Grudges Over Food

Mahariku-san came to visit Tsudon.

Her escorts were Yon and Roku-chan.

Penpen was busy leveling up her crafting as Penpen-chan. We each had our second characters helping out at Penpen's ranch while we took a short break.

I was planning to head to the guild in a bit to pick up some quests.

"Home really is incredible… If you combined it with Storage to move trade goods around, you could destroy the entire existing economy in no time."

"I'd rather not trigger some 'save the crisis' type mission, so going easy would be the way to go, yo."

"True～"

Mahariku-san shrugged as if to say good grief.

"Speaking of which, I heard you used the 'Delicious Steak' the other day? What kind of effect did it have?"

"I've been curious about that too!"

"Huh, Alto didn't tell you?"

"Didn't tell 'em, yo."

"I see～. Well, to be honest… it was a god-tier item…!"

"A god-tier item?!!"

I smugly answered with a heh heh heh.

"Yeah, so Tria, what was the actual effect?"

"It was insanely delicious."

"…The effect??"

"It was insanely delicious."

"Any stat increases or anything?"

"…Affection probably went up?"

That's right. In terms of game mechanics, it didn't raise any stats whatsoever. It was simply a very delicious item. In the flavor sense.

"So it really was an Affection-boosting item!"

"What's that supposed to mean? For us, Affection goes up just fine on its own."

"Also, I got meat delivered in real life."

"Meat? Wait, what do you mean?"

"A 'Delicious Steak' showed up at my place in real life, too. I actually ate it, and it was every bit as incredible as in-game. That was definitely natural meat."

"…Huh?"

Mahariku-san tilted her head.

"You're saying you won some kind of campaign?"

"Who knows. A natural meat steak just showed up at my house."

"Well, it's not exactly unheard of for games to run extravagant giveaway campaigns."

"…You get meat delivered in real life too?! M-Maybe I should try it myself?"

"Well, you can earn SP through SP Quests, so it might be worth a shot."

Though there was a chance it wouldn't show up if it was just some limited campaign.

"Oh, Penpen. If you're gonna eat it, you should do it in a private room."

"Huh, why's that, Tria-shi?"

"Because it's so delicious that if someone asked 'Can I have a bite?', you'd feel murderous."

"…They do say grudges over food are the scariest. Got it! I'll go eat real quick!"

"Make sure to bring Gin-chan along, though."

"Why?"

"Don't blame me if Gin-chan complains later."

"…They do say grudges over food are the scariest!!"

With that, Penpen called Gin-chan and headed to a private room.

Eat to your heart's content. Heh heh heh.

"Anyway, I've also been curious about the 'Reward Pancakes.'"

"If it is a campaign, there's no guarantee meat or food will keep showing up every time, you know? I'd think it's better not to waste them… but then again, telling others how to play is bad manners."

"Even if nothing showed up, just the VR experience alone was heavenly. SP Quests keep appearing even after you clear them, and I've got some to spare… I definitely want to eat it again."

"Right, SP Quests are a thing… When you put it that way, it's not that expensive and might be worth it. I wonder if I'll be eligible for them soon?"

SP Quests that leveraged a plant-talking skill… What would those even look like?

Maybe something like restoring weakened fields.

"Not just Penpen, Miitei can make plant nutrients too, so let me know if you need any."

"That'd help. If it's plant-related, I'd want some herbicide prepared too."

Right, it wouldn't just be about reviving plants. Having weed killer on hand would be useful too.

"Oh, that reminds me. I can't afford a lewd loss during an SP Quest either, so I need to do proper research on that front."

True enough. I'd hate for anyone to end up like Mahariku-san's first second character, getting lewd-skipped straight into a Lost.

"But how exactly are you planning to research that, yo?"

"…Maybe have you all strip and get physical with each other?"

Wait, so should I strip right here? I really don't want things to get weird between me and Alto… or rather, Coworker.

I wouldn't know what face to make at work. Well, we'd never actually met face to face and only ever talked through chat. But still.

"Players have limits on physical contact, yo. The Ethics Filter puts up a barrier that won't even let you grope boobs, yo. Try touching your own chest and you'll see, yo."

"Oh, really? …Oh my, you really can't touch."

"Also, stripping triggers Auto Mode, which basically means the lewd skip activates, yo."

"I see. In that case… it'd probably be more productive to have my numbered girls test things out with each other."

…If she managed to get footage of that, I'd love to see it!