Volume 2 Chapter 3 RPG
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
It hasn’t rained in ages. On dry, lazy days like this, I usually take a break from quests.
Mr. Zenom doesn’t seem to have anything on his plate either—he’s been lounging around, savoring smoked meats and sipping sake with a cheerful cheep cheep.
I’m parked next to Ms. Nina, eyes glued to the notebook the king gave me, playing an old-school RPG. It’s not just goofing off—this is training. The path to becoming a true Hero, pixel by pixel.
One of the pre-installed games is this retro-looking RPG, simple graphics and all, echoing the early days of computer gaming.
It’s oddly refreshing. I can’t read the text, so Ms. Nina handles the controls while I strategize.
The game kicks off with character creation. If I used my real stats, I’d be toast in no time—so I give my summoning skill a +10 bump and roll with it.
I picked the swordsman class. Supposed to be strong, right? But against a slime, it’s just a one-hit gig.
The field maps, cities, monster types—it’s all modeled after real-world data. I’m soaking in knowledge just by playing. It’s basically educational software in disguise.
”Oh, another slime showed up.”
”I’m just gonna bolt.”
”Can’t. It’s boxed me in.”
Touching a monster on screen instantly triggers battle, and since swordsmen can’t stealth, I plow through the enemy mobs—kicking slimes and earth spirits aside as I push toward the dungeon city of Aksia.
”We should grind to level 15 here.”
”What level are we now?”
”Well, we’ve gone up 8 levels in 2 days.”
In-game, a full day passes in about ten minutes. In real life, it took me over 80 days to hit level 4. Probably because I’ve only been fighting quails.
Thinking about the days I’ve spent, I get this twinge of sadness—Ms. Nina doesn’t have much time left.
”Looks like we can form a party at the guild?”
”Should we go with a magician, a priest, and a thief for our full party of four?”
”Oh… I’ll have to drop out here. We’re not strong enough to enter the maze yet.”
Ms. Nina removes the Doll Princess from the team. In her place, three new Heroes join—beasts, all of them. On the dungeon’s first floor, we’re up against slimes and goblins, but we steamroll through.
Defeated monsters vanish in a shimmer, dropping gold coins and items. Sometimes goblins even drop two coins. Split four ways, it’s still a treasure trove—we can’t stop laughing.
”There’s the staircase to the next floor.”
Basement two is crawling with earth-type monsters. Since it’s a game, we hunt the cute earth spirits without a hint of mercy. They’re weak, but drop three gold coins apiece. Big earthworms and rock lizards show up too—we take them out on sight.
No matter how many we slay, more show up after a while. Definitely feels game-y. I wonder if real mazes are this generous?
You can revisit previous floors using a direct elevator—super handy. The third basement is wind, fourth is water, fifth is fire, sixth is darkness, seventh is light, and the eighth? Pure boss room.
The boss is a Lesser Dragon—and it’s the first time we suffer a casualty. The thief can’t tank the breath attack and hits zero HP.
A countdown ticks above their body, but our priest hasn’t learned resurrection magic. When time runs out, the body glows… then vanishes. Just like the monsters we kill.
Thankfully, the dragon’s on its last legs, so we go full offense and finish it off.
”We beat the dragon, but the thief’s gone.”
”Did we lose them for good?”
”Won’t know until we reach the church.”
After the boss fight, four treasure chests pop up on the altar—but we can’t open the one meant for the thief.
So very game-like.
Back at the church, we’re relieved—the thief revives.
”You respawn at the last church you prayed at. Always pray when you enter a new town—basic stuff.”
”This is getting way too real for a game!”
After a week of deep dungeon dives, I’ve hit level 18. My coin pouch is bursting—over 1,000 common gold coins. Each one’s worth 10,000 gold. That’s more than ten million.
”I’ve been busting my back hunting quails, and I’ve only scraped together 120,000…”
”Quails don’t drop coins, though.”
”Yeah, true… but still, it stings.”
”I want Saburou to stay exactly the way he is now.”
”That’s sweet, but…”
Ms. Nina’s kindhearted—but as a Doll Princess who lures monsters toward the Hero, she’s really not cut out for frontline work.
”I’m not mistaken in calling you a Doll Princess. Saburou is a Hero—one who may, more than anyone else, grow stronger over time…”
’May‘? Come on, just say will.
Still… maybe I’m the late-blooming type. If Ms. Nina believes in me, then maybe I can keep going.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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