Chapter 15
「Hey, Tu-Guy! I want to send a chat to my friend, but how do I do that?」
「Well, for chat you select from your friend list and-」
Isamu is once again providing a lecture on the game to beginners today.
He has fully embraced his role as the Tutorial Guy and is enjoying it.
「I see! Thanks Tu-Guy, that helps a lot! Well, I’m heading back to town. Thanks for teaching me all sorts of things today!」
「No no, you’re very welcome. Take care.」
「Yep! See ya!」
The woman who appears to be in her mid-20s says that and walks off towards where the teleportation magic circle is located.
Then, a boy who seems to be in middle school comes running up to Isamu and calls out to him.
「Excuse me, Tutorial Guy. What was the incantation for that earth attribute magic I just learned earlier?」
「It’s [Rock Lance]. The incantation phrase is ‘Pierce, oh spear of stone’. If you forget again, you can check it in the skill allocation screen, so remember to――」
「Hey, you! What do you think you’re suddenly doing――」
While he was teaching the boy, an angry shout from a woman reverberated through the forest.
Glancing over there wondering if something happened, the woman is nowhere to be seen. Instead, there’s a man holding an axe standing there.
(Huh, that guy looks familiar… Oh right. I saw him before in the plaza.)
To put it bluntly, even from a distance you could tell he was the gloomy type.
In this game where normies make up the vast majority of players, someone like him stands out as rare.
That’s why Isamu quickly realized it was that comrade in arms who he had seen before in the plaza and wished well.
As he continued observing him for a while, that gloomy guy suddenly took off running and――
「Hiyah!」
He swung his axe down on a small boy nearby.
The boy who took a direct hit vanished into particles.
That’s right, it was a player kill.
(That bastard!)
Isamu started running, dashing over to where the gloomy guy was.
「Heheh, hehehehe!」
Then, a truly eerie laugh reached his ears.
「Hey, you!」
「Wh-what! Oh, is that it? Don’t tell me you’re the PK police?」
When Isamu called out to him, the gloomy guy responded with words in a clearly flustered manner.
The 「PK police」 he mentioned was likely referring to players who frown upon player killing.
「No, I’m not here to criticize PK or anything. It’s that kind of game after all. But, the kids here are in the middle of me teaching them various things. If you’re going to interfere…」
Isamu readied his cherished sword ‘Crimson Edge’ that he received from Kaito.
The beginners may not be allies or friends, but in this moment they are his cute pupils.
In order to protect them, Isamu demonstrated his will to fight the gloomy guy.
「Heheheheheh! Old man, you intend to tangle with me! Heheh!」
Then, the gloomy guy responded gleefully.
It would have been preferable if he backed off, but it seems that won’t be the case after all.
「Tu-Guy! You can do it!」
「Don’t lose!」
「Tutorial Guuuy! Fight!」
「Beat him to a pulp!」
Cheers of encouragement come from the beginners behind him.
Isamu gives them a big nod, then kicks off the ground.
At the same time, the gloomy guy extends his hand.
「Come forth from darkness, fangs of jet black! Devour those who oppose! Darkness Bite!」
He activates magic.
A huge black object resembling a wolf’s fang appears right in front of Isamu.
That fang comes flying straight at him and-
☆
「…Hah」
Isamu found himself in front of the fountain in ‘Starting Town’.
That’s right, he was swiftly defeated and forced to teleport back to town.
(What the heck was that magic…)
The magic the gloomy guy used was one Isamu wasn’t familiar with yet.
During the beta test, Isamu had tried out about two combat arts for each skill.
For him to not know it means it must be a magic that requires allocating quite a lot of points to acquire.
In other words, that means his level is considerably high.
「Newbie hunting, huh…」
The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that the gloomy guy carried out the newbie hunting that Isamu himself had once considered doing.
Since Isamu isn’t a newbie, he has no real complaints about being killed.
It’s his own fault for being weak.
However, those are players who are complete beginners, who don’t know left from right.
No matter how much it’s not prohibited in the game, putting himself in their shoes makes him feel really unpleasant.
「Ahh, I got totally wrecked.」
「Hey… wait, what’s this! My body is kind of translucent!」
「Oi oi, what’s going on!」
「Ah, Tutorial Guy is here too! Hey, what’s the deal with this situation?」
As Isamu was pondering that, sure enough, the beginners who were in the forest start teleporting into the plaza one after another.
They all must have been helplessly killed by that gloomy guy.
For now, Isamu decided to explain the situation of this game to the confused bunch.
「Everyone, listen up! In this game, when your HP reaches zero――」
In Dream Fantasy, when you die you’re automatically sent to ‘Starting Town’ and for 10 minutes you take on a ghost form.
It’s that familiar appearance from anime and manga – a white triangular cloth on the head with no lower body.
While in ghost form, you can no longer use teleportation magic circles to travel, and NPCs won’t recognize you either.
That is this game’s death penalty.
There is no loss of money, experience points, or items whatsoever.
Compared to other VRMMOs it’s a rather light death penalty, but that’s because this game is made to cater to a casual audience.
Incidentally, this 10 minute duration is due to the developers’ intent of preventing zombie attacks and having players take short breaks.
「Huh, is that so. Then I guess I’ll go grab a quick bite to eat.」
「Ah, Tu-Guy! That reminds me, there was something I wanted to ask.」
「Maybe I should give up on spears and switch to magic after all.」
Isamu is stunned.
Despite being killed, they didn’t seem bothered by it in the slightest.
「H-Hey everyone. You’re not angry…?」
「Hm? About what?」
「You know, getting defeated one-sidedly earlier? Doesn’t it make you feel bad or anything?」
「Nah, I don’t really feel anything.」
「I mean, that’s the kind of game it is in the first place!」
Hearing their words, Isamu realized he had greatly misunderstood.
They have composure because their real lives are fulfilling.
On top of that, with the light death penalty, even if they get killed it doesn’t faze them.
Understanding that, the gloomy guy suddenly seemed pitiable.
He’s probably relishing a sense of superiority right about now, but the people themselves don’t pay it any mind.
(If I’m not careful, I might have ended up the same way…)
Isamu felt relieved from the bottom of his heart.
The gloomy guy represents what he could have become in a world where he never met Leon, Kaito and the others.
The fact that he can enjoy playing the game like this now is thanks to them.
Isamu felt that one should indeed treat others with kindness and compassion.
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