The next morning.
I got up early, dressed myself properly, and stood before the mirror.
There I was, wearing my usual white tunic, black leather pants, and gray hooded cape.
Up to that point, I looked exactly the same as yesterday, but today, the earrings Emily had given me yesterday hung from my ears.
“Looking at myself like this, I’m unmistakably a girl.”
Even in reality, I’d never worn things like earrings because I found them bothersome, and yet here I was wearing them in a virtual world.
What was more, they suited me remarkably well.
Not that there was anything that wouldn’t suit this face, but the thought of what I might look like wearing something even prettier flashed through my mind.
“Ugh, whatever. Let’s just go.”
Feeling as though the masculinity I had so painstakingly preserved had been shaved away, if only a little, I pulled up my hood and left the room.
On the first floor, in the restaurant that had yet to open for business, quite a few people had gathered, including Emily.
‘Are these the people participating in the raid?’
At a glance, there seemed to be around thirty of them.
Considering the time, around forty to fifty people would likely be participating in this raid.
When Emily spotted me, she waved cheerfully.
“Good morning, Ian. Did you sleep well?”
“Well enough. By the way, you’re not covering your face today.”
“It’s bothersome, and there’s no need to.”
Emily, who had taken off her hood and fully revealed her face, was quite a beauty.
With her flowing blonde hair and voluptuous figure, she was the sort of woman any man might fall in love with at first sight.
But what drew my eye even more than that was the enormous shield hanging on her back.
“You’re a shield user?”
In Arcadia Online, the basic stats of men and women are different.
If men have advantages in Strength and Stamina, women have advantages in Agility and Magic.
That was why men usually took charge of the front line.
It wasn’t because they had become men and were overflowing with testosterone or anything like that, but because it was more reasonable for them to take the front line.
But a female shield user?
It wasn’t as if weapons were restricted by gender, but I felt as though I were looking at a legendary creature.
“Ah, did I not tell you yesterday? My weapon is a shield. I’m level 10.”
“L-Level ten?”
On top of that, the fact that she was level 10 surprised me even more.
Zone 1 was a place where only beasts below level 10 appeared.
Being level 10 in a place like this meant she had an incredible amount of combat experience.
And it wasn’t just her.
“This is our party’s archer, Naira. She’s level 10 too, same as me.”
“Heeey. So you’re the swordswoman Emily brought in. I’ll be counting on you in today’s raid.”
There was Naira, a woman with bronze skin and firm lean muscles that brought to mind an Egyptian female warrior.
“And this is our party’s mage, Mugi. She’s also level 10.”
“H-Hello…”
And then there was Mugi, a Japanese-looking girl with red hair and a face full of freckles.
With the gazes of three level 10 players appearing one after another fixed on me, my shoulders felt heavy.
My voice naturally shrank.
“Ian… Level 8, and I mainly use a sword…”
I felt like I was being reduced to a nobody for no reason.
Seriously, this was so miserable it made me want to cry.
“Well then, since introductions are over, I’ll send the party invite.”
Emily moved her hand a few times, and a window appeared before my eyes.
[Player Emily has invited you to a party.]
[Will you accept?]
I really was forming a party with someone again.
After briefly closing my eyes, I pressed the accept button.
In the upper left of my vision, where my name was displayed, three more names appeared.
[Ian]
[Emily](L)
[Naira]
[Mugi]
In Arcadia, the total number of people who could form one party was four.
These were the names of the people who would protect my life today, and the people I had to save in turn.
“So where do we go now?”
This was Arcadia’s first boss raid.
Since it wasn’t an opportunity that came easily, I thought the raid leader might give a speech or something in an open area.
“We just need to sit here. This is the meeting place.”
“Here?”
“Around forty people is enough. I already talked about renting the place too.”
Even though it was early, I had found it odd that Ms. Kate was nowhere to be seen, but I hadn’t expected that to be the reason.
‘By the way, forty people, huh.’
Ten parties in total.
That was the number of parties participating in this raid.
It was more people than I had expected.
If we failed to take down this boss, it would probably be difficult to gather this many people again.
With that thought in mind, I looked around and saw solemn determination filling the faces of the people nearby.
A raid upon which not only their own lives, but the fate of this game depended.
Watching them, I felt a needless weight settle on my shoulders.
‘But who’s the leader of this alliance party?’
So far, there hadn’t really been anyone who looked like a leader. Just who could it be?
That was the moment I thought that.
—Scrape!
The sudden sound of a chair being pulled back came from beside me.
And Emily, who had been sitting next to me, rose from her seat.
“All right, everyone’s gathered, right?”
She thumped her own chest with her fist.
“I’m Emily, and I’ll be serving as the leader for this raid. I’ll be counting on you all.”
***
The place where the boss was located was the deepest part of the forest.
The footsteps of the large group of forty people were headed there.
“To think you were the ones who discovered the boss.”
The reason Emily had ended up becoming the leader of this raid was because she had discovered the boss we were now on our way to hunt.
Walking at the very front, after belatedly hearing the whole story, I glared at Emily.
Under my gaze, Emily smiled awkwardly.
“I wasn’t trying to deceive you. There just wasn’t an opportunity.”
“I’m pretty sure you interrupted my meal plenty yesterday.”
“At the time, I was too busy trying to explain this and that and bring you into the party.”
Or if I had given up on my quest yesterday and attended the briefing, I probably would have found out.
Well, if I had done that, I wouldn’t have leveled up.
Just as I was sighing over that, Naira, who had been following behind us, slung an arm around my shoulders.
“What does it matter? It’s a chance to fight at the vanguard. Enjoy it.”
“I’m not suicidal, you know.”
“Come on. Big Sis Emily will protect us nice and solid from the front.”
Big Sis…
Feeling the closeness in that form of address, I asked Naira.
“Did you know each other before?”
“Yeah. We’ve known each other for a while. I can’t tell you the details, though.”
In this place, you can’t bring up stories about reality.
It isn’t some unwritten rule of the game.
I don’t know what principle it operates on, but whenever you try to talk about reality, the system automatically seals the player’s mouth.
It wasn’t for nothing that I had gotten used to the name Ian.
As long as I stayed here, I had to use the name Ian whether I liked it or not.
“Anyway, the reason we were able to adapt to this game so quickly was because Big Sis Emily was with us. If not for her, we’d probably still be crying in the city.”
True enough.
With the kind of drive that let her invite someone she had never even met before into her party, she could probably do anything.
In that sense, a shield was the weapon that suited Emily best.
Not giving in to despair in an extreme situation and taking care of her own people first.
I could never do that.
As if she had read my thoughts, Naira smiled bitterly.
“Big Sis has a reason she absolutely has to clear this game. She’s probably the most frustrated person in our current situation. Right, Mugi?”
“Y-Yeah…”
“Seriously, this girl’s problem is that she’s way too shy. Come on, you come here too.”
“D-Don’t…”
Naira, with her refreshingly straightforward personality, and Mugi, with her timid nature.
Their appearances had clearly been randomly assigned by the game, but the two of them suited their looks so perfectly that it was hard to believe otherwise.
So much so that I thought they might really look like that if we met in reality.
“So have the three of you been together this whole time?”
“We did recruit party members whenever we needed them, but… they didn’t really mesh with us. They left pretty quickly. So until you joined, it was just the three of us.”
There was nothing particularly strange about that.
It was extremely common for people to leave a party because they didn’t get along with the other members.
But a party of this quality wasn’t easy to find.
Even if they didn’t see eye to eye, why would someone interested in clearing the game leave Emily’s party?
My question was buried beneath Naira’s next words.
“More importantly, how about speaking casually?”
“Why bother?”
“It’s more comfortable for me, and if something happens in the middle of a fight, it’s easier to call out quickly.”
Honestly, I didn’t think there was much difference between polite and casual speech.
But if she was the one speaking casually first, it was also true that I didn’t particularly like the idea of being the only one who kept using polite speech so diligently.
“Fine. I’ll call you Naira.”
“Nice. I like how straightforward you are.”
Perhaps pleased with my answer, Naira clung even closer to me.
She kept pressing against me with her chest… Never mind. Let’s not say anything.
The party continued deeper into the forest.
Along the way, we were attacked by boars, gorillas, and even bears like the one I had fought yesterday, but before a large group of forty people, they amounted to little more than a warm-up.
As a result, by the time the tension from our departure was gradually starting to loosen, a vast clearing appeared up ahead.
“Stop.”
Before entering the clearing, Emily, the leader, raised her hand and clenched it into a fist.
“We’ve arrived at the place where the boss is. We’ll check the strategy and supplies one more time before moving in.”
The atmosphere, which had been noisy until just a moment ago, died down in an instant.
And as agreed upon beforehand, the ten parties moved into their respective positions and checked the items needed for the raid once more.
‘Healing potions, mana potions, and even spare weapons. I’ve allocated all my stats too. I’ve done everything I can.’
I checked my status window.
[Status Window]
Name: IAN
Gender: Female
Level: 8
Stats: Strength 12 | Agility 15+2 | Stamina 12 | Magic 6
Proficiencies: Basic Swordsmanship (62/1000)
In this game, Strength affects muscular power and physical attack power, Agility affects movement and skill activation speed, Stamina affects the player’s health, and Magic affects magical attack power and mana.
The stats I had invested this time were 2 points in Strength and 1 point in Stamina.
It was partly because I had received accessories from Emily, and partly because I had keenly felt my lack of attack power while fighting the bear yesterday.
The external factors were perfect.
Now, all I could do was trust myself.
Even so, cold sweat beaded in my palms from the tension.
A boss raid that would determine the future of two hundred thousand players.
I could feel that it was right before my eyes.
“Is everyone ready?”
The leaders of each party nodded.
Now it was time to begin the raid in earnest.
“Then everyone, move in!”
At Emily’s signal, the people shouted battle cries and entered the clearing.
It was a vast clearing that did not suit the forest, as if it had been prepared with a boss fight in mind.
However.
“Where’s the boss?”
What greeted us was an empty field.
The boss that should have existed there was nowhere to be seen.
Just as everyone turned suspicious eyes toward Emily.
“Ab-Above!”
Someone’s voice rang out, and a fierce wind blew.
A shadow fell over our heads, and then, with the sound of impact, a storm of dust swallowed the party.
—Kraaaaaa!
A roar that seemed as if it would tear my eardrums apart.
The dust settled, and the being that had landed on the ground revealed itself.
“N-No way…”
[Level 10 The Forest King]
It was the master of this forest.
A white tiger as enormous as a mountain opened its maw wide.