The lady sitting at the half-demolished reception counter was clearly…
“Um, Ms. Shirase…”
“I believe I already inforformed you that my name is Shirarase, the receptionist here. If you find that hard to believe, I am fully capable of pulling up a selection of items no son would ever want their mother knowing about.”
Yikes.
“I’ve never met you before, Ms. Shirarase! What a pleasure! How are you?”
The Shirarase behind the counter looked exactly like Shirase. She clearly was Shirase, except called Shirarase.
“Then allow me to welcome you to the guild!”
“Thank you for the warm welcome. So, um… Are you okay? You’ve been bleeding this entire time.”
“Don’t worry yourselves over that! This is simply part of the presentation. I am merely an object, neither PC nor NPC. Therefore, PK penalties need not apply. The ability to destroy building objects is actually a bug, so you can rest easy on that point.”
“I—I see. That’s a relief… Isn’t it, Mom?”
“Hunh? Oh, um… Yes, it is. So there was an objection? And the NEC’s PC won the PK battle? Am I following things?”
“Yeah, you are. It really doesn’t matter, so… Well done!”
“Objects” were a programming class distinct from “characters.” PC stood for player character. NPC stood for non-player character. He’d have plenty of time to tutor Mamako on this jargon later.
“Let me begin by introducing you to the adventurers registered with the guild!” Shirarase said, holding out a thick bundle of parchment. There had to be over a hundred pages.
“Th-there’s that many?”
“This is only a fraction of the total. There’s no real limit to party size, so gather as many party members as you’d like. The management team has had the character department working like crazy making these. We’re hoping to hire more staff soon…”
“Wow… Um… So you mean everyone’s an NPC?”
“There are other test players included. However, there aren’t many yet, so their rarity remains quite high.”
“…So it’s all a game of chance?”
“The first floor of the building is being repaired. Please peruse these in the private room on the second floor. I will bring along additional documents in due course, so take your time.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The second floor of the guild seemed to have largely escaped the ravages of Mamako’s brutal assault. They were in a private room toward the back. Masato had the documents spread out on the table in front of him, with Mamako seated opposite.
Feeling the stress of the moment a little, he took a deep breath of the refreshing breeze blowing through the open window and began the work of choosing a party.
“Right, now this is what I’m good at. I’m an experienced MMORPG player—I can put a balanced party together. You on board with that, Mom?”
“Of course! I can’t wait to see who you’ll pick! Find us some nice girls.”
“Wh-why are you assuming I’m gonna pick girls?”
“Why wouldn’t you? They’re going to live with us, experience all sorts of things with us, grow up with us…and you’re selecting them with that in mind. Isn’t that basically the same thing as figuring out who you’re going to date or marry?”
“Erk… I guess you’re not entirely wrong, but…no, we’re just assembling a party. Plain and simple. Right.”
Faces and body types would inevitably reflect the preferences of the person choosing them, though. That was unavoidable.
Masato looked down at the documents again. Each page listed the adventurer’s name, job, and stats and included a photo-realistic drawing of them.
“Our main criteria has to be combat balance… We’ve got two physical DPS units, so… It’d be good to have a tank and a healer. And a magic DPS unit and a support type, too… Hmm, but there’s also crafting jobs… We should have at least one person who can make items. Should we go for a team of seven?”
Starting with the jobs, taking faces and body types into account, allowing just a trace of his own tastes in, Masato narrowed down the selection.
“Here’s a good start.”
Party Candidate One. Name: Lucera. Age: sixteen. Job: Heavy Knight. A type of tank that drew enemy attacks, with a skill that added damage received to attack, so it would also put out some decent DPS if needed.
The illustration was pretty great. She had a slender frame clad in heavy armor, delicate fingers clutching a sturdy shield, imposing features indicative of a strong will… Maybe a little uptight looking, but if you broke through her shell, she probably had a cute side. There was definitely potential in that contrast.
“Next… Oh, an elf!”
Party Candidate Two. Name: Salite. Age: nineteen (in human years). Job: Priest. A recovery-magic expert. Could also purify the undead.
Clad in a grass-green robe, with her hands clasped over a pendant that resembled a holy tree. The picture gave the impression of an elegant older sister, a beautiful elf with a pleasant smile.
“Perfect, this is really coming along. Next… Oh, this is a scrappy-lookin’ girl!”
Party Candidate Three. Name: Torino. Age: fourteen. Job: Thief. With skills that boosted the first attack taken and the overall party speed. Also lock-picking.
She wore a tank top and shorts. Light equipment showing plenty of skin. If she moved as nimbly as she looked like she could, you might catch a little glimpse of something. He’d have to watch where he was looking.
“A little peep now and then never hurt anyone. Any party needs a little skin! Right—that’s a good start!”
Masato lined the three pages up and checked them over again. Party defense, healing, and a support class. He felt this covered their combat needs pretty well.
“Right. Made up my mind. Mom, we’ll start with these three. Take a look.”
“Gosh, such adorable girls! They’re all your type, Ma-kun?”
“That’s not what I meant! They just happened to look like that! Total coincidence!”
“Hee-hee. If you insist.” Mamako gave him an understanding smile. She clapped her hands. “Then next up, I’ll have to interview them.”
“…Huh?”
His mom was going to…interview them?
“Why wouldn’t I? I mean, one of these girls might end up being your girlfriend. As your mother, I simply have to get to know them a little first.”
“No, wait… I’m not picking potential girlfriends! This is just our party!”
“You don’t think adventuring with them could possibly lead to falling in love?”
“Er… I—I mean…”
It wasn’t completely out of the question, and maybe he did hope for it…but he couldn’t admit that.
“Point is! That’s not the goal here! There’s no reason why party members would have to pass the mom test!”
“I’m here to inforform you that the mom-test requirement has been approved, on account of it sounds amazing.”
“Wha—?!”
Shirarase had joined them, bearing not only additional documents but also cards with a circle on one side and an X on the other.
Apparently, the mom tests were starting right away.