Paying to Win in a VRMMO: Volume 5 Read online

  0 - Prologue

  When Kirschwasser logged in, he was on the second floor of the Iris Brand guild house. The second floor contained dressing rooms and measuring rooms—places not actually needed, given the way the game system worked—as well as Iris’s workshop and the meeting room where she might discuss designs with prospective clients.

  Today, in addition to Iris, Nem was also going to be visiting the guild house.

  Nem’s real-world identity was Megumi Fuyo, the president of her own fashion brand, and someone who had romantic feelings towards Ichiro. A few days ago, she had put her reputation as a woman, and her pride as a designer, on the line in a battle with Iris. Their relationship had been venomous for a time, but they had since declared peace, and were now apparently best friends of a sort—albeit friends with a significant age gap between them.

  Ah, the friendship-effort-victory cycle... It truly was beautiful to behold. (Although in this case, Iris had lost.)

  Setting Iris aside, though, it would be the first time Ichiro and Kirschwasser had seen Nem in a while, too. Or at least, it would have been, except that when Sakurako awoke as the silver-haired elder Knight, his companion Ichiro Tsuwabuki was nowhere to be seen.

  Kirschwasser was just thinking how unusual it was that “Master Ichiro” would take so long to log in when a message popped up accompanied by a chime. It had been sent from his Cocoon’s external terminal, which meant that Ichiro was out there typing the message in directly.

  “My password was changed, and I can’t log in. I’m going to contact Thistle right now.”

  The message’s perfect conciseness forced Kirschwasser to spend a few seconds parsing what was being said.

  “H-Huh? Huh?!” The sound that came out of Kirschwasser’s mouth was a reflection of the feelings of Sakurako Ogi.

  An account hack? On Ichiro-sama? While playing online games, she had made a point of reminding herself to not believe that it could never happen to her. But to happen to Ichiro Tsuwabuki, of all people?

  She considered logging out right away to accompany him, but she knew that if she asked, his reply would be, “Nonsense.” There were things she could investigate for him specifically because she was logged in.

  Kirschwasser opened his menu window and touched the “guild members” option. If Ichiro’s account really had been hacked, it was possible that the hacker had stolen their guild’s items and galt, the game’s currency. Guild members could share status information to some degree, and if Ichiro’s avatar had been stolen, he could just ask the players around him if it had been acting strangely at all.

  Kirschwasser was about to check the status information of “Ichiro,” the guild leader, when suddenly, his hand stopped.

  The name was displayed in green, just like the names “Iris” and “Kirschwasser” below it. Green indicated that those guild members were currently logged in.

  Was Ichiro logged in? Had he only just logged in? Perhaps he really hadn’t had his password changed. Perhaps he had merely forgotten it... No, if that were the case, he would have appeared next to Kirschwasser, where he had been when they’d logged out the day before. The fact that he wasn’t there meant that someone had logged in and moved his avatar while they were gone. In other words, the person currently logged in was not Ichiro Tsuwabuki.

  As Kirschwasser was mulling that over, a new message appeared in his window that sent a shock shooting through him.

  “Guild leader has removed combat restrictions within the guild house.”

  A moment later, he heard a scream from the floor below. Kirschwasser didn’t even have time to think; he pulled out his sword and shield and ran from the room, grabbed the banister, then rushed from the atrium to the entrance.

  Three figures stood before him. A man with a Mage Saber bare in his hands was sneaking up on the other two... ah, and that man was Ichiro Tsuwabuki!

  “Iris! Lady Nem!” Kirschwasser shouted the women’s names and, shield at the ready, rushed towards Ichiro to slam right into him.

  This was the Knight-exclusive Art, “Shield Bash.” It dealt no damage, but it set Ichiro off his balance and inflicted the debuff “Staggered.” Kirschwasser then used “Tackle” to slam him to the floor.

  “M-Mr. Kirsch!” Iris shouted.

  “Are you well?” he called back. He held up an arm protectively in front of the two women while taking a couple of steps back.

  “Wh-What has come over Ichiro?” Iris was surprised but more or less remaining calm, while Nem couldn’t conceal her distress. It was only reasonable; she had been delighted to see the person she cared about after such a long time, only to find him suddenly drawing a sword on her. Kirschwasser felt genuinely sorry for her.

  “He’s clearly acting strange... H-Have I done something to make him angry?” Nem asked, flustered.

  “There’s another user logged in with his account,” Kirschwasser explained concisely. “It’s a hack.”

  Iris turned her gaze towards Ichiro’s avatar. “A hack? On the young heir?”

  “Ah... do you mean like those SNS messages I’ve been receiving lately where people ask me to buy virtual currency?” Nem asked.

  “Yes. There are many simple ways of stealing someone’s password, from cracking to guessing it based off of their birthday. It’s an old, old internet crime.”

  Ichiro’s avatar shook off its “Staggered” status and slowly began to rise.

  Kirschwasser gulped. Ichiro’s level had recently passed 130. The base stats he had trained up in the Lizardman Dojo, the plentiful Skills, the Arts effective at both long and short range... As he was now, there was no way that Kirschwasser could oppose him completely by himself. Even if it wasn’t Ichiro Tsuwabuki, the player himself, inhabiting the avatar, the gap in their stats was too great to surmount.

  Which meant it was a stroke of good fortune, in a way, that “Ichiro” merely sheathed his Mage Saber and flew out of the guild house. In that moment, Kirschwasser could see the corners of his mouth twitch upwards. That expression—some might call it a grin—was not the kind of expression usually seen on the avatar Ichiro Tsuwabuki’s face.

  “You mean it’s a... fake young heir?” Iris asked.

  Kirschwasser nodded.

  It was hard to tell what the fake wanted. Was he just trying to sell off items or currency? Was he some black market dealer after RMT? Was he simply someone who didn’t like Ichiro?

  “I’ll go after him, Mr. Kirsch,” Iris said, and Kirschwasser was surprised by her words.

  “G-Go after him? But you know that the fake Master Ichiro—Master Duplichiro, let us say—is very strong.”

  “W-Was that a pun you just slipped in there?” Iris asked with lifted brows. “And I know that, but there’s no telling what he might do if we leave him running free! And looking like the young heir, at that!”

  “That is true, certainly...”

  “I agree with her, Mr. Kirschwasser,” Nem said in firm agreement. “Even if there is nothing that we can do, I cannot simply stand here while someone commits violence while wearing Ichiro’s face.”

  “Hmm, very well.” Kirschwasser opened his menu window and sent a message to the reliable-seeming acquaintances he had met on the front lines over the last few days. To catch him and stop him, they’d need force of arms. He was hoping the devs would take action soon, as well, but there was no telling how long that might take.

  “Lady Nem, your acquaintances... yes, Lord Taker and Lady Sorceress. If you can contact them, you should. Also, if you could contact the devs via your own channels, that would be appreciated... though I believe Master Ichiro will be contacting them in real life at this moment.”

  “Very well!” Nem opened her own m
enu window and began to join Kirschwasser in writing messages.

  Iris joined them, apparently thinking she could contact any acquaintances of her own that she didn’t share with Kirschwasser.

  Then the three of them flew out of the guild house in pursuit of the fake young heir, “Duplichiro.”

  Oh, that reminds me. Isn’t someone supposed to be visiting the house today? The thought nagged at the mind of Sakurako Ogi, the young woman behind Kirschwasser’s avatar. But no, Duplichiro had to be their priority now.

  The Knight shook his head and ran after the arrogant man fleeing down the avenue.

  1 - Noble Son, Watch Things Unfold

  “Thank you for using the Tokaido Shinkansen. We are currently passing Toyohashi Station right on schedule. Our next stop will be...”

  “Mmm!” Asuha Tsuwabuki wriggled in her seat and stretched with a pleased smile on her face. “Skipping morning practice gives me so much excess energy in the morning! Hey, Kiryu. You know what I mean?”

  “No, Tsuwabuki,” Sera Kiryu said, manipulating a portable game with a grimace. “Unlike you, I’m an indoors type.”

  That was not, of course, to say that her friend seemed particularly unhappy; this was just the way things were between them. Sera had difficulty with the honest expression of feelings, which Asuha found equally infuriating and enticing, in terms of making teasing feel worthwhile.

  Asuha was on her way to the home of her second cousin, Ichiro Tsuwabuki, for a brief summer vacation visit. This was something she did every year, but this year, her classmate Sera Kiryu would be accompanying her.

  Sera was a born and bred gamer, and had developed quite a reputation within the VRMMO world Narrow Fantasy Online, where Asuha and Ichiro both played. Sera’s initial response to her invitation had been, “I’ll think about it,” but eventually, the young gamer had assented.

  Asuha also knew that despite Sera’s play at indifference, the Miraive Gear X virtual reality console was currently carefully packed away in her friend’s travel bag. Asuha giggled.

  “What?” Sera asked.

  “Nooothing!”

  After a long time struggling with it, Asuha had recently begun to appreciate the fun there was to be had in a VRMMO. The “Hydro Blaster” miracle pitch she had perfected by combining the “Throwing Skill” exclusive to Thief-type classes with her real-life softball ace pitcher experience was getting her some acknowledgment from the players around her of late. (What she didn’t know was that that part of that interest was spurred by the rumor that the cute female avatar Felicia was inhabited by a genuine girl in middle school... but perhaps, in this regard, ignorance was bliss.)

  Regardless, Asuha was looking forward to the sleepover more than she had in previous years. She wanted to see Ichiro and Sera engaging in game talk up close, and maybe even try weighing in on it herself.

  While Asuha giggled happily, she received an e-mail on her phone. “Oh, it’s from Itchy!”

  Her words caused Sera to perk up suddenly and look over at her.

  “Hmm, let’s see...” Asuha manipulated the phone with practiced motions to check her e-mail. The message was composed in truly Ichiro-like perfect sentences.

  “As my NaroFan account has been hacked, we may be delayed in meeting up with you.”

  The contents of the message made little sense to her, aside from the part about being late to meet them. Still, it was clear that something serious must have happened.

  Since it seemed game-related, she decided that the swiftest route to understanding would be to ask her companion. “Kiryu, what does it mean for an account to be hacked?”

  Sera looked up at Asuha, eyes narrowing in what looked like a glare. The intensity behind it caused Asuha to draw back slightly.

  “Huh? What is it?” she asked.

  “The old man got hacked?” Sera demanded.

  “Y-Yeah... That’s what he said.”

  Sera abruptly snapped the portable game system shut, then began rooting through the bag beneath the seat, producing a large box from within: the Miraive Gear’s packaging. The fact that it had even been stored in styrofoam for the trip was an indication of how carefully the young gamer treated it.

  Asuha was confused, though. What was the point of pulling it out now? “Huh? What? What’s going on?”

  “A person’s account is basically their online data address,” said Sera. “It’s like an ID card, and you can do all kinds of things with it. To hack someone’s account means to steal that ID.”

  “Huh? Wh-What does that mean?” Asuha asked.

  “It means someone besides the old man is logged in with the old man’s avatar,” said Sera. “They can do whatever they want with it. I’m sure the devs will step in soon, but...” Sera swiftly put on the Miraive Gear helmet.

  “Huh? Huh?! What are you doing, Kiryu?!” Asuha exclaimed.

  “I’m going to log on using the shinkansen’s Wi-Fi. Wake me up when we’re in Tokyo.”

  That was the last thing Sera said before tilting the seat back all the way, then lying still, arms folded. It was clearly an attempt at keeping the body stabilized in the most relaxing posture possible. An older foreign man sitting behind them let out a bark of surprise in response, to which Asuha offered up a fervent apology.

  It seemed Sera’s consciousness had already drifted off into the quantum space. Asuha was so baffled by the whole display that she even forgot to buy the on-board ice cream she usually looked forward to every year.

  Kirschwasser called his trusty steed Oukaou from his inventory, then mounted it.

  Iris and Nem jumped on, as well, and the three squeezed together on the saddle. They were probably just at the horse’s weight limit, which suggested it was a good thing that both Iris and Nem wore light equipment.

  “Mr. Kirsch, you have a horse?” Iris asked.

  “I purchased it just recently,” said Kirschwasser. “I’ve always wanted one. I call him Green Oukaou.”

  “But isn’t he black? Why green?”

  “It’s a reference I suspect you wouldn’t get.” Kirschwasser kicked Oukaou in the side to get him running, and the people coming and going on main street turned curiously to see what was going on.

  Iris held on tightly with one hand, while opening her menu to check something with the other. It was the guild member window. She touched the name “Ichiro Tsuwabuki” to check his current status and location.

  When a guild was first created, the members were able to choose how much information its players shared between them. In the case of Iris Brand, they had gone with near full information sharing, including the ability to pinpoint your members’ exact locations.

  “Mr. Kirsch, the young heir has already left town!” she cried.

  “That is quite bad,” Kirschwasser said grimly.

  Outside the city—in other words, in the field—there was nothing you could do to stop someone from attacking you. In the area around Glasgobara, most of the players were in the intermediate level range. A player with top stats like Ichiro could easily cause a bloodbath.

  “He’s got the special ‘Flying’ status invoked,” continued Iris. “The movement icon is blinking, too.”

  “Master Ichiro’s ‘Dragon Wings’ Skill has gotten quite high since I last saw it,” said Kirschwasser. “I’m uncertain if Oukaou could catch up with him.”

  Kirschwasser had also raised his “Horseback Riding” Skill level quite high, in addition to taking the sub-Skill “Swift Horse.” But while the streets in town were straightforward, out in the field, they’d be running into more rugged terrain. Since Duplichiro could ignore terrain, he would be able to move around with far greater efficiency.

  Oukaou took his three riders out through the gate of Glasgobara and onto the mountain road. To their right was the Great Sandsea; to the left was the road to the Volgund Volcanoes and the Lancastio Spiritwood Sea. Iris directed them left, and Kirschwasser turned the horse accordingly.

  His main concern was whether Oukaou would hold out. As
they were technically items, steeds came with durability ratings, which decreased if they took attacks or were ridden hard enough. They were also a rare kind of item that couldn’t have their durability restored by a Blacksmith or an Alchemist. To restore their durability, you had to use special items, or simply let time pass. Oukaou still had time to go, but Kirschwasser wasn’t sure how long he could keep the horse racing along like this.

  “Ah, um, Mr. Kirsch!” Iris’s voice trembled as she clung to him.

  “Yes?”

  “What’s the real young heir doing now?”

  “He told me he was going to contact the devs,” said Kirschwasser. “I’m sure they’ll be taking countermeasures of their own soon, but...”

  “Is his account going to get frozen?” Iris asked.

  Kirschwasser nodded. Yes, no matter how shoddy the devs’ countermeasures might be, the moment they confirmed unauthorized access, the account would be frozen.

  “I still haven’t heard from Azami...” Nem whispered, just barely audible amidst the sound of hoof beats. But with both Ichiro and Nem contacting her, she surely must be aware of the situation, and the developers would be taking action of some kind any time now.

  This was what Kirschwasser didn’t understand.

  What would the impostor Ichiro—now called Duplichiro for convenience—want to hack his account for? His behavior had made it immediately clear that he was a fake, and it didn’t seem like he was trying to move items or money around. He’d just rushed out the door as quickly as he could. An account suspension would end his spree easily.

  “If the young heir’s account is suspended, what will happen to Iris Brand?” Iris asked.

  “MARY or The Kirihitters... we may have to borrow one of their names, even if temporarily,” said Kirschwasser. “I don’t know what happens if the guild leader’s account is frozen.”

  “I hope we won’t have to break up, but... ah, Duplichiro’s movement icon disappeared.”

  “What did you say?” Kirschwasser spurred his steed faster.

  In the middle of the road, there was a group of Fighters all dressed in black coats. They seemed to be arguing over something. A few other players were present, and if he squinted, he could confirm that Duplichiro was among them.