VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top player no Shikakenin～

So…a slight change moving forward. Decided to switch Hero to Yuusha for Yumir’s nickname. Makes more sense since I’m using Maou instead of something like Demon Lord for Maou-chan.

Been planning to change it for a while but I always kept it as Hero for consistency sake since I already wrote it like that from the beginning. However, it just doesn’t sound right whenever I type “Hero-chan” and the like.

Translated quite a lot of the series so…going back and changing all mentions of Hero from the beginning would be too much work so I’ll just switch it from now onwards.

Enjoy the chapter.

Having successfully entered 『Heathrow Town』 without standing out, we were startled at the bizarre sight.

There were quite a lot of players, but what surprised us was how they looked.

「Wow. Everyone is golden and they are glittering…」(Lyco)

「Lyco, don’t stand there with your mouth wide open.」(Sai)

「As you’d expect, they are dazzling.」(Tobi)

「Kukuku, they are so lame!」(Yumir)

「Hey, stop that! What are you going to do if they hear you?」(Hind)

Sure enough, if you were to think about what happened to the large amount of golden gear that was sold in last event’s auction…

The players that didn’t want to throw them away decided to just sell them for really cheap prices in the trading BBS.

If we were to speak about their performance, it was rather high, while it would be unsatisfactory for high level vanguards, they were more than good enough for beginners and players in the middle.

When I explained the details, Riizu, who had her doubts, nodded in understanding.

「In other words, they are really popular as some sort of filler gear right?」(Riizu)

「That’s the case. As you’d expect, maybe because they care about the looks, there are not many female players that wear them.」(Hind)

「Well, that would be the case. They are flashy and embarrassing to wear…」(Selene)

Selene-san was the one that criticized them for being too flashy and embarrassing.

I can’t see both of their faces and I can’t call them by their names either, it’s rather annoying to differentiate between them.

Anyway, since that’s the case, because of how cheap golden gear was, there were more players than we thought wearing them.

「But, Heathrow is so nostalgic! It’s been a while since we last came here!」(Yumir)

「The location for the first event was here after all. The place we gathered at, I believe it was this pub?」(Hind)

「The pub the senpais used!? It sounds really cool for some reason! I want to look at the interior!」(Lyco)

「Eh?」(Hind)

「Now that I think about it, senpai. Our hunger gauge has decreased. Should we go and eat something?」(Sai)

「Here? Well, but…」(Hind)

I mean, we are wearing hoods and mantles so we don’t stand out and it’s fine at the moment, but wouldn’t it be better for us to find some other place?

That’s what I thought of saying, but everyone looked tired.

In actuality I think it would be better for us to take a break but…hmm.

「…Shall we rest here then?」(Hind)

When I asked that, Siesta-chan and Lycoris-chan started to nod.

The former was clearly tired but the latter was obviously just interested in the place.

「In that case, be quiet. Other than that, just to make sure, don’t call each other by your names.」(Hind)

「Yes!」(Lyco)

「Yes.」(Siesta)

Thinking about it, we should have rested and eaten in the 『Town in the wastelands, Baska』.

Because I was being naive after listening to the opinion of the two members of Baby Bird, shortly after, we went through something terrible.

The source of the problem was the one least suited for covert operations, our noisy Guild Master.

Once we entered the pub, we were eating while still having the robes covering our faces but…

Yumir’s silver hair was protruding from her robe as she ate her pasta and then it happened.

「Ah.」

She grasped the hood with her hand and pulled it. Yumir revealed her face to her surroundings in one go.

We were taken aback.

For reference, as you would be able to tell from how crowded the town was, the inside of the pub was also filled with people.

Yumir’s silver hair was glittering and while reflecting the illumination inside the store, it was shown.

It would be one thing if it happened to another member, but it had to be-

「Yu-」

Once one person noticed, it turned into a chain reaction. Like a domino effect, the reactions spread throughout the store.

Excluding Yumir, we all stood up at once and took a stance to run away.

Immediately after taking Yumir by the arm and forcing her to stand up.

「「「It’s Yuusha-chan!!」」」

「「「It’s Yumir-chan(san)!!」」」

An unspeakable amount of people started to talk to Yumir.

「What the hell are you doing, you idiot! We are running away!」(Hind)

「S-Sorry!!」(Yumir)

Maybe it was because this is a game, if this was real life, people would usually have some reservations about it but the people here were getting closer to us.

While evading the rude people that were trying to catch Yumir with their hands, we escaped outside the store.

Just when I thought we would be safe here…

「Yuusha-chan! Please participate in the next event with me!」

「Exchange friend requests with me.」

「Isn’t the True Self next to her? Is he that disguised one!?」

「I don’t know what’s going on but catch them!!」

「Yeah! Leave it to me!」

「Alright!」

「What’s going on? Some kind of event?」

On top of chasing after us outside the store, there were even people that got carried away and joined them even when they didn’t know what was going on.

This is bad!

I put the hood over Yumir’s head and shouted at Tobi, who was at the front.

「Run!」(Hind)

Like that, I took Siesta-chan’s hand, who was the slowest one of us and started to run while pulling her.

「Senpai, senpai. Wouldn’t this make it a dine and dash?」(Siesta)

「We paid for it in advance! Stop worrying about that kind of thing and start running towards the stable!」

(Hind)

「Yumir-dono, you dummy! What a blockhead!」(Tobi)

「Unrefined! You boob monster!」(Riizu)

「Nuguh! I can’t even talk back…wait, Riizu, you! You just called me a monster while at it didn’t you!? I’m just the perfect size!」(Yumir)

Well, from Riizu’s point of view…or rather, that kind of thing doesn’t matter right now!

We ran through the middle of Heathrow Town with all our might.

I wrapped Siesta-chan in my arms since she ran out of stamina towards the middle and was somehow able to slide into the stable.

「Hah, hah…u-uncle! Where are our horses!?」(Hind)

「Hmm? O-oh. I finished giving them food and water, also the massage.」

「Hah, fuh, everyone climb up! Cough! Come on, you too Siesta-chan.」(Hind)

「Sure thing.」(Siesta)

After placing Siesta-chan on top of the horse while she was still wrapped in my arms, I hurriedly climbed on top of my Grado Turk.

As a result of leaving the town noisily and running around the field…

「S-Seems like we have thrown them off, Hind-kun.」(Selene)

「We missed our chance to recover our hunger gauges huh…fuh.」(Hind)

「Y-Yumir-senpai…」(Lyco)

「Sorry…I’m really sorry.」(Yumir)

As you’d expect, even Lycoris-chan said those words.

Nonetheless, I doubt they’ll go as far as to leave the town and chase after us…

Just how much do those guys like Yumir? Though there were some people that just took advantage of the situation to make some noise.

「Nah, it was also my fault. At the end of the day, it was me the one that gave the OK to go inside the pub…」(Hind)

「Don’t apologize, Hind! My honor will be gone! I’m very sorry, everyone!」(Yumir)

「!?」(Hind)

Yumir jumped off her horse and took the posture to prostrate on the ground. Seeing that, I ran towards her with my Grado Turk and caught her.

Uwoh! Both of my arms are tearing off!!

「What the hell are you doing!? Don’t just go and take fall damage for no reason!」(Hind)

「Uuh…b-but…」(Yumir)

「W-We don’t really mind anymore, Yumir-san. See? Everyone thinks the same right?」(Selene)

Everyone was dumbfounded at Yumir’s eccentric behavior and they awkwardly nodded when they listened to Selene-san’s words.

Once she realized what was going on, I dropped Yumir as gently as I could on the grassy fields.

「Gueh! That hurts!」(Yumir)

「It’s better than falling directly on the ground right!? Don’t complain!」(Hind)

My arms were at their limits. Somehow, Yumir didn’t take any fall damage and we were able to continue without wasting time.

Hmmm? Grassy field? Ah, right.

These are the Homa Plains…once I checked in the menu, we were currently in the southern side of the Homa Plains.

Heathrow was in a straight line northwards so we had run quite far.

A few minutes later.

Having taken off our robes, we rushed further south on our horses.

In regard to our full hunger gauges, we settled that by giving everyone the food I carried with me.

It goes without saying but…it would have been better to do this from the start.

Because the village and the pub were so nostalgic I was in a very festive mood and didn’t realize this before.

As usual, since we didn’t have time, we recovered our hunger while traveling.

「The pasta became a hot dog…but it’s tasty!」(Yumir)

「I wonder whose fault it was!? That being said, you sure have recovered fast…」(Tobi)

「Like this, we can eat while moving after all. Though I’m getting a bit sick from all the shaking.」(Hind)

「Yup, this is tasty. We are going to leave the plains soon, Hind-kun.」(Selene)

「Secchan, are you able to see the border of this field? That’s amazing. After that, there will be a field where PK’ing is enabled so let’s be careful. The members of Baby Bird should too.」(Riizu)

「Yes!」(Lyco)

「Yes.」(Sai)

「Sure…」(Siesta)

There are two exits in the southern area of the plains.

One of them leads to 『Altrowa Village』, the starting point where the visitors appear through the summoning gate.

The other one is the one we are taking today which leads to the 『Patria Mountain Range』.

The level of the enemies suddenly jumps to level 25 or thereabouts, the beginners would usually not get close to this area and head towards the northern side instead.

Once we entered the Patria Mountain Range, excluding the Grado Turks, the rental horses’ legs became dull.

As expected, even if they are good at traveling through the plains, it’s hard for a normal horse to travel through the mountains…since the Grado Turks are fine, they are a special case.

The Patria Mountain Range had a lot of trees and the climate was pleasant, but due to the abrupt inclination, it was hard to move around.

We continued moving while dealing with the mushroom like monsters and eventually…we exited to an area that had a lot of boulders.

「Oh, this place gives the feeling that there will be a boss monster. After all, the areas where there are bosses tend to be quite wide.」(Hind)

「…Oh? Hind, there’s a party over there that’s fighting.」(Yumir)

「There’s a woman flying!?…Oh? Wrong, that’s…」(Tobi)

「「It’s a Harpy!!」」(Hind and Yumir)

Me and Yumir shouted at the same time.

Then we looked at each other and had an awkward smile on our faces.

I messed up…so embarrassing.

The head and the chest are those of a woman, but the rest are those of a bird.

The composition of the party in front of us is of: a Heavy Warrior, a Knight, a Light Warrior, a Shinto Priest and another Shinto priest. 5 people total.

「Uwah…that’s tragic. Since they don’t have any means to deal long range attacks the situation is gradually getting worse.」(Riizu)

「For attacks they are aiming at those moments when she comes to the ground, but it’s hard…」(Selene)

Riizu and Selene-san murmured.

In our case, we can just have an archer in both of our parties and we’ll make do somehow.

For normal monsters in the fields, you can usually steal the aggro but when it comes to boss monsters, unrelated players are not able to help.

Attacks other than those from the party are rendered ineffective and attacks and healing towards the party that is fighting are also rendered useless.

If the party doesn’t have 5 members, it’s possible to join in the middle of the fight like I did back then with the 『Gigantic Buffalo』. It’s possible to request help until you reach the party limit.

「-They are coming! Prepare yourselves!」(Yumir)

From the direction that Yumir warned us about, another pair of Harpies were approaching.

We separated in two groups and dismounted in a safe spot.

Then we prepared our weapons to deal against the half bird half human enemies that were flying towards us.