The Odd Jobs Effect

"Ah, it's almost time. I'm going to bed soon so I'll be logging off!"

"Yesss! Thank you for the feast today, yo!"

"It was just an apology, you don't need to worry about it. You all should get some rest too, it's a weekday."

Hm? Just as I was thinking that, Penpen chimed in.

"Mahariku-san, you haven't used the Restriction Release Code?"

"Restriction release…? What's that, some unofficial MOD? I don't want to get banned, so that's a bit… If this were a local game that'd be one thing, but this is an online game, however you slice it."

"It came in an official email, so that part's fine."

"Really? I'll check my email later and try it out tomorrow if it's there. See you all later."

With that, Mahariku-san vanished.

She left without even hearing what the Restriction Release Code actually does… With this, one night turns into three whole days, you know. It's definitely sketchy-sounding, though.

"… Hm? Mahariku-shi disappeared, yo? Why, yo?"

"Huh? Disappearing when you log out is totally normal, it's a game."

"… But we switch to Auto Mode, yo?"

"Maybe she warped somewhere? Like, to give her subordinates orders before logging off."

"Ah, right, yo. That makes sense, yo."

Well, that's about what you'd expect. Nothing strange about it.

"Anyway, it's gotten real late, but should we go check in with that merchant?"

"Oh crap. Totally forgot, yo."

"Here, here! I'll lead the way! Go straight at that corner!"

You can't go straight at a corner. What, are we supposed to clip through the wall?

Oh, Miitei-chan would just climb the wall and keep going. Right.

＊　＊　＊

After various dealings at the shop, placing our Home, and sleeping the night, I was reminded of our original objectives for coming to Suriad.

Of our several goals, two were already accomplished.

Registering a Fast Travel destination and discovering a new player.

Might as well set up a Home Connection with Mahariku-san too, if she had a Home.

That way we could visit other towns through it.

… Wait. Come to think of it, if we just stayed here waiting for Mahariku-san to come back, what would happen with the time difference between here and the outside?

Would Mahariku-san simply not show up for several days on our end? Or would a future version of Mahariku-san appear here from our perspective? … The latter would be terrifying. Feels like the world might collapse.

"Mahariku-shi said it was her first time meeting other players, too, yo. Guess players don't really move between towns much, yo."

"This game, you get Lost if you die. So maybe people just don't go adventuring much."

"A game where you don't go adventuring. What's even the point?"

"Games don't always involve traveling and adventuring. Mahariku-shi's basically playing a management sim."

"True, yo. And checking the Wiki, a lot of the players who left their towns to go adventuring seem to have died, yo. Like the one who tried to make a map."

Then again, Alto herself had left her starting town behind. Probably me too.

And even with Tsudon, we hadn't fully savored everything the town had to offer, and there was still plenty more to do. Without having exhausted it all, having little reason to move on was only natural.

"I'm gonna go check if the magic shop has Golem magic today!"

"Have fun. Alto, what should we do?"

"Hmm, how about checking the Adventurer Guild for any interesting quests, yo?"

"… Won't Mahariku-san get mad if we take quests in her territory?"

"Huh? Adventurer Guild quests are things that someone other than you picks up and does anyway, yo?"

"… Oh right, that's true."

Quests restocked automatically through the system anyway. Nothing to worry about.

"Well then, shall we hit up this town's Adventurer Guild?"

"Let's gooo, yo."

And so we arrived at the Adventurer Guild, but…

"EEEEK!? 'Odd Jobs'!?"

"H-help, help me, I'm sorry, I was wroooong! Why did you come to the guiiild!?"

"M-MOMMYYYY!!!"

… Well then! They were seriously terrified of us! Full-grown adults recoiling and wailing!

"What on earth did Mahariku-san do to them?"

"Probably roughed them up real good, yo?"

So she was that kind of person… She seemed like a capable working woman, though.

Wait, that was just the character's appearance. I didn't actually know anything about the person behind the screen.

Well, let's try talking to the receptionist at the counter. Oh, the receptionist here is an elf too.

"U-u-u-um, we don't have any quests here for 'Odd Jobs'-sama… Was there some kind of issue? As per your request, all quests aside from named requests are being shown to you first, s-so this counter shouldn't…"

Getting priority to check all the quests, huh. Pretty impressive, "Odd Jobs."

"We're not 'Odd Jobs,' yo. We're just regular adventurers from Tsudon, yo."

"… Huh, is that so?"

"That's right, yo. Honestly, why would you even… Oh. The halo, yo."

Ms. Receptionist's gaze was fixed on the tops of our heads. She'd clearly taken the halos as proof we were "Odd Jobs."

Still, monopolizing quests, huh…

"Monopolizing them isn't exactly praiseworthy, is it?"

"Huh? What are you talking about, yo? Players having priority on quests is totally normal, yo."

"… Right, that's true!"

If anything, NPCs snatching quests out from under you wouldn't happen outside of some special event!

Incidentally, there weren't any decent quests, so we ended up heading back without accepting any.