I need to earn a lot of money for my sister’s VR headset.
This is a good day to find a way to earn a lot of money in a short amount of time.
“It is impossible!”
It truly is. I am a poor person for a long time. If there is a way to do this, I should’ve done it a long time ago.
[What is the problem?]
(I need money.)
[Does that regards the Virtual Reality I read last night?]
(Yeah, I need to buy it for my sister.)
[Your sister is very lucky to have such a loving brother.]
(I get it. You are probably jealous of our relationship.)
…
I probably made a grave mistake.
(I am sorry for being insensitive.)
[You don’t have to say that. I am wondering though, I understand that this is a great place to earn money, but isn’t it more reasonable if you are near your sister at least?]
I asked myself this question a long time ago. I don’t know if going to another place to help my sister will make Sena happy or not. If it she wanted me by her side at all times, then I can’t guarantee that I can support Sena. This is such a dilemma.
(If you are in my sister’s place, then what do you want to do?)
…
[I don’t know anything about your sister so I can’t say.]
(Your personal opinion then.)
…
…
[I’ll get back to you on that.]
Still, I need to think of a way to earn money fast.
It is impossible for me.
For me! Get it viewers, this time I have Eula so there must be a way. Hahaha…
[Sorry to interrupt your moment, but I can hear you. What do you want from me?]
I don’t care anymore if I am thinking out loud or not.
(I need money.)
[Yes, you said that’s your problem. So?]
How should I explain this?
(I already said that I am living here for 3 years.)
[I know.]
(As you can see, I am still poor.)
[I can see that. Do you want to tell me, ‘despite living here that long, you are still poor’, or something like that?]
(Exactly. The reason is not finding a good job that I can do while still paying a large sum of money.)
[Okay, what now?]
(I have a plan. First, you will find a good job here.)
[Question, how am I supposed to find a good job? You can’t even see one.]
(Simple, just search for it. I can’t find one because I am the one searching. If you are the one searching, you can pretty much find a better job than the one I am currently employed.)
[That doesn’t makes any sense.]
(No, it does. You are much talented than me if you live in this world, so maybe you can find something. Besides you want to live here, so you need to do this sooner or later.)
[I agree that I will be doing this later on, but I am still learning things.]
(Don’t worry, with your brain, you can almost do any sort of job. I mean you learn pretty fast so it is not impossible for you.)
[I don’t know. I am not confident that I will earn a lot of money though.]
(Just try it, you might even find a job where you only need to stay here at home and be in front of the computer. I think you will like that.)
[That is possible? Is that the reason why I don’t see anyone there? That type of job seems pretty good.]
(Maybe for some. I don’t think anyone can do it or anyone does it. But if it’s you, it might be a piece of cake.)
Well, she is a genius.
[Okay, I will agree for now. What’s the next step?]
Oh, right.
(Second, I will try to acquire a starting capital if the job needs it.)
[I don’t know how you can do that, but okay. What if I don’t need it then?]
(I don’t have anything to do then. If you can’t find any good job, I know a way to acquire the money.)
[Why don’t you do that first rather than me finding a job?]
(Someone owe me a favour and I can ask her for money to repay that favour. I prefer if she don’t repay the favor, but she wanted to anyways. Either I keep trying to not let her repay me or she repays me by another favour. I don’t want her to repay me any materials.)
[I see that it’s your least choice. That’s so kind of you though.]
(Thanks.)
[One last question. What is that Virtual Reality you are talking about? Based on the name, reality might be represented as a non-abstract object or instance. I don’t know.]
Oh yeah, she comes from another world so she shouldn’t know.
(You see, Virtual Reality is…)
Uhh…
(Wait, let me think for a second.)
[Okay.]
I didn’t think that it will be hard to explain.
…
I have an idea.
(The ‘Lover’s Bond’s translation automatically conveys the intention. Right? So, if I want to convey the explanation of the Virtual Reality even though I can’t find the words to explain it, I still be able to explain it.)
[Yes, but I can’t guarantee that I will be able to understand it, because it is up for us to do so.]
(Alright, let’s see if I can explain it.)
So, Virtual Reality. If I want to explain it, then…
(Virtual reality is where you put yourself in the shoes of an avatar in a 3d world created by a computer. If it is combined with the internet, it allows communication like you are meeting with someone in real life.)
Seriously, it actually works. I am surprised that I am actually able to say that. I mean, I didn’t think of the words but the words come naturally.
Does this mean that the reason we fully understand each other is actually due to ‘Lover’s bond’?
Hey author, isn’t this too convenient? (Author: …)
…
Why do I feel like the author didn’t respond to me? Hey, Author! (Author: It’s your imagination.)
Maybe it is only my imagination.
…
Or not, I mean the most of the imagination of the protagonist is always right. Like, ‘There is someone following us?’ or ‘There is someone hiding there?’ Hmm… (Author: Sometimes it is always not right though.)
Yeah, there is a possibility that it is not right. (Author: Did you just hear me?)
But since I think of that, it is actually the truth. But now that I think that it is perhaps the truth, then maybe it’s not. Ahh!!! The paradox is real. (Author: *sigh*)
[That is great. I think it’s great that you can meet like in real life. But does it have to be next week? You can postpone it until you earned so much money.]
I forgot to tell the why it needs to be next week.
(Do you remember that I played last night?)
[Yes, it doesn’t make sense but I can see that you are playing with your sister although you are far away with each other.]
(Yeah. So, that is an online game. We have a character that we control and we can explore the world inside the game we play.)
[Okay. Both of you are having fun while communicating. What does it have to do with VR?]
(The online game is a VR. Not only I can interact with my sister like in real life, we can also do a lot of stuff since it is a game. I can’t give any example since this is the first VRMMO game that will exist here.)
[What is a VRMMO?]
(The MMO stands for Massive Multiplayer Online, it means that a lot of people are able to interact in the online game itself. The online game we play is considered to be a MMO which is why there are a lot of people.)
[I get it. If I am right in reading the article you were reading last night, then you want to play as soon as it’s launched?]
(No, it is impossible. Yeah, it will be launched next week, but it is only the device needed to connect and play the actual game. Since the device will be limited and due to a huge amount of demand to this device, I will not be surprised if it’s sold out the same day as its launch.)
[That is pretty amazing.]
(I know. That is why we need to get an order as soon as possible, which is next week. That’s why we will have a lot of fun next week.)
[I’m not from there so I am excited, probably.]
(So, enough of that. You go find a job here, I’ll continue your adventure there.)
We swapped.
[Be careful going inside Loncross. That place is the boundary between our country and another country. You also know that I am hunted by other countries, but don’t worry about my looks since no one knows my true appearance which is the appearance you’ve seen already.]
(How did you do it?)
[Simple, I’ve changed my appearance using magic. I’ve been keeping that fake appearance exposed for more than 9 years so even someone who knows me don’t know how I truly look.]
(When did you became a genius?)
She is doing that for 9 years. NINE YEARS! It means that she have already thought about using a disguise as her real appearance as a disguise to her real appearance. Any normal person will use a disguise to hide themselves but this genius uses her real appearance to hide herself.
[No, I am not a genius. There are a lot of person who is greater than me.]
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(I don’t care if you are being humble or not. In my opinion, you’re the best!)
I said it on impulse. Whatever, it’s what I really thought.
…
[Thank you~~]
I find the way she said her thanks to me cuter than the rest of her statements.
…
Yeah, it feels different… and cuter than usual.
(By the way, what happened to the male shark that’s supposed to be with you?)
[He already left by the time when we woke up this morning.]
(So you camped out last night.)
[Yes.]
Last night, I slept earlier than Eula since they are currently travelling towards Loncross. I insisted that I will swap with her so she is the one sleeping earlier instead of me but she refused. So I can’t do anything about it.
(Is it strange for adventurers if you go inside Loncross at night?)
[No. But it might attract a lot of attention especially if you don’t have business in the place.]
Although I know that it is probably for security purposes, since it is always like that in the fantasy novels I read. How the security works is skeptical for me due to lack of information about this world.
(Why will it attract a lot of attention?)
[First, night is more dangerous because it’s dark that you are more likely to not notice danger lurking in the shadows.]
(Yeah, I agree.)
[If the security knows that I arrived at night especially with no more injuries, then either they will report that a strong adventurer has arrived or they will report that I am someone suspicious.]
[If they reported that I am a strong adventurer, then I will be asked a lot of questions. If they report that I am suspicious, which is worse than the former, they will either stalk me or something worse than that.]
(That is very troublesome indeed.)
[Yes. Unless I have a reason, I need to arrive during the day.]
(So, which direction is Loncross?)
[Let me use my left eye.]
I am seeing an arrow again pointing somewhere.
(Is this the direction?)
[Yes. So, while you are still far away from Loncross, how to use this thing?]
She is referring to the computer.
(Can you teach me how to do the magic you just did first?)
[No, you might not learn it fast enough.]
(Let me use my right hand then.)
…
(This is the mouse and this is the keyboard.)
(You use the mouse to control the arrow in the screen by dragging the mouse on the desk. That arrow is called cursor.)
(You must point the cursor to the thing that you want to interact in the screen.)
(There are many things that you can interact but let’s interact with this.)
I pointed the cursor on a browser.
(This is a browser. There are many browsers but this is the one that I use.)
(You use the browser to interact with the internet which you can use to gather information.)
(Now that it is pointed, you can either do a left click or a right click.)
(To open it, you must do a double left-click)
…
(You can use right click to show more possible options to interact.)
…
(You use the keyboard to input the words here in the search bar.)
…
(Take your time to explore how to use the computer. Most users of the computer learn through experience. Even I experimented before I get used to it.)
(I hope you get all of that.)
[Yes. I will ask if I have some questions.]
…
(Here we are, Loncross. Any information?)
[Loncross is a large town. It is located within the boundary of two countries, Siñalta and Tuschekov.]
(What country did we came from?)
[Siñalta.]
Okay then, this will be my first conversation with someone from this world…Wait, I forgot about the language.
(How can I talk to them?)
[I already applied the translator. Just talk to them.]
Here it goes. Wait, it will be better if they are the one who starts the conversation.
“Hey miss!”
It seems that the guard is referring to me. So I approached the guard who called me.
“Yeah?”
I forgot that I am a girl right now. My voice… is so gentle and cute. Hmm… Should I…
…
Is he attracted to me or something? Well, I am charming right now.
“Uhh… Miss, where did you come from? Can you please show us your identification papers?”
(Eula, do you have the identification papers he is talking about?)
[No, I left it at home because it is not useful for me.]
“Sorry~ I don’t have any identification papers you are talking about.”
“Why do you not have one?”
“It’s because I live very far away from here that they didn’t make me the papers you are talking about.”
[It’s funny that because you are the one saying it. The lie detector didn’t detect that you are lying.]
(Wait, there is? You should’ve told me that sooner. I am going to lie if he asked me where I lived.)
[No, I mean our ‘Lover’s bond’ lie detector. The lie detector magic requires permission from the person who will be detected.]
“Where do you live?”
I don’t really like lying, but I think it is okay if they misunderstand me while saying the truth. So, I need to…
[Sorry. Let me say it for you.]
(No need.)
“I live in the middle of an ocean. My family ended up in a tragedy a long time ago and now…“
*sob*
”…I find myself in this place. “
*sob*
“Can you please not ask me anymore question? Because…”
*sob*
“I…”
*sob*
“I don’t…”
*sob*
“Sorry, miss. You can stop now.”
[Nathan… You…]
(What? All I’ve said is true. I plan to say, ‘I don’t want to expose my true identity’. Not saying it doesn’t mean that I am lying though. The reason I am sobbing is to force them to stop me from saying it.)
“Why did you come here?”
“I want to be an adventurer.”
“A young adventurer eh. I respect your decision but please let me escort you to the town hall, you need to acquire identification papers for your adventures.”
“Thank you~~!”
“Ahahaha…”
This guy is totally into me.
[Nathan, what are you doing?]
(Practicing.)
To act like a beautiful maiden.
[I can’t believe you. That is very embarrassing.]
We entered the town. This town has a very good atmosphere. The nature and people are everywhere.
The nature consists of many beautiful trees located on the edge of the town. The grass surrounding the trees are filled with different varieties of plants and flowers.
It’s most attractive point is the rolling ball of flower or plant. Those are everywhere. I saw a scene where the child of the family holds that ball of flowers or plants and when the mother has sprinkled water into it. It grows into a much more wonderful, delicate and beautiful flowers or plants. The plants or flowers is in the hands of the child for a few seconds until it is swept by the wind. Considering that they are not upset that it is swept, it means that it always happen that way.
The people consists of merchants, soldier, adventurers, street performers, child, adult… All sort of people are here. They are giving this kind of vibe where you feel like you are at home relaxing.
“Beautiful isn’t it? Loncross is known for its nature, people, and its trade. Nature is beautiful as you can see. People has good relation whether you came from Siñalta or Tuschekov. Trade because the products are acquired from both countries and some products here are unique because its materials came from both countries and their own town. You would not believe that there is war going on.”
(There is a war?)
[Yes.]
We have arrived to the town hall.
“Sir! This person wanted to acquire identification papers.”
“Who is she?”
“She is…”
(Did you call yourself another name when you went into hiding?)
[I lied to the villagers before, I said that my name is Eunice.]
“My name is Ytor. You can call me Eunice Ytor.”
Again, I am not lying. It’s true that my name is Ytor. I said that they can call me Eunice Ytor. I never said that it’s my name though.
“I never heard that name before. Well then, follow me.”
I followed the man who I suppose is the leader of the soldiers in this town.
“Nympha, someone here wants identification papers. I am in a hurry so I don’t know the details. You go ask her.”
“Yes, be careful during the investigation.”
He sprints outside. I wonder what’s going on.
“Hello. What’s your name?”
“My name is Ytor. You can call me Eunice Ytor.”
“So your name is Eunice Ytor. This is the first time I heard that name here. I am Nympha Plume. I am the mayor’s assistant in this town. Why did you not have identification papers?”
She asked me the same things that the soldier asked me. I answered the same and the sobbing works as well.
“An aspiring adventurer! Do you know what the job of an adventurer is?”
(Eula, this is time for you to shine. What is the job of an adventurer?)
[I read many books about it, but I see that it is subjective per person. I think she is testing you.]
If it is my opinion, it is simple then.
“It is to go to an adventure and interact with different persons. The reason there are jobs is to make good relations in order to spread the way of helping others.”
I hope that I said it right.
“Why do you want to be an adventurer?”
“It’s because I want to be one.”
“I know, so why do you want to be one?”
“I want to go and adventure.”
She is thinking about something. This is it. I will be able to determine the genre of my story based on this.
…
Come on, she didn’t comment to anything that I said.
Anyway, she asked me further questions regarding my basic information. I don’t have to lie about them and I requested Eula to answer some of the questions.
“Here is your identification papers. Never lose that papers since it normally requires a fee to get one. I let you not pay since I like you. Follow me.”
I followed here. When we arrived outside, the soldier is still waiting. You didn’t have to wait for me, all you need to do is escort me.
She ordered that person to go back to his post. How unlucky for him to be unable to follow me around.
“Did you find any place to stay?”
“No. I will search for an inn later.”
“I recommend that you stay at the Babyfly Inn. Do you have any money?”
(Eula, do you have money?)
[Yes, but if you can say that you don’t have. It is better.]
“I need to earn money first. I will visit the inn after I earned some. How much do I need to earn?”
I dodged the question and I ask her immediately so she have one choice but to reply.
“It is usually 30 low rank coins but I recommended you so just earn 25 low rank coin.”
“Sorry if I don’t know, but I don’t know the currency.”
“There are 4 ranks of coins. Low, medium, high. You need 1000 low rank coins for 1 medium rank coin. 100 medium rank coins for 1 high rank coin. 10 high rank coins for 1 max rank coin.”
…
[Why did you not asked me about that?]
(This is to show that I am pretty clueless about this world.)
We arrived in front of the adventurer’s guild.
“This is the adventurer’s guild.”
We go inside. The layout of the inside is simple. As soon as you enter the building, you can see the reception in front of you. To the left is the board which I assume is where the requests are posted. To the right is several booths. Some booths serve foods, some booths I think do some services based on the name of the booth.
Someone is running towards us. Here it is! My instincts are telling me that it involves a pretty urgent quest. Hmm… My reaction is totally a cliché in the other world genre.
“Nympha! Here it is again!”
“What is it?”
“Death Caravan!”
I have an idea so that my reaction will be unique than most of the stories that I have read.
“What is the Death Caravan?”
Either I feign ignorance or I ask what it is. My idea can be done either way so it never matter.
“I’ll go and assemble the meeting. Jane, take this and handle Eunice’s registration.”
“Yes!”
Did they ignore me? Death Caravan is really a big of a deal.
Nympha runs outside. Leaving me with Jane, and other extras with the possibility of an antagonist. You didn’t expect that I will assume that the antagonist is already here in this vicinity. I only assumed it though, it is probably wrong.
Jane reads the document that Nympha gave her.
“Eunice, please follow me.”
I followed her. We passed the reception desk. We are in a long hallway. It is like the hallway you see in hotels where there’s door in front of each other and the design of the hallway is very symmetrical. There is this weird feeling that something is asymmetrical. I don’t know what that is.
We stopped in front of the room labelled ‘Test’. So it means that it is the test room, or so I thought. What if the room is labelled wrong so someone will enter the wrong room? I wanted to do that if I will build my own house, unfortunately I am poor so I can’t.
We entered inside the ‘Test’ room.
“This is the ‘Test’ room”
It is the truth then. I also considered this person as one of the antagonist so I am still suspicious. If it happens that the viewers like Jane, I am sorry about that.
“I know. This room is actually not the test room since there are no equipment here. The reason is you put that sign saying ‘Test’ and you repeat it again for me here so I would be convinced. The actual test is to notice that there’s no actual test.”
Of course, I am only kidding. How would they be able to rank me if they didn’t test my skills? There are 30 ranks from FFF to ZZZ, so they need to be precise for the safety of the adventurers.
[Why do I feel like you are kidding, Nathan?]
(It is because I am actually kidding.)
[I can’t believe that you are so lucky.]
(What did I do?)
[You’ll see.]
Why am I lucky? I wonder…
“As expected from Eunice, no wonder Nympha expects a lot from you.”
Uhh… Okay, what?
“I didn’t do anything though.”
“Of course you do, you managed to know that there’s no actual test before I could even say anything.”
“But I am only joking.”
“Eunice, don’t be so humble. What happened is you passed with flying colors and that’s that.”
(Eula, did you also knew that?)
[I had doubts ever since I saw the ‘Test’ room. It is the only room labelled so it is suspicious. When she said that it is the ‘Test’ room, and I saw what’s inside that room. I am totally convinced.]
It seems that I am very lucky then.
“Eunice, please follow me again.”
I followed again. Now that Eula mention it, this is the only room that’s labelled. Is this a taste that my story will also be a mystery?
We are in front of a room. This time it has no label so maybe there’s nothing wrong.
“Although you passed the test. We still need to rank you based on your power so that we can ensure that the mission will not overwhelm you and will not kill you.”
“What should I do?”
“There are many ways to show your power. How would you want to show your power?”
Hmm… I don’t want this kind of development.
“Showing my power here is pointless. I want to use it on the mission. Maybe the Death Caravan.”
“Sorry, but I need to rank you first before knowing whether you are qualified to take it or not.”
“I don’t care. If it involves someone getting hurt, then I will show my abilities there.”
“What if you are powerless to do that mission? It could cost your life.”
“No one is powerless. Even the weakest soldier can do something can for his army.”
“How so?”
“If that soldier is not giving up, then that soldier shows that there is still hope. Everyone stronger than that soldier will realize that and they will keep fighting to not lose face against their weakest soldier.”
I learned that from a certain game. I also used this psychological reason to motivate my team on one of the online games I played. Although we lost, we still manage to put up a good fight so I am not disappointed. I continued saying…
“Even if I failed that mission, possibly from dying, it will give hope for the persons stronger than me that they can achieve higher than what I did from that mission. So what is the Death Caravan?”
I accidentally said it to Eula that one time, but I said that it impossible because the protagonist on a comedy, fantasy genre story never dies. I also believe that I am the protagonist in this story.
Jane is silent as if she is thinking about what I said.
“Okay, follow me first.”
“Actually, what did we do here?”
“This is the room where we test the power of every individual. If you want to measure your power, then there are tools here to do that.”
“Oh…”
I regret saying what I’ve said. I also wanted to measure my power. There’s nothing I can do now, I can’t take back my words.
“The room we are going now is where they meet in regards with the Death Caravan.”
“You said earlier… Uhh… Wait.”
(Eula, what did Jane say to Nympha earlier?)
[It is ‘Here it is again’.]
(Thanks.)
“You said, ‘Here it is again’, which means that Death Caravan had existed previously.”
“Death Caravan is what we call to the 13th Caravan that goes here in Loncross after the harvest festival.”
“What happened?”
“There will be 13 attempts to kill a member of the Caravan. Ever since we started to notice it 4 years ago, we are trying our best to reduce the number of deaths.”
“How many person did you saved per Caravan?”
“It depends. The best outcome we did so far is nine saved person, the worst is three.”
That is pretty sad. Now, I want to participate in saving the Death Caravan now.
“Unfortunately, the number of deaths is worse than this.”
“I understand, since you saved three person, ten person have died.”
“No, it is not like that.”
Does she mean…
“Is there other persons who are not part of the caravan who died?”
“Yes. The adventurers who tried to save the persons of the caravan.”
I have a very bad feeling about this.
“What is the total death count?”
“Ever since we started saving people, the number of deaths involved in this mission, is not less than 200.”
“That is worse than ignoring to save the persons in the caravan.”
“Yes, because of this, there are some meetings that suggested to ignore the caravan to lessen the death count.”
“I will totally participate in this madness!”
We arrived in front of a door again.
[Nathan, calm down.]
(Eula, I am calm. I actually wanted to say something angrily once, I want to know how I would sound in your voice. )
[You always heard my voice though.]
(It is still different if I heard it personally.)
[Why are you saying that?]
(I think that you know why I am saying it to you.)
[Yes.]
(Don’t think too much about it though. I don’t want you to misunderstand me.)
[Just don’t let yourself die. We’ll die together if you messed up.]
(I know. That’s why I need this motivation.)
Jane and I opened the room and find several person. As soon as I entered, I shouted…
“I will join this Death Caravan or whatever!”