CH 4-5

TLN: Hey guys, just a quick note.

I understand that this is really different kind of story from the previous ones I have done, but keep the comments civilized. I myself am not a fan of the prologue, but I like how the story progresses and it scratches a lot of good parts in my gamer itch. Also, I choose my stories based on my tastes.

Btw, does anyone know how to post the chapters on novelupdates? I would really appreciate it :D!

Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

—–

After restraining the bandit so that she couldn’t move (they are apparently going to be handing her over to the town guards just like that), the kind lizardmen merchants…

“Want a ride to the town?” 

They asked this, so I politely accepted. 

Well, I already knew that was coming. 

This is the default route. 

It is the same flow of events as the beginning of the game. 

But since the time this world has stopped being a game…no, it is a bit different, since entering this world that looks exactly like the game, it would be best to not think the people that were once NPCs will be taking the same action pattern. 

At the very least, the female bandit didn’t have the thought pattern of aiming for the player straight on or aiming to defeat you after the skill stun of Step. 

It would be better to assume that they will be doing actions that are completely unrelated to the game. There’s no assurance that they will act the exact same way as the game when events happen. 

I was thinking that while riding together with them in the wagon and the lizardman that spoke to me before sat by my side.

“Thanks. You, saved us, there.” 

He said this in the characteristic hoarse and hard to understand lizardman voice. 

In the event of before, they would originally say ‘please help us’, but the first time I played the game, I thought for sure that they were intimidating me there and jumped at them.

It is actually a chore to understand them, but I have no problems with it now that I am used to the game. 

“Don’t worry about it. Gotta help each other out.” (Souma)

I give a harmless response. 

And then, the lizardman lowered his voice and asked me. 

“At any rate, that fight, just now, was amazing. That, what was, the real, skill?” 

The words he followed had so many weird pauses that I couldn’t understand what he said for a moment there, but I got it in the end.

In other words, the lizardman thinks that I faked I was using skills. 

In a sense, that’s the logical conclusion.

Now that I think about it, the NPCs in the game never cancelled their skills.

Then, it must be the common sense of this world that you can’t use skills consecutively. 

That’s why they must think that I replicated movements similar to that of skills instead of having actually used them. 

It is true that it wouldn’t be strange to have a strategy like that. 

For example; if you jump backwards while shouting Step, the opponent would aim for the moment you get skill stunned and attack you.

You can use an actual skill there or counterattack them. 

Whichever you choose, if you attack the enemy when they think you are still skill stunned, your chances of winning rise. 

Of course, there was no such mind game in play here. I simply used them consecutively, but I decided to utilize this misunderstanding. 

“Sorry, that’s my trump card. It would be bad for me if my style were to be discovered, so can you please keep it a secret from others?” (Souma)

There were times when we would fight NPCs in the game too. I remember every single one of them being fierce opposition. 

I managed to beat them because I could challenge them over and over even when I died, and because I knew about the game technique that was canceling skills. 

Skill canceling in itself is a highly difficult technique to master, moreover, it is absolutely necessary to have that characteristic familiarity only found in modern people when controlling their character in a VR space. 

I doubt the people of this world can learn that technique easily, but I decided to hide it for now until I have a more clear idea of what my policy here will be. 

“Fumu, I see. Don’t, worry. We have, no intention, of troubling, a benefactor.” 

I am not lying, but it was in the gray zone, yet the lizardman merchant nodded generously to my request. 

I do feel a pang of guilt, but it can’t be helped.

After that, we did some light introductions. 

The lizardman that was speaking to me is the leader of this lizardmen troupe, and his name is Reinhardt. 

It is a super cool name. 

Be it his refreshing personality, and his cool personality, could it be that this person is considered a handsome man by lizardman standards?

Unfortunately to say, I honestly can’t tell the difference between the faces of lizardmen. 

I forgot to mention this, but in New Communicate Online, there’s a lot of demi-humans, and they live together with humans normally. Lizardmen are one of the main ones. 

There’s no explanation at all about their background in the instruction manual in-game, but well, that’s Nekomimi Neko quality. 

I have already accepted that this is just how this world works. 

By the way, there’s also other beastfolk and demons aside from the lizardmen, moreover, even though they are well designed, the only race players can take when they are making their character is human. 

You can become a nekomimi race(?) which is simply a race that has cat ears accessories on them though. 

By the way, the customization of the body isn’t done with New Communicate Online itself, but a software included in it that is used solely for character making. 

The reality of it is that you can only use the data of your own real appearance almost exactly as it is, and the only two things you can do are: change the color of your skin, and the color of your hair. 

I didn’t use that.

In other words, my appearance is exactly like my real one. However, because of the nature of this game, there’s a lot of western characters, so I don’t look like the humans of this nation in terms of race. 

Reinhardt retorted to that slightly. 

I thought ‘that’s rich coming from a lizardman’, but I honestly revealed to him that I am not someone from around here, and after remembering the setting of the game, I added that I traveled all the way to this town aiming to become an adventurer.

By the way, when I say this in the game, he would say ‘I will guide you through town’, but I doubt it will be that convenient here. 

I felt it clearly after talking with Reinhardt. 

The residents of this world really aren’t the ones in the game.

They are real people with free will. 

I was already prepared for that, but from there on, it was almost the same as the game.

This event is basically the settlement tutorial, and if you follow the lizardman you saved, he will show you the facilities, but it seems like Reinhardt will be guiding me through Lamurick in this world too. 

Of course, I know about the facilities of this game from top to bottom, but I am grateful by the fact that he would give an introduction every time we went into a store.

It would be one thing if it were in the game, but the clerks in this world are real. 

There are some stores that would be hard to enter for the first time, but thanks to him having introduced me to them, that worry is gone. 

He even helped me out checking in at an inn at the end, and we parted ways after shaking hands. 

In the game world, he was someone that I didn’t even get a name from, but he was a really good guy.

We promised to meet again, and saw Reinhardt off as I waved my hand. 

“Now then…” (Souma)

I could just go back to the inn and sleep, but after walking around the town, there was one place I was too interested in. 

I have already gotten a room at the inn, so it should be okay to give myself one more push. 

It is already getting decently dark out here. 

It is not like I am going to be doing something shady, but when I think about what I am going to be doing from now on, it would be better to act while it is dark. 

“Alright!” (Souma)

I nodded once and began walking in the darkness. 

Sometimes in mystery novels, there would be crazy complicated dying messages, or you would find treasure maps that are strangely detailed. 

There’s cases when they would give good reasons for it, but when you think about it calmly, would you really leave such cryptic messages right as you are dying? There’s also times when I would want to retort that there’s no need to draw such a detailed map in a memo for yourself. 

That’s exactly what was done in the quest of New Communicate Online, the heritage of the thief Meripe. 

Meripe, who betrayed his comrades and escaped with the treasure, got chased after and was killed, but no matter how much they tried to find it, they couldn’t find the treasure he stole. 

You obtained the note of Meripe from a strange twist of fate, and searched for the treasure while relying on the hint left there. 

That’s basically how the quest goes. 

Well, it is a story you hear often.

The problem of this quest is that you are forced to sweep 3 dungeons around, and at the end, there’s the shocking punchline of ‘Can you believe it?! The treasure was buried in the garden of Meripe’s house!!’.

Why did you draw a map when you hid it in your own place?! You actually wanted someone to search for your treasure, didn’t you?! The guys who were searching for the treasure of Meripe, at least properly checked his garden! 

There were a lot of things I wanted to say, but this time around, I would like to be grateful for that. 

Actually, the house that Meripe lived in is right at the back of the inn. 

“It is…here, right?” (Souma)

I came all the way to the garden I have seen in the game. 

I have not come here at night, so it gives a different mood to it, but this must be the right place. 

In New Communicate Online, you normally can’t do things like digging or breaking walls unless it is through a special event. 

Even in the Heritage of the Thief Meripe, you would have to find hints in the 3 dungeons, and properly activate the flags for the event before you can dig…but this is the real world. 

There shouldn’t be such a restriction here.

“If I remember correctly, it should be just below the tree…over here?” (Souma)

I stab my sword at the place I think it is. 

I soon heard a hard metallic sound. 

“Here, I guess?” (Souma)

I endure and keep my excitement inside me, and use both my bare hand and sword to dig out what was buried. 

But if you were to watch me objectively, I am a man that’s digging in the garden of someone else in the dark. 

This is extremely suspicious behavior. 

I look like a weirdo. 

I felt a bit guilty here that I am skipping the events and cheating here. It made me feel as if I am doing something bad here. 

I get desperate here and dig with more passion in order to quickly finish this. 

The soil was harder than I thought, and I had a hard time digging, but it is fortunate that the place it was buried at was shallow. 

Just a few minutes later, I found a black metal box. 

“Hehehe, I did it…” (Souma)

I didn’t do anything special here, but I felt an incredible sense of accomplishment. 

I look around. 

Fortunately, there wasn’t anyone watching. 

I slowly extend my hand towards the box. 

There was decent weight to it. 

This event is supposed to happen around midgame.

I can expect quite a bit from what’s inside. 

I should be careful here. 

I once again look around. 

It seems like there’s no one watching. 

“It is not like someone was stealthily keeping watch on me, right?” (Souma)

You can’t call my current stats high by a long shot. 

If I were to be targeted by a decently strong thief, I honestly would have no hopes of winning. 

No, this Meripe incident happened more than 50 years ago according to the story. 

In the first place, there should be no one who should know about the existence of this treasure, or someone who holds the rights to this box. 

There should be no one keeping an eye on me, and no person who should be able to tell this is a treasure. 

I am not digging the ground anymore, so I shouldn’t look so suspicious now. 

Yeah, no problems. 

“It is okay, it is okay.” (Souma)

No worries. 

I shake off my fears and look around with a confident expression.

There really is no one. 

I hurriedly carried the black box in my arm.

Well, no harm in being careful. 

I look around for one last time, and hold the box as if pushing it onto my stomach so that no one finds out I have a box, and then walk with hurried steps while slouching. 

It was only after I returned to the inn that I noticed that maybe that was making me look more suspicious than necessary. 

“Ooh, boy, you are back! Dinner today is—” 

“Sorry! Please leave that for later!” (Souma)

I sped off from the innkeeper who spoke to me and entered my room while still holding the box. 

Even though I didn’t do anything specially taxing, I was running out of breath here. 

I remember the story Maki told me about how she brought 20,000 yen for some school event, and on her way to school, everyone looked like a thief. 

At that time, I thought ‘what are you getting all scared about for a mere 20,000 yen?’, but now I think I understand how she felt. 

No, I am not that scared, but well…let’s say I understand about 10% of it. 

“A-Alright…!” (Souma)

I put the black box at the bed and stand warily in front of it. 

I successfully obtained the box, but that’s only half the fight. 

There’s a dial lock at the very center of the jet black box, and I won’t be able to open it unless I get the numbers right. 

“Shall we do this?” (Souma)

I still remember the numbers clearly. 

12076.

Thanks to having chanted that number over and over, I have memorized it. 

The problem is…

“Getting it wrong would be bad.” (Souma)

If you input the wrong numbers and try to open it, you get an intense electric shock, and receive heavy damage. 

If I were to get hit by that at this point in time, there’s no doubt I would die instantly. 

I went through the trouble of getting it, so it would be troubling if I consulted someone and got it stolen from me.

I steel myself and dialed the numbers. 

“…1…2…0…7…6.” (Souma)

I match the numbers, and once I am done, I confirm it again.

1, 2, 0, 7, 6. 

Alright, it isn’t wrong. 

There’s no such thing here where the numbers are slightly off-center. 

There shouldn’t be any problems with this. 

“Shall I…open it?” (Souma)

I hold the box from both sides. 

With this, I can open the box just by lifting my arms. 

…Or get burned to a crisp.

No, that won’t be happening. 

I am confident that the numbers are right. 

Just by opening this box, the heritage of Meripe will be mine. 

I glare at the box. 

12076.

The numbers aren’t changing. 

It should be fine. 

No, is this really the box? 

Maybe it was actually 12067?

No no, that’s impossible. 

I remembered it so clearly.

“Fuuuh…” (Souma)

I wipe off the sweat in my hands.

“Alright, I can do this!” (Souma)

I say this to hype myself up.

I thought about using a sword or something to open it, but I soon abandoned the idea. 

It would be pointless to deal with electricity using a sword. 

In the first place, I am confident the numbers are right, so this is a problem of courage. 

It is okay. 

This box was in the same place as the game. 

The password should obviously be the same. 

I resolved myself and put strength in both hands…

“Hey, boy! Dinner is—” 

“Uhyaaaaa!” (Souma)

I jumped up at the voice that came from my back.

When I turned around, there was the innkeeper with eyes wide open, his head peeking through the door. 

“W-What a yelp you let out there. That startled me.” 

“W-Wa…?!” (Souma)

I could only flap my mouth. My voice wasn’t coming out. 

You said I startled you, but you are the one that startled me.

I thought my heart would jump out there. 

“At least knock the door.” (Souma)

“Eh? Aah, sorry about that. The door wasn’t locked, so I entered out of habit. Ah right, dinner is ready, so I came to tell you…” 

He rubbed his smooth head while saying this, and my anger just left me. 

Right, he did say that it came with dinner. 

I am probably also at fault for not confirming a lot of things first. 

“…Got it. I will be there real soon, so please wait for me down below.” (Souma)

“Alright! You and one other are the only customers today, so get there soon, okay?!” 

Just how unpopular is this inn?

“…Alright.” (Souma)

The innkeeper old man left the room, and after confirming that he went to the lower floor, I locked the door this time for sure and turned around to challenge the box once again…

“That’s one way to do it, I guess…” (Souma)

Both knees dropped to the floor.

The box was open. 

Looks like I reflexively opened it after getting surprised from the back. 

I looked inside the box and I could see shiny jewels and ornaments inside. 

First day of my game life. 

…I am rich.