Paying to Win in a VRMMO: Volume 2

by Blitz Kiva

  But just as they were thinking that, Edward opened his menu window and called out some new equipment. They manifested from accumulating particles of light with bwom, bwom sound effects, attaching themselves all over Edward’s armor. They protruded from his body, looking like thrusters, stabilizers, and vents. But if you strained your eyes, you could see that they were all broadswords.

  “H-How many weapons does he have?” Iris stammered.

  “That’s a crafter for you...” Kirschwasser commented.

  Items in the game didn’t possess weight while they were in a player’s inventory, only while they were manifested. If a player went over the encumbrance limit allotted by their strength, they would be rendered immobile. But Edward’s leisurely walk while bearing over ten weapons at once showed he had more strength than he needed.

  Not many players in Narrow Fantasy Online walked around with multiple weapons. This was, in part, because of the game’s death penalty. In a show of uncommonly cruel design, the game was designed to make you lose all your equipment and inventory items if you died, which led to hesitance about carrying more than one weapon. Those who got past that hesitation wielded those weapons with pride, as a sign of their confidence in themselves.

  I won’t lose. I won’t suffer the death penalty.

  It was with that same self-confidence that Edward said what he did: “You can choose the rules.”

  “It will be a one-round match,” Ichiro said. “A deathmatch, penalty in place.”

  These were the strictest rules possible for a city duel. The only difference from an interplayer battle out in the field would be that it wouldn’t count as a player kill in the winner’s status. Otherwise, it was exactly the same. A one-round match meant they would keep hitting each other until one of their HP meters gone. The penalty meant that the loser lost all of their items.

  A thrill of excitement ran through the crowd. Edward had made that bold proclamation despite being at an overwhelming disadvantage. They were cheering his chivalry, but that wasn’t his true motivation: it was his pride as a Fighter that he would not lose. And one other thing...

  “Does he really want to destroy the armor I made?” Iris asked.

  “I expect so,” Kirschwasser said. “But it was Master Ichiro who proposed the fight this time, so we’re in no position to complain.”

  Ichiro set the rules, Edward agreed to them once more, and the stage for the duel was set. Seeing that, Kirschwasser and Iris backed away, together, to the wall.

  The magic circle — in other words, the ring — was there for atmosphere, but the system itself did not forbid outside interference. You could set certain things to be against the rules in the settings, but Ichiro had chosen “anything goes.”

  The countdown initiated.

  It started at 5, and slowly ticked down in between the two glaring fighters. Actually, only one of them was glaring. The other was standing there coolly — perhaps “gazing” would be a better word — with the air of a dignified king.

  The fighter of the streets rebelling against the haughty noble. That was the image that the two conjured up.

  The numbers counted down: 3, 2, 1. The word “Fight” appeared.

  It was Edward who charged first.

  Most of the spectators, imagining Ed to be a power-focused counter-type, were surprised by his sudden charge.

  He pulled out two of the swords that stuck out of him like vents, and thrust them both through the air, tracing beautiful arcs: a simultaneous activation of “Horizontal Edge” and “Vertical Edge.” It was a move that could be performed only by a dual-wielding master, and the Dragonet responded with his bare fists.

  Horizontal and vertical. He cool-headedly predicted the track of both swords, and rather than evading, caught each with one hand.

  “Tsk.” Edward clicked his tongue, but the stalemate did not remain for long.

  Edward knew that for that instant, both of Ichiro’s hands were sealed. So without a moment’s hesitation, he released both swords, pulled out the two sticking out from his shoulders, and struck.

  “Mmgh...”

  Ichiro failed to dodge — actually, it seemed almost as if he wasn’t even trying — and the strike landed a direct hit, sending out a blood spray visual as Ichiro’s HP shaved down.

  Looking unfazed, Ichiro threw aside the swords he had caught in each hand, then thrust his right fist forward. The visual of “Dragon Claw” triggered, indicating this was no longer a mere fist, but a deadly weapon.

  Edward drew back. Bare-handed attacks were hampered by short reach, so his reaction was a proper one. But he didn’t miss the minute opening that Ichiro’s stepping in had created.

  With both swords in hand, Edward slashed down with all his might, then pulled out two more swords and lashed out in pursuit. One by one, Edward’s swords were ending up stuck into Glasgobara’s main street.

  It was a wasteful strategy, in Iris’s opinion. He’d had a comical amount of broadswords sticking out of his plate mail, but now he was close to running out. It was true that each hit was dealing significant damage to the young heir, but...

  “Mr. Kirsch, are those swords cheap?” she asked.

  “You would know better than I about weapons, Iris... or I thought you would, but I suppose I’ll answer you. They’re Mirror Blades. Certainly not weapons to be used and discarded. They have special properties, which makes them surprisingly expensive.”

  Only two of the Mirror Blades sprouting from Edward’s armor had gone unused at this point. There were two more broadswords dangling from his belt, as well, which meant that he had four of his preferred weapon remaining. But it wasn’t as if he was in trouble. In truth, Ichiro was the one on the defensive.

  The audience didn’t seem to have a high opinion of this cool young man’s ability, either. He hadn’t appeared to mount a single proper attack, and he had only clearly blocked one of Edward’s, at the very start. Why, then, was he so calm?

  Edward, acting as if he was still on guard about the eerily quiet Ichiro, at last pulled the two swords from his belt. Each one was at least 90 centimeters long. He ran at the young heir again and slashed his main weapons at once, in wide swings away from his body. The swings drew arcs around him, and he brought them both down, aiming for Ichiro’s head.

  He then transitioned instantly from “Circular Edge” to the unpredictable “Multi-Edge.” Ichiro caught the move with his cool gaze, and attempted to strike out decisively with a bare-handed “Weapon Guard.” However...

  An instant later, one of Edward’s flank armor plates burst open, launching a winch arm from within. The arm pulled a Mirror Blade out of Edward’s back, and tore it through Ichiro on a diagonal-upwards trajectory. He was too distracted by the two blades coming at him from the air to react.

  “Hey!” Iris shouted in shock.

  “He’s got ‘Hidden Arm’!” a spectator cried.

  “Yeah, that Machina-exclusive Skill...”

  Sounds of shock rose up among the spectators, but that was not the end of Edward’s fierce offensive. The “Rocket Booster” on his back fired, drawing him up close to Ichiro in a flash. His three blades all assaulted the Dragonet man from different angles.

  Ichiro’s health was being chipped away, and he hadn’t done a thing to counter it.

  The crowd was on their feet. This was feeling like the moment that would clinch the crafting-class player’s victory over the combat-class whale, and their cheers communicated that expectation to the participants.

  But despite the situation he’d found himself in, Ichiro seemed utterly oblivious. Judging by his totally relaxed expression, the main thought on his mind seemed to be, “I’m glad he’s not ripping my clothing.”

  “Young heir, if you lose and my armor gets ruined, I won’t forgive you!” Iris screamed.

  “Nonsense,” Ichiro said. “Just remember what you said to me the other day, the thing that made Ed so mad on his way out.”

  “That was a very different situation!”
r />   Knowing the young heir’s perverse character, she was hoping that his pathetic showing so far was part of an act. But even if it was, Edward’s tactics were stupendous. He must have felt he’d been underestimated, and had chosen his armament with utmost care. He might have been hot-tempered, but he knew what it meant for a crafter to fight a combat-class. If he could defeat the whale while he was being underestimated, he should.

  “I won’t show any mercy!” Ed had shouted when the fight had first started. That was the meaning of those words.

  There was a crashing noise, and now, the armor of his shoulders detached. A special piece of equipment he had attached with “Mount Weapon” now unveiled itself.

  “Th-That’s...” Iris gasped. “...the Lost Gun!”

  Iris was aware that she had basically become a sideline character at this point, but she still couldn’t contain her cry. It was one of the “ultimate weapons,” of which only a handful could be found scattered throughout NaroFan. And Edward’s third class was Musketeer.

  The gun barrel poking out from Edward’s shoulder began charging up particles of light. Ichiro watched the motion with narrowed eyes.

  “Young heir, don’t think you can dodge this!” Ed called.

  “Nonsense. As long as you watch where the gun barrel is aiming, it’s always possible to dodge.”

  The moment after he said that, there was a flash. The young heir tilted his head. It was the slightest, most offhand of motions, and Iris only then realize that he was doing it to dodge. It had been a truly spontaneous action, and that alone had been enough to take Ichiro out of harm’s way.

  At least, it should have been.

  One instant later, the light struck Ichiro in the back, producing an impressive damage visual. It was clear that he was slightly staggered by the blow.

  “I see! Very clever!” Kirschwasser’s eyes widened.

  Iris saw what he meant a moment later.

  The place where the young heir was currently standing... The Mirror Blades that Edward had seemingly abandoned before were all around him, sticking out of the ground. Edward had bounced his laser off of a series of blades to target Ichiro in his blind spot.

  “Heh, I see he brought it out,” a new voice said. “That’s Edward’s ‘Reflection Laser’!”

  The speaker was an Anthromorph, who seemed to be one of Edward’s guild companions and had arrived at some point to stand near Iris and Kirschwasser.

  “Is ‘Reflection Laser’ an Art?” Iris asked him.

  “It’s an all-range attack capable of striking from any angle, by combining the Mirror Blade and the Lost Gun,” the Anthromorph said. “Edward and I stayed up three days straight thinking it up. We even created an app to calculate the reflection angles!”

  “Hmm, I suppose I won’t argue the point of where you got the idea from,” Sir Kirschwasser said.

  “Edward and I stayed up three days straight thinking it up!!” he insisted.

  It seemed the small console window Edward had opened up near his hand was the app he’d used to calculate the angles. There were countless Mirror Blades set up around the young heir. In a way, it was like each one of them was a laser turret ready to fire. Ichiro was effectively surrounded by enemies.

  “Young heir!” Iris cried.

  “I told you not to worry,” he said in that infuriatingly calm way of his, as if he had the situation well in hand.

  “How can you be so relaxed?!” she exclaimed.

  Iris hadn’t actually seen the young heir fight very many times. Certainly, she knew that he had the skill to effortlessly take down a Magi-Metal Dragon solo. And watching him shrug off that many attacks from Edward suggested the character stats he’d poured his funds into building up had paid off.

  So why wasn’t he doing anything? Why was he allowing him to get hits in? Out of the kindness of his heart? Iris began to feel annoyed, and wondered what he was thinking.

  “No need to worry, Iris,” Sir Kirschwasser said with a bright smile. “Despite what appearances may suggest, Master Ichiro cannot be satisfied unless he is the coolest in every situation.”

  “Actually, that’s exactly what appearances suggest...”

  “Well, that is true. So, there’s no need to worry.”

  Edward’s second barrage was three quick laser blasts in a row, a chain attack made possible with the gun Art “Burst Shot.” The fired lasers passed through multiple Mirror Blades, and each diffused the shot. The bright diffusion of the light bathed even the audience in its glow.

  “Hmm.” Ichiro’s free hand moved quickly. If you had enhanced sensory Skills, you could see his arm strike three points precisely in the air. The diffusion of light died down, and the avenue’s lighting returned to normal.

  Edward gasped. This time, it was his eyes that widened in shock.

  “It’s just ‘Weapon Guard,’” said Ichiro. “It’s not that difficult. I always wanted to try that, really.”

  “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...” Iris shook her head forcefully.

  Kirschwasser shrugged.

  With “Dragon Claw” activated, his bare fists had functioned as weapons; hence, he’d been able to use “Weapon Guard.” It was as if Ichiro had simply wiped the triple laser barrage away with his hand, like a scene out of a movie or a superhero show.

  The young heir then tucked the hand into his pocket and spoke up, languidly. “My image processor has a floating point number of 200, so I can react to the speed of laser fire with my Perception stat. It only works because the ‘Lasers’ in this game are not actual stimulated light, of course.”

  “Mr. Kirsch, what is he talking about?” Iris asked.

  “It would be difficult to explain in just a few words...”

  “So I can assume it’s just the usual bragging, right?” she asked.

  “Yes, more or less,” Kirschwasser said, acknowledging Iris’s understanding.

  “Now, Ed,” Ichiro said as he turned back to face him. “Are you satisfied yet?”

  “......”

  “I understand this might hurt a bit, but I won’t apologize for it.”

  “What—” Edward started, but before he could finish, Ichiro’s body had already slipped inside his personal space.

  Ichiro pulled his tightly-clenched fist back and snapped it forward like a bowstring in a mere 0.2 seconds. What combination of Skill and Art could reduce activation time to that degree?

  Edward’s thought — I have to counter it — was a fleeting one. The next instant, the impact exploded against his solar plexus.

  Ichiro’s sky-high “Dragon Claw” level meant that the bare fist dealt unthinkable damage to Edward. In an extra bit of cruelty, Ichiro had also acquired the Dragonet-exclusive Skill “Blowback.”

  He sent Edward flying back in a way that would be difficult to put into words. He seemed to have put a bit of thought into the trajectory, as well.

  Driven by the physical damage calculation, the fictional energy that propelled Edward’s avatar extinguished. He plowed through one of the magical lamps that illuminated main street, pulverized an NPC shop sign, and broke through a wagon. Then, when he finally hit the ground, he continued to tumble end over end, taking large gouges out of the brick-lined street.

  The system inhibited either player from leaving the map while the duel was still on, and so Edward was finally allowed to stop after he slammed into the large arch that read “Glasgobara Merchant Town,” reducing it to powder from the impact.

  Was this part of the trajectory that Ichiro had planned? If so, it was really quite cruel.

  Small particles of light rose up from the dust cloud, then disappeared. Not even the players with perception-based skills could find the remains of Edward under the rubble. His avatar would now be inside Glasgobara UDX Workshop, sans all equipment and inventory items.

  “The winner, Ichiro Tsuwabuki!” the system announcer proclaimed triumphantly, as if everybody didn’t already know.

  A second later, earth-shattering applause ripped thr
ough the air around them. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter to the spectators which of them was in the right. Rubberneckers were, in most situations, essentially neutral. But because of that, they were happy to give their wholehearted applause to Ichiro, even though he had started out as the unabashed heel.

  They had enjoyed it. It had been a good duel.

  Ichiro didn’t respond to the adulation directed at him by the crowd. He seemed to just let it roll off his back, and just kept walking towards Iris and Kirschwasser (and Ed’s guild companion, but never mind him).

  “See?” he asked Iris.

  “R-Right...” she said.

  He had settled the duel just like that, as if he’d never been on the losing end at all. In the end, the young heir had only attacked once, with that one final punch. It was a true one-hit KO.

  “Now...” Ichiro said.

  At this point, the eyes of all players on-site were focused on Ichiro. After checking to make he had their attention, he activated the wind attribute support spell Art “Speaker Voice.”

  “Ahem. I am Ichiro Tsuwabuki. Long introductions are nonsense, so I’ll keep it short.”

  There was a stir within the crowd. What was this man saying now?

  As if ignoring their question — or perhaps, answering it — Ichiro continued. “I think you may now appreciate the sort of armor that I am wearing. Thus, I now officially declare the clothing guild Iris Brand open for business.”

  “Huh?!” Iris exclaimed. How many times had she made that sound since she’d first met Ichiro? “H-Hang on, young heir...”

  “This girl is the designer,” he said. “She’s the one who made my armor. Isn’t she incredible?”

  “Hang on!”

  He had pointed to her when he spoke, so naturally, all eyes had focused on her, too. She heard a few comments, like “Hey, a cute girl!” and similar. Her face turned red from embarrassment.

  It’s an avatar, so of course it’s cute! You’re all unspeakably handsome men, too!