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“…And I guess that’s pretty much all of the key locations of the town?”
“Ohh, thanks. That helped a lot.”
“I’m glad I could be of help.”

After a tour of the town, they reached a place with a nice view.

Crim had been the guide, showing Ryunosuke various spots of the town. George and Juna had joined them along the way, and now they were all sitting on a bench with a view of the lake’s shoreline and the castle in the distance. There they drank some fruit juice they had bought earlier.

“Say, Crim… You just repeated the way I showed you around the first time, right?”
“Ah…ahahah…”
“Crim’s a copycatttt~”

While George stared at her with suspicion, Juna seemed entertained by their exchange, which only made Crim feel even weaker. Ryunosuke watched that with a kind smile.

“Ahem. Anyway…what are you going to do now, Ryunosuke?”
“Hmm…I think I’ll be getting off soon, it’s getting a bit late outside. Tomorrow I’ll be back as soon as I can to explore around a bit more though.”
“That makes sense. See you tomorrow then.”
“Yup, good night.”

Saying that, Ryunosuke logged out.

The NPCs of this world did not seem to notice or acknowledge that though, as Juna and George showed no reaction to it.

“Logout, huh…”

Crim muttered as she looked at the spot where Ryunosuke had been sitting. While the game was fun, Crim still felt a bit jealous.

The next morning, Crim woke up in Ludger’s shed like always. Soon after her NLD received a notification.

“Ah, you picked up. It’s been a while, Kou. How’ve you been?”
“Ah, Akane? Yes…yeah, it’s been a while, I guess we haven’t talked since I logged in.”
“Yes. I actually have some good news for you today.”

Somehow her voice sounded like she was excited about something, which Crim noticed clearly. But Crim had a hunch on what the good news was.

“Good news…do you mean-!”
“Yes, Hijiri and Subaru were admitted to their first choice! Now they’ll go to school together with you next year!”
“I’m so glad! Tell them I said congratulations, and that I’m really happy for them!!”

Both of them were nearly leaning on their screens as they talked, while Kou rejoiced at the news.

“Also, when the two heard you’ve been playing this game they said they’ll log in after they organize their books, so take care of them for me, alright?”
“Ah…alright, I can do that.”

All three of them would once again be able to play together. Just thinking of that made Crim’s heart beat faster with excitement.

But the joy did not last for long…

“Though…how am I supposed to find them?”

Crim’s starting location had bugged out, but the twins would likely appear in the correct location. She would have to go to the Starting City Wyndham if she wanted to meet them.

But Crim did not know the way there, which once again reminded her of the troubles she faced in the start. Luckily for her, she was no longer alone.

“…And so I’d like to go see my friends. Could you help me out with your knowledge?” Saying that, she placed her hands on the table and lowered her head in plea.

In front of her was Ryunosuke, who had logged in after coming back from work.

Crim had been waiting at the spot where he logged out the day before, and as soon as she saw him enter the game, she took her hand and dragged him to a gazebo next to the lake, where she explained everything. Ryunosuke listened calmly to her, even though she had dragged him there forcefully. He clearly knew how to deal with situations like that with maturity.

“I mean, why don’t you just teleport…ah wait, if you never went through the tutorial then you probably didn’t activate Wyndham’s plaza either then.” He quickly understood why Crim was asking him for help with that, raising his hands into the air at the realization.

The Transport Plaza could only take one to other plazas they had activated. So in other words, Crim could not go to Wyndham since she had never been there.

“Yes… And there’s no world map in this city, so I don’t even know what the rest of the world looks like.”
“That sounds like quite a pickle.”
“I know it’s a bit of a hassle…but I don’t really have anyone else to rely on. I’ll do anything you want in return, so please take me there!”

Crim bowed desperately as she said that, which for some reason made Ryunosuke blush beet red as his mouth flapped indecisively trying to reply. But he quickly composed himself and coughed a little to clear his throat.

“Alright…I’ll take you there.”
“Really? Thank you a lot!”

Hearing his response, Crim’s face quickly lit up with happiness. In contrast to that, Ryunosuke looked at her with a rather stressed face.

“But…BUT!” He firmly held onto Crim’s shoulders, looking into her eyes with so much severity that it was almost scary. Crim looked at him bewildered, but he kept his serious look as he slowly opened his mouth.

“Listen well, Crim. You can never, neverrrrrr say you’ll do ‘anything’ while looking like that, got it?”
“O-okay..?”
“Are you sure you get it? You really need to learn to keep your guard up more…”

Crim could only tilt her head in wonder, unable to understand why Ryunosuke seemed so flustered and desperate to tell her that.

Their departure would happen the next day, as soon as Ryunosuke was back from work and could get online.

As luck would have it, it was a Friday, meaning that Ryunosuke would not have to work the next two days since it was a weekend, and they would be able to get far on their trip.

And so Crim wasted no time to get things ready.

Crim’s Inventory was mostly filled with monster parts, but Ryunosuke advised her to only keep whatever she could trade for a large profit later, especially the hides of monsters that only existed in that region. Everything else could be sold to fund the trip.

Then she just had to buy potions and water, as well as the necessary food, and she was ready to depart.

After a busy time, the day was over.

“Are you ready then? Did you get all the potions you could get? They’ve been getting expensive in Wyndham, so it’s more efficient to craft or resell them there instead.”
“Ahahah, I’m not really interested in getting rich by reselling potions. But I’m worried about my friends struggling with them, so I bought a lot for them too!”
“Alright then…”

Before Ryunosuke could announce their departure, something silenced him.

Crim tilted her head wondering why he was acting like that, but he just poked her shoulder and pointed back at the town.

“Before that, Crim, look there.”

Following his finger, she found Juna and George standing on the street, looking like they were about to cry.

“Crim…”
“Hey, are you going to leave?”

The two siblings had run there to see her, and she held their hands and looked at them, appearing both glad and slightly worried about them.

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to see some of my friends. It might take some time, but I’ll be back here.”
“Do you promise?!”
“Yes. I even started rebuilding that house here so I could stay. I wouldn’t abandon it just like that.”

Crim raised her gaze as she said that, looking at the ruined mansion she had started rebuilding. The repairs would take around two weeks more, but by the time she was back, everything would be complete.

And by some strange coincidence, that would also be the date when the registrations as Area Masters would be open.

“I…see, yeah, you’re right.”

George was the first to come to terms with that, and shortly after Juna also looked relieved, so they slowly let go of Crim’s hands, which allowed her to pat their heads.

“Crim…I’ll be a good girl and wait here for you, so you’ll definitely come back, right?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll be going now then.”

After saying goodbye, Crim headed into the black forest. It was her first time leaving on a trip after arriving there two weeks prior.