[Tutorial 3: Accept a Subjugation Request]
The tutorial advances, and the Receptionist holds out a request slip with the rank F written on it in large letters. About five goblins have made a home in the underground graveyard, she says, her voice flat and even. “Could you clear them out? If you can take this request, please sign here.”
”Yeah, I’ll take this one.”
When I signed the request slip she held out and returned it, she handed me the top copy. The other copy beneath it, with my name written in, was filed by the Receptionist into the received box.
”The request form also acts as your contract, so don’t lose it while you’re on the job,” she continues without a change in tone. “If you misplace it, the request won’t count as completed. The conditions are written on the form, so check them over before accepting. Once you finish, bring the form back to the counter and you’ll get your reward. Now, let me issue your starting weapon.”
The Receptionist gives a bow, then begins lining up weapons on the counter. Sword, dagger, axe, hammer, spear, bow, great sword-the basic ones, I suppose. But I’ll choose the one I used heavily in the trial version3.
What I’ll use is the great sword. It has a guard function, deals high damage with a high expected value for Critical Hits, can Parry, and can trigger a Counterattack. It’s no exaggeration to say this is the weapon for me.
Lightweight…
Even holding the great sword that had felt so heavy with the trial version’s character, thanks to the Skill it weighs no more than a feather. I swing it two or three times, and it’s light as expected-well, not so much that it throws off my timing.
”Have you made your choice?”
”Yeah, I’ll go with this one.”
”Then I look forward to seeing you complete your request safely,” Her voice is flat, so she really isn’t human after all. The NPCs in the town in the trial version felt more human than this. Well, but even so, for some reason her voice sticks with me.
[Reward: Recovery Potion (Small) ×5, Mana Potion (Small) ×5, Stamina Potion (Small) ×5, Carry Bag]
The tutorial advances, and the rewards appear before my eyes. Red restores HP, blue restores MP, yellow restores stamina-that seems the same as the trial version. I quickly stow the potions in test-tube-like bottles into the carry bag and sling it over my shoulder. I’ve got a weapon and potions, so all that’s left is to defeat enemies.
[Tutorial 4: Hunt Monsters]
The tutorial advances, and a marker begins navigating me to the destination. It seems I’m heading back toward the plaza; there should have been a temple-like place with a giant bell tower1 there. The destination is the underground graveyard, so that way, huh. Shouldering the great sword, I leave the Adventurer Guild and retrace the path I came by.
Passing through the plaza fountain, the Grand Temple with its giant bell tower comes into view. Before the Grand Temple stands a statue of a valiant male god with long hair and a full beard. So that’s the Grand God Valentinus… He should be the chief deity of the V·F·L·O world; I recall reading that he’s on terrible terms2 with the Demon Lord who serves as the final boss, and that humans and demons are still at war.
Slipping past the side of the statue, I head toward where the marker points and arrive at the entrance to the underground graveyard where the goblins are thought to have crept in. The swaying of the trees and even the musty smell drifting from the underground graveyard are reproduced-this is beyond the trial version. They really weren’t kidding about a realistic otherworld. The underground graveyard ahead is a dim, atmospheric place, and as expected of the tutorial event that people who join the Adventurer Guild to start adventuring receive, I light the lantern lying nearby and hang it from my waist as I advance into the underground graveyard.
Trivia:
- The Receptionist’s flat, inhuman voice is flagged as oddly memorable by the narrator, hinting she may be more than a standard NPC and foreshadowing a later reveal.
- The great sword the protagonist picks is praised for Parry and Counterattack, mechanics that quietly signal he will rely on reactive, timing-based combat rather than brute force.
- The detail that the Grand God Valentinus is on bad terms with the Demon Lord seeds the world’s core human-versus-demon conflict before any plot encounter occurs.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ Literally bell tower or belfry; here a large religious tower attached to the Grand Temple, rendered as bell tower to keep the fantasy-religious atmosphere.
2 ↩ A Japanese idiom literally meaning the relationship of a dog and a monkey, i.e. sworn enemies who cannot get along; rendered as on terrible terms.
3 ↩ Refers to a playable trial or demo version of the game the protagonist knows from his prior world; rendered as trial version to preserve the meta-game framing.