Book 10: Chapter 3:

Saya walked through the streets of Nameless while thinking about how she was going to get onto the good sides of Fenrir’s girlfriends. Sure, Fenrir gave her that advice—which was more like common sense—to seduce them, but she still felt like she had no idea what to actually do. The only really specific thing she could do that was brought up was getting Death a present to win over Azalabulia.

“Getting Death a present… a sweater. I know onii-wan wants to see Death in a sweater, but would Aza actually like that?” Saya asked, talking to herself while everybody else around went about their daily lives.

Nameless behaved more and more like a traditional fantasy town by the day. The greater its success was, the more players came to join it after hearing about it, and the more NPCs spawned to come as well. While the players went out to hunt beasts and gather materials in the forest and mountains, the NPCs primarily spent their time fulfilling all of the “real” work around the town. They were the ones who staffed the various stores and restaurants that players opened up. They were the ones who crafted and forged basic items while players primarily focused on important equipment and potions. They were the ones who kept the city clean and did most of the fishing while players did all the more exciting jobs… and also went fishing. If anything, the fishing industry of Nameless was the only one where players and NPCs were equal. In every other regard, it was the NPCs who stayed within the city’s limits to do all the work the players didn’t want to do. Some NPCs even became town guards to keep a lookout for trouble and would even break up small fights between players.

Saya couldn’t help but to sigh when she came across another, new building being constructed with the help of NPCs. It was almost certainly owned by a player who would use NPC labor to help run the place. But that wasn’t what made her sigh. The NPCs were happy with their lives, so she had no intention of trying to do anything on their behalf. It was something much more innocent that made her sigh.

“That onii-wan… he wanted to build a city, but all he did was find a place for it and let everybody else do the work,” Saya said. Of course, she knew that he was important to the city’s founding and that it wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for him. Not to mention that he was the one who managed to get everybody else on his side, including a giant dragon, to defeat the world serpent that threatened all life along their entire stretch of coast. Even so, she couldn’t help but to notice that he was conveniently always busy when it came to grunt work. The only time he ever helped out with things like cleaning and building were when he was being pressured into doing it.

Even in that moment, she knew he was still drawing on the chalkboard aboard The Shoebill. That was why she thought into his mind, I’m never going to wear sweaters for you ever again if you don’t go help Tabs like you’re supposed to.

Naturally, Fenrir immediately dropped what he was doing and rushed off of The Shoebill for the forest where Tabitha was likely waiting for him, angrily so, with a hammer ready to smack him.

Normally, she would worry about that potentially crossing the line and being something that might be disallowed by Kadi since one could argue she used her virtual assistant role to influence Fenrir’s in-game behavior… but she wasn’t worried about Kadi. Mainly due to the fact that she hadn’t heard a single thing from her since the incident with the corrupted code. Saya could tell Kadi was still there receiving information, and she still received all of the usual information that she needed from Kadi, but that was it. There was zero contact between them aside from that. Zero information aside from the absolute most bare minimum.

While that could have been considered as something significant, Saya chose not to care. The less she had to deal with Kadi, the happier she was.

There were more important things to deal with anyways, such as figuring out how she was going to do something like get a sweater for Death.

“I’m on a mission to find a sweater for a baby dragon named Death in a virtual world managed by an artificial intelligence created in a space station all so that I can seduce my wolf boy pseudo big brother’s girlfriends so that I can be his girlfriend and do lewd things with him,” Saya said to herself. “I want to tell that to somebody from a hundred years ago to get their reaction. Even somebody from a few decades ago would probably think I’m insane. Actually… there are probably people alive right now who would think I’m screwing with them if I said that.”

Another sigh left Saya’s lips as she continued to wander around the town, keeping an eye out for anything that might give her an idea.

That was when she saw it.

Sitting on a bench at the town center was an elderly woman, an NPC, with a small dog sleeping on her lap. More importantly… the dog had a sweater on.

Saya almost couldn’t believe her luck. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was personally able to check and see that the NPC and her sweater-wearing dog existed within the town for several days already, she would have assumed that something suspicious was going on since it was far too perfect to just be a coincidence.

But it was just a coincidence.

A coincidence that Saya wasn’t going to pass up.

Saya rushed over to the old woman and was quick to introduce herself. “Hi! Uh, I mean, sorry to bother you—I hope I’m not bothering you. Nice… nice weather? Anyways, where’d you get that sweater?”

Fortunately for Saya, the old woman didn’t seem to mind the awkward introduction and looked up at her with a kind smile. “I knitted it myself!” she answered. “And yes, the weather is quite lovely today!”

“Do you happen to have any others? I’d be happy to pay you for one!”

“Oh, but of course! I have a full wardrobe of outfits for Mister Tooth!”

“Mister… Mister Tooth?”

The old woman nodded before rolling over her dog just enough to show the side of his snout, revealing the single tooth sticking out from his lips. “That one tooth has always stuck out ever since he was a pup!”

This dog knows that having a single fang sticking out is cultured. Wait, I sound like onii-wan. But he really is cute… I wish onii-wan had a single fang. Well, I am his virtual assistant, so I’m still in control of what his avatar ends up looking like. If I can convince him to get a single fang like that… then I can give him one as long as he’s the one who wants it. I wonder what else I could convince him to want. I—I mean… I dress up and make myself look however he wants, so it’s only fair if he does the same for me!

“That’s really cutre,” Saya said. “So, about that wardrobe. Could I pay you for a spare sweater?”

“Oh, no, not at all! I would never make you pay me for something like that,” the old woman replied.

“But… I’d feel bad if I get it for free.”

The old woman tilted her head. “Who said anything about it being free?”

Saya tilted her head next. “E-eh?”

“Nothing is free in this world, deary. You shouldn’t go around expecting free things from your elders!”

“I—I didn’t mean to sound like that! I’m sorry, I’m just really excited.”

“Good. Now, if you want a sweater, you’re going to have to do something for me.”

Saya hesitantly nodded. “What is it?”

“Bring me back some fresh meat from a tusked bear. Five slabs of it should be enough. I want to make a stew for Mister Tooth, you see!”

Am… am I being given a quest? “So… go bring you back five slabs of meat from a tusked bear and I’ll get a free sweater around your dog’s size?”

“That’s right!”

The old lady and her dog might have existed within the town for a few days already, but the quest was dynamically generated on the spot just for her. That was how all “quests” worked in the game. There was no quest log or anything like that, nor were there exclamation marks over NPCs’ heads, but one could still find quests in an organic way simply by talking to NPCs.

Fenrir just never got any quests because he never wanted anything from NPCs before. As soon as Saya actually wanted something from an NPC, she was given a quest for it.

Even though I’m still a virtual assistant… I sometimes forget that this place is just a game in the end.

As much as Saya didn’t want to run a random errand to go do some generic MMO quest, she wanted a sweater for Death more than she didn’t want to run the errand. “Where can I find these bears?” she asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen one around before.”

“They are rather common near the mountains to the south,” the old woman answered. “I believe there may even be a den they live in. I’m sure the two of you will be more than capable of dealing with them!”

“The two of us?” Saya asked.

It was only when she looked to her right that she noticed an oversized hat next to her. Looking down at its wearer, the hat belonged to none other than one of Saya’s seduction targets.

Serra looked up at Saya and asked, “Can I come? It sounds fun.”

“I—I didn’t even notice you there,” Saya replied.

“I’m sneaky.”

“I… noticed. Are you sure you want to come?”

Serra nodded. “I want to test my new magic. And I overheard you and Fen talking about seducing me. If I come with you then you’ll have a chance to seduce me.”

“You—you heard that?!”

“Yeah.”

“How?!”

“I was on the boat.”

“I didn’t see you!”

“I was below deck.”

“Why were you there anyways?!”

“I was taking a nap in a hammock. I like napping there.”

Saya, with a face bright red from embarrassment, wanted nothing more than to hide behind Fenrir. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there to be a living wall for her.

“Don’t worry,” Serra continued. “I already like you because I know you’re special to Fen, and you’re cute. But I can pretend like you still need to seduce me if you want.”

“Pl-please do,” Saya said. “I won’t know how to act if you take the lead.”

“That makes me want to put a collar on you right now.”

“A—a collar?!” Saya took a step back, her tail rapidly wagging behind her.

“Heh. So this is why Fen and Nell like you so much. We’ll get along.”

“I’m supposed to be the one seducing you, but it feels like you’re the one seducing me!”

Serra had a little sparkle in her eyes as she gave Saya a thumbs-up. “I’m a master of seduction. Don’t worry, I’ll teach you how to seduce me.”

“I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work!”

“Ah,” the old lady said, “the love of youth. How sweet. Now, you going to go get that bear meat? Mister Tooth needs his stew!”

Saya sighed and slumped her shoulders. “I didn’t realize this is a timed quest.” She looked at Serra. “Let’s… let’s go.”

“Sweet,” Serra said.

“This isn’t going anything like I expected it to go…”

“The first mistake is that Fen gave you advice about me like you’re a guy. I wouldn’t be able to take the lead with a guy unless I’m already dating him. But you’re a cute girl, so it’s easy.”

Saya mumbled under her breath and reddened cheeks as her tail happily wagged away. All she could do was hope that his advice was still relevant for everybody else.

Meanwhile, Fenrir regretted everything.

“C’mon, dog boy!” Tabitha shouted. “Ya took your sweet time gettin’ here, so now you’ve got to make up for it!”

Underground in the tunnel that Fenrir scouted out with Ilo, the interior of the cave was completely transformed to look nothing like it did before. Light fixtures were attached all over the walls and hanging from the ceiling to keep it properly lit the entire time, there was platform elevator to transfer materials safely-but-slowly from the ground up above down into the cave, and then there was the beginning of the submarine itself. Only the outline of the hull was complete at that point, but Tabitha was hard at work to get it done and she couldn’t look happier about having such a grand project to work on despite how harshly she was yelling at Fenrir.

As for Fenrir, his job wasn’t even that important at the moment. It was mostly revenge.

Tabitha played a very small and petite character. There wasn’t much to work with when it came to her body. That meant all of her clothes were smaller. That meant she could carry fewer tools, bags, and satchels on her than somebody with a larger build. All of her tools were still regularly sized, too.

That was why she always carried out that backpack that seemed overly stuffed full of various materials and tools while looking far too large for her body. She had that pack ever since Fenrir first met her back in Port Tugator.

And because she wasn’t going to carry that backpack around with her every few steps while working on the submarine if she could help it, she made Fenrir carry it for her and dig around for all of her tools.

“I thought trying to find something in Nell’s purse was bad,” Fenrir said. “But this… is so much worse.”

“Oi, quit your yappin’ and get me the big nails,” Tabitha said.

“Which nails are the big ones?”

“The big ones!”

“These?” Fenrir asked, holding up a nail that was definitely on the larger side of things.

“I said the big nails!”

“This is big!”

“Ya think that’s big? I feel bad for your girlfriends.”

Tabitha scored a critical hit with that one.

“Stop lookin’ so sad and get me my nails. The big ones.”

With his ears lowered against the top of his head to play along a bit more, he went back to digging through her backpack in search of the largest nails he could find.

That was the important work Saya pressured him into going to do.

While Saya went on a quest to hunt bears, Fenrir was on a quest to find nails. Sure, his quest would reward him with a capable submarine while Saya’s quest would only reward her with a tiny sweater… but he would choose a sweater over a submarine any day.