And yet, no matter how one looked at them, the towers sitting among the mountains were the 『Silver Linked Towers』. Since each of them were used as a base by a respective member of the Nine Sages, there was no way that Kagami would mistake those towers for anything else.

  The first thing he suspected was a bug in the game. At that time, however, his trail of thought was stopped right when it reached the point of “Well, rare things do indeed happen sometimes.” Why? Because there was one more baffling occurrence after all. If he were to compare those two points, the second one was much more important.

  It was that he could smell things. Every time the wind blew, a grassy scent tickled his nose and he felt a strange sense of discomfort.

  The developed VR technology could reproduce, within its own capacity, the sense of touch, but the senses of taste and smell weren’t developed to a practical level yet. Despite that, when Kagami inhaled through his nose, his brain was clearly telling him that there was a scent. That situation was truly incomprehensible.

  So, in an attempt to verify that mystery, he tore off some of the grass that was near his feet and, when he began to chew on it, a bitter and astringent taste spread through all of his mouth. Without standing it, he spat the grass out along with a large amount of saliva, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand in the process. The taste felt annoyingly intense, and even his own saliva was meticulously reproduced.

  Unable to understand how the herbivores could ever stand that kind of “food”, he turned his sight down towards a clump of bushes, noticing that those plants seemed fairly closer to his eyes than they should usually be. But it was right then that something happened. All of a sudden, from within the forest, came a war cry accompanied by a rumbling in the ground. Immediately, the high-pitched sounds of metal rubbing against metal resounded through the air like shockwaves.

  Those were sounds very familiar to him.

  “Ah, I remember now,” thought Kagami. He just recalled that he had come out to subjugate the group of monsters that had in the vicinity of the nation’s borders. Had somebody been unluckily enough to run across them? Or maybe someone else went to defeat the monsters in his stead…

  Thinking the second option would be unlikely to happen, he broke into a run, a bitter smile appearing on his face. When he finally crossed the forest, Kagami found himself in another grassy plain. There, a knight that proudly hoisted a very familiar national emblem was cutting down some small creatures; similar to a child in size, those beings had blue skin and both their nose and ears were pointed. However, in the next instant, two—or rather, three of the blue creatures gathered together, each holding a dully gleaming knife in one hand, and attacked that knight. Currently, that place was, without a doubt, a battlefield.

  Silver and blue completely covered the plains. Clad in armor that shone almost like a mirror, the knights who kept raising a battle cry as they charged against their enemies were known as the Magic Clothed Knights, elite members of a certain nation—the same one that the Nine Sages were associated with: the Kingdom of Arkite. Now, the enemy they were fighting against? A very common kind of monster: the goblin.

  Finding such a scene in front of him, Kagami realised he had slept for a really long time; because he was much too late in doing his job, the Kingdom’s knights were dispatched.

  【Summoning: Dark Knight】

  After activating his ability, a darkly shining hole opened up on the ground, covering some of the bushes that were there. A second later, a large knight gradually rose from it: fully covered in a jet black armor that could easily instill shivers down someone’s spine, the entirety of that being’s body was spouting what appeared to be blackish flames, their misshapen form swaying ominously. Instead of a face, it just had two red gleaming lights for eyes, both floating in a space painted in complete darkness.

  Giving off a clearly different presence than everyone else there, that black knight had suddenly appeared in the middle of the battlefield between the knights and goblins. After they stopped in their tracks due to that unknown being appearing, as if trying to threaten it, the goblins released sharp squeaking sounds from their mouths. And it was right then that Kagami’s sense of discomfort was renewed.

  The goblins should not have been programmed to do something like that.

  The oft killed goblins were designed to always act like brave and daring monsters; or, if one were to put it like it really was, they were supposed to be monsters that didn’t know their place and would, in the end, gracefully jump to their own deaths. However, what Kagami saw before his eyes was, no matter how one looked at it, goblins making a fuss due to what seemed to be “fear”.

  And yet, concluding that it would be useless even if he were to contemplate it right now, he ordered his Dark Knight to clean them up.

  In an instant, the place exploded into a hellish massacre. The black greatsword cut through the air, creating a windstorm. Each time its blade was casually swung down, five or six goblins would release a deathcry and have their bodies scattered into the surroundings, reduced to mere lumps of meat.

  Gradually, the goblins’ threatening cries changed into shrieks filled with despair and they began running to escape from that hell; a hopeless endeavour, as the Dark Knight who had been ordered to clean them up did not show a single grain of mercy.

  Without even time to scream at the black mass that quickly closed the distance between them, a number of unlucky goblins were sent flying through the air, torn to shreds.

  The surrounding goblins who saw that happening right before them couldn’t even take the bare minimum measures needed for self-defence and, from a single swing of the broadsword, fell on the ground, their eyes devoid of life as their bodily fluids and innards were scattered all over the place.

  Having eradicated the monsters in the immediate area, the Dark Knight now seized a group that included a goblin clad in armor, its physique a size larger than the others.

  While screaming out orders with some impatience mixed within its voice, that heavily armored goblin kept giving off dull metallic sounds as it moved; although it was slow because of the armor weight, it was possible to see that the goblin had quite a bit of stamina. A few of the goblins who were particularly clever—for goblins—had made serious use of their entire brain to realise that being around the armored one would increase their survival rate, and gathered around it.

  However, with the Dark Knight who was bursting with bloodlust as their opponent, it was nothing but an act of stupidity. If they had wanted to survive, there was no option but to run in the opposite direction of those who were confronting the knight.

  Despite that, the Dark Knight wouldn’t even allow them to reach that silver lining. The black killer’s blade chased after them, and when faced with a vision of absolute death, the herd of monsters descended into terror, forgetting everything about the meaning behind working as a group. After reaching that point, the goblins became nothing more than lone, helpless prey to their foe.

  It all just happened in an instant. Without even being able to understand what was happening, the goblins dyed the earth with their dark red blood.

  Just as it had been ordered, the Dark Knight cleaned up all the goblins in the area and turned them into silent husks, fulfilling the contract it was bound to. The massacre had taken no more than two or three minutes, but the plains were now intensely dyed with the monsters’ blood. As a gentle breeze caressed the place, the entire scenery that could be seen there would easily evoke, within anyone’s mind, the picture of a fierce slaughter that had just been finished. Of the two colors that were dividing their place in the grasslands, the blue was lying on the darkened ground, while the silver had grouped together in a formation, vigilant against the Dark Knight.

  There were perhaps a hundred goblin corpses on the ground. After giving a casual glance at those bodies to confirm that his job was done, Dunbalf dismissed his knight.

  And then, his mind was once again troubled by the many things he had witnessed until now. There was smell and taste, as well as goblins that took actions he had never seen before. He reached only one conclusion:

  That was the third game update.

  It seemed far-fetched to suddenly think that both smell and taste, that were still being researched worldwide, could be reproduced to such an extent, but what was happening right now was that all his five senses were being conveyed to his whole body. Although it was weird that such a cutting edge technology had been first used in a game, it was also a fact that he had no other way to appropriately explain his current situation.

  As expected of the 『Ark Earth Online』 staff. Dunbalf concluded that the reason his machine hadn’t shut down—despite him falling asleep online—was most probably because of the version update.

  When he told himself that, Dunbalf noticed the sound of chafing metal approaching.

  Its source was none other than the band of knights. On their shields was emblazoned the symbol of the 『Kingdom of Arkite』, a coat of arms representing a great tree and a moon.

  They were the Magic Clothed Knights of Arkite and could easily be recognized from their characteristic armor and shield. The mirror-like armor reflected the light and adapted itself into the surroundings, while the shield boasted strong defence against abilities or breath attacks released by monsters.

  The man who appeared to be the leader of those elite knights stopped his subordinates with a hand signal, then took a step forward. His slicked back hair was silver-grey with a few streaks of white mixed here and there, and on his finely chiseled face ran a slanted scar, a proof of his long service in the military. Atop his armor was what was probably the symbol of the commander; a red mantle. Although he wasn’t on the same level as Dunbalf, he still looked like a very refined, handsome man. And yet, Dunbalf himself had no memory of that face; somewhat weird, considering that, as one of the top members of his country, he knew the faces of everyone who served as commanders in the Kingdom’s elite units.

  “About that black armored knight from before... I’m assuming it was a technique belonging to the controller class arts. Was that your doing, young lady? Would it be all right for me to consider you as our reinforcements?”

  The man she believed was the commanding officer started a conversation. However, Dunbalf didn’t realise that it was being directed at him. After all, there was something obviously wrong within the commander’s words.

  “Then who is he speaking to?” wondered Dunbalf, as he turned his head to check the surroundings. And when he did, he noticed one of the goblin corpses shaking violently—immediately, something jumped out from under it and escaped towards the forest.

  “Humpf, so there was… a… survivor...?”

  The exact moment those words left his mouth, he felt that two things were going incredibly wrong there. The first was that the survivor’s characteristics were obviously different to a goblin’s.

  “What… is this?”

  As for the second one, it was the sound of that lovely, bell-like voice.

  Taking a look at his own figure that was being reflected in the commander’s mirror-like armor, Dunbalf stood in a daze at what he was just witnessing before his very eyes.

  Clear Mirror Armor. That was the name given to the official equipment of the Arkite Kingdom’s Order of the Magic Clothed Knights. Its surface, that reflected light just like any other mirror, could even be used as the very thing itself. Now seeing his own form reflected there, Dunbalf first moved his right hand, and then his left.

  When he did, without an off beat, the young girl reflected in the knight’s armor copied his movements. Or rather, it was already beyond the realm of simply copying; Dunbalf and the girl were one and the same.

  In addition, that girl wasn’t unfamiliar to him.

  Silver hair that reached around the hips, strong-willed, azure eyes that were slanted upwards, slightly reddened cheeks and a small nose; everything together fitting perfectly on an innocent, cherubic face. The clothing or equipment Dunbalf had been wearing was still the same, though. Only the insides—or, in this case, the person wearing them—had clearly changed.

  Indeed, what lay inside those clothes was the very figure of his ideal girl; the same girl he had created with the 『Vanity Case』.

  Chapter 2

  “How did this happen?” he wondered, as his mind searched through his memory at full throttle to recall what had happened before he fell asleep. While that was happening, the Knight Commander was at a loss regarding the distracted girl.

  Then, at that moment, a number of his subordinates came over and reported to him. It was related to the monster that had jumped out from beneath the goblins’ bodies. Apparently, they had managed to injury it, but it moved so fast they were unable to bring the monster down.

  As the commander gave the instructions to split his group into a search party and a pursuit team, the young girl stared fixedly at her new, smaller hands.

  What was reflected on the surface of the armor was exactly the ideal girl he had created earlier.

  Just what was the meaning of that? Trying to pull the reason from the well of his memories, Kagami remembered that, indeed, he had produced that figure in the avatar creation page, but he shouldn’t have actually confirmed the change.

  He had cancelled it, and then logged out…

  That was as far as his memories brought him. Maybe, just a little bit before he'd logged out. Something was telling him that, in fact, he had fallen asleep before leaving the game—no, even earlier than that, Kagami felt it happened before he had even pushed the “cancel” button.

  Although he tried his best to wring out from his memories the circumstances of that exact moment, everything that happened after he heard the call for breakfast seemed completely clouded.

  While reaching that point, something occurred to him. He immediately activated his bracelet-like terminal and opened the status window from the menu; there, information about his avatar was displayed in a column.

  His name was Dunbalf Gandadore. In addition, the window displayed his class, “Summoning Expert”, the nation he belonged to and then his registered base of operations. His magical power was a cut above the rest, but his physical attributes were on par to—if not just a little bit higher than—the common Expert. That deficiency was supplemented by his gear values.

  From a glance, everything seemed to be working without any problems in particular. It wasn’t that he logged into a different avatar, nor that his avatar was gone. The information displayed before him was the same status of Dunbalf, the character he had spent four years working on.

  Subsequently, after moving to the next page of the menu, the young girl dropped her shoulders and hung her head down, having finally lost all her hope.

  The gear specially made for the Sages was lined up there. Every single piece of that exquisite equipment had been bestowed to him by the King of Arkite, an act done to congratulate Dunbalf for his ascension to the position of Elder, head of one of the Silver Linked Towers. Those items were uniquely crafted by renowned, first-class craftsmen players, and only Dunbalf possessed those them.

  However, what brought Kagami to despair wasn’t the items lined up there, but the avatar being displayed beside them—the girl he had created was showcased in the screen, wearing all that equipment. Dunbalf was the one who should have been there, in all his handsome, austere glory; not that little girl.

  Wondering what could have possibly happened, the girl grabbed the lower hem of her robe and, rolling it upwards, tried stripping. When Kagami did it, at the same time, the status word in the corresponding equipment slot turned to “None”.

  With the robe hanging idly in one of “his” hands, as he looked down to check “his” exposed body, the supple, silver hair possessed by the girl gently danced around while coiling around her white skin.

  Indeed, a snow-white, nearly transparent skin. Plus small mounds that swelled from her chest, just large enough to peek through her little, cupped hands. Finally, a modest butt with two well-shaped legs stretching out from under it. Without a doubt, the girl was the materialization of Kagami’s ideal, the one he had created with the 『Vanity Case』.

  “OOOOIII! OIOIOI! What are you doing!?”

  When the commander had just finished giving instructions to his subordinates, with astonishment in his voice, he instantly called out to the girl, whose figure had become naked before he knew it. A moment later, he grabbed his red mantle in a mad rush and used it to cover and hide the young girl’s body. All of the surrounding knights had been focusing their gazes on her immodest appearance, but now, with their self-restraint of steel kicking in, they all averted their faces and stayed silent.

  “Honestly, if you’re a woman, little lady, then you shouldn’t be revealing your skin like that. We knights are all faithfully honest so there shouldn’t be a problem, but in this world there are people with whom you can’t let your guard down, you know.”

  Was there really a need for such an overreaction? So wondered the girl while finding herself amazed that all those knights could actually be players, considering how they had just reacted.

  Reasonably famous and powerful players could bring along attendant NPCs to walk with them. The girl had thought that the knights around her were the commander’s servants, but it seemed like she had been wrong. After all, NPCs shouldn’t have been able to give those kinds of reactions.

  She didn’t really want to believe nor admit it, but as truly reluctant as she was, the girl decided to accept her current situation. How, or what she had messed up, the girl didn’t know. But the fact was that she had apparently confirmed the avatar reset.

  Most probably, the version update had something to do with it. Having reached that conclusion, she thought about buying another 『Vanity Case』. However, even though it was only ¥500, there was no other choice but to spend yet another ¥1000. And she frowned at that prospect.