Ch.189[Episode 189] Unfamiliar Visitors

“Look at this. This is what meta is all about!”

Star I’m Not Little was gloating.

She was playing a new game called ALL 4 ONE, which was basically an RPG where you form a four-person party to hunt down demon folk.

As a passionate fan of Sir Dominic, her party was, unsurprisingly, composed of Tank Sir Dominic, Steampunk Sir Dominic, Field Commander Sir Dominic, and Knight Banneret Sir Dominic.

It was a ridiculous composition of four tanks, but thanks to Sir Dominic’s characteristically high stats, good traits, and special abilities, stable gameplay was possible, even if it took a bit longer.

“Look at this. Where are all those people who kept telling me I lack strategy and physical skills? This is strategy and this is skill!”

Star I’m Not Little gloated even more.

Currently, she was about to take down the Chapter 3 boss, Corrupted Cardinal Vindictus.

True to his setting as someone who turned an entire city into an undead lair through evil rituals, Vindictus summoned an absurd number of minions, but they had no effect on the tank Sir Dominics.

-Ugh, this is so boring;;

-This isn’t strategy or skill, it’s just throwing money at the game.

“Weren’t you the ones saying that drawing cards is also a skill? Of course this is skill!”

I’m Not Little was bickering with her viewers as usual.

“Anyway, I’ve almost got him now. Just about one more minute and he’s done.”

-A 4-DPS party would have killed him 20 minutes ago.

-For real lol

“Come on, we would have wiped in phase 2 long ago. Did you see how brutal that AoE attack was in phase 2?”

I’m Not Little confidently took her eyes off the game screen to look at the chat.

Vindictus had very little health left now.

And just as Sir Dominic was about to deliver the glorious final blow—

[Emergency Notice.]

A system window appeared in front of her, and the game froze.

“Huh? What? Wait, why is there a notice all of a sudden?”

-?

-Seems like an emergency notice.

I’m Not Little, startled by the sudden appearance of the system window, frantically pressed her keyboard and mouse.

ALL 4 ONE was a hardcore game where time continued to flow in-game even during pauses.

But no matter how much she pressed the keyboard and mouse, the system window in front of her wouldn’t disappear, so I’m Not Little eventually gave up and started reading the notice.

[By the will of the Unborn President, a collaboration event will be held.]

[We are also unsure of the Unborn President’s intentions, but the three collaboration targets are as follows: Sugar Heart Kingdom, Feralant, and the Orkdork Tribal Federation.]

[Whether fortunate or not, this collaboration will be conducted temporarily for experimental purposes.]

[The system will be unstable during the collaboration period.]

[It may be confusing, so please prepare accordingly.]

[That is all.]

“This seems… unnecessarily serious?”

That was I’m Not Little’s assessment after reading the notice.

Usually, when the system wrote notices or patch notes, it tried to be lively and cheerful.

But the text displayed in the system window now was completely devoid of humor or playfulness, dead serious.

I’m Not Little judged that this notice must be important.

“Collaboration, collaboration…”

-That’s not the issue right now though?

-All your Sir Dominics are dying?

-Ah, why did you have to tell her;;

“Huh?”

I’m Not Little suddenly noticed the messages in the chat and quickly turned her head.

Looking at the game screen, she let out a dumbfounded sound.

Knight Banneret Sir Dominic and Field Commander Sir Dominic were already down, and while Steampunk Sir Dominic and Tank Sir Dominic were still fighting, they were on the verge of collapse without immediate intervention.

“Uh, what?”

But I’m Not Little couldn’t process this sudden situation and just stared blankly.

In the end, the Sir Dominic party was wiped out with just one hit remaining.

“…”

-Ah, didn’t you say spending money is skill too? Even with all that money you still can’t win?

-Ahaha this is what meta is lol

“No, this couldn’t be helped! The notice suddenly appeared so I couldn’t do anything, what does this have to do with skill!”

I’m Not Little shouted at her viewers, feeling wronged.

But the viewers were still focused on teasing I’m Not Little.

Forgetting about the major event called collaboration.

…

“Where are we?”

“I don’t know. The only certain thing is that you have no sense of direction.”

On the outskirts of Gachaland.

There was a suddenly appeared cleric and mercenary.

The cleric wore high-quality white vestments and a tall hat, with a tall, skinny build and a stern appearance.

The mercenary, on the other hand, was two heads taller than the already tall cleric and four times bulkier, looking as fierce as an ogre or troll.

The mercenary rested a greatsword as tall as himself on his shoulder and adjusted his large mushroom-like hat.

“Why on earth did you enter that foggy forest?”

“Well… because someone called me.”

The cleric responded petulantly to the mercenary’s grumbling.

It was clearly the cleric’s fault, but his pride wouldn’t let him admit his mistake.

“Who called you?”

“The Holy Spirit, of course.”

“Holy Spirit? If you were going to make a pilgrimage to the holy land, you should have gone straight there, not let your curiosity lead you astray…”

“Ahem.”

The mercenary’s grumbling intensified.

But the cleric knew it was his fault, so he couldn’t bring himself to scold the mercenary.

“Anyway, where are we?”

The cleric looked around, trying to change the subject.

“I don’t know. But it doesn’t seem to be Feralant.”

The mercenary said, looking at the tall buildings.

As a veteran who prided himself on having been everywhere in Feralant, he at least knew that buildings of this style didn’t exist in Feralant.

“Then… did we cross a border?”

“That’s impossible. That place was far from any border. No matter how vast the forest, that’s just not possible.”

The mercenary shook his head at the cleric’s words.

“The fog was so thick, how can you be sure whether it was a border or not?”

The cleric retorted.

“Because there are no tall buildings like these near Feralant’s borders.”

The mercenary replied curtly, adjusting his constantly slipping hat.

“Feralant is a barren place. Its surroundings wouldn’t be any different.”

“…I see.”

The cleric accepted the mercenary’s explanation.

Aside from being a battlefield against demon folk and a resting place for numerous heroes, Feralant was indeed an unremarkable place.

“Then we should at least find out where we are… Ah, excuse me. Where is this place?”

The cleric stopped a passerby.

The person had strange hair styled forward and curled up tightly, and both his hair and clothes suggested he was quite an unusual character.

“Huh? Who are you guys!”

“I am Arkus, a bishop from Feralant, and this is my bodyguard and mercenary, Ogreson.”

“What? Feralant? Outsiders! This is Gachaland, you fools!”

What an incredibly rude person, thought Cleric Arkus.

“Gachaland? Where is that region located?”

Mercenary Ogreson asked.

Ogreson was a bit more accustomed to these situations than Arkus.

“Gachaland is Gachaland! You seem to be people from outside, so take these!”

The rude person tossed two pouches to Arkus and Ogreson.

Instinctively catching the pouches, they curiously opened them on the spot.

Inside were red potions.

“I’ve been working three part-time jobs lately, so I have some extra funds! So—”

“What is this…”

Arkus took out one potion and examined it with surprised eyes.

An amazingly mystical red potion.

This was definitely a potion.

To give away so many of these expensive potions.

“Don’t interrupt me! I’ll let it slide since you’re newbies! Anyway, that’s only half of my monthly living expenses, so don’t feel burdened and use them freely, newbie!”

With those words, the ruffian sauntered off and disappeared into an alley.

“Sorry I couldn’t give you more!”

That was his final remark.

“…Are these really potions?”

Ogreson asked Arkus with surprised eyes.

Instead of answering, Arkus took out a ceremonial dagger from his waist and slightly cut the tip of his finger.

As blood flowed out, Arkus carefully opened one potion and dropped a single drop onto his injured finger.

The wound healed instantly.

Trying to calm his racing heart, Arkus said to Ogreson:

“It seems… these are indeed potions.”

Arkus and Ogreson could only blink in amazement at this incredible treasure trove.

…

This wasn’t happening only to Arkus and Ogreson.

“Where are we?”

“I don’t know, boing! But I can feel tremendous sweet energy, boing!”

Girls in frilly dresses and talking cute animals.

“Boss! This must be our destination!”

“You idiot! How could this be our destination! We’re supposed to go to the human fortress!”

“But look at this! High walls and lots of strong-looking humans! This must be the fortress!”

“…Is that so?”

Somewhat dim-witted orcs were also starting to appear throughout Gachaland.

What new winds would blow through Gachaland with the arrival of these newcomers?

That remained to be seen.