ONLINE GAMERS {ARC 1 CHAOS IN ASTRAL CITY} CHAPTER 13

In the center of the guild hall/bar, a deadly standoff was taking place between two of the most high-ranking players there.

“Re zero!”

“Redo of healer!”

Even close comrades disagreed on certain things.

While others might take such a debate lightly for these two, it was a matter of utmost seriousness.

Players looked on in amazement as the two-level six each took a swig of guild brand booze from their cups before continuing their verbal warfare.

The level six fighter, Homura.

And the level six arch priest Mahatama.

“C’mon, can’t we just agree that they’re both great!?” He argued.

“No! Re zero is by far better, the plot, the animation, the characters! I can go on and on! I can’t believe you’re comparing Redo of Healer to the masterpiece that is Re:Zero!

Homura fought the urge to equip her scissors and cut him down.

“You perv! You dirty boy! You fucking weeb! You like it cause of all the lewd! Don’t lie, you get off on it!”

“Yes, I do.” He replied matter-of-factly, “Tsk tsk, tsk... You just don’t get it, do you Homura-chan...”

He paused to let out a disappointed sigh, then patted Homura on the shoulder, “Redo of healer isn’t trying to be some masterpiece, it’s a story about a man on a path of revenge seeking salvation. And by it not trying so hard to impress, it becomes a genuine masterpiece!”

She shuddered away in shock. “No way. You’re delusional. Don’t tell me you seriously believe that crap coming out of your mouth!”

If he was simply trolling her, it was one thing, but if he genuinely believed what he said, then...

“Yes, I do.” He said with a face of pure enlightenment.

“A story about revenge, you say?” She scoffed, “don’t make me laugh. You watch it for the ecchi scenes!”

“Yes. And for the plot.”

◆◆◆

Enshu village.

It was a bright and sunny morning. The weather was giving off a real spring vibe. Farmers were out and about picking wheat and rice in the fields. In this serene village where everyone knew everyone, two kids walked the dirt road.

A red tractor drove passed the small seven-year-old boy Shota Kobayakawa, whom was in his school uniform.

“Shota, how far is it?” A girl from his class asked.

Shota marched along the sandy road with a friend in tow.

“Not far, Hime-neechan lives nearby here.” Shota said.

“Is she really a player?” His friend asked.

“Mmhmm! She really is!”

“Wow!”

The two children then diligently marched onwards to Hime’s abode.

◆◆◆

A small house out on the outskirts.

It was the home of one of the strongest people in the world.

The leaves waved and swayed in the wind, and the bright summer light blocked by the large tree outside of Hime’s house created an optimal shade for relaxing.

“.... haaah....”

She let out a long, silent breath.

She felt it coming—rather her body knew it was coming.

{Unique skill} <<auto react>>

With little to no effort, the busty blonde samurai dodged her attacker’s wooden sword, but even so the man twisted his body to strike Hime with a spinning back kick which she easily avoided.

“We already know you can avoid any hit thanks to your Player ability’s or whatever, the point of this training is to improve your sword skills!” He spat as he missed swing after swing.

“O-Okay…” Hime replied, retreating behind the cover of a nearby tree.

“Quit ya running! And use the bloody sword techniques I taught you!”

“S-sorry!”

As the man brandished his wooden training sword, Hime brandished her usual sword. 

Why wasn't she using a wooden sword as well? 

One might ponder what type of sparring match allowed for such an unfair advantage in her favor? But that was not the case.

Hime did not use a wooden sword because anything in her hands becomes the ultimate weapon. 

She instead opted for an item known as <<dull sword>> she got from her friend Percival.

It was actually safer for her opponents and a disadvantage to her.

The <<dull sword >> came with a multitude of debuffs.

The item negatively lowered most of her stats but came with a boost in defense. The reason Takashi had Hime equip such an item was so that he wouldn’t accidentally kill anyone.

How such an item found itself in Percival’s inventory who gave it to Hime was beyond her, she was just happy to have it.

Takashi had been training tirelessly over the last year.

His instructor sneered at him. “Don’t go holding back on me!” he said charging at Takashi for the umpteenth time. This time however Takashi decided to put the techniques he had learnt to good use. After avoiding the initial strike Hime raised her guard and delivered a finishing blow.

CRAAACK!

The <<dull sword>> may have weakened her so that she could not kill, but Hime was still a level nine, a good blow to the head from her would put anyone to sleep.

“N-no I killed him!” The boy was not dead, just unconscious but Hime had no way of knowing.

Takashi panicked as he frantically tried to wake up his master.

At that exact moment two first children from the village arrived at Hime’s abode.

“S-shota, and a friend of yours?” Hime asked, as she continued to try to resuscitate her master.

Shota was the little brother to one of Hime’s close friends Miyu.

“I told you her house was really far away!” Shota said.

“She’s really pretty and her chest is huge!” Ruby replied.

Hime blushed a storm. This definitely wasn’t what she needed right now.

“Uh-h, did you need something.” She asked, her expression cool as a cucumber, despite being on fire on the inside.

“Nee-chan asked me to bring you this,” Shota said, then handed Hime a book.

“Why!?” Takashi cursed internally upon seeing the book.

It was Mimiko’s homework book, but why would Miyu have it? And why would it be sent to Hime?

Takashi only took a second to realize Mimiko probably asked Miyu to do her homework, but Miyu being Miyu was too lazy to do it, and delegated the job to him.

“Is he sleeping?” Ruby—Shota’s friend pointed to Hime’s passed out master.

“A-hh yes! Anyway! I’ll take care of it; you can go now.”

Takashi really wanted the two of them gone immediately.

“ No! We want juice!” Shota and his friend cheered. 

“Yeah!”

◆◆◆

It took several hours of playing and some juice before Shota and friend left. All the while Hime's master was still passed out. After sending the two children off Hime fell to the floor exhausted.

Under the shade of a tree, the third strongest player was lazily sprawled over the ground. A passing breeze made her long golden bangs brush softly against her head.

Tsurugi Hime, third ranked player and second ranked level nine, sighed and fell asleep under the shade.

Takashi had a dream about how he had begged his master—Senta to train him.

Is he okay?

Takashi was getting worried said master. It had been several hours and he still had not woken up yet.

He was dreaming.

“Will you please train me!” She wanted to become stronger, to protect that which mattered to her, and something inside him told him that this girl—Hime, as she called herself, needed to get stronger.

He tried turning her down but she simply begged.

“Sorry I ain’t got the time—eh, what’re ya doing?”

Hime got on her knees, head on the ground, and pleaded.

“Please! I beg you, help me get stronger.”

He sighed

“Fine

When he opened his eyes, it was morning and he was in an unfamiliar room, lying in an unfamiliar bed.

Dazed and confused Senta sat up. He was still wearing the clothes he’d had on the other day.

He glanced around. He was in a simple small room, for one...

Small might not have been the best way to describe it, but whoever’s room this was it certainly wasn’t big enough for two.

“Small...”

Senta wasn’t trying be rude by calling it small, the room just gave off the impression that only a single person could sleep comfortably in it.

The room lacked any defining features. 

To begin with, there was a bed in the center of the room, a long circular mounted mirror on the wall and ...huh?... And that was all, nothing more, just a bed and a mirror. Senta couldn’t help thinking how plane and boring this person must have lived. 

He couldn't see anything else, no closet, no posters, no stuff, just a plain room.

But why the hell was he in this desolate room?

How did I get here? Nah, where exactly is here? And what happened to Tsurugi-san?

The last thing he remembered was training with the blonde-haired player who had been living in his village and...?

Aside from that, it was all...It was all blank.

“Ugh...?”

His head hurt.

He decided to get out of bed and figure out the rest from there. For now, at least, he had to get home and let his parents know he was safe, he could reflect on yesterday’s events and everything else after that.

“Ugh... Wha—?!”

Just as he was about to leave— He noticed, Tsurugi Hime, the girl he was training, had been sleeping on the bed beside him, in just her underwear? 

The only thing she had on was underwear? 

Why was she in her underwear?

Black panties huh, Senta thought. He never would have guessed.

She didn't strike him as the type. 

Her back was to him, and she was sleeping face down, Senta couldn’t help but think what a nice thigh-to-butt ratio she had. Only after thinking that did, it occur to him that he was in a room with a naked girl.

One could only wonder what might have happened last night?

Her hair was splayed across the bed. All she wore was conservative black lace underwear. It perfectly accentuated her round butt. Sure, he could see her breasts but that was beside the point, what caught his eye was, Tsurugi-san in her Underwear. Tsurugi Hime in her underwear? His mind kept repeating that fact like a broken record, how many times had he thought underwear?

He was so close to the slender girl sleeping on the bed that he could reach out and touch her.

“Haaah, ahaaah, haaah, haaah” He panted heavily, unable comprehend what kind of situation he was in.

Before he could let his mind drift further into the gutter, something stopped him. The sad face on the girl sleeping next to him caused Senta to catch his breath.

“Mmm-mom....D-dd-dad...I, I’m,” She mumbled something in her sleep. Her face tensed and she was sweating badly, Senta reached out to touch her, but she opened her eyes and met his gaze instead.

Silence. Then—

“—Morning, master.” She said, without missing a beat.

He was in fact her sword training master so she wasn’t wrong but, in this situation, calling him master was a little more than just arousing. It was downright sexy.

◆◆◆

When Takashi awoke, Senta—his master was already up.

“Ts-Tsurugi-san!” His face was flushed and his breathing was ragged. He seemed to also have a mild erection.

She was clad in nothing but lingerie.

Her massive bosom was within eye shot.

Takashi was no idiot, of course Senta would be aroused in a situation like this. Any healthy male would.

The real question was why had it taken Takashi such a long time to realize just how embarrassing this was? The answer was simple. 

It was because of Hime’s character bio, anything written there would affect the Player—his own personality and common sense could be altered by whatever had been added to Hime's bio. Akari had no doubt written something that made Hime clueless in situations like this.

“Um-m, m-master, I, I… I’m sorry I can be dumb sometimes!” She said as she tried to cover herself with a blanket.

“Y-yeah...” Senta nodded back.

As if to make this awkward situation worse Mimiko burst through Hime's bedroom door.

“Why are you in your underwear? This is bad Sayuri-chan won't like this...” Mimiko smirked.

For reasons unknown, Hime was dressed exclusively in sexy black lingerie and there was a guy in the room with her. Actually the guy was a classmate pf Mimiko's.

Takashi tried to come up with an explanation but his voice was to drowned in shame to come out.