That Goes for Me Too
That goes for me too.
My current ranking is 30th.
I'd been nudging it up whenever I had a spare moment, but matches took forever to find, and with so many rankers actively dodging me, this was about as far as I could climb. I'd managed to amass roughly 80,000 Honor in total, but since earning more through matchmaking had hit its ceiling, the only real income left was the passive drip from maintaining my Challenger rank.
My goal was 500,000 Honor — enough to buy the Three Rings, infused with the power of Pretus, the Sure-Hit Angel.
The Sword God was pulling ahead of me, but just in case, I hadn't spent a single point so far...
"I can spare about a thousand Honor, though."
For the sake of my people, that much I could afford to use.
"Whew... I'm nervous."
Yena and I arrived at the PVP Arena.
The place was as crowded as ever, but since neither of us had turned on our streams, we didn't exactly draw a mob. At this hour, matches might fill quickly, but...
Streaming while I do it is still the better call.
It wasn't like I absolutely had to climb the ranks, and streaming had become second nature by now — the chat reactions made everything more fun.
"You want to go to the Honor Shop?"
"Yes."
"Got it."
Just talk to the Golden Raccoon beside Moco the battle fairy, and he'd hand you the golden coin that admitted you into the Honor Shop.
Like Raccoon, the creature bore golden fur and a blue ring.
Doesn't seem like he's heard about Raccoon, though.
"By the way... you really don't know anything about Rika?"
"Nothing."
"Strange. You two look exactly alike..."
The Golden Raccoon muttered this, scratched his head, and soon flopped back down into his laid-back sprawl.
Rika, huh...
"Could it have something to do with your class, Lily?"
"Far as I'm concerned, she's a stranger. Eh, I'm sure I'll find out eventually."
First things first — let's buy what we came to buy.
I spent the coin and stepped inside the Honor Shop.
Inside, it was a temple built entirely of gold. As for the guide...
"She's not here?"
"Seems she stepped away. There's more than one Honor Shop, you know — unless it's your first visit, they're occasionally unattended."
"Ah, I see."
"If you actually want to buy something, they'll come running right away."
So I was told.
Honestly, an empty shop suited me just fine.
I headed straight for the third floor. The first floor mostly stocked cheap items; the second and third carried slightly pricier goods. Floors four and five sold the expensive stuff — Legendary and Mythic-grade items. And on the very top of the fifth floor sat Pretus's Three Rings.
There couldn't be multiple Three Rings in existence, so I figured floors four and five were either shared display space for everyone or just held mock-ups of the real thing.
Once on the third floor, I made for the Consumables category.
Seventh row, third slot from the left: the blue High-Quality Mana Bomb (x10). Behind it sat a stack of five boxes...
"How on earth do you remember all that?"
"I have a good memory."
"...Down to the number of boxes?"
"Yep."
At this level, the information simply forced itself into my head whether I wanted it or not.
That's just the kind of body I have.
I said it flatly, without a hint of embarrassment, and Yena trailed behind me with an awkward, disbelieving smile.
Rustle!
"Anyway — see those five boxes stacked up over there? Faintly visible behind them, that thing."
"I do see... something. Like a speck of dust."
"Exactly. Behind that speck of dust is a 'Broom That Might Be Useful Somewhere,' 500 Honor. And behind that broom is—!"
I shoved the broom aside and pulled out a bundle of emerald-green paper.
The special environment kept dust from settling, but if this had been an ordinary shop, this spot would have been buried under a mountain of it —
◈ Items priced at 300 Honor or above must be purchased through an Honor Shop NPC.
Found the Passes.
"???"
"See? It really was here."
"...So you looked at the boxes behind the mana bombs, spotted the broom through the gap between the boxes, and then saw the papers behind the broom?"
"Yes."
"Insane."
Clap, clap, clap.
"Lily, you're legitimately cracked."
"Anyway, they do sell these, right? There's even a barcode that scans."
"After this much effort, they'd better sell it. Buy it right now."
"Knew it. That's exactly what I expected you to say, Yena."
If they weren't going to sell it, they shouldn't have left it sitting out like this.
If you display it where customers can see it and the barcode even scans, that's as good as putting it up for sale, isn't it?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"...This is not something we sell, ma'am."
"Sorry?"
We'd called over Ria, the shop guide, to complete the purchase.
Golden hair, a pure-white uniform, and — just like Raccoon — a blue ring floating above her head.
The moment Ria laid eyes on what was in my hand, her face drained of color and she shook her head.
"Where in the world did you find this?"
"It was on display, right there?"
"D-Displayed?"
"Yes. On display."
I confidently explained exactly where the papers had been "on display."
With every sentence, Ria's expression grew graver.
"That is not... a display..."
"But I could see it with my own two eyes."
"No, the fact that you could see it at all is—"
"How strange. I was told everything visible is fair game to buy..."
Why can't I buy this one, then?
"......"
"No more, no less — I'll pay exactly what it's listed for. I'll take all four bundles."
"Oh, right. Those obviously never sell — we should be thanking you for clearing out our dead stock. Oh, and I'll take this too."
Yena was holding the very Broom That Might Be Useful Somewhere I'd seen earlier — when had she grabbed it?
"You're buying that, Yena?"
"Yep. Doesn't it scream hidden-quest item to you?"
"Ooh."
"Or I'll just use it to clean the guild hall."
"Can't argue with that."
Counting Yena and me, we were clearing out a full five pieces of unsellable dead stock.
From the shop's perspective, wasn't this a complete win? We weren't even haggling — we were offering to pay full price.
"This is a total steal."
"A steal, definitely."
"......"
As our banter flowed back and forth, Ria apparently concluded that communication had broken down entirely, and took a single step backward.
"...I don't believe this falls within my authority to handle."
"Even for a mere 4,500 Honor?"
"I will summon the manager. Please wait a moment."
With repeated, flustered bows, Ria scurried out of the shop.
The instant she vanished, Yena plopped down onto one of the seating nooks inside the Honor Shop, giggling.
"I feel like a proper troublemaker."
"That's exactly when you hold your head high."
We were customers, doing nothing more than buying what the shop had put on display.
Granted, if it hadn't caught my eye, I'd never have asked for it in the first place — but...
Show me something like that, and I have no choice but to buy it.
"Anyway, the good news is Deoen doesn't punish this kind of thing. User-versus-user disputes are one matter, but otherwise."
"That's convenient."
Deoen was strictly hands-off with its users. Even when something happened that made you go, 'Wait, shouldn't someone step in here...?' no sanctions followed.
Whatever happened inside the game stayed inside the game — presumably so players never felt controlled or policed.
The only things Deoen actually managed were matters outside the game.
And if there were any consequences at all...
They'd be in-game ones.
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"Ah, there he is."
From far across the shop, the Golden Raccoon came barreling toward us, practically glowing red with rage.
He was sprinting so frantically that his golden fur had gone completely tousled, and a deeply sulking Ria trailed along behind him.
The moment the Golden Raccoon spotted me, he lunged for the Passes in my hand.
Whoosh!
"Haah!"
He didn't come anywhere close.
"You won't hand it over?!"
"I'm buying it?"
"Give it up if you value your life."
The Golden Raccoon's blue ring pulsed, and golden energy rippled across his body.
But I just waved the Passes around, utterly unbothered.
"Can you actually kill me, though?"
"I've been granted the authority to execute unruly outsiders, at minimum. So hand it over while I'm asking nicely."
"No, what I meant was—"
Wham.
My hand punched straight through the aura shielding him and clamped around the back of the Golden Raccoon's neck.
With a strangled "Urk," he was hoisted into the air without managing a single counter.
I met his eyes at close range.
"Do you actually have the power to kill me? That's the question."
"......"
The Golden Raccoon was strong.
He'd been granted a fragment of the system's authority to run PVP matches, and his power could flatten even the fiercest ranker in a single strike. In the past, he'd rivaled a weak ancient monster — by today's standards, an Upper-Intermediate World Boss.
Right. An Upper-Intermediate World Boss.
Which, next to Raccoon, is utterly, hopelessly weak.
"Th-this is..."
Whether Raccoon had simply been strong from the start, or whether the two of them had been given different powers for different duties, I couldn't say.
What mattered was simple: the Golden Raccoon was no longer a threat to me.
"L-let this slide, even now. Set me down gently and go on your way."
"Let me buy just this, and I'll leave."
"You're joking. You have to be."
"I'm not joking either?"
"......"
A brief standoff with the Golden Raccoon stretched on.
He was decidedly weaker than Raccoon, which made him far easier to deal with.
"...Fine, one. Not the bundle — a single Pass. 100 Honor each."
"I'm buying all four bundles."
"Hey!"
"I'm paying full price. Why won't you sell to me?"
"Shopkeeper's discretion!"
"You're not the shopkeeper."
Since when is a part-timer allowed to refuse sales on the owner's whim?
Deeply dubious, if you ask me.
"If the real owner shows up and says no, I'll leave."
"...Don't be absurd. That being would never grace us with her presence, so take one and go!"
"No thanks."
"Grrrr...!"
The Golden Raccoon flushed an even deeper red.
Keep this up, and he was going to stop being a Golden Raccoon and become a Red Raccoon entirely.
"Y-you! If this body had been present back then, you'd already be dead! Wiped off the face of this world long ago!"
"That goes for me too."
If I'd been in my prime, the Golden Raccoon would already be groveling on the floor.
Not that that would necessarily mean he was dead.