| Author: Ryuusen Hirotsugu | Original Source: Syosetu | Word Count: 4126 characters |
| Translator: Nomad | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 2069 words |
| Editor(s): Silva | ||
Why did this happen?
In Kagami’s head, in order to fully recall the memory he had before he had awoken, he went at full throttle. Meanwhile, the commander who was distracted by the girl’s confused appearance, summoned together his subordinates. He split several of his subordinates up into groups to search for and to exterminate the remnants of this terrible spectacle. He also directed a search for an acquaintance of the girl.
The appearance that Kagami saw, was that of his ideal female image that he had created at the time.
What on earth is this? Thinking back on his memory, he was sure that when he completed his ideal female image that he did not save it.
He had canceled it and then logged out.
He could not recall anything more. He felt that he did it before he logged out. He had a hunch that he had canceled it before he had slept. Furthermore, he was sure that he had canceled it.
He remembered that he had been called to breakfast, but from then on, his memory grew hazy.
Kagami made up his mind to open up the status screen by operating the bracelet terminal menu.
At the bottom of the display, various information about the avatar was displayed.
| Name: | Danbulf Gandadore | Class: | Summoner / Sage |
| Affiliation: | Arkite Kingdom | Job: | Silver Linked Tower Elder (Summoner) |
| HP: | 1210/1210 | MP: | 4390/4390 |
| Strength: | 5 +20 | Stamina: | 6 +15 |
| Mana: | 51 +10 | Dexterity: | 7 +15 |
| Agility: | 6 +37 |
There did not seem to be any problems. Nothing seems to be missing, nor had he logged in with a different avatar. It was the status of Danbulf that he had for over four years.
Although the numerical values might look low compared to other games, there was a large difference between one point of status in this game.
The general strength and stamina of an adult male were 4. In other words, with the strength stat of 8, a person would have two times the strength of an average adult male.
A person that has the strength stat of 10 could be considered an expert soldier.
When Kagami displayed the following page of the status screen, his shoulders dropped and his hope had been completely lost.
Neck: Ark Exile Super Z Necklace
Abdomen: Sage’s Robe (Summoner)
Arms: Almighty Gloves
Legs: Sage’s Robe (Summoner)
Feet: Pegasus Boots
Ring finger: Mars Ring
There was no problem so far. The equipment was top tier, Incidentally, this equipment was awarded to him by the king of the Arkite Kingdom when he became an Elder of The Silver Linked Towers. This equipment was custom-made by the leading craftsmen players exclusively for Danbulf.
The problem was of the avatar display. On the status screen was the figure of a girl that he had created himself wearing the equipment. Up until now, a dignified Danbulf had shown his imposing appearance here.
What was this? Kagami began rolling up the hem of his robe and watched as the part of the equipment column in the status screen which showed abdomen and legs changed to 『Empty』.
After ascertaining the exposed body while playing with his robe with one hand, he coiled a finger to feel the texture of the gently fluttering supple silver hair around him.
There was enough breasts that it spilled out from his small palms, and his skin was a fair porcelain color. He had two modestly plump legs that stretched from a reserved butt. It was not a mistake, this was the body that he had made as a manifestation of his ideal that was made possible with the 『Vanity Case』.
At this point, Kagami’s preferences were exposed.
“Oooooiiii! Oi oi oi! What do you think you are doing!?”
The commander grew panicked at the sight of a girl’s body and wrapped his red mantle around it in order to cover it. In addition, the surrounding knights’ gazes lingered for but an instant on the immodest girl’s appearance before they steeled themselves and looked away.
“Good grief, a young lady should not show their body off like that. Although it is not a problem as my knights are sincere and honest people, one should not be careless in this regard.”
You need not react excessively to this. Although Kagami thought so, whether or not these knights were all players or not he admired their reactions.
It was possible for a player that had enough fame to have NPC attendants. Though Kagami thought that the surrounding knights were the commander’s attendants, he judged that he was wrong. This was because NPCs should not react that way.
Although Kagami did not want to admit it, as regretful as it was, she decided to accept the current situation. Where did she go wrong? The fact of the matter was that she had confirmed the character reset.
This was most certainly because of the upgrade. Given this conclusion, she had decided to buy another 『Vanity Case』 in order to restore her appearance. Even though it was only 500 yen, she had to buy 1,000 yen. Adults were dirty.
Squirming about under the mantle in order to put on her robes, she once again checked the status screen and confirmed that the avatar on the menu had the Sage’s Robe (Summoner) equipped.
“Is that an operator’s bracelet? Was the young lady an adventurer?”
The commander who was trying to put on the returned mantle muttered this as he looked at the arm of the girl.
The operator’s bracelet. They were words that were unfamiliar to Kagami. There was no doubt that the item the commander was referring to was the terminal, as it was evident in his gaze. However, there was no need for him to ask about it. As long as one were a player, anyone would have this. It was a funny question because adventurers referred to players anyways.
The Order of Knights was an elite magic unit, thus it was unlikely for him to be an amateur player. How many decent players would be curious enough to join a small kingdom such as the Arkite Kingdom anyways? Kagami doubted that they had never seen one before.
“If you were to inquire whether I was an adventurer, I would say that I am.”
She had not yet grown accustomed to her own voice. It was too sweet of a voice, a tone that until now had a sense of discomfort for her.
He had started with a formal tone of voice to suit Danbulf from the start of the game.
As a matter of course, Kagami began to roleplay to fit his dignified appearance. Now that it had been four years, he was accustomed to his tone of voice already. Familiarity was a frightening thing, it felt out of place with her appearance of a girl on the surface. Her unwillingness to change her tone of voice was something of a mystery. It was not possible for her to change it so suddenly. However, it was not particularly troubling, thus she abandoned the idea to change her tone of voice.
“Is that so? You were an adventurer? You came to hunt with friends and encountered this mob of hobgoblins? What misfortune…”
Hobgoblin?
She said that while looking around, her neck felt heavy with the pull of her hair. This was because her hair was contained within the robe at the time. Immediately noticing this, she brushed her hair upwards. After that, looking at the scattered corpses, she recalled that it was like that.
Hobgoblins were a subspecies of goblins that inhabited places such as the mines, and that they were much stronger than normal goblins because of the metal weapons they used. Goblins were green and Hobgoblins were blue. Recalling this, she nodded. However, for Danbulf, the difference was negligible.
“Don’t worry, your companions will surely be found.”
The commander continued to encourage her. Players who would go so far for thorough roleplay were unusual. However, there was no meaning even if she was encouraged.
“There are no companions. I am the only one.”
“I see, so the young lady was alone. Well then, did you happen to see the adventurers who defeated the hobgoblins? An adventurer with this much ability, we’d like to thank them by all means.”
At this time, Kagami decided to show off the Dark Knight. If that was the case, it was simple to show them.
“This is the person who did this.”
With the words 【Summoning Magic: Dark Knight】, a black knight appeared close by when the skill was activated.
”This…. This is!?”
“What is this guy!?”
The surrounding knights became vigilant and whipping out their swords while taking some distance.
“This is… Is this by chance the art of summoning?”
“That’s right. This guy cleared away the monsters.”
When the commander heard the words of the girl, he instructed the surrounding knights to stow away their swords. With a look of admiration, he looked up at the black knight.
“This guy is a rare summon…….was young lady the summoner? This guy is a rather formidable swordsman.”
Although armour spirit summons weren’t unusual, perhaps the reason why the commander said such a thing was that it was rare for a summoner to use such a low-class summon nowadays. So it could be said to be unusual in a sense.
“Yes, this is a favourite summon of mine. Aside from that, why are the elite magic knights in this sort of place?”
Leading a company of elite knights near the border could cause a bad misunderstanding to neighboring countries, for example. The Arkite Kingdom did not like aggressive wars. The Order of Knights acted as military strength for national defense. Kagami did not know the reason why such a valuable strength was dispatched.
In the first place, Kagami who was an Elder of The Silver Linked Towers should have heard of big movements in neighboring countries.
“Ah, information that monsters have moved to the vicinity of the border arrived, and we were dispatched for a subjugation mission.”
The subjugation of the demons in the vicinity of the border. This was a duty that Kagami had just completed. If it was the people of the Arkite Kingdom, all of them were supposed to know of the duty system. Then how come the elite commander of this country didn’t know? The doubt passed through Kagami’s mind again.
“I guess you might not have heard of it since you’re an adventurer. Ten years ago, there was a war with the demons who fell from the sky, it was called the Defense of the Three Gods’ Countries. Ever since then, the rate at which herds of monsters appear has increased almost twice.”
“Ten years ago……. what?”
“So you don’t know it. Hmm, well, it was ten years ago so you must have been two or three years old back then, young lady. No wonder.”
In the first place, even closed beta had not begun a decade ago.
The time in 『Ark Earth Online』 was the same as in real-time. Kagami had not heard of the story of a fierce battle with demons in the setting.
At the start of the game, the Ark Calendar was September 1, 2112. It was the same as the date on Earth. And it was now September 14, 2116, in the Ark Calendar, which was four years from the start. It was impossible for it to have been a decade ago, even in the Ark Calendar.
