VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top Player no Shikakenin～-Chapter 33: Bandit Extermination・Strategy Meeting

Sorry about the lack of activity when it comes to releases.

At first I wasn’t going to release this chapter until I have reached a decision but since it’s taking far longer than expected, I decided to use this release to give you an update on the situation.

Like my previous post stated, things have changed and I’m currently unable to provide releases for free anymore. This is mostly because of real life events.

This doesn’t mean that I have given up on continuing to translate my series, so they are technically still not dropped.

I’ve personally been contacting groups lately to see if I can somehow get income from my releases while still keeping my release style, which means to release all my chapters to the public without hiding them behind paywalls and stuff like that.

What would this mean if I do find a group to take me in and have favorable terms? Hmm…I guess it would mean that I’ll be able to release more frequently again.

Since speed would be quite the important factor VRMMO would probably take a priority seat just because it’s personally easier and faster to translate than Bu ni Mi (not that I have been able to translate much of that these days).

That is to say, this pretty much means that whether I can continue translating as I am will depend mostly on the support of the readers.

Anyway, I guess I should leave it at that for now, I’ll make a proper post explaining things once all options are laid out and I reach a decision, back to the chapter at hand.

While I did say Walter is really a guy, Hind currently doesn’t know that for sure yet. Since in Japanese they can talk about this without specifying genders, it makes it a bit messy to translate.

This is the reason you see me jumping from referring to him as a he and a she, I just try to adapt to the current situation until the gender is revealed and I can finally just refer to him as a he.

That will be all for now, enjoy the chapter.

About 50 bandits have settled down in the mine, in game terms, this happened around 1 month ago.

Although an attack squad was sent to deal with them, they skillfully escaped from them.

They were driven away from the mountain that one time, but after some time passed, they gathered there again.

Making this 「Dram mountain」 their headquarters, they stole goods from people like merchants in the highways.

「So if we want to arrest them all in one sweep, we have to seal their escape route, right?」 (Hind)

「The latter will be difficult. When they drove them away that time they had sealed all the exits, but it seems like those bandits had remodeled the mines on their own」 (Herrschaft)

「Since they have returned, that means that there’s a chance that they made more escape routes」 (Hind)

「This is quite the difficult task, huh?」 (Tobi)

「This quest doesn’t make you think we can do it with 4 people…we just don’t have enough people for it…」 (Walter)

Since we climbed around 50% of the mountain, we entered a small cabin in the vicinity to rest.

There were some mining tools scattered throughout the small cabin but there was nothing else.

We secured a space in a corner and sat down.

After that, I took out the bread and jam I prepared beforehand.

Once your hunger gauge reaches 0 your HP will begin to slowly decrease, you have to be careful about that.

We stopped talking about the bandits for now and the conversation shifted to the food.

「I’m sorry. It was so sudden that I could only prepare something like this」 (Hind)

「No, I really appreciate it. You sure bother with all the small details…unlike Walter」 (Herrschaft)

「Uuu…」 (Walter)

「Don’t bully her that much. It’s the first time you have logged since the update, right? It can’t be helped if she didn’t know about the hunger system」 (Hind)

Since Herrschaft and Walter didn’t know about the contents of the update they didn’t prepare any food.

I had prepared a large amount of bread so there’s probably enough for us to eat on the way back too.

Following that, Walter’s face broke out into a smile.

「Hind-san…! Such kindness…」 (Walter)

「A-Ah…ahem! Hind-dono, is this jam the one you made in a hurry before?」 (Tobi)

「That’s right. It’s raspberry jam. They become sticky after you boil them for 3 minutes since it’s a game」 (Hind)

「You really manage to gather ingredients without me knowing even though we are playing together. Did you pick them up in the field?」 (Tobi)

「I saw them and picked them up. I think they are too good to be things that can be picked up for free. Would that make me small-minded?」 (Hind)

「Oh, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. If you are met with a situation where you can obtain something you can use immediately, I believe you should in fact just pick them up」 (Herrschaft)

Because of Herrschaft’s unexpected words, I opened my eyes wide.

Since she said she was a genuine ojou-sama I thought she would ridicule this kind of plebeian feelings.

「What are you getting surprised for? Those who have money are fundamentally stingy. We won’t think it twice when it’s necessary to invest, it’s just that we are easily misunderstood」 (Herrschaft)

「That way of thinking is nice. So it means to economize whenever you can right?」 (Hind)

「He found a kindred spirit huh? …Makes me jealous」 (Tobi)

「This is the first time I’ve seen ojou-sama enjoy talking to someone else other than family. Hind-san is amazing…」 (Walter)

「Nuh…!?」 (Tobi)

Once I opened the lid of the jar, the sweet fragrance of raspberries spread throughout the cabin.

I spread it over the Rye bread I had cut and gave each member 2 pieces.

As one would expect from meal time, Tobi had removed his hood, stored it in his inventory and took a bite.

「! This jam is delicious. It has a refreshing aroma and sourness, and it goes well with its moderate sweetness…」 (Herrschaft)

「I prepared it in a simple way with some honey. I didn’t have any time to taste test it, but if it suits ojou-sama’s taste it should be fine」 (Hind)

「Oh my, that’s a bad way to put it. If we had black tea here, location aside, it would make for a splendid tea time…」 (Herrschaft)

「Don’t be that unreasonable. Now that you said that, I still haven’t seen black tea leaves inside the game. They might not exist in the vicinity」 (Hind)

「Is that so? Ojou-sama likes black tea. If food is needed inside the game, I would like to prepare some for her if it was possible…」 (Walter)

「Eh…Herrschaft, do you like black tea that much?」 (Hind)

「You could say that you could imagine black tea flowing through me the same way blood does, I drink it because I like it」 (Herrschaft)

「That’s kind of amazing…just be careful of caffeine addiction…」 (Hind)

However, I haven’t seen tea appear in the trading BBS.

Speaking of caffeine, there’s no coffee either…

I believe that this situation was made so players circulate them somehow.

「In real life, the major country of origin of black tea are…India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, China and Indonesia, it should be these 5.

I think it would be fine to search for places that look similar to those places.

In Europe, England in particular, the culture of drinking black tea came in the 18th century so…」 (Hind)

「Since this game is set in the European middle ages, you mean that they haven’t been imported yet? No way…」 (Walter)

「Walter-dono, I’ll help you so don’t feel so down」 (Tobi)

「T-Thank you very much, Tobi-san. However, Hinds-san sure knows about a lot of things…I really admire that!」 (Walter)

「Nunuh!?」 (Tobi)

「Hey, why have been acting like that for quite a while? Why are you glaring at me?」 (Hind)

「It’s nothing. No real reason?」 (Tobi)

After eating a light meal to satisfy our hunger, we proceeded to finally talk seriously about how we’d exterminate the bandits.

We polished our plan while looking at the map of the tunnels provided by the mayor.

The map was from before the tunnels were remodeled, but the big spaces where people could live in were limited.

Even if they made new small tunnels, that fact wouldn’t change.

「In the end, there’s only one plan with our current situation. We are only 4 people after all」 (Hind)

「That’s true」 (Herrschaft)

「Eh? What would that be?」 (Walter)

「「Take their leader by surprise and capture him」」

Herscha and my voice agreed at the same time.

It was a bit embarrassing.

「So both of you think that they are not an unorganized group, but they instead move as a group with their leader at the center?」 (Walter)

「Thinking about how they escaped splendidly last time…」 (Hind)

「There’s no doubt about it. Their leader seems to be somewhat smart」 (Herrschaft)

It does seem like if we capture the leader, they’ll later scatter and won’t pose a threat.

I doubt even the mayor would expect for 4 people to annihilate all of them without letting anyone escape.

I checked the conditions of the quest and it said 「Eliminate the threat of the bandit group」 so there shouldn’t be any problems.

Next up should be where said leader is lurking around but…

「Here!」 (Herrschaft)

「I think he’s over here」 (Hind)

This was the first time that our opinions differed.

The point in the map Herscha pointed at was towards the middle where it would be easy to exit through various tunnels.

On the contrary, the place I pointed was at the end of the tunnels…basically the opposite direction of where we were climbing right now.

「I see…so you believe their leader has that kind of personality」 (Herrschaft)

「Well yeah. I think you are thinking too highly of their leader」 (Hind)

「In that case, should we split in 2 groups? I can’t discard both possibilities after all」 (Herrschaft)

「I agree. In reality, we don’t have enough information to be sure」 (Hind)

「Eh…your conversation is too complicated and I can’t follow…」 (Walter)

「I’d prefer if you could explain it in a way we could understand」 (Tobi)

「Ah, I’ll explain on the way. So, how are we going to divide the groups…」 (Hind)

First off, both Herrscha and I are rear-guards, and incidentally, we have differing opinions so we are going our own ways.

Anyway, there are limits to coordinated actions if both people are rear-guards.

When I asked him, Walter said that his job was martial artist, so there won’t be any issues with a balance between rearguards and vanguards.

It was a valuable chance to interchange, so I proposed switching partners.

Herscha and Walter didn’t have any issues with it, so I ended up going with Walter and Tobi would go with Herscha.

After all, I’m personally quite curious about something regarding Walter…

「L-Looking forward to working with you! Hind-san!」 (Walter)

「Yup, I’m counting on you. Don’t feel pressured, OK? Let’s take it easy」 (Hind)

「Y-Yes!」 (Walter)

「So, Tobi. Can I have a moment?」 (Hind)

「Hmm? What is it?」 (Tobi)

「Let’s talk outside the cabin…both of you, wait here for a moment. We’ll be right back」 (Hind)

For the time being, I stepped outside the cabin with Tobi.

We took an appropriate distance and I opened my mouth once we reached a spot where they wouldn’t be able to hear us.

There would be no problems if it was just me thinking too much about it, but I wanted to be prepared if it was really the case.

Tobi didn’t really question me for taking him there, but he grumbled while he had his arms crossed behind his head.

「If it was possible I’d have wanted to go with Walter-dono…」 (Tobi)

「…

This is regarding that Walter. I’m thinking that…there might be a possibility that he’s really a guy」 (Hind)

「…Hah?」 (Tobi)

The face Tobi made once he heard my words was pretty idiotic.

Then, he made a face as if he was saying 「What is this guy even saying?」 and that kind of irritated me.

Should I punch him?

「Well, you see…I don’t really mind if it’s just my misunderstanding. That would just keep you happy after all」 (Hind)

「I don’t believe it! I don’t! However, Wacchi intuition is good so that makes it scary! Stop! N-Now that you said that, he’s wearing a butler uniform instead of maid clothes…」 (Tobi)

「It’s not a fact yet. I’ll try to check by indirectly asking him questions while we go together…however, you should prepare yourself in case it’s true so you are not shocked when it comes to light. The truth is, if I make a mistake in the way I ask her it would be quite the rude thing to ask. On the other hand, there wouldn’t be any issues if it just ends with me being hated, right?」 (Hind)

「Wacchi…I, I’m glad that I’m your friend…! I’m sorry for glaring at you!」 (Tobi)

「Stop that. With that being said, do your best on your end. From the feeling Herscha gave, I believe she’s the emotional type. Don’t be reckless out there」 (Hind)

「Fumu. Like Yumir-dono?」 (Tobi)

「Yup, probably about the same? That’s just the feeling I got. Well then, I’m counting on you」 (Hind)

After that, we returned to the cabin, prepared our stuff and came out of the cabin together this time.

We continued climbing the mountain for the time being and separated once we saw the entrance to the tunnel in the distance.

Each one of us went our way with our pairs.