Chapter 1: A Certain Virtual Reality – New_World

Part 1

-The scan on your iris and your vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?

A certain high school student was suddenly asked by this question. The voice that was coming from nowhere could be deemed as a female voice.

“Yes!”

That certain student have been waiting for this for quite some time. In order to find a place where he could relax away from magic and espers, he took great lengths to save up and buy the capsule for the game ‘Royal Road’. He was supposed to play this game months ago but his usual misfortune made him busy with various things.

‘Finally!’

He was overjoyed by the fact that he would already be able to play this relaxing game.

-Select the name of your avatar.

The female voice continued to speak.

“Touma!”

Unhesitatingly, he chose his own name. He may not remember it but that is always the name he choose when he played games before his memory was destroyed. He could look on his game save files though to find that out.

-Select your gender from male, female, or neutral.

“Male?”

(Why would someone choose to be the opposite gender? No wait, what is neutral gender!?)

He already had many questions even though he was just starting on the game but the female voice continued on, not knowing Touma’s inner thoughts.

-Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine.

Touma thought deeply. He did not know there were many races aside from human, elf, dwarf, and the usual ones. He thought of choosing something other than human but—

(Who knows what misfortune would happen if I choose something other than human…)

Deeply rooted within him was his usual alignment to misfortune, he picked the safest answer.

“Human!”

-You may alter your appearance.

“I don’t need that kind of thing. Just how I look is fine.”

-Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road…

After one or two minutes, the explanation finally ended.

-Select a city and kingdom you want to start.

(City? Kingdom?)

As stated, Kamijou Touma didn’t have any information pertaining to the game Royal Road. The only thing in his mind when he bought this was to have a place where he could relax. He thought there was no need to specifically look up for things and just enjoy the game.

“Anywhere is fine…wait!”

A bad premonition struck him but before he was able to say the last word, a bright light entered his eyes. When his eyesight came back, he immediately brought his hand to cover his eyes. There were also loud noises around him.

(Phew. Gladly my luck hasn’t taken me to someplace bad)

Kamijou Touma felt relieved. After composing himself, he took a look around him.

“Iron Swords for just 1 gold!”

“Looking for parties for ‘The Traveling Minstrel quest!”

“Won’t you buy this freshly cooked soup?”

"Desperately looking for a someone to talk to!"

There were many people around him. Strangely, even though it felt like the place is crowded with people, there are lots of open spaces around. He could see people holding musical instruments on those places, either singing their hearts out or just playing music. He could also see some people dancing.

“Wow!”

For Kamijou Touma, who was living in Academy City where technology is decades advanced, this place was definitely new to him. People around him weren’t wearing modern clothes, instead were wearing armors, leather clothes, and other old and odd looking clothes. Weapons could also be seen carried or strapped on everyone.

On his face, one could see a smile but was immediately replaced by frown when he remembered an important thing.

“Right! Where is Index?”

He searched all around him but he could not find Index.

(Wait, we may have both went inside the capsule but did we decide a place to start in?)

Slowly, his thoughts are sinking into him. It was certainly possible that their starting places were completely different.

Just imagining what terror it would bring him later when he comes out of the capsule gave him shivers. Unconsciously, he put his hands on his hair and grabbed them.

“Fukou da!!!”

After some minutes of self-loathing, he finally calmed down.

(It’s not the time to be thinking about this right now. I should just focus on what I can do now.)

He remembered basic things about the game that his friends Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado Motoharu told him. He would be stuck on his starting village or city for 4 weeks in game or 1 week in real life before he would be able to go outside. That meant a month before he could start meeting up with Index. He just hoped that where Index was located wasn’t too far from him.

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“By the way, I wonder where those two idiots are?”

Approximately one year ago, Royal Road became a hot topic in Academy City. Even though Academy City should surely have something like virtual technology, a game utilizing that never appeared. That was the reason why the students rejoiced when it was released and was made available in Academy City. Needless to say, the ones who were most overjoyed by this were the Level 0s who would finally have abilities of their own, even only in a game.

Because Kamijou Touma was only able to get the game just now, he was far behind his friends and other classmates.

“Come to think of it, I heard Fukiyose talking about this game. I wonder if she’s playing here somewhere?”

Forgetting the person Fukiyose was talking to, he searched inside his memories for other people he knew were playing the game.

(Komoe-sensei, Maika, Hamazura and his friends, and many others right?)

While thinking of those people, Kamijou Touma started walking. He had no particular destination in mind.

“How do I bring up my stats?”

“Say ‘Stats Window’, says Misaka while looking around.”

“So that’s how huh?... Huh!?”

Surprised by the familiar way of talking, Kamijou Touma hurriedly looked behind him.

“Misaka Imouto!?”

“That is correct, says Misaka while looking at you.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Misaka had nothing to do so Misaka decided to follow you, responds Misaka.”

(Well, nothing bad about it.)

Without thinking further about it, Kamijou Touma was about to take a step forward.

“But how were you able to find where exactly I am? Shouldn’t there be lots of starting cities in this game?”

He did not know exactly the names of the places here but thinking about how wide this world is, there should be plenty of starting cities. He was wondering how Misaka Imouto was able to pinpoint where he was exactly.

“That is easy, says Misaka proudly.”

Misaka Imouto’s face was the same as in the real world and Kamijou Touma was amazed that even in this game, Misaka Imouto remains expressionless. Though he could somehow feel her in high spirits.

“Misaka just hacked inside the system using—“

“Wait! Stop!”

Hearing dangerous words coming from the girl before him, Kamijou Touma instantly made her stop. Clearly, there was no longer any need to hear the rest.

“Understood, says Misaka grumblingly.”

Kamijou was glad she did not pursue the issue any further. Now he can continue to enjoy the game.

“By the way, want to come with me?”

“Misaka is already doing that, says Misaka tilting her head.”

“I didn’t mean that. It feels bad that you are just following me behind. Walking beside should be better right? There would be no hassles while talking and the like.”

“…Misaka will do just that, says Misaka embarrassingly.”

(You say embarrassingly but there are no changes on your expression.)

Kamijou wanted to say that but he kept that to himself.

The two of them then started to walk around the place aimlessly.

“Ah right. Where are we?”

“33 meters away from the fountain of the central plaza of Serabourg Castle in the kingdom of Rosenheim, says Misaka feeling knowledgeable.”

“That was too accurate! Anyhow, Rosenheim huh? I heard from those two idiots that this is a good starting place. I just hope Index is somewhere near here.”

Goosebumps started appearing on his body once again while he imagined the terror he would be facing.

While walking, the two passed by lots of places. They went around to look inside various shops, watched different performers, and many others.

Feeling a little tired, Kamijou suggested to sit on a bench. Misaka Imouto followed him and took a seat beside him.

“What should we do for now? To be honest, I have close to nothing on this game aside from bits of information I heard from others.”

“Training Hall, says Misaka suggestively.”

“Training Hall huh? I wonder what that looks like.”

Feeding his motivation with curiosity, Kamijou began standing up.

“Alright, let’s go! I don’t have any idea where that is though.”

“Misaka can hack to find exactly where, says Misaka while beginning hacking preparations.”

“Stop!!! Look here, games are made to be enjoyed. So instead of just hacking to make our lives easier, working hard would be more fun. Ok?”

“I understand, says Misaka while feigning understanding.”

“Let’s begin asking around then!”

And so the two started their journey towards the Training Hall.

Though the training hall was just behind them.