In the unlimited exchange city

— Unlimited exchange city “Valhalla”

It’s a huge residential island floating in the air.

A circle structure, that is made up of five layers.

The floors are stacked like steps so that you can look down on the centre of the island, the whole thing looks like a giant stadium.

In fact, at the bottom of the atrium, there was also a large fighting space, that could be used freely, and could be viewed from the entire city.

In front of the fighting space, Crim was standing in the plaza where the transportation device was installed.

“Wow… there are a lot of players.”

A voice calling for PvP opponents.

A voice recruiting comrades to create a new guild together.

The voices of street vendors lined up on the side of the road selling their own products.

Crim, who had been alone all this time, was overwhelmed with the crowd of players.

–To put it simply, he’s like a country bumpkin.

And that, coupled with Crim’s unique appearance, stood out very much.

“She’s super cute, isn’t she?”

“Heh, so it’s possible to make such a pure white character.”

“Beginning clothes, is that a beginner?”

“Mu, mufu, ze, come to our guild…!”

I came to my senses at the noise around me. When I looked around my surroundings, before I knew it, I was getting a lot of attention from everyone.

“Ah… I see, it’s because of the hair colour.”

“Even if I look around, I can’t find a pure white player character like Crim.”

Crim, interpreting that he was in the spotlight, ran away from the plaza in a hurry.

As I was walking around the city, I immediately found a store with a sign that looked like it was an armour store, and I jumped in, trying to escape from others line of sight.

And it seems to have worked the store was lined with protective gear for beginners.

For the time being, I reached out for an old overcoat that was close at hand, thinking that it would be enough to block out the sunlight. Then, the product information window popped up automatically.

“Weathered cloak”

“A worn-out, second-hand cloak.”

The name is a little worrisome, but the price is reasonable. I have money from selling the rewards for helping Ludger and also the meat dropped by monsters, so I have enough leeway to afford it.

“…Yeah. This should be good enough.”

When I tried it on… I finally got a look at my reflection in the large mirror there.

“Pretty cute…”

I muttered involuntarily when I looked in the mirror.

It’s the first time I’ve seen myself since I logged in.

Her snowy white hair, which reached just above the knee, was trimmed above her eyes, and her translucent, smooth white skin. Up to this point, I knew these without having looked at a mirror.

However, there were parts I couldn’t see without a mirror… Slightly drooping eyes, long eyelashes framing the red eyes, well-shaped bridge of the nose, small but plump lips…all of them were miracles. It formed a beautiful girl, to the point of perfection.

“This is… me?”

Immediately after muttering, I felt a strong sense of incongruity in saying “I” with this appearance.

“Um… me?”

The girl in the mirror whispered with her small mouth, her cheeks blushing, looking somewhat embarrassed.

“…Yeah, it’s a little embarrassing, but it fits.”

“I don’t want to stand out too much, so Crim decided to use me (watashi) from now on.”

However, she suddenly notices, that this figure…

Unlike her father, whom she admires, Crim… Kurenai has feelings for her mother, whom she rarely sees.

Before she knew it, her hand, which had been clenched into fist, tightened. She failed to contain her emotions and she tried to raise her fist… at that moment.

“Wow, there’s a girl who looks like a doll.”

“Huh? Oh, it’s true.”

The cool tinkling of the bells and the voices of the girls who had just entered the store brought her back to her senses.

“… I mean, there was no reason to run away.”

She involuntarily ran out of the armour shop. Speaking of which, she remembers that she should have gotten some new armour, which she regrets.

But for some reason she was hesitant to go back right away, so she thought she’d kill some time and then go back, that’s when.

“Hey, what are you going to eat for lunch?”

“I feel like Italian today.”

Two female avatars passed by Crim while chatting. Apparently, at some point, he wandered into the restaurant district.

Over there… if you take a quick look at where they are going, you will find that there are lots of famous shops and restaurant chains that are cooperating with “Destiny Unchain Online”.

In the past, MMORPGs used to have a large male-female ratio of players, but now the male-female ratio is almost 50/50.

The reason why the ratio of women has risen is that full-dive VR has a strong driving force that attracts them.

In other words, no matter what you eat in virtual space, you won’t get fat. (Bersleid: Tasting every food in the world, even those, which can be only eaten once (read: poisonous), without having to worry about putting on weight or messing up your stomach, I hope we are going in that direction.)

This would not have been possible with the low-precision devices of the past, but today’s VRMMO is equipped with almost the latest taste engine as the standard, and not only the taste but also the smell, texture, and even heat is completely recreated.

For this reason, eating bland diet food in real life, diving into virtual space and eating delicious food… such a lifestyle has become a social problem in modern times. (Bersleid: I mean, you just basically solved the food shortage, so I don’t see the problem. Go sweet potatoes, conquer the world.)

In the midst of such variety of shops… the familiar restaurant with a bright red signboard with the yellow letter “m” caught my eye. (Bersleid: Came out of there 2 hours ago.)

“… I want to eat potatoes for the first time in a while. I’m a junk foodie.”

That’s why… Crim staggered into the store with the sudden urge to eat fries from the famous fastfood restaurant chain.

“Ah… hmm”

From the paper cup in her hand, I focused on a particularly long stick and stuffed it with a fox-colored stick.

Immediately, the crispy outside and the fluffy and soft inside. A faint earthy aroma of potatoes and a faint salty taste.

The familiar taste of freshly made French fries spread throughout my mouth.

“Hmm…!”

The taste of junk food for the first time in a while made me shudder. After taking one bite, he couldn’t stop, and was immersed in a happy mood as he ate one potato after another.

She can feel some ayes on her, but the currently cheerful Crim doesn’t mind.

Come to think of it, since I logged in here as Crim, who can’t eat meat, explained the circumstances and politely refused to join in the meals. I ate nothing but dry bread and water.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve felt my taste buds in my mouth…”

“Hey, you over there?”

Suddenly, a voice came from behind.

While holding a slightly longer potato in his mouth, she tilted her head wondering what was going on and looked over there… a young man clad in splendid metal armour.

–Hmm, I wonder if it’s even possible to wear armour at this stage.

If I’m not mistaken, armour proficiency skill must be 70 or higher to equip metal plate armour, and 90 or higher for full plate.

Also, the price will be unreasonable, so you’ll have to work hard to get it, while you can only go to the field near the city.

The fact that he’s still wearing it just a few days after the start of the service means that he has either a large number of points allocated in the initial stage, or he’s a hardcore player who’s been doing a lot of work.

Crim didn’t care that he was staring at her with a judging gaze. Without resting her hand, she kept stuffing potato in her mouth.

“You’re just getting started with the initial equipment, aren’t you?

… what is it, a pick-up artist?

Most likely people were lured in by the appearance of this avatar, but it seems hard to explain what’s inside, and it’s not like Crim has that kind of hobby.

“No, I want to do various things by myself first.”

Crim lost interest in an instant and tried to leave after saying that. But.

“Hey… wait!”

Unexpectedly, the man who easily took off his gentleman’s mask grabbed Crim’s hand as he was about to leave… at that moment.

“… it’s hot!?”

Involuntarily, I dropped the remaining one-third of the potato from my hand.

The sound of my skin burning as it was grasped, and sharp pain that stabbed into my skin even though it was reduced by the system’s pain relief function.

The man’s who’s hand I instinctively shook off had a silver ring on it, one of Crim’s weaknesses, shining dully on his finger.

“I’m sorry, I’m just…”

The pick-up artist was stunned by Crim’s sudden and fierce refusal.

Crim said goodbye to him and tried to leave, but… well, calling out to him was a mistake.

“Hang on!”

“…!?”

As Crim was about to leave, the man grabbed her bare upper arm in her initial equipment.

Crim’s expression distorted at the feeling of his skin burning again, but the excited man didn’t notice.

“You, aren’t you a ‘vampire’ or something!?”

“Hey, you, in a place like this…!”

Crim was enraged when his personal information was hyped in a place with a lot of eyes.

However, the man who noticed Crim’s teeth became even more excited and approached him.

“Those fangs, as expected! 　I’m looking for a guild member who is a rare race, if it’s okay with you…”

“No, I’m sorry, I’m not going to enter…!”

Do you get it. What this guy wants is an accessory called “a guild member of a rare race”.

Moreover, he was so absorbed in his goals that he didn’t even realize that she was in pain from touching silver, and that he was telling personal information, that they didn’t want to be exposed.

…I have no intention of going with such person.

For a moment, I thought about pressing the private contact violation report button flickering at the edge of my vision, but I didn’t want to stand out, so I endured it.

“Ah, but I’m pretty sure the vampires in this game were only able to choose red hair, but… maybe they’re actually a rarer race…”

“Don’t be silly, no!”

Along with an angry voice, I forcibly shook off the man’s hand, who was trying not to let me escape, and jumped over the handrail and jumped into the air.

Amidst screams from the surroundings, Crim landed on the floor below without any major pain thanks to her increased drop resistance and the fact that she rolled over at the same time as she landed to escape the impact.

After repeating the same thing until she reached the teleporter on the bottom floor, she teleported away from the curiosity that poured down on her.

In the end… it was good that I was able to obtain the cloak, but I ended up coming home with only half of what I wanted to do.

“Ah, I wanted to see a little more. Also, I wanted to try a free match…”

Crim returned to Navel while muttering her dissatisfaction.

“Hmm?”

I immediately noticed something unusual. For some reason, the town is rather noisy.

The townspeople are also heading somewhere with spears and axes, which they don’t seem to be used to.

Wondering what it was, I followed them… and arrived at the entrance to “Schwarzwald”. There, the men of the town were gathering with faces, like they swallowed a needle. (Bersleid: Schwarzwald = Dark/Black Forest, going to keep it in this form, cause German sounds cooler)

“Oh, Miss, you are here!”

“Mr. Ludger, what is this commotion about…”

“That was… Juna’s symptoms suddenly worsened… George went into the Black Forest to get ingredients for Juna’s medicine!”

In response to Ludger’s words… the system message “The quest has been updated” popped in the stunned Crim’s field of vision…