Oh, that’s right. I fell asleep before logging out.
Organizing the thoughts in his head, Kagami recalled having slept after getting the breakfast call. Kagami then pinched his forehead while looking up at the sky.
He didn’t know how long he had slept. However, he judged that it was unlikely to have been a long time because his little sister Mayu had not woken him up yet.
Shutting his eyes and then opening them widely to clear away the strong feeling of sleepiness, he found himself in the middle of a meadow enclosed by forest. Unknown flowers were scattered here and there, and over in the distance, a magnificent mountain range could be seen. And among the mountains now, several faintly shining silver towers could be seen peeking through.
The scene was an already familiar one inside the game. Standing still in the meadow, he placed a hand on his jaw while a question came to mind. He did not notice the sense of incongruity at this time.
For one thing, 『Falling asleep』 in an online game was a famous saying. It is a saying indicating that an avatar that falls asleep in the so-called game will not show any reaction.
Currently, after coming back from falling asleep to the present conditions, the expectation is that there was a problem with the system.
VR equipment was designed to automatically shut down when falling asleep and cut off the power.
However, the 『Linked Silver Towers』 were visible among the mountains, no matter how you looked at it. There was no way for Kagami to have been mistaken, because out of the nine towers, one of them was his base.
Was there a bug? While falling asleep may be an unusual event, he decided to stop thinking about it.
It was because there was something else amiss, and no matter how he thought about it, that was way more important, namely…
There was a fragrance. Whenever the wind blew, a grassy-smell crossed under his nose giving off a sense of incongruity.
VR technology had advanced so much that the sense of touch could be reproduced. Even as such, neither taste nor smell could be reproduced on a practical level currently. Yet, clearly his brain recognized the scent when he breathed through his nose.
Then he attempted to tear off the grass at his feet and chewed it. The bitter and astringent taste spread throughout his mouth, causing his expression to warp. He spat it out along with a large amount of saliva and wiped it with the back of his hand.
His tongue was stimulated to an annoying level by the taste and even saliva was carefully reproduced. While thinking that he could not understand herbivores, he raised his head to examine the surroundings. In the vicinity of the enclosure, there were creatures that looked like children with blue ears and noses that wielded faintly shining knives. They were not blue in the face but rather had an actual blue face.
Oh, that’s right.
He remembered that he had come to subjugate a hoard of monsters near the national border. He figured he could leave all the thinking for when he was done cleaning them up. Its appearance had been seen many times since his beginner days, a standard monster called a 『Goblin』. It can’t be helped that they were not a formidable enemy, but because it was his turn, he focused on the enemy.
【Summoning Magic: Dark Knight】
It was one of the first summoning skills he learned, and it was also his favorite armor spirit summoning skill.
Summoners used artificial spirits that dwelled in objects created by people and natural spirits that came from the natural world.
Although natural spirits were the stronger of them, artificial spirits that dwelled in man-made objects were easier to use and get closer to. The 『Dark Knight』 he had summoned earlier was the soul of a soldier that had died in the battlefield which was now dwelling in a suit of armor.
The spirits who stayed in armor that had been used by a person who fought for themselves became 『Dark Knights』 while the spirits that dwelled in armor used by those to protect others were called 『Holy Knights』.
Armour spirits belong to the lower-class summoning category. However, the Dark Knight that had been used for convenience continuously gained strength, comparable to that of a higher-class summon.
The grassy plains concealed the shining formation, and a knight with a large build gradually rose from it. The jet-black armor radiated a cold chill, which shook the body with such an effect as that of a sinister black flame. There was no face, only two red lights that floated in the dark space. If one were to look back at the night and see such an intimidating thing, a man would scream and run away.
The sudden materialization of the unfamiliar knight caused the goblins to stop and raise their voices to intimidate it. Here, a sense of incongruity was born again.
For a goblin to act in such a way should not be possible.
Goblins had always been brave, not knowing their place, they would rush to kill whoever approached them. Now, no matter how you look at it, the goblins in front of him were feeling 『Fear』.
However, it was no use worrying about it now, so he gave a cleaning command to the Dark Knight. And that place in the next instant turned into a massacre.
Each time the black longsword flew, a storm was stirred and five to six goblins were reduced to chunks of meat scattered about here and there.
The goblins’ voices of intimidation gradually transformed into shrieks of despair. Even though some began to retreat from this hell, the Black Knight showed no mercy and completed the order of extermination.
The affair lasted for no more than two or three minutes. The wind gently blew over the meadow that was now dyed in the blood of monsters. No one would think that the scene of the massacre right before them was an illusion.
Were there about 100 goblin corpses scattered about? Little by little, he composed himself in the midst of the scene and reconsidered everything that had caught his attention.
The taste and smell, and then the memory of the goblins’ actions. Was this perhaps……
He arrived at one answer.
Did it finally come?
The third update!
Indeed, he couldn’t believe it immediately. In order to reproduce the five senses, research was being carried out on the world-wide level. Though it was unbelievable that such technology would leap ahead to be used in a game, there was no other explanation that made sense.
As one would expect, Arc Earth Online’s management always surpassed expectations. Most likely, the reason that 『Falling asleep』 did not activate a shutdown was because of the version update.
After coming to an understanding, he turned his gaze to a sign of something approaching the meadow from deep within the forest. He was able to roughly grasp the direction and number because of a skill from his second job and that skill is 【Life Sensing】. The problem was that it could not distinguish between allies and enemies.
The number that appeared numbered around 50. He expected that it was goblin reinforcements.
The Dark Knight stood silently next to Kagami, surrounded by 100 silent bodies. Even if 50 goblins from the famous elite unit had come, it wouldn’t pose a problem. It was to be expected of one of the Nine Sages to be able to deal with them swiftly.
Gradually, the signs grew louder and sounds of marching could be heard clearly. Goblins did not march in groups and would probably not march in order. If that held true, there was a high possibility that these weren’t the signs of goblins.
Since the subjugation of the demons near the area of the national border was complete, he returned the Dark Knight. At the same time, the vanguard appeared from within the forest.
It was an order of knights. Engraved on their shields was their national coat of arms which showed a large tree with a moon that signaled that they belonged to the 『Arkite Kingdom』.
It was the Arkite Magic Knights. They had those characteristic features on their armor and shields.
The armor that reflected light like that of a mirror which blended in with the views of the surroundings. And, the shield that boasted a high defense against the breath of monsters.
Although it was an elite order among the knights which belonged to the Arkite Kingdom, he wondered why they would be this close to the border.
There was little doubt that the person at the head of the vanguard was the Knight Commander. The following knights were held back with one hand and he took a step forward. The Knight Commander’s hair was in a swept-back style that had a small quantity of white hair mixed among the black. The many scars on his visage were evidence of his long military service. The red mantle he wore around his back was proof of a commander. He was an elegant and handsome man, but not to the level of Danbulf.
“This was…… a fierce battle. What on earth happened here? Did you happen to see anything, little girl?
…………………..?
……………..
The commander spoke those words while looking at Kagami. But because of his choice of words, Kagami was sure he couldn’t have been talking to him, so he turned to look around him, finally coming to the conclusion that the commander probably had the ability to see spirits.
However, the problem was that he was actually unable to see the spirit. The magician class was able to see every kind of spirit and the warrior class was only able to see fighting spirits. Even though he was very much a magic knight, a knight was still a knight. It was a warrior class. Danbulf was an elder of the Silver Linked Towers and a summon master; there should not have been a spirit visible to a warrior class that was invisible to him.
“It must have been scary for a little lady like you to be in such a place as this. But worry not, you are safe now.”
While saying that, the commander places his hand gently on Kagami’s head.
“Relax, we magic knights have arrived, we will ensure your safety.”
………………….!?
(What……?)
Kagami was astonished. Danbulf was created by himself to be a solemn man of about the height of 190 cm. There was no more humiliation than to be treated as a child and comforted.
More than anything, he could not hide his surprise that he was looking up at the commander. When subtracting Danbulf’s height, was this commander a giant or something? He thought that there was enough of a difference in height to make it seem like it.
And just now, to call Danbulf a little lady.
With a manner full of dignity, he shook off the hand placed on his head and glared at the knight.
“What little lady? What fool do …… you……..”
He looked around for the source of the bell-like voice. Including the captain in front of him, there was no one around that could have sounded like…… a girl.
“You seem to be upset. Little lady, here have some water. Can you drink?”
Once again saying little lady, the commander held out a leather bag that contained water. His facial expression made it clear he was worrying wholeheartedly.1
No matter how one looked at it, the commander didn’t seem to be the type to utter jokes while smiling. Based on that thought, Kagami lowered his gaze. His eyes were glued to the armor of the commander at the same time.
“This………..!”
Again, a pretty voice reached his ears.
What kind of joke is this.
The Order of the Magic Knights’ official equipment, the clear mirror armor. The surface reflected light like a mirror, it could be said it was already a mirror in itself. His appearance was reflected, when his right hand moved the left hand moved as well. There was no confusion, the girl that was reflected on the armor of the commander matched his actions. It could no longer be called imitation, but the same body.
And that girl had a familiar appearance as well.
The silver hair that came down to her waist, the 『Strong-willed eyes』, the look of innocence on her face, those slightly red cheeks, and that tiny nose. Only the equipment that Danbulf was wearing at the time was intact, clearly only the contents had changed.
It was the girl he had built as his ideal woman using the 『Vanity Case』.
