Swordsmith City
Even though it was just a giant blacksmith workshop nowhere near as prosperous as Orario Black Cat and Dekomori still felt a strong otherworldly atmosphere when they stood on the street. The vendors' hawking, the clanging of metal from nearby smithies, and passersby chatting amongst themselves all these details were striking.
"Hey." Black Cat tugged at Shaka's sleeve, asking softly, "Is this really a game?"
"Well..." Shaka felt a twinge of guilt but stood his ground. "Without a doubt, this is the real world! As the one who descended, I crossed the invisible Boundary and arrived here."
Black Cat grinned, her eyes glinting with smugness. "A decent artificial celestial realm no worse than my own Dark Night Demon Realm."
Okay,nobody believes me. Shaka shrugged, not planning to push it further.
Unlike Black Cat, Dekomori was already bouncing off the walls. Before Shaka could react, she'd darted far away only for Cecil to act quickly and grab her by the back of the collar.
"Release me,death! Dekomori is on her way to defeat the Demon King!"
"Calm down! There is no such thing as Demon King in this world!" Cecil rubbed her forehead in exasperation.
Ignoring her, Dekomori swung her twin-tailed meteor hammer at Cecil who caught it and tied it into a tight knot.
"Waaaaah, I was wrong, please let me go!~~~" Dekomori looked at Shaka with teary eyes. "Master, help me!"
Shaka stared at her now curled up like a caterpillar, wriggling on the ground and sighed.
"Hey, what's with this kid…" Cecil patted non-existent dust off her hands.
"Cecil…" Shaka said helplessly, "Could you look after her for me?"
"Huh?" Cecil rolled her dead fish eyes. "Why? Suddenly dumping this trouble on me do you think I'd agree?"
"The competition isn't over yet, right? Three months' time limit. Besides, becoming leader depends on everyone's approval. Even if she's not your recruit, if everyone says you're the right choice, I won't object." Shaka threw out the bait. "With your character, Miss Cecil you don't think you're inferior to me, do you?"
Those words hit their mark.
"Huh? Who do you think I am!" Cecil glanced disdainfully at the still-wriggling Dekomori, then puffed out her chest. "Fine leave it to me. I'll set a perfect example as an excellent senior!"
She knelt down to undo Dekomori's hair but before she could speak, Dekomori took a step back and ran.
"Haha, you've been fooled death! You're just a fake leader! Catch me if you can!" she mocked, sticking out her tongue.
"[○?｀Д?? ○]! This little brat!"
Cecil ignored Shaka and charged after her. As a blacksmith with a Falna, her strength and speed were no match for Dekomori's catching up was only a matter of time.
Black Cat looked up. "Are you just going to leave them like that?"
"Hmm." Shaka shrugged. "Dekomori's role is the free-spirited, casual player. Whatever she does is an exception we can learn from." Just another case of ignoring the tutorial for the course with silly players.
"Besides…" He looked at Black Cat seriously. "I'm broke. Following that rich woman Cecil would be easier than following me at least you wouldn't go hungry."
"Money? Such a vulgar thing." Black Cat frowned in confusion. "As the master of this artificial heaven, would you worry about mere data?"
"This is a real other world so being penniless is normal."
Another setup? Black Cat fell into thought. This was her first fully immersive game experience, and even as a seasoned player, she was bewildered. The world was too real no guidance, no quests. No wonder that scoundrel kept saying it was real; she couldn't tell the difference.
Shaka had his own plans, though. Unlike Dekomori, Black Cat recruited with money had more potential. While he was using the game guise to get her help, treating this world as a game was far from easy. With no clear main story, unexpected events popping up constantly, and no dungeons for leveling up, he needed advice from an experienced player.
Black Cat was clearly intrigued by her surroundings but to keep that feeling alive, they needed actual content.
"Let's go test the mission and combat systems first."
Shaka led her down a street, and soon they stood in front of a circular building where armored mercenaries came and went.
This was the Guild's branch in Swordsmith City a neutral platform for issuing commissions, unlike Orario's headquarters that managed all adventurers. The mercenaries included Falna-blessed adventurers from other places and ordinary people alike.
Black Cat followed awkwardly behind him. Most of the mercenaries looked fierce and menacing, and even though she told herself it was a game, the realism made her uneasy.
Shaka led her to a huge wooden plank…
"This is where city missions are posted complete them and get paid."
Most jobs were for buying ores and rare metals, recruiting apprentices, or assisting smithies. A few were monster-hunting quests, but most were far from the city.
Shaka was so focused on finding a suitable task that he didn't notice Black Cat behind him until a cry of pain rang out.
He turned to see her rubbing her rear end, sitting on the ground, while a bald man with a black skull eye patch stood in front of her. He was portly and scowling.
"Where'd you come from, brat? You dirtied my clothes! How are you going to make up for it?!"
His eyes drifted to her simple linen shirt and shorts and her fair skin. He smirked. "How about you come home with me for the night as compensation..."
His brazen lie drew laughter from the other mercenaries. Emboldened, he bent down to reach for Black Cat who looked terrified.
But before his hand could touch her, an immense force gripped his arm.
"Hey teasing is fine, but actually acting on it is going too far, isn't it?"
A series of cracks echoed as bones snapped in the man's arm. He howled in pain, yanking his arm back and staring in horror at Shaka who was squinting with a seemingly "kind" expression.
"Adventurer..."
He clutched his deformed wrist, then glanced at his companions ready to fight until his eyes fell on the sword-and-wing badge on Shaka's chest. His pupils contracted sharply. One of his friends tugged at his sleeve and shook his head.
"Tch you're lucky kid." The bald man glared at Shaka, then turned and walked away.
Shaka's expression softened as he reached out his hand to Black Cat. "Are you alright?"
"Hmm." She breathed a sigh of relief, rubbing her bottom. "Just bumped into him. It hurts a little."
Shaka sighed. "As you can see, the game still has a lot of issues. That pain feedback is one of our biggest headaches. To be realistic, we have to recreate pain perfectly but can players really handle that?"
"Also, we haven't set up follow-up checks for these 'rogue' incidents yet. If you run into this again, just silently chant 'The world rejects me' and you'll log off."
Black Cat nodded eagerly. "So that was part of the test? That man was staff?"
She was amazed by the company's attention to detail.
Shaka shook his head. "They're just ordinary NPCs. The only real staff right now are the gods,our planners and us."
He told a small lie, noticing she was upset but stable. Including the gods makes sense they sometimes say things that don't fit the world, like mentioning RPGs or games. We installed a 'filter' in advance for that.
"Thank goodness for the game filter otherwise I'd have a headache."
He tried to frame things so any future problems would feel like part of her job. After all, he was paying her.
Black Cat was even more shocked. What kind of company is this? So many NPCs all AI? What kind of computer could run that? And Cecil the fake leader is she an AI too?
She'd heard SAO's AI was advanced, but it couldn't make every NPC react uniquely in every moment.
"Would a regular player have triggered a quest from that?" she asked.
Yes! She gets it!
"Exactly. If I weren't strong enough, we'd have had to fight." Shaka's tone turned serious. "But this is a completely real world no one follows a program. So if you encounter something like this again, log off immediately! Don't let anyone take you away and force you to do anything."
He was subtly trying to shift her mindset making her accept the "game" facade as much as possible.
Another bonus chapter. Thanks for the power stones.