Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 26: Lucky Annie

A few days passed and, much to relief, I managed to finish my homework before the weekend. Sure, I still needed to study for next week's exams, but at least I had one less burden to worry about. And I couldn't believe I was saying this, but setting up a small food and potion stand in <Isekai> had gone off without a hitch.

At first, I was a bit reluctant to set up shop after what happened at the <Crafting Hall>. But after following Damon's advice, not only did Kaz and I survive the wave of customers, but we managed to sell a lot of rabbit steaks along with those strangely crafted potions that Kaz made in our first day. I still don't know why we sold so few [Healing Potions] and [Mana Potions], but we managed to earn about 1500 [Lapi] that day. Ever since then, we'd spent the rest of our days after school selling food and potions due to the short time we had to be in the game because of our studies. It was a bit boring for Kazuki, but it was all we could do for now. As for Zac, he decided to help out Damon on learning how to play the game until he was prepared enough, and gave us advice that we should seek out a player who knew how to make armor themselves rather than visiting an armory. I didn't know why, but it was the best we can do for now.

Thankfully for us, today was Veteran Day, meaning there was no school. So we could play <Isekai Online> almost all day. We had already eaten breakfast, so we immediately logged into the game and walked around the sunny streets of <Initio>. As usual, I saw several players entering and leaving town while some were chatting at the town square and setting up food and potion stands. Thankfully for today, we weren't going to set up shop today as we already had plans to sharpen our crafting skills.

"Alright! Man, I'm excited! Just the thought of building new weapons makes me want to get out there and conquer more monsters and dungeons more than ever!" Kazu declared loudly through the streets, which caused some people to stare at us as a result.

"Hey, quiet down, Kaz! I know you're excited about the weapons crafting, but we still need to find someone who can make new armor for us. I don't know how long it will take to complete, but I do know we need to make use of our remaining time in the game carefully. Considering that there is a chance for us to lose time the longer we're here, I feel we need to schedule our activities for now."

"That's true. But how can we even find an armor crafter around here? There are so many crafters in <Initio> and I don't know if there's one willing to take the time to make some equipment for us to use."

That was true. With the amount of players around the city, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. It wasn't like we could just bump into anyone who can help us find...

"Um... Excuse me..."

Huh?

As Kazu and I heard a voice behind us, we turned around at the same time to see a young girl wearing an auburn dress, white long socks, and black Mary-Jane shoes. I would have shrugged her off as another NPC, except she was also wearing silver pauldrons around her shoulders and a purple belt with a dagger hanging on her left hip. Not only that, she was carrying a large bag in her hands that seemed to be too big for her.

"Um... Can you help A- I mean help me? I'm lost... I don't know where my big sister is and I don't know where I am right now... She said not to wander around without her permission. But I didn't listen to her and now, I don't know where she is." The girl sniffled, at which I saw her trying to hold her tears, but it was in vain as she started to cry. "Why did my big sister drag me here in the first place? I don't like this place, I don't know much about video games! Plus, it's too scary and there are too many people! I want to go home! I want to go back with my Mommy and Daddy!"

Oh boy... Just seeing her like this reminded me a lot of Kazuki all those years ago. Not only that, just the mere mention of "video games" made me realize that she was a player of <Isekai>, albeit in an unwilling manner. I decided to try to comfort her a bit to help her to stop crying. However, Kazu quickly approached her first and smiled to her as he said to her, "Hey, don't be scared! We're going to find your big sister and if you're scared of anyone, we will protect you as well. Right, Wind?"