Translator: P411

Editor: Lilia

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 169 – This Screenshot will be My Permanent Wallpaper

I also had some things to do, so I teleported with Vidello-san to my workshop. When I went into the back room and logged out, I realized what time it was.

I still had to make lunch.

When I opened my eyes and sat up, I heard Sakuma-san’s laughter. 

When I removed my gear to check what was happening, I saw that the screenshot I took was blown up on one of Vil-san’s monitors. It was the one with the bird about to be eaten by Jhal Gar-san.

It had an interesting vibe, so I ended up taking a screenshot of the scene. Come to think of it, this was Vil-san’s gear. It’s not my gear, so even if I took a screenshot, it wouldn’t be saved on my device.

“Vil, what have you been doing?! Kengo! You’re the best! I want to set this screenshot as my phone wallpaper! Gyahahahaha.”

Pointing at the picture on the screen, which looked too realistic, Sakuma-san had been laughing his head off so much he was close to tears. He immediately clicked a few things and moved the image to his phone. If he could do that, then I also wanted it too.

“Excuse me. Could you also share that screenshot with my phone too?”

“Sure! Take out your phone. I’ll send it. Would you also like to take this picture of a big brother bird playing with a younger brother?”

“By all means!”

The picture was quickly sent and I immediately changed my wallpaper to the picture of Vidello-san and the bird. I couldn’t take my eyes off the phone screen. I couldn’t move the data in my gear to my phone either, so after a lot of effort, I gave up. 

As I was grinning looking at the screen, Vil-san, who had been typing continuously, finally stopped and turned off the two monitors. The monitors that were still on showed something like an ECG, a scrolling list of incomprehensible characters, and a graph that was constantly monitoring some kind of changes. I had no idea what was going on. 

Vil-san removed the gear and tilted his head to stretch his muscles. He might have stiff shoulders from sitting down and wearing the gear all the time while working.

“Kengo, thanks to you, we’ve got a great hint. I truly believe I’ve had a very fortunate encounter.”

Vil-san’s hand reached out to my head while I was still grinning at the screen.

He ruffled my hair, but I didn’t feel bad at all. 

“Then, I’ll go make some home-cooked meals.”

“Ah. That’s right. I’ve already cooked the rice.”

When I stood up, Sakuma-san told me that and gave me a thumbs-up. Well, I appreciated that.

I headed to the kitchen to start preparing meals. Sakuma-san and Vil-san both sat down and put their gears back on again. But I knew that one of the monitors was fixed onto Jhal Gar-san.

I made simple dishes: oyakodon, miso soup, and spinach ohitashi. (PK: Oyakodon = Japanese chicken and egg bowl, Spinach Ohitashi = a side dish of boiled seasoned spinach.) When I called out that it was ready, the two quickly entered the kitchen. I rummaged through the shelves and pulled out a large tray. It was a little dusty, showing no sign of usage. I wiped the dust off and portioned the rice into bowls. When I asked if it was enough, Sakuma-san asked for another portion even before he started eating. 

When I brought the drinks to the table, there was a new person sitting there. He was wearing stylish glasses and casual but still stylish clothes, and when he saw me, he raised his hand in greeting.

“Hey, Mac.”

The person who called out to me had the exact same voice as Akakatabami-san, so I immediately recognized him as the person behind Akakatabami-san. His real name was Higurashi-san. He seemed to be involved with in-game development, so he was raising his avatar level, fixing errors, and running maintenance inside of the game. He also checked out potential ban candidates with his own eyes. There were also people who monitored the movements of the players. As I was listening to all this, I doubted if I, as a high school student, was allowed to know the inner workings of the game.

“The high potion I got inside the game was incredibly delicious, and the food here is delicious, too.”

He cheerfully spoke to me while devouring a freshly cooked oyakadon with gusto. 

Well, compared to the potions made by pharmacists inside the game, the difference in taste could be compared to the difference between vegetable juice and an energy drink.

“For cooking, well, as my parents both work, I learned to cook out of necessity. But I don’t dislike cooking.”

“Great, Kengo. If you marry my brother, I want you to cook for me too. As your elder brother.”

Vil-san was telling me this with a straight face, so Sakuma-san quickly nudged him to stop. By the way, that was a good hit.

“Anyway, you seem to be enjoying ADO very much. Although there are all sorts of crazy stuff going on.”

As Vil-san started sipping tea leisurely, I noticed that the rice bowl in front of him was already empty. When I took a quick look at Sakuma-san, I couldn’t find him, and when I finally found where he went, he had gone to refill his rice. The rice bowl was like a mountain. I’m glad I made a lot.

“Yes. I’m having a lot of fun. Even though there’s a lot of hardships.”

“That’s for sure. How did you know that the stone statue could move? I was freaked out of my mind!”

“That was because it was written on the stone statue’s dog tag.” 

“I only saw those weird patterns though.”

“No, those are letters.”

Higurashi-san’s eyes were wide open listening to my reply. Well, if you couldn’t read the ancient magic language, it would just look like some sort of pattern.

The fact that they didn’t build the scenario from scratch meant that Vil-san and the others didn’t know that much about the circumstances and history of that world. “What the hell!? They’re letters!?” Higurashi-san didn’t even seem to know that there was a thing called ancient magic language.

“Higurashi, from now on, when you go over there to make maintenance, bring alcohol with you. It seems that splashing the statue with alcohol is enough to wake him up.”

When Vil-san told this to Higurashi-san, Higurashi-san had a very reluctant look and complained, raising his voice, “Eh?”

“I’ll get beaten up again. He looks scary enough. Because of you, I have to get caught up in this situation? No, thank you. I don’t wanna get killed the moment I pour alcohol over him.”

“…..”

I couldn’t say it was okay, but now it’s more like I had no words left to say.

Vil-san and I looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

“It’s likely that one of your actions somehow ended up touching the path to the beastmans’ village. I think that’s why Jhal Gar-san was so angry. Usually, he is very friendly.”

“Leave me out on that one. Why don’t you just officially hire Mac and have him do maintenance?”

I was about to say that’s a little too much, but Vil-san’s eyes sparkled.

“That’s a great idea. You’re quite well known to the people of that world.”

“That ‘well known’ is an understatement. I also checked the noticeboard too. The hero’s son was quite famous for not being an easy target to befriend. But that same unfriendly guy announced something like ‘He’s mine’ about Mac in front of everyone.”

It seemed Sakuma-san’s unexpected follow-up info sparked a dangerous thought in Vil-san.

“Kengo, perhaps, are you that kind of guy? Two-timing my brother with the angel? Is your thing with my brother just a game? Did you also lay your hand on the angel, too?”

“No, no, no, no, I’m still a minor! I can’t even take off my pants, so of course, there’s no way I could do such a thing!”

I swallowed a sigh as I rushed to stop Vil-san’s rambling. Such a horrible way to follow up on conversations.

I mean, Vil-san, don’t sink your teeth into these things. Just act like an adult and let it go.

“But, Kengo, I’m not joking about the job. Just once a month is fine, can you help me with maintenance in that cave? The stone statue said he would do the maintenance if we brought along alcohol and asked him. I’d like to ask you to take that role.”

“Well, if it’s just that, it’s fine.”

It certainly would go more smoothly than requesting Akakatabami-san to do it, so the moment I gave a vague response, Vil-san stood up and went to the nearby PC.

He then typed something in and closed it.

What happened? While I was wondering about that, a sheet of paper came out of the printer.

“Here, this is a contract. Read it carefully and sign it.”

“So fast!”

My thoughts came out as a surprised remark. I scanned through the paper and was amazed by how thorough it was.

As I read through till the last sentence and found nothing strange about the contract, I signed the paper, still in disbelief.

When Vil-san saw my signature, he nodded in satisfaction and held out his hand to me.

“Kengo, you’re now a member of our team. Please take care of us.”

“Um. Okay…”

Thus, my part-time job became official. The job didn’t seem to take too much time, so it would be fine.