Something about him seemed like a thoughtful older brother. He also gave off the impression of being popular with girls.
“And well . . .”
“You had too many at once, and they stabbed you or something?” Ren said, laughing to himself.
Motoyasu snapped his eyes open in surprise, then nodded.
“Yeah, well . . . Women are terrifying.”
“Goddammit!” I took no time to disguise my anger and found myself flicking him off. He could die for all I cared . . . Or wait. I suppose he already had. Is that how they got here?
But wait . . . Itsuki placed his hand over his heart and began to speak.
“Now it’s my turn. I was on my way home from prep school. I went to cross the road, but a dump truck came screaming around the corner at full speed. And then . . .”
Again, we all fell to silence.
So he was almost certainly hit by a truck . . . What a sad way to go . . .
But wait . . . Wasn’t I kind of an outlier in this situation? “Uh . . . do we really all have to talk about how we got here?”
“Well, we all already have.”
“I guess. Well . . . Sorry everyone. I was at the library, flipping through a book I’d never seen before. Before I knew it, I woke up here.”
Again, silence.
They were staring at me, cold as ice.
What was that supposed to mean? Did I have to come here under miserable circumstances to be part of their group?
The three of them started whispering among themselves so that I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
“Yeah . . . but he . . . he has a shield.”
“I knew it . . . Motoyasu, you too?”
“Yeah . . .”
I started to feel like they were making fun of me. It was time for a change of subject.
“All right, so is it fair to assume that we all have a pretty good idea about how the system in this world works?”
“Sure.”
“Done it a thousand times.”
“I think I get it well enough.”
Well, there you have it . . . but wait! Am I the only noob here?! This sucks.
“W . . . Well . . . Maybe you guys could teach me what I need to know to fight in this world? There were no games like this where I’m from.”
Ren narrowed his eyes and glared at me. Again, ice cold. For whatever reason, Motoyasu and Itsuki were looking at me with kindness.
“All right then, your big brother Motoyasu will, as best he can, teach you the basics.” He sounded fake with that big smile on his face. Soon his hand was on my shoulder, and he was talking away.
“First of all, and I’m only talking about the game I know, Emerald Online . . . but you’re a ‘shielder.’ Basically, your job is to use the shield and protect people.”
“Uh huh.”
“In the beginning, your defense is super high, which is great and all, but as you go up in levels, the damage you start to take gets a little unbalanced.”
“Uh huh . . .”
“There are no high-level shielders. At higher levels, it’s a useless class.”
“Noooooooooooooo!”
That was not what I wanted to hear. What was with the death report? All they wanted to say was that I was doomed? Hey, no thanks!
“What about updates? Were there no updates?”
Like . . . to balance out my class?!
“Nope. Because of the game’s system and because of the game’s population, the class was abandoned pretty early on. It’s really not good for much. I think they had even planned to delete the class altogether . . .”
“And I guess I can’t change jobs?!”
“Well the associated jobs are all . . . How do I put it? Dead.”
“And I can’t change?”
“Nah, the game never let you switch to another job tree.”
WHAT?! Was I really stuck with the worst job in the game? I was staring at the shield in my hands and thinking. Was my future really so gloomy?
“What do you guys think?” I asked, turning to Ren and Itsuki, but they both turned away from me.
“Sorry . . .”
“I feel the same . . .”
No! So I really was stuck with the short straw? I was dwelling on this absentmindedly when I saw the three of them in the corner of my eye. They were all deep in conversation about the game.
“What about the geography?”
“The names are different, but the map seems to be the same. If the map is the same, there’s a high probability that the division of efficient monsters is the same also.”
“The best hunting grounds will be different for each weapon. Probably best to make sure we go to different places.”
“True. We need to focus on efficiency.”
Did they all know enough about the game to figure out how to cheat? It started to look that way. Hey, there’s a thought. If my class was so weak, I could just depend on them to support me.
There were plenty of ways to do it. Even if I were weak, fighting with the party would get me experience to level up. What is another world if not an opportunity to fight with your brothers to deepen your bonds? That’s how it was supposed to work, right?
Now, if only there were a girl or two in the party. Then things would be perfect. If I was a shielder, I wouldn’t do the fighting. I’d just protect my teammates, right? I didn’t really have a chance to meet any girls back in my world, but things might be different here.
“Hmm . . . Well, it will be fine. I mean, we are in a whole new world! Even if I’m not the strongest character, I’m sure something will work out.”
They looked at me as if they were looking at something pitiful . . . or at least, I thought that’s how they were looking at me. If I let it bother me, I’d be doomed before we even got started. Besides, I was equipped to defend, and this wasn’t a game. I could just get rid of my special shield and get a weapon instead.
“All right, let’s do this!” I forced myself to show some gumption.
“Heroes, we have prepared a meal for you.”
What’s that? Looks like we were going to get a nice dinner.
“Nice.”
We opened the door, and the attendant guided us to the knight’s dining hall for dinner.
It was like something out of a fantasy movie. The dining hall of a great castle! There was a large table in the center laid out like a buffet with all sorts of food.
“Everyone, please eat whatever you like.”
“What? I guess we are eating with the castle knights?” Ren mumbled to himself.
How could someone complain about a dinner like this? Damn, he was rude.
“You misunderstand. This food has been prepared for you. The knights will not be permitted to enter until you have had your fill,” said the attendant.
I looked around the room only to find that the boisterous crowd we’d assumed were other diners was actually composed chiefly of cooks. I suppose this was meant to imply that the four of us were of higher priority than the castle knights.
“Thank you. Let’s eat then.”
“Yeah.”
“Right on.”
And so we began to dine on the food of this new world. The culinary sensibilities were not what I was used to, but it was certainly not disgusting. There wasn’t anything I wasn’t able to stomach.
And yet, something that looked like an omelet tasted more like oranges, and many of the dishes combined flavors that never went together where I was from.
We finished eating and found ourselves growing sleepy on the way back to our rooms.
“Think they have a bath?”
“Well, it looks like the Middle Ages around here. They might have a bathtub, though.”
“If you don’t request it, I doubt they will provide one.”
“I guess I can let it go for one day.”
“Yeah, I’m getting tired, and the adventure starts tomorrow. Better get a good night’s sleep.”
Everyone nodded in agreement to Motoyasu’s suggestion, and we went to our beds.
The four of us, including me, were obviously excited for the next day to come. Still, we fell asleep very quickly.
Our adventure began the next day!