Chapter 31
Exactly 10 days after the inaugural event ends, at noon.
Isamu lies in bed, wrapped in a blanket, staring intently at the ceiling of his room.
Soon, an electronic beeping sound reverberates through the small room. Pipi pipi! Isamu takes the thermometer tucked under his armpit and holds it up in front of his eyes.
「…38 degrees, huh.」
The moment Isamu woke up a few minutes ago, he felt a strong chill and fatigue.
Suspecting he might have a fever, he took his temperature and sure enough, he did.
「…Sigh. There goes my precious day off…」
Today and tomorrow are rare days off for Isamu.
He had planned to dive into gaming from the afternoon, but now he has no choice but to give that up.
「…Hah」
Isamu sighs again and staggers to the kitchen with unsteady steps.
He takes some cold medicine and grabs a sports drink from the fridge before crawling back into bed.
Immediately, his phone on the bedside table buzzes. Bbbb.
Casually checking his phone, Isamu sees the message is an email from Dream Fantasy.
The subject line reads 「Notification of Guild System Implementation」.
(Huh, guilds huh…)
The addition of guilds had been pre-announced on the official website and such before the official release.
So Isamu isn’t particularly surprised or excited as he matter-of-factly opens the email.
It contains a notification about the new implementation of the guild feature and base area, an overview of those systems, and a notice about the maintenance that will accompany it.
In Dream Fantasy, guilds are basically an upgraded version of parties.
While parties have an upper limit of 5 members, guilds allow up to 30 players to form a cooperative relationship.
Furthermore, in the newly added base area, players can have their own activity base.
This allows them to strengthen their solidarity even more than parties, which could be said to be a unique feature of guilds.
It seems this guild feature will become available as soon as the maintenance scheduled three days from now is completed.
(I see, I see. Alright, once it’s playable I’ll try reaching out to Kaito and the others. But first I need to get to sleep early and recover so I can do that.)
Thinking about things he never would have considered before, Isamu drifts off to sleep once more.
☆
The next day, at night.
Thanks to taking cold medicine and getting plenty of rest, Isamu’s fever has gone down and his fatigue has disappeared.
Feeling totally back to normal, he logs into the game.
「Hm?」
He notices there are four chat notifications.
This has never happened before, so Isamu wonders what’s up as he sits down on a bench and opens the chat screen.
‘Yo, old man! Did you see the announcement about guilds being implemented? We’re gonna form a guild too, so you better join ours! Don’t you dare cheat on us with anyone else!’
The first message is from Kaito.
(For Kaito to go out of his way to invite me… I’m really happy.)
Isamu has long considered Kaito and the others his friends, but it seems Kaito feels the same way.
Realizing this fact once more makes Isamu’s heart feel warm as he opens the next chat.
‘Unca, good evenin. If okay, will you please join Shuka’s guild? Waitin for reply.’
The second chat is from Shuka.
(Shuka…)
The moment Isamu sees that chat, an image pops into his head of Shuka painstakingly tapping the virtual keyboard with her index finger as Nana teaches her.
That baseless assumption combined with the fact that she invited him makes Isamu unbearably happy.
(…I’m such a lucky guy.)
Thinking that, he displays the next chat, and–
‘Sieg! The long-awaited guild feature is finally being added! So if it’s alright with you, I’d really like you to join our guild. What do you think? I’d be thrilled if you could let me know when you have a moment!’
The third message is from Elena.
(Elena too…?)
While he feels joy at being invited, Isamu also starts to feel rushed.
There’s still one more chat he hasn’t checked.
(I have a bad feeling about this…)
Sensing that based on the flow so far, Isamu timidly opens the fourth chat.
‘Hey there, Sieg. Thanks again for the other day. So, have you seen the announcement about the guild feature yet? Since you’re famous, you’ve probably already been recruited by many players. But if you haven’t decided on a guild to join yet, I was wondering if you might consider joining ours? Of course, I’m not trying to force you. But I’d appreciate it if you could think it over. I’d be glad to hear your answer.’
The fourth chat is from Takashi.
The instant he sees that chat, Isamu holds his head in his hands.
And for good reason – a player can only belong to one guild at a time, no dual memberships allowed.
In other words, he has to choose just one person out of Kaito, Shuka, Elena, and Takashi. But there’s no way he can do that. After all, they’re all precious friends to him.
(…What should I do?)
「–Hm? Could it be the Tutorial Guy standing there?」
Suddenly, a voice calls out to Isamu.
Slowly raising his head, his eyes fall upon a disappointing pretty boy afflicted with chuunibyou – Lucifer.
Standing behind him is the gloomy guy who was ganking newbies before – Destroy.
「Oh, it’s you! Long time no see!」
「Indeed, it has been a while. Thank you for your help back then.」
「No no, not at all. And the guy with you is, um…」
Isamu shifts his gaze to Destroy standing behind Lucifer.
The moment he does, the gloomy guy’s body trembles.
「H-Hello… S-Sorry about b-before.」
Right after, he steps forward and deeply bows his head while uttering words of apology.
(Hm? What’s he apologizing for… Ah! Maybe for PKing me that one time?)
Thinking that, Isamu waves his hand side-to-side and opens his mouth to speak.
「No, I’m totally over it so it’s fine. This is that kind of game in the first place.」
「B-But still…」
The gloomy guy replies in a reserved manner, as if the wind has completely been taken out of his sails.
「Hm? What’s this, you two know each other?」
「W-Well, kinda… Wait, it’s none of your business!」
But when it comes to Lucifer, he addresses him with a blunt attitude.
However, it doesn’t feel like he dislikes him. Rather, it seems to be a tone he uses because he’s opened his heart to him.
Seeing Lucifer and Destroy like that, a certain question comes to Isamu’s mind.
「Um, what exactly is your relationship…?」
These two fought each other during the inaugural event.
Based on their conversation at the time, they should have been meeting for the first time.
Furthermore, their personalities are totally different.
Isamu couldn’t even guess why these two are together now.
「Well, I was forcibly dragged along by this guy–」
「Hah, we are simply two kindred souls drawn to the same darkness acting in concert.」
Lucifer cuts off Destroy’s words and says that.
(Ah, I see. So Destroy is just getting toyed with by Lucifer. But it doesn’t seem like Destroy totally hates it… Oh, I get it. He was able to change from before because he made a friend.)
Like Isamu, it seems Destroy was able to change by meeting a good friend.
As he considers that a good thing in his mind–
「Oho, I just had a good idea! Sir Tutorial Guy. When guilds are implemented, I would very much like to welcome you into our guild. What say you?」
All of a sudden, Lucifer tries to recruit him into their guild.
「…Huh?」
「If you join our guild, you will no doubt become even more adept at wielding the power of darkness. I daresay it is not a bad offer for you, Sir Tutorial Guy. Together, let us pledge our loyalty to the Evil God–」
「Yeah yeah, I get it, I get it. Give it a rest, just listening is making me embarrassed. Look, the old dude looks troubled too.」
This time, Destroy interrupts Lucifer’s rapid-fire speech.
「Hm, is that so? Then it cannot be helped… Of course, I shan’t force the matter. But if you would be so kind… please consider it.」
「You’re totally dejected… Well, that’s how it is. I know it’s presumptuous of me to say, but if you’re up for it, please do. Ah, and of course just joining sporadically until you pick a guild is fine too.」
Hearing those words from Destroy makes Isamu perk up with realization.
(That’s it! Rather than belonging to one specific guild, I can just keep sporadically joining them as a helper!)
Temporarily joining when needed, then immediately withdrawing once the task is done.
Doing that will allow him to stay on good terms with everyone and keep playing like before without committing to one guild.
「Destroy, thank you!!」
「Huh? F-For what…?」
「Oh, sorry, just talking to myself! Anyway, about the guild thing–」
Isamu conveys three things to the two of them: that he won’t officially join any guild, that instead he’ll temporarily join as a helper when invited, and that he promises not to disclose any guild information he learns during those times to other guilds.
「I see. So Sir Tutorial Guy belongs to everyone. Very well, I understand. Then I shall call upon you again when we would like you to join.」
「Yeah. Even that much is plenty appreciated.」
「I’m glad you get it! I’ll do my best to join whenever I’m invited!」
「Indeed, you have our gratitude. Well then, our business is concluded. We shall take our leave.」
「I-In that case, e-excuse us!」
「Yeah, see you!」
Saying that, Lucifer and Destroy depart.
(Alright, I better chat Kaito and Shuka too.)
Isamu opens the menu window, goes to his friends list, and shoots a chat to the four people who invited him.
The content is the same as what he just told Lucifer and the others.
(Phew, that should do it.)
「Oh, if it ain’t Tu-Guy!」
「You’re right! Hey, Tu-Guy, join our guild too!」
The moment he finishes sending the chats, Isamu is called out to again.
Looking up, his former students who he partied up with to hunt Golden Almirages in the Red Jungle before come running over.
「Oh, long time no see! Actually, I decided not to officially join any guilds.」
「Whaat? But why?」
「Well, the thing is–」
After that, Isamu kept getting barraged by guild invitations one after another. Each time, he settled the matter by conveying that joining sporadically is okay, allowing him to finally wrap things up.
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