Chapter 6

After the tutorial ended, I was sent back to the fountain square, so I headed to the guild again. It's not that I have lingering feelings for the receptionist's name; it's just that I'm meeting up with my friends at the guild entrance.

The conclusion is, there are too many people.

It's packed.

The atmosphere around the adventurer's guild during the tutorial was completely different. If you want to go outside, you'd want to take a quest, and it makes sense that players would gather here on the first day, but it's overwhelming. As I stood there in a daze, I could hear a conversation.

"Let's go into battle right after registration!"

"Yeah."

So, there are people who skipped the tutorial!

Um.

"You can register as an adventurer during the tutorial, you know~"

I raised my voice a bit to be heard over the din of people. It would be embarrassing if it turned out to be unnecessary.

"Huh, really?"

"You can take the tutorial as long as you don't leave the city."

"Oh, thanks~"

After thanking me, the players who chose the tutorial disappeared from in front of me. The sight of so many people disappearing one by one was almost like a horror scene. I wonder if I'll get used to seeing people disappear right in front of me.

With a significant number of people gone, the view was much clearer. It seems more people had skipped the tutorial than I thought.

Indeed, if you just want to take a quest, you wouldn't want to wait so long before going into battle. I realized that the main reason for the crowd was people who had skipped the tutorial and hadn't registered with the guild yet. If they had to register one by one, it would take forever. The crowd in front of the guild had thinned out, so I called out to the people still at the crowded guild entrance.

About two-thirds of the people disappeared here as well.

I wondered if there were no other people to tell them. Still, I was surprised when the receptionist peeked out from behind the counter and nodded at me, even though it wasn't just me like during the tutorial. Moreover, I hadn't even spoken to the receptionist, and it really felt like there were actual people inside!

The AI used for NPCs was distributed two years before the game's release as a smartphone app where you could raise NPC characters. You could talk to them daily and have them do simple errands around town, and characters that were raised to a certain level were collected and corrected for use in the game. The smartphone characters were two-headed and could be raised to your liking, and the app was popular even as a standalone. Even now, as the game has started, the app is still being distributed.

Despite the number of people decreasing, I wondered if I could find my friends and returned to the front of the guild. As I stood there, I was called out.

"Homura?"

Looking in the direction of the voice, I saw two people with the appearance I had heard from my friends.

A slender young man with light blue hair in a ponytail and a short boy with red hair and dog ears.

"Good to see you."

"You were making a lot of noise, so it was easy to spot you. The others have already exchanged partner cards, so let's move to a more visible spot."

As he said this, the ponytailed young man, Petros, threw a partner card at me.

"Ah, Leo, give me your partner card too."

I threw my partner card to Petros and the red-haired dog, Leo. If we didn't exchange them and got separated, I wouldn't be confident in seeing them again today.

"Ah! I reserved a room at the inn!"

"Great, thanks. Looking at the crowd at the guild, it seemed dangerous."

In the end, we decided to meet on the right side outside the south gate, but since we were here, we went into the guild and took on some random quests. When we reached the gate, it was also crowded with people who seemed to be meeting up.

"Did you catch them?"

"Hahaha! Got Homura!"

The golden-haired elf, Ochazuke, responded to Leo.

"Good to see you."

A tall, muscular man with black hair, dog ears, a scruffy beard, and a scar on his face spoke up.

"It was tough to meet up with this crowd."

This one was a white-haired lolicon elf.

Everyone knows each other's real-world genders, but I think we'll use the in-game pronouns for him or her from now on.

The golden-haired one is 'Ochazuke,' the black dog is 'Shin,' and the white-haired one is 'Kikuhime.' Along with 'Leo,' 'Petros,' and my 'Homura.' Kikuhime is the only female character.

The maximum party size is six. After exchanging partner cards, we immediately formed a party.

"I'm starting as a mage and aiming to become a magic swordsman. What about you guys?"

"I'm a healer, more like an accident prevention or post-accident care role."

Ochazuke answered my question. Given how much Shin and Leo messed up in previous games, he usually supports them and will do so again this time.

"I'm a swordsman. I'll use a big sword."

The bald Kikuhime, the smallest in size, likes to swing around a large weapon. Considering the initial stats, it seems challenging to specialize in physical attacks as an elf.

"I'm a brawler, aiming to become a wolf!"

Shin, the black dog, always enjoys close combat and wants to become a wolf, one of the announced evolutions for dog-type characters.

The announced evolutions include wolves for dogs and tigers for cats, but there are various other evolutions, so it's exciting to see what other races will appear.

"I believe there will be foxes!!!"

"That's not a job. Ah, I'm a thief and aiming to become a bow user."

Petros laughed and countered Leo's outburst.

"Ah, sorry. I'm a thief now. I believe there will be ninjas!!!"

"Too much wishful thinking!"

Some of the announced evolutions from the starting jobs include various options. As the login announcement mentioned, the type of job and skills you train will determine the variety of evolutions.

"Looks like only the young girl is shield-like."

Ochazuke complained, and I responded.

"Kikuhime doesn't seem interested in being a shield. Give it up, Ochazuke will be the busiest! I'll dodge."

"There are solo players too, so I don't think everyone will be that soft."

Petros tried to reassure us. "Soft" means taking a lot of damage. Those who take less damage are considered "hard."

"Let's try a battle."

Shin, the man with the scruffy beard, stroked it and suggested we move to Fast Brim. Brim refers to a grassland.

There were quite a few people near the gate, and they were fighting over flying rabbits. It seemed impossible to compete, and it would be inefficient, so since we had a full party, we decided to move away from the gate and look for slightly stronger enemies.

"By the way, I got a partner card from an NPC."

"Wha! You were the one in that world announcement!"

Shin called me out.

"Oh, if you set it to public, your name will be broadcast too?"

"What kind of NPC gave it to you?"

"A warrior named 'Galahad' at the counter during the tutorial."

"Was there such a character in the tutorial? I don't remember."

"Maybe the guild's guests are different for each player? I only remember seeing young girls."

"Sure, you lolicon."

"No!"

"Really? I talked to a strong-looking character during the tutorial, but they didn't give me their name or a card."

"You talked to them? You're brave."

As we moved, we talked about the partner card, and Leo suddenly shouted.

"Found it!! Chickens!!!"

Looking in the direction he pointed, I saw white chicken-like creatures moving.

There was already a party hunting here, but it wasn't as crowded as the rabbit area.

"Are they just escaped farm chickens?"

"They're called wild roosters and hens, and they're classified as monsters."

There were three of them: one rooster and two hens.

"Did Petros take the animal monster identification skill?"

I asked Petros, who answered Ochazuke's complaint.

"I did, but I can only see the classification and name."

The man with a smile admitted he couldn't tell much more.

"Skills have level indicators, so I think you'll be able to see more details eventually."

"Ah, I took it too. It would be nice to see HP and stats."

"Should we start with magic or have Kikuhime target first?"

Shin asked.

"Skills can't change the target, so I'll go first with a shield. I'll probably take the target back with a skill if it shifts. I killed one during the tutorial."

It sounded more like he failed to protect and killed it, which was unsettling. And he seems to have already bought a shield, but I don't have any healing potions!

"Be careful with healing, as it generates a lot of hate. So, please be careful."

I decided to prioritize safety based on Ochazuke's advice.

Since only Kikuhime can use a shield, she will take the target for all three, and Ochazuke will heal Kikuhime. The attackers, including me, will target the rooster first, then the hen Kikuhime hits.

The battle for the chickens began, led by Leo.

"Yaaah!! It hurts! They're chasing me!"

"Why are they hitting me and not everyone else!"

"Should we go first?"

"No, I'm already struggling. Let the thief dodge. If he dies, we'll give up on Leo."

Petros said this with his usual bright voice. Despite his cheerful tone, he's still as terrible as ever, but I followed his advice.

"Needle!"

"Yo! [Tiger] Kick!"

As Petros predicted, the rooster we were hitting was defeated by my magic and Shin's kick.

After easily defeating the rooster, the expected scenario occurred: Leo hit the wrong hen, and the hate shifted to him, causing him to be chased. Kikuhime had hit each enemy once, so the lower-attack Leo must have hit a few times to shift the target.

"Looks like it's getting dangerous, [Heal]!"

Sure enough, when Ochazuke healed, the target shifted to him. This game is business as usual.

"Wait