A Certain Middle-Aged Man’s VRMMO Activity Log - Chapter 98

Toaru Ossan no VRMMO Katsudouki

Author: Shiina Howahowa
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Invasion: Part 1

As business in this time of recession continues to decline, there was absolutely no important requests entering the Himawari Pavilion. I continued to wait on tables, lend a hand to fairies in town who asked for it, and perform manual labor, the so-called grunt work as adventurers call it. No, you could say that it’s just because I play solo, so I can’t take very dangerous work since I don’t have a party. So far, I’ve seen many number players in parties that have left town with requests in hand.

Come to think of it, it’s something I heard from other players, but this time’s tournament seems to have been won by the party led by Silver. Grad has experienced another bitter situation, na.

In any case, this lifestyle of doing part-time work continued for several days. This has it’s own interesting parts to it, but as expected, I’m not a beginning adventurer, and although it makes some money, it’s also true that it’s getting boring. It was the day when I thought that it was time to journey to another town. When that girl came by.

At that time, that girl, with a cloak that covered all the way to her face fluttering against her body, came by. And, when she looked over here, *susususu* she came close.

“Ma’am, the bar in this store isn’t open for business yet, but … who might you be?”

Just in case, I decide to let the situation play out without saying anything blunt. The part where she even hid her face made me extremely cautious, though unconsciously so.

“You are… an adventurer… right…?”

She talked to me in a whispering tone at a volume only I could hear.  From the voice she’s quite young, but …thanks to the fairies, I’ve given up trying to tell their ages by voice.

“It’s my occupation, yes.”

If it’s that, then I don’t mind telling her. Thinking like that, I obediently answer her. But, as soon as she heard that, she suddenly grabbed the sleeve of my clothes and pulled.

“O,oi! Just what do you want?”

Silently being tugged on is something I can’t put up with. I had just yelled out when the Hiwarai Pavilion’s mistress come out from the shop’s back.

“What is the commotion? It’s too early to be drunk!”

When the mistress said that and came out, she saw me, whose sleeve was being pulled.

“What is this?”

The mistress said, but

“I don’t get it either; come on, stop pulling!”

Was all I could respond with. When that happened, the girl clad in the cloak let go, took out a small piece of paper, and for some reason began to write letters.

“Request. If it’s that… it’s fine, right…”

And, with that little bit of disconnected talking, she handed over the piece of paper to the mistress. The mistress, after looking at that paper, then handed it over to me.

“Nominated request; I want to see this person fight; I want to eat food; reward; 3000 Glo.”

Come to think of it, on the wiki it said that if your name is particularly well known you could get nominated requests, but is this one of then? The reward is cheap, but, maa, I guess it’s fine; let’s move my body that’s gotten dull (from just doing part-time jobs).

“Got it, I’ll take this request. You’ll consent to that, right?”

That’s right; when the girl wearing the cloak and hiding her face heard it, she nodded just once.

“Mistress, today isn’t a busy day, so is it okay to skip out?”

The mistress said scolded me, “Come on now, hurry and get going!”

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“Right then, to confirm, this request will be completed if I take down 2 of the High Rabbits in this area, as well as the lured in Thief Birds, by myself, make their meat into food, and treat you to a meal?”

When I confirmed one last time, the girl nodded.

“Un… there is nothing incorrect… I will watch from here…to not get in the way…”

Somehow, maa, it’s a girl who’s not quite all there, but as long as she’s able to confirm the contents of the request, it’s all fine… With bow in hand, for the first time in a while, I look for High Rabbits. I immediately find one, so I enter a clump of grass.

“It’s been a while, so just to be safe… Stealth.”

With Stealth I hide my figure, and  … aim at the High Rabbit’s head with Hawk Shot. Without deviating from my aim, the Hawk Shot pierced through the High Rabbit’s head… and it was instant death. Come to think of it, the reason it’s instant death is because their weakness is piercing; it’s been a while so I forgot. Anyway, I just need to hunt 1 more after this and we’re good.

I looked for about 30 seconds maybe, and since I found another, once again I sniped it with Hawk Shot from Stealth, but this time it didn’t instantly die. Maa, if the instant death effect came out one after another all the time it would be too powerful, na. Thinking like that, I’ll use Twin Fang Arrow on the High Rabbit running past to drive it closer to death; when I do…

Pi-rorororo-!

And a Thief Bird took its chance, dive-bombing over. But I’ve already understood that this setup would happen, so there’s absolutely no threat.  At the point in its descent where its movements slow, with Wind Blown Arrow I make the certain kill. It’s more or less overkill, I guess, but if it gets away it’s an extremely annoying opponent, so even if it’s overkill-ish, I don’t mind. After that, it’s just leisurely dealing the final blow to the High Rabbit.

“Anyway, hunting is like this, though I don’t know if I met your expectations.”

Towards I, who said this, “Enough…” is what she responded with, so it seems, maa, she’s more or less satisfied with the hunt.

“Next is cooking, huh… well, before that let me confirm; are you okay with me making meat dishes? If I take the time to make it but you can’t eat it because of religious beliefs or whatever, it would be impolite to the ingredients that were cooked but are unable to be eaten.”

That kind of restrictions are quite burdensome, and there are surprisingly few people (who have those restrictions) who don’t worry about it when taking their meals. That’s why I bothered asking, but…

“It’s fine… rather, throwing hunted prey away without eating it, it’s disrespectful to its life… for us, that is taboo…”

Is her situation, so I can begin cooking with peace of mind. The menu is the rabbit and fowl combination hamburger steak I made before; this time the meat ratio is 6.5 rabbit to 3.5 bird. When I made it previously I was somewhat dissatisfied with the balance, so I’ve increased the ratio of fowl a little. And then, with leftover part I prepare the previously made grilled chicken skewers again.

I was doing the cooking outside of the town, but thanks to that the gazes of the gatekeepers who were lured in with the smell of cooking kind of hurt. That said, if I did it in the middle of town, that would be stand out in other ways, so this time I did it outside. When they were done grilling, I put them on a plate and put sauce and spread herbs on them. Putting water next to it, it was completed.

“It’s like this, I guess… rabbit and fowl hamburger steak, and grilled chicken skewers with rido sandwiched in between.”

The moment I had conveyed it to the girl, she, quickly grasping fork and knife, began wolfing it down. No, her manner of eating was polite, so there was no vulgerness; there’s none, but in the blink of an eye the food that was made had largely disappeared into her stomach. I only got to eat one yakitori… sniff.

“… Satisfied.”

Her one word was said like that, and the girl gave a sigh. Well yeah, if you ate like THAT of course you’d be satisfied. Even though that was about 3 peoples’ worth of food, it was pretty much destroyed by 1 person. And, that girl stared over at me.

“…I don’t really get it, but I get it. You are interesting.”

What’s with that. I was going to try asking her the meaning behind those words, but she brought out a bag for me.

“Reward. … I put a little extra.”

Opening the bag and counting it, there was 4000 Glo. Maa, I’m not going to complain about their being extra.

“Time. … Let’s meet again…”

So saying, the girl left for the town. In the end she hadn’t removed her cloak once; she’s a really weird one. When I had thought that, she turned back towards me.

“I forgot… just one more day… be at this town … the extra reward is for that…”

Leaving that behind, this time she really left. It’s a request I completely don’t understand, but it’s likely some kind of event? After that I returned to Himawari Pavilian, helped with waiting tables, and logged out. Leaving this town is postponed for a day, na.

SKILLS
[Wind-Blown Hunting Bow]Lv17
[Assaulting Kick]Lv22
[Farsight]Lv53
[Craftsmanship]Lv57
[Small Shield]Lv 6
[Stealth]Lv41
[Physical Ability Reinforcement]Lv32
[Chivalrous Thief]Lv26
[Whip]Lv37
[Fairy Language]Lv99 (Forced Acquisition) (Unable to be moved to Reserved Skills)

Reserved Skills
[Woodworking]Lv39
[Blacksmithing]Lv40
[Alchemy]Lv43
[Advanced Cooking]Lv11
ExP 4

Titles Possessed:  The One who Charmed Even the Fairy Queen, The One who Defeated a Great Foe Alone, The One Involved with Eastern and Western Dragons
Second Names: “Fairy King Candidate”(jealous), “Chef of the Battlefield-san”