kscans

Chapter 455 - Day Two: Morning

"—..."

The moment I lifted my eyelids, my thoughts booted up with the speed of a high-spec PC.

It was a wake-up call so refreshingly crisp it felt unreal. Even without the loud alarm that usually rang—no, that rang inside my head—I would have instantly remembered where I was.

Despite having slept on a hard wooden roof without even a cushion, my avatar's body, far sturdier than my real one, felt neither stiff nor sore.

Brushing away the white hair that had fallen across my face, I gazed at the 'ground' visible far away in the sky and—

"Hah... ...kyaah, ahhh..."

—the yawn that escaped my lips was, to my utter horror, that of a girl.

"—Ah, good morning!"

After some light stretching and other exercises, I leaped off the roof, and my first contact was with the ever-energetic Artisan of Vibrant Hues.

The current time was 7:00 AM. Everyone except Nia and me should have cleared their debuffs about two hours ago, so they had probably been up and about since around five.

Using one of the giant tree stumps left after clearing the forest as a desk, she seemed to be engrossed in drafting some new blueprints.

"Hey, morning. Where's my partner?"

"Nfufu, asking for Nia-chan first thing in the morning?"

"Well of course, she's my precious buddy."

When I gave a confident reply to her teasing words,

"Ooh... y-you're surprisingly composed, Acrobat-san."

"I have been lately—also, it's a bit late, but you can just call me Haru, Artisan of Vibrant Hues-san."

"Then you can just call me Nonomi-chan."

While I might call her that in my head, calling a girl my age 'chan' out loud is a bit embarrassing. Maybe I'll follow Tetsu-san's lead and call her Nono-san.

"Oh, Nia-chan is working in the girls' room. I think they could use more help over there, so you should go help her... but before that, it's almost time for breakfast."

As she spoke, I noticed a pleasant aroma wafting from the shared building.

"Could you go get her? I'm going to put this away."

"Got it."

Tasked with the errand, I headed towards the women's building while Nono-san began rolling up her half-finished blueprints—the paper and pen she was using were also her and Nia's own creations. It seems that Magic Crafters are more versatile than I thought.

Though, when it comes to specialized fields, that's probably not the case... Anyway.

"Hellooo!"

Even though I was asked by one of its residents, I thought it might be rude to just barge in, so I knocked on the door and called out.

Five, ten seconds passed with no reply. I raised my voice to call out again... and a faint "Come in!" reached me from inside.

What, she wants me to come in?

Well, if she's inviting me, there's no way some anime-esque cliché is going to happen. With that in mind, I pushed open the swinging door and stepped inside—

"Tch..."

"Hey, morning... What's wrong? Why'd you freeze?"

Inside the mostly empty log house, my partner was working, holding several wooden parts whose purpose I couldn't guess. My eyes fell on her, and I froze on the spot.

Nia, who had greeted me, looked at me quizzically, but I wanted to shout at her—What in the world are you wearing?

She had on a light blue blouse, brighter than her indigo hair and eyes, and white shorts with a yellow check pattern... which, to put it simply, was a stylish but normal outfit.

The problem was the top.

It was a dazzling sleeveless top that also had a wide opening in the back, down to her shoulder blades, and her short hair offered no defense, revealing the line of her skin from her neck down... which was, well, not good at all.

I hadn't noticed at all. Underneath that poncho or cape, she was wearing something like this? What? Am I overthinking this? Or am I too conscious of it?

It just seemed like there was a lot of skin showing, and its attack power was so high that I was genuinely shocked.

"N-Nothing. Morning... um, breakfast is ready."

"Mm, okay, okay."

I think I managed to avert my gaze naturally, but I couldn't hide the fact that I had gasped dramatically at the beginning. But I was relieved to see that Nia didn't seem to want to press the issue and just tossed the wooden parts aside.

I was also inexplicably relieved when she properly took a jacket out of her inventory and put it on. If she had tried to go outside in that revealing outfit, I would have had to stop her, even at the risk of her reading my agitation.

"...Hey, are you mad or something? What's really wrong?"

"Just woke up, low blood pressure, hungry."

"Why are you speaking in fragments?"

Since I couldn't meet her eyes, it was only natural that she'd be suspicious. Spouting a hundred percent lie, I fled in search of breakfast.

I said I'd face you properly from now on, but I think that's just unfair.

◇◆◇◆◇

"—How did you make this?"

"I kneaded lard from the boar and Duffle-Mush into grated Yum-Yum, put it through a pseudo-fermentation process, and then steam-baked it with vacuum-roll steaming."

"I have no idea what you just said, but I know that you're a god, Tetsu-san."

"You're always so dramatic. This is just a prototype, but how's the taste?"

"It's insanely delicious."

The mysterious chewy white substance, made from what I was told was pork fat, a potato-like thing, and a mushroom-like thing, was like a cross between a steamed bun and mochi. Whether the flavor came from the ingredients themselves or his 'magic' seasoning, I had no idea, but the faint saltiness and sweetness were incredibly comforting.

I have a suspicion he made this because I was whining about wanting a staple food... Man, our chef is super nice. Is he the best in both skill and personality?

It wasn't rice or bread, but it was a complete staple food. And it was delicious, on a level where if they sold it in the real world, I'd buy it by the case without a second thought.

"Nfufu, what do you think of our Ittetsu-kun? Now you can see why I chose him as my survival partner over all the other passionate advances from other men!"

"Seriously brilliant. Nono-san is the smartest in the world."

"Fufun!"

"You were screaming your head off when you were about to get a game over so early on..."

That's a promise not to mention that, Nia-chan. Since we're having such a delicious meal now, all's well that ends well—

"Now then... you can eat while we talk, but based on last night's events, I'd like to discuss our future policy again. We'll prioritize everyone's survival and clearing the event, and stay at the base to build up our defenses—is that alright?"

"..."

""...""

...Hmm? Huh, eh, ah?

"Are you asking me if it's alright?"

"Yeah."

"Well, obviously."

"There's no one else, is there?"

I was slow to react to the topic that had been brought up so suddenly and matter-of-factly. Seeing my reaction, Tetsu-san was stone-faced, Nono-san was smiling, and my partner had a slightly exasperated look on her face.

No, I get what you're saying, but.

"Wouldn't it be better to decide when everyone's here?"

"That 'everyone' is looking to you for instructions. We're not pushing it on you. A leader was just naturally decided upon from the flow of the first day."

Apparently, the guys who were scheduled to return from hunting in the early afternoon had already asked him to discuss the policy with me.

It's not really my style... well, I won't complain too much.

"I think we should stick with the current plan... or rather, stay the course. Assuming yesterday's assault event happens every night, building up the base and playing tower defense seems like the right way to go."

At least, I think so for this great forest field we've been thrown into.

From the nature of the [Stardust Beasts] we saw last night, it's also predictable that the more [Stardust Relics] we accumulate, the larger the scale of the assault will become.

For now, the priority should be to fortify our defenses as much as possible. However, with no sign of new reinforcements beyond the thirty-six of us, what we can do is limited.

Right, first of all—

"Let's continue from yesterday and clear out some more trees."

We should start by further clearing the forest from its current bare-minimum state... and properly prepare the field of engagement for the next assault.

---

Nia-chan's clothes? That's right, they were produced by Hiyorin.