Chapter 1-10 : Plan (part 1)
「Took you long enough.」(Gaul)
「Sorry about that.」(Shougo)
「That’s an NPC’s house, right? What’s your business with an NPC?」(Gaul)
「Well…」(Shougo)
「Aa! Alice-san, were you crying? Your eyes look watery.」(Shuu)
While Shougo was talking with the guy in heavy armor, Gaul, the guy with a spear, Shuu, noticed my watery eyes.
「A, haha… Yeah, but it’s notー」(Alice)
「ーThis is unforgivable! I can’t forgive someone who makes a cute girl cry! I’ll go teach them lessons!」(Leone)
「You’re right! I’ll go with you!」(Shuu)
「W, Wait! It’s not what you think!」(Alice)
The Onee-san-type woman, Leone, suddenly became furious too.
Leone and Shuu then turned to Nansa’s house, but before they could step forward, the witch girl, Kururu pulled their collars to stop them.
「Stop, both of you! Didn’t you hear her? It’s not what you think!」(Kururu)
「Hm? Is that so?」(Leone)
「Y, Yeah! Anyway, look! I have a lot of potions for all of us!」(Alice)
I took out all the potions we got from Nansa from my【Storage】.
「Woow!」(Shuu)
「There are so many!」(Leone)
「Did you get all this from the NPC in that house?」(Kururu)
「Yes. Her name is Nansa. She’s my friend!」(Alice)
「Friend…? You’re friends with an NPC…?」(Kururu)
「Yup.」(Alice)
Is it weird to befriend an NPC…?
「Say, Shougo, this many potions are not for free, right?」(Gaul)
「You’re good at guessing as always. Yeah, I made a promise with Nansa, but before I explain further, there’s something I want to ask you guys.」(Shougo)
「Hm? What is it?」(Gaul)
「What do you think about the NPCs in this game?」(Shougo)
「What kind of question is that? Aren’t NPCs characters other than players?」(Gaul)
「As the name suggests, they’re non-player characters.」(Shuu)
「They’re like characters to make this game look more lively, I guess?」(Leone)
「I think they are nothing more than programs.」(Kururu)
「I see. You’re not wrong. Most people think that way. Me too, at least until I met the owner of that house, Nansa. After talking with her, I realized that NPCs are not just characters or programs. They are true residents of this world.」(Shougo)
「Uhh… I don’t understand what you’re saying…」(Gaul)
「What I want to say is that NPCs have their own will, feelings, and emotions just like us. When I talked with Nansa, I didn’t feel like talking with a robot, but with a person.」(Shougo)
「So, you say that they’re like human beings in this world?」(Gaul)
「Yeah. Do you remember what the president of this game’s developer company said in the live stream?」(Shougo)
「Umm… If I’m not mistaken, he said that the NPCs in this game are ‘alive’…」(Gaul)
「Ah, I remember that too!」(Shuu)
「He also said that the monsters are ‘alive’ too, right?」(Leone)
「He said that after someone asked that unique question.」(Kururu)
「You guys, know what. The person who asked that question was Alice.」(Shougo)
「Eh? Really?」(Shuu)
「I see~」(Leone)
「Waiー Shougo!」(Alice)
Ugh, now everyone is staring at me. This is embarrassing!
「Stupid Shougo! You didn’t have to tell everyone! You only made Alice troubled, you know!」(Rin)
Rin scolded Shougo for me, but it only made me feel even more embarrassed…
「Ahaha… I’m sorry. Anyway, let’s get back to the topic. Being alive means that they act on their own accord. Nansa hates players because they treat her badly, except for Alice, it seems. Not only her but most NPCs in this town hate players. It’s only been six days in-game time and two days in real-world time since this game was released, but don’t you guys think that the NPCs’ attitude toward players has gotten worse?」(Shougo)
「Now that you mention it, they do seem a bit colder than the first time I logged in.」(Gaul)
「Yeah, I notice it too. Well, some still behave like usual, but some others are clearly colder toward me than before.」(Shuu)
「I thought they were set to act like that.」(Leone)
「Yeah. They were made with the latest AI technology after all, so I thought they were programmed that way, but… Seems like I was wrong.」(Kururu)
Hold on… So, everyone noticed the change in the NPCs’ behavior, but… Why didn’t I?
All the NPCs I’ve interacted with so far have been nice to me.
Is it because I helped them…?
「Anyway, I had the same thoughts as you guys, but I changed my mind after talking to Nansa. Now, I think that the NPCs are really living in this world as human beings.」(Shougo)
「Alright, we understand your point, but what does that have to do with this large amount of potions?」(Gaul)
「Nansa told me that if we, players, don’t change our attitude toward the NPCs, which are the residents of this world, there’s a high chance they won’t do business with us in the future.」(Shougo)
「I see…」(Gaul)
「Oi, oi, seriously!?」(Shuu)
「That would be bad!」(Leone)
「We won’t be able to buy equipment and other stuff…」(Kururu)
「Not only that. Since monsters have their own minds too, they might come to attack this town. If we don’t cooperate with the NPCs, I’m not sure we can win.」(Shougo)
「In other words, this town might be destroyed if players don’t have a good relationship with the NPCs.」(Gaul)
「Exactly.」(Shougo)
If this town disappeared, there would be no safe zone around this region, and there would be no place for us players to safely login and logout.
Moreover, if that happened, the NPCs living in other towns would have a hard time trusting us players. They might do things on their own without relying on us.
As a result, all the NPCs in this world might keep their distance from us.
「That’s why Nansa asked me to do something about it in exchange for these potions.」(Shougo)
「I see… Looks like this problem is much bigger than we expected.」(Gaul)
「They talked about it too during the live stream, but I doubt anyone took it seriously.」(Shuu)
「Yeah, except Alice-chan who asked that question during the live stream! Not only is she cute but she’s also super smart!」(Leone)
「Many people said that was a stupid question, but… I see now. So she wanted to warn other players about this. I couldn’t believe she could predict that far.」(Kururu)
「Umm…」(Alice)
Of course, I didn’t predict it. I asked that question just because I was curious if the monsters were alive since my main purpose for playing this game is that I want to hunt monsters and turn them into delicious dishes.
But… There’s no way I could tell them… It would be super embarrassing…
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