He’s From the Strongest Guild and She’s a Newbie

Kazuki Kurotsuki’s POV

After coming back from school and more or less finishing everything I have to do, I lay on my bed and dive into the world of Magia.

It lasts a few seconds, this sensation of drifting to sleep, or maybe my consciousness being swept away and teleported to another world. When I open my eyes, the landscape spreading out in front of me is that of the world of Magia – one I’m most familiar with, even more than my school classroom.

This city is known as the Central Area, as it’s located at the centre of this world. And in the middle of it, there lies an enormous crater of around 8 kilometres in diameter – Magia’s Flamehammer.

The goal of this game is to progress through the gigantic dungeon adjacent to it, called Magia’s Trial, and aim for the deepest layer of Magia’s Flamehammer. So far, no player has managed to reach it.

Maybe it’s time to try and clear this dungeon soon. I’ll ask Wataru about it next time I see him.

Today, however, I’m not heading for the Magia’s Trial, but a forest area for absolute beginners, sometimes referred to as the Forest of Death. While it sounds ominous, only some players really use this name, and actually know the reason behind it. Its formal name is Raha Forest.

Since I have no business in the Central Area for now, I walk into the hastily set up transportation portal, and use its terminal.

It’s impossible to directly teleport to areas where monsters spawn, so instead of the Forest of Death, I select Raha Village located close to it, and press the teleport button.

As the machinery hums, my vision goes dark, and the next thing I see is a quiet village surrounded by a forest – it’s Raha Village.

I don’t need to buy any items in particular, so without stopping here, I head straight to the Forest.

As a side note, all NPCs in the game are operated by AI, and their attitude towards players varies depending on the player’s gender and actions. Towards me, it’s neutral, neither good nor bad.

I enter the Forest, and after an hour I reach my destination – its depths. Unlike the area near the entrance where sunlight filters through gaps in foliage, here the trees grow thick, casting a dark and gloomy atmosphere even in the middle of the day.

Now that the sun has already set, the gloominess intensifies even further, creating an atmosphere as if an eerie presence were about to appear. In real life, one would never want to go near such places.

The reason I’m here is because for two days each month on specific dates, a certain type of mushroom, called firework mushroom, grows in deep parts of forests all over this world. It is considered a rare item, but ever since its implementation in the game half a year ago, no one has discovered what its practical uses are, so there are hardly any players who bother to gather them.

Well, then, an obvious question now is, why am I here to gather such a seemingly useless item? It’s because Setsuka, one of my guild members, wants them.

She does alchemy as a hobby. This game gives players a lot of freedom, and allows them to craft their own original items and skills, so Setsuka always experiments with it whenever she’s free.

As part of her experiments, she’s trying to find a use for these seemingly useless firework mushrooms, and this time again she’s sent me a message asking to gather them for her.

To be completely honest, this task is such a bother that I really don’t want to do this, but it was difficult to refuse. I like to do whatever I want and often end up causing trouble for the guild in the process, so I felt obligated to fulfil her request.

I chose Raha Forest, because the enemies here are weak, allowing me to focus fully on gathering.

However, the developers wouldn’t let us have it so easy. Over those 2 days of the month, the death rates in Raha Forest skyrocket. That is exactly why it’s also called the Forest of Death.

Well, it’s not that big of a deal for me, so I don’t mind coming here.

Now then, you can only find a few firework mushrooms in the span of an hour, so let’s get started right away.

…Only 4 mushrooms in 2 hours, isn’t this too few?

I have been walking through the depths of this forest for 2 hours. And I managed to find only 4 mushrooms.

In those two hours, I could easily solo an intermediate-level dungeon, but instead, I was strolling around, getting only 4 mushrooms out of it.

What a complete waste of time. To make matters worse, this item serves no purpose at all.

Sigh… I guess I’ll head back.

I want to leave as soon as possible, but using a teleportation item to leave a beginner area is definitely overkill, so I decide to go on foot.

However, if I go back like this, who knows how much Setsuka will complain.

Such thoughts naturally lead me to make a few detours. At crossroads, I deliberately take the longer route to carefully search for firework mushrooms on the way.

But very soon, my unwillingness to give up backfires.

…Seriously?

Through gaps in the trees, for a split second, I catch sight of what seems like a human figure. Sweat trickles along my back.

My mind wanders to what happened at school today, particularly the silhouette of a certain female classmate.

…I should probably go talk to her, right?

If I didn’t know what’s happening in this forest, I would definitely ignore her and go on my way. I generally try not to get involved in troublesome situations.

But what if this person really is who I think she is?

At school she happily said that she would start playing Magia today. If an absolute beginner like her were to encounter them, even though the chances are low, it would surely leave a bitter taste.

If it’s not her, I’ll just quickly turn back.

I walk in her direction slowly, making as little noise as possible. Gradually the figure becomes clearer and clearer…

And my bad premonition turns out to be true. No doubt about it.

It’s Sumeragi from my class.

It seems that she’s a mage. Wearing a witch hat and a robe, she is diligently gathering herbs.

Since it’s come to this, it can’t be helped.

I plan the conversation in my head and start appro—

Gasp…

The look on her face takes my breath away.

Gathering herbs is considered a mundane and tedious task by most players. Sumeragi, however, is smiling.

I couldn’t take my eyes off this girl with golden hair and rubellite eyes, who, in the ray of moonlight shining through the dense foliage, is truly enjoying this game.

Hold on, why am I gazing at a classmate like that.

I shake my head, take a deep breath, and turn my attention back to what I need to do.

There’s no need to conceal my footsteps anymore. I start walking normally, but, even though I’m getting closer to her, she shows no sign of noticing me at all.

…Seriously?

In the end, even though I come very close, she doesn’t realise I’m here.

…Well, I tried.

Feels a bit awkward calling out to someone in the middle of a dark forest with no other human presence around, when they don’t know you’re here, but…

“Sumeragi, can I talk to you for a moment?” I called out to her from behind.

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