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It was the first weekend after Kou’s high school life started.

“Grandpa Guff, how are things going?”

School was over, and as had become her routine, Crim logged right back into Destiny Unchain Online and took a walk through the streets of Nebel. First she visited the blacksmith shop, which was run by an older man of short stature and with a bountiful beard. He was Guff, a dwarf.

Crim had grown accustomed to calling him grandpa, and when he heard her arrival, his rugged face took a friendly smile as he looked up from the anvil.

“Ohh, Crim. The weapons for the defense unit are almost complete, thanks to all the materials you gathered for us.”
“Huh, already?! There’s plenty of time before the deadline though…”
“What can I say, it was nice having a break from fixing dented pots or sharpening kitchen knives!”

He laughed heartily after saying that, which brought relief to Crim and she smiled as well.

“How are the new forge and tools holding up?”

Crim’s main priority was to gather the best weapons. So she used her vast fortune of popularity points to invest as much as she could in the blacksmith and his younger brother, who would craft weapons and armor for her.

She thought she had already obtained the best equipment currently available, but seeing that things were changing rapidly, she wanted to make sure things were going smoothly with the blacksmith.

“Yes, they’re working really well. I really can’t thank you enough for hiring me and even providing me with all those tools.”

Now there were tears forming in the dwarf’s eyes as he bowed in thanks to Crim.

“…It won’t be long before I bring you a lot more work though.”
“But it’s to protect the town’s people, right? If my work can help with that, then I can’t really ask for anything more. I’ll gladly help you as much as you want.”
“Thank you, Grandpa Guff.”

Crim bowed one last time and then turned around to visit other shops in the town, talking to various people. That was Crim’s usual daily routine, which she completed while Subaru and Hijiri went back from school to their home.

The time in Destiny Unchain Online was slightly off-sync from the real world. In the game, it was slightly past noon, and there were many children running around the streets playing with each other.

“Ah, it’s Crim! Hello!!”
“”Helloo!””
“Hello, kids.”

The children ran past Crim while greeting her. Crim waved at them, but then she noticed an ominous feeling behind her. She immediately turned around with her arms out and caught the hands of two brats who were just about to flip her skirt.

“That’s too bad, but you’ll never get me like that.”

With a devious grin, she pulled on the kids’ arms and blew on her fists. Seeing that, the kids sensed what was about to happen, so they quickly began bowing.

“Ah…I…I’m sorry..!!”
“Good, at least you know how to apologize.”

Seeing Crim say that with a smile, the kids let out a breath of relief. But it was easy to just say that, and there were things in life that would not get solved just by saying sorry.

And so Crim decided to close her heart off; right after releasing their arms, she swung her fists with all her might onto their heads.

“F̲u̲c̲k̲ you! And you’re not even pretty!!”
“Your panties aren’t even that important, you old hag!!”
“Ahahah, you can try challenging me anytime, whippersnappers!”

Crim laughed haughtily after bonking them on the head, even as they spat insults at her in return. But then…

“Crimmieeee!!”
“Doh?!”

She ended up letting out a rather unlady-like voice. Juna had just tackled her from behind after running at full speed, which made Crim lose her balance and fall to the ground.

“Juna…please… I told you to not…tackle…right?”
“Yeah?”

Crim’s face was sweaty as she struggled to regulate her breath again, sounding clearly agitated from the hit, but Juna just looked at her without worry, tilting her head in a cutesy way.

Then again, this was a game. The Health Regeneration Skill was always active, so Crim’s body quickly recovered.

“It looks like you’ve gotten really used to the town, huh Crim?”
“Ah, George. Hello.”
“Hey.”

While Crim regained her bearings, she saw that George had also gotten closer. They waved and greeted each other.

“Ah, you’re so slow Georgiee.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, I’m still completely beat after chasing Hinagiku around…”

George grumbled a tired response to Juna’s complaint. That made sense though, as George did look like he had been through a lot of effort.

“So what were you two doing?”
“Ah, we were playing catch. Me, Juna, Hinagiku, and also Lycoris.”
“I see, so both of them got here already. I can see you competing with Lycoris, but Hinagiku…”
“Yeah…she was way too slippery…”
“She’s really cool though!”

Crim could easily imagine what had happened. Knowing Lycoris, she would likely hold back when playing with kids younger than her.

Then again, even Crim would be able to easily outrun the children if she used all her abilities. But Hinagiku was not really like that, any sort of challenge was like a matter of life or death for her, and she refused to lose.

Not to mention that Hinagiku had the highest physical abilities of everyone there, and maybe she was even using their game as a form of evasion training, but Crim decided to keep that to herself.

“Still, I was expecting George to be like most boys and immediately ask me to put him in the defense unit.”
“Hahah, a while back I would’ve asked that.”

Hearing Crim’s comment, George grimaced for a bit, before getting fully embarrassed and averting his eyes.

“I can tell I’m still not strong enough for that.”
“…Well, that’s true.”
“Yeah, I know.”

George had actually tried to take a challenge above his level before, and failed horribly. It seemed like that experience had helped him mature a lot.

“I know… My duty right now is to keep Juna and mom safe if anything happens. It’s not exactly what I wish I was doing, but I can’t be selfish about it.”
“George… Heheh, you know, I think you sound a bit cooler now.”
“Wha… Hey, could you stop saying things like that?!”
“Ah, wait for me Georgie!”

For some reason George’s face got red and he quickly turned around and left, so Juna had to chase after him. Only Crim was left behind, confused and slightly worried that she had said something that upset George.

“Hahah, it must be puberty.”
“Oh, Ludger. What do you mean by that?”
“Right…this one is a complete blockhead.”
“…??”

Ludger sighed loudly and shrugged his shoulders hearing that, which only added to the question marks floating above Crim’s confused face.

“Never mind, it’s nothing. It’s not something adults should mess with anyway… That looks really cool though.” Ludger muttered that, wanting to change topics.

He turned to look at the top of the hill, where stones were being piled on top of each other to build a wall by three stone constructs, golems available for the Area Master to build structures.

Each time a Guild Master who was also the Area Master gained a new area to control, they would also gain five golems. They could only be used in construction, but that’s still a large help when expanding one’s territory.

“By the way, Ludger, could I ask for your advice on something?”
“…Hm?”

While thinking about the development of her territory, Crim remembered there was something she was planning for emergency situations, but wanted Ludger’s opinion on it first, so she asked that with a more serious voice.

“I see… So you’re thinking of building a shelter to evacuate to in case of emergencies.”
“Yes, it’ll mainly be a way to defend against fire, as I have the means to erect a barrier blocking it. But it’s not something I can use on all the houses of the town.”

The game’s mechanics did not allow players to attack NPCs who were in their house.

But that did not apply to fire spread. It was possible to raise a barrier to stop fire from spreading, but it consumed all the regional MP gathered during a day, so it was not very practical to protect one house after another.

Because of that, Crim was thinking of building an important landmark to use as a fire shelter, like a public hall. She was still debating on the best location for it though.

“I know there’s no conflict nearby, but no one knows what might happen in the future, so we should be prepared for it sometime soon. Until then it could be used as a public hall or something like that though.”
“I’d be really happy if you did that, but… Are you sure about it? It would end up running off your expenses.”
“I don’t mind, it’s also useful for me after all.”

Crim claimed it would also help her with a smile, trying to cheer up Ludger.

“…Alright, I’ll help then. I’m assuming you want me to secure a location for you?”
“Yes, thank you very much.”

At least now she could stop worrying about the location, so that was one less weight on Crim’s shoulders.

“I just wish we could use that castle…”

Ludger muttered that, turning to look at the castle shrouded in fog on the lake.

“Though it’s basically inaccessible with no bridge, so it wouldn’t make much sense. Let’s just do the best we can.”

With those parting words, Ludger turned around and walked away, leaving Crim behind with her hand on her chin, deep in thought.

“A bridge…that’s it, a bridge. Maybe I can…”

Thinking of that, Crim raised her arm and held her hand out. Soon after a silver orb the size of a baseball appeared there. That was the special terminal granted to the Area Master, which allowed one to manage their territory. It was also the way to control the construction golems.

There was a map of the Foggy Lakeside Town of Nebel in the terminal’s menu too, which she opened and after looking at it she raised a fist in celebration.

While the castle in the center of the lake and most neighboring areas were outside Crim’s territory, there was just one corner of the island that was barely inside. So she drew a line from the shore next to her guild house, leading straight to the portion of the island that was within her territory.

That was the line she could use to build a bridge.

“I was thinking of just using a boat to get there, but now that I think about it a bridge would be more practical…”

Luckily the defense outpost had been completed that morning, so there was one free golem. Crim could order that golem to build the bridge now.

“Alright, that should do it.”

Once she finished ordering the golem to build a bridge connecting to the island, she nodded satisfied. The estimated time to completion was two weeks, which made sense for a task so large. But she could just kick back and relax while she waited.

Though…

“…Maybe we can just go take a look.”

Crim had finished her usual tasks, and was now looking at the castle in the center of the foggy lake, her heart beating faster with excitement.

She had agreed to go explore it with Nord Glacier and Lan Canglong at a later date, but now that she would have an easy way to access it, she was starting to wonder what kind of place it was.

There shouldn’t be any issues if I go scout the area ahead of time, right?

With that idea firmly lodged in her head, she began walking away, her steps light almost like she was dancing, looking for a boat she could borrow.

At this time, her mind could not think of anything else, and she completely forgot the saying that curiosity killed the cat…