CH 7

"Guess I should head back..."

I walked back to where we had taken the cart.

Even though I'd lost every single gold I'd managed to save, I felt more satisfied than ever. On my very last run of RL, I'd taken down two PKers.

"...Ah!"

Once she caught sight of me, a grin grew on Silver's face as she waved enthusiastically at me.

"Sorry to make you wait so long, Silver," I said, matching her energy with a smile and a wave.

"...N-Nishiki?"

"What's up?"

"N-no, nothing, never mind!"

"Oh, okay..."

I wasn't sure why, but she gave my face a hard stare, but when I asked her what was wrong, she backed away again. Maybe she could tell how at ease I was now by my expression.

"Let's get going again," she said.

"Sure thing."

She started pushing the cart forward again. There wasn't anyone else that was going to butt into our quest now. She wouldn't be attacked by them anymore.

She was humming again. Time was passing by nice and easily.

Looking around, I saw a beautiful world full of a lush green. It felt so real, like a path through nature. Birds flew through the skies, and I could see various animals here and there within the forest. In the middle of all of that, here we were, pushing a cart forward -- two little and insignificant traders making their way to their destination. The warm breeze wisped past my cheeks.

"Silver."

"Hm? What is it?"

"Do you like being a trader?"

"Yeah! I wouldn't trade it for anything else!" she answered happily.

"Haha."

She was all smiles, and it was infectious enough to make me smile, too.

I let out a sigh. After all this time, I finally felt a sense of enjoyment while playing this game. Even if you called being a trader the worst existence ever, and even if it was considered a parasitic class, I was glad that I was a trader here in RL. I glad I realized that finally, even if it was at the very end of everything for me.

"Thank you..." I whispered to her, the gentle breeze gliding past the two of us.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"Nah. Don't mind me."

Just like that, we continued en route to our destination.

[You have reached your target destination!]

[Teleporting to Common Field.]

[Teleporting to Green Solde.]

We'd taken the cart all the way to our goal. As soon as we'd arrived, both the area around us and the field changed to a place filled with merchant NPCs that were diligently unloading different goods and cargo.

"...Wow."

I'd thought we'd just pop up, the cart would go bye-bye, and we'd get our compensation.

"Oh, my! Thank you so much for bringing everything! You're the first traders to stop by!"

The NPC who'd given the quest shook Silver's hand.

"Heh, no, it was nothing at all, heheh..."

"This will turn a major profit for us! I sincerely thank you!"

[Completed Peddling Quest I!]

[Gained 50,000G as a reward.]

[Gained experience as a reward.]

[Gained the title "First Traders".]

It was the first time I'd heard that announcement. The reward was pretty good, and we got a title to boot. I could tell just from looking at her face that she'd received the same things.

"Heheh..."

"Hey, you listening to me?"

"Yes sir, of course!"

I wondered how traders would be perceived now with everything that had happened. In all of the peddling that traders have done, this was an unheard of development. I had no excuses to make, I just hadn't wanted to see her look so worried. I had to tell her what all traders were about.

But...

No, I had to let her know. If I didn't, life was going to get a lot harder for her in the future.

"Silver."

"Yes?" she asked.

"What would you think if...traders were treated really badly in RL --"

"I couldn't care less!" Silver affirmed. "I mean, it's not the greatest feeling in the world. No one wanted anything to do with me when I talked to them."

"O-oh, yeah?"

Her answer was different from what I'd expected and it threw me off a bit. Maybe she didn't need me to talk about this with her after all.

She looked over at me. "What about you, Nishiki? How do you feel about being a trader?"

Oof.

I could feel my heart pound in my chest when she asked me a question I really hadn't wanted to hear. I opened my mouth, hunting for the best way to answer her.

"I..."

I wanted to tell her I was quitting RL for good, but the words wouldn't leave my lips. She probably asked because she'd considered quitting herself, and that shook my resolve a bit.

I'd planned for this to be my last run, but now I wasn't so sure. I'd used all of my money -- what could I possibly do now? Having over ten million gold had been my one selling point.

"Anyway, you have fun. I've got work tomorrow."

"Huh? But you still haven't --"

I opened the menu...and forced myself to logout for the very last time.

I breathed out a sigh as I came back to reality and took off the VR helmet -- back to my suit thrown about haphazardly, the trash from the meal I'd eaten earlier, the piles of documents and papers stacked up here and there...

For some reason, everything laying around like that bothered the hell out of me.

"I should clean up a bit."

The hands on my clock showed that it was midnight, but for whatever reason, I couldn't sleep. I was wide-awake and felt like moving around. I should've been tired, but I didn't feel that way at all.

"...Man, that was fun," I murmured to myself as I cleaned my apartment for the first time in a long while.

Skill Description

Gold Resurrection: Can only be used once per battle. Uses half of one's gold to revive; health is recovered by 30%.

Gold Quietus: Can only be used once per battle. Uses a preset amount of gold which directly affects the power of the next attack (the more gold, the stronger the attack). Using a large amount of gold will result in a very powerful attack, but failing in execution will still exhaust the entire amount of preset gold.