CH 3

Disparity in Rarity

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

“It’s just not human to attack a person.”

At my words, Silent on top of my head moved. His body was as weightless as a shadow, but somehow there was a certain feeling on my hair. Well, I am convinced that it would be unfashionable to go into detail about that.

Silent said in a slightly dismayed tone.

“…Well, I don’t mind if the Master is fine with that.”

After completing our objective, we returned to the guild before anyone saw us.

When I opened the door to the Caller Guild and stepped inside, I heard a familiar voice.

“No, please stop!”

Nanashino was surrounded by five men as if she were a sugar cube being gathered by ants.

Iris’s Single Cavalry was walking around her feet, trying to protect her, but the men were also callers and had their followers by their side.

Some of them were rarer than the Single Cavalry. Nanashino’s untrained Single Cavalry would be very much outmatched.

The caller’s mission was to defeat monsters. Surrounding Nanashino were also strong-looking men, and Nanashino’s voice was timid.

I mumbled to myself in disgust.

“…What the heck, you can do it, after all.”

How goofy…

“…It’s amazing the Master can get that impression after seeing that.”

“Maybe she’s trying to contribute money for my opinion.”

“There’s no way that’s possible.”

Even if you say that, I don’t understand what a girl of that age is thinking. I am already twenty-four years old.

The staff at the reception counter just looked at the situation and didn’t seem to be particularly upset. There were several other NPCs in the bar, but no one seemed to be helping. They were just looking at me with a tense expression.

From that point of view, the behavior appeared to be tacitly tolerated to some extent.

While I was thinking about this, Nanashino looked at me and let out a scream.

“Blo-Blogger-san! Help me!”

“I’m starting to feel like I should just let them take me in.”

You’ve noticed that they’re looking at you, so defend yourself.

The expression on Nanashino’s face paled at my words. Because the men were trapping her to the wall, Nanashino seemed unable to move an inch.

I looked at the men’s followers and sighed.

“I told you, you should have done a Risemara.”

AbyCall is a pay-to-play game. Whoever gets the strongest followers naturally wins.

If I had gotten a strong follower, I wouldn’t have had to worry about this.

“A-are you asking me to die?!”

“No. It’s not that you’re going to die, it’s that you’re going to delete your account and re-register.”

“Ho-ho-ho-how am I going to do that!!!”

In AbyCall, players do not have the concept of death. If anything, deleting an account is death.

So, my legitimate theory is that death in this world corresponds account deletion.

It was obvious that I and Nanashino didn’t get along very well, but one of the guys approached me with a grin.

He was the NPC who had been staring at me when I first came to the guild. He must have seen us when we were together, but he asked me deliberately.

“Hmmm? Are you with her?”

“No, Nanashino is my companion.”

“…I don’t give a damn!”

The man yelled at me.

I am thin. The man in front of me was incomparably bigger than I was, and he was so big that it bore no resemblance to the job of a caller. His slightly faded reddish-brown robe looked like the evidence of a long battle. Behind him was his follower, a beast of some kind, about the same size as a lion.

A pair of muddy brown eyes looked down at me.

“I am sorry, but can you get lost?”

I heard a rough, rattling voice, and I thought for a moment before answering.

“Lolicon.”

“!?”

The man blinked, and the beastly creature behind him roared.

There is no merit in helping, but there is also no merit in not helping. But first, I have to ask something.

“Are you a player?”

“Hey, bastard! What did you just say!?”

“What, just an NPC, after all…”

What a waste of AI.

Most of the male characters in AbyCall are muscular men. My appearance hasn’t changed since before I came here, and most of the men I have to look up to are probably not players.

So is this a quest or…

In AbyCall, I didn’t get into fights with the NPC callers when there was nothing going on.

The events that players have to tackle, such as dungeon exploration, incidents, and requests, are collectively called quests. I don’t remember this kind of quest, but there are as many quests as there are types of followers, so as you can imagine, even I don’t remember all the lower-level quests.

Basically, quests are things that are received in the guild, but there are many of them that occur unexpectedly.

I wonder if the name of the quest is to rescue the girl. Quests with combat are the most popular. This sticky situation is probably due to the quests.

I left out the man with the red face and observed the men’s followers.

“I wonder what the reward is… It’s not that high in terms of rank.”

The opponent caller’s followers…It’s at a level where a Risemara player can win immediately after the start. You can’t expect much from the quest because the rewards increase with difficulty.

Looking closely at the followers, I could see their names, levels, and HP bars floating above their heads. Nothing was visible above the heads of the men. They looked like mob characters with no names.

The nameless mob in front of me said with a creepy look.

“W-what’s he talking about, this bastard?”

“Well, it’s the first one, so I’ll take it for the time being…”

SIlent, sensing my words, jumped down in front of me and swelled up to about the size of a humanoid.

At that moment, another man, smaller in stature, ran up to me and stared at my face with a shocked expression.

“A-Aniki, that thing on his face…”

I noticed something on my cheek for the first time when he pointed it out to me. I rubbed it with my fingertips, and a slippery sensation remained on my fingers.

There was no pain. I complained to Silent about the slimy drop of blood.

“Hey, Silent, I told you not to leave a mark.”

“No, it’s the Master’s fault for being in front of me.”

Just what kind of follower complain to the master.

I wiped off the blood with the palm of my hand and turned around. I would wash up properly later.

“Now, come on.”

“A…Aniki…”

“Don’t be scared! There are five of us over here!?”

The man called Aniki yelled, spitting out the line that a frightened man would say. He seemed to have forgotten about Nanashino.

I calmly observed them all. Finally, I paid attention to Nanashino.

As expected, her name, player level, and stamina bar are displayed above her head.

Nanashino Aoba. Level 1.

I looked around but I couldn’t find anyone else’s name and level.

…I knew the only player was Nanashino. It would have been nice to have a more docile player.

The men surrounded me. Nanashino, who had been freed, let out a small cry.

I pointed at each of the followers in turn.

“Angry Hawk of the Raging Wind. Streaming Metal of Swivel Iron. The Black Banshee from Screaming Underground. The Dark Knight of Thanatos. And Elite Beast King Blade Chimera.”

The names floated above their heads just as I mentioned. The men buzzed.

They’re names I’ve seen so much that they rot. Basically, any follower with an ornament at the beginning of its name is an outlier. They changed the names to bulk up the variety of followers. It pissed me off.

I sighed once and shrugged my chin.

Then, pointing to the rarity 9 Blade Chimera, the best of the bunch that the big brother had with him, I declared.

“I will definitely do a [Risemara].”

Abyss Calling is a game of hit-and-miss with a wad of cash.

The game is instantaneous. With such a huge difference in rarity, it was no contest. The level of the men’s followers had been raised to the upper limit, but there was still a difference that could not be overturned.

They couldn’t avoid Silent’s arms, which instantly extended to multiple.

After everything was over, Nanashino, who had been silent until now, gasped and muttered.

“A-amazing…”

“This is what you get when you use the power.”

The followers were skewered on the floor. They were still alive, but their HP had been reduced to 90%, and they might not be able to act anymore. In AbyCall, the status and actions are penalized depending on how much the HP is depleted.

The Masters, who had been so vigorous until a few minutes ago, were now staring at me as if they were looking at a monster.

I had already practiced a rehearsal, so the game was easy.

I looked around at the big brother, who was kneeling down in self-doubt.

“Where do I get my reward?”

“What are you talking about, Master?”

“Is it just the experience? It’s a lousy quest.”

I doubt there’s any experience point in the first place…

Even though it’s an early quest, it would be nice to at least get a Ruff (a unit of AbyCall’s money).

Nanashino, who had been frozen, rushed over in a daze. Glancing at the followers stitched to the floor.

Iris’s Single Cavalry was properly attached to her side. Apparently, it didn’t develop into a battle, and there wasn’t a scratch on him.

It’s good isn’t it-, that you’re not dead.

Nanashino paused for a moment, but quickly bowed her head.

“Um…Thank you very much.”

“I told you not to bother me…”

“I…I’m sorry.”

I felt a number of eyes looking at me from afar. The receptionist, who had been silent until then, now looked at me with peeled eyes.

For the time being, I told Nanashino not to worry about all the troublesome glances.

“I’ve got enough money to get a place to stay, for now, so let’s stay the night, shall we?”

“Ah…yes.”

I don’t know how to get back to the original world anyway. Let’s check the situation slowly.

It was scary.

Not the men who had made a kind of aggressive pick-up attempt. No, it was a fear Aoba have never experienced before, but she was even more afraid of the young man, Blogger, who had no interest in her.

Nanashino Aoba was raised carefully. Born into a wealthy family, she attended elementary, junior high, and high schools that were attended by children from families of the same rank. Her parents, who were of a strict disposition, did not spoil Aoba, but even so, most of the people who naturally gathered around her, because of her good look and excellent grades, were good-natured people.

Therefore, the first young man she met in this world who was in the same situation as her was a type of person Aoba had never met before.

There was no affection, no decency, no delicacy, just a person who did what he wanted to do.

Aoba was confident in her ability to look at people.

The look that was directed at her, excited about a world never seen before, was devoid of any emotion. It was as if he was looking at an inorganic object. Compared to this, the people who came up to her with feelings closer to inferiority were still better.

The room at the inn she entered at random looked so much like a room in the real world that it was hard to believe it was in a game world.

As far as Aoba could see, there was little difference between this world and the real world. Japanese was spoken, and the streets were very similar. Looking at the details, there might be many differences, but for now.

Side table on the bed. A lamp on the table. The room, complete with shower and toilet, was like a hotel and helped to slightly deceive her exhausted spirit.

Soaking in hot water would melt away her fatigue.

Aoba was always surrounded by friends and family. It was the first time for her to be in a situation where she didn’t know anyone, but she didn’t feel lonely thanks to the [follower] who was around to comfort her.

Iris’s Single Cavalry

The follower in white metal armor was less than half the size of Aoba’s, and his expression was obscured by his armor, but from his behavior alone, she could tell that he was concerned about her.

Even though she was alone in a foreign land, Aoba was grateful to have at least one friend on her side.

She sat down on the clean bed – white sheets – and stroked Iris’s Single Cavalry. He was trying to protect her with his small body, and she was grateful to him for that.

Aoba looked at Iris’s Single Cavalry, who nodded his head without saying anything and murmured regretfully.

“Ai-chan… I can’t wait to be able to talk to you.”

Blogger was a cold-hearted person, but his every move showed no sign of confusion.

The knowledge that he had gained from the game was believable. The story that if she raised him, he would be able to talk to her was probably true.

No, Aoba would have believed the information even if it wasn’t credible. Iris’s Single Cavalry, whom she had just met a few hours earlier, was her source of emotional support in a lonely world.

After looking down at her own follower with melancholy eyes for a while, Aoba said.

“…Good night.”

She had nothing. There was no money, no change of clothes, and since it was the middle of the night, she had not eaten.

She held back her hunger, hugged the covers, and buried her head in the pillow. She knew she had no right to complain. The lodging fee was brought out of nowhere by Blogger and he even divided the room with her.

However, praying should be allowed.

I hope that when I wake up, the situation will be a little better.

“Nanashino! Nanashino!?”

And then Aoba woke up to the sound of more banging on the door.

She jumped up and looked at the clock on the table, unable to formulate any thoughts about what was going on. The shorthand was pointing at six.

The voice of an impatient Blogger she had never heard before came through the thin door.

“Fuwa!?”

Shaking off the drowsiness, she hurriedly unlocked the door, and Blogger entered as if he was going to jump in.

The same devilish calm appearance of yesterday was distorted with impatience and Aoba realized for the first time that the young man in front of him was the same person from before.

Then, Blogger grabbed Aoba by the shoulders, shook her, and shouted.

“I haven’t received my login bonus, what about you, Nanashino!?”

“Eh…???”