A Certain Middle-Aged Man’s VRMMO Activity Log - Chapter 62

Toaru Ossan no VRMMO Katsudouki

Author: Shiina Howahowa
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A/n: I will refrain from forum stories for the present.

When we Gathered Together After a Long Time, it’s Another Hard-to-Deal-with Person.

[“Earth, it’s Zwei; do you have time right now~?”

As I’m making food for the street stall and medicine today as well, in the middle of it came Zwei’s Whisper Chat.
It kind of feels like it’s been a while; ever since the Challenge of the Dead began we haven’t had any conversations.

[“I’m in the middle of crafting, just about 5 more minutes, but is it an emergency?”]

If it’s an urgent emergency, then he’ll have to try someone else. I have requests over here that I can’t just run out on; Since it’s a given that no one would come over to a crafter who runs out on requests, I have to properly continue to give them what they need.

[“It would take around 10 minutes to prepare on our side, so no problems, ze; we’ve been talking about going down about to the 6th floor of the Challenge from the Dead with a 6 man party to level someone’s Skills, but … today Nora had some other things to do that ended up conflicting …”]

I see, the Thief role is the dagger-wielding Nora’s responsibility; that sounds about right.

[“And so thinking that I have Thief, you were hoping I’d come … but are you guys okay with healers?”]

For some reason, Nora also specializes with the Water element’s magic, which specializes in healing.

[“The one new member we have coming can heal so no problem, and from your actions, it means you took Thief, right?”

Good grief, he’s seen right through me.
I don’t remember ever telling him about it directly, but he’s one of those guys who can tell what abilities someone has just by look, Zwei is.
If THAT just had a little of bit of charisma, than he’d become someone great,na … the heavens won’t bestow two blessings on one person is something that’s often said.

[“Then tell be where to meet, I’ll be there in about 10 minutes too.”]

After confirming the meeting spot, I cut off the Whisper Chat with Zwei. Now I really have to concentrate on cooking.

―――――――――――――――――――

And 10 minutes later, there were 5 people at the meeting spot.

Those people are Earth (that is, me), Zwei, Milly, Reiji, Rona.
There’s a new person that’s supposed to be coming, but it looks like that new person is late.

“Zwei, what happened to the new guy?”

For appearance, I try asking; if it’s just running a little late it’s not like I’ll get mad, but … with her profession I know there’s a lot of troublesome preparations, but… Even so, it’s a fact that this is bad manners.

“Sorry, even after I specifically had you come … it should be just a little longer.”

It looks like this is even out of Zwei’s expectations, so there’s no point in voicing my complaints. It’s not like this is a corporate meeting, so making everything tense has no meaning at all.

“A-, Earth-kun, there’s something we should tell you … about the new girl.”

Here Rona spoke up.

“Umu, how should I say this … she’s the kind of person who can calmly say rude things … originally we keep her grouped with people inside the Guild but … today somehow we couldn’t get plans to line up.”

Reiji’s tone when speaking is also off; looks like another person with a strong personality has come …

“Got it; is it fine if I deal with her appropriately?”

In response to that, Rona and Reiji said nothing and nodded. In their eyes is ‘we are soooo so sorry’ written there. Right after

“Hou, are you all lined up for MY entrance? I give you my praise.”

Said a shrill voice; this voice is the voice of a brat, huh.

“Idiot, you’re late, and we even have people who aren’t guild members who came today for hunting; immediately apologize!”

Oo, Zwei raising his voice in anger is pretty rare; so he’s particular about this kind of thing.

“Even if you say they aren’t guild members … Milly-san is practically a guild member, right? And the other person … what a weak looking bow user,desuwane, is he even going to be useful?”

Aa, I see … this is a person is hard to deal with.
Like an overdone cliche, she has blonde curls, 4 drill-like strands dangling; now if she was just wearing a dress, she’d be the template ojousama.
… After Rona and Reiji bowed their heads in apology to me over and over, she finally said her apologies. If it was just to this degree, she would still have been cute.

“Whether I’m useful or not should be proven in the dungeon. 1 action is better proof than 100 words, right?”

So saying, it’s just a little, but I give a sly smile like a person with the sfx “nya-tto” would have. Doing this much is probably fine.

“There are alot of men who are just all talk; aren’t you also one of them?”

If she’s going to go that far, then now I’m just going to completely ignore her.
In the first place, she’s acting arrogant for being late, naa, and even when her own party leader gave her a warning, even then she’s going to be the type that won’t change until she gets cut off. Since this is a party that Zwei started, she’s basically stomping all over his reputation.

“For crying out loud … Earth, this is Eliza, full name Elizabeth, but it’s a pain to say so it’s Eliza. Her magic is good at least, and her Fairy is that Water seahorse over there.”

– – The ‘self’ introduction was done by Zwei; you have it tough too naa … huh? Why do I feel like crying? Weird. There shouldn’t have been any sad conversations.1
At any rate, we’re just about to head off and … I’m worried.

―――――――――――――――――――

We went at an agonizingly slow pace until Milly threateningly said, “Enough! Do you plan on wasting mine and Earth’s time any further?” and Zwei and Eliza were petrified; after that Eliza instantly became obedient; exactly what happened?
Previously I’d heard that when Zwei made Milly mad she was terrifying; so Eliza’s also made her mad before.

M,maa, anyway, we were able to enter the dungeon, so yay. It’s something I shouldn’t think too deeply about so I won’t bother; I have no intentions of purposefully stepping on the tiger’s tail.2  
For now I should only think about aiming for the 6th floor; we’ve already entered the dungeon, so I need to concentrate.

If you’re careful of the traps, floors 1~3 are levels that don’t pose any problems; monsters themselves aren’t strong, and doors don’t have any traps, comparatively; right now they’re easy levels.
Even the traps are only at the degree where there’s terrifying ones mixed in once in a while; the previous time I came with the Heroes was really just random bad luck na …
And different from previously, I have the 7 Tools for the traps; I only quickly dismantled the bare minimum necessary; I’m really grateful for the tools ne.

“It looks like you’re only good for being used to dismantle traps desuwane; for battle you’re useless, though.”

Eliza flares up at me, but I ignore her.
In the first place she’s just an idiot who can’t dismantle traps herself, but,maa, fine, it’s best if I don’t respond to her.
For the battles, Reiji, Rona, and Zwei blow them away one after another, so MP consumptions is under control.

Furthermore, Zwei and the others’ Fairies have also all evolved.
First of all, Zwei’s Fire Wolf Fairy has gotten 1 size bigger all around, and Milly’s Fairy was a Dirt-armored Gnome, but right now it’s clearly in the form of a girl clad in armor.

Reiji’s Fairy should have been a mole, but right now it’s an Earth element hedgehog. And Nora, her Light eagle evolved into a small-sized Light element griffon which, compared to its previous state, is one size larger; of course, its strength is also one size greater, I bet.

… The effects from the Elder Prism Nova I shot previously haven’t completely gone away; I still can’t recover any more than 80% of my maximum MP.
Because of that I’m extremely grateful for the current situation where the people around me are strong and I don’t have to rely on strong Arts to fight.

“He’s the kind of guy who’s handy in the right places … o, found the stairs to the 4th floor, dazo.”

I checked that there weren’t traps installed around the stairs and conveyed it to the party.
With Zwei going, “Then, let’s hurry and descend-,“ everyone continued.
– – And then while descending to the 4th floor … it happened again; when I started to descend to the next level, chills ran through me … again, huh, now is it a monster house or an instant death trap, or is it both?

“Warning everyone, this level has dangerous traps and monster houses, so I would like you to not carelessly open doors.”

When I dove in with the Heroes, this chill running through me meant there were traps and monster houses, so that there are dangerous factors isn’t wrong.

“We just entered, what on earth are you saying? Even if cowardice has-” “Shut up! Do you want to kill the party?”3

I’m speaking from convictions based on previous experiences; if it’s just you by yourself going to get yourself killed then I won’t say anything, but if you’re going to get the rest of the party wrapped up in it, that’s a different story. Therefore I have to say it forcefully here.

“Earth, is that true?”

Reiji directed that question at me; good timing, I’m grateful.

“There’s no mistake; when I dove before, when there was dangerous things I sensed chills, and at that time there was both a monster house and an instant death trap together.”

At that, the party members went silent. The 4th level has already become famous amongst players for producing many deaths. That probably has an impact too, I bet.

“Anyway, from now on, if we need any doors opened, I’ll do it. … the doors themselves might have traps, see.”

The work for the Thief gets real from here on. I tighten the strings of my heart once again and took the last step of the stairs and onto the 4th level.

SKILLS
[Wind-Blown Hunting Bow]Lv7
[Assaulting Kick]Lv21
[Farsight]Lv49
[Craftsmanship]Lv52 ↑1UP

[Small Shield]Lv 6
[Stealth]Lv40
[Physical Ability Reinforcement]Lv30
[Chivalrous Thief]Lv19 ↑1UP
[Whip]Lv36
[Fairy Language]Lv99 (Forced Acquisition) (Unable to be moved to Reserved Skills)

Reserved Skills
[Woodworking]Lv34
[Blacksmithing]Lv39
[Alchemy]Lv40
[Advanced Cooking]Lv4 ↑UP

ExP 4

Titles Possessed:  The One who Charmed Even the Fairy Queen, The One who Defeated a Great Foe Alone
His second name from other players is “The Fairy Queen’s Husband-san”
Status Abnormality: Maximum MP is at minus 20%

A/n: After a while it’s a party together with Zwei and company.
Of course they have also become stronger than they were previously.

The Fairies have also evolved; they’re quite the reliable ones, ne.

 
He feels like crying because Zwei’s too pitiful. I was going to substitute with the idiom ‘poking the bear’, but, well, you get it. No need to provoke dangerous beasts. For the record, he uses damare, which is more like a person of authority demanding for silence, rather than urusai, which is more like an annoyed complaint. I would have used ‘silence’ instead, but it didn’t have the heat that ‘shut up’ packs.

T/N: omg, my skin was crawling translating that brat’s lines. At the same time, I have never seen Earth so irritated, so it’s kind of amusing. Also, he changed from floors to levels somewhere in there, and it’s such a small change that I can’t bring myself to hunt through and double check every instance.
Also, I made a mistake earlier in chapter 61. His bad condition was that his MP was at MINUS 60%. The author just put a dash. He usually doesn’t do dashes and just writes it in. It was confusing.