Leave a comment

“What the hell is going on here?”

A perplexed voice called out to them from behind.

Crim had been dreamily licking the blood oozing out from Freya’s neck, who kept chuckling and saying it was ticklish. But upon hearing that voice, the two jolted away from each other.

“Wh- Frey?! Why are you here?”
“I mean, anyone would go looking for you if you just vanished without saying anything.”
“Heheh, so you found us. I guess that’s it for today then, right?”

Freya said that as she affixed the buttons of her robes, arranging them back to normal. Crim watched that, internally sighing and lamenting the end of that experience.

“Oh well… At least Hinagiku didn’t see anything…”
“Hm? She’s right here though?”
“Gheh?!”

Just as Crim was feeling relieved, Hinagiku’s beet red face peeked from behind Frey in response to his words.

Understanding how she had looked in front of the girl that looked up to her so much, Crim’s face went pale with dread, while Hinagiku just covered her reddened face and kept shifting her body in embarrassment.

“Hawawa…you two are adults already… I guess this is that ‘rendezvous’ thing mother told me about…”
“No, this is nothing like what you’re imagining Hinagiku! Or more like we can’t do that here!!”

Crim desperately tried to correct Hinagiku’s mistake.

Destiny Unchain Online was rated for all ages, so it did not feature the ability to release the morality limiters to engage in certain activities present on other mature rated VR games.

Though more importantly, Crim once again had a few choice words for Hinagiku’s mother, considering the things she was teaching to her young daughter.

“Anyway, at least now you’re no longer in that cutesy body-”

Frey suddenly fell silent, his eyes moving up and down looking at Crim.

“…What?”
“I guess you still are, actually. Both your forms are cute, Crim.”
“Shut up!”

Frey laughed loudly while Crim protested at his comments like usual.

Their silly dispute was finally over, and they went back to hunting monsters to enhance their Skills, and this time they were all together. A few hours passed like that.

Eventually it was time for an afternoon tea break, so they placed a picnic mat atop a windy meadow and sat down to enjoy the tea and sweets Freya had prepared. Crim also decided to use this opportunity to make a suggestion to Hinagiku, something she had been thinking about since the fight with the PKers.

“…You want to form a guild with me?”

Hinagiku asked while carefully holding onto a warm cup of tea with both hands. That had been Crim’s suggestion. Or rather, an invitation for Hinagiku to be part of the guild she wanted to create.

“Mhm, only if you want to do that with us, I mean…”
“Hmm… Does that mean you’ll keep teaching me?”
“To be honest I don’t know how much I can actually teach you, but I’ll do it to the best of my ability.”
“Okay, I’ll gladly join if you really want to have me then!”

Her fluffy and substantial tail wagged from side to side, making her joy apparent as she agreed. Everyone watched that reaction blissfully, wilfully sealing away the memories of her behavior towards the PKers into the furthest reaches of their minds.

“Alright, that means we only need one more person. What should we do about that?”
“Maybe we can try recruiting in the city?”
“No…I don’t think that’s a good idea. There’s already an entire thread dedicated to Crim in the forums, so if word gets out we’re recruiting for a guild we’ll probably drown in requests.”
“Huh? That sounds kinda scary actually. Wait, what do you mean a thread dedicated to me?!”
“You’re famous now, I’m really happy for you, potato girl.”
“And what’s the deal with potatoes all the time?!”

Crim quickly ran out of breath having to react to everything Frey teased her with.

I’m never checking that forum though, no matter what.

She had a strong premonition that knowing what was being said there would not be good for her mental health, so she swore that in her heart.

“I guess that means recruiting in the city is out of the question then…”
“Yeah, otherwise we’ll just attract the wrong crowd, especially creeps.”
“Eugh…”

Even if Crim looked like a girl now, her mindset was still that of a boy fresh out of middle school, so just thinking of a man ******* after her was enough to make every fiber in her being shudder.

“Say, Crim, what about your friend from the other day? Ryunosuke was it?”
“Ah…yeah, I guess I can ask him.”

Ryunosuke had seemed like a nice person, and there was a chance he would accept unless he was already part of another guild. Knowing it was worth a try, Crim quickly went to her friends list and opened a message window with him.

“Hey Ryunosuke, sorry it’s a bit random but are you there?”

She sent that message and waited a while.

“Oh, hey Crim. I’m just drawing a bit, I can talk.”
“…Drawing?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. So what do you need?”

It seemed like he was available to talk. So far that was progress, so Crim nodded at the rest of the group who watched with anticipation, and then sent out a reply.

“Well… You aren’t part of a guild already, are you?”
“Not really, no.”
“We’re thinking of making a guild here, so far we have 4 members…”

At that point she took a deep breath before sending the rest of the message.

“…Would you like to join us as well?”

She had asked, and now she could only wait for a reply, which would not come quickly like the previous ones. She nervously clasped her fists and continued waiting for the reply, and then…

“To be honest I already expected you’d invite me, and I already decided I’d join you if you asked. So I’m in.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, but remember that I can’t provide any fighting power. Even if you start wars with other guilds, I’ll be more of a burden than help. Keep that in mind, alright?”

Crim knew that much. She had seen Ryunosuke’s Skill Point allocation, and knew that he essentially had no way of fighting no matter how one looked at it.

“Though actually, my daughter is also going to start playing this game, so I’ll join under the condition that she joins the guild too.”
“We can do that, of course. Or rather, that’d actually help us a lot. Actually, what’s the reasoning behind that condition?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I don’t want her getting into some guild full of weirdos who will start demanding things from her outside the game! Just because my daughter is cute it doesn’t mean I’ll just feed her to those creeps trying to pick up girls all the time! At least I know you’re a good person so I know she’ll be safe this way!!”

A large paragraph appeared almost instantly, startling Crim.

“…Doting fool.”
“Call me whatever you want, I’ll take any insult in the world for my daughter! That’s what it means being a father!!”
“Okay, I get it, I get it!”

Crim quickly realized it was not worth her time to continue delving into that topic, so she ended the conversation there.

That was exhausting.

She had never imagined that Ryunosuke would wear down her mind so much.

“So Crim, how did it go?”
“Pretty well I’d say, he’s going to join our guild. Though he said we have to accept his daughter as a guild member too. I think she’s around Hinagiku’s age, so hopefully they can become friends…”
“Really? That sounds really fun!”
“Wait, that’s actually perfect. Why do you look so fatigued though?”
“Oh, it’s nothing…”

Crim just waved off Frey’s question, not wanting to think about it. Somehow getting to know a new side of Ryunosuke had worn down her mind a lot.