Chapter 10

Consciousness began to surface.

The capsule automatically opened, and light streamed in.

I got out of the capsule, stretched my body, and went down to the living room.

It seems Haruka hasn't come out of her room yet. She must be working until the last minute.

I'll prepare dinner before Haruka comes down.

Usually, it's my sister's job, but I can do it today.

As I was setting the table, I heard noisy footsteps coming down the stairs, louder than usual.

"Ah— Sorry, it's my job."

Haruka bowed her head as she came down.

"It's fine. I just finished a game and started preparing dinner a moment ago.

However, we might need to change our role distribution a bit in the future."

"Ugh, I'll help out for now."

And so, we finished preparing dinner.

"Itadakimasu—"

"Itadakimasu."

As dinner started, the conversation naturally turned to today's game.

"Did you manage to reach the library, Onii-chan?"

"No, I didn't even meet the entry requirements. But I did confirm where the library is and how to use it."

"Hmm, it sounds like you're taking it slow. By the way, did you get a familiar? Even if you can't fight, having one would be good."

"No, I haven't even left the main guild since we parted ways."

"Huh, you logged out so early?"

"No, I just finished the game a moment ago."

"Oh, right. So what were you doing?"

I told her about how I searched for the library, found out the usage conditions, and felt disheartened, about the existence of a reference room in the main guild, and how I was shocked to see the books scattered around, and that I logged out after organizing the reference room.

After hearing this, Haruka looked exasperated.

"You really couldn't let it go, Onii-chan. It's so like you to be satisfied with just that. You'll probably spend your time reading in the reference room from now on, right?"

"Probably. But enough about me, how was your day, Haruka?"

"Hehe, I was so worried about your status that I couldn't focus.

By the way, I managed to form a party with some people who seem to get along well, so I'll be playing with them for a while."

"Is that okay? With different life cycles, can you even form a fixed party?"

When I said that,

"Onii-chan! Think about it. The game started this morning. Normally, people who start playing in the morning would be logging in for the fourth time when we log in. We're at least three sessions behind because of school. If it follows the beta version, you can move to the next town after logging in fully twice. So, the people who are still here are either in the same situation as us or not focused on combat."

When I asked for more details, she explained that if too many people stay in the starting town, those who logged in earlier would monopolize quests and clear out the surrounding monsters, leaving nothing for the latecomers.

Therefore, once players get used to the game, they naturally move towards the labyrinth city.

The benchmark is to join a combat guild.

As a result, many guilds have branches in the starting town, but they are mainly for membership.

"Well, I can't move for a while, so I'll take my time reading and completing town quests."

"Our goal is to head to the labyrinth city by tomorrow, right?"

We finished dinner while talking about this.

After dinner, we cleaned up and returned to our respective rooms.

"If I log in for three hours after this, it'll be hard to wake up tomorrow, so I'll probably log in for a maximum of an hour and a half."

I got into the capsule, set the timer on the device, and logged in.

...

When I opened my eyes, I found myself sitting in a chair in the reference room.

I must have logged out right after finishing the organization.

"Excuse me, sorry to bother you."

I turned around to see a vaguely familiar woman standing behind me.

"Thank you for organizing the scattered materials here. I'm Reina, a receptionist at the main guild."

She bowed her head.

She was the receptionist at the counter where a long line of men had formed.

As I was recalling this,

"Um—"

"Ah, sorry. My name is Wing. ...Do you understand what a player is?"

"Yes, a traveler from another world guided by the creator god."

That's right, that's the setting.

"Then how did you know I organized the materials?"

"About that. When you use the reference room, you're usually asked if you want to use it, and guild staff can check the usage history. No one entered the room after you. I was waiting here because the exit procedure hadn't been completed, so I thought you would return soon."

"But weren't you busy?"

According to Githos, there was such a shortage of staff that other guilds had to send reinforcements. Did they have the time to wait here?

"Actually, I was asked to leave the counter because my presence caused more congestion. As a new task, I was assigned to organize the reference room, which had been neglected. When I came here, it was already organized, and you were just about to log out. I tried to call out to you, but I was too late. After consulting with the guild leader, I was instructed to wait here and rest while waiting for you."

It seems Githos, who usually isn't at the main guild, didn't know about the state of the reference room.

"Normally, we would check when a usage request is made, but this time it was overlooked due to the busyness. It was a mistake on our part, and I apologize."

Apparently, guild staff are supposed to verify users and, if a user's race makes it difficult to use the reference room, they would do the research for them.

After explaining a bit about the reference room, Reina bowed, and I panicked.

"N-no, it's fine. I did it on my own, so don't worry about it. I'm the one who should apologize for doing it without permission."

I felt lucky to have gained so much from organizing the reference room, but I felt like I had taken someone else's job, so I bowed.

"No, no, it's cleaner than if we had done it. In fact, you completed a neglected task, so we would like to pay you a reward."

Reina said this, and a window appeared in front of me.

<<Received 4000 Laan as a reward from the main guild.>>

"Wait, I can't accept this much."

I felt uncomfortable accepting a reward for something I did on my own.

"That won't do. While it can't be treated as a quest, we want you to accept this as a gesture of goodwill from the guild for our negligence in making the facility unusable and then having a user solve the problem."

Given that, I couldn't refuse.

"Alright, I'll accept it with gratitude."

"Then, it seems things have calmed down outside, so I'll take my leave."

Reina said this and left the reference room.