CH 7

[Reunion With the Baldhead!]

Having returned to the ‘Beginning Town’, I moved away from the crowded main street and entered a deserted back alley.

My reason was simple! Since the old days, it had been established as a fact that master craftsmen preferred to reside in unpopular areas than bustling ones, that’s why! Surely, there were shops run by some stubborn, bigoted, but skillful old men who didn’t put any effort into managing their shops around here! Here I come, craftsmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!

And so, I scoured the back alley for a few minutes when someone suddenly called me from behind.

“Hehehe, hey you, the pretty silver-haired young lady! Why don’tcha have fun some fun with me?”

Blech~ someone’s hitting on me~! Why does everyone keep mistaking me as a girl whether in real life or the virtual world?!

Fed up, I angrily turned around. And…

““It’s you?!””

…there I found the damned baldhead.

We dumbfoundedly stared at each other’s faces for a few moments before releasing really deep sighs at the same time.

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“—Goddammit! Just when I thought that I’d found a girl who was clearly my type just by looking at her back figure, it turned out to be my buddy! How ridiculous?! Or rather, what the hell were you doing in the back alley, Yuri?”

“Searching for a craftsman, duh. Truly skilled craftsmen live in unpopular areas, everyone knows that!”

“Ain’t that just your preconception?!”

A few minutes had passed since our reunion, and the baldhead and I were eating at an open-air café on the main street.

Being a VR game, this world completely emulated the sense of taste. That was why we decided to eat some hamburgers while catching up.

“Hey baldhead, you got some crumbs on your mouth. Not there… I said-ugh, here, I’ll wipe it for you.”

“Oh, thanks! …So, how did your battles go? With trash job, weakest weapon, and rotten stat, could you even fight~?”

“Yeah, pretty well, in fact! I’ve just reached level 10!”

“Wait, for real?! You’re slightly above the current average level of players, then! That’s amazin’!”

Oh, really? Noice!

I’d wasted hours chasing rabbits to no avail, but once I got Pontaro as an ally and figured out a way to fight, fighting had been a breeze, after all!

“So, how did you—actually, never mind. That’s bad manners. Anyway, good job!”

“Oh, thanks, baldhead. Or rather, it may be one thing if it’s someone else, but I don’t mind telling you.”

“Nah, keep it to yourself. I mean, a large-scale battle event will be held in three days! We might end up fighting there, so it wouldn’t be fair if I knew your battle style.”

Hohou, a large-scale battle event! Ah~, I remember reading that somewhere~!

If I wasn’t mistaken, during the event, the players would be summoned to a special Field and had to kill each other until only a few people left. I had zero Defense, so I wasn’t confident if I’d fare well in a battle where large numbers of players were involved~…! Upgrading my equipment may solve that problem. Now I got one more reason to find an equipment craftsman.

“You’re gonna participate, ain’tcha, Yuri? I mean, it’s the perfect opportunity for you to make those trolls gobsmacked!”

“Yeah, you bet! By the way, baldhead, I got a question for you. Do you know a skilled craftsman player? I want a new armor, you see. A cool full body armor!”

“Huh? I do know a few, but… I ain’t sure if you can wear a full body armor. You need a certain amount of Strength to wear heavy equipment, y’know?”

W-whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?! Are you kidding meeeeeeeeeee?!

I have zero Strength, doesn’t that mean I’m not gonna able to wear armor for the rest of my life?! Even though I was thinking of hiding my weird appearance by wearing full body armor!

I hung my head in disappointment unknowingly. The baldhead patted me on the shoulder and laughed loudly. “Gahahahaha! No worries, Yuri, my buddy!

I know a craftsman player who can make high-performance clothing and accessories. Just like with using the bow, the production work in this game is quite severe and requires some getting used to, but that person is a real pro at it~.”

“You’re being serious? Then can you introduce me to them, baldhead!”

“Sure thing! That person is slightly off in the head, but if it’s you, I’m sure they’ll welcome you with open arms. I’ll give them a heads up, so just go to this building. That’s their shop.”

With that, the baldhead pulled up the map screen and pointed to a certain location on the map.

Hmm, it’s only been two days since the game launched, but they already have a shop, huh? They must be amazing!

“Thanks, buddy! I’ll go there right away!”

“Yeah, later, Yuri!”

As a token of my gratitude, I paid for his hamburger, and then I immediately started running!

Okay, let’s get me some masculine clothing!