Chapter 10: Half-Naked Pervert In the Eyes of More Experienced Players

The name of that player was Reiji. For about three months now he’s been trying to get along with that woman who was a total beginner at the game, teaching her basic controls, mechanics, game language and all the other stuff necessary to survive in the game world. As a more experienced player of ShangriLa Frontier, he felt that he could do at least this much for her. 「Well then, Yamamoto-kun, I’m counting on you today as always.」 「Y, yeah. But you know, it is only basic etiquette that you don’t call anyone inside of the game with their real names. You know?」 「Ah, sorry about that! Well then, umm…… Reiji-kun!」 Even though it was the name of his avatar, in reality it was Reiji’s given name…… When he was starting the game, Yamamoto Reiji really thought that writing his name with katakana was a clever display of wit on his part. 「Ekhem, for now…… You wanted to try to tame a dog-like monster, right, Miia?」 「Yes, that’s because I can’t really keep any pets in my apartment…… and then I heard that you can tame monsters in this game! My friends told me that!」 Leaving her rather peaceful reasons for playing the VR RPG aside, ShangriLa Frontier was a game that would leave quite a bit of freedom in the hands of its players. Thanks to that, many people were finding other things to do in the game besides combat. Reiji’s party was trying to find dog-like monsters for quite some time now, but apparently no such monsters were spawning before the town of Sekandill, so Reiji’s party needed to progress further into the game. 「So, in order to tame a wild monster you must……」 「…………ooohhh…………」 「Hm?」 It was in this moment. Hearing some strange sound, everyone present at the Sekandill gates in front of the “Forest of the Looming Danger” turned their heads towards the suspension bridge without thinking. Neither Reiji nor Miia could have predicted the sight they were about to witness. 「UuuuuuuuuooooooOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!」 The thing on that player’s face was certainly a mask that could be selected at the character creation screen (it could have been exchanged for free for a starting head piece equipment, but its defense value would be zero). …… However, what was really drawing attention was what was below that mask. That player wasn’t wearing anything below his head, and he was currently running so fast that if it wasn’t for his Player Tag he could have been mistaken for some kind of rare monster that appeared out of nowhere. 「Is, is that a monster!?」 「No, since it has a Player Tag over his head he must be a player. Best not to attack the poor guy.」 Reiji focused his sight on the half-naked pervert, and was finally able to read his name…… It was “SANRAKU”. Huh, what a strange name. (He must have fought the “Orochi” and got poisoned during the battle, huh? …… And most probably he used up all of his antidote herbs and is in a rush to buy some.) Reiji remembered the good old days when he was just starting out, and the chaos those days brought, in a good sense. During those days, a whole lot of players suffered from the serpent’s poison in the beginner’s area. The most probable reason for this “SANRAKU” guy to be like that, without any recovery items, would be because he blew all of his money on something else. But Reiji didn’t wanted to believe that someone so utterly stupid would actually exist in this game. Reiji instead tells Miia to stand down, seeing that she was raising her bow and was aiming it at the incoming player. He didn’t want her to suffer a PK penalty for such an unreasonable reason. Instead, he shouted at the player. 「The inn would be that-a-way! It’s that building with a white roof! You cannot really miss it!!」 「OOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!」 As Reiji observed Sanraku rushing over towards the inn, he felt a kind of sympathy for the guy. (It would be best if he soon realize that this build of his won’t get him far……) Reiji remembers the boss that the players had to overcome if they wanted to go from Sekandill to the third major city around these parts –– Sadrema. Thinking about it now, his agility at that time must have been around the same level as this Sanraku guy right now. 「This guy…… He’s going to have it really rough……」 「Reiji-kun, you really sounded like a true veteran out there just now! So cool~~!!」 「…………」 For a moment out there Reiji didn’t know what to say to that. Then he thought that maybe the sight of this half-naked bird guy may be a sign of incoming good fortune. The conclusion of this slight incident was that Sanraku ultimately ended up dying because his HP did fall to zero, but thanks to the advice of the kind stranger he managed to update his spawn point to the second town of Sekandill. 「Ahh…… That was too close for comfort……」 Upon entering Sekandill I realized that I didn’t know the location of the inn, but thanks to the kind player I somehow managed to reach over there before my HP drained completely. I didn’t know what items I received for defeating the boss, but it would be a real shame to lose them because of such a stupid reason. So I opened the status screen, confirmed that the items were still there and let out a sigh of relief. 「That guy’s name…… It was Reiji, wasn’t it?」 Next time I meet him, I must thank him somehow. I surveilled my stats for a while before I eventually realized that the penalty for death was a small debuff for stats for a short while. 「Maybe this is a good place to call it a day?」 Summer vacation has just begun, so let’s just log out for now and come back to the game tomorrow. During the early days of the game for most players, “Rushing Towards Sekandill While Being Poisoned” was a rather common occurrence. Players who never even witnessed such a scene are bound to repeat it themselves eventually.