kscans

Chapter 85 - A Virtual Reality After Six Months

Before Hayato's eyes, the base stood safely intact.

Just as Hayato had guessed, only facilities were destroyed, while private houses and player bases were not targets of destruction. In fact, if they were destroyed, it would be at a level that would generate complaints. Relieved that the base he had returned to after a long time was not a pile of rubble, Hayato looked up at it.

He hadn't been able to come here for about six months, but nothing had changed from that time. Hayato was happy about that fact. Since it was night, he thought he would take a proper look during the day and headed for the entrance.

Hayato approached the entrance to the dining hall on the east side.

Light was leaking from the small window on the door. Esha had logged in first and was said to be waiting inside.

He took a single deep breath before opening the door and entering.

There stood Esha in her maid outfit. Upon confirming it was Hayato, she smiled and bowed her head.

"Welcome back, Master."

"Um, I'm back."

It had been a long time since he had seen Esha in her maid outfit. Other than her clothes, she looked the same as in reality, but for some reason, this felt more natural.

In the real world, Esha handled her work at the cafe competently. Although there were few customers, her service towards Ney and the others could be described as normal. But that, conversely, felt out of place.

By the way, she said her salary could wait until the business is on track, but I have to provide her with food, clothing, and shelter. I still have some prize money left, but at this rate, it's just going to decrease. I have to do something.

As he was thinking about such harsh realities, another thought occurred to him.

"Are you going to call me Master again?"

"I will within the virtual reality. If I suddenly started calling you Hayato, everyone else would be surprised. Especially Ren-sama. Besides, if I did that, the Maid Chief would be scary."

That's true, Hayato thought, convinced.

"Well, Hayato-kun, it seems you've made it back to this world."

"Diite-chan."

Because Esha was right by the entrance, he hadn't noticed, but Diite was also here. She had been sitting in a chair, drinking the coffee on the table.

Diite stood up from her chair and stood in front of Hayato.

"We've been corresponding by email, but it's a pleasure to meet you again in person. I wonder if it's thanks to that stylish line you said?"

"I guess so. I'm happy to be able to meet you directly like this too."

"We have Esha-kun to thank. It's because she was a programmer that she was able to fix your biometric data, Hayato-kun."

"I heard about that. It's all very surprising."

At those words, Esha made a slightly smug face, but she quickly became serious.

"That doesn't matter, so please give me a chocolate parfait. I believe it's a just reward."

"Could you please not aim Beelzebub at me when you ask for something? I've been defeated by it several times, so it's scary. Just wait a minute. It's been a while, but I'll try making one."

Hayato went to the storage, put the ingredients for the chocolate parfait in his item bag, and came back. He then took out what could be called his main weapon, the Adamantite Knife - Extreme.

When he selected chocolate parfait from the menu, a rainbow colored light overflowed, and a highest quality chocolate parfait was created. Hayato was pleased that he had made the highest quality on his first try, taking it as a good omen.

"Here you go."

"My day doesn't end until I eat this. Now, please continue your conversation with Diite-sama. I'll be savoring this."

"You eat it in the real world too, but you want to eat it in the virtual world as well?"

"I can eat as much as I want in the virtual world. And I don't get fat."

"Esha-kun, it's cruel of me to say this, but characters in this world do get fat. The system is designed to calculate calories and reflect that."

At those words, Hayato remembered. That was the main reason he was taken to the Maid Guild.

"I know. However, in the virtual world, I can lose weight efficiently, so it's not a problem. In the real world, it's not so easy, so I enjoy it mainly here. Now, if you disturb me any further, you'll get a Destroy, so please be careful."

Esha said this, held up the chocolate parfait once, and then began to eat.

Diite looked a little exasperated, but she quickly smiled and looked at Hayato.

"Well, let's leave Esha-kun to it. Now, I'd like to talk, if you don't mind."

"Of course. I heard a little from Esha, but what do you mean you need my help?"

"Let's sit down first... Right, to put it simply, we need your production skills, Hayato-kun. I'll explain the circumstances now."

Diite's story was this.

Currently, an event called a Stampede is occurring in Another Frontier Online. A Stampede means a mass rampage, and in this game, it refers to the phenomenon of a large number of monsters rushing into a town.

It's an event that has been held several times in the past, but this time, the monsters are dragons, and they have been attacking major towns and cities for the past few months.

The players' objective is to defeat the dragons in the attacked towns and defend them.

They sometimes succeed and sometimes fail in their defense, but this event is different from previous ones in that there is a gimmick where the town's facilities are destroyed regardless of success or failure.

Bases built by players and private houses are not subject to destruction, but facilities with various functions are, and they break when their durability runs out.

When that happens, players can't use the necessary facilities.

However, it is possible to repair the destroyed facilities. And that requires production skills.

"In other words, I want you to lend your strength to the restoration of the facilities. If the facilities remain destroyed, the game will just become harsher. I wouldn't mind if it came to that, but I'm sure most players would dislike a game that's too harsh."

If a town has no facilities, various restrictions are imposed.

They can't apply to establish a clan, they can't shop, and tamers can't deposit their pets, among other things.

"I understand the situation, but why are the facilities set to be destroyed? Couldn't you just set them so they can't be destroyed, Diite-chan?"

Diite is the AI that manages this virtual reality. Hayato doesn't know what kind of settings are possible, but he knows she can do various things. If she could even set it so that Hayato himself could fly, he thought it should be possible to set it so that things can't be destroyed.

"I would like to, but I can't. It's hard to say this, but it could be said that it's your fault, Hayato-kun."

"Why?"

Diite smiled a little and showed Hayato the palm of her right hand. It was a beautiful hand with no scars, but Hayato understood what she was trying to say. He naturally remembered attacking Diite with the AI Killer six months ago.

"Because you broke a part of my program, some of my functions are restricted. This event, my skill settings, and various other things have been restricted, so I can't make such a setting. Of course, there are things I can do, but it's almost impossible for settings related to events and the settings of this Diite character that I control. Even the great Esha-kun couldn't fix that, so we have no choice but to wait for it to self repair, but that's expected to take twenty or thirty years."

"I see... But hey, are you blaming me for that? I'm the one who did it, sure, but..."

"Are you implying that it's my fault?"

Esha, who had finished her chocolate parfait at some point, was staring at Hayato with narrowed eyes.

It's true that Esha was the one who taught him how to make the AI Killer, but Hayato didn't think of it that way.

"No, not Esha, it's your own fault, Diite-chan..."

"Good grief, Hayato-kun, are you a man who intends to shift the responsibility to a woman?"

"What...?"

As Hayato was bewildered, Diite couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.

"No, I see now. I understand Esha-kun's desire to see your troubled and surprised faces, Hayato-kun. This is addictive."

"You understand, don't you? It's like watching a troubled puppy, it's thrilling, isn't it?"

"I'm not making any more chocolate parfaits for Esha. And Diite-chan, I'll just say that my item bag has a lot of AI Killers in it."

"I am truly sorry for getting carried away."

Esha immediately bowed her head. The chocolate parfait was a powerful motivator.

Diite was also laughing, but she bowed her head.

"That's a scary threat. I'm sorry, it was a joke, of course. This whole situation is my responsibility. However, I no longer have the function to tamper with my own skills. Therefore, I want to borrow the power of you, Hayato-kun, who has all sorts of production skills."

"That's fine, but I think there are many other players with production skills. And I don't know what the town restoration system is like, but I can't do it alone, can I?"

"Well, I'll explain that as we go along. Besides, it would be bad if the hardline dragons win this event. I'd like to explain that, but it's getting late today, so let's leave it for now. From here on, I'd like to celebrate your return, Hayato-kun, if you don't mind. I also want to explain what's happened since then. Of course, I want to hear about you too, Hayato-kun. We've been corresponding by email, but I want to hear it from you directly."

Hayato nodded at those words.

He had returned to the virtual reality for the first time in six months. For now, he would savor the joy of it. Thinking that, Hayato and the others talked about the past until the day turned into the next.