Chapter 1115 - The Right Person in the Right Place
—And so,
"............Looking at that state."
"It seems you had a hard time......"
If you work seriously on what you need to do, time passes in the blink of an eye.
The starry sky event always starts around noon in virtual time, but by now the curtain of dark night had already fallen. In other words, at dinner time, I was dead along with my collaborator.
The place was the dining area. The table we were guided to was a uniform seat with the name of a special seat.
The members gathered were the usual faces... that is, me and Ri-na slumped over the table side-by-side, and others who were completely fine compared to us: Nia, the Nono-Tetsu pair, and Natsume-chan-senpai.
And so, thirty seconds after gathering. Immediately, voices of reaction thick with wry smiles flew from the senior lady and the strategist, but I, who was exhausted in various ways, didn't move an inch.
""........................""
Ri-na next to me was the same.
"Oh dear... Nia-chan?"
"Mm, ah, eh, well... yeah."
Recognizing that poking us was useless, Nono-san probably gave up on a merciless follow-up early. She shifted her question to the unharmed person sitting on my other side, opposite Ri-na.
The reaction of Nia-chan, who knew the situation, was—
"It's not so much that we had a hard time, but rather that they just worked too hard."
She was probably concerned about the fact that even if she was present, she could only watch. With a slightly apologetic voice, a hesitant sensation landed on the back of my head.
Or rather, after landing on my head, it seemed her consideration had won over her embarrassment of the public environment. Although awkwardly, her slender hand began to gently stroke my head.
And regardless of how it would be normally, right here was me in a state of extreme fatigue.
There was no way I would make her stop this.
"Because these people immersed themselves in it without even a break... —As expected, everyone who's a rank-holder is strange somewhere. It's like they have no brakes, and not just in combat."
"It's extremely reluctant, so could you not lump us all together as 'rank-holders'?"
"And you're also the same kind of 'rank-holder' now, Nia-chan."
"...You must have been shut in for over five hours. At least take a break."
Anyway, after hearing Nia's explanation, a rain of retorts flew all at once.
Nono-san's was directed at her old friend and student, but regardless of the words, her gaze was firmly stuck on me and Ri-na. Even without a perception-type skill, it was crackling.
Now then, in that case—
"Ahaha............ Mm, so... are you okay?"
"...................................... ...Ngh."
Since it would be bad to keep being showered with exasperation and worry forever, I lifted my body in response to Nia's voice as she stroked my head. "Heave-ho."
In place of Nia's hand, which naturally came down as my head position rose, I let my own hand fall on the back of the head of Ri-na on my other side, as if it were her turn.
Rest well, little sister figure. You really worked hard.
"Are you okay?"
Therefore, I shall take over the duty of reporting in response to the concern.
"I'm fine. —Well, we didn't have a hard time. It's going smoothly. Within today, we managed to get a... prototype? The direction of the video reproduction format is mostly settled, so I think we'll make it in time if we record the 'key points' one after another from tomorrow..."
"Oh—"
"Good work."
I wasn't exaggerating and I wasn't acting tough; it was exactly as I said.
The foundation was my 'memory,' but... as expected, or rather, it was everything else (all the rest). Anyway, Ri-na's—the [Right Wing]'s—[Anhelmia (Dreamy Heavenly Authority)] was just too much of an all-purpose, broken, convenient magic.
The sensitivity and excellence of the operability—or rather, the image materialization—was, as I had known, too compatible with my 'Talent (Gift).' Just by bringing up memories carved into my virtual brain without fading at all, she could easily project them onto a "screen."
Even that projection window (screen) could be created by illusion, which was lawless. Thanks to Ri-na's control, my room became a pitch-black, perfect void with no 'obstacles (noise),' and needless to say, the memory projection progressed and progressed...
Thanks to that, I was able to immerse myself in the work with extreme concentration—well, this current situation of the groggy siblings (?) is precisely because we were able to immerse ourselves, though.
—Anyway, anyway.
"Well, that's how it is."
"You don't have to overdo it, okay?"
"It's not overdoing it, so I'll do my best. No, 'doing my best' is also different."
In conclusion, since it seemed what needed to be done was progressing more smoothly than I had thought...
"I'll let myself enjoy the parts that should be enjoyed, too."
"Is that so. Well, well, understood."
With the policy of not being absent from group activities and basically participating in all of them. When I told her that, Nono-san showed her welcome with a straightforward smile, without even hinting.
This part of her is truly like a Light-attribute (idol). Since I've recently learned to death how difficult it is to not hesitate to convey goodwill, I sincerely respect her.
—And, while all that was being settled.
"But............ looking at it like this, it's really become like a tourist spot."
"Oh, it has, hasn't it! Nonomi-chan also worked hard on the uniform design!!!"
"Your voice is loud. No, I do think it's impressive, though..."
I shifted my gaze to the present. In other words, I moved it to our current location... —the open-air public tavern (Zoodiac), which had made incomparable progress compared to the former floor-banquet style.
Well, I say open-air, but if you look up, it's just the land (sky). Well, in the sense of being outdoors.
The maximum capacity was over three hundred people. The staff of chefs, including Tetsu-san, who was entrusted with the role of executive chef, was a ten-person system—and the employees fluctuated from a few to over fifty.
It's a simple story. It's a job (work) prepared for the guests who are the type who can't get involved in the event through combat or such. That is this Zoodiac public tavern.
The main 'customers' were the players who could be counted as combat forces, mainly the men, who hunted in the forest during the day and handled the 'Night Raid' at night. And the 'employees,' mainly for table service, were the non-combatant players, mainly the women.
That is, waitresses... the hard workers who were brightly flying around the hall, busy but happily, wearing the 'uniforms' that Nono-san had worked hard on.
Of course, since they were "invited guests," they didn't particularly need to work—however, after deliberating with the leadership, including myself, we decided to make it an 'obligation.'
Because if we didn't, they wouldn't be able to receive the rewards comfortably.
I understand that being invited to Zoodiac is treated like a huge piece of content among players, but one must not forget that the existence of Zoodiac itself is one element of the current only world event in Arcadia, [Starry Paradise].
It's common knowledge that rewards are prepared for all players who participate in a game event. And only when they can actually grasp the actual items (rewards) does achievement accompany the fun.
To put it simply, we didn't want them to lose the opportunity to obtain [Stardust Relic (Lapis)] just because they were invited to our place. Therefore, by making service at the tavern a pretext, we took the form of forcing the right to reward distribution onto all participants—well, needless to say.
It was almost entirely a plan proposed by Nono-san, though.
So, well, as a result...
"Nono-san."
"Eh, yes, what is it?"
"Shall I pour you a drink?"
"Eh, eh, eh, what is it, what's your goal? To an exhausted gentleman—no, no, no, even if you mysteriously and suddenly try to flatter me, Nonomi-chan will be troubled, so to speak—no, no, I won't refuse at all, though! Gufufu— is it okay? I'm blushing!"
"What's with your lung capacity despite your weak AGI?"
In the end, the fact that this strategist and consultant is the 'grand prize' among the initial members of the group that gathered at Zoodiac...
"Ah, is it okay if the return is a Nonomi-chan wink? Fan service, fan service!"
"Tetsu-san, pass."
"I don't want it. Don't pass it to me."
"This treatment for a former idol!!!"
...Well, even with this kind of treatment, it's a well-known fact among our circle.
A cute and capable citrus. But she says gufufu. But that's what's good about her.
In short, Nonomi-chan is wonderful.