Chapter 22
Isamu wakes up past noon and has a light lunch before turning to his laptop.
On the screen is a video sharing site.
「Let’s see… VRMMO… battle royale, event. There we go.」
Typing those keywords into the search box brings up several videos.
From among them, he clicks on a video posted by an official corporate channel and skips to about halfway through the playback.
『–Oh! Once again, pro gamer Kaiser gets a player kill! He brilliantly overcame an unfavorable situation! Wow, that’s just what you’d expect!』
『Indeed. That was an impressive judgment call there.』
『So you’re saying he was only able to pull through because of his Twin Flame Slash?』
『Yes. The player who got taken out had built up quite a bit, so any other technique wouldn’t have made it in time.』
『I see! As expected of a pro gamer, he deduced the optimal solution in that instant! Now then, next is–』
(I see, so this is how they talk about it.)
Isamu has never played this game and has no interest in it.
Nevertheless, the reason he’s watching event videos is to learn how to provide commentary.
Of course, it’s not a skill one can pick up overnight, but it’s better than going in on the day unprepared.
With that in mind, Isamu decided to study commentary.
「Let’s check out some other videos too.」
He mutters to himself as he plays a video of a battle royale event from a different game.
『–A big move erupts! Raril Reron can’t withstand this… No! He’s still standing! Silver Eye, what’s going on here?』
『He probably deployed a barrier just a fraction of a second before the magic made direct contact.』
『A magic barrier! I see!』
『Raril Reron had the upper hand here. Wow, that was a treat to watch.』
(Hmm, I see. So the basic approach is to explain things matter-of-factly. Alright, next is…)
He plays yet another video.
This one seems to be a so-called 「tamer」 battle where summoned monsters fight each other.
『Ooh! That’s the recently added White Dragon! If I recall, it’s a pretty rare monster, right?』
『That’s right.』
『…Oh, the White Dragon’s ice breath! Blazing Mare counters with flame breath! Will this decide it?!』
『Hmm, I wonder about that.』
(…I’ll do my best to avoid turning out like this.)
By continuing to watch videos, Isamu gains a general understanding of how to provide commentary.
However, whether he can put it into practice is another matter.
Therefore, Isamu decides to try commentary while watching a certain video.
『–Rapid Thrust!』
『Icy bullets, coming at you! Icicle Shot!』
The video he plays is from when he had a one-on-one match with Elena before.
As Isamu takes ice pillars to the face while unleashing consecutive thrusts at Elena, he pauses the video once they’ve gained some distance.
(Suppose the play-by-play here says 『Player Sieg attacked without dodging! Is it a case of the best defense being a good offense?』 Then…)
「No, Rapid Thrust had already activated at that point, so he couldn’t dodge due to auto-pilot.」
Isamu imagines the play-by-play’s words and voices his commentary in response.
A middle-aged guy talking to himself in front of a computer without even streaming.
It’s a rather surreal sight, but he’s being entirely serious.
Afterwards, Isamu resumes the paused video.
『O freezing chill! Become an azure blade and slice the foe to ribbons! Frigid Blade!』
As Isamu deflects Elena’s icy daggers with his sword, he closes the distance.
Immediately, he slashes and follows up with Double Slash.
Right as he raises his sword to continue the combo, Elena activates a counter with Somersault Kick.
She front flips while stomping down, and Isamu, taking the hit, disintegrates into particles and vanishes.
He pauses the video there and imagines the play-by-play once more.
(Hmm, if I were commentating, I’d say 『Elena wins spectacularly! Wow, her hidden kicks until the very end made all the difference!』 So then…)
「That’s right. Elena opened with magic and was holding a staff, so Sieg probably let his guard down. Elena was a step ahead… Something like that? …Yeah, I feel like I can pull this off!」
Feeling confident, Isamu pumps his fist.
If he can maintain this momentum during the real thing, he’ll at least avoid a major blunder.
Embracing that positive thought, Isamu closes his laptop.
He flops onto the bed, puts on his Headgear, and boots up Dream Fantasy.
☆
In the morning when his drowsiness was at its limit, Isamu had ended the game with all his points dumped into the shadow magic he tried last.
Shadow magic tickles his chuunibyou heart too, but there are other skills he wants to level.
Therefore, Isamu immediately heads to the hut with 「SP」 on its sign to reallocate his skill points.
There, he talks to the NPC and pays 100 Gald to reset his skill points.
Afterwards, from the [Skill Point Allocation] page in the menu window, he dumps all his points into One-Handed Sword without hesitation.
He then switches to the item list page and equips [Crimson Edge].
Isamu gazes at that crimson-dyed sword with a beaming face before attaching it to his hip.
He allocated points to One-Handed Sword not because he particularly likes one-handed swords.
It’s so he can keep using this treasure he received from an important friend.
「Alright!」
Muttering that, Isamu exits the shop and heads to the fountain square.
(Now then, what to do today? Level grinding… is enough, I think. More than anything, I’m sick of the [Red Jungle] too.)
「–Um, excuse me! That iron armor and red sword, are you perhaps the Tutorial Guy?」
Reacting to the voice, he turns around to see a boy who looks to be in middle school and a little girl who seems to be in elementary school holding hands and standing there.
The little girl seems shy around strangers and fidgets while hiding behind the boy.
「Oh, yes. That’s what they call me.」
「I knew it! Ah, um. I saw online… that, well…」
「Let me guess, you want me to teach you about this game too?」
「Y-Yes! My dad just bought it for us and my sister and I started playing together, but even after reading the tutorial, we don’t really get it…」
(I always think this, but is the tutorial really that hard to understand…? It wasn’t that difficult during the beta. Well, whatever. I was just killing time anyway, so–)
「I see. I’ll teach you anything I can. So, what exactly did you want to ask?」
Reviewing combat arts and studying commentary.
Having accomplished the two things he wanted to do, Isamu spends the day being a help to newbies as the Tutorial Guy.
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