Chapter 1
Translation: Yamaking
That’s about all that we settled for now and so, we were all dismissed.
It’s not like we mind playing in the club room, but since the meeting dragged on, staying to play would just leave us hanging.
“We just can’t lose this one, right Rusian?”
Walking together side by side on the way back from school, Ako said that as she looked up towards me.
Looking up like that made her bangs sway to the side a bit that it allowed me to catch a glimpse of her face. That made my heart skip a beat.
In order to hide my embarrassment, I patted her jet black hair.
“Hmm, I guess it can’t be helped since it has come to this. Since they plan on making things go their way, then let’s build our own ideal home!”
“We’re going to build our love nest together right!”
“I’ll go along with your whims this time, so love nest or whatever, come at me!”
“Rusian you’re so wonderful—!”
“We’re two people here so there’s no way we can lose. Let’s do our best farming up that gold!”
“Yes! It’s the first time in my life that I feel like doing my best!”
You’ve already done your best several times you know? I’ve been properly watching over you all this time you see.
“…But, I was a bit surprised. I thought for sure that Rusian would say that the game and real life are different and would hate the idea of us having a house together.”
Though she said she was surprised, Ako looked kind of happy.
“The game and real life are different. But you see, it’s exactly because they’re different that I have no problems at all with being all lovey-dovey in-game. Even I wish for those kinds of things.”
“I see!”
Normally, I would be desperately trying to stop her from doing things, but the matter about buying a house this time was in the game.
If my spouse in-game told me that she wanted to buy a house, shooting her down right then and there is simply unforgivable. It may be called our guild house, but it would be our primary residence from there on in-game. If Master and Segawa say that they want to do as they please, then we too would do that as well.
“…And you see, this way is much more convenient for me.”
No matter how much Ako may mix up reality and the game, if I’m able to keep treating her kindly in-game and get closer with her in my own way in real life, then Ako herself should be able to tell the difference between those two in her own way.
This in itself is one of my strategies as well. It’s definitely not because I’m drawn to the idea of me and Ako getting our own house.
There’s no way she would know about my innermost thoughts anyway.
Ako had a really mellow expression on her face, as if she was daydreaming, while she looked up towards the sky.
“…Me and Rusian’s home… ufufufufu…”
I’d hate to burst your bubble, but it’s the guild’s house you know? Do you understand that?
Now I’m getting a bit worried about this.
“This may sound like Sette-san, but I’d like to have a house with a garden where we can keep a white dog as a pet.”
“Well, I’m sure it wouldn’t be too spacious, but I’d like to have my own room after all.”
We are, at the very least, a large family consisting of five members after all. That amount of space may not be enough for us.
“Isn’t it just fine for me and Rusian to stay in the same room? It’ll be a couple’s bedroom.”
“Well, it’s not like I mind going with that compromise.”
If it comes to the situation where one of us in the guild has to give up one of their rooms, then I would have no choice but to go with that.
“It may be just us at the beginning, but it’s bound to get larger right—?”
“It will?”
Our guild isn’t really the type to recruit more people though.
“Oh, Rusian, are you the type who doesn’t like kids?”
“……”
“……?”
‘What this?’, is what I thought as we exchanged glances.
Ah, I feel like what she’s talking about here is different.
“Ako-san dear, whatever might you be talking about…?”
“I’m talking about our children’s bedroom you know?”
“…We were talking about the game right?”
“We were talking about me and Rusian’s future house you know?”
…Eh, in the real life? That one?
“Of course, this all depends on you Rusian. If you decide to go with an apartment then I wouldn’t mind that as well!”
I couldn’t retort to that.
I couldn’t talk back to this crazy female high schooler as she planned out my future right in front of me.
“When Rusian comes home from work, I’ll put on my apron and you’ll hear the flip flapping of my slippers as I come to greet you at the doorway! This is definitely what it means to be a housewife!”
“You really aren’t motivated for anything besides being a housewife huh.”
“I’ll be playing net games the whole day as I wait for you to get home.”
Do some housework. Seriously, just for a bit is fine.
“And then that’s when I’ll ask you that! Do you want dinner first? Or a bath? Or maybe… Lil’・Ol’・Me?”
“I’ll have Re・Ali・Ty please.”
“Reality is no good!”
“More like in your case, dinner’s probably not yet ready, and the bath hasn’t been heated yet— am I right?”
“In addition to that, I’ll be playing the On・Line・Game!”
“So you’re already abandoning your responsibilities as a housewife then!”
In other words, you’re saying that all you want to do is play net games all day!
“Actually Ako, you were dreaming of a living in detached house? I got the feeling that you would be fine with anything as long as you had your own little space where you could play net games.”
“If that’s what you wish for Rusian, then I’m fine with a small room too you know? Let’s live together only playing net games all day!”
So you’re fine with either huh?
Also, I didn’t think that you would want to have kids that badly either.
“You know, I was pretty sure you would say that kids are just a nuisance to you playing games that you wouldn’t want any.”
“What are you saying?!”
Strangely, Ako’s eyes flew into a rage as she yelled at me.
“I won’t say that! It’s Rusian’s child after all! Even if I were to waste away from worry, I would still raise them properly!”
“I, is that so?”
She was really mad.
That surprised me a little.
“Yeah, that was my miss. I’m sorry.”
I sincerely bowed my head in apology.
I forgot that Ako was the type who really took those things seriously.
I do wonder if she’s taking her marriage with me way too seriously.
“In order to not have problems in the future, it’s better to plan about this housing system and imagine how our life together would play out right? I have to do this properly to prepare for that.”
“…Y, you think so? But I think that unlike me, there may be other options that would show up for you, don’t you think?”
“Those kinds of choices wouldn’t show up at all. The only choice is a Clang, Clang, Rusian you know.”
A Clang, Clang, Toki huh? You’re way too focused on that character.
TL note: This is a reference to the 2005 Fist of the North Star 2D fighting game. When you get to the character select screen, the metallic clang sound plays when you change the selected character. And, Toki (someone whose appearance and character is literally based off Jesus) can be selected by shuffling the choice downward twice. Because of this, the Japanese came up with the Clang, Clang, Toki gag as Toki in this game is extremely overpowered compared to everyone else (insanely fast footsies, etc). That’s why the only choice is Clang, Clang, Toki. Here’s a TAS video of said game using Toki: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIiYrZ7XgSw
“But hearing that Clang, Clang means that you still have at least two other choices right?”
“That would be Master and Schew-chan.”
“So you’re just going to ignore them both?”
Ah, but there’s probably no one else who I can have these silly conversations with.
But maybe, juuuust a little bit, if she can just start acting a bit more normal and proper then it would be great but…
For the sake of that, this competition really is something we can’t lose.
As I let out a sigh quiet enough to not be heard, I slung my bag over my shoulders.
And so, our guild that usually gathered up to grind and take on quests are now all scattered around doing their own thing.
Since we’re all rivals here, the guild chat completely went silent without anyone saying a word.
Rusian: Well, what shall we do?
Ako: I’ll go with you wherever you go Rusian.
Leaving it all up to me like that is really troubling you know, Ako.
As we were the only two left in the cafe, we put our heads together to come up with a plan.
It’s already been years since the beginning of LA’s service as an MMO with a medium sized population. Since then, the game has undergone numerous bouts of inflation and a lot of efficient gold making methods were discovered.
The quota of 100M in 2 weeks— 200M, if you count for both of us— may seem like a steep amount but if you think about only needing to earn 10M each a day, it looks much more plausible.
For example, if we can get 2 of the Ygg Drops that Master used in the Castle Siege in just 1 day, then that much is enough to make our daily quota.
But in reality, things are just not that easy.
Rusian: Ako, if you have anything in mind that we could do then I’m fine with trying that first. But if you don’t, then I think that farming mobs that can give us a steady profit is the way to go.
Ako: Are we going to be farming monsters every single day?
Rusian: That’s right. There’s nothing better than putting in an honest effort every day.
And by the way, there’s still the matter needing to raise of Ako’s level, which seem to be lagging behind ours.
Since we’re going on an adventure to make some gold, if we can gain experience on the way as well, then we would be hitting two birds with one stone.
Ako: The idea of working together to buy a house is really exciting! Let’s go!
Rusian: OK. Then the most efficient farming spot we could go to together is…
Ako: If it’s possible, please pick one where farming solo is also possible. I would also like to do my best farming there solo in my free time, if I have any.
Rusian: You sure are pumped up for this compared to your usual self huh? Let’s see, it has to be that right?
It’s that very nostalgic mob. If you’re thinking about farming up gold, then this is the basic of basics.
That’s right. It’s time for Sleeper-sensei.
What we arrived to was the Dune Field Map.
It’s a standard field you could find anywhere that gave off that desert wasteland kind of feel, but since I’ve been here many times, I can remember its layout.
If I had to say, I knew it like it was my own backyard.
Rusian: So, we’re here to defeat this monster that looks like a clump of sand, that is, Sleeper-sensei.
Is what I said while me and the Sleeper-type monster were duking it out with each other.
Ako: We’re going to defeat Sleeper-san?
Rusian: Yeah. These guys are pretty weak and numerous in addition to the pretty decent amount of gold that they drop. It’s the best place to go to to farm up gold.
Ako: What about their item drops? Do they have any rares?
Rusian: Nope. None at all.
Ako: Nothing at all?!
They really don’t drop anything rare.
But they do drop something though.
When you defeat Sleeper-sensei, they drop an item called Earthen Crystal which you can sell to the NPC.
In addition, they also drop stuff that the Earth Elemental NPC shop sells.
And, there’s another item that seldom drops, specifically at a rate of 0.02%, which is an ultra rare item called the Sleeper Hat.
TL note: This is a reference to Ragnarok Online’s percentage for the rarest drop in the loot table (it used to be 0.01%, but most of the rarest items got boosted to a whopping 0.02% drop rate).
And that thing has no practical use whatsoever so its completely useless. I can only think of it as another thing to sell.
In exchange, it does drop a lot of gold. It’s that kind of monster.
Ako: Can we really save up gold by doing this?
Rusian: You shouldn’t underestimate Sleeper-sensei. It’s the mob with the highest efficiency out of all the other Normal monsters.
TL note: Ragnarok Online monsters are divided into Normal, Mini-Boss, and MVP type monsters. This is what that Normal means.
Ako: So it was THAT amazing!
Not to mention the experience you get from it is pretty good as well. It’s full of nothing but benefits.
Rusian: But I can’t guarantee that we can win over Master and Schew like this. When all’s said and done, were a two-man party with low DPS after all. Even if we work hard farming everyday, there’s still the possibility of us losing…
Ako: It’s alright. Even if this doesn’t bear any fruit, I’m fine as long as I can be with you Rusian.
Rusian: I, is that so?
You… why can’t you apply some of that positive attitude in your real life?
Rusian: Then let’s do this shall we? Our strategy would be that I would go in with a stun and you cast ED right afterwards. After that, I’ll defeat them with an Overed Shield. The ED OS combo should be over in a flash so I’ll be running over to the next mob after I fire it off. Ako, you go pick up the gold and follow after me.
Ako: Sorry, could you explain that again one more time?
Rusian: It’s not like I said anything difficult to understand so just look it up in the chat log.
And so there you have it. This couple’s joint venture has started.
Rusian: Come on now, your ED is too late that’s why I keep needing to use Overed Shield two times right? If this keeps up, I’m going to run out of MP so make sure you keep up with it.
Ako: Y, yes.
Rusian: Also, those loots are just trash drops so you don’t have to pick them up. Just keep picking up the gold.
Ako: But isn’t that a waste!
Rusian: I’m telling you they’re just trash drops…
Ako: But rather than that Rusian, you’re going way too fast! Where did you go to? I can’t see you anymore!
Rusian: You really ought to learn to tell where your allies are by looking at the minimap.
Ako: ‘Rusian, I love you!’
Rusian: Don’t go using the marriage skill to forcefully summon me! I’m fighting! I’m still in combat!
TL note: The marriage skill is a reference to Ragnarok Online where if you equip your wedding ring, you’ll be able to use a skill that summons your spouse to your position.
Things may have gotten chaotic, but Sleeper-sensei is a mob that has a large spawn count on top of being weak.
Once we got used to each other’s rhythm, we were able to farm with a somewhat bot-like precision.
Ako: It’s hard being so busy that we’re not even able to talk but being able to work like this together without talking is kind of nice as well.
Rusian: This kind of situation where I can completely trust and leave everything up to you is rare so I’m actually pretty glad.
Ako: I can at least do something like this too you know!
Well I mean, you’re just casting one skill and picking up gold, so I’m sure everyone can do that.
Ako: But focusing on defeating them and picking up drops like this is… Really kind of boring…
Rusian: I’ll need you to keep doing it even if you’re bored. Keep in mind that our daily quota will be 4 hours on the weekdays and 10 hours on the weekends.
Ako: That’s no good Rusian! If you keep using me that much, I’m going to break!
Rusian: Could you not word your sentences so suggestively?
I wonder if her breaking down would actually turn her into a proper person. I had a feeling that might be the case.
Ako: I’m fed up with this BGM, and I’m fed up with Sleeper-sensei too… The models the map are starting to look like enemies so I automatically keep trying to cast ED on them…
Rusian: Oh, so you’re on the first stage of that now are you? I’m looking forward to how you’ll develop from this point on.
Ako: You mean this can get worse?!
For starters, having a reaction like that means that you still have some emotion left in you. There’s still a far way to go before becoming a human bot.
Schwein: Kuh, this shitty knight… Stealing my bad self’s prey like that…
It was at that exact moment. A guild chat containing that message popped out.
Rusian: What’s up?
Schwein: You’re noisy, shaddup.
I was only asking out of concern but she harshly told me off like that.
This kind of thing really hurts more than you’d expect huh?
As I let out a sweat drop emote to indicate that ‘She’s pretty scary isn’t she?’, Ako answered back with a heart mark emote.
I kind of understand and but not entirely get what that reply of her means.
Ako: I wonder what Schew-chan is doing?
Ako looked like she was really fed up with the Sleepers as she eagerly said that.
Well, it’s still only the first day after all. Forcing her to do all this would be bad.
Rusian: Hmm, enemy intel may also be important. Should we go check it out a bit?
Ako: Yes! Maybe she’s doing something even more profitable than farming Sleeper-sensei!
Rusian: That could be the case but…
The question here is if we will be able to do the same gold making method as Schwein.
After looking at the guild info and checking Schwein’s data, the map Aruthaya.
TL note: I was going to use Altair here but the characters used were アルタヤ which was closer to one of the existing maps in Ragnarok Online, Ayothaya. Though this place is more like Lutie Field.
Rusian: Well then, let’s have a little look see shall we?
The Aruthaya map.
This is a snow map which you could find in most games.
It’s a place that’s basically unvisited, but sometimes people do drop by in it. It’s that kind of place.
Ako: I can’t remember if we’ve been here before or not.
Rusian: We’ve been here numerous times you know. The most recent one was when, hmm… That time when we didn’t expect to get that Valentines’ Armor drop.
TL note: Valentines here is read as Valenteenes.
Ako: You mean those scary people?
No, no, that’s not it. I’m not talking about people celebrating Valentines.
Rusian: That’s not it. It’s the armor that Schwein is wearing right now.
Ako: Ooh. That dropped from a boss right?
Rusian: And we fought over it using rock paper scissors.
And then, I was the one who won that match so that armor should originally be mine.
But Schew’s defense was just complete paper that I lent it to her.
Rusian: Its price has fallen quite a bit because of the update but selling that could still net me about 100M so my problem could be easily solved by just doing that.
Ako: Are you going to sell it right now?
Rusian: I mean, she looks like she’s having so much fun using it…
Even considering the current direction of updates, gear with stats such as this won’t really decrease in price that easy.
And Schwein herself is aware that she’s borrowed that gear to death that she would sometimes make a pitiful face as she apologized for that fact. Telling her to return it simply because I’m going to sell it off at this point is kind of hard to do.
Rusian: Everyone’s putting in a steady effort to save up so I’ll do that as well. I just think of it as something like giving myself a handicap.
Ako: It would be nice if you would direct some of that kindness towards me as well…
Rusian: I think I’m very gentle with you though Ako.
Ako: You can be much more nicer than that you know?
There’s just no limit to how much my wife loves to be pampered.
Rusian: So you say, but if it weren’t me in this position, you would’ve met a much more cruel fate like in those intense shoujo manga you know?
Ako: I think I’ll be fine even if I happen to get into those situations sometimes.
Rusian: Don’t you underestimate recent shoujo manga!
Ako: That’s what you’re mad about?!
They’re seriously intense you know. EXTREME.
It’s so extreme that in your death scene they’ll probably put ‘Good Ako, you look kind of cool lol’.
TL note: This joke is kind of hard to translate because it’s a trend in the online JP community where usage of the term was to point out that the person seems to have the idea that everyone is being celebrated by everyone but is actually garnering their disdain instead. The origin seems to be because of a magazine aimed for women where the terms sweets (スイツ English) was used indiscriminately to refer to sweetness (甘味 Japanese) and actual confectionery (菓子 Japanese) so they went ‘Sweets (lol)’. Thus, I went with that Naruto joke as it seemed the closest. Also, shoujo manga as Rusian put it, is nuts. The abuse the heroine gets from other females from such works is insane. For reference, just pick any run of the mill recent shoujo manga.
Ako: So, what’s Schew-chan doing? Is she hoping to get another one of that armor because it dropped before?
Rusian: If you think about our financial need of gold at the moment, then that seems to be the only explanation.
She seems to be fond of the idea of get rich quick schemes like getting a really rare drop after all.
In a creepy map like this where players don’t even farm or do anything and just single-mindedly walk around the map, we took a stroll around it as well.
Ako: Ah, Schew-chan.
Rusian: What the heck is she doing?
Schwein is right here.
She’s here, but she’s clearly acting suspicious.
For some reason, she’s walking behind the snowy hills and moving around while hiding behind the trees that were scattered throughout the area. She kept repeating those shady movements over and over.
Rusian: Uhh, Schwein-san?
Schwein: Oh what do you know, it’s Rusian and Ako. So what did you bastards come here for?
Rusian: We came to check up on you. And I could ask you that very same thing. What you’re doing is clearly suspicious.
Ako: Are you looking for the boss?
Schwein quickly took cover in the next spot and checked her surroundings as she replied.
Schwein: Well, yeah. I figure I might as well ask, but you guys aren’t planning to save up gold by hunting down the boss as well right?
Rusian: It’s not really a method that suits us.
Ako: We can’t win against other players after all.
Schwein: …Well I guess so. Then I suppose I’ll tell you!
Schwein: Whoa there.
Schwein started moving around under cover again while she was in the middle of talking. She then continued.
Schwein: There are a lot of phases when it comes to boss hunting.
Schwein: First, there’s the phase of determining whether the boss has spawned or not. After that comes the phase where you search for the boss itself. And then finally, the last phase is actually beating the crap out of said boss.
Ako: Huh…
You really shouldn’t give a response that looks like you’re saying, ‘Yep. No idea what you just said at all’.
It’s not that hard to understand. A boss is something that isn’t always spawned on the map. Once it’s defeated, it may takes hours or even days, depending on the type of monster it was, before respawning again. It’s that kind of a rare monster.
There are also special cases where the boss monster would only spawn once you defeat certain spawns on the map. Anyway, these conditions can get really complicated.
If someone goes around searching for it without knowing if it has spawned or not, then that’s just being inefficient.
TL note: This bit about boss monsters (called MVPs in Ragnarok Online) is of course another reference to RO. If you want to read more about them, iRO wiki has a page on them (https://irowiki.org/wiki/MVP). Also, the tombstones that mention their times of death didn’t exist back then so you had to be there at the time of killing when MVP hunting way back then.
Schwein: If you’re going by the prudent route where you have trustworthy troops feeding you info on the spawns, then it would be easy enough to look for the boss on your own. But, I don’t have that kind of leeway. That’s why… look at that guy.
Then, she pointed out to the player directly in front of her vision.
A male Sword Dancer like Schwein was there.
For a high DPS melee class, if you’re an expert, you’ll have no problems managing aggro while putting out a constant DPS. This is a very viable method of boss hunting suited for this class.
Schwein: That guy once put up a Valentines’ Helm for sale in the auction, which means the guy is a boss hunter. If I just keep following after him then…
Rusian: ‘He might even lead you straight to the boss’, is that right?
Ako: You really thought about this plan right—
Schwein: But of course. Someone who runs in challenging things without any prospect of victory is but a simple fool.
She looked all smug as she said those words, but she still kept on trailing him silently.
And then, after wandering the map for a few minutes, the Sword Dancer at her front suddenly changed directions and made a run for it.
Schwein: So it’s spawned huh! Let’s go!
Schwein stopped hiding and dashed out in the same direction.
Rusian: Let’s follow after them too!
Ako: Ye—s!
The movement speed of Sword Dancers with those charge skills are really different.
After we leisurely took our time chasing after them, we spotted a number of players surrounding a dandy monster sporting a beard as their mortal combat unfolded. In the center of it all, we could spot the figure of Schwein.
Ako: Can Schew-chan win this one?
Rusian: Master isn’t here so I think the odds of her being the one able to pick up the drop is low.
Unfortunately, boss monsters don’t make use of the systems against ‘Kill Stealing’.
Normally, the FH— that is, the first hit— is the mechanic that decides on which player the loot goes to. However, for boss monsters, everything is decided by your damage contribution.
The player with the total highest damage dealt will be the one granted rights to all the loot.
That time when we got that armor drop sure was amazing, but the person who was able to pick that up during that time was quite amazing as well. In other words, it’s because of Master’s DPS topping the charts that we were granted with looting rights over all the other players.
Ako: Ah, it’s getting pretty low.
Rusian: It looks like it’s going down soon—
The moment his beard turns soft is a sign of Valentines-sama about to fall.
He kept eating up all these players DPS and then a fanfare rang out.
Along with the words MVP!, the boss’ drops scattered about.
TL note: A reference to the moment when you defeat an MVP (boss monster) in Ragnarok Online. Here is a reference to the fanfare and the MVP effect that appears on top of said player (https://youtu.be/J5gEgS0ilUw?t=85).
Schwein: Aaaaargh! Trying to pick up the drop but I can’t man! Can’t do it, the drop’s stuck!
Rusian: Oh it’s getting picked up. It’s all getting picked up.
Ako: So it was no good wasn’t it…
It’s hard to compete with the other guys who formed a party after all.
It’s pretty hard to find a setup where a solo player would have a better time boss hunting you know.
Rusian: That’s too bad huh. You alright?
I tried calling out to Schwein.
I thought for sure she would be vexed about this.
Schwein: No problem. Now I know its spawn time. Valentines downed at 9:16PM… That means the next spawn will be 6 hours later. That’s at 3:16AM.
She grinned and laughed as she said that.
Rusian: …Are you going to go out of your way to wake up during that time just to hunt that?
That’s later than late night gaming you know? We still have school tomorrow remember?
Schwein: You idiot. It’s because they’re late night and early morning boss spawns that I’m hunting them. You really don’t understand anything do you Rusian? Well, leave it all up to me. My bad self is going to buy us up a huge house bro!
‘See ya later then, I still have the next boss to go to!’, Schwein said as she went back to town.
Rusian: She sure is manly.
Ako: Even if we do that, we wouldn’t be able to earn any gold…
Rusian: Actually, if you go off to hunt those late night and early morning spawns, won’t you be skipping school then?
She has a previous offense of not contacting us after she blurted out ‘I’m sleepy…’ after all.
And after that, because of Ako passing out while playing, the party would get disbanded. This has happened many times before.
Ako: Uuu, that’s, I’m… not too sure about that…
Rusian: What you’re trying to say is that you have confidence in your ability to be absent, aren’t you?
Ako: That I’m sure!
I can’t let this girl go boss hunting.
We should get to bed early and just hunt mobs early in the morning to farm up some gold.
Rusian: Well then, let’s get back to town too shall we? And while we’re at it, let’s check out how Master is doing as well.
Ako: Is Master at town? Then she has to be resting right?
Rusian: Nah, she’s probably… farming up gold, I think.
The place being displayed as Master’s location was the Imperial Capital of Lodestone.
Even though it’s an excessively large map due to it being the capital city, you can basically figure out where most people would be.
People looking to sell stuff would be in the southern part of the city while people looking for parties would be in the eastern part.
The crafters can be located at the western side and the northern part is basically treated as an event area. That’s the local rule that the players came up with.
TL note: A reference to the actual classifications of hangout spots in Prontera in Ragnarok Online JP during that time. Though I’ve seen most party recruitments now to be located at the field outside south of Prontera.
This too varies from server to server. Because of this, visiting other servers may be refreshing.
Anyhow, if we start thinking from there, we should be able to easily find Master.
It was in the southern side, along the main street filled with user vending shops, that we found her standing in front of the auction house reception window.
Rusian: As I expected, you’re here Master…
Ako: We found her immediately, didn’t we?
I knew for sure she would be here. I had full confidence in that.
Apricot: Oh, Ako and Rusian. What’s the matter?
It seems Master noticed our presence here as well as she called out to us.
I couldn’t figure out what she was doing just standing there doing nothing.
Rusian: What’s the matter you ask… You too Master, what are you doing?
Apricot: I’m farming up gold.
Master answered back without hesitation as she continued standing there completely still.
Yeah, I figured as much.
Ako: …How is she farming up gold like that?
Rusian: I don’t think it’s a method you’d want to know about.
Apricot: How rude of you, Rusian.
After grumbling a bit, Master finally turned at least her face towards us.
Apricot: You make it sound as if I’m performing a scam in order to farm up gold. Good grief, it’s not like that at all. What’s being conducted here is wonderful trading that is profitable to anyone!
Rusian: …Specifically speaking?
Apricot: Let’s see. Well then, how about you open the Auction House?
I opened the Auction House just as I’ve been told.
This is the auction system that the LA management team implemented. In exchange for charging you fees on sales, everything in the auction is processed automatically. If you successfully sell an item, you’ll get the amount deposited to your account and if you fail, you’ll get your item back.
You can also view the history of the rise and fall of prices through it, making it a very excellent system. You could find half of the things you need, like crafting materials and consumables, in here.
But if it’s a good bargain you’re looking for, nothing beats sifting through the user vending shops.
Rusian: So then? What am I looking at here?
Apricot: Go to crafting items and look for ‘Claw Bird’s Feather’.
Ako: Erm… Is this it?
I opened the window for that as I’ve been told.
There, I saw five items at the exact same price listed for sale. It was five 100-set feathers that went for 1M per set.
Though for someone like me who didn’t really dabble too much into crafting, I didn’t know if this was the usual price for these things.
Ako: …Huh? Isn’t there too few of them?
Rusian: Ako, do you buy stuff like this?
Ako: I figured that I had to be able to make my own clothes at some point so…
Her life skills were unexpectedly quite high. In that aspect, she secretly works harder than me, that Ako.
Ako: Normally there would be a lot more than this for sale… And that pricing too… was it always that expensive?
Apricot: Fufufu, how sharp of you to notice.
In response to Ako’s baffled reaction, Master grinned and laughed.
Apricot: All the Claw Bat’s Feathers you see here for sale are all listed by another character of mine!
Ako: Then what about the others that were listed there before?
Apricot: I bought them all up.
Ako’s question was replied to in an instant.
And then, Ako’s face turned stiff with an expression looking as if it was saying ‘Eh?’.
Ako: B, but won’t someone else just list them up again after that?
Apricot: I also bought all those up.
TL note: There was what I’d guess was a typo in this page here in some versions. A RAW I saw had printed that it was Ako saying the line above but that just doesn’t make sense. The printed paperbacks don’t have this problem though. The lesson here is that, you should buy books to support the author to make sure you don’t get the typos.
Rusian: ……So, since you already bought everything out, you’re planning on buying these with your gold, right?
Apricot: Indeed. From this point on, everyone will be buying these at Apricot’s prices!
So you’re buying out goods in order to manipulate the market!
That’s seriously annoying!
Having items suddenly double in price is just the worst!
Ako: I, I understand! If I’m the only one in the world with that item then I can price it however I want right!
Rusian: Don’t let yourself get influenced by her. This kind of thing doesn’t go that well after all.
There are a lot of people who have these crafting materials after all, and a lot of spots drop them as well.
Master had just recently spent a bunch of her gold after all, so there’s no way she could buy out the entire market.
Rusian: That’s bound to blow up in your face, if you keep doing that sort of thing.
Even though I cast a doubtful gaze towards Master, she didn’t seem fazed by it at all.
Apricot: But of course. I know for a fact that if I keep buying out everyone who lists it cheaper than mine, then I’ll get bankrupt eventually. …However, you see.
She laughed as she continued.
Apricot: It’s not as if I’m trying to stabilize the market price into matching my listing price. Since as you see, the sale price that I was aiming for has already been reached.
Rusian: …By that you mean?
Apricot: These creatures you call humans all possess a certain degree of greed. If they see that there’s nothing else being listed except at this price, then the next person to list this item would put it up higher than that of the previous market price. They would list the Claw Bat’s Feather, normally priced at 1k each, at 1.5k each instead.
Ako: Oh I see. It would still be cheaper than the others listed there so you wouldn’t mind buying it up even if it was a bit more expensive than usual right?
That I understand. I do buy into that sort of thing too after all.
Since even if it’s a bit more expensive than usual, it isn’t that expensive.
Apricot: That’s right. With that, it would set a new bar for the market price. I’ll let those who price theirs at 1.5k pass, while I would buy out those listing theirs at 1.3k immediately. When that happens, the market price would stabilize at 1.5k, and the number of listings would increase. If that’s what occurs, then no one would think that someone was trying to manipulate the market, am I wrong?
Rusian: But Master, if you don’t keep buying them up then the prices are bound to fall again right? In the end, won’t it just go back to being 1k each?
Apricot: The time when I make my move will be before that happens! When the market price stabilizes at 1.5k, I’ll be selling out all those Claw Bat’s Feathers that I bought up for 1k each before! There’s no doubt that I’ll be able to sell them for more than 1k each! And by doing simply that, I can make a profit!
Ako: I see!
Ako was reacting as if she was moved by all that!
Rusian: This guy is literally worse than Hitler!
Apricot: I’d prefer for you to call me a master tactician.
Ako: Rusian, I want to farm gold like this too!
Even if you tell me that while your eyes sparkle in wonder, I’m not going to let you, Ako.
Rusian: There’s no future for this route if you fail, so please just stop thinking about that.
You would end up like those people who have burned away all their money trying to profit of off Forex you know.
Rusian: In the first place, having an eye for what item to pick, the judgement to determine the market price, and the large amount of manipulation that you’ll have to do are all prerequisites to this you know? Ako, do you really think you can do market manipulation?
Ako: Those are all impossible for me but I want gold!
Rusian: Simply being greedy is not enough! People like that should just steadily work hard to their goal!
Ako: Isn’t it fine for me to at least dream about being able to turn life around with a single win like that?!
Ako, upon seeing how easy Master’s gold making method was— seemed to be entranced by it. But, in reality, things are not that simple.
Rusian: Aaah… Then Master, what’s your net profit now compared to when you first started out?
Apricot: I’m at -400M at the moment.
Ako: 4?!
Ako was speechless.
I know I was the one who asked, but I was also at a loss for words.
Just how much has she spent on all this? If you fail again then it’s all over right?
Actually, if she had that much gold originally then there was no need to set a quota and Master could’ve just… No, I’m in no position to say that.
Apricot: My funds have considerably gotten smaller after all that splurging. I reckon it would take at least 3 more days before I’ll be able to make a profit. Until then, I’ll be making gold by selling good bargains that I find.
Something like a broker huh? In net games, this is what you’d normally call reselling.
This too is quite an unwelcome method of making gold in the community.
TL note: So it’s time to clear up these methods again for those who didn’t get it. I think the market manipulation part should be already clear as the concept behind it is simple. Based on the law of supply and demand, if the supply of goods decrease while the demand stays the same, prices tend to rise to a higher equilibrium. This is true even if said shortage of supply is artificial. As for the second method, ‘Reselling’, this is simply buying a good deal on a certain piece of equipment/item (or being a scum and duping a clueless person out of an expensive item) and then selling it for much higher than before. This is doubly effective as well if the supply for that particular item is low, or the demand is really high. Though both methods involve buying something and selling it after, the former relies heavily on how much you can raise the price after buying and the latter relies on how cheap you bought it compared to the market price.
Rusian: How about it Ako? Do you still want to do it?
Ako: That’s impossibleeeeeeee!
If you don’t have confidence to get past the doubt of being able to profit or not from it, then this is definitely something you cannot do.
This sort of thing is simply impossible for Ako and me.
Rusian: See you later then Master. Make sure to take it easy with the Auction Hunting.
Apricot: Auction Hunting is one of my greatest pleasures. Leave it up to me.
This person seems to have the most fun with the strangest of schemes huh.
However, she can be quite clumsy at times… well, she said it was fine so I guess it’s alright.
Rusian: I guess their gold making methods were just impossible for us.
Ako: I guess there’s no other choice but Sleeper-sensei huh…
As we gloomily walked along the main street, a pair of cat ears went shaking to and fro as it passed us.
Nekohime: Meow?
Rusian: Oh, if it isn’t Nekohime-san.
Ako: Good evening.
Nekohime: Meow. What are meow two up to?
Ako: We’re trying to save up gold in order to buy a house for the two of us!
Ako snuggled up to me as she said that. Nekohime-san looked visibly put off as she replied,
Nekohime: So meow two are going for a house too huh…
Rusian: Are you farming up gold too Nekohime-san?
Nekohime: Everyone in the guild was just so fired up about buying a castle meow see. I can’t just go pretending I didn’t hear about that neow can I?
So those guys are really going with something huge huh… Though I guess this is much better than building a temple for Holy Angel Nekohime-sama.
Ako: But Sensei, isn’t that hard to do that being only a healer? How do you do it?
Ako asked her that as a fellow healer, but Nekohime-san only nodded slightly as she looked at Ako with a difficult expression.
Nekohime: Nekohime-san here meow see, has already farmed up 25M today.
Ako: What did you saaaaaaaaaaay!
Ako received that statement by putting out the huge shocked emotion as she cried out.
Ako: That’s unfair! Just how did you do it?! If you can farm up that much in a day then I’d like to do it too!
Nekohime: It’s not like I’m doing anything special at all meow know?
Her cat ears swayed again as she said that.
Having her long tail stand up like that when she’s feeling proud is cute. And also very cunning.
Nekohime: What I’m doing is helping meowt on the Large Monster Subjugation quests. If meow can keep clearing it every time then it becomes really profitable even after splitting up the rewards.
TL note: This is a reference to subjugation quests in FF11.
She answered that, as if it were something natural to do.
Oh, so she’s making a profit running as a healer in those Large Monster Subjugation quests huh? This person really is…
Ako: Aren’t those Large Monster Subjugation quests the ones where if a healer messes up once then it’s an instant wipe for the whole party?
Rusian: It’s the endgame after all… We would pretty much just die in there as well.
It’s the same thing like that stream in Nico Nico Douga. It would be one of the final goals to have in the present state of the game since it has unbelievably strong enemies which drop unbelievably good loot.
Ako: Do you have to keep doing it over and over?
As Ako timidly asked, Nekohime-san gleefully moved her ears.
Nekohime: Rare items don’t drop that often meow see. For the time being, we’ve set up a rule where no meow wouldn’t leave until everymeow got 2 or 3 drops. Just today I’ve done it ten times meow know?
Ako: And did you clear it every time?
Nekohime: We don’t recruit members that look like they would cost us the run you meow.
Ako: N, no way…
If I had to say, I think this is simply unbelievable for Ako, who is the type of person to be the very cause of defeat.
That’s a very difficult quest where we could only gather PUGs which are doomed to fail from the start anyway. Yep.
A healer’s gear needs to be good sure, but the more important thing is to have a flexible playstyle. I’ve never seen good healers with connections to hardcore guilds ever being troubled about gold.
I mean, they’re the ones people go to when they need a quest done after all. Even if they’re busy, people would still ask for them. So of course, they’re bound to save up gold, even if they didn’t want to.
Nekohime: I don’t have much time to do this since I have my work as well meow see. So I’ll just finish farming up gold so they can leave me-owt of it later.
Rusian: It’s tough being the founder of a new religion huh…
Nekohime: Everymeow is just getting carried away…
Sensei dejectedly drooped her cat ears at the sight of the brilliantly shining emblem of Nekohime’s Elite Guard.
Those were one of the demands of the Elite Guard after all, so please do your best with your work as a goddess.
I won’t say this in front of Ako, but I really wanted her to join Alley Cats.
Nekohime: Ah jeez, just do as meow please… In meowturn, Nekohime-san would just be sitting atop her throne…
Rusian: Good job today.
I mean it. Thanks for the great job today.
We saw off Nekohime-san in that tired state as she left.
Ako: Large Monster Subjugations are impossible for me but then what should I…
Ako may have connections to hardcore guilds, but she neither has the gear nor playstyle needed for it. As such, she could only sit down in dejection.
Rusian: Ehem… Ms. Ako-san?
Ako: Y, yes?
Rusian: A steady effort goes a long way, a steady effort. I’ll be working hard together with you, see?
Ako: Uuu, I understand! I won’t lose to something like Sleeper-sensei!
Ako: I knew I couldn’t win against Sleeper-sensei after all…
Rusian: Don’t suddenly end the skit like that.
Are you doing a two-panel gag or something?
TL note: Two panel gags here are jokes where, as the name states, the skit starts in one panel and is abruptly ended in the next. The most common for gag manga is the 4 panel but this type also exists as shorts as well.
It hasn’t even been 2 hours since that time, but it seems Ako is at her limit.
Rusian: You can still go on right? Let’s work a little bit harder okay?
Ako: I’m already mistaking the dirt on my screen as another Sleeper-sensei…
As regrettable as it may be, these things happen quite often.
This is why you should keep your monitor clean.
Rusian: Well, shall we go to sleep soon then?
Ako: Ah, I had an idea just now that maybe if I hit Rusian then he would drop gold too…
Rusian: I don’t mind if you hit me or not, but I’m not going to be dropping anything.
Her condition is getting worse. Even though this is only the first day…
Ako: Uu, I’ll just go to sleep for today.
Rusian: Okay, see you tomorrow then—
Ako logged out. I guess that was good enough for the first day.
It’s almost time for the day to change too, but what should I do?
I’m plenty tired as well but… I feel like my body is telling me it can still go for about 2 or 3 more hours.
I’ll go farm a bit even if I’m solo.
I’ll say it now, but even I want to win this one.
I do want me and Ako to have a house together, but it’s more than that.
If we were to win, then Ako could have the house designed as she wishes, including the interior, and have everyone live in it as well. I’m very much looking forward as to what expression Ako would make when that time comes.
“A’right… Let’s do this.”
Rusian, who I was controlling, didn’t seem tired at all as he pierced his sword through Sleeper-sensei.
The farming session that I had planned to end after a few hours ended up continuing well after the sun rose up.
††† ††† ††† ††† ††† ††† ††† ††† †††
Chapter 1
Translation: Yamaking
That’s about all that we settled for now and so, we were all dismissed.
It’s not like we mind playing in the club room, but since the meeting dragged on, staying to play would just leave us hanging.
“We just can’t lose this one, right Rusian?”
Walking together side by side on the way back from school, Ako said that as she looked up towards me.
Looking up like that made her bangs sway to the side a bit that it allowed me to catch a glimpse of her face. That made my heart skip a beat.
In order to hide my embarrassment, I patted her jet black hair.
“Hmm, I guess it can’t be helped since it has come to this. Since they plan on making things go their way, then let’s build our own ideal home!”
“We’re going to build our love nest together right!”
“I’ll go along with your whims this time, so love nest or whatever, come at me!”
“Rusian you’re so wonderful—!”
“We’re two people here so there’s no way we can lose. Let’s do our best farming up that gold!”
“Yes! It’s the first time in my life that I feel like doing my best!”
You’ve already done your best several times you know? I’ve been properly watching over you all this time you see.
“…But, I was a bit surprised. I thought for sure that Rusian would say that the game and real life are different and would hate the idea of us having a house together.”
Though she said she was surprised, Ako looked kind of happy.
“The game and real life are different. But you see, it’s exactly because they’re different that I have no problems at all with being all lovey-dovey in-game. Even I wish for those kinds of things.”
“I see!”
Normally, I would be desperately trying to stop her from doing things, but the matter about buying a house this time was in the game.
If my spouse in-game told me that she wanted to buy a house, shooting her down right then and there is simply unforgivable. It may be called our guild house, but it would be our primary residence from there on in-game. If Master and Segawa say that they want to do as they please, then we too would do that as well.
“…And you see, this way is much more convenient for me.”
No matter how much Ako may mix up reality and the game, if I’m able to keep treating her kindly in-game and get closer with her in my own way in real life, then Ako herself should be able to tell the difference between those two in her own way.
This in itself is one of my strategies as well. It’s definitely not because I’m drawn to the idea of me and Ako getting our own house.
There’s no way she would know about my innermost thoughts anyway.
Ako had a really mellow expression on her face, as if she was daydreaming, while she looked up towards the sky.
“…Me and Rusian’s home… ufufufufu…”
I’d hate to burst your bubble, but it’s the guild’s house you know? Do you understand that?
Now I’m getting a bit worried about this.
“This may sound like Sette-san, but I’d like to have a house with a garden where we can keep a white dog as a pet.”
“Well, I’m sure it wouldn’t be too spacious, but I’d like to have my own room after all.”
We are, at the very least, a large family consisting of five members after all. That amount of space may not be enough for us.
“Isn’t it just fine for me and Rusian to stay in the same room? It’ll be a couple’s bedroom.”
“Well, it’s not like I mind going with that compromise.”
If it comes to the situation where one of us in the guild has to give up one of their rooms, then I would have no choice but to go with that.
“It may be just us at the beginning, but it’s bound to get larger right—?”
“It will?”
Our guild isn’t really the type to recruit more people though.
“Oh, Rusian, are you the type who doesn’t like kids?”
“……”
“……?”
‘What this?’, is what I thought as we exchanged glances.
Ah, I feel like what she’s talking about here is different.
“Ako-san dear, whatever might you be talking about…?”
“I’m talking about our children’s bedroom you know?”
“…We were talking about the game right?”
“We were talking about me and Rusian’s future house you know?”
…Eh, in the real life? That one?
“Of course, this all depends on you Rusian. If you decide to go with an apartment then I wouldn’t mind that as well!”
I couldn’t retort to that.
I couldn’t talk back to this crazy female high schooler as she planned out my future right in front of me.
“When Rusian comes home from work, I’ll put on my apron and you’ll hear the flip flapping of my slippers as I come to greet you at the doorway! This is definitely what it means to be a housewife!”
“You really aren’t motivated for anything besides being a housewife huh.”
“I’ll be playing net games the whole day as I wait for you to get home.”
Do some housework. Seriously, just for a bit is fine.
“And then that’s when I’ll ask you that! Do you want dinner first? Or a bath? Or maybe… Lil’・Ol’・Me?”
“I’ll have Re・Ali・Ty please.”
“Reality is no good!”
“More like in your case, dinner’s probably not yet ready, and the bath hasn’t been heated yet— am I right?”
“In addition to that, I’ll be playing the On・Line・Game!”
“So you’re already abandoning your responsibilities as a housewife then!”
In other words, you’re saying that all you want to do is play net games all day!
“Actually Ako, you were dreaming of a living in detached house? I got the feeling that you would be fine with anything as long as you had your own little space where you could play net games.”
“If that’s what you wish for Rusian, then I’m fine with a small room too you know? Let’s live together only playing net games all day!”
So you’re fine with either huh?
Also, I didn’t think that you would want to have kids that badly either.
“You know, I was pretty sure you would say that kids are just a nuisance to you playing games that you wouldn’t want any.”
“What are you saying?!”
Strangely, Ako’s eyes flew into a rage as she yelled at me.
“I won’t say that! It’s Rusian’s child after all! Even if I were to waste away from worry, I would still raise them properly!”
“I, is that so?”
She was really mad.
That surprised me a little.
“Yeah, that was my miss. I’m sorry.”
I sincerely bowed my head in apology.
I forgot that Ako was the type who really took those things seriously.
I do wonder if she’s taking her marriage with me way too seriously.
“In order to not have problems in the future, it’s better to plan about this housing system and imagine how our life together would play out right? I have to do this properly to prepare for that.”
“…Y, you think so? But I think that unlike me, there may be other options that would show up for you, don’t you think?”
“Those kinds of choices wouldn’t show up at all. The only choice is a Clang, Clang, Rusian you know.”
A Clang, Clang, Toki huh? You’re way too focused on that character.
TL note: This is a reference to the 2005 Fist of the North Star 2D fighting game. When you get to the character select screen, the metallic clang sound plays when you change the selected character. And, Toki (someone whose appearance and character is literally based off Jesus) can be selected by shuffling the choice downward twice. Because of this, the Japanese came up with the Clang, Clang, Toki gag as Toki in this game is extremely overpowered compared to everyone else (insanely fast footsies, etc). That’s why the only choice is Clang, Clang, Toki. Here’s a TAS video of said game using Toki: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIiYrZ7XgSw
“But hearing that Clang, Clang means that you still have at least two other choices right?”
“That would be Master and Schew-chan.”
“So you’re just going to ignore them both?”
Ah, but there’s probably no one else who I can have these silly conversations with.
But maybe, juuuust a little bit, if she can just start acting a bit more normal and proper then it would be great but…
For the sake of that, this competition really is something we can’t lose.
As I let out a sigh quiet enough to not be heard, I slung my bag over my shoulders.
And so, our guild that usually gathered up to grind and take on quests are now all scattered around doing their own thing.
Since we’re all rivals here, the guild chat completely went silent without anyone saying a word.
Rusian: Well, what shall we do?
Ako: I’ll go with you wherever you go Rusian.
Leaving it all up to me like that is really troubling you know, Ako.
As we were the only two left in the cafe, we put our heads together to come up with a plan.
It’s already been years since the beginning of LA’s service as an MMO with a medium sized population. Since then, the game has undergone numerous bouts of inflation and a lot of efficient gold making methods were discovered.
The quota of 100M in 2 weeks— 200M, if you count for both of us— may seem like a steep amount but if you think about only needing to earn 10M each a day, it looks much more plausible.
For example, if we can get 2 of the Ygg Drops that Master used in the Castle Siege in just 1 day, then that much is enough to make our daily quota.
But in reality, things are just not that easy.
Rusian: Ako, if you have anything in mind that we could do then I’m fine with trying that first. But if you don’t, then I think that farming mobs that can give us a steady profit is the way to go.
Ako: Are we going to be farming monsters every single day?
Rusian: That’s right. There’s nothing better than putting in an honest effort every day.
And by the way, there’s still the matter needing to raise of Ako’s level, which seem to be lagging behind ours.
Since we’re going on an adventure to make some gold, if we can gain experience on the way as well, then we would be hitting two birds with one stone.
Ako: The idea of working together to buy a house is really exciting! Let’s go!
Rusian: OK. Then the most efficient farming spot we could go to together is…
Ako: If it’s possible, please pick one where farming solo is also possible. I would also like to do my best farming there solo in my free time, if I have any.
Rusian: You sure are pumped up for this compared to your usual self huh? Let’s see, it has to be that right?
It’s that very nostalgic mob. If you’re thinking about farming up gold, then this is the basic of basics.
That’s right. It’s time for Sleeper-sensei.
What we arrived to was the Dune Field Map.
It’s a standard field you could find anywhere that gave off that desert wasteland kind of feel, but since I’ve been here many times, I can remember its layout.
If I had to say, I knew it like it was my own backyard.
Rusian: So, we’re here to defeat this monster that looks like a clump of sand, that is, Sleeper-sensei.
Is what I said while me and the Sleeper-type monster were duking it out with each other.
Ako: We’re going to defeat Sleeper-san?
Rusian: Yeah. These guys are pretty weak and numerous in addition to the pretty decent amount of gold that they drop. It’s the best place to go to to farm up gold.
Ako: What about their item drops? Do they have any rares?
Rusian: Nope. None at all.
Ako: Nothing at all?!
They really don’t drop anything rare.
But they do drop something though.
When you defeat Sleeper-sensei, they drop an item called Earthen Crystal which you can sell to the NPC.
In addition, they also drop stuff that the Earth Elemental NPC shop sells.
And, there’s another item that seldom drops, specifically at a rate of 0.02%, which is an ultra rare item called the Sleeper Hat.
TL note: This is a reference to Ragnarok Online’s percentage for the rarest drop in the loot table (it used to be 0.01%, but most of the rarest items got boosted to a whopping 0.02% drop rate).
And that thing has no practical use whatsoever so its completely useless. I can only think of it as another thing to sell.
In exchange, it does drop a lot of gold. It’s that kind of monster.
Ako: Can we really save up gold by doing this?
Rusian: You shouldn’t underestimate Sleeper-sensei. It’s the mob with the highest efficiency out of all the other Normal monsters.
TL note: Ragnarok Online monsters are divided into Normal, Mini-Boss, and MVP type monsters. This is what that Normal means.
Ako: So it was THAT amazing!
Not to mention the experience you get from it is pretty good as well. It’s full of nothing but benefits.
Rusian: But I can’t guarantee that we can win over Master and Schew like this. When all’s said and done, were a two-man party with low DPS after all. Even if we work hard farming everyday, there’s still the possibility of us losing…
Ako: It’s alright. Even if this doesn’t bear any fruit, I’m fine as long as I can be with you Rusian.
Rusian: I, is that so?
You… why can’t you apply some of that positive attitude in your real life?
Rusian: Then let’s do this shall we? Our strategy would be that I would go in with a stun and you cast ED right afterwards. After that, I’ll defeat them with an Overed Shield. The ED OS combo should be over in a flash so I’ll be running over to the next mob after I fire it off. Ako, you go pick up the gold and follow after me.
Ako: Sorry, could you explain that again one more time?
Rusian: It’s not like I said anything difficult to understand so just look it up in the chat log.
And so there you have it. This couple’s joint venture has started.
Rusian: Come on now, your ED is too late that’s why I keep needing to use Overed Shield two times right? If this keeps up, I’m going to run out of MP so make sure you keep up with it.
Ako: Y, yes.
Rusian: Also, those loots are just trash drops so you don’t have to pick them up. Just keep picking up the gold.
Ako: But isn’t that a waste!
Rusian: I’m telling you they’re just trash drops…
Ako: But rather than that Rusian, you’re going way too fast! Where did you go to? I can’t see you anymore!
Rusian: You really ought to learn to tell where your allies are by looking at the minimap.
Ako: ‘Rusian, I love you!’
Rusian: Don’t go using the marriage skill to forcefully summon me! I’m fighting! I’m still in combat!
TL note: The marriage skill is a reference to Ragnarok Online where if you equip your wedding ring, you’ll be able to use a skill that summons your spouse to your position.
Things may have gotten chaotic, but Sleeper-sensei is a mob that has a large spawn count on top of being weak.
Once we got used to each other’s rhythm, we were able to farm with a somewhat bot-like precision.
Ako: It’s hard being so busy that we’re not even able to talk but being able to work like this together without talking is kind of nice as well.
Rusian: This kind of situation where I can completely trust and leave everything up to you is rare so I’m actually pretty glad.
Ako: I can at least do something like this too you know!
Well I mean, you’re just casting one skill and picking up gold, so I’m sure everyone can do that.
Ako: But focusing on defeating them and picking up drops like this is… Really kind of boring…
Rusian: I’ll need you to keep doing it even if you’re bored. Keep in mind that our daily quota will be 4 hours on the weekdays and 10 hours on the weekends.
Ako: That’s no good Rusian! If you keep using me that much, I’m going to break!
Rusian: Could you not word your sentences so suggestively?
I wonder if her breaking down would actually turn her into a proper person. I had a feeling that might be the case.
Ako: I’m fed up with this BGM, and I’m fed up with Sleeper-sensei too… The models the map are starting to look like enemies so I automatically keep trying to cast ED on them…
Rusian: Oh, so you’re on the first stage of that now are you? I’m looking forward to how you’ll develop from this point on.
Ako: You mean this can get worse?!
For starters, having a reaction like that means that you still have some emotion left in you. There’s still a far way to go before becoming a human bot.
Schwein: Kuh, this shitty knight… Stealing my bad self’s prey like that…
It was at that exact moment. A guild chat containing that message popped out.
Rusian: What’s up?
Schwein: You’re noisy, shaddup.
I was only asking out of concern but she harshly told me off like that.
This kind of thing really hurts more than you’d expect huh?
As I let out a sweat drop emote to indicate that ‘She’s pretty scary isn’t she?’, Ako answered back with a heart mark emote.
I kind of understand and but not entirely get what that reply of her means.
Ako: I wonder what Schew-chan is doing?
Ako looked like she was really fed up with the Sleepers as she eagerly said that.
Well, it’s still only the first day after all. Forcing her to do all this would be bad.
Rusian: Hmm, enemy intel may also be important. Should we go check it out a bit?
Ako: Yes! Maybe she’s doing something even more profitable than farming Sleeper-sensei!
Rusian: That could be the case but…
The question here is if we will be able to do the same gold making method as Schwein.
After looking at the guild info and checking Schwein’s data, the map Aruthaya.
TL note: I was going to use Altair here but the characters used were アルタヤ which was closer to one of the existing maps in Ragnarok Online, Ayothaya. Though this place is more like Lutie Field.
Rusian: Well then, let’s have a little look see shall we?
The Aruthaya map.
This is a snow map which you could find in most games.
It’s a place that’s basically unvisited, but sometimes people do drop by in it. It’s that kind of place.
Ako: I can’t remember if we’ve been here before or not.
Rusian: We’ve been here numerous times you know. The most recent one was when, hmm… That time when we didn’t expect to get that Valentines’ Armor drop.
TL note: Valentines here is read as Valenteenes.
Ako: You mean those scary people?
No, no, that’s not it. I’m not talking about people celebrating Valentines.
Rusian: That’s not it. It’s the armor that Schwein is wearing right now.
Ako: Ooh. That dropped from a boss right?
Rusian: And we fought over it using rock paper scissors.
And then, I was the one who won that match so that armor should originally be mine.
But Schew’s defense was just complete paper that I lent it to her.
Rusian: Its price has fallen quite a bit because of the update but selling that could still net me about 100M so my problem could be easily solved by just doing that.
Ako: Are you going to sell it right now?
Rusian: I mean, she looks like she’s having so much fun using it…
Even considering the current direction of updates, gear with stats such as this won’t really decrease in price that easy.
And Schwein herself is aware that she’s borrowed that gear to death that she would sometimes make a pitiful face as she apologized for that fact. Telling her to return it simply because I’m going to sell it off at this point is kind of hard to do.
Rusian: Everyone’s putting in a steady effort to save up so I’ll do that as well. I just think of it as something like giving myself a handicap.
Ako: It would be nice if you would direct some of that kindness towards me as well…
Rusian: I think I’m very gentle with you though Ako.
Ako: You can be much more nicer than that you know?
There’s just no limit to how much my wife loves to be pampered.
Rusian: So you say, but if it weren’t me in this position, you would’ve met a much more cruel fate like in those intense shoujo manga you know?
Ako: I think I’ll be fine even if I happen to get into those situations sometimes.
Rusian: Don’t you underestimate recent shoujo manga!
Ako: That’s what you’re mad about?!
They’re seriously intense you know. EXTREME.
It’s so extreme that in your death scene they’ll probably put ‘Good Ako, you look kind of cool lol’.
TL note: This joke is kind of hard to translate because it’s a trend in the online JP community where usage of the term was to point out that the person seems to have the idea that everyone is being celebrated by everyone but is actually garnering their disdain instead. The origin seems to be because of a magazine aimed for women where the terms sweets (スイツ English) was used indiscriminately to refer to sweetness (甘味 Japanese) and actual confectionery (菓子 Japanese) so they went ‘Sweets (lol)’. Thus, I went with that Naruto joke as it seemed the closest. Also, shoujo manga as Rusian put it, is nuts. The abuse the heroine gets from other females from such works is insane. For reference, just pick any run of the mill recent shoujo manga.
Ako: So, what’s Schew-chan doing? Is she hoping to get another one of that armor because it dropped before?
Rusian: If you think about our financial need of gold at the moment, then that seems to be the only explanation.
She seems to be fond of the idea of get rich quick schemes like getting a really rare drop after all.
In a creepy map like this where players don’t even farm or do anything and just single-mindedly walk around the map, we took a stroll around it as well.
Ako: Ah, Schew-chan.
Rusian: What the heck is she doing?
Schwein is right here.
She’s here, but she’s clearly acting suspicious.
For some reason, she’s walking behind the snowy hills and moving around while hiding behind the trees that were scattered throughout the area. She kept repeating those shady movements over and over.
Rusian: Uhh, Schwein-san?
Schwein: Oh what do you know, it’s Rusian and Ako. So what did you bastards come here for?
Rusian: We came to check up on you. And I could ask you that very same thing. What you’re doing is clearly suspicious.
Ako: Are you looking for the boss?
Schwein quickly took cover in the next spot and checked her surroundings as she replied.
Schwein: Well, yeah. I figure I might as well ask, but you guys aren’t planning to save up gold by hunting down the boss as well right?
Rusian: It’s not really a method that suits us.
Ako: We can’t win against other players after all.
Schwein: …Well I guess so. Then I suppose I’ll tell you!
Schwein: Whoa there.
Schwein started moving around under cover again while she was in the middle of talking. She then continued.
Schwein: There are a lot of phases when it comes to boss hunting.
Schwein: First, there’s the phase of determining whether the boss has spawned or not. After that comes the phase where you search for the boss itself. And then finally, the last phase is actually beating the crap out of said boss.
Ako: Huh…
You really shouldn’t give a response that looks like you’re saying, ‘Yep. No idea what you just said at all’.
It’s not that hard to understand. A boss is something that isn’t always spawned on the map. Once it’s defeated, it may takes hours or even days, depending on the type of monster it was, before respawning again. It’s that kind of a rare monster.
There are also special cases where the boss monster would only spawn once you defeat certain spawns on the map. Anyway, these conditions can get really complicated.
If someone goes around searching for it without knowing if it has spawned or not, then that’s just being inefficient.
TL note: This bit about boss monsters (called MVPs in Ragnarok Online) is of course another reference to RO. If you want to read more about them, iRO wiki has a page on them (https://irowiki.org/wiki/MVP). Also, the tombstones that mention their times of death didn’t exist back then so you had to be there at the time of killing when MVP hunting way back then.
Schwein: If you’re going by the prudent route where you have trustworthy troops feeding you info on the spawns, then it would be easy enough to look for the boss on your own. But, I don’t have that kind of leeway. That’s why… look at that guy.
Then, she pointed out to the player directly in front of her vision.
A male Sword Dancer like Schwein was there.
For a high DPS melee class, if you’re an expert, you’ll have no problems managing aggro while putting out a constant DPS. This is a very viable method of boss hunting suited for this class.
Schwein: That guy once put up a Valentines’ Helm for sale in the auction, which means the guy is a boss hunter. If I just keep following after him then…
Rusian: ‘He might even lead you straight to the boss’, is that right?
Ako: You really thought about this plan right—
Schwein: But of course. Someone who runs in challenging things without any prospect of victory is but a simple fool.
She looked all smug as she said those words, but she still kept on trailing him silently.
And then, after wandering the map for a few minutes, the Sword Dancer at her front suddenly changed directions and made a run for it.
Schwein: So it’s spawned huh! Let’s go!
Schwein stopped hiding and dashed out in the same direction.
Rusian: Let’s follow after them too!
Ako: Ye—s!
The movement speed of Sword Dancers with those charge skills are really different.
After we leisurely took our time chasing after them, we spotted a number of players surrounding a dandy monster sporting a beard as their mortal combat unfolded. In the center of it all, we could spot the figure of Schwein.
Ako: Can Schew-chan win this one?
Rusian: Master isn’t here so I think the odds of her being the one able to pick up the drop is low.
Unfortunately, boss monsters don’t make use of the systems against ‘Kill Stealing’.
Normally, the FH— that is, the first hit— is the mechanic that decides on which player the loot goes to. However, for boss monsters, everything is decided by your damage contribution.
The player with the total highest damage dealt will be the one granted rights to all the loot.
That time when we got that armor drop sure was amazing, but the person who was able to pick that up during that time was quite amazing as well. In other words, it’s because of Master’s DPS topping the charts that we were granted with looting rights over all the other players.
Ako: Ah, it’s getting pretty low.
Rusian: It looks like it’s going down soon—
The moment his beard turns soft is a sign of Valentines-sama about to fall.
He kept eating up all these players DPS and then a fanfare rang out.
Along with the words MVP!, the boss’ drops scattered about.
TL note: A reference to the moment when you defeat an MVP (boss monster) in Ragnarok Online. Here is a reference to the fanfare and the MVP effect that appears on top of said player (https://youtu.be/J5gEgS0ilUw?t=85).
Schwein: Aaaaargh! Trying to pick up the drop but I can’t man! Can’t do it, the drop’s stuck!
Rusian: Oh it’s getting picked up. It’s all getting picked up.
Ako: So it was no good wasn’t it…
It’s hard to compete with the other guys who formed a party after all.
It’s pretty hard to find a setup where a solo player would have a better time boss hunting you know.
Rusian: That’s too bad huh. You alright?
I tried calling out to Schwein.
I thought for sure she would be vexed about this.
Schwein: No problem. Now I know its spawn time. Valentines downed at 9:16PM… That means the next spawn will be 6 hours later. That’s at 3:16AM.
She grinned and laughed as she said that.
Rusian: …Are you going to go out of your way to wake up during that time just to hunt that?
That’s later than late night gaming you know? We still have school tomorrow remember?
Schwein: You idiot. It’s because they’re late night and early morning boss spawns that I’m hunting them. You really don’t understand anything do you Rusian? Well, leave it all up to me. My bad self is going to buy us up a huge house bro!
‘See ya later then, I still have the next boss to go to!’, Schwein said as she went back to town.
Rusian: She sure is manly.
Ako: Even if we do that, we wouldn’t be able to earn any gold…
Rusian: Actually, if you go off to hunt those late night and early morning spawns, won’t you be skipping school then?
She has a previous offense of not contacting us after she blurted out ‘I’m sleepy…’ after all.
And after that, because of Ako passing out while playing, the party would get disbanded. This has happened many times before.
Ako: Uuu, that’s, I’m… not too sure about that…
Rusian: What you’re trying to say is that you have confidence in your ability to be absent, aren’t you?
Ako: That I’m sure!
I can’t let this girl go boss hunting.
We should get to bed early and just hunt mobs early in the morning to farm up some gold.
Rusian: Well then, let’s get back to town too shall we? And while we’re at it, let’s check out how Master is doing as well.
Ako: Is Master at town? Then she has to be resting right?
Rusian: Nah, she’s probably… farming up gold, I think.
The place being displayed as Master’s location was the Imperial Capital of Lodestone.
Even though it’s an excessively large map due to it being the capital city, you can basically figure out where most people would be.
People looking to sell stuff would be in the southern part of the city while people looking for parties would be in the eastern part.
The crafters can be located at the western side and the northern part is basically treated as an event area. That’s the local rule that the players came up with.
TL note: A reference to the actual classifications of hangout spots in Prontera in Ragnarok Online JP during that time. Though I’ve seen most party recruitments now to be located at the field outside south of Prontera.
This too varies from server to server. Because of this, visiting other servers may be refreshing.
Anyhow, if we start thinking from there, we should be able to easily find Master.
It was in the southern side, along the main street filled with user vending shops, that we found her standing in front of the auction house reception window.
Rusian: As I expected, you’re here Master…
Ako: We found her immediately, didn’t we?
I knew for sure she would be here. I had full confidence in that.
Apricot: Oh, Ako and Rusian. What’s the matter?
It seems Master noticed our presence here as well as she called out to us.
I couldn’t figure out what she was doing just standing there doing nothing.
Rusian: What’s the matter you ask… You too Master, what are you doing?
Apricot: I’m farming up gold.
Master answered back without hesitation as she continued standing there completely still.
Yeah, I figured as much.
Ako: …How is she farming up gold like that?
Rusian: I don’t think it’s a method you’d want to know about.
Apricot: How rude of you, Rusian.
After grumbling a bit, Master finally turned at least her face towards us.
Apricot: You make it sound as if I’m performing a scam in order to farm up gold. Good grief, it’s not like that at all. What’s being conducted here is wonderful trading that is profitable to anyone!
Rusian: …Specifically speaking?
Apricot: Let’s see. Well then, how about you open the Auction House?
I opened the Auction House just as I’ve been told.
This is the auction system that the LA management team implemented. In exchange for charging you fees on sales, everything in the auction is processed automatically. If you successfully sell an item, you’ll get the amount deposited to your account and if you fail, you’ll get your item back.
You can also view the history of the rise and fall of prices through it, making it a very excellent system. You could find half of the things you need, like crafting materials and consumables, in here.
But if it’s a good bargain you’re looking for, nothing beats sifting through the user vending shops.
Rusian: So then? What am I looking at here?
Apricot: Go to crafting items and look for ‘Claw Bird’s Feather’.
Ako: Erm… Is this it?
I opened the window for that as I’ve been told.
There, I saw five items at the exact same price listed for sale. It was five 100-set feathers that went for 1M per set.
Though for someone like me who didn’t really dabble too much into crafting, I didn’t know if this was the usual price for these things.
Ako: …Huh? Isn’t there too few of them?
Rusian: Ako, do you buy stuff like this?
Ako: I figured that I had to be able to make my own clothes at some point so…
Her life skills were unexpectedly quite high. In that aspect, she secretly works harder than me, that Ako.
Ako: Normally there would be a lot more than this for sale… And that pricing too… was it always that expensive?
Apricot: Fufufu, how sharp of you to notice.
In response to Ako’s baffled reaction, Master grinned and laughed.
Apricot: All the Claw Bat’s Feathers you see here for sale are all listed by another character of mine!
Ako: Then what about the others that were listed there before?
Apricot: I bought them all up.
Ako’s question was replied to in an instant.
And then, Ako’s face turned stiff with an expression looking as if it was saying ‘Eh?’.
Ako: B, but won’t someone else just list them up again after that?
Apricot: I also bought all those up.
TL note: There was what I’d guess was a typo in this page here in some versions. A RAW I saw had printed that it was Ako saying the line above but that just doesn’t make sense. The printed paperbacks don’t have this problem though. The lesson here is that, you should buy books to support the author to make sure you don’t get the typos.
Rusian: ……So, since you already bought everything out, you’re planning on buying these with your gold, right?
Apricot: Indeed. From this point on, everyone will be buying these at Apricot’s prices!
So you’re buying out goods in order to manipulate the market!
That’s seriously annoying!
Having items suddenly double in price is just the worst!
Ako: I, I understand! If I’m the only one in the world with that item then I can price it however I want right!
Rusian: Don’t let yourself get influenced by her. This kind of thing doesn’t go that well after all.
There are a lot of people who have these crafting materials after all, and a lot of spots drop them as well.
Master had just recently spent a bunch of her gold after all, so there’s no way she could buy out the entire market.
Rusian: That’s bound to blow up in your face, if you keep doing that sort of thing.
Even though I cast a doubtful gaze towards Master, she didn’t seem fazed by it at all.
Apricot: But of course. I know for a fact that if I keep buying out everyone who lists it cheaper than mine, then I’ll get bankrupt eventually. …However, you see.
She laughed as she continued.
Apricot: It’s not as if I’m trying to stabilize the market price into matching my listing price. Since as you see, the sale price that I was aiming for has already been reached.
Rusian: …By that you mean?
Apricot: These creatures you call humans all possess a certain degree of greed. If they see that there’s nothing else being listed except at this price, then the next person to list this item would put it up higher than that of the previous market price. They would list the Claw Bat’s Feather, normally priced at 1k each, at 1.5k each instead.
Ako: Oh I see. It would still be cheaper than the others listed there so you wouldn’t mind buying it up even if it was a bit more expensive than usual right?
That I understand. I do buy into that sort of thing too after all.
Since even if it’s a bit more expensive than usual, it isn’t that expensive.
Apricot: That’s right. With that, it would set a new bar for the market price. I’ll let those who price theirs at 1.5k pass, while I would buy out those listing theirs at 1.3k immediately. When that happens, the market price would stabilize at 1.5k, and the number of listings would increase. If that’s what occurs, then no one would think that someone was trying to manipulate the market, am I wrong?
Rusian: But Master, if you don’t keep buying them up then the prices are bound to fall again right? In the end, won’t it just go back to being 1k each?
Apricot: The time when I make my move will be before that happens! When the market price stabilizes at 1.5k, I’ll be selling out all those Claw Bat’s Feathers that I bought up for 1k each before! There’s no doubt that I’ll be able to sell them for more than 1k each! And by doing simply that, I can make a profit!
Ako: I see!
Ako was reacting as if she was moved by all that!
Rusian: This guy is literally worse than Hitler!
Apricot: I’d prefer for you to call me a master tactician.
Ako: Rusian, I want to farm gold like this too!
Even if you tell me that while your eyes sparkle in wonder, I’m not going to let you, Ako.
Rusian: There’s no future for this route if you fail, so please just stop thinking about that.
You would end up like those people who have burned away all their money trying to profit of off Forex you know.
Rusian: In the first place, having an eye for what item to pick, the judgement to determine the market price, and the large amount of manipulation that you’ll have to do are all prerequisites to this you know? Ako, do you really think you can do market manipulation?
Ako: Those are all impossible for me but I want gold!
Rusian: Simply being greedy is not enough! People like that should just steadily work hard to their goal!
Ako: Isn’t it fine for me to at least dream about being able to turn life around with a single win like that?!
Ako, upon seeing how easy Master’s gold making method was— seemed to be entranced by it. But, in reality, things are not that simple.
Rusian: Aaah… Then Master, what’s your net profit now compared to when you first started out?
Apricot: I’m at -400M at the moment.
Ako: 4?!
Ako was speechless.
I know I was the one who asked, but I was also at a loss for words.
Just how much has she spent on all this? If you fail again then it’s all over right?
Actually, if she had that much gold originally then there was no need to set a quota and Master could’ve just… No, I’m in no position to say that.
Apricot: My funds have considerably gotten smaller after all that splurging. I reckon it would take at least 3 more days before I’ll be able to make a profit. Until then, I’ll be making gold by selling good bargains that I find.
Something like a broker huh? In net games, this is what you’d normally call reselling.
This too is quite an unwelcome method of making gold in the community.
TL note: So it’s time to clear up these methods again for those who didn’t get it. I think the market manipulation part should be already clear as the concept behind it is simple. Based on the law of supply and demand, if the supply of goods decrease while the demand stays the same, prices tend to rise to a higher equilibrium. This is true even if said shortage of supply is artificial. As for the second method, ‘Reselling’, this is simply buying a good deal on a certain piece of equipment/item (or being a scum and duping a clueless person out of an expensive item) and then selling it for much higher than before. This is doubly effective as well if the supply for that particular item is low, or the demand is really high. Though both methods involve buying something and selling it after, the former relies heavily on how much you can raise the price after buying and the latter relies on how cheap you bought it compared to the market price.
Rusian: How about it Ako? Do you still want to do it?
Ako: That’s impossibleeeeeeee!
If you don’t have confidence to get past the doubt of being able to profit or not from it, then this is definitely something you cannot do.
This sort of thing is simply impossible for Ako and me.
Rusian: See you later then Master. Make sure to take it easy with the Auction Hunting.
Apricot: Auction Hunting is one of my greatest pleasures. Leave it up to me.
This person seems to have the most fun with the strangest of schemes huh.
However, she can be quite clumsy at times… well, she said it was fine so I guess it’s alright.
Rusian: I guess their gold making methods were just impossible for us.
Ako: I guess there’s no other choice but Sleeper-sensei huh…
As we gloomily walked along the main street, a pair of cat ears went shaking to and fro as it passed us.
Nekohime: Meow?
Rusian: Oh, if it isn’t Nekohime-san.
Ako: Good evening.
Nekohime: Meow. What are meow two up to?
Ako: We’re trying to save up gold in order to buy a house for the two of us!
Ako snuggled up to me as she said that. Nekohime-san looked visibly put off as she replied,
Nekohime: So meow two are going for a house too huh…
Rusian: Are you farming up gold too Nekohime-san?
Nekohime: Everyone in the guild was just so fired up about buying a castle meow see. I can’t just go pretending I didn’t hear about that neow can I?
So those guys are really going with something huge huh… Though I guess this is much better than building a temple for Holy Angel Nekohime-sama.
Ako: But Sensei, isn’t that hard to do that being only a healer? How do you do it?
Ako asked her that as a fellow healer, but Nekohime-san only nodded slightly as she looked at Ako with a difficult expression.
Nekohime: Nekohime-san here meow see, has already farmed up 25M today.
Ako: What did you saaaaaaaaaaay!
Ako received that statement by putting out the huge shocked emotion as she cried out.
Ako: That’s unfair! Just how did you do it?! If you can farm up that much in a day then I’d like to do it too!
Nekohime: It’s not like I’m doing anything special at all meow know?
Her cat ears swayed again as she said that.
Having her long tail stand up like that when she’s feeling proud is cute. And also very cunning.
Nekohime: What I’m doing is helping meowt on the Large Monster Subjugation quests. If meow can keep clearing it every time then it becomes really profitable even after splitting up the rewards.
TL note: This is a reference to subjugation quests in FF11.
She answered that, as if it were something natural to do.
Oh, so she’s making a profit running as a healer in those Large Monster Subjugation quests huh? This person really is…
Ako: Aren’t those Large Monster Subjugation quests the ones where if a healer messes up once then it’s an instant wipe for the whole party?
Rusian: It’s the endgame after all… We would pretty much just die in there as well.
It’s the same thing like that stream in Nico Nico Douga. It would be one of the final goals to have in the present state of the game since it has unbelievably strong enemies which drop unbelievably good loot.
Ako: Do you have to keep doing it over and over?
As Ako timidly asked, Nekohime-san gleefully moved her ears.
Nekohime: Rare items don’t drop that often meow see. For the time being, we’ve set up a rule where no meow wouldn’t leave until everymeow got 2 or 3 drops. Just today I’ve done it ten times meow know?
Ako: And did you clear it every time?
Nekohime: We don’t recruit members that look like they would cost us the run you meow.
Ako: N, no way…
If I had to say, I think this is simply unbelievable for Ako, who is the type of person to be the very cause of defeat.
That’s a very difficult quest where we could only gather PUGs which are doomed to fail from the start anyway. Yep.
A healer’s gear needs to be good sure, but the more important thing is to have a flexible playstyle. I’ve never seen good healers with connections to hardcore guilds ever being troubled about gold.
I mean, they’re the ones people go to when they need a quest done after all. Even if they’re busy, people would still ask for them. So of course, they’re bound to save up gold, even if they didn’t want to.
Nekohime: I don’t have much time to do this since I have my work as well meow see. So I’ll just finish farming up gold so they can leave me-owt of it later.
Rusian: It’s tough being the founder of a new religion huh…
Nekohime: Everymeow is just getting carried away…
Sensei dejectedly drooped her cat ears at the sight of the brilliantly shining emblem of Nekohime’s Elite Guard.
Those were one of the demands of the Elite Guard after all, so please do your best with your work as a goddess.
I won’t say this in front of Ako, but I really wanted her to join Alley Cats.
Nekohime: Ah jeez, just do as meow please… In meowturn, Nekohime-san would just be sitting atop her throne…
Rusian: Good job today.
I mean it. Thanks for the great job today.
We saw off Nekohime-san in that tired state as she left.
Ako: Large Monster Subjugations are impossible for me but then what should I…
Ako may have connections to hardcore guilds, but she neither has the gear nor playstyle needed for it. As such, she could only sit down in dejection.
Rusian: Ehem… Ms. Ako-san?
Ako: Y, yes?
Rusian: A steady effort goes a long way, a steady effort. I’ll be working hard together with you, see?
Ako: Uuu, I understand! I won’t lose to something like Sleeper-sensei!
Ako: I knew I couldn’t win against Sleeper-sensei after all…
Rusian: Don’t suddenly end the skit like that.
Are you doing a two-panel gag or something?
TL note: Two panel gags here are jokes where, as the name states, the skit starts in one panel and is abruptly ended in the next. The most common for gag manga is the 4 panel but this type also exists as shorts as well.
It hasn’t even been 2 hours since that time, but it seems Ako is at her limit.
Rusian: You can still go on right? Let’s work a little bit harder okay?
Ako: I’m already mistaking the dirt on my screen as another Sleeper-sensei…
As regrettable as it may be, these things happen quite often.
This is why you should keep your monitor clean.
Rusian: Well, shall we go to sleep soon then?
Ako: Ah, I had an idea just now that maybe if I hit Rusian then he would drop gold too…
Rusian: I don’t mind if you hit me or not, but I’m not going to be dropping anything.
Her condition is getting worse. Even though this is only the first day…
Ako: Uu, I’ll just go to sleep for today.
Rusian: Okay, see you tomorrow then—
Ako logged out. I guess that was good enough for the first day.
It’s almost time for the day to change too, but what should I do?
I’m plenty tired as well but… I feel like my body is telling me it can still go for about 2 or 3 more hours.
I’ll go farm a bit even if I’m solo.
I’ll say it now, but even I want to win this one.
I do want me and Ako to have a house together, but it’s more than that.
If we were to win, then Ako could have the house designed as she wishes, including the interior, and have everyone live in it as well. I’m very much looking forward as to what expression Ako would make when that time comes.
“A’right… Let’s do this.”
Rusian, who I was controlling, didn’t seem tired at all as he pierced his sword through Sleeper-sensei.
The farming session that I had planned to end after a few hours ended up continuing well after the sun rose up.
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