Chapter 13: Detour ③ — Player "ID:GrEEn0223"

The first battle is over, I pull a ten-pull gacha, and then the story continues.

By the way, the SSR I chose was Magical Girl Mea-chan.

Apparently there was some talk about the Adventure King being strong. Yeah, well, I have no interest in some old guy.

I'm building a party of girls! I'm not compromising on that!

...Though the one I really want is that green-haired girl from the commercial.

Looking at the gacha lineup, it doesn't look like she's been implemented yet.

Looks like I'll be saving up my gems for a while.

Come to think of it, my friend Ryuto... Hoshiji Ryuto had a weird reaction when he saw the commercial. "Whenever I look at this character... No, whenever I look at the person looking at this character, I get this weird feeling. It's like looking at the character itself is somehow like looking in a mirror... Why is that?" Or something along those lines.

Like, what kind of stupid thing was he talking about? Maybe if it were Sorane-chan, but there's no way he could resemble some cute girl from a social game.

That bastard Tanazawa just muttered, "Hmm...?" and seemed to be thinking about something, but who cares. There's no way I'm ever going to get along with that guy. Seriously, how does that Ryuto guy even manage to be friends with someone like him?

『Hmm? Because he's Renji, is that not enough of a reason?』

『Renji didn't abandon me. He ran away with me. Even though I brought a monster along, he didn't blame me. He fought alongside me. This is the Renji I know. I have many reasons to trust him.』

『Besides, Renji and I are even, right?』

Man, this is the main heroine if I've ever seen one.

I've been playing War Fairy, or WF for short, which had already become a huge topic even before its release. ...Still, what a lame name.

Well, the game's level of polish was so ridiculously high that I stopped caring about the name pretty quickly, and I was more than satisfied with it.

Oh, speaking of names. Apparently, if you set your player name to the default name "Kizuna," which is shared by both genders, the voice lines will actually call you "Kizuna." I took "Renji" from my real name, Midorigami Renji, so the voice lines call me things like "you" or "you there" instead.

『Anyway, getting back to what we were talking about. Renji, what do you want to do?』

『I want to save this world. Chaos. I can't just ignore the destruction I've learned about.』

Whoa! This kid's a protagonist, too.

Still, isn't he rushing into things a little too much? I couldn't make up my mind like that without any memories.

And so the conversation between the protagonist and Rune continued, until it became clear what they needed to do next.

『I see...! If we solve some major problem that this city is facing, we'll be able to have an audience...!』

『Yes, exactly.』

『Then let's start by asking around! Let's talk to all kinds of people and see what we can learn! Let's go, Rune!』

『Yeah!』

And so we started moving forward, and then—

『Eek!』

『I finally found you...』

"What!?"

That green-haired girl showed up!?!

Her cheerful smile in the commercial was cute, but she looks wonderful when she's crying, too!

I'm totally against making girls cry, though!

Apparently, this girl's name is "Tierra As." That's a good name.

And she's an unexpected "ore" girl! Now that's a strong character trait. I absolutely love it!

Still, her very first line was a cute little "Eek!" so maybe she's hiding something.

And apparently, Tierra-chan seems to know me... the player.

What the heck does that mean? Is this one of those situations where there's a period of missing memories before waking up?

『Yes, that's right. I'm sorry. It seems I mistook you for someone else.』

What are you doing, me?! Player... No, wait, that's me! I can't let Tierra-chan get sad!

The conversation continues.

Apparently, Tierra-chan knows about "Earth" and "Japan."

The mystery is getting even deeper now.

『You... You don't want to go home?』

Judging from the conversation, it seems Tierra-chan is worried about the player.

Whether I'd want to go home or not, huh? What would I do? I'd be sad that I couldn't see my friends and family... but at the same time, a dreamlike life in another world! Living in a world of swords and magic is something I couldn't just give up...

Oh? We have choices here. Let's see... "Because I have a mission." "Because I don't want to abandon them." "Because the world is in danger." ...Aren't those all basically the same thing?! For now, I'll pick the second one, "Because I don't want to abandon them." I don't want to abandon Rune-chan, after all.

『Even if I had my memories, I wouldn't be able to abandon this world and go home. I think I would have made the same choice.』

『I met Rune in this world. And I saw the people living in this city. Now that I know the danger threatening them, I can't just abandon them.』

『I was the one who decided to walk this path.』

Whoa... That's cool as hell. But Tierra-chan, who had been worried about him, reacts...

『Haha, what is that? What are you talking about? That's ridiculous. If that's the case, then... then, I... I... What was I... doing all this for—』

『...Ah. Ah, haha. It's nothing. Just talking to myself. Don't worry about it.』

What the hell are you doing, me?! Ah, no, wait, that's me!

You can't make a girl sad! But then again, the world really is in danger...

Oh, right. Maybe her real first-person pronoun is actually "watashi" after all.

It feels like her true feelings just slipped out.

『...I understand. Saving the world... So that is the choice you've made. ...Do you have any concrete plan for how to accomplish it?』

Oh? Looks like Tierra-chan is going to support us. That's a relief, at least.

After that, Tierra-chan gives us two pieces of information: "the reason for the war" and "the great feat that must be accomplished."

And then—

『However, I will accompany you as well. I cannot simply leave you two alone.』

Oh! Looks like Tierra-chan is joining the party!? Hell yeah!

Right now, I'm clearing the first dungeon, "Gakuma Labyrinth Jamal Mataha."

Apparently, it's a dungeon with zero returnees. That's quite the impressive title for the first dungeon.

But I guess it wouldn't count as a great feat if it weren't that dangerous.

It seems Tierra-san isn't actually recruitable. Instead, she's a fixed support slot. Apparently, later on, you'll be able to put a friend's character in this slot.

Looks like it's half free play and half tutorial. Every now and then, it gives you explanations about how to operate things.

Tierra-chan is a character with the "Healing" affinity—in other words, she's a healer who specializes in recovery.

As for the dungeon's difficulty... it's actually pretty tough.

Even Mea-chan's SSR firepower isn't enough to carry me through it on its own.

If I let my guard down, the player's HP gets dangerously low, so I have to make sure to heal properly, too.

I activate Tierra-chan's ultimate, 『■き■に■■は■る』.

『I will never allow you to come to harm. This light is my vow. Lend me your strength—』

After her unique line, all the characters become enveloped in green light and recover HP.

There's something pretty damn cool about having words censored like that. I bet it'll be revealed later on.

Come to think of it, Tierra-chan's voice sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before? What anime was it from? I'll have to look up her voice actress later.

Meanwhile, the story continues progressing as well.

There aren't any gacha characters on the story side, so the party consists of just the player, Rune-chan, and Tierra-chan.

Apparently, Tierra-chan's role is to support the player and Rune-chan, who aren't accustomed to the labyrinth.

Whenever we stop for a break, Tierra-chan quickly cooks us a delicious meal.

She's a great cook, huh? Nice. I'd love to marry her.

『My cooking is capable of much more than this. This is only a simple meal. When we get back, I'll treat you to "curry rice." If you're this happy over something this simple, you'll probably cry, you know?』

Whoa! Curry! Nice, I want some too!

Speaking of curry, the curry Ryuto makes is actually pretty damn good. I'll have him make some for me again sometime.

Still, dialogue like that feels like a huge death flag...

And sure enough—

『Look out!』

『Huh?』

『Guh...!』

Tierra-chan takes a hit while protecting the player.

She's bleeding like crazy!

Even healing magic can't completely treat her wounds, and she's grimacing in pain!

What the hell are you doing, me?! No, wait, that's me!

『You mustn't let your guard down. You can apologize and thank me all at once after we've made it back alive. Or was your resolve really so fragile that something like this was enough to break it?』

『Then let's keep looking ahead for now. I'm fine. I may not look it, but I'm actually quite accustomed to rough situations. An injury like this is nothing.』

Wow... She kind of feels like an experienced big sister who takes charge and guides everyone.

Actually, she's a great cook, protects you, and gives you advice... Isn't "mom" a more accurate description?

Anyway, I guess this event was meant to reinforce the player's resolve once again.

After that, we kept progressing until the boss battle began.

It was pretty tough, but I managed to win by healing with Tierra-chan while attacking with Mea-chan.

As for the story, it seems Rune-chan unleashed some kind of power, and then she and the player worked together to win.

And then the enemy we had been fighting, "Tetoma," joins the party.

Apparently, this is going to become our home base.

Getting a mobile base makes it really feel like the adventure is finally beginning! It gets me so excited!

WF is actually pretty damn fun!

And with that, Chapter 1, Episode 5 comes to an end, and "Tierra As (R)" officially joins the party.

The fact that the character I wanted most is given to you through the story... I have to thank the devs for that! Thanks, Tanaka!

Though that does make my vow to save up gems until I can pull Tierra-chan kind of pointless.

But then again, games like this always end up releasing a swimsuit version later on, don't they?

If that's the case, saving up until then could be pretty fun too. Everyone has their own playstyle.

I'm sticking with mine!

Let's enjoy WF!