Translator: P411

Editor: Lilia

Read at Watashi Wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 155 – VR Diving Part-time Job

Once logged in, I headed over to Kyle-san’s place. Of course, he had lots of types of growth activator potions.

When I explained yesterday’s events, Kyle-san nodded in agreement.

“Nasca Village, huh? You know the village chief there, right? He used to be the lord of this city. He thought of his people first and set up a good system of governance. The lord after him was the worst, so I thought those times were much better.”

“Yeah. He’s a really nice guy. That’s why, if there are signs of monster invasion, please look after those trees.”

“I’ll do it even if you don’t ask me. I owe a debt of gratitude to the people of that village.”

“You sound like you’re going to retire to Nasca Village when you’re too old to work at the farm.”

“That’d be nice, too.”

He wore a broad smile while casually muttering those words.

Now, I’m sure the village would be safer than it is now. After all, a plant expert will be going there.

“Ah, that’s right. I still have things left to do, so I’ll head out.”

“Well, do your best.”

I waved at Kyle-san and went back to my workshop.

I was so absorbed in conversation with him that I didn’t notice that quite some time had passed.

I lay down on the bed, closed my eyes, and logged out. Time to fulfill my mom’s request.

I opened my eyes in my room, took off my gear, and changed out of the jersey I had on into something that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to wear outside. 

I hopped on my bicycle and headed to a nearby supermarket.

On the way, I passed by the fast-food restaurant where I first met Vil-san. I glanced at it briefly, recalling the memory, and continued heading towards my destination. 

The weather was nice, so cycling felt good.

The wind was a bit chilly, but it was offset by the warm sunshine.

I parked my bicycle and went inside the store. It was still morning, so there were only a few customers.

While checking the memo, I put the items in the basket one after another and then headed to the cashier with the requested items and some snacks for me in my hand.

I stuffed all the items into a bag and returned to my bike.

I’ll log in again when I get home. I’ll try using [ Prayer ]. I’d like to try making holy water for once. But there was a problem: I couldn’t use water magic. How would I make the water appear?

Lost in thought, I got on the bike.

Then, I heard the sound of a car horn behind me. 

I panicked and turned around, thinking that I had disturbed someone, and I saw a fancy imported car parked next to me.

A slightly tinted window quietly slid down.

Vil-san’s face emerged from behind the window.

He was wearing an expensive-looking suit today, giving off a vibe that didn’t match with a place like a supermarket.

“Kengo! Good morning. Skipping school today?”

He called out to me, smiling, clearly joking, but I hurriedly denied it, saying, “No, I’m not!” Skipping school! People would get the wrong idea of me!

“Isn’t Vil-san also skipping his responsibilities today?”

When I asked back in revenge, Vil-san looked as if he was surprised.

“How did you know? Kengo, are you perhaps an esper?”

I had no idea whether he was actually surprised or making fun of me, so I let out a sigh and started pedaling, saying, “Then, take care of yourself and go to work.”

I’m gonna go home quickly and log in.

As soon as I said that, he called out to me again, saying my name, “Kengo.”

“My bad, my bad. It wasn’t really a coincidence. I was having a quick breakfast there earlier and saw you riding a bicycle towards here, so I came over too. By the way, what are your plans for today?”

He came here because he saw me. If he said this to a girl, she would definitely misunderstand.

I managed to swallow a sigh, realizing my escape attempt was a failure, and told him honestly that I was planning to play ADO.

“Could you give me a little bit of your time?”

“What?”

As I was puzzled by Vil-san’s request, he got out of the car.

He picked up the shopping bag, parked the bicycle on the rack once more, locking it securely, and then he took my hand.

“From the looks of it, you can cook. I don’t mind if it’s simple, so could you cook for me? I’m going to be a bit busy with work from now on, so I need to recharge my energy. I’ll send you back here when it’s done. I’ll even pay you like it’s a part-time job, so please?”¹

I hesitated, not sure what to say. He was asking with clasped hands in a praying gesture.

In my case, I’m not busy or anything. My plans were just to play games. If you asked me with a face like this, it’d be hard for me to refuse. 

I just have to make something simple.

“Okay. Can I go shopping again, though? These are the ingredients my mother asked for.”

“Eh, so, are you agreeing for real?!”

When I saw how surprised he was, I guessed he was sure I would reject him.

After all, it was suspicious enough to ask a guy whom he had only met three times to cook for him.²

“I’m glad I asked. I thought there’d be no harm in trying. Then, let’s go shopping together. Ah, and, please wait a bit, I’ll show you my identity, so you don’t think I’m trying to kidnap you or something.” 

Saying that, he took out a business card from his chest and showed it to me.

On a light blue paper, Vil-san’s full name, the name of his company, and the company’s address and contact phone number were written.

Flipping it over, he wrote down his phone number and email address and shoved it into my breast pocket.

The company name was written as ‘Lauro Electronics Co,’ so I wondered if he was starting his own business.

“Can you tell me your contact details later too?”

 After he winked at me, he loaded my stuff into his car and then went towards the entrance of the store. 

After shopping, the place he brought me to was a building not far from the supermarket.

I was escorted to the third floor of the building, which had several businesses as tenants, and went through a door with the same company name as the business card I had received earlier.

Inside, the entire floor space was divided into smaller spaces with cubicle walls. There were large machines, monitors, gear, and various other technologies scattered around. Despite the clutter, the floor didn’t feel that small, perhaps because of the open space above the cubicle walls. 

While I was intimidated by the sheer amount of machinery, Vil-san beckoned me to come over to him.

“Aren’t most of the things here confidential? Is it okay for me to be here?”

I didn’t know what those big machines were used for, and the fact that there were numerous monitors turned on meant that I could see the company’s secrets.

When I expressed my concern, Vil-san laughed.

“It’s alright. If I cared about that kind of thing, I wouldn’t have brought you here. Besides, I’m basically a one-man company, so when I need help, I bring people from outside all the time. So you don’t have to worry too much about it.”

“Wow, a one-man business. Amazing.”

“Want to work for me here?”

I politely declined Vil-san’s teasing offer and immediately went to the small kitchen in the back room to make meals. 

When I asked him what he wanted to eat while shopping, he answered with hesitation, “Curry,” so it wouldn’t be much trouble to make it. He had a nice fridge and microwave, so he could store it and reheat it later. Let’s make a lot, then.

I bought plenty of vegetables and started chopping them in this unfamiliar kitchen.

I made my own style of curry, including the rice as a meal set. When I opened the door to tell him that it was ready to eat, he was wearing a headgear, and typing something while using all 3 of the monitors in front of him.

He looked like a working man.

I had no idea what he was doing, but as a man, I admired this kind of figure.

I was fascinated by his working figure and when I failed to call out to him again, he stopped and turned around with his gear on.

That visor was a clear type. That’s so cool. I’m jealous. It had limited stock, so I was unable to get my hands on it.

“What’s wrong, Kengo? Were you missing any ingredients?”

I shook my head at Vil-san, who looked at me through the visor.

“I came to tell you that you can eat now, and I’ve also cooked some rice, but it seems like I’ve interfered with your work.”

When I bowed my head in apology, Vil-san let out a surprised voice.

“Have you already finished? Isn’t it too fast? Are you perhaps a talented chef?”

“No. It’s just that the menu you requested was simple.”

“I didn’t think you could do it so quickly even though it was simple… It seems I’ve underestimated you.” 

It’s not like that. I used the roux to make the curry, so it’s only natural that it didn’t take long to make. Please don’t flatter me too much. What if you get disappointed after eating it?

“Please wait a bit. Can I drop you off after finishing this? It’ll take about an hour to finish.”

“Oh, no problem at all.”

In fact, my place is not that far away, so he didn’t even need to send me home. Even now, he’s kind enough to even let me store the items for my home in his fridge.

“Actually, you just have to serve the curry with some rice and eat it and put the rest in the fridge, so I’ll go home. My home is not too far and I feel like I’m disturbing you.”

When I told him that, Vil-san said, “This isn’t true. I said I’ll take you home,” and he took the gear off and stood up.

He then brought another gear from the desk at the back and handed it to me.

“While you’re here, could you help me with another part-time job? I want you to log in to ADO with this. I don’t remember my ID and password, so I’ll prepare a temporary avatar for you. You can use the skills that you learned even if it’s a temporary avatar, so I’d like to monitor you playing for a bit. What do you think?” 

“Eh? That means…”

“I connected the large machine there to the gear and the system servers in other locations, and I’ve been maintaining the ADO communication system as a one-man team. The reason why there are no other employees is because usually it’s easier to do things alone, but it’s helpful if I can monitor other people’s activity sometimes. I’ll only monitor your in-game playing, so if you agree to that, I’d like you to log in.”

Does that mean I’ll be helping with ADO maintenance? I was a little bit excited as I listened to Vil-san’s explanation.