Limited-Time Event: Royal Quest

So, the Royal Capital. That's a thing that exists.

Apparently.

And in the Royal Capital, there are royals, and apparently even a king…

"…Um, so we have a request from a royal client. The job is to escort them to the Dungeon Core deep within the Royal Capital Dungeon."

"A royal client, huh."

We were turning in quests at Tsudon's Adventurer Guild when this one came up. A named request, basically.

However.

"Not an SP Quest. Pass, yo."

"Yeah. SP Quests are pretty much the only thing we're in the mood for right now."

"…I-I see. Um, well, please feel free to call on us anytime you change your mind."

Right, the request wasn't an SP Quest, just a regular one with normal rewards.

So, hard pass. We wanted to stay laser-focused on SP Quests. That kind of deal.

"Sounds like a main scenario quest though, so maybe we'll pick it up whenever."

"Stuff like this tends to just sit there until you accept it anyway."

As we were saying that, Ms. Receptionist timidly raised her hand a little. "Sorry, I forgot to mention something."

"…U-Um. This one's a 'limited-time event,' so the acceptance window is, ah, limited."

"Hm!? Limited-time, you say!"

"The tide has turned. Let's hear it."

"That it has. So, how long do we have before it actually becomes a problem?"

Alto, you were one hundred percent the type to put off your summer homework until the last minute, weren't you?

"Hey, hey, Alto. With stuff like this, you don't know how long the quest itself is gonna take, so isn't it safer to knock it out sooner rather than later?"

"…Good point! I forgot to factor in the quest's own runtime!"

"Plus, we've gotta actually travel to this Royal Capital place to begin with, yo?"

…Right! In this game, even when you skip, travel time still burns days off the calendar. That's a fatal time sink!

And on top of that, getting somewhere we'd never been before meant another bumpy wagon ride.

"Um, the Royal Capital is a place called Frirene."

"Oh, I know that one. I can Fast Travel there."

"Oh, perfect. Then the trip's instantaneous. …Subjectively, anyway."

"Even Fast Travel still eats time, so careful, careful, yo."

I wonder how much in-game time it'd burn.

"Oh, I can just head over on my own if you want. I've got a Home there, so we can hook up a connection!"

"Oh, that works. Then we'll churn through other requests on Auto Mode in the meantime."

"There's a temporal distortion in play, after all. We'll split your earnings during that stretch, yo."

"Heh heh, much appreciated. Alright, scenario start――"

"――And, results! Home Connection done, Fast Travel complete!"

"Let's see… Time elapsed: one month. Earnings: 120 gold coins. Forty per head, then."

"Oh. Should I split the Penpen Milk earnings too?"

"Nah, that's passive ranch income. Splitting it would be off-base."

And just like that, we were all set up without a hitch.

Geez, felt instantaneous!

Incidentally, SP Quests apparently run on real time. Skipping a month in-game won't refresh them, but one real-world day will. We figured that out from Penpen's relentless SP Quest rush.

And naturally, that one day for Penpen was three hours for the rest of us, as usual.

…My head was getting tangled up just thinking about it, so it was probably best not to.

"But doing nothing would feel kinda rude, so here, I'll share some 'Delicious Steak' with you, yo! Oh, the in-game version, of course."

"Guhuh!? Penpen-shi, are you trying to pump our Affection up even more!?"

"Yeah, yeah! Penpen's Affection is already at 'I alone am honored throughout heaven and earth' levels!?"

"Eh, you don't want it?"

"Of course we want it!!"

"That's right, who could resist! Thank you very much!"

"Riiight, yo."

I carefully tucked the gifted steak away in my inventory.

I'd savor it later! Yay!

"I mean, player Affection is masked data that doesn't even show up on a status screen, yo. Never hurts to raise it."

"Then can we at least say all 120 of these gold coins go to Penpen-shi?"

"Yeah. SP items versus in-game currency, we're already getting more than our share, so at least this much."

"Oh, then I'll take 'em. Looks like I can expand the ranch with this, yo!"

And with that, it was settled.

Alright, preparations are all set, so let's go tackle this limited-time event royal client quest!