by Blitz Kiva
Besides, she seemed much more interested in what Edward had said. “What do you mean, ‘don’t compete in her arena’?”
Unlike the armor competition with Edward, they didn’t have different specialties; it was a design competition. How could they not be competing in the same arena?
“If you can’t win on talent, you’ll have to draw the spectators’ eyes in some other way,” Edward explained.
Was he proposing some kind of plan?
But Iris seemed hesitant to engage. She must have still been holding deep uncertainties inside. If she couldn’t even accept Ichiro’s help, would she even be able to listen to Edward’s advice? Or should she simply turn him away? That seemed to be what was going through her mind.
“Don’t worry; I’m completely mediocre,” Edward said simply, perhaps seeing right through to Iris’s inner turmoil. “I won’t claim I can understand exactly how you feel, but I won’t say anything as outrageous as Mr. Tsuwabuki says, either.”
“R-Right...” Iris must have realized that was true. In a way, the two of them were kindred spirits, both players driven mad by the young heir’s audacity.
“But there is one thing I’d like to ask you,” Edward continued.
“What is it?”
“Miss Iris, do you enjoy this game?”
“Ah?” It was a strange question to be asked so suddenly. Iris and Kirschwasser exchanged a look.
“I think it’s good to take things seriously,” said Edward. “But if you stop enjoying it, it’s defeating the point. I’m not telling you to be as freewheeling as Mr. Tsuwabuki is, of course, but you should try to remember how you felt when you first came here, what it is that you enjoy about the game.”
As usual, the Machina’s voice was fairly monotone, and it was hard to read the feeling behind his words. But because they were the words of a man who had himself lost his enjoyment of the game by taking it too seriously, Kirschwasser felt the sentiment was clear: it was the grandfatherly solicitude of one who hoped another would not repeat his mistake. Iris seemed to grasp that, too.
Edward continued speaking. “Fashion and style are important, but I think it’s possible to get too obsessed with that, the way I got too obsessed with equipment capabilities and Ironmaking Skill levels. I don’t think the design was the only thing about your work that Mr. Tsuwabuki liked. You call it fashion and apparel and such, but that’s not really what we make in this game. We make armor.”
The words came smoothly. It really was unusual to hear him speak on anything at such length.
“Did I say something I shouldn’t have?” Edward added.
“No... no. You didn’t...” Iris’s frazzled mind seemed to be slowly sorting out his words.
“You’re speaking so eloquently compared to yesterday,” Kirschwasser teased. “Did you practice that speech?”
“Shut up.” Edward averted his eyes a little.
“Hmm...” Iris murmured.
“What is the matter, Iris?” Kirschwasser asked.
“Oh, I’m just thinking about some things. When I clear my head and think about it, I guess that’s true... Ah, I feel like my vision has been so narrow...” Iris whispered, her gaze distant. “Fuyo and I have just been talking about fashion and design... but that’s all real-world stuff. This is the world of the game. Fashion sense and design sense... that all does matter, but it’s not everything. Maybe that’s what the young heir was trying to say when he told me not to get so worked up.”
“I doubt Master Ichiro was thinking about it that deeply,” said Kirschwasser.
“That’s true,” said Iris. Her words suggested a gradually returning confidence. Edward’s words seemed to have cast a ray of light on the situation. “Hey, Mr. Edward. What kind of armor do you like?”
“As you know, I mostly care about stats,” he replied. “I doubt I’d be of any help. In terms of appearance, I suppose I like Full Plate Mail, and things that look like power armor.”
It was a typical gamer opinion, but Edward continued:
“The audience will be made up of players of the game. There are a lot of ways to get their attention. There’s no need to fight on design sense alone. Part of being a professional means designing with the needs of the audience in mind.” Edward then added, plainly, without taking his eyes off of Iris: “I don’t know what your opponent intends to bring to the challenge, but keep in mind that this is not the real world. It’s a game, with its own trends and social classes... I can teach you about them, if you like.”
“That’s amazing...” Iris said with admiration.
“You’ve come so far since yesterday, when you were trying too hard to sound clever, yet were unable to speak,” Kirschwasser commented.
“Would you please forget about that?” A icon of dissatisfaction appeared over Edward’s head. “Of course, I know it can be hard to meet a customer’s needs. I’m a systems engineer, so...”
“Oh, I see,” said Iris. “That sounds like a tough job.”
“Yeah. I’m going on another business trip next week.”
Of course the Machina had a real life, too. Systems engineer was a busy job, yet he had somehow found time between his business trips to become the second-in-command of the game’s largest manufacturing guild. It was impressive. Of course, that spoke even better of Ichiro, who had been able to send him flying with a single hit...
“Do you have any plans for what to do next, Iris?” the Machina asked.
“Hmm...” Edward’s words caused Iris to fall deep into thought. “Well, it would feel weird to go right back to the young heir after yelling at him and running out...”
“I think the same,” he said.
“Did you have something in mind?” Kirschwasser asked.
Edward nodded. “I was thinking, what about an armor design that incorporates a gimmick? They have a high crafting difficulty, but it’s an idea that your opponent would be unlikely to come up with.”
“I’d love to hear more.” Iris straightened, and smiled an indomitable smile. At some point, the fire of battle had begun to flicker again in her eyes. Iris had fully regained her energy.
The silver-haired elder Knight shrugged lightly, the same gesture he used when indulging his master. “Such overactive biorhythms...”
But it wasn’t only Iris preparing for the fight.
Nem was, too.
Nem’s guild was renting space in the guild house of Matsunaga’s Dual Serpents. She couldn’t understand what had led them to refer to this creepy old cave as a “house,” but nitpicking another’s residence was something only selfish people did, so Nem refrained from mentioning it. Admittedly, the fish-headed monsters who lived nearby were really quite cute once you got used to them.
She had returned to the caves after finishing up her business in the real world. As head of her own company, there was a chance she might be called back on emergency business, but there was nothing she could do about that. She had made sure to clear her schedule for the competition day, which meant that on any other day, she had to be capable of returning to work at any time.
As she arrived in their rented room, she found Sorceress already there, sitting quietly on her own. She stood up when she saw Nem’s arrival. “Ah, welcome back, Leader.”
“Thank you,” Nem responded after a gloomy pause. “I see that Taker is not here.”
“That’s true,” Sorceress said with a giggle. “He might be out working a part-time job. He’s poor, you see.”
They rarely talked about their real lives, but Nem had intuited that the two seemed to know each other.
“Leader, you look unhappy,” Sorceress continued, in a tone so nonchalant she might as well have been discussing the weather.
There was something about those penetrating, deep blue eyes of hers that made Nem very uncomfortable. Of course, she was also discomfited by the overpowering, sharp eyes of Taker. They made her feel small, as if they were tearing into the very stronghold of her self-confidence.
Nem manag
ed to hold on to her resolve, if barely. “I met Iris at the lecture yesterday.”
“My, my.” Sorceress was holding a parasol despite being inside a cave, and she spun it delightedly as she spoke. “Isn’t that a coincidence. So? What was she like?”
Nem closed her eyes and began speaking, slowly. “There’s not much to say. She was exactly the kind of person she seemed to be in the game. She idolizes the glorious world of fashion, and has a tendency to imitate what she sees in magazines and trends, like any girl of her age.”
Young and vibrant, but completely lacking in a unique voice, or anything else remarkable. Exactly like hundreds of other wannabe designers...
Which was exactly why the girl was getting under her skin.
“I see. If you say so, then it must be true.” Sorceress, the girl who had named herself after a witch, said nothing more about that. “Do you still intend to bring all of your skill to bear against her, then?”
“Yes... of course,” said Nem.
The words she had said during that lecture, and those she had said to Airi Kakitsubata directly, were not lies.
Regardless of their skill, all aspiring designers were rivals. The butterfly brooch incident had made her realize that to a painful degree.
Even for Megumi Fuyo, who had her own brand and was acknowledged by the world, the lack of talent in one single area could bring everything crashing down. A single failure could yank you back.
She had to surpass Iris, no matter what.
It had been a few days ago, in this place, that Nem had said to Matsunaga, “I want to prove that I’m better.” That had been the truth, but at the time, she hadn’t known who she was trying to prove it to.
Now she knew: it was herself.
“I will win,” Nem said firmly.
“My hopes are high, Leader,” Sorceress said with a giggle. “Once you win, we’ll be breaking up, I suppose?”
“Yes, that’s true... Thank you for everything you’ve done,” said Nem.
“Not at all.” There was something sarcastic about the witch’s smile. Perhaps, in the end, she was nothing but a mercenary.
Nem decided she shouldn’t form too much attachment for someone who felt so distant from her. “Speaking of which. About the model...”
“Oh, yes, leave that to us. We’ve been searching for someone suitable.” Sorceress gave a smile without a trace of emotion in it. which convinced Nem she really should leave it to her. “Don’t worry. I’ll do everything I can to help you win.”
Nem smiled a bit at those words. “Thank you. But I will win using my own power.”
“Yes. That’s right...” Sorceress giggled again.
Nem had no idea what Sorceress was thinking.
There was something unsettling about a witch’s smile.
Edward led Iris and Kirschwasser to visit the Akihabara Forging Guild’s guild house.
“This is gimmick armor,” he said proudly, pointing to a set of armor on display.
“Um... wow!” Iris said, trying to have the appropriate reaction. Perhaps noticing that her amazement was feigned, Edward averted his face, seeming hurt.
Gimmick armor, he explained, was equipment that did something special, either visually or in its stats. Concrete examples included armor that lit up under certain conditions, that would increase your parameters if you took certain actions, or that would change shape based on changes in relevant data.
In the world of Narrow Fantasy Online, which lacked much in the way of very stylish armor, they were also one of the few types of armor you could get real visual impact from.
“Hmm, hmm. I see...” Iris said.
Of course, a mere light-up effect wouldn’t be enough to compete with Megumi Fuyo’s designs, but maybe that was something she could play with.
Kirschwasser was gazing at the armor with curiosity, a natural reaction for a pure gamer.
Yes, yes. That was another way people approached it.
How she’d felt when she’d begun, the fun of the game, getting too obsessed... Edward’s earlier words brought memories from half a year ago surging back to life. Airi Kakitsubata’s crushing setback in design school. Her escape from reality. The game world she’d fled to. The friends she had made. Her arrival in Glasgobara.
The realization that she could create items with original designs had been both a shock and a thrill. Day after day, she had worked to put accessories out for sale in her stall. She had even spent her own allowance to see it happen. But no one had bought them. No one had liked them. Then, just when she had once again been on the verge of despondency, the young heir had appeared.
From the first moment they’d met, he’d been an absolute creep. He’d asked if she wanted to create his armor and requested a design done completely from scratch. Edward had misunderstood his reasons for doing so, taken offense, and picked a fight she barely understood. Now history was repeating with Megumi Fuyo.
But... what really mattered here was that this competition wasn’t going to be judged by pro designers, outside examiners, or even the young heir. It was going to be judged by the general playerbase. Of course, Fuyo’s sheer design abilities would probably be enough to win them over. But at the end of the day, design was just one tool out of many.
She had her own strengths that Fuyo lacked. She knew how much fun the game could be. She knew about all the different ways that different players enjoyed the game, and the players’ taste in armor would be as diverse as their play styles. The young heir had wanted Iris for her design sense, but the majority of players wouldn’t feel that way.
She had received in-game currency—in other words, money—to make armor. That meant that, in this game, she was a professional, too.
If she was a professional, then she should work like one. She should find the perfect line that would bring together the diverse tastes of the consumer base with her own design sense. That was something only she could do. It was something that Fuyo, so obsessed with real clothing—and with the young heir, who didn’t have to worry about commercial success—could never do.
The wheels turned in Iris’s head.
“She seems to have received some inspiration,” Kirschwasser commented.
“It appears so,” Edward agreed with a measure of relief.
But that was not the end of it. There were a lot of things she was still lacking. She still didn’t have an idea. She still hadn’t come up with the vision that would take down Megumi Fuyo, or the imagery that would make the young heir eat his words. Iris screwed up her face in thought.
Just then, the chimes at the guild house door rang out. They had a visitor. Of course, this was the game’s top crafting guild, so they probably had a continuous stream of customers, thought Iris. But then...
“U-Um... is Iris here?” a trembling voice called out.
“Oh, Lady Felicia,” Kirschwasser spoke up.
Yes, it was Felicia, whom she had left behind in the guild house. Her two tails of white hair trailed behind her. Her eyes were lowered apologetically.
“How did you figure out we were here?” Iris asked, impressed.
“Ah. Well...” Felicia stammered awkwardly. “I said I wanted to go after you, and Itchy said you’d probably be here...”
“He really sees through everything, huh?” Iris decided not to voice the frustration this inspired aloud. Some day, she would have to do something he didn’t predict. She wanted to see that smug smile of his turn into a gape. Such a thing would surely come with unrivaled pleasure. But for now, she had to focus on what was in front of her.
“Um, Iris, Itchy didn’t say that out of malice...” Felicia ventured.
“Y-Yeah... I’ve worked out my feelings about that now, so it’s okay...” Iris found herself smiling at her cute attempts to cover for Ichiro.
“You did?” Felicia asked, with clear relief on her face.
“Yeah. Thanks,” Iris answered, and meant it.
“A-And one more thing...”
“Hmm?” Iris tilted her h
ead as Felicia raised her index finger.
“I was wondering who you were going to chose as your model...”
That was right. That was another issue she had forgotten about.
She didn’t want to ask the young heir again. She was thinking Kirschwasser would be good, but as she cast a glance at him, the silver-haired elder Knight just shrugged.
“It would be one thing if I had a female avatar, but no one wants to see an old man character modeling fashion.”
“That’s true,” Edward agreed.
NaroFan’s userbase was mostly male players, so that was natural, but it was still a bit disappointing. Iris thought there would be a lot of clothing that would look good on the silver fox, Kirschwasser.
She decided to ask Felicia why she was bringing it up, but Felicia just winced. “I got a message from Amesho... She says Nem’s using her as a model.”
“O-Oh...” Iris said.
That girl, a model? Given how confident she had looked in the swimsuit, maybe she would be cut out for it...
Edward let out a grim murmur as he heard that. “That’s not good...”
“What do you mean?” Iris asked.
But Kirschwasser agreed. “Yes, it’s extremely bad.”
“Huh? What?”
Edward put a hand to his smooth jaw, and answered. “Amesho is a damsel player. She has a lot of passionate fans in the game. Her presence will give your competition a big boost.”
“Um... but it’s a fashion competition, isn’t it?” Iris asked.
Of course, the model was important. You could ruin a good design by putting it on the wrong model. It wasn’t always about choosing the most beautiful or charming girl.
But this was still an armor design competition. Who you chose to wear it shouldn’t make that much of a difference, so Iris couldn’t figure out what Edward and Kirschwasser were so worried about.
“Iris, the audience isn’t necessarily coming to see the armor designs,” Kirschwasser said. “I think you understand what I mean by that. They’re coming to see it because it’s an event.”
“R-Right...” Iris said.
“And if a player like Amesho starts flirting with them and asking for their votes, you’re doomed,” Edward added.
