Translator: Shizukuku

Editor: Sour

Read at Watashi Wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 099 – A Request from the Prime Minister 

“By the way, Mac-dono. I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Uh, me, sir?”

The prime minister looked straight at me and began to speak.

“Could you please provide me with a new recipe, one that has never been used before, that uses readily available ingredients?”

The moment he said that—ping—my quest column lit up.

“Of course, I don’t mean right now.”

The prime minister quickly reached into his pocket, pulled out something that looked like a card, and held it out in front of me.

“Here, it’s like an identification card that will allow you to enter the royal palace at any time. If you come up with something that you think would be of interest to me, you can use this to come and see me. Of course, I’ll arrange it so that you will be guided to me after you present it, so please feel free to come to the palace. Since I’m the one making the request, I should be the one to go to Mac-dono’s office, but I don’t know when you are available. You’re welcome to come at any time, and I would be most grateful if you did.”

It was a strange card, seemingly made of metal. It had something engraved on it, though.

The thing about ancient magical languages is that most people can’t read them. This person was probably thinking I wouldn’t be able to read it either. 

[ None shall block this man’s passage ] was engraved on the front of the card.

I guess that meant it was some kind of royal pass.

As I was looking at the card, Crash also peeked at it from the side.

“Mac, this.”

Crash also read the inscription and raised an eyebrow.

I nodded, then looked up and turned to the prime minister.

The moment our eyes met, the prime minister’s eyes narrowed. Ah, maybe he’d noticed that we could read the writing. I couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing at all, but his mouth lifted slightly.

“If you would prefer not to, you can refuse. I would appreciate it if you would use it to come and say no to me, in that case.”

“…I’ll consider it.”

Either way, I assumed that meant I had to accept this card.

I reached out for the card and took it, and for a moment the card heated up.

When I looked at it again, I saw that it had the name [ MAC ] written clearly on it.

Oh, wait, this. I’ve become its owner!　

“Excuse me!” I said to the prime minister with wide eyes. He promptly got up from his seat, and held his hand up in front of him, as if to stop me from saying anything.

Then continued to speak without mentioning the card at all.

“Well, I shall look forward to your favorable response, I hope. I apologize for having kept Mac-dono, who is a minor, so late today. Thank you very much, Monto-dono, for providing us with this location. I look forward to working with you in the future. Now, if you will excuse me.”

The prime minister bowed his head neatly and went to the door. As he placed his hand on the door, he turned back around.

“The [ Good Luck ] fellow, he isn’t going to be released today, I’m sorry to say, as he’s explaining the details of what happened.”

With that said, he walked out the front door.

Hearing the sound of the door slam shut, I felt my body relax. Hah… as I decompressed, Crash, who was equally stiff, relaxed his body as well.

“That card, it has Mac’s name on it. What are you going to do, Mac?”

“One way or another, I’ll have to look into his request and return it to him…”

As we both let out a sigh, Monto-san chuckled and ruffled our heads.

“Well now, don’t be so nervous. He’s not a bad guy. I’ve known him for a long time, so I’m sure of it.”

“Is he an acquaintance of yours, Monto-san?”

“Yeah, I know him. He has a title now, but he used to live in this town. His mother was the mistress of an aristocrat. I heard that there was already an older brother in his father’s mansion, so he lived with his mother over here. I’ve known him since then, so we’ve known each other for about 50 years.”

So that meant that the prime minister was at least 50 years old. I see. That’s why he was so dignified.

“He’s always been a little difficult, so I’m sure he’s got a lot of crazy ideas this time, too. But, well, we were told that you won’t be locked up at all, so I guess it’s safe to go there. That card looks expensive, and it’s got a weird pattern on it. You should put it away before you lose it.”

“Ah, yes.”

He jerked his chin towards the card and I tucked it away in my inventory.

When I declined Monto-san’s offer to take me to the inn, Crash took my hand and said, “I remember where the inn is, so let’s teleport there. I don’t want to walk anymore.” 

We thanked Monto-san and Crash drew a magic circle in front of us.

Instantly, I was enveloped in a pale light, and a moment later the scenery changed.

I knew that Crash’s magic circle was much faster than mine, but I wondered if I would ever be able to draw one that quickly. I guess I’ll just have to become more proficient.

We appeared in a side alley next to the inn and went straight inside, where we were given keys, and headed straight to our rooms.

We had separate rooms, so we said goodbye in front of the door and said, “See you tomorrow.” I went into the room, locked the door, and fell on the bed.

While I was lying on the bed, I tapped on the new quest that had just appeared.

『【NEW】A Request from the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Grande¹

The prime minister is trying to revitalize the apothecaries.

Bring him a recipe for a medicine that has never appeared on the market before.

Rare material use is prohibited.

Clear Reward: Prime Minister’s Limited Access ID Card for places in the royal palace, a collection of top-secret recipes.

Quest Failure: Recipe not submitted, loss of Prime Minister’s Limited Access ID Card for the royal palace.  』

That. The prime minister said that I could refuse, didn’t he? And yet, there’s a column for quest failure. This Prime Minister’s Limited Access ID Card for the royal palace is the card from earlier, isn’t it? That means if I don’t do this, I should stay away from the royal palace from now on. Which means there is no disadvantage for me, right? But…

That collection of top-secret recipes would be a sight to behold.

The hard part was these delicious rewards being dangled in front of me. Monto-san said he was a nice guy, but Crash seemed to think otherwise.

What to do… 

For now, let’s put it on hold for the day and log out.

I closed my eyes and logged out, feeling a little lonely because of the unfilled space next to me in my bed.

---

“You can get a Limited Access ID card for the royal palace in Sei? You have to take that quest.”

Recently, the three of us, Masuda included, have made it a habit to eat lunch together, and we were having our customary exchange of information on the rooftop.

When I explained to them what happened yesterday, Yuuta immediately responded with such an answer.

Yuuta and his friends were now leveling up between the cities of Otto and Nove, beyond Sette. They were aiming for the frontier town.

“I can’t wait to get to the frontier town and finish my quest. But this is my own personal thing, and Masuda is just being dragged along.”

“Don’t worry, I want to go to the frontier town too. I heard that the place is full of walls. I read on the forums that everyone says it’s all soldiers and mercenaries and stuff like that. I’m curious.”

“I see. For me, I’d rather go to the elven village than the frontier town. I wonder when that will be possible. Even Yuuta and his group would have a hard time in a party by themselves, right? If it’s just me, how many more years would I have to spend raising my level?”

“At the very least, I’d estimate about… oh… 50 years.”

“That’s too long!”

Yuuta made an apologetic face and said something like that, so I gave him a karate chop.

I let go of Yuuta, who didn’t seem to be in any pain. 

“The royal palace… From the information I’ve got, I can only imagine that the royal palace is a scary place. Kidnapping, confinement, drugging, and so on.”

“Kengo… Actually, aren’t you playing a different game than the rest of us? Don’t you remember the concept behind the game? It’s “freedom in your hands in another world”². If you’re forcing yourself to enter the palace and don’t like taking on the quests, you aren’t playing according to the concept.”

That’s the thing. I didn’t feel free these days because there were so many restraining voices around me in the game.

I couldn’t honestly rejoice when I created a new potion. The prime minister’s quest really made that point hit home for me this time.

But I didn’t want to ignore the voices of those around me and just go through with it on my own because they were concerned about me. It was puzzling. Maybe I didn’t think of ADO as a game anymore.

With a sigh, I shoved the rest of my lunch into my mouth, and Yuuta’s eyes lit up.

“It’s almost time to make reservations for the [ Autumn Online Game Fest ] ticket lottery! It starts the day after tomorrow, right? What are you going to do, Kengo? I asked my parents, and they said they’d get me a reservation.”

“Ah, I was thinking of reserving 4 tickets, but if Gouno is helping us too, I’ll take 5. So, Gouno, you should reserve 5 tickets too. I want to increase our chances.”

“Oh, that’s right. I almost forgot. I’ll reserve 5 tickets too! Does that mean I’m reserving for Yui and Brave as well?”

“Yes, yes. That way, if one of us gets picked, we can all go. I’ll ask the two to help as well. If we go in with the general public, it’ll take a long time to get in and we’d have to wait in line, so we’d only end up seeing two booths all day long. I’ll leave it up to you, Gouno.”

We agreed, put away our lunch boxes, and left the rooftop.