Under her Wiki name, Arulu—or Mahariku, as she was actually known—held the title of President.
While her rank in the real world was significantly lower, in this world, she was the chief executive of a small company, and she alone dictated every facet of its management policy.
Thus, within the setting of this high-fantasy world, she had established the "Jack-of-all-trades" Adventure Company. True to its name, they handled everything. Their portfolio ranged from restaurant consulting and moving services to standard requests from the Adventurer’s Guild.
To the Guild, they were merely another clan—the common term for mutual-aid organizations of adventurers—but the "Jack-of-all-trades" led by Mahariku commanded a certain level of respect.
One of the primary reasons for that was the halo floating above their heads.
In this world—and among the adventuring community in particular—the halo was recognized as the "Proof of Spirit-possession," marking its bearer as someone to be left well alone.
Mahariku would direct her subordinates to complete commissions and raise their levels. Then, using the SP earned alongside those levels, she would "Scout" her next employee. In this fashion, the "Jack-of-all-trades" had grown from a two-person operation to three, then four, and finally five.
Surrounded by her adorable yet highly capable subordinates, Mahariku had successfully solidified her standing within both the Adventurer’s Guild and the town itself.
"Hmm, things are going well. So well it’s almost frightening."
"Aha, look at you, President! You shouldn't say things like that."
"..."
In response to the comment from her first subordinate, Ichi, a set of dialogue options suddenly materialized before her eyes.
- "I wish things would just stay like this forever."
- "Keep your guard up. Disaster always lurks right beside success."
- "More importantly, I really want some udon."
She did, in fact, want udon, but the timing felt wrong. Naturally, Mahariku selected the second option.
"Keep your guard up. Disaster always lurks right beside success."
"Oh! You’re right. I’m sorry! I guess I was getting ahead of myself."
A melodic chime rang out, signaling an increase in Affection Level.
Yep, as I thought. As long as I pick the cool-sounding options, everything works out, Mahariku thought, gazing out the window with a look of quiet satisfaction.
She was currently on the top floor of a two-story building she had finally purchased with her hard-earned savings. This was the headquarters and base of operations for the "Jack-of-all-trades."
"Even so, this game is... something else entirely..."
Mahariku let out a long sigh. Her apprehension stemmed from the VR Mode.
After seeing the Wiki and learning about the mode's existence, she had decided to test it out. What she found was a sensory emulator of staggering precision.
The settings were clearly military-grade, far beyond anything intended for the consumer market. Such realistic feedback would be wasted on the hardware owned by a typical player; the level of detail was simply absurd.
If it had ended there, it would have been alarming enough, but there was more: the game left no logs.
From the moment she entered VR Mode until the moment she logged out, not a single byte of data remained on her VR device. To the outside world, Mahariku’s physical body had simply been "asleep."
It was suspicious. Beyond suspicious.
Ordinarily, she should have quit immediately and reported the software to the authorities. However, Mahariku had grown too attached to her subordinates.
In this unnervingly realistic VR, her employees moved and laughed with breathtaking life.
How many years had it been since Mahariku had seen a subordinate smile at her in reality? Had it ever even happened?
Actually, she realized it probably hadn't. In the real world, her interactions with her team were almost exclusively through text chat. Even when they used voice chat, it was strictly for professional information sharing, often filtered through AI-correction tools to streamline data organization.
She was drifting off-topic, but the core issue was that Mahariku was utterly hooked on the game.
And so, she chose to turn a blind eye. Or rather, she chose to overlook it, as it was impossible to pretend she hadn't noticed.
She would undoubtedly face disciplinary dismissal if the truth ever came out. But since there were no logs... she figured she was safe.
"Large organizations are always so full of friction and drama. Having a small group of elites makes for much more peaceful relationships..."
At worst, her subordinates only bickered over who was working the hardest or who would get praised by the President.
It was heartwarming. When she praised them and patted their heads, they would blush and fidget with genuine joy.
She desperately wished her real-life subordinates would learn from them.
The girls didn't go off and retaliate against competitors on their own. Well, usually it was the other party's fault, but the boss was the one who had to clean up the mess in the end.
Her subordinates in this world did seek revenge too, of course, but at least they had the courtesy to ask for permission first.
When the dialogue options appeared, picking the "cool" one usually led to them taking action, but because it looked cool, Mahariku allowed it.
The result was the same—she still had to deal with the consequences—but she found she didn't mind looking after such adorable girls, no matter how many messes they made.
"President! This is bad! It's really bad!"
Suddenly, her second subordinate, Nii, came bursting into the room.
"You’re in quite a state, Nii. What happened?"
"San-chan was captured!"
"San was handling the infiltration of that bandit group, wasn't she? Did they blow her cover?"
"She was defeated by the targets, arrested as one of the bandits, and now she’s being held at the guardhouse!"
In other words, the mission had been a failure.
Even the "Jack-of-all-trades" wasn't perfect. These things happened from time to time.
"In that case, we’ll have to go pick her up."
"And that's not all! The person she fought apparently has a halo too! They’re Spirit-possessed!"
"...Hm. Another Spirit-possessed besides us? I wonder if they're the real deal."
If they were legitimate, Mahariku very much wanted to meet them. However, she would first have to apologize for her subordinate’s attack. I should probably prepare a nice box of sweets as a peace offering, she mused.
"Wait! I see! The opponent must be an impostor who used some cowardly trick to trap San-chan...!"
"I won't forgive anyone who impersonates a Lord Spirit! I understand, President—we're preparing for war! We have to call Yon-chan in too!"
"..."
Mahariku opened her mouth to tell them to wait, but the dialogue options appeared once more.
- "Prepare for the worst. That is the secret to victory."
- "I wonder where I can buy a gift box. Maybe some stall food instead?"
- "Ma-mi-mu-me-mo! Ma-mi-mu-me-mo!"
"Prepare for the worst. That is the secret to victory."
""Understood!""
A bright chime rang out as their Affection Levels climbed.
Well, it's not like I had any other real choice, she reasoned. And so, the path was set.