A Certain Middle-Aged Man’s VRMMO Activity Log - Chapter 48

Toaru Ossan no VRMMO Katsudouki

Author: Shiina Howahowa
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T/N: aw man. I shoulda been numbering the extras as separate chapters instead of halves. Boo… what should I do now… In my defense, they are all clearly labeled “Extras”. Well, I guess it’s not like the author is ACTUALLY numbering the chapters so maybe I’m safe?

A/N:Somehow I’ve told 50 stories, ma’am.
I never thought I could have continued to tell stories to this extent.

Life is Like, Full of Troublesome Things and Continuous Battles?

The opening of the next day.
After getting back from work and logging in, today I’ll be doing my best with cooking.
I will be simultaneously stewing, grilling, and frying sliced meat.
Anyway, I will be mass-producing the set of 3, Bear Meat Stew, Stir-Fried Vegetables with Wolf Meat, and Rabbit Meat Kara’age, that sells well.
No matter what there’s always a demand … even though everyone else who’s taken the Cooking Skill other than me is producing diligently everyday…

It’s become a situation where, if I don’t simultaneously prepare them, then I won’t be able to easily manage with the numbers; that I can deal with it while preparing them simultaneously scares even myself.
It’s terrifying what you can get used to.

Maa, with stews, after you prepare the ingredients all you need to do furthers is just let the flavor simmer in; with stir-fried vegetables you pass it through the heat set to high in one go and it’s done.
Because stir-fried things cooked slowly over time on low heat is just plain gross nee.
Kara’age as well, taking care not to burn it, is fried in one go over high heat.

Cooking is also a battle in another sense, there’s no doubt about that.

“And now that it’s done you eat it while it’s hot♪”1

Sma–ck!

“Don’t just appear out of nowhere all of a sudden! And don’t eat that!”

With the Light Metal made reproduced Harisen, coated with Bear leather to cause little pain while making a huge sound, I smack the intruder without holding back.
The one who came is the Fairy Queen … is this gal really a queen?
Maa, her choice to come wearing a plain one-piece dress is the only part of her that I can evaluate highly.

“That’s a product! It’s not for you to eat!”

Though, certainly the smell and steam from freshly fried kara’age stimulates the appetite.

“But the food in the Fairy Country is just a bunch of sweet things … it’s totally dissatisfying~”

――――――――――――――――――――

A King, as you say, is someone that basically lives bound hand and foot.
Someone with the country’s number 1 highest status, the country’s number 1 must-be charity worker, the country’s number 1 slave, that’s what kind of person the Rule of a country is.

On one hand the citizens must pay taxes, but as long as you pay the taxes the necessity for you to do battle is low, and you can freely move as you wish.
If you draw a pyramid, at the top you draw the King and at the bottom is the citizens; if you flip this pyramid over you’ll probably get my meaning.
It looks like the King is on top, but actually the unfortunate reality of it is that you absolutely have to put the citizens first; that’s something I thought I knew well.

If the compulsory service starts getting involved then the story changes; but whatever way, a country that loses its citizens is fated to fall apart, and being King of a country with no citizens has no meaning at all.

――――――――――――――――――――

“That doesn’t mean you can just carefreely come on over to the human side of the world…”

If this one being here is found out, just with that it will turn into something unforgivably troublesome.
And just yesterday I had heard the voice of someone I really don’t want to get involved with.
“Oi, you!” yeah, it was like tha… t, e?

“You, YOU! You had some nerve to ignore me yesterday!”

… It’s the absolute worse situation; it was me that the voice was calling out to.
For crying out loud, another troublesome thing came!? Even though I just want to slowly enjoy this world.

“And, what was it you wanted?”

To be honest, I want to just ignore him, but like, I’m still not done with all my cooking, and with the Queen here it makes it all the more difficult to escape.
Let’s bust out the business smile, outward appearance only, to smooth this over.
I’m paying attention to the condition of the cooking flames.

“Fun, well, fine. I’m Nethar, member of the Guild [Apollo’s Bow]. We have the noble purpose of saving the Bow users from oppression!”

A, at this point I already understand he’s an unpleasant idiot beyond help.
To Apollo, the god they used the name of, I send my sympathies …
The Queen too, from directly behind me, was looking at him with a cold gaze.
Even though guys who can delude themselves while under the impressions of their own Justice are way beyond troublesome…
But Nethar’s, as he calls himself, speech doesn’t end.

“Therefore! For you who has been denied entry to any Guild anywhere, your comrades have come to rescue your from this pitiful situation; I even personally came to this kind of place in order to extend Our charity!”

At this point I’ve started ignoring him.
The Queen looks really bored, so I gave her 3 pieces of kara’age.
Watching her as she eats it with relish, my annoyed feelings diminished some.

By the way, it’s unnecessary information, but the amount of Guild invites I’ve gotten has already surpassed 30.
But it’s an unavoidable situation where I refuse right when I Login.
In the first place, if I wanted to join somewhere Zwei and the rest’s place would be the best.

“We will have mercy on you! Therefore for someone like you We have prepared even the lowest of openings! Be grateful and come to Our Guild!”

O, it’s getting to a good point, and the amount of kara’age is also about enough.
Then, it’s about time to put out the stall ne.
A, I almost forgot.

“I will have to refuse. Then if you’ll excuse me.”

We immediately left the dumbfounded Nethar, who could only respond to my refusal with a “We-?”, and carried the food to the place where you can put up a stall.
I didn’t hear about 90% of it, but is he serious with that kind of solicitation?
When not accepting a persistent invitation, it’s best just to leave him like that; we’re wasting time.

“More.”

… whack.

“Stop that.”

Exactly how much can the Queen eat!? Every single piece of the kara’age is pretty big, and she’s already eaten 4 of them …
Aa, now that I think about it, the reason I started making this kara’age was because that guy was still having difficulties with food, that big sheep Fairy partner.

――――――――――――――――――

I set up the stall and lined up the goods in one go. But somehow …

“Isn’t it about time for you to go back?”

I try and ask the Queen, but

“Nope.”

Was her only response; oi oi …
Even though originally you’re an existence that’s not supposed to be here meandering around here.
Since she’s not wearing the dress and crown, nor carrying the staff, that she had at the time of the Event, it looks like no one around has realized it, but … whatever I might say, this one is a beautiful woman.
As expected, she has that aura, or something like that, and it really stands outne.
Myself? It’s like I’m in the position of the candlestick, the Queen being the flame.

There’s nothing I can do, so conversely let’s boldly walk around town.
Because being weird and looking around restlessly would stand out more.
Going boldly will let us blend in with our surroundings more naturally and not stand out.

“So, did you also want to acquire food to some extent?”

I try to suggest an objective; certainly, since she said she’s sick of sweet things, if we do something or other about it she’ll probably obediently return.

“Uu~n, that’s true, we should do something about it na.”

――――――――――――――――――

Since there was no helping it, like that we spent about 30 minutes walking about the player’s cooking stalls that were around.
Even though it’s cooking that uses the same meat, since the flavorings are, as expected, different, it was a good experience.
The somewhat stingy Queen also bought food for takeout.

“Anyway, with just all of this, it should be enough for you for now?”

There are at least 30 kinds of meat and vegetable cooking collected together.
Since a large river or sea hasn’t been found yet, there are no fish dishes.
Even if they were found, there’s still no existence of a fishing Skill.

“Un, with this I can do my best and face the future.”

Good grief, it was unexpected expenses, but maa, I guess it’s fine.
In order to avoid standing out, right now we’re on the outskirts of town.

“I’m just gonna say this once; don’t up and poof over here often, since it stands out.”

If a thorn’s piercing you, you need to take it out immediately, but in spite of me saying it …

“Right then, see you later~”

Are the words the Queen left behind when she left with Teleport.
This is a troublesome Ring, this thing is …
With a single sigh, feeling like my happiness is running off somewhere but I shouldn’t mind it, I head over to the forge.
It’s just about getting to a point where I absolutely have to improve the Blade Shoes.

SKILLS
[Wind-Blown Hunting Bow]Lv1
[Kicking Assault]Lv12
[Farsight]Lv47
[Craftsmanship]Lv45
[Cooking]Lv50 ↑UP
[Stealth]Lv38
[Physical Ability Reinforcement]Lv16
[Thief]Lv33
[Whip]Lv34
[Fairy Language]Lv99 (Forced Acquisition) (Unable to be moved to Reserved Skills)

Reserved Skills
[Woodworking]Lv28 
[Blacksmithing]Lv30
[Alchemy]Lv40

ExP 14

A/N: The Queen this time appears to have lots of responsibility for throwing Earth’s life into confusion.
Even though she’s supposed to be a sub character she’s moving around on her own …

 
technically she says, “and then you tastily eat what has just been finished,” but since there’s kind of an English colloquial saying of, “get it while it’s hot” that has the same vibe and meaning, I went with that.

T/n: Thank you JL for your donation!
Vending Machine will be coming along shortly. It’s taking me a bit to get used to the author’s style of writing.