The Golden Experience Point [Part 1]

Chapter 5: "Error Message"

In all her fights to the death, Riley had never been beaten so badly before. If it ever felt like she would get done in, she would immediately run, but she was even able to squeeze out a victory when attacked by monsters or wild beasts. None of their group had ever suffered a serious wound.

The white girl in front of her was unnaturally powerful. She wasn't that tall; at the same time, she wasn't that short either. Probably around the same height as Riley. The fact that her ears were on the sides of her head piqued her interest, but if she remembered correctly, that was in fact where those elf people were supposed to have them. Her white hair went all the way down her back, and it barely swayed it all as she dodged Riley's attack. "She's really strong" or "she's really fast," neither of those assessments were true at all, yet none of Riley's attacks were effective. She immediately realized that it was because the white girl was doing something. Even though both she and Remy had engaged her at the same time, they were both completely powerless. Riley had a feeling that she had to do something or they were sure to lose. And that premonition came true.

At some point she blacked out, and when she woke up, all four of them were tied up and lying on the ground. Kerry was struggling and flailing, trying to get free, but the white girl just touched her or grabbed her and then Kerry began to scream and cry like she had never before. The white girl frowned, wanting Kerry to be quiet, and slapped her. It looked like that cut Kerry's lip, and she began to bleed. Seeing that, Riley, Remy, and Marion all began to raise hell, but they quickly stopped. It was the most well-behaved they had ever been in their entire lives. They had never seen the patient Kerry cry like that. They didn't think they'd be able to take the punishment she was getting.

After that, every time Kerry caused a scene, the same thing would happen again. Eventually, Kerry also became quiet and obedient.

The white girl gave her name, and Kerry did the same. Kerry's rough way of speaking caused the girl's mood to sour a bit, which made everyone else's faces pale in turn. After calming herself, the white girl made Kerry drink something from a weird little bottle. Almost immediately, Kerry's swollen cheeks deflated, and her face returned to how it usually looked. Kerry's eyes became as round as plates as she looked back at the girl. The other three girls all did the same. So this was what a "magic potion" did.

Kerry began telling the story of how they got here. The other three girls piped in with details when necessary too. They thought the girl would get mad if they spoke up without permission, but instead she just smiled and listened.

Maybe the white girl was actually a nice person. They attacked her, but she didn't kill them, and it didn't feel like she was going to take them somewhere to sell them off either. If she wanted to sell them, she didn't need to ask Kerry about their past, and she wouldn't have needed to use a magic potion on Kerry either. They had never met a human like this. And not in the sense that she wasn't a beastkin. If their mothers had been like this girl, strong and kind, the four of them might well still be living in the settlement even now. Riley wondered if the other three girls were thinking the same thing.

Kerry kept talking while crying. She was the most patient one among them, so Riley thought she didn't cry, but she was wrong. Kerry just thought she couldn't cry since she was the oldest. She had to be strong, for them. Since the white girl was here now, and she was stronger than Kerry, Riley hoped that Kerry didn't have to hold it in anymore.

＊

After hearing the general story of the bandits' lives, Rare heaved a sigh. It was certainly a lot heavier than she was expecting, but from the way they told the story, it was clear that the girls' memories were based on their actual experiences. She'd have to consider what that meant.

Ignoring the world simulator rumor, this game's world was extremely large. Or, rather than "extremely," it might be better to say it was "unsettlingly expansive." If the publicly revealed specifications were accurate, the surface area of the game world was twice as large as Earth's. They apparently employed a random map-generating algorithm and spent many years running calculations and building map and object data, but would that really be enough time to complete this realistic of a field twice the size of the planet for players to run around in? Not only that, putting the size of the area aside, even if the various races were set to coexist without any problems, how many AIs would it take to realize such a thing?