A feast was cramply lined up before us on top of the break room table.
As I lead the group with a toast, Mika already started digging in on the meat with both hands in a wild manner.
Let’s ignore it for today since this is Mika’s Lich subjugation celebration party after all.
“I saw the uploaded videos. That last bit was quite the pandemonium, huh~?”
“Tell me about it. If not for Yuri’s ‘Magic Circle’ or ring, I would’ve died as well.”
“Danger.”
“I guess that’s what you would expect from the Lich, huh? Living up to the reputation of the undead’s boss.”
The Lich subjugation was almost like a carnival–a lotta players were there recording the new content and posted many subjugation videos on the forums.
However, most of them had died from that last rampage and only a few could capture Armilate’s last attack.
Just because of that, those videos were viewed ten times more than the others.
Especially the ones which captured her last attack from start to finish–those had a lot more views than the rest.
And now, Armilate is suddenly the woman of the hour.
A large-scale celebration party was held before this private one here and it seems Armilate was somewhat of a representative of the subjugation party there.
It’s a quest sponsored by the guild so naturally the original representative is the guild but she did land the last attack so she does deserve the credit.
And in fact, we might’ve just gotten annihilated if not for that last attack.
“With this, the highways are finally accessible again but will you keep progressing?”
“Hmm… Well, I do plan on going around the city at least, for what it matters. But according to the NPCs, the monsters’ strength or the materials acquired there aren’t that different. This isn’t like those games where you get progressively better items the farther you get from the starting point.”
“Putting my hopes on Hime for that.”
“Mm, leave it to me.”
“Counting on you, Hime. Ah, that reminds me, it seems the shrine’s gate is usable again, maybe ‘cause one of the unusual phenomena has been solved.”
“Eh, really?!”
“Ah~ yeah, they were making a fuss about it on the forums as well.”
“Let’s see, let’s see.”
It looks like a small incident took place last night while I was struggling to make iron equipment.
The shrine has a teleportation system called the gate that is connected to all the areas and the Zabrina kingdom.
It seems it had been inaccessible due to the unusual phenomena but has made a comeback since the Lich subjugation.
I hear it uses the enormous magic stone drops from the Lich but I don’t know the details about that either.
The forums had nothing on this matter either and the fact that the gate is now usable again was also an announcement from the guild.
Either way, having a gate that can get you very far in an instant is sure to be very handy.
It will probably be irrelevant to me for a while, though.
After all, this gate requires a usage fee that is taken in the form of magic stones and you can’t go to places where you have not been to even once.
I mean, since I’ve yet to even set foot outside of the capital Zabrina, there are no places where I can go with it.
Even still, I can look forward to new materials people bring from other areas.
The problem is that even in the surroundings of large cities, the difficulty level or materials do not differ much from capital Zabrina.
The other cities do have their own specialties so that is definitely something to be excited about.
According to Mika, what’s important is to cut down the magic trees and develop the land but most pioneers just go for an inspection to other cities and don’t do these things.
But we do have Hime here for that, the event’s top ranking candidate!
*****
We drank, ate and partied a ton till the clerks had to get back to work.
Everyone’s still a minor except Lolita so there was no alcohol.
And Lolita doesn’t seem to like alcohol much either so ultimately there was actually no alcohol there. Despite that, maybe they got drunk from the mood there ‘cause Mika started to undress and Hime began doing a fashion show with Lolita’s new clothes–it was very fun.
“Well then, I’ll be back from the city! You can look forward to souvenirs!”
“Mm. Looking forward to it.”
“Bring me interesting ore related stuff if you find any~”
“Ah, clothing and fur for me then~”
“Got it~. Later.”
Apparently trade related wagons were going out to the now open highway already.
Mika’s party accepted a quest for escorting those wagons and so they hurriedly left after the celebration party.
By the way, considering that using the gate has a magic stone fee, it doesn’t seem very practical for merchants even if they were to cram their item box with products.
Even if it takes longer, if it will ultimately be cheaper to use wagons for transport by hiring escorts, the merchants are probably going to pick that instead.
Woodcutting personnels are permanently stationed there to help maintain the highway.
The escorts are hired just to be prepared for unexpected situations as there isn’t much risk in taking the highway normally.
Well, it is better to be safe than sorry as there have been unusual events in the past.
The guild seems to have already assessed the highway situation.
After all, the highways are vital for trade even if there’s a teleportation gate.
The profit there should be absurdly high too.
My logout time was closing in as well when Mika departed so we all decided to disperse there.
It seemed like Lolita wanted to consult some more about the items but we did talk during the fashion show’s break, didn’t we?
I wonder what more she wants to discuss.
I did promise her during the contract that I would accompany her but this is logout time, you know?
She looked over her shoulder towards me multiple times, looking reluctant to pass but I had to go so I just waved her bye with a bitter smile.
Really, what happened with her and real estate agents?
Well then, it’s almost time so guess I’ll logout.
****
Let’s quickly login again and get to practice after having dinner.
It’s already around 12PM inside the game.
They should be having lunch at the workshop right about now.
I probably won’t make it in time for that so I guess I’ll just have to buy something from the street stalls and have it on the way.
As expected, they had just finished having lunch when I reached the workshop.
Now that lunch time was over, it was time for training yet again.
“Master, everyone, hello~!”
“Oh, you’re here! We’ll begin shortly!”
“Got it!”
I can train all I want till bedtime today.
Let’s get done with the requested iron goods quick and divulge in training, shall we?
****
These past few days flew by so fast–I trained at the workshop, manufactured iron products to raise funds for my personal facility installation and went to girls-only gatherings occasionally too.
Lolita ended up taking too much time selecting the items as expected and has yet to start with the contract.
Mika had gotten back by the next day but her souvenir was unfortunately just a tapestry.
It seems the specialties there were stuff that could be acquired around capital Zabrina as well so she decided on bringing this tapestry as it looked weird.
It seems she was aiming for a gag here but it ended up failing spectacularly.
Hime continued with her woodcutting work relentlessly these past few days; her ranking was unwavering at the top as expected.
It’s scary how she is close to twice more than the 2nd ranker.
However, thanks to that, it seems they would be able to develop a new area. Looking forward to that!
And so came my final day of training at the workshop.
With the money I raised during these past few days, I was able to not only officially buy up the land I wanted, but also to install some intermediate level equipment.
The amount of recipes I made during training is quite a bit as well.
It seems the master planned to end training earlier with a lesser number of recipes but he couldn’t as he was too excited about my growth.
Although he had hit his disciples with looks of jealousy in the past, it seems he has now come to acknowledge my skills and we got closer.
“Master!”
“….Hm! It’s perfect! Gggh! I guess I have no choice! Your training is over with this! There are no more recipes I can teach you! But you’re still my disciple! Come here whenever you want! We’ll welcome you!”
“Buckets! Please come whenever you feel like it!”
“We’ll be waiting!”
“How ‘bout you just start working here?”
“You idiot! Buckets has her own shop! Don’t stop her!”
“But we’re fellow disciples of the same master! Even with different shops, that won’t change!”
“Yes! I’ll come by! And when I do, I’ll be back with something amazing that’ll surprise all of you!”
“Well said! I can’t afford to lose as the senior disciple!”
“Let’s go! It’s my treat today, let’s go all out!”
“””Yeah!”””
It was fun training here till the end–lively and noisy to the point your ear starts hurting physically.
I’m so glad I took this quest.
Not only did I get many recipes, I also met many people who are lively and energetic. It’s hard to believe they are just AI.
Master and all my fellow disciples, thank you very much~!