Chapter 279 - Chapter 246: Image is Everything
Friday
"See you at lunch then."
"Mm."
I watched Mion smile and head to her seat.
Then, seeing Iincho approach her, I went to my own seat.
"Yo."
"Morning."
I could tell Nat was looking at me, wanting to ask something.
It was definitely about IRO, but I’d already explained the island's vegetation pretty thoroughly before, so there wasn't anything else that came to mind.
"What's up?"
"The World Quest progress is weird. You got any idea why?"
"Huh?"
Aren't I practically blacklisted from World Quests anyway?
I swallowed that retort and asked about this "weird progress."
"Last night, before I logged off, it was over 15%. But this morning, it's back to 6%."
"…Are you logging into IRO first thing in the morning just to check that?"
"It's on the official website."
"Seriously?"
I wanted to pull out my school tablet and check right away, but the preliminary bell was about to ring, so I held back. I'd wait until break time.
"Wait, so that look means you don't know anything about it, huh?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty much designated as 'not participating,' anyway."
"Yeah, that's true. …But for 'not participating,' aren't you contributing the most?"
"Don't remind me. It just makes me sad…"
I feel like I should get some World Quest reward SP, but it's highly likely I was prepaid with the Uninhabited Island Discovery bonus. And the island resident stuff.
Lost in thought, the preliminary bell rang, and then
"Good morning, everyone! Homeroom's starting!"
Yata… Kumano-sensei appeared.
"Alright, we'll pick this up later."
"Got it."
I'll have to ask Bell-buchou about it again during club activities.
*
"Eh? That's what's happening?"
"Well, I only just heard about it myself, so I can't say for sure…"
It was club time.
I immediately asked Bell-buchou, but unusually, she didn't seem to know.
“It's this.”
Mion showed us the official website's World Quest information page. The progress had dropped again from the 6% Nat mentioned to 5%.
"I was at the Mage's Tower yesterday, so I had no idea…"
"Well, the prices and everything else seem like a lot of trouble anyway."
"It's not good to just leave strange disputes unresolved and then go on a school trip. You'll be taking care of things next week, right?"
“Leave it to me!”
Mion was fired up, but it was just going to be regular club activities.
Kumano-sensei would be there, so nothing strange should happen. …Saying that feels like a flag, so I should be cautious.
"Even so, if it's only 1% a day, it'll take over three months to reach 100%, right? Is there a possibility the World Quest could fail?"
"I wonder? If it drags on longer than the estimated period, the evaluation will certainly drop."
“Were the Part One World Quest rewards already distributed?”
"Yes. I believe most players received 5 SP. Only new players who joined midway, or those who had absolutely no interaction with other races, received less."
So Nat and Iincho also got 5 SP, huh? A little jealous… No, I got about the same from the increase in island residents and such.
"Well, I've been publicly declared 'not participating,' so it's fine."
"If the progress gets too slow and becomes a real problem, even the people artificially inflating prices will start to panic, I imagine."
Bell-buchou gave a knowing smile.
The official forums are apparently in an uproar, and it sounds like discussions about responsibility are starting… What a pain…
“Are you satisfied with that, Buchou?”
"For now, the Mage's Tower is going well. Yesterday, I finally obtained a grimoire for [Barrier Magic]!"
"Ohh! Congratulations!"
“Congratulations!”
She planned to acquire it immediately and try it out today.
She looked incredibly frustrated when I told her I'd acquired [Spatial Magic]…
*
I logged into IRO and first confirmed that the Grapeful Wine I started last night was ready.
I set half of it to be processed into Grapeful Vinegar again.
"Alright, time to modify the Storage. But I might not have enough time."
“We did chat for a bit too long, didn't we?”
It was just before 5 PM.
After that, Bell-buchou explained how to contact her during the school trip.
While we couldn't bring our VR HMDs, we could bring our personal devices, so we should contact her on those if anything happened.
She was leaving the Guild Management to Seth, Gold-onee-sama, and the production team, but wanted to be contacted if anything worrying occurred.
"Now that I think about it, it'll be our turn next year. It'll be tough not seeing Lupi for almost a week…"
“Right…”
Game-wise was one thing, but not seeing Lupi would be hard.
"Woof?"
I petted Lupi, who tilted her head as if asking "What's wrong?", and felt my stress melt away.
I think she'll be fine as long as I tell her properly that I'll be away for a while.
"Never mind about the future. First, I need to build a Smoking Room."
“What kind of thing is a Smoking Room?”
"Simply put… you smoke wood underneath, and apply that heat and smoke to the ingredients? You have to make sure the smoke escapes outside, or it'll be a disaster, so I'll need to remove part of the Storage wall."
Thanks to [Excavation Magic], I thought it would be fine to make a hole in the stone wall of the Storage. It wouldn't need to be a very big hole either.
"There we go."
I left the old tavern and headed to the adjacent Storage. I opened the large, rusty sliding door.
I'd be working, so I'd leave it open for a while again.
I had the light spirit illuminate the interior and checked it again…
“Where will you build it?”
"Uh… Oh, there it is. Do you see that small window over there?"
“Ah, yes.”
It was a small window, about one block wide, near the ceiling. Or rather, was it a ventilation shaft?
It had been too dark to tell before, but it looked like there were iron bars fitted into it.
"I can make the smoke exit from there, and then build a room about this size around here…"
Making it too big would be inefficient, so I'd make a narrow room about 50cm square and do the smoking inside that.
“I see. But I'm worried about a fire.”
"Yeah. That's something to be careful about. Considering that, it might be better to do it thoroughly tonight… It'll be Saturday noon when I treat the Selkies, is that okay?"
“Yes. Just make sure to stream it, okay?”
"Of course."
Alright then, during club time, I'd focus on the lower part.
"Ah, I forgot about the clay again…"
It looks like I'll just end up digging for clay.
“Shou-kun, can't you make clay with Earth Magic?”
"Ah, it's worth a try."
Until now, "earthen wall" had just been a vague image of random dirt, but if I explicitly specified White Clay…
"[Earth Wall]"
“Amazing!”
A small mound of White Clay appeared before my eyes, surprising me.
What? If I have [Elemental Magic], I can build as many stone buildings as I want, I thought. But later, Bell-buchou told me, "You can only do that because you have [Applied Earth Magic] or [Civil Engineering]!"