched.

Must be because she’s an event boss.

The leader guy shot me a chat. “We’re rushing back from the respawn point! Fishing Master team, buy us some time!”

He must have seen that I was still standing before he went down.

“Sure thing. But...I can go ahead and finish her off if I want, right?”

After all, if I just hooked her face and kept slamming her around, I could undo her transformation instantly and leave her wide open for attack. Thankfully...I still had some time left before my Fever Lure wore off.

Of course, I’ll need to see if the stun still works on her.

“J-Just take it easy. Leave some for us.”

“Then you better get back soon.”

“Everyone! Fight like your life depends on it and get back before the Fishing Master hogs all the glory!”

I heard a rather lively map-wide chat.

“But you know, Yamikage...”

“The burden is too great for one ninja to bear, I daresay.”

“We just have to do it. I’ve pretty much figured out her pattern.”

“Milord!”

Yamikage suddenly called out to warn me.

What now... Just as the thought crossed my mind, Brave Pekkle reacted on instinct and jumped above me.

“Grrrrhhh...pen!”

A sharp bolt of lightning came down upon us, only to dissipate as it was smacked aside by his shield. I’d seen Akvol raise her hand and cast—I just hadn’t been expecting lightning.

We might be screwed.

“That was close, I daresay...”

“You’re telling me.”

As you’d might expect, the Kappa Costumes were water-attribute armor. And going off type matchups, we were a terrible match for lightning. Now that our Shield Energy had been blown away, the damage we took would hurt like hell—and would massively weaken us.

Yamikage and I hurriedly scarfed down crab potions to recover some Shield Energy while Cleric Pekkle worked on restoring Brave Pekkle.

I guess we can’t just tank every hit. Even with the Kappa Costumes.

This was where my reflexes were going to matter most...but at least I’d confirmed all the windups for her attack animations. I did have two gamer sisters, after all. Once I knew which attacks were coming, I could deal with them.

I mean, yeah, I’m not as good as my sisters, but...let’s do this thing! I’ve got more persistence than them both!

“Yamikage, let’s go!”

“Of course, I daresay!”

With Brave Pekkle drawing aggro and defending us, I was going to hook that lure in her mouth and break her transformation again!

“You’re not the only one who can use traps!”

I scattered a bunch of bear traps across the battlefield—mine would only affect the enemy. I should pick up some offensive traps next time.

Now, at least I’d be able to stall the grounded trash mobs.

“Aight! I’ll reel you in! Eat this!”

Yet again, I hooked the lure in Akvol’s mouth and entered fishing mode.

Erk...it almost slipped out already. Looks like she’s building some resistance each time she gets stunned. You can’t just chain her endlessly... But I’ll pull it off a second time too!

“Gwaaaaaah?!”

Thud! Thud! I slammed her into the ground again, tearing through her gauge and forcing another transformation cancel!

“Circle Drain into Bloody Rain...and then!”

Yamikage wiped out the remaining water sharks before hammering Akvol with a flurry of attacks.

My Fever Lure’s about to reach its limit...

“You held on well!”

But while all that was going on, the frontliners made it back and reestablished the line.

“I can’t believe you lasted with those numbers.”

“The Fishing Master kept it together.”

“She’s good at handling Pekkles—or rather, it’s those special Pekkles of hers.”

Yeah, I had Chris and Brave Pekkle to tank. Chris’s attacks had also been a huge contributing factor.

The problem...was Brave Pekkle’s stress gauge.

It was steadily creeping up. He was still fine for now, but I couldn’t keep him in play for much longer.

“Let’s finish this!”

“Her main body’s probably water-attribute, but the ice parts are a pain! Someone hit her with something that counters ice!”

“What attribute is that again?”

I had no clue, so I tried asking.

“You know the basic attributes? Earth, fire, lightning, and water? Well, ice acts a bit differently. It doesn’t have a flat-out elemental weakness.”

Hmm...really.

“Wait, you made it this far without knowing that?”

“I mean... I’m just a casual fisherman.”

“Huh?”

A few of the guys turned to me as if they had no idea what I was on about, before immediately going back to fighting as though they hadn’t seen anything. Hey, say something.

“Heh heh heh... Fishing Master Kizzy may be dominating the battlefield, but I daresay, her klutziness is so cute.”

Despite that way of speaking, it wasn’t Yamikage. It definitely wasn’t. Hey, you’re the guy who was raving about lolis, aren’t you? What’s with you?! Stop getting your moe fix from real people! It’s creepy!

“Though there are apparently a few weapons that do bonus damage.”

“Like an ice knife?”

I pulled out my ice knife and everyone nodded.

“Aight, let’s do this!”

I shaved away at the ice sections over and over while the frontliners all landed their strongest attacks. Akvol’s HP plummeted in no time.

“Urrrgh...curse you, humaaannnsss!”

But we couldn’t get it all the way down, and she transformed again. Her voice lines seemed to change after she was below a certain HP threshold.

“Feel my wrath! Maelstrom!”

“We already prepared for that one! Wha—?!”

Even when the leader and the rest of the frontliners had changed out their gear, they were still vaporized as Akvol’s ultimate move struck them. Even Yamikage and I took massive damage despite our Kappa Costumes.

“F-Fishing Master, and Pekkle...thank you.”

“Erk, hold your ground until the others get back. It doesn’t look like a third reel-in is gonna be possible.”

“Of course! Let’s go for the upset, Fishing Master!”

Fortunately, the players near us had been protected by Brave Pekkle under my orders, so we managed to reduce the casualties to some extent.

I swapped out my lure for the Blue Shark Lure [Thief of Thieves] and launched a ranged attack. Even from a distance, it could inflict slash and bleed damage.

Akvol started to summon her sharks again—and this time, the watery monsters were frozen over in ice. They’d scattered when the frontliners made their appearance, but now all the ones that had lingered joined the pack to become a nuisance.

I should get Yamikage to nuke them with magic—I thought. But then, my lure struck one of the ice sharks and inflicted a bleed effect. Immediately, all the other sharks swarmed around it.

They react to blood? Perfect!

“Urrgh... I’m down a lot of Energy, I daresay.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll make it back later.”

Because we were Spirits, we weren’t sent back to the start. It would have been a guaranteed respawn for any of the other races.

“Looks like she got serious after taking some damage.”

There were plenty of games where a boss—even when using the same moveset—would do more damage when backed into a corner. This seemed to be a textbook example.

“We’re buying time until they get back here again.”

I saw another Spirit get completely wiped from that... That was going to be hard to recover from. It wasn’t like they were going to lose their allies or their proficiency levels, so their situation wasn’t completely beyond repair, but getting back into fighting shape was going to be a high hurdle.

Brave Pekkle’s stress was also entering dangerous levels.

If we don’t finish up soon, things are just going to get worse and worse, I thought as I kept chipping away. I already knew all the attack animations, so I had to keep aggro and stall.

“Her attack’s way too high. Did the devs even try to balance this?”

“That’s what makes it fun!”

One of the remaining frontliners looked like he was having the time of his life.

Yeah... Gamers come in all sorts.

There were people like me who played slow and steady, and players like Sheryl and L’Arc who loved adventure and quests. Shouko valued camaraderie and teamwork, while Tsumugi lived to throw herself into combat.

I got a vague sense that the front line was full of folks who got more fired up the harder the battles were. But honestly, we needed to end the event soon before it became a complete bust.

Akvol was nearing our defensive base too. Whether the fight became impossible or we failed our mission objective, we were set to lose soon. But based on how much damage the frontliners managed to put out last time, we were still a little short.

“Yamikage, we’re going all in.”

Once the boss’s secondary bar was down to one-fifth, I started charging up.

“Understood, I daresay!”

I left Brave Pekkle and Chris to defend and obstruct Akvol. Thankfully, Brave Pekkle could still endure a bit more.

I swapped to the ice knife and changed into my offensive setup: the Ancient Dress. The high-pitched whirring of my charge filled the air as I took my stance.

Not yet... Just a bit more, and they’ll have softened her up enough... It’s driving me nuts how slow the bar goes down when I’m not joining in on the attack.

“Aaaarrrgghhh!” Akvol screamed as her transformation came undone.

Khh... My charge didn’t finish in time.

“Get her!”

“Yeah!”

As they all rushed in to unleash their strongest attacks, I was still stuck waiting in frustration. I still wasn’t done when I noticed signs that her stun was wearing off.

Just as I’d calculated, her HP wasn’t down enough. The charge was too slow. I really needed to practice more.

And then—the Cling!

“Finally! Blood Flower!”

I sped toward Akvol and unleashed my strongest move, tearing through her as I passed. Spinning the ice knife, I turned back just as an arc of crimson sprayed through the air.

Right on cue, the blood burst forth like flowers in bloom.

“Whooooa! Someone just landed a flashy one!”

“What was that skill?”

“Blood Flower, a dismantling weapon skill. One of our party members can use it.”

“Hmm, really? It’s quite a show. And it even managed to finish her off! That’s some crazy damage!”

“No, it’s a dismantling weapon, so the damage shouldn’t be that high...”

“The one who used it was the Fishing Master.”

“Makes sense. She was whittling the transformation bar down like crazy.”

“Honestly, this was pretty much the Fishing Master’s win. She’s something all right.”

“And she had just the right build for the event.”

Everyone was finally able to relax. We did manage to shave down the last sliver of Akvol’s HP in the end.

“You did better than expected... Fine. Have it your way,” Akvol declared. She lurched back before shooting off into the sky. And then, she was gone.

Erk...so we technically defeated her, but that doesn’t mean she’s dead. It’s one of those events. Looks like they treat it differently from the Dimension Waves.

Demon Lord Army Invasion: Heavenly King of Water Repelled!

The clear screen popped up. Not a moment later, all the remaining small fries vanished from the field, and with that, our defensive battle was officially a success.

Chapter 12: Rideable Pet

The reward screen...is taking a while.

“All right!”

“We did it!”

“It was all thanks to the Fishing Master. That was easier than I thought!”

“This should be enough to get our visas up another rank!”

“Good work!”

“Yeah, good work.”

“Anyone who wants to join the Akvol Fan Club or the Kizzy Fan Club, sign up over here.”

The map was filled with words of celebration and congratulations.

“We did it, milord!”

“Yeah. But the result screen hasn’t shown up yet.”

“Indeed. I daresay, perhaps the event hasn’t ended yet?”

It’s possible.

Of course, the others on the battlefield seemed to share that opinion as they remained on guard.

Eventually...a black shadow appeared high above the marshland. And what a sinister-looking shadow it was.

“Foolish humans. You’ve done well to drive back Dainbulg and Akvol, two of my Four Heavenly Kings. For that, I offer you my sincerest praise. It was my failing to have underestimated you.”

Wow, that’s...textbook villain monologue.

“This invasion was merely the prologue. The Four Heavenly Kings were holding back, after all. Now, have you begun to grasp the true terror of my Demon Lord Army? I’ll let you go today... Savor your fleeting peace while it lasts! Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

And, well, with a few dramatic words, the enormous shadow was gone. The results popped up right after.

Mikakage Demon Lord Invasion Defense... Two Wins, Two Losses.

Victory against Akvol of the Water!

Next, the rankings popped up. Damage dealt, damage received, overall contributions—the layout wasn’t too different from what we saw during the waves.

Kizuna†Exceed

Damage Dealt Rank 4

Battlefield Contribution Rank 1

Overall Rank 2

Oh! That’s a pretty solid result!

With that said...when it came to raw technique, like sticking close to the boss and dealing consistent damage, I just couldn’t pull it off. Even with the Pekkles backing me up, my damage ranking ended up just being decent.

Shouko or Tsumugi would have definitely done better on that front. I was more cut out to rank high on damage taken rather than dished out.

As expected, Yamikage took first place in damage dealt. She had the elemental advantage, after all... She really is a master of combat... I mean, I know it mostly comes down to her magic, but still.

“I see you did not place first in damage, I daresay.”

“Well, it’s not like I was focusing that much on offense.”

I was reeling in enemies, chipping at the ice, and rounding up the sharks. Sure, I contributed by forcing the boss out of her transformation, but the other players did more in terms of damaging the boss and dealing with the mobs.

It was only natural that I lost out to the players built for combat like the frontliners and Yamikage. Still, I did help with breaking traps and canceling the transformation, and that was enough for me.

Now then... This time, the reward’s showing up as a treasure chest instead of a slot machine.

As the chest opened with a flashy animation, text popped up saying my visa rank had increased. So we can go even farther now...

Along with that, I received some weapon enhancement materials and...something listed as a reward from the boss: Heavenly King of Water’s Scales, and an Aqua Jewel.

There was even a bonus reward section.

Rideable Pet Library Rabbit Acquired!

“There are rideable pets?”

I could summon the giant Pekkle with the Pekkle Pipe, but I’d gone ahead and gotten myself another pet. This time, the summoning item was shaped like a book.

“I obtained one too, milord!” Yamikage spoke up, holding a book in hand.

Well, riding a mount should be faster than walking. It’s definitely convenient.

Looking around, I noticed that a bunch of other players were holding similar items. The drop rate had to be pretty high.

“But it’s been bothering me, I daresay... What do you think it means by two wins and two losses?”

“Well, we were divided between four battlefields, right?”

“As I feared...”

As I was talking to Yamikage, a chat request came in from Shouko.

“Good work, Kizuna. It seems like things have wrapped up on your end too.”

“Yep. How’d you do?”

“We won. The weapons and armor I brought were especially effective against the boss monster—someone called Dainbulg of the Earth, one of the Four Heavenly Kings. We were able to fight without much trouble.”

Fortunately, Shouko had also ended up with a favorable matchup. It seemed the frontliners’ analysis hadn’t been completely off the mark.

I could only see the ranking for our battlefield, so I couldn’t check her performance in detail. But if Yamikage managed to get the top spot, it was hard to imagine Shouko getting anything lower than that.

“I see. We did well too—we took down this girl called Akvol of the Water. Another Heavenly King.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“We won, bro!”

A chat came in from Tsumugi.

“Yeah, yeah, with you and Shouko around, I figured your boss would go down before anyone else’s. Around what part of the battlefield did you beat it?”

“Right before it reached the center, I’d say.”

“Yes, we had a potent means of dealing with the boss’s attacks, so everyone was able to fight at full strength.”

Oof...we were cutting it pretty close here. Shouko’s ability to quell earthquakes must’ve made a difference.

“Shouko took Rank 1 in almost every category!”

“Tsumugi!”

“I’m glad to hear you did well.”

She must’ve gotten MVP, then.

“But I guess that means...Sheryl, L’Arc, and Therese lost.”

They lost, even with Rose on their team... It feels a bit awkward to message them now.

Still, I cautiously reached out to the three of them.

“Yo, little lady. It was a total bust for us. It’s a rough one; we’ll need to bring some serious countermeasures next time.”

Despite his loss, L’Arc didn’t sound all that upset. Getting over it so fast... I guess that’s the maturity of an adult. He’s just enjoying it as it comes.

The other line, however, was filled with complete and total silence.

Sheryl seemed to be taking it pretty hard.

“Umm...”

“Failure,” Sheryl muttered.

“You’ll get it next time.”

“Uh-huh... Reward... Rideable pet.”

“You got one too?”

Guess the drop rate really is high.

“Rank...7,” Sheryl murmured.

“I got fourth,” added L’Arc.

They were both up there. They really were top-tier players.

Even though they lost, they still got some good rewards out of it, so it worked out.

“Let’s meet up soon.”

“Uh-huh...”

“Don’t let it get to you.” L’Arc tried to cheer Sheryl up. “Games are meant to be fun—not to feel responsible about everything.”

“Waaaaah! L’Arc! Kizzy! I lost!”

Therese barged into the chat in tears.

“Yo, Therese. We were crushed too. Looks like the only wins were from Kizuna’s and Shouko’s teams.”

“Urgh, I’m so mad! Next time I see that Heavenly King of Wind, I’m going to tear them to shreds! Kana was totally upset too!”

“Ah...please don’t poke at my sister too much right now.”

That sister of mine did hold a grudge if you prodded her in the wrong way. If Therese dragged her through it like this, I could see it becoming a pain. Especially when Sheryl was already taking it hard enough.

“Got it. Oh, right, right. It looks like everyone got a rideable pet even if they lost. I got this big mole to ride on.”

“It was a horse for me!”

Hmm...looks like they handed out all sorts.

“All right, let’s meet up.”

“Yes. Next time, I’d like us all to fight together.”

“I wanna see the antics you get up to, bro.”

“There were no antics. Don’t worry.”

“Do you want to hear? I daresay, milord—”

Yamikage tried to tattle, so I flashed the Kappa Costume I’d taken off just before the chat to threaten her.

“Milord gave a truly splendid performance. He fished the boss yet again.”

Good. She read the room. I mean, I get the feeling the rumor’s gonna spread soon enough, but let’s not worry about that.

“Again?!”

“Yeah, she was water-attribute and I thought it would work.”

“It seems you played as much of a key role as I did, Kizuna.”

“Thanks to the crab cannery ship, I was able to avoid traps and contribute quite a bit, I daresay. You never know what might come in handy.”

“We had land mine traps on our battlefield—apparently. I think Shouko’s weapon just shut them down.”

“I doubt it will go so smoothly next time, though.”

With that, we swiftly changed out of our gear and left the field to regroup at the checkpoint.

As for Kanade—as I’d warned Therese, now was no time to talk to her. I didn’t want to have my ear talked off, so I was going to give it some time before I reached out to her.

“So I have a theory about this event. It kinda felt like an introduction for those Four Heavenly Kings. I mean, they just flew away right after we beat them.”

“Right. Maybe we triggered the flag for an event somewhere?”

“I’d bet on it.”

“Yep. We’re definitely gonna have to settle the score eventually.”

“Do you think we will fight them like we did in this event?”

“Hard to say. Maybe they’ll just show up in some quest somewhere down the road.”

I could see it happening in a good old-fashioned RPG.

“Sure, they might come out for an event, but they could be instance dungeon bosses too. Maybe even field bosses.”

“Either way, we’ll beat them down! Right? Therese?! Sheryl?!”

“Of course!”

“...”

Sheryl. Don’t go silent like that. You’re scaring me... You’re way too bothered about this.

“You did well, Sheryl,” said Shouko.

She was met with silence.

“Did you want to fight the Heavenly King of Water? The one Kizuna faced?”

Sheryl nodded.

Well, yeah. All water-related stuff usually goes to the two of us. We’re basically a fisherman and diver team.

“Aight, for now, how about we find some way to let Sheryl blow off some steam? Sheryl, where do you want to go right now?”

After a moment, she replied, “Beyond the checkpoint.”

It was a very Sheryl-like answer indeed. She was an adventurer at heart.

“I need to strengthen my gear...and my crafting tools.”

Sheryl had her machinery skill set going for her. By the sound of it, she was already planning some improvements based on her failure in the quest.

“Glad to hear you sounding so motivated,” L’Arc boomed. “Sheryl, we’ll pitch in too. Let’s do this thing!”

“Uh-huh...”

“Sounds like a plan. On another note... We got these mount pets as rewards. Did everyone else get one too?”

“Yes.”

With that, everyone took out their books. It really seemed like they were just giving them out to anyone who scored moderately high in the event, and I could see loads of people chatting near the checkpoint with similar books in hand.

So I just have to open it to summon?

“How about a test-drive?”

“Very well.”

Shouko opened her book...and out popped a large, white cat about the size of a tiger.

“Mreowr...” it crooned as it stretched out, lowering its back so Shouko could get on easier.

“Wah! It’s a kitty cat!” Tsumugi exclaimed. She tried to pet it, only for her hand to pass straight through. “Huh? I can’t touch it.”

“Probably because it’s a personal pet?”

“Oh, I see. Try getting on, Shouko.”

“Y-Yes...”

Shouko looked a bit nervous as she gingerly slid atop the white cat’s back. As soon as she was secure, the white cat slickly stood on all fours.

“Oh, it seems I can maneuver it just like a horse. It’s a little bouncy, but not bad,” she explained as she began walking it around and getting a feel for it.

Other nearby players were similarly trying out their new mounts.

Hm? That guy has a giant lizard mount. It seems pretty random.

“My turn!”

Tsumugi produced a dog that looked kinda Siberian Husky-ish. What a fancy and fluffy selection.

“Your dog is adorable too, Tsumugi.”

“Heh heh.”

“...”

Next was Sheryl—hers was a giant river otter. She seemed quite satisfied.

“Hrrrrng! So cute! They’re all as cute as Kizzy!”

Therese... What’s that supposed to mean? Is that what I’m like in your eyes? I’m not happy about it at all.

So, anyway, L’Arc brought out a horse and hopped onto its back.

Yeah... Simple, but it suits him... As for Therese...

“A mole, huh?”

“Yeah! At first, I was like, ‘A mole? Really?’ But it’s actually super cute.”

I mean, sure, it was pretty cute in a whimsical fantasy kind of way, but it looked pretty slow. If anything, it felt like it would be more at home digging through the ground.

“...”

And for some reason, Yamikage had gone Sheryl-silent.

“What’s wrong, Yamikage?”

“About that, I daresay...”

What’s gotten her so down?

“Milord...”

“What about me?”

“No...it’s not your fault, I daresay...”

So, what? What is it? Someone has to go next—either you or me.

“Yammy, what’s wrong?”

“Yamikage?”

“Did something happen?”

“You okay?”

Everyone cocked their head quizzically at her curious behavior.

“Milord! I beg you, please trade with me!”

“Why me?”

“Ah, Yammy. It looks like we can’t trade the mounts we got this time around.”

“Why?! If that’s the case, I daresay, I’m stuck without a ride. I’m throwing this one away!”

“Whoa, whoa. Don’t waste it after we went through all that effort to get it.”

What? What exactly did she pull?

Yamikage seemed adamantly against showing her mount to anyone.

“I hate it! I demand a refund, I daresay! I’d even settle for a frog!”

“What, then did you get a slug or a snake?” L’Arc hazarded.

“Ah...” Therese sympathized. “She must have gotten an animal she’s scared of. Poor Yammy.”

“If it were a slug or snake, I’d call that a win! In the first place, why isn’t milord stuck in the same boat as me?! I thought we’d all get the same one!”

So a slug or snake would be fine. Well, maybe it’s because they all fit in that ninja category. But seriously, what did she get?

“Don’t make such a fuss. You’ll disturb the other players.”

“This is unjust, I daresay!”

“I wonder what Yamikage pulled? What about you, Kizuna?”

“Library Rabbit.”

“Oh, I can see some other players with that one.”

Tsumugi’s eyes darted around to the surrounding players. Compared to what the rest of my party had gotten, the rabbit was on the smaller side—not the most reliable as a mount. I definitely pulled the short straw. But how bad could Yamikage’s have been if she considered herself worse off than me?

“Very well, I daresay. Behold!”

After a bit more grumbling, Yamikage finally relented and opened her book. And with a puff of smoke...came the kappa.

It was a round, stubby, cartoonish kappa—cute in a different way than the Kappa Costume. It held the reins in its mouth and had a saddle strapped to its back—a rather disjointed design detail.

“Aww, it’s so cute!”

“But it’s a kappa, I daresay!”

“Don’t hate on them just because you had your shirikodama snatched away.”

“It’s amazing how the universe keeps making jokes at Yammy’s expense.”

“This is amazing...in a way.”

“But it’s cute, so isn’t it all good?”

“That isn’t the only reason, I daresay!”

Yamikage is...consistently unfortunate, but she somehow always makes it into the limelight.

“The Reaper Ninja pulled a kappa.”

“Makes sense, seeing how that kappa equipment carried her in the event. I guess her fate’s intertwined with the kappa now.”

She got some laughter from the crowd. That was simply how the being known as Yamikage lived her life. I knew nothing good would come of pushing it too far, so I contained myself.

“Kappa equipment...” Shouko paused. “You wore it, huh?”

“Not like we had a choice. It definitely played a huge part in our victory, so they’re not gonna one-sidedly laugh at us.”

“Well, they’re laughing at me, I daresay!”

“You never miss, huh, Yamikage.”

I’d worn it too, but somehow all the attention was being redirected to Yamikage. Sorry, dear Yammy. Who could’ve predicted you’d end up pulling a kappa mount too?

“Don’t worry, Yamikage. At least they’ll stop calling you the Reaper.”

“I daresay, they’ll call me the Kappa Ninja next!”

I can’t argue with that.

The Kappa Costume came with a steep cost, and Yamikage was paying for it with her reputation.

“What do you reckon Fishing Master Kizzy pulled?”

“Yeah, I’m curious!”

“A rabbit. Just overheard him.”

“His soul...is for the Pekkles! They should’ve given him a penguin!”

“He already has one, right? I saw it pulling his ship.”

“Oh, right.”

Don’t call me Kizzy! You all know I’m crossplaying, so why are you getting your moe fix from me?!

“You’re the last one, Kizuna.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

It felt like I’d gotten one of the more common pulls compared to the others... I already knew what it was, so I didn’t feel any excitement. The book opened. The smoke gushed out...and the pet appeared.

It was a huge, bipedal rabbit...so large in fact that I had to crane my neck up to take it all in. Sure, its eyes were wide, round, and cute...but c’mon. It was wearing the robes of a priest with a monk’s staff in one hand. This wasn’t a simple animal—it looked like a rabbit beastman with a solid, stocky build.

Silently, our eyes met.

I glanced toward the other players’ rabbit mounts, then back at my own.

“Yeah, it’s a rabbit, but, uh...isn’t the Fishing Master’s mount...kinda different?”

“Looks nice and fluffy to me.”

“How are you supposed to ride that? Sit on its shoulders, maybe?”

The other players voiced the questions going through my head.

When I took a closer look, the Pekkle Pipe and book were both glowing as though they were resonating. Wait, is this a bonus from being the island lord or something?!

“Hmm... To think there’d be a hidden effect like that. You never fail to surprise me, little lady.”

“It’s super fluffy and cute! I like this bunny too!”

“So you got a good one too, milord! This is a horrible betrayal, I daresay!”

“Settle down! I’m still trying to figure out how to ride this thing! What am I supposed to do, ride on its shoulder?!”

Like seriously, you expect me to climb up there every time?!

As I snapped back at Yamikage, I inched closer to my mount, and it lowered one arm to just the right height. Am I...supposed to hook my foot on its arm? I wondered as a mount assist interface popped up in my field of view.

Huh...really? That’s how you do it?

When I sat on the arm it offered me, the rabbit gently lifted me up and stood, cradling me like a parent would a small child. This seems to be...correct.

“Whoa...it totally suits the Fishing Master’s cute looks.”

Shut it!

“You look super fancy, bro.”

“Awww! It’s just layer upon layer of cuteness! Lemme take a picture!”

“It fits you to a T. Not bad, game.”

“Can it! Don’t take photos! I’m jealous of you, L’Arc!”

A handsome guy on a horse? He made for a pretty picture, like a general or a lone gunslinger.

“Tough guy and little girl,” Sheryl muttered.

Yeah...it definitely fits the trope, with the rabbit being a buff, macho man and me looking like this.

“Umm... Your mount is very...unique, Kizuna. I wonder how fast it can go,” Shouko asked, choosing her words carefully.

I complained to myself as I focused on moving forward. My mount began to walk and... It’s fast!

While holding me in one arm, the rabbit was moving just as fast as the other mounts. The way it moved was kind of like skipping.

“Looks like they all go at the same speed.”

“Yamikage, do you really envy this? Honestly, the ride’s terrible.”

Honestly, her kappa seemed like a more sensible option, seeing as it had a proper saddle. I didn’t feel stable at all when I was held up like this. Couldn’t it at least have given me a piggyback ride, or moved on all fours?

“A kappa...is more fitting for a shinobi, I daresay. As long as I don’t have to wear the costume, I’m fine with it, I daresay.”

Ah, she finally gets it. I’m not exactly in an envious position here.

“You wouldn’t look too out of place wearing it, though.”

It would be like a kappa carrying a kappa—nothing unusual about that.

“Pekkles...could be customized.”

“Ah, right.”

The Pekkle Pipe summoned a large mount pet that could carry our whole party, but this one was a personal mount. Maybe it had similar features. If there was a customization icon, maybe I could fiddle with a few things.

“It seems I can equip a rickshaw, I daresay.”

“That sounds better than riding on its back. As for me...”

I opened up the customization menu for the Library Rabbit to check what I could equip on it.

No rickshaw...rather, it looks like I can only change its clothes. It’s got a slot for a staff, robes, and a hat, but no saddle options.

One equip icon looked like a round shield, but it wasn’t actually a shield slot, so I didn’t really get it. It seemed I could swap the staff for a book, but that seemed more like a cosmetic option.

“Looks like I’m stuck being carried like this. I can’t change it.”

“Are you okay with that, Kizuna? You don’t have to ride it if you don’t want to,” Shouko kindly suggested.

“And mine can pull a carriage,” said L’Arc. “I can let you ride with me if we find one.”

But L’Arc. Shouldn’t you be bringing Therese with you? I’m not getting in there.

“Since I can summon and dismiss it pretty quickly, I might as well use it. I’ll try to make it work.”

“You don’t look half bad like that, bro.”

“Once we’re done restocking, let’s mount up and head to the next checkpoint.”

“Let’s go, I daresay!”

And with that, we headed from the checkpoint to the ship to meet with Alto and Romina, who’d remained on standby. They were part of the logistics team for the Demon Lord defense, and so, they’d been given mounts too.

Indeed, pretty much everyone who participated in any way got a mount.

Alto had a normal horse and Romina, like Therese, got a mole.

Everyone else seems to have gotten normal animals and monsters. Mine seems to be the only one that stands out.

“Good work on the event. Are you sure about giving me the drops?”

“You’ve done a lot for us, Romina.”

“Yes. Please use them to make some good equipment. And feel free to reach out if you ever need anything.”

“Thanks. In that case, I’ll gladly take them. By the way, I hear Alto’s gotten a few orders for that costume we entrusted with you.”

Yamikage and I both averted our eyes.

“Well, they’ve got pretty good specs. If I need to start mass-producing them, I’ll be counting on you guys for the material.”

“Are there seriously people who want that joke gear?”

“Well, if you focus on pure performance, it’s perfect for diving and fighting water-attribute monsters. I guess someone saw the potential.”

And I guess there will always be players who prioritize performance over looks.

“By the way, I can ask a dye artisan to at least change the color. How about I make it black for you, Yamikage?”

“No thank you, I daresay!”

Alto’s proposal was promptly shot down.

It’s not like I’m going to be wearing that thing regularly either...

“How about you, Sheryl?”

“...”

She looked like she was tempted to nod, but she ultimately turned him down.

“Jokes aside, I’m assuming you’ll be on the move again.”

“Yeah. We’re all curious about the new places we’ve unlocked.”

“I see. Then go on ahead. Let me know if you find any good ores.”

We parted ways again and cut a route through Mikakage, although we just took the express route for most of the way. But, from the Festival Town relay point onward, we were on our own, with everyone riding their brand-new mounts.

Being carried by my rabbit like this is...not for me. I already get enough jokes about how I’m being carried by my party. I don’t need any more of that.

I tried taking Brave Pekkle out too... Once I mounted, he summoned his own ride to match.

He rode a white-and-pink chick-like creature...perhaps the same mob that appeared when he transformed into Wrath Pengu? When I called up Chris and the other Pekkles, they just climbed up and perched on my rabbit’s shoulders.

“All these checkpoints...don’t you think it’s about time we reached the capital?”

We’d passed through quite a few of them already, yet Mikakage’s capital still seemed far off. Just how closed off was this place? Perhaps they placed trust over everything else.

If I thought of it like Japan’s Edo period, traveling from Kagoshima to Edo—yeah, maybe it was a large distance after all. But were they seriously trying to replicate it that faithfully?

“I couldn’t tell you.”

“I really wanna see the kind of equipment they’re selling in the capital.”

“We need to clear a bunch of annoying quests just to get there... I’ll bet even the store-bought gear will be top-notch.”

This was what dreams were made of. Did that mean that Mikakage was the Fourth City? No, that didn’t seem quite right... It would take way too much effort for normal players just to get there. It was way too inconvenient to be someone’s base of operations.

If the next Dimension Wave broke out near the Fourth City, then just how much of the player base would be able to participate in it? How were they planning to address that?

Maybe the country eventually decides that all players are trustworthy and drops the visa requirement?

It felt like the sort of thing they’d address in the next update...but still, something felt off.

While I was thinking it over, we arrived at the checkpoint. We got a hearty nod as soon as we flashed our visa at the NPC, and the gates opened to let us through.

Epilogue: The Bath

“A new area, huh? I wonder what we’ll find this time.”

“First things first—we need a base. We’ve been fighting nonstop today, so we’d better tuck in early.”

“Huuuuh? We’re not exploring?”

“If you want to, go right ahead.”

As long as we stuck to the main road, we hardly encountered any monsters. We made our brisk way along the path until...a mountain and some wetlands came into sight. We could see a small town at the foot of the mountain.

“Looks like that’s the next stop.”

“So it seems. The autumn colors are beautiful.”

Ah, now that she mentions it... Just as Shouko had pointed out, the trees around us were all dressed in vibrant hues, showing off the distinct sights of fall. They put a lot of effort into recreating the seasons here in Mikakage.

“Right...it’s almost poetic.”

“The scenery is super nice. New quests are good too, but it could be nice to just take it easy and enjoy the place.”

We were able to enjoy a similar sense of natural elegance at the mountain stream too. Though...the skies above the wetlands look a little dark.

“A wetland, I daresay.”

“And I’ll be fishing there, of course. What do you think the lord’s gonna be?”

“I don’t know what I expected. Once we reach town, it might be best to rest for the night. Then, we can all go off on our own.”

Sure enough. Heading straight to fishing is tempting, but there might be some monsters around. I should go around with Shouko and the others first to make sure that the area’s safe, or at least that I can handle the monsters on my own.

But let’s be real, I definitely wasn’t going to be able to handle them. Not at my level, and not this far into Mikakage. Fishing in any monster-infested area was going to be harsh without my party.

In the sea, I could use nets, ballistae, and the Pekkles to manage one way or another, but... Out here? Unless we were in a safe area or a place with a really low spawn rate, I just couldn’t fish in peace.

For what it’s worth, we’d run into a few low-spawn zones already.

“By the way, I daresay, I’ve come across something curious...”

“What’s up?”

“About these personal mounts. I daresay, they were designed with combat in mind.”

“Really?”

“After riding a while, I unlocked a skill called Mounted Combat, I daresay.”

Oh? She’s right.

Mounted Combat I

A mount-exclusive skill.

Reduces all negative effects of mounting and grants certain bonuses. This skill will also unlock the latent abilities of a mount pet.

100 Energy consumed per hour.

Required Mana to Acquire: 200

Unlock Condition: Remain mounted for 4 or more hours.

Upgrade Condition: Remain mounted for 30 or more hours.

So it’s the same sort of skill as Shipboard Combat. And if it enhances a mount’s abilities, does that mean learning it will give us an edge in battle?

Whether a player used their mount strictly for travel or for combat too—that was a personal choice.

Actually, now that we’d run into wetlands, it hit me: “Wouldn’t Yamikage’s kappa be better for me...? I bet it can swim, I mean, it’s amphibious.”

“From the bottom of my heart, I would gladly give it to you if I could. I daresay.”

It would be far too convenient if I could reach nice fishing spots without a boat. The issue was that Yamikage didn’t share my love of fishing.

“I guess I’ll ask Alto to scout and see if there’s a personal mount for sale that works on both land and water.”

“...”

Even without looking her way, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Sheryl was staring at me.

“I mean...boats are good too.”

I should do some damage control. I’m just trying to say there are some places that boats can’t reach.

“I’ll set up some traps in advance.”

“You’re not compromising on that, I see.”

“Of course. I mean, it’s because of the traps that I get to cut down on my personal fishing time to go on adventures with everyone.”

Fishing was the core of my soul life—but I also wanted to fight alongside Shouko and everyone else. My trap fishing was the only way to satisfy both desires at once.

Fortunately, I’d already picked up a fresh supply of crab traps from Alto. I just needed to set them in prime locations. For now...let’s station them somewhere convenient in the wetlands. As close to town as possible.

I quickly got to work.

“Little lady...”

“Kizzy’s really committed, huh...”

“If other players could see your traps, the atmosphere would be completely ruined, I daresay.”

When it came to the crab traps, they were only visible to the party members of the person who set them.

“I mean, it’s one thing for my brother to have no moderation, but I’m amazed the system even lets him stack so many of them.”

“Now that you mention it, I daresay I’d expect items like that to have a placement limit.”

I’d wondered the same thing at first when I was nervously testing them out...but thus far, I’d received no indication of any cap. I even checked to see if the oldest ones would despawn when I placed new ones, but there was no sign of that either.

“Lord...” Sheryl muttered something.

“You mean his status? Makes sense—I can see why the manager of a territory’d be able to bypass normal limits.”

“No, if I had to say, it’s because the game was designed under the assumption that you’ll need a lot of materials, I daresay.”

L’Arc and Yamikage began speculating on Sheryl’s comment. But what can I tell you? If it works, that’s all that matters.

I pulled out another crab trap and sunk it down into the wetlands by the water’s edge. Now, I just had to leave it for a while, and I’d catch something by the time I hauled it back up. Of course, there was a decent chance of catching a dud, but that was part of the experience.

Sometimes, I’d pull up driftwood, or even an item simply labeled “Trash.” The trash apparently had some actual use. I could give it to Alto, and he’d have a craftsman process it into who knows what.

I still don’t know what it’s used for.

“All right, all set. Let’s head into town.”

“Yes!”

“The unknown awaits us, I daresay!”

“I wonder what we’ll find here.”

With that, we set foot in the new relay town.

“It’s probably because of the wetlands, but the ground here is nicely paved and reinforced.”

“Looks like it.”

Everything was built on a sturdy foundation of stone... Even though we were far inland, the place had a vibe that reminded me of a port. Soon, we found an inn that felt more like a guesthouse.

“It’s empty with a nice view, and no hassle, I daresay.”

“Well, we’re the first ones here, after all.”

“The frontliners haven’t made it this far yet.”

They were probably still stuck at Festival Town, doing quests day and night, running around like crazy with barely any time to sleep. Since they had to regularly renew their visa and take the application time into account, it was going to take them a bit longer to get here.

“An efficient and lucrative spot with no competition... We’ve found another one right here.”

That was what we’d discussed when we were trying to decide on an ideal hunting ground while keeping my dismantling a secret. We’d been chasing those conditions ever since.

“Yeah. We’ve come a long way, come to think of it.”

These days, dismantling had become so well-known that it was only common sense for a party to include someone with that skill set.

By the way, since you couldn’t carry around monster corpses, opening up a dismantling shop wasn’t really an option. It’d work on fish, but not much more than that. Monster dismantling could only be done on-site. That was its biggest flaw.

Oh, but I think animals caught in traps can be carried around. Alto—acting as the local information broker—shared that tidbit even when I didn’t ask for it.

“Having this whole view to ourselves feels pretty great.”

“All right, let’s split up and get our rooms.”

The sun was already starting to set.

The wetlands have a special sort of air to them when you watch the sun dip down... Granted, it’s the same sun I always see over the ocean.

“I’m tired today. I think I’ll go for a nice soak in the bath.”

“Yeah. We came here right after getting the reward from the Demon Lord defense battle... I could use a breather.”

Bathing was not mandatory in Dimension Wave. But it was still possible, and they even had public baths set up in the towns. By the way, as Dimension Wave was a wholesome game for all ages, everyone was wrapped in towels in the baths.

You didn’t have to wash your body, but you could do it manually if you wanted to. And even if your towel came off, your character would be wearing a mysterious swimsuit underneath. As for what was under that—no one knew. No one could see.

“Bath time! Bath time! L’Arc and bro, no peeking, okay?”

“Lady Tsumugi...the baths are usually mixed baths, I daresay.”

Yep. Baths in Dimension Wave were treated like pools with no separation between men and women. Maybe they designed it for people like me—openly crossplaying the opposite gender.

Technically, there were signs labeled “Men’s Area” and “Women’s Area,” but there were no walls or anything. There were just labels, and nothing to block the view from one side to the other.

“I get that it’s impossible with the mixed baths, but they should’ve at least thrown in a peeping quest. It’s a whole trope, right? You gotta have some romance! Where’s the sense of adventure?!” L’Arc clenched his fist with a look of frustration.

Therese, not entirely on board, furrowed her brow. “What’s so romantic about that? Seriously, L’Arc...”

“It’s like that, I daresay. Lady Therese and Sir L’Arc are too used to seeing one another. That’s why Sir L’Arc wishes to peep on his lady’s body in a way that keeps things fresh.”

“Hey—”

“Yamikage, you little—!”

Therese turned red, while L’Arc scolded the little ninja.

“Don’t tease grown-ups like that! And that joke’s walking a real fine line.”

“I do think there’s something wrong with peeping, but apart from that, I’m more concerned about sending Kizuna into the men’s area.”

As I’m sure everyone understood, thanks to my sister, my avatar looked like a beautiful girl. And even if they knew it was a man piloting the beautiful girl, sticking a girl like that into the men’s area felt...off.

“Ah...right. I get it. That’s probably why they didn’t put in quests like that. It’s for people like the little lady.”

“I guess that’s reassuring, in a way.”

It did feel kinda awkward. An open crossplayer like me struggled in places like these.

I wonder if those characters in anime and manga that go through genderswaps have to go through this kind of awkwardness too.

“We’re pretty much bathing in our bathing suits anyway. Do we truly have to be so mindful about it?”

“I guess you’re pretty relaxed about this stuff, Shouko.”

And I guess it’s not gonna go like those scenes where they see the guy grinning and demand separate baths.

“I suppose that’s true. I might have been bothered if Kizuna had a male appearance. I mean, I would definitely say something if L’Arc came into the female area.”

“Hmm...it’s like that,” I sighed. “Like if he jumped into the bath and started groping boobs left and right, saying ‘The more you grope, the bigger they get!’—that’s the kinda harassment that’d get him booted.”

“Totally!” L’Arc exclaimed.

“L’Arc...you’re setting a bad example for the children. Could you step aside for a moment?”

Therese began to lecture the man. Perhaps he went a little too wild there.

“Why so specific...?” asked Shouko. “Do you want to grope them?”

I sighed. “If I had to choose between yes or no—well, I’m a guy. So yes. But I can manage with my own chest...or not.”

I was a beautiful girl, but I was flat as a board. Poor me.

“Big breasts...get in the way.” Sheryl spoke up in discontent.

Yeah...she’s not exactly on the big side herself.

“The bigger, the better, I daresay!”

On the contrary, Yamikage was on Team Big.

“That’s right!” Tsumugi chimed in. “There’s nothing wrong with having big boobs!”

Yeah, you’d say that. Your chest isn’t exactly small, I guess.

I didn’t know Shouko’s opinion on the matter, but it seemed Sheryl was the odd one out...right? Was she self-conscious about being flat...? If that’s the case, then why hadn’t she picked an avatar with the right curves from the start?

I mean, Tsumugi had casually made hers bigger than in real life.

And Therese...

“Having a large chest is nice, you know. But when you grow up and enter the world of adults, this kind of talk counts as sexual harassment. Be careful, everyone.”

So the adult woman of the group also thinks big boobs are better... She must’ve done a little padding just like Tsumugi. And I’ll bet Yamikage did it too.

Hmm... Wait, following that logic...what exactly is Sheryl annoyed about...?

Shouko was looking at me wearily. “Let us keep this within the realm of decency and enjoy the view.”

Despite everything, everyone was good-looking anyway, and just bathing together was enough. Besides, this was a normal, non-explicit game, so they definitely designed it to be clean and wholesome.

And at the end of the day, it was a game—you didn’t need to bathe to stay sanitary in the first place.

“Still,” I said, “we’ve pretty much got the place to ourselves, so I could just go in separately. You’re not gonna get aroused by me, are you, L’Arc?”

“Ha ha! I’d be a criminal if I got turned on by a squirt like you. Not happening.”

Yeah...considering his appearance, it wouldn’t be weird for him to bathe with his own kid if he had one.

“I wonder...” Shouko trailed off. “Sometimes, I forget that Kizuna is a man at all. I don’t think it would bother me bathing with him.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

All thanks to my sisters outdoing themselves with the avatar.

“In this game, my brother’s all about fishing, after all. He can be a bit dense in real life too.”

“Shouko, Sheryl, Yamikage—you might not get it, but I’ve got two dumb sisters at home. I’m pretty sure that’s why I’m less interested in girls than other guys my age.”

It felt a bit depressing hearing the words come from my own mouth.

Even at school, I was the plain kid with the pretty sisters. My classmates always asked me about them, but honestly, living with them up close and personal, it was their lazy and sloppy sides that stood out more to me.

That’s why I just couldn’t understand the guys who went wild over sisters, be they big sisters or little ones.

Just what part of them was I supposed to be excited about?

Not that I’d ever been hugged by a woman who wasn’t family...

So sure, I was curious about what it felt like to touch a boob, but it wasn’t like I sat around thinking about it. Someone else would need to bring up the topic before it even occurred to me, and I could already sorta imagine the texture anyway.

“You’re dead inside...little lady.”

“So this is what it’s like to be a boy raised between sisters... How enlightening.”

Therese, what exactly are you learning from me? Are you imagining your future with L’Arc?

“You have your share of troubles, milord... As for me, I daresay I’ve always been jealous of people with siblings.”

Yamikage’s words got a sympathetic nod from Sheryl.

“I kind of understand,” said Shouko. “When you’ve lived so close and shared meals and beds for so long, you stop thinking of them in that way.”

For Shouko, I can picture her having senior or junior disciples in real life.

“When you think about it...we don’t have any of that love stuff going for us. Is this all we’ve got? Just flipping L’Arc and Therese off for being a stupid couple...?”

“Little lady...that’s one harsh way to put it...”

“What’s the harm? Let the whole world see! We’re happy and proud!”

Therese just brushed off my cynicism like it was nothing...and I ended up being the one taking damage.

Shouko didn’t seem to have any romantic prospects, as far as I could tell, and Tsumugi went without saying. Yamikage called herself socially awkward, and Sheryl was hard to even hold a conversation with.

And I was an openly crossplaying guy...so nothing. Despite Dimension Wave billing itself as part of the Second Life Project, we weren’t really taking advantage of it. I guess this is what you get when you gather up a bunch of adventure-seeking gamers.

“Let’s keep it at that; it’s starting to get depressing.” Shouko shook her head. “It’s important to have fun.”

“Yeah, good point. As for the bath... I’ll plan to go in at a different time so I don’t make anything awkward. If you girls don’t mind being around me, feel free to show up.”

“Right. If we want to have a nice talk, a bath would be as good a time as any.”

“If only we had some booze—nothing better than a drink in a hot spring.”

“Not on my watch. Don’t forget the time you drank yourself unconscious in your own bathtub.”

Though L’Arc and Therese came off as a stupid young couple, they sometimes had a vibe as if they’d been married for years. It’s good that we all get along.

In the end, everyone just decided to bathe on their own schedule.

†

“Phew...”

The bath in the new town was an open-air hot spring. Spread out before me was a spectacular view of the wetlands.

It was super easy to peep from where I was—but thanks to the game’s design, there was pretty much no actual nudity. It was almost like the designers were screaming, “Dimension Wave is a wholesome game!” or something.

“How is the water?”

I’d spent some time in my inn room dismantling fish to raise my skill proficiency. After fulfilling the conditions for my next dismantling Rank, I finally entered the bath. And then, Shouko showed up.

“Pretty nice. The view’s good too; I can’t wait to see what kind of fish are out there.”

“Hee hee, that’s just like you, Kizuna.”

With a slight splash, she joined me in the bath and sat beside me.

“It’s peaceful.”

“It is.”

Thinking back on everything that’d happened today, the jump from the highs to the lows had been a bit extreme. Mental fatigue did tend to build up, and once you got into a hot spring, it would hit you all at once.

Shouko spent a while taking in the view before turning to me.

“What’s up?”

“No, it’s not as if there’s anything in particular... It’s just that... I wish I could’ve fought alongside you in today’s battle.”

“The teams were auto-assigned, so not much we could have done about that... But I get it. Still, you were with Tsumugi, right? You two are pretty close, so I figured you could go all out with her fighting by your side.”

“That’s true... But on the other hand, I haven’t had many chances to fight alongside you, Kizuna.”

So that’s been bothering her? I do appreciate how everyone’s been considerate of my fishing hobby, but...

“Perhaps I’ll join you for some fishing this time.”

“Oh? You’ll come with me?!”

“Is it that surprising? We did a little on Cal Mira, and I was with you on the crab cannery ship, right?”

Right... I think I can see why Shouko was keeping me company.

“Kizuna, you clearly like fishing a lot more than monster hunting; you’ve been doing that just to spend some time with us. So I should return the favor, or it wouldn’t be fair.”

“Then let’s enjoy some fishing here and there between all the hunting and exploring.”

In the end, not much had really changed in the way we played the game. Everyone was enjoying the thrill of a new frontier, and I was spending my time scoping out fishing spots to cast my line.

And that was perfectly fine with me.

“Yes, let’s.”

I didn’t know how long there was until the next Dimension Wave, but we just had to keep going as far as we could.

“Also, Kizuna.”

“Yeah?”

“There are a few things we ought to be paying more attention to.”

Hmm? What’s this about? You mean love? Romance?

“What?”

“I believe Yamikage has caught on as well, but if we want to keep growing stronger, we are going to need a broader range of experience. Simply grinding efficient monsters isn’t enough anymore.”

Yeah... Sheryl and Tsumugi have both hit a roadblock with their proficiencies.

Up to a certain point, defeating the same monsters over and over was a good way to grow. But Shouko was right: There was more to it than that.

“You haven’t spent much time exploring the areas from the First to Second Cities, have you, Kizuna?”

“No, I’ve only been to the Second City a handful of times.”

“So once we’ve wrapped up the things we want to do here, I’d like to travel to places we’ve never been. We’ll fight monsters we’ve never fought to try to fulfill the conditions to grow stronger.”

I see...so she’s thinking about overcoming the wall by finding hidden conditions, milestones, or that sort of thing.

Even with all my top-notch gear and my skills, I’d clearly been lagging behind in that last fight. According to Romina, my ice knife was supposed to be an incredibly powerful weapon.

Even if my real-life athleticism was partly to blame...I clearly still had a lot of work to do. And considering the battles ahead, it was a path I had to take.

“We could ask L’Arc and Therese to guide us along some quests.”

Going around and exploring didn’t sound too bad. There were still unknown fishing spots waiting for me. I’d already seen some of what was out there from the aquarium on Cal Mira...but who knows what could have changed with the update?

“You’re right. Maybe we haven’t truly experienced everything the world has to offer yet. Let’s enjoy it all to the fullest.”

“Got it. Sorry for worrying you.”

“You’ve helped a lot, Kizuna. This is the least I can do. Let’s have fun—and make sure we have no regrets.”

Should I be doing something romantic here—like inviting her out on a date? Nah, we’re not really in that kind of relationship.

And so, we chatted over inconsequential things and finished up our bath. Back in my room, I cooked up a meal for everyone.

“We’ve got sashimi tonight! And don’t miss out on Therese’s special fishball soup!”

“Sashimi!”

“I daresay, a seafood bowl for me!”

“We never run out of seafood with you guys around, do we?”

“Bro! Don’t you have any salmon roe?”

“I wanna eat some salmon.”

“I was surprised when I heard how salmon used to be less popular than tuna.”

Yeah, I heard that salmon outperforms even fatty tuna at the shops nowadays. Salmon was already king by the time I was old enough to care about it.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t fished up any salmon yet. It’s my ultimate goal in fly-fishing.”

“Where do you think we can find them?”

“Hmm... I don’t really know yet. I do remember seeing it already recorded at Cal Mira’s aquarium.”

But at the very least, I hadn’t caught one myself. Most of my catches had been ocean fish, after all.

“I could see them being at the mountain stream. But...they’re seasonal fish; I don’t know if or when they’ll show up.”

It was a game, after all. Fish just didn’t appear in areas where they weren’t on the spawn table.

“Salmon. Good.”

Sheryl offered her two cents.

“Yeah, it’s definitely one of the tastier fish out there. I won’t deny that. I’d love to snag one like we did those eels.”

“Let’s go fishing in the streams again, bro!”

Tsumugi was already thirsting for salmon.

Salmon, huh... It’s a versatile fish in the kitchen. There’s salmon onigiri, grilled salted salmon...salmon roe, salmon flakes, meunière...yeah. Not bad.

“Don’t forget what we came here for. We need to explore the wetlands and the area beyond the new checkpoint while we can, right?”

“Yeah! And we’ve gotta finish up the hunting quests too, in order to get into the next area!”

“There’s a lot to do, I daresay.”

“I’d say that’s a good thing. There’s nothing more boring than a game with nothing left to do.”

“Indeed. I daresay, after crabs and eels, our next mission is the great salmon hunt.”

“You think you caught any in the traps you set on the way here, bro?”

“I doubt it’s going to be that easy.”

Naturally...there weren’t any salmon in the traps.

“A salmon hunt, eh... Let’s put the quest hunting behind us, and go on a gourmet adventure, Therese.”

“You’re right. A whole world of unknown ingredients is waiting for us!”

And just like that, our night quietly drew to a close.