14 Premonition of a Festival

I finish a meal with Mom and my little sister, take a small break, then log in for the afternoon.

Its morning game-wise.

When I log in, in the place I had my stall there was a stall of an unknown man. Is that Sewing? The cloth crafting-type.

Ah, welcome back. You can put out your stall next to me.

Im back. Ill do so then.

Oh and nice to meet you. Im Dantel. I do Sewing, lets get along, Princess?

Yes, please take care of me. By the way, my name is Anastasia, but I dont mind being called Princess.

Its not unusual for a nickname to stick with everyone faster than ones name, yeah.

Back in school I was called by a nickname, and did not get to be called by name either. Good times.

Yeah. And there were some nicknames that have nothing to do with the person, too.

There were indeed.

Salute-san and Dantel-san are working adults it seems. They look very nostalgic as they speak in past tense.

Still, thats a nice dress the coloring is a bit sad, however...

I think so too, but the item name has Faded in the name, so its on purpose.

I see...

By the way, Dantel-san and Salute-san seem to be the top of their fields as well.

They line up with Ertz-san and Primula-san, so I imagined that must be the case.

And by top, it doesnt necessarily mean they are the absolute best, but that they are at within a certain range from the top, so among top players would be the most correct term.

In an MMO its hard to say who is the absolute top. But they are without a doubt famous and they create great things, so they are being called top crafters.

When I put out the stall next to Salute and diligently work on cooking, Ertz-san and Primula-san, then Alf-san and Ske-san returned.

And at such time, my little sister came. Not alone, but bringing her entire PT.

The limit of party members in this game is 6, but theres about twice that?

Yahoo, Onee-chan! Ol man, repairs!

Sure, wait a moment.

Rina charged straight to Ertz-san, who is currently on the opposite side of me.

There, two familiar men have approached me.

Stasha, right?

Yes, you are Tomo and Sugu?

Yeah. Finally we can register as friends.

Heya-hey.

In real they are Tomohiro and Suguru.

Friends #1 and #2 with whom I get along since kindergarten.

I heard in school that their character names are Tomo and Sugu, but its actually the first time I meet them in-game.

Tomo was a black-haired human. It appears that he was a magic attacker who used a book as a weapon.

Sugu was a red-haired red-eyed Giant I guess? Appearance-wise, a power fighter holding a two-handed hammer.

Rina and Tomos two parties came, which is why there were so many people.

Each of them headed to the crafter they had business to do with.

You got guts to put out a stall among these members, Onee-chan...

Hm? These four are my friends, after all. Though, I only met Dantel-san and Salute-san today.

Most likely, Princess Cooking is top level in the game at this point, yknow? How much is it now?

My Cooking is 23.

Yup, I knew it. According to the BBS team they cant get Eastern forests meat so they are stuck at around 15.

I mean, the number of cooks themselves is small at this point. I wish there were more.

I see, Onee-chan does hunt solo in the Eastern forest, after all so she has ingredients.

The cooking is really tasty, yknow?

Im eating it in real, so I know Onee-chans cooking is delicious Still, these are some high prices Which soup do you recommend?

Bear soup.

Bear soup, yeah.

Yes, bear soup.

Bear

Bear soup is the most delicious. Satiety-wise its steak. Price - boar.

Everyones recommending then lets have bear and steak.

I think cuisine is really delicious in this world. Even if you make a bear hot pot in real life, it wont become like this. It was worth picking Cooking up. If there is a problem with it, it would be that it was still the prelude and the choice of ingredients is small?

Looks like everyone is selling their materials, have their equipment repaired and head out to hunt. Its a day off so theyll be going hunting hardcore. I plan to cook hardcore myself.

The Skill evolution is impossible today? Ingredients-wise, the second half of twenties will have a hard time going up.

Oh, there she is. Thats the girl I bought steaks from.

I see. Shes cooking in a dress, looks kind of surreal...

...Ohh, its the Elf man who bought his partys worth of steaks before.

Yahoo, Cecil-san.

Hey hey, Akirina-san. Youre energetic as always.

Next to the Elf man there was a human man, it appears hes Rinas acquaintance.

Well, the Elf Nobert-san, was it? The human man must probably be the PTs leader, and Norbert-san his partys member.

Seems like Rina wants to make him buy my cooking well, lets ignore it. It seems like they came with the intention of buying some in the first place.

Ertz-san, could you repair these?

Yeah, just wait.

Primula-chan, hereee.

Okaaay.

One after another repair requests come in.

Which means everyone is thinking about the same thing.

Tomo, Sugu, is your party one of the top?

I guess?

Arent we about in the middle part of it?

Rinas up higher.

Hee Those two that fox Beastman and rabbit Beastman girls are Rinas RL friends, arent they?

Yeah. Surprised you noticed.

They often came over to play I havent seen them recently, but looks like they get along as always.

Thats because they were doing this game lately...

"I see. No wonder.

There, Rina and Norbert-san came over, together with the person called Cecil. Norbert-san turned toward Tomo and Sugu.

Heya, Tomosugu-san.

Split them!

It does feel like one name.

The Elf man, Norbert-san cackled.

Certainly, when joined it does feel like a persons name. Tomosugu.

Ill introduce you, Onee-chan. This is the winner of the tournament I won a prize from before.

Hello, Im Cecil. Umm, Anastasia-san, was it?

Yes, Im Anastasia. Lets get along.

Same here. Im Norberts party leader, who is playing on the side over there.

Just like I mentioned earlier, Norbert-san is an Elf man whose main weapon is an instrument.

He has a Skill called Musical Performance which is his main. Its a skill granting area of effect buffs, but during the play it causes a constraint in movement, which makes it a quite difficult Skill to use.

By the way, the instrument he uses seems to be a mandolin.

Cecil-san seems to be using two swords, so he must be quite deft.

Although its strong against both monsters and humans, apparently they are difficult to use.

People who arent used to it only end up using one and so on.

Speaking of difficult weapons, your rapier is also counted as one, Onee-chan...

Ohh, its a rapier? I could tell its a slender sword-type, but...

I matched the dress appearance.

Ah, I see. Certainly, a rapier matches the dress well.

Its not a bad thing having a conversation while cooking.

Everyone is buying my food, too.

I greeted Cecil-san and registered as friends, and he headed to Ertz-sans place.

Cooking reached level 25.

CookingsKnowledge of Smokingwas acquired.

Ohh boar and bear need to have the scum removed so they wont work Which means, Rabbit and Wolf Meat. For simple ones I can use ingredients on hand the problem is...

That seasoning and drying takes time?

Humidification and drying are Alchemys level 5 skills should I raise it a little?

Distilled Water + 2 Herb + Stimushroom seems to be a recipe for HP Potions.

...But I have no Distilled Water.

There, I look to the side and I see Salute-san making Distilled Water for herself.

It seemed like there was a distillizer in Mixing Kits, and she said she could lend it to me if I lent her the firepower of my charcoal brazier.

How many do you want?

I just want to raise Alchemy to level 5, so I guess about 20?

Distilled Water is something you can buy in stores, so well price-wise its about 120 for 1 steak.

Is that fine? Lets go with that.

You know how to use it, right?

No problem.

I set it above the charcoal and poured water withWater. All thats left is to wait.

Once I poured the finished water into empty potion bins, the Distilled Water was complete.

I diligently repeated the process, then passed Distilled Water beyond 120 bins and the distillizer back to Salute-san.

And then I took out the Beginners Alchemy Kit.

On top of a large cloth with a magic circle drawn on it, I placed materials and usedSynthesis.

*Poof*! With such a sound my materials turned into trash.

HP Potions are a fairly high-level recipe...

Is that so?

The ones that you get from tutorials and similar are marked as initial ones, they can be used 50 times. The non-marked ones - 150. And you cant use them unless you raise your level above the basic one.

The ones from the tutorial and ones that you have from the start are treated differently from Beginners Potions and are sold in the stores as Initial Potions.

Apparently the way to make them is to take the markless ones and water them down with Distilled Water.

Its possible to make them with synthesis, but they are made with HP Potions and Distilled Water, so it would be costly to level Alchemy up with them. And there aren't enough HP Potions to buy anyway.

At first it is recommended to create fertilizer and wooden arrows. They require grass and soil, branches and some feathers.

You get experience even if you fail, so I will do HP Potions for which I have large amounts of materials.

Whoops, before I start raising my Alchemy, lets do the seasoning beforehand. I dont know how long I need to marinate for smoking to work.

First, lets prepare empty bottles that I bought along with Cooking Wine. They also sold sugar, it was expensive but I still bought it.

[Tool] Empty BinRarity: NoQuality: C

A fairly big empty bin for storing something.

Big bins are difficult to make, so they cost a fair amount.

Inside I dissolve salt and sugar in water.

And next, I take out Wolf Meat and cut it into thin slices because it was difficult, I sliced them with my rapier, which had a perfectly sharp blade.

About how Onee-chan started cutting meat with a rapier...

Dont mind it, its a sight we see often.

I ignore my little sister and Ertz-san.

Then I slice onions and garlic with the kitchen knife

I put sliced meat, onions, garlic, bay leaf and pepper inside the bin.

Lets leave it be for the taste to permeate.

Now, lets mass produce trash with Alchemy.

About when I finished making 20 of trash.

Alchemy reached level 5.

AlchemysHydration Controlwas acquired.

I safely learned the thing that was my goal.

Whats left is to wait for the meats seasoning to prepare.

About the afternoon in real, as expected of in-game morning - there was quite a lot of people in the Starting Town. Of course, there was just as much hustle and bustle and yet, a war cry that shook the earth was heard by everyone.

"...Whats that?

A premonition of a festival?

The war cry was heard once again, it came from the South.

And this time, a hoo hoo was heard from the sky, which caused all players to look up to it.

Owls is it?

I think so but I cant see them.

The moment I thought so, a ball of light descended from the sky, which flew in our direction. The ball of light has turned into an enormous white owl in flight, which passed past the town before flying up to the sky again.

Ahead of our gaze there was light left in the sky, which slowly changed its shape.

Are there enemies coming or something?

A bird moreover, an owl, huh. Effect-wise it feels like it could be a divine messenger...

Ahh, that is possible...

The light changed its appearance with a pop, and along with a sound effect our logs are updated.

A world quest has occurred.

Location: Starting Town.

Outsiders who are within applicable area will be automatically moved to state of participation.

WHATTT?

Voices are raised all over the town, but seems like Residents are surprised by them.

Which means the thing above us is only visible to us players.

Written in the sky with HUGE letters is WORLD QUEST.

At the same time, help was updated with information on World Quests.

However, there was no time to read help, since a log has flowed along with letters in the sky.

Confirming the quest scale Complete. Setting as WQuest.

Searching Outsiders for positions required for WQuest...

Commander Complete. Officers Complete. Sending requests to each player.

Dear me! Is this my imagination?

In front of me, there is text saying World Quest: Commander Request" and Yes/No" choice? Are they telling me, who has yet to play in a party, to be the Commander?

Woah a request to be Officer came...

Relegated to an officer, Cecil?

Well, Ill do it.

When I looked to the sky, it was on hold so I guess it wont start unless I push either...

Might as well, lets do it.

All requested members have confirmed their participation.

Remaining PT leaders will be set as Squad Leaders, and split between Officers.

Outsiders who are currently in a party, please confirm the WQuest help page.

Gyaahh! My sigghtt!

Yes, I agree with your screams. This is horrible, looks like we need to tweak settings.

Umm during WQuest I should take a look at my own party and the Officers information. Ah, ignore the Squad Leaders. There are too many of them.

Whoa, theres a crown above Onee-chan ah, the Commander...

Yup, a request came my way telling me to be the commander.

Oh, really. Congrats?

Most likely, it has something to do with Race or Skills? I mean, the leadership-type skills sound necessary.

I have leadership-type Skill myself. There is a high possibility of that.

I have a high-tier leadership Skill among my Monster Skills, which is probably why I was made the Commander

I see. For now, lets go to where the minimap color has changed.

Agreed. The time there isnt even 30 minutes in real time left to prepare.

World Quest: Defense of the Starting Town.

Location: Starting Town

Scale: WQuest

Victory Condition: Extermination or repelling of the army led by Goblin General.

Defeat Condition: Allowing the enemy to invade the town.

Remaining time until the start...

The quest information was summarized on the sky, and the countdown had proceeded.

Princess, lets form a party?

Can a Commander even form a party? ...Well know once we try it.

I sent a PT invite to Alfreet-san and Ske-san, and managed to form a party without problems. With this they will receive both Immortal Royalty and Royal Authority buffs.

Well, lets put away the Cooking Kit and the stall, then head off to the plains in the South.

Everyone started moving toward the South.

The WQuest scale, from what is written on the help page, it seems to mean a War Quest. Its not a short of World.

W of War, is it.

Looks like Alf-san was looking at the help page.

Still, that was sudden for such a large-scale happening...

"...Did we hunt too many goblins? The boss is a Goblin General.

I wonder the problem is, just how strong is a general right?

So in short, WQuest is a raid battle?

According to help, its on a level above raid battle? Its literally war-class.

I wonder if there will be a few thousands of goblins? Or maybe tens of thousands, since its war?

Based on Cecil-sans and Ske-sans conversation, it seemed like it would be of a fairly large scale. I didnt think something this big would come without prior announcement.

We still havent even done even a raid battle.

World Quests are the so-called main story in other MMOs apparently. They are quests that influence the world was it?

If this Starting Town was conquered by goblins, it could be said that without doubt it would influence the world. If it was taken away, it would turn into a recapture battle maybe?

World Quests seem to be fairly sudden and whether you can participate in one depends on luck but they will have a fairly high chance of happening.

Hmmm WQuest in other games its something like a field bosses?

Ahhh, yeahh. And that boss brings his henchmen to attack the town? Thats harsh.

If this was not a goblin but a dragon, will they tell us to block a breath attack from reaching the town?

The first thing we need to do is to make him turn away, or it would all end with one breath.

While listening to Cecil-sans and Alf-sans conversation, we arrived at the Southern plains and saw a large amount of Outsiders.

Quite a lot have gathered.

Well, the timing was perfect.

Oh, the Bloody Moon is up...

Youre right. Was that the trigger?

I bet...

Well, what do we do? Commander.

No matter how hard we try, there is no commanding these numbers...

Yeaah...

Theres clearly over ten thousand of people...

In which case, goblins will come not in thousands but in tens of thousands.

While we looked at the Outsiders, three people with icons above their heads came over.

Hallo! ...Can it be youre the rumored Princess?

Ooh, with this, the commander and officers are all here. The squad leaders not happening.

Good day. I am called Anastasia.

Ohhh more princessy than I thought!

"...Well, the curtsy comes from the system assist, though.

Ah, is that so. Im Kotatsu! Nice to meet you!

Im Ruzebarm. Nice to meet you!

Im Musasabi. Nice to meet you!

Kotatsu-san was a cat beastwoman. She only had ears and the tail of a cat.

And Ruzebarm-san was, surprise, a talking bear on two legs. He was cartoonized in a cool manner. Beastmen can select the level of how much of a beast they want to be, so they were part of humanity with a fairly large amount of appearance freedom.

Musasabi-san was a ninja who had no intention of being stealthy... a so-called NINJA. A human man in ninja outfit.

Yup, it looks like Princess was correct about leadership-type skills.

I see. So having a leadership-type Skill AND high level?

I think so. Now, there is no time, so Id like to decide what we need to decide.

.........These numbers are impossible.

Yup, I knew it. What do we do, Commander?

"...I dont think there will be flying enemies this early in the game. If there were Goblin Riders on flying mobs we would be done for. How about we divide people based on weapons?

With these many people, I guess theres only that?

Yeah, simple is best. Tanks in front, bows in the middle, magic in the back.

While I dont think there will be any, since such a possibility came to my mind, as the Commander I need to prepare some countermeasures or I would be really incompetent...

It appears that ever since this quest has emerged, the participants could select the role based on their skills.

Beside their name there was an icon with role they have chosen, so I could tell at a glance.

And when I looked at the UI, as the Commander, I could see the number of people in each role. It looks like the number of the participants is nearly twenty thousand. Isnt it pretty much all of the first batch of players?

"...Musasabi-san. Could I leave anti-air to you, if flying enemies come? Your division seems to have the most ranged attackers... although marginally.

Yes!! Your wish is my command, Princess!

Arent you eager. But with these numbers, there will definitely be people who act on their own. What about them?

We cant do anything about them. Treat them like they arent there from the start. Its a pain to even bother with them. What happens, happens.

Yup yup, sounds great. You sound like you played a fair amount of online games, havent you? Princess.

One way or the other, but just the 2D ones. My little sister loves games, after all.

Cause theyre interesting!

I guess.

Ah, youre Rina-chans onee-chan?

Yes I am.

Ohh, so the prize serves its purpose.

We decided on the plan that could hardly be called one honestly speaking, not only there is no prior information, but also the area is a grassland. There is no choice but to fight from the front.

Not only we cant confirm the enemy, but also our own fighting strength. Its a huge mishmash.

A War Quest? Sounds great. From our perspective, its a festival.

Truly a festival.

Well then, please relay the plan to squads.

Roger.

Everyones really into it, arent they?

The Commanders voice reaches all Officers.

Officers voices reach their squad leaders.

Squad Leaders have the same thing as normal party chat.

So, the Commander talk with Officers. Officers talk with Squad Leaders.

In other words The officers are in middle management roles.

And Officers seem to be able to name their Vice-Officers several assistant members for themselves. It would be troublesome to do it all alone, so they each receive squads for themselves to manage.

Thanks to these rules, Officers can speak with each other regardless of the distance. Its the WQuest-limited Officer Chat.

Its possible to switch chats with thought controls, so its extremely helpful. If this wasnt VR and we would have to switch between channels, we would definitely screw up at some point.

Officers have relayed the plan and everyone moved into positions.

Lets have my PT members, Alf-san and Ske-san go to the front.

Speaking of which, what about we do some streaming? I thought, but it seems like everyone decides to stream on their own.

Streaming?

This game has a live streaming and video capture function.

Speaking of which, there was something like that in the options I didnt know what it was, so I ignored it.

You should at least do the recording setting, yknow?

There is some time before it starts so Lets do it now...

Its not like theres much to set. Should I teach you?

Please do.

As recommended to by Kotatsu-san, I was taught about the recording settings.

There was a setting for live stream as well, but it required an account on a video streaming site so I cant link to it now.

Make the first perspective small and put the window into the corner, make the third perspective full screen there.

Looks like this is the most stable, template way. With just the first perspective its easy to get drunk on video. And on the third the sense of presence is lacking is what she said. So while mainly looking at the third perspective, you can confirm on first where the player is looking in the first. This is kind of amazing.

Only the base UI was displayed on video, like HP and MP.

Otherwise, our Skill builds would be revealed to everyone.

Yup, looks like there are people who are streaming already. See the fairy with a camera behind that player? That is it. Green is streaming, red is video. By the way, Residents cant see it.

I see. So thats what it was.

Its a festival, maybe I should stream as well?

So you had an account, Cecil-san?

All of Officers here got one, yknow?

Oh, is that so.

So everyones a streamer.

A green fairy suddenly appeared behind Cecil-san and started holding camera. Other people also started streaming, wont they end up fighting over viewers when they are in the same place? Is what I thought, but it seems like even in the same place, every point of view is different and interesting.

Apparently some viewers split them into multiple windows and watch them at the same time.

Akirina-san also has an account, she doesnt stream however, and only puts up videos sometimes.

Is that so, so its not just live streams.

Well, you can make one if it becomes necessary. Now, its about time...

Occasionally there were war cries coming from the forest, and they were growing louder every time one sounded. It must have meant that they are approaching.

When the countdown went down to about 1 minute, Goblins started to pour out of the forest.

Its my first time seeing them, Goblins that is. Looks like theyve got the orthodox fantasy appearance.

Here and there I can see Goblins an entire size larger?

Goblins were holding stone spears, stone axes, bows and staves...

I report! The bigger goblins appear to be Hobgoblins!

Hey, NINJA, youve turned into a knight. How about you stealth more...

HAHAHA, I dont get what you mean-degozaruna~...

Hobgoblins another staple, isnt it. Probably level 10 evolution. The general is probably Level 30 40 at most?

I dont think General is a direct evolution from a Hobgoblin. Considering, there are some in between, I guess that would be it?

Its just a prediction, but looks like his level is twice higher that of top players, huh.

And when the count has reached 0, Ready text has appeared in the sky.

It stopped at Ready, which is kinda troubling for us...? Commander, got something on your side?

"...There is, but are they telling me to say this?

Is there a keyword to commence it?

Looks like an order from the Commander is required to start. Well, it does seem to be army-like?

On the window that suddenly appeared, there was a line to tell.

When I say this, the battle will probably begin. There is no countdown, so most likely it wont start until I say it It can't be helped. Its no time to act embarrassed here. Its acting, ACTING. RP RP.

Aa--...aa-... alright, lets go.

Lets try a little and do a good voice.

This line should be cool and commanding.

O gathered Outsiders, it is time for battle. Do not let a single one of those creatures pass. May the blessing of the Goddess of Battle, Sigrdrifa-sama be with you! All troops, begin attack!

At the same time I finished my line, all players who were participating have been enveloped by a red light, which was then sucked into their bodies.

Royal Authority activated. During this quest, all stats have been increased.

World Quest: Defense of the Starting Town begins.

The shouts of players and those coming from the forest have overlapped, and the land shook.

At the same time, Goblins and Hobgoblins started to move, and charged in.

Following Officers instructions, the long and medium-range distance attacks have begun.

Magic and arrows fell on Goblins like rain.

And the Goblin side also seemed to have bows and staves, so magic and arrows came from their side as well. Although weak 1 vs 1, its another thing in battle.

"...Those Goblins moves are completely different.

Oh, you think so too?

They werent this smart.

Looks like they took a formation similar to ours-degozaruna~.

I see, the generals enemy commanders existence must be a big factor.

The close combatants who got past the magic and arrows have clashed, and the main battle has begun.