Chapter 47
Saturday morning, 9:45 AM.
Isamu fidgets while lying in bed.
Today is his memorable first day of work.
At 10 AM, Isamu will give a lecture to beginners as part of his job.
「Alright, time to go!」
After checking the clock, Isamu puts on his Headgear.
He takes a deep breath and starts up Dream Fantasy.
☆
After logging in, Isamu walks towards the south side of the square in Starting Town.
After walking for a while, he sees a stand-like booth with six players standing in front of it.
That stand was recently set up as a meeting place for beginners who want to receive a lecture.
(Alright!)
Isamu psyches himself up internally as he approaches the stand.
Suddenly, all eyes turn to him, and he hears whispers like, 「Is that him?」 and 「Probably, right?」
Isamu responds with a nod and steps into the stand.
He opens his mouth to address the players lined up in front of him.
「Good morning! I’m Sieg, also known as Tutorial Guy, and I’ll be giving you a lecture on the game today. It’s nice to meet you all!」
As he bows his head in greeting, the players respond with a collective 「Ooh!」
Immediately after, they return his greeting with 「Nice to meet you too!」 With the initial greetings out of the way, Isamu checks the time in his menu window.
9:55 AM.
There are still five minutes until 10 AM.
He’s eager to start the lecture, but new players might arrive in the remaining five minutes.
In that case, he’d have to explain everything again, which would bore the players who’ve already heard it.
「I’m sorry, but there’s still a little time before we start. Could you please wait just a bit longer?」
「」「」Okaaay!「」「」
When he asks them to wait, the players understand without complaint.
The announcement stating that 「late participation is not allowed」 is for the same reason.
Relieved, Isamu uses the waiting time to review his plan.
(Let’s see, first explain levels and HP. Then teach them how to open the menu window and briefly explain each page. Next, give an overview of the skill system and the characteristics of each skill—)
As he’s deep in thought, he notices a young man dashing towards them from the front.
It seems waiting was the right choice after all.
As the young man arrives, Isamu checks the time again. It’s exactly 10 AM.
It’s time to start the 10 AM lecture session.
「Now that it’s time, I’ll begin the lecture on how to play Dream Fantasy! First, this game has levels, HP, and MP—」
Isamu explains Dream Fantasy’s system in an easy-to-understand manner.
As he continues explaining the characteristics of each skill,
「Excuse me!」
A boy raises his hand.
「Yes, what is it?」
「Um, are there no claws?」
「Claws… oh, I see. Unfortunately, there aren’t any at the moment.」
「I see… I wanted to use them, but oh well! Then I’ll—」
The boy looks a bit disappointed but quickly starts choosing another weapon.
(I’ll need to report this properly later)
Kimura told him to 「convey players’ opinions and requests, no matter how small.」
So Isamu makes sure to firmly remember the boy’s words about wanting to use claws for later reporting.
☆
After finishing his explanations about how to equip weapons and armor, the basics of the friend system, and various other topics, Isamu leads the beginners to a new location.
As they walk, he explains the locations of various shops and the basics of teleportation magic circles. Eventually, the group arrives at Rookie Forest.
There, Isamu explains how to use special abilities and magic.
Afterward, he has them actually fight monsters, giving advice while teaching them how to use the money they’ve earned.
Having taught them everything, Isamu watches over the beginners as they fight, answering questions for several tens of minutes.
The time is now 10:50 AM.
「—Alright, it’s time to end the lecture. Do you have any questions?」
「Nope!」
「None! I’ve got it all down!」
「I’m good too!」
「Is that so! Well then, I’ll be taking my leave. Good job, everyone!」
As he says this, the players shower him with words of gratitude.
Feeling happy about this, Isamu returns to town for a moment.
He then heads back to the stand, where five players have gathered.
Isamu stands in the stand and addresses the new beginners.
「Good morning! I’m Sieg, also known as Tutorial Guy, and I’ll be giving you a lecture on the game today. It’s nice to meet you all!」
And so begins the 11 AM lecture session.
☆
After repeating the lecture seven times, it’s now the 5 PM session.
Having finished explaining various things in town to the eight gathered players, Isamu moves with them to Rookie Forest.
As they’re advancing a bit deeper—
「Freezing cold, become a blue blade and slice the enemy to pieces!」
Suddenly, the chanting of a spell is heard from behind.
「Hm?」
Isamu casually looks back and sees a rough-looking man standing a short distance away.
「Frigid Blade!」
The man points his hand towards them and calls out the spell name.
Multiple ice daggers appear from a magic circle and fly straight towards a boy.
(Oh no!)
All the players here are level 1.
If they’re hit by Frigid Blade, they almost certainly won’t survive.
Thinking this, Isamu rushes at full speed towards the boy and pushes him out of the way.
As a result, Isamu takes the hit instead.
He quickly checks his HP, which has decreased from 260 to 220.
Judging from the damage, that man’s level doesn’t seem to be very high.
「O frigid chill! Become a blue sword and slice my foes to pieces! Frigid Blade!」
Immediately after, the man casts Frigid Blade again.
This time, ice daggers fly towards a woman.
(That bastard!)
Isamu dashes again, standing in front of the woman with his arms spread wide.
By doing so, Isamu takes the attack.
「Th-thank you very much.」
「Don’t worry about it.」
After answering the woman behind him, Isamu turns to face the man.
The man has a grinning expression on his face, and Isamu is thoroughly disgusted by his attitude.
In any place, there are always a few people who take pleasure in causing trouble for others and creating chaos.
To deter such individuals, a clear warning is written at the end of the announcement: 『Any interference with this initiative is strictly prohibited. If interference is confirmed, the account will be suspended.』
Despite this, that man boldly carried out an act of interference.
He probably thinks the warning is just an empty threat and that 『There’s no way I’ll actually get banned.』
So Isamu decided to warn the overly optimistic man.
「Hey, you. I think it was written in the announcement, but—」
「Freezing cold, become a blue blade and slice the enemy to pieces!」
The man, showing no intention of listening, interrupts Isamu and starts chanting.
(… Well, I guess there’s no choice now)
Isamu lets out a sigh and opens his menu window.
As he moves his finger several times—
「Frigid Blade!」
This time, ice daggers fly towards Isamu.
He ignores them, continuing to calmly operate the menu even as he takes the attack.
<Player ID: 10592458 Report player [Rage]. Please select the reason for reporting from the following options>
Eventually, after pressing the report button, a system message appears.
(10592458 Rage, 10592458 Rage… Got it)
Isamu memorizes the ID and player name, then closes the menu window without actually reporting.
「Rapid Thrust!」
Immediately after, he activates a special ability.
Isamu closes the distance between himself and the man in an instant, unleashing a series of thrusts.
The attack lands fully.
While the man doesn’t fall, judging by his level, his HP must be nearly depleted.
Thinking this, Isamu points his sword at the man and opens his mouth.
「If you back off now and swear never to interfere again, I’ll let this slide. … What will you do?」
「Hah! Kill me if you dare! I’ll come back to play with you again in 10 minutes!」
Despite being shown mercy, the man shows no sign of repentance.
Seeing this attitude, Isamu steels his heart.
「I see. Well, then there’s no choice. Good luck in another game. … Double Slash!」
Activating the special ability, Isamu slashes the man twice.
In an instant, the man disperses into mist.
At the same time, the beginners let out an 「Ooh!」
「Sorry, please wait just a moment.」
Isamu says this to the beginners standing behind him and opens his menu window.
He continues operating it, moving to the chat screen and pressing the [Create New Chat] button.
From the list of friends that appears, he selects 「Kimura」 and starts typing a message.
「Mr. Kimura, good work today. I’m currently in the middle of lecturing beginners, but we received interference from a player. It pains me, but he seemed determined to continue interfering, so I request that you take action. Player ID: 10592458 Player Name: Rage」
(Yup, this looks good.)
After checking the message, Isamu presses the send button.
Since Kimura has linked his smartphone with his Headgear, this chat will also be delivered to his phone.
Therefore, he should notice it soon and respond quickly.
「Sorry for the wait! Now, let’s get back on track and move forward!」
☆
After finishing various explanations and watching them fight monsters—
<You have one new message>
Suddenly, a system message appears.
Opening the received chat, he sees it’s from Kimura.
「Good work today. Thank you for the report. After checking the logs, we were able to confirm the interference. Additionally, as this player had previously received penalties for stalking behavior and was already in a penalized state, we have decided to ban them immediately. This concludes the report. Please continue your good work.」
It seems that player called Rage has been banned.
Well, it’s a natural measure to take.
After all, Isamu is giving lectures as a member of the game admins to improve performance, so interfering with that is tantamount to obstructing the business of Dream Fantasy and, by extension, Sundapole.
「Phew…」
The fact that a player was banned due to his report doesn’t feel particularly good.
But this is for the sake of the company. For the sake of this game. And for the sake of the beginners he’ll be teaching in the future. Besides, it’s their own fault to begin with.
Thinking this, Isamu decides not to worry about it and replies to Kimura with a message of thanks.
He closes the menu window and turns his attention to the excited beginners.
☆
After that, the seventh lecture session concluded without incident, and as he finished the eighth lecture session, Isamu checks the time to find it’s a few minutes before 7 PM.
「—I’m sorry, but it’s time for me to go. Do you have any final questions?」
When he asks this, the four beginners he’s been teaching simultaneously shake their heads.
No questions. That means all of today’s lectures are complete.
「I see. Well then, I’ll be off! Good job today!」
「Yeah! Thanks for explaining everything so carefully!」
「Th-thanks…」
「Good work! Thanks a bunch!」
「Thank you very much!」
「You’re welcome! Have fun, everyone!」
Saying this, Isamu walks towards the teleportation magic circle leading to Starting Town.
Upon returning to town, he logs out of the game.
「Phew…」
He lets out a big sigh as he removes his Headgear.
To be honest, he’s more tired than he expected.
There’s definitely a difference in mental load between giving lectures as a volunteer and doing it as a job.
There was also an unexpected problem.
…But it was fun.
He got to see the smiles of many players in his favorite game, and they even thanked him.
And he’s getting paid for this too. He couldn’t ask for more.
(This must be what they call a calling)
After finishing his first day of work, Isamu feels from the bottom of his heart that this job suits him perfectly.
He can’t help but smile, feeling overjoyed to have found such a job.
(Oh, wait, I can’t forget. I still have work left to do)
He still hasn’t given feedback to Kimura.
Remembering this, Isamu hurries to his computer and sends an email with the opinions and requests of the beginners.
With that, his work for the day is truly finished, and Isamu has dinner, takes a bath, and then dives back into the virtual world to enjoy it as a private player.
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