Translator: Shizukuku

Editor: Sour

Read at Watashi Wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 102 – Rinne and Quest

After some playful touching and flirting, Vidello-san returned to his quarters in the city.

I opened my friends list, knowing that I still had an hour or so left before it was time to log out.

In my friends list, which had not grown much, I found the name [ Rinne ].

We both started at the same time, me as a solo practitioner and Rinne as a practitioner training under a pharmacist to hone his skills.

“Ah, there he is. He’s still logged in.”

The text on my list was white, indicating that he was still in the game.

I decided to send him a message right away, [ Long time no see, what have you been up to lately? ], and started taking out the materials in my bag and putting them onto the small table in the inn’s room.

A new recipe. Could this be redone if I bring them a recipe that already exists? Or would it be a failure at that point?

Thinking about that, I tidied the evening primrose.

It was a little harsh to say I couldn’t use rare items. The one I made yesterday had a perfect rare item in it.

Next, I took out some limone fruit that suddenly caught my eye. I gobbled one whole, and its lemon-like sourness made my lips pucker. Woah, that woke me up.

With a frown on my face, I pulled out a variety of materials. Cacti were a specialty of desert cities, but were not rare… I wondered if the reason for that was because you can pick them in desert cities. If that was the case, I wished I’d bought a lot more ordinary fruits from Tream-san’s place. But, there was no use in regretting that now, so I’d just make do with what I had. Maybe tomorrow I could go looking around for some materials. Or maybe I’d start with mixing the ones I thought I could use in my workshop.

As I was examining the materials and thinking things over, —ping— my message box lit up.

It was a response from Rinne.

[ It’s been a long time. I no longer work at a pharmacy, and now I’m the resident pharmacist for a group called ‘Yunagi’. ]

[ Yunagi ] was a name that even I knew. I was pretty sure they became famous for being the first to establish a clan. I had heard the name mentioned on the internet a lot. I thought I’d read something about how it was a clan that focused on strategy first, and that people either loved it or hated it. I didn’t know much about it though. So he was the resident pharmacist for a group like that.

[ Why did you leave the pharmacy? ]

[ My pharmacist level hit a plateau because they would only let me make recipes that were set in stone. ]

The response that instantly came back to me convinced me that this was a good idea.

[ I had a low personal level to begin with, and I heard that ‘Yunagi’ could help me with power leveling and such, so I asked them to let me join. What about Mac? ]

Power leveling, huh? I wasn’t into that kind of thing because I preferred to go slow, but I guess those who wanted to level quickly would want to do it.

I couldn’t help but smile as I thought back on the times we played together.

[ I’m still playing solo. I’ve become a high-rank pharmacist. ]

[ What? ] 

I reported my side of the story, and that one-word response came back to me instantly.

[ How do I become a ranked pharmacist? I’m over level 50 and still can’t get to the top. ]

Wow, that’s amazing. A level 50 pharmacist. How hard was he working?

[ After completing the quests offered by NPCs in the city, I found a higher-ranking job in the occupation column. ]

[ Seriously? Maybe that’s what that quest that appeared before was about… ]

[ The quest that appeared before? ]

[ When I was going through Sette with ‘Yunagi’, I heard that the plantation was in trouble, but the leader of ‘Yunagi’ wouldn’t give me permission to do the quest because he didn’t have time to worry about such things. If I wanted to stay there, that would be fine, but Yunagi said I’d have to leave the group, so I gave up on the quest in tears. ]

Shocked, my fingers stopped moving for a little while.

That quest that Tream-san had cried about was the quest that was being offered to Rinne when he was there…

[ I’m really worried about whether the farm was alright after that, but the members give me disapproving looks whenever I mention it. I’m seriously considering leaving the group. ]

Shocked by Rinne’s reply, I still took a deep breath to calm down and then returned his message.

[ It was alright. The farm got back on its feet though it was just barely. But that quest was meant for Rinne. I’m a little surprised. ]

[ Maybe Mac took over? Wow, I owe you! I was really worried. I can’t tell you how many times I wished I had just left the group and taken that quest. ]

[ It’s okay. ]

That’s all I could say. That quest hadn’t been an easy one, and I was disappointed he didn’t take it.

But when Rinne told me that he gave up in tears, I felt a little bit comforted. If Rinne had laughed and told me I did something unnecessary, I would never have contacted him again.

I guessed the people in [ Yunagi ], to which Rinne belonged, were genuine strategy gamers. But I had a feeling that I surely wouldn’t like them.

I promised to meet him sometime soon and ended the conversation. I felt exhausted even though it was such a short exchange.

I hope you can leave the group safely, Rinne, and I’m cheering you on a little bit.

I let out a sigh, put all the materials I had taken out back in my inventory, and rolled into bed early.

Sometimes, I just had to log out early. I was really tired.

Come to think of it, I wonder if Crash has already gone back to Tre? was my last thought as I logged out.

---

“Yuuta, have you heard of [ Yunagi ]?”

During lunch break, I asked Yuuta about it.

Yuuta answered bluntly, “Muscle-brained gang.”

“Eh? Muscle-brained…?”

When I was puzzled by Yuuta’s answer, Masuda added with a laugh.

“It’s a combat clan known for being a strategy group. They’ll dive into dungeons, and when they hear about a strong demon, they’ll head straight for it to defeat it. In order to make the clan stronger, they pick up low-level swordsmen and such along the way and power level them. However, their way of doing things isn’t very praiseworthy, and they aren’t afraid to steal prey that someone else is hunting. So if [ Yunagi ] is hiding in a dungeon, information that you shouldn’t go there will be spread all over the internet immediately. Then they get to monopolize it. I don’t really like them. Plus, Takahashi is on their radar.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“I mean, they wanted me to join them in the early days. But I turned it down because they were so muscular, musclebound, and brawny, and they would cause trouble sometimes. But that’s all over now. I’ve moved on, and we don’t have to share the same space.”

Wow, this is the first time I’ve heard that from Yuuta. I thought he was pretty good at socializing with others.

But still, the reason why he turned down their offer.

I couldn’t help but laugh, and Masuda laughed along with me.

“That sounds just like Takahashi, doesn’t it? They were so insistent that I couldn’t stand the sight of them, so I asked him if he wanted me and Brave to form a party with him.”

“To be honest, it was a big help. I didn’t know what was right or left yet. But Masuda was the same way.”

“Because we’re the same age, you know? I just had my birthday a little earlier than Takahashi.”

“Heh, I didn’t know that. But, Masuda, that means you’ve been partying with Yuuta since middle school, right? We weren’t in the same school, were we?”

I was a little bit curious about the history of [ Takahashi and his Merry Men ]. Because Yuuta had already formed a party in just two months. He was 15 years old, so we were still in the ninth grade then. Oh, but I chose to take the entrance exam at a local not-so-high-level school, so it was no problem at all. I did my best to cut back on the games a little bit.

“At first, we didn’t know we both went to middle schools nearby, but when we talked about high schools, I mentioned the name of this one, and Takahashi said he was going to this one too. Brave went to a private girls’ school from the beginning. We grew up together. Yui is a fellow student from that girls’ school.”

“Huh. Small world.”

“I thought so too.”

This was the first time I had heard how [ Takahashi and his Merry Men ] got together. And two couples were born from it. They sure got lucky, didn’t they? …I have Vidello-san, so it’s fine with me.

“I hope Gouno’s friend, the pharmacist, will be able to leave that group safely. There aren’t a lot of good rumors about [ Yunagi ], so I’m a little worried for him.”

“I see. I hope you’re okay, Rinne.”

“It would be a waste to quit ADO because of such a dispute. ADO is something that’s supposed to be fun. Right, Takahashi?”

“Yeah. It’s a spartan way to have fun, though.”

“That’s okay because it’s still fun that way.”

What kind of leveling up were they doing? In fact, he seemed calm, but I wondered if Masuda was belligerent as well. He was the kind of guy who used twin swords and charged into the fray. He was a boy, wasn’t he? With that appearance.

While keeping a low profile, we went back to the classroom at the chime of the pre-bell.

---

I left the inn with a strong determination that today I would dispense medicine in the simple workshop.

I wondered if it was safe to approach the gate now. Maybe I’d be able to sneak past the middle gate this time.

Vidello-san was wearing more splendid armor than what he had on in Tre, and he was standing there with a spear in his hand. So cool!

The man beside him didn’t try to turn me away this time and just stared at me instead.

But I was afraid to stand there and talk, so I waved to Vidello-san a little and left.

Vidello-san’s expression was really cool, as I could see his narrowed eyes a little through the slit in his helmet. I liked it.

With a smile on my face from getting to see Vidello-san without being turned away, I went to the location of the simple workshop and quickly rented one of the rooms. I decided on a slightly more expensive place and had a few hours until I had to log out.

Okay, I hope I can make some progress today!