We arrived in the town of Suriado.
"In the end, we only managed to bag one cute bandit, huh..."
"Tch. What a letdown-uo. And since she belongs to someone else, the fact that we can’t even mess with her is just infuriating-dao."
"Well, for now, let's just hope the other party isn't a PK player-ssu."
With those parting thoughts, we handed over the bandit we had captured—San—at the gate. Since we didn’t have any other pressing business, we parted ways with the merchant for the time being and decided to wait for the players who were coming to retrieve her.
I had Miti-chan go along with the merchant. I wondered if they had managed to get along? If they had, it meant the bet was a victory for Penpen and me.
"No way, that still doesn't count-uo! I refuse to accept defeat-dao!"
"You're being a sore loser, Alto-shi!"
"She's right. His affection level definitely went up! On a scale of one to ten, it jumped from a zero to at least a three!"
After all, Miti-chan had put her own body on the line to protect the merchant. It was a total "match-pump" strategy where she knowingly waited until the last possible second to shield him, but still!
Just then, a woman approached us.
She was quite the beauty—a mature woman with sharp, almond-shaped eyes that perfectly complemented her tight skirt. She practically radiated an aura of professional competence.
"Oh my. You certainly are a noisy bunch. Are you the Spirit-possessed who captured our San, I wonder?"
"Muo? Ah, a Spirit-possessed. You're definitely a player this time, right-uo? Nice to meet you-dao."
"Nice to meet you. Boing boing—I'm not a bad slime, you know."
"Nice to meet you-ssu."
"...Ah. Well, it seems you’re the real deal. Pleased to meet you. I am the President of the 'Jack-of-all-trades' guild. You can call me Mahariku."
Mahariku gave a polite nod. She certainly had good manners.
"To explain the situation, she was actually conducting an undercover investigation of the bandits. We’ve caused you some trouble, and for that, I apologize."
"Right, I’ve got the gist-uo."
"Okay. Well, if that's the case, then there's no helping it."
"The girl named San was saying the same thing on the road, so we pretty much figured it out-ssu!"
"It’s a relief that you’re so quick to understand. Truly."
San hadn’t put up a fight in the first place, so I knew they didn’t want to be hostile. Though, honestly, I wouldn't have minded trying a bit of PvP.
"This is the first time I've met other players. It's moments like this that remind me this is actually an online game."
"You're Aruru-shi, right-uo? I saw that girl on the Wiki-uo!"
"That distinctive, old-fashioned sentence ending... if I'm not mistaken, you must be Mazel-san? I saw that girl on the Wiki’s 'Show-off Your Subordinate' page as well."
"That’s me-dao! Man, it’s such a weird feeling to actually meet someone you usually only see on the Wiki-dao!"
Alto grabbed Mahariku's hand and began shaking it vigorously.
It was "actual" contact, so to speak—at least within the game.
"...The name situation is getting confusing again. I can’t keep track of them all."
"For the record, we basically call each other by our first character names-uo."
"In that case, Mahariku is fine. As I mentioned on the Wiki, it seems I’m not actually on a 'second character' yet."
"Then I’m Tria. This body belongs to my second character, Miti-chan."
"I’m Penpen-ssu. This body is my second character, Gin-chan-ssu."
"So all three of you are players. ...Ichi, Nii, Yon, you can come out now. They're the real thing."
At Mahariku’s call, three people who had been hiding emerged. I had noticed them on the map, but since I couldn't tell if they were allies or strangers, I’d left them alone.
...Oh? Each of them was carrying a handgun. Was that SP equipment?
"1, 2, 4... and the last one is 3. What an incredibly lazy naming scheme-dao!"
"You'll understand the brilliance of these names once you get older. You simply reach a point where you can't remember names anymore. Speaking of which, I've already forgotten yours. I apologize in advance if I get them wrong!"
"Ah, I totally get that-ssu. When you have too many social circles, the sheer volume of faces and names becomes a mess, and they stop matching up-ssu."
"Exactly. You end up with Suzuki-san A, Suzuki-san B, and Suzuki-san C."
Human memory has its limits. Since it was like that in the real world, I had no desire to suffer through the same struggle in a game. I found her naming convention very relatable.
"This is the first time I've ever wished this game displayed names over people's heads."
"True-dao. By the way, Mahariku-shi, is there a specific origin for your name-uo? It's easier to remember if there's a story behind it-uo. Is it a spell from some ancient magical girl anime-uo?"
"Ah, my real name is Kurihama... Ah, oops, I let it slip. Well, whatever. It's just my real name read backward."
"...That’s the same name as someone I know-dao. Um, based on your tone and everything... we might actually know each other in the real world. Is it okay if I ask you a few things in Friend Chat-uo?"
"Yes, that's fine. To be honest, I was starting to wonder the same thing."
Hey now, prying into real-life identities is usually a faux pas, but if they were both curious and wanted to verify, I wasn't going to stop them.
Wait, wasn't this game supposed to have a mystery filter to prevent people from getting doxxed?
Regardless, the two of them began a highly private conversation via Friend Chat. Not a single sound leaked out to the rest of us.
"...?"
"..., ...?"
"!? !!"
"...!? ...!"
Ah. Judging by the way their faces were twisting into identical grimaces, she was definitely a superior. Which meant there was a chance she was my superior too.
However, the name Kurihama didn't ring a bell. Maybe she was in the sales department? She definitely wasn't my direct boss.
"...W-Well! In this game, I will treat you as a fellow player of equal standing-uo! I look forward to working with you-dao!"
As she spoke, Alto snapped into a perfect, rigid ninety-degree bow.
"Y-Yes, quite. Right. Ah... do you two also happen to be real-world acquaintances?"
"I don't think so-ssu."
"I think I'm probably in a different department. There's a slight chance I might have seen your face before, but for my sake, please let me keep pretending I don't know you."
"That is exactly what you should do-uo! You definitely, absolutely should-dao!"
What’s the deal, Alto? When you say it with that much force, it actually makes me more nervous.
But yeah, playing an online game with your boss sounds like a total nightmare. I’ll make sure to never, ever check the company employee list.