We’ve decided to increase the number of releases for now. Yay. More chapters. Good for you guys. I’m Happy for all of you who enjoy it.
I’m sitting here typing this as I get ready for work, wondering just how many of you are professional College/Uni students. Probably all of you. I don’t envy any of you. I’ll post again when I feel like it.
Small Village Tridente – Chapter 29
rawr:
, 2XX7
Naming
「That’s right! I asked you this before, but why don't you come to our village if you have nowhere else to go?」
Hibiki had been wandering around the sea for long time, but now that her routine has been removed there's no need for her to do that anymore. So, I proposed that she rest her wings at Tridente.
『Are you sure? If I’m there, I think the others would be scared…』
「It’s alright! At Tridente there's only the 3 of us and a Raging Wolf cub, so there's no one that will be scared of you!」
In the first place, Hibiki’s appearance is human just like us, the only difference being the wings on her back. Rather than being scared, they would admire her her beautiful appearance.
『Then, maybe I should go…』
After worrying about it for a bit, she replied shyly.
「That’s great! From now on please take care of us!」
For now we returned to Tridente and met up with Eve-san at our home.
『So you're Hibiki-chan. Nice to meet you.』
『H-Hello.』
From Hibiki’s point of view, Eve-san is related to the NW corporation that made her into a marionette doll. She seemed to be nervous and on guard, unsure of what Eve-san might do to her.
『For now, I removed Hibiki-chan’s routine, but…』
She'd intervened with the system and safely removed the routine, but before she could locate the storage place for Hibiki's memory, her intrusion of the security system was noticed and the memory was moved elsewhere.
『I was doing it with a protection on, so they shouldn't have any clear proof I did it, but there are only a few people that can break through the security and take control of the routine and memories. They're probably keeping an eye on me.』
It was a pretty dangerous bridge to cross if it was enough to endanger her stand point within the NW corporation… it might be that. Until now, I didn’t trust Eve-san, but she cooperated and did so much for Hibiki. Right now I want to honestly thank her, and from now on I think I'll absolutely cooperate with her if something happens to Hibiki-san.
『I tracked the memory that was moved and I was able to at least specify where it is, but… the place it was moved to is right here inside NW.』
「The memories are in NW…? Do you mean it's being managed inside the game?」
『Normally the memories are stored inside the player's avatar, but Hibiki-chan’s memory fragment was turned into an item and stored in a different place.』
The memory that was stored in Hibiki’s character was only her name and her language, and her memories of the time she lived as a human were pulled out it seems.
「By the way, where is it stored?」
『In the ocean depths of the area where Hibiki-chan was wandering, it's at the last floor of the Undersea Temple.』
In the real world they say that the deepest gulf is in Japan with a depth of 2500m. While underwater in NW, if you don’t take a breath for a fixed amount of time your HP will reduce gradually, so you'd need to find a method to be able to breath underwater otherwise you won’t reach the Undersea Temple.
「If you're looking for an underwater breathing item then it has to be the Bubble Drop.」
「The materials are from a rare sea monster drop… And the chance to meet it is considerably low. There's only been 1 item reported so far~.」
『You three be on standby. I'll be going.』
The Pres and Saya started researching the method to go undersea, but Eve-san said that she would use her admin rights to go alone to the Undersea Temple.
「Isn’t it dangerous? If you were exposed…」
Eve-san is someone from the NW corporation. Even if she's the daughter of the President, her position is not absolute. If she got exposed then the worst case is that she might be fired, so I got worried.
『It's alright. I’m a human of the NW world… That means, in the real world, they can’t really do anything to me.』
「U-umm… I’ve been wondering about this but, Eve-san what happened to your body in the real world?」
Even though she said that she became a resident of NW, it's not like she could put her real body inside the game. So, I wonder what happened to Eve-san’s body in the real world?
『It's at least being preserved in cold sleep it seems. Even though I told them that was unnecessary and they should just bury it.』
「The Eve-san in the real world, will it never be waking up again?」
For example, if her memory was transferred, then her body in the real world would only lose its memory. So, I thought the Eve-san who does not have memory should still be in the real world, right?
『That's half correct. Those who end up in that condition are only the humans that failed migrating to NW.』
「Migration failure…? Is it possible for it to fail?」
When Eve-san was transferred to NW in an experiment, those who tried to migrate totaled 5 including her it seems. However, the only one that was able to become a resident of NW was Eve-san.
『The other 4 failed to have their consciousness transferred.』
Consciousness, mind, soul, self, heart… There are various ways to call it, and in reality we’re not even sure if it actually exists. No, it exists, but there are no ways to ascertain it.
If the person dies, is that be the end, or maybe the thing called the soul will have something after that? I also had an experience thinking about that while being anguished by it.
「If it fails, then what happens?」
『Just as Mari-chan said, only the memories are passed to the character and in the real world the test subject became an empty human with no memories.』
The character that got the memory transferred to it would only become a storage box for the memories, and because it does not have a consciousness it won’t move on its own.
Then, having their memories transferred, their real body would become something like a newborn baby where only the consciousness remained, not knowing any words or having any past memories it seems.
「What was the difference between those who succeeded and those who failed?」
『It's the strength of the emotion. If you're really serious about living in this world your consciousness will be pulled over to the NW side.』
That means that it's not like all those who are playing NW will be able to migrate. Only those who have their consciousness established in the NW side will be able to live in this world.
「But still, unless you actually try to see if your consciousness can be established, you won’t know, right?」
『Well… that may be so. But, there's something you can aim for.』
The feeling of wanting to live in NW… If that is the power of your emotion then…
「Is it… Nos.?」
『That's right. If it's someone whose feelings are powerful enough to manifest a Nos. then they'd certainly have NW hold on to their consciousness.』
Nos. is merely a criteria, even if you are not a Nos. holder there is still a chance you can migrate. It seems they're going to be doing experiments on that.
『By the way, When I transferred my consciousness I manifested a Nos. too. It is Nos. 0 【World Escape】 .』
Eve-san’s Nos. 【World Escape】is not a battle skill, once it activated it would detach NW from the real world. It is a skill to make NW independent.
『You still probably have a lot of questions, so soon we'll be answering questions to the people again.』
So it really isn't a delusion to migrate to NW, it's a project they're serious about doing…
『We've gone off track. For now, I should go and recover Hibiki-chan’s memory.』
For us to go to the Undersea Temple, we'll need to start by making an underwater breathing item, which will take some time. So, Eve-san will warp to the Undersea Temple, and get the memory it seems.
「Are you sure it's alright? They're probably on guard.」
『Well, you're right. But still, that's the same case for anyone else that's going.』
Certainly if we were to go to the take the memory ourselves, that in itself might also be bad. We can’t do spy work like Eve-san, and if we're discovered by the NW corporation we don’t know what'll happen to us.
It feels like we're relying too much on Eve-san, but it looks like all we can do is be obedient. Even Hibiki is staring at Eve-san worriedly.
『It's alright. I'll immediately bring back your memory. My warp doesn't really take that much time, 30 minutes is enough.』
Just some time ago she was able to quickly removed the routine. Those words are probably not a lie.
『Please, I leave everything to you.』
Hibiki politely bowed her head, and she entrusted anything that comes after to Eve-san.
Being ordered to stay on standby, we guided Hibiki around Tridente. When we went near the Fields, Pochi energetically rushed over.
「This cub is the raging wolf cub I talked about earlier.」
『wafu!』
When Pochi saw Hibiki, Pochi’s tail intensely wagged and he licked all over Hibiki’s face.
『uwaa! hey, it tickles! Stop~~』
Hibiki too was not dissatisfied and played around with Pochi, so for the present time I’m relieved.
『It sure is cute… what’s its name?』
「Pochi!」「Hachi!」「It is Ultimate Cabbage Tarou!」
『…hah?』
Since we all shouted a different name at the same time, Hibiki was flustered. Telling her that we still haven’t decided on a name, she sighed as if taken aback.
『It can’t be helped you three… In the first place what’s with Ultimate Cabbage Tarou?』
「Wha…! It's a masterpiece that I thought of all night!」
『You don’t have any naming sense.』
The President’s peculiar naming sense was mercilessly pointed out. Even though she gave her character a normal name, when she named a dog why did it become so weird?
「Then, what about my Hachi? If you are talking about dogs then it has to be Hachi! This is an iron rule.」
「It's the same for Pochi too you know! Hibiki what do you think?」
Both me and Saya drew near Hibiki while asking her which was the most appropriate name.
『Both are too generic, so they're rejected.』
「Eh! But it's different from Ultimate Cabbage Tarou, Pochi and Hachi are properly getting a reaction you know!」
『The name you're comparing to is too low for comparison!』
「You have been saying all you want about our naming sense, so Hibiki-san, what's your idea?」
Being told a lot, the President counter attacked.
『Let’s see~~ …Since that barks sounds nice, how about Voice?』
「That's so simple!」
『What…』
Getting even from earlier the President immediately replied and had a somewhat satisfied face. Though personally, I think it sounds cool and is a good name…
Pochi who had been being silent while held by Hibiki started constantly barking.
『See, this guy too said that Voice is good you know.』
「Eh? Hibiki you understand what Pochi is saying?」
『It’s not as detailed as human words, but I can generally understand what it's conveying.』
Even though their race might be different if it was between monsters, then they might be able to understand each other to some extent.
「M-more than that, is the matter with the name true!?」
「Well, if the wolf itself said that it likes it then it can’t be helped. So let’s go with Voice. If we keep going with it not having a name then it's pitiful after all.」
Saying that, Saya too approves of the name Hibiki suggested. And of course me too! The name is an important thing so I wanted to quickly decide it. If it had multiple names, Voice might get confused.
「It looks like it can't be helped」
In the end the President too consented, and thus the curtain closed on the naming dispute that had continued for a long time.
「Then Voice, once again please take care of us!」
『Bau!』
Delighted to have its name decided, Voice ran around me.
『Are there no other people other than Voice here?』
「Y-yeah. Before there was a lot, but because of a certain event it decreased, so right now it's only us.」
I explained in detailed about the Lost Memories event and the Enforcer to Hibiki.
『As always you guys sure have troubles that I don’t really get… wait, when we first met what about those guys that were with you?』
「Those people are from Cyber Fish, they're also the trigger that made us meet Hibiki.」
I told Hibiki about the Siren Subjugation Quest that Cyber Fish had requested of us.
『Its fine and all about being a trigger to be able to meet me, but… maybe it was my fault that Voice’s parents were killed.』
Hibiki looked at Voice, and her expression darkened a bit.
「Y-you’re just thinking too much! In the first place it's not like Hibiki wanted to sink ships after all.」
I called out to Hibiki who had silently stared at voice, but she was thinking deep in thought and she didn’t reply.
「Hibiki?」
『…I have decided』
Hibiki raised her lowed head and muttered it.
『I will become Voice's mother in exchange!』
As she declared her decision to become a mother, her face changed to a reliable expression full of resolve.
「Hibiki… yeah, you’re right! I think it's a good idea! When we're logged out, Voice might be sad, so If Hibiki is always together then Voice will be happy!」
Hibiki’s first path she decided on after she was freed from her routine was being Voice's mother. Seeing her looking forward to her future rather than the past, she looked somewhat like an adult.
After that, we went to Cyber Fish, and Hibiki apologized for the ships she had sunk up until now. The people from Cyber Fish understood that Hibiki too had her circumstances, and with no ill feelings they forgave Hibiki.
「It's normal for a monster to do its part as a monster ‘ssu, so It can’t be helped ‘ssu! Rather, we got helped by the people from Tridente this time, so from now on, if you are in trouble, please rely on Cyber Fish! We'll help you out!」
「Ah, Thank you very much! Please take care of us too.」
Saying that, we exchanged handshakes and formed an alliance. Since Tridente is a small village, If we had an ally near us it would really be reassuring. I want to cooperate rather than compete.
「It’s been quite some time, and still no contact from Eve-san.」
After we left Cyber Fish, and were returning back, Saya muttered it.
「It's been 2 hours since Eve-san departed」
Since she said that 30 minutes is enough, she's certainly a be bit late.
「nn~~ …I sent her a message but there has been no reply」
「W-would it be better if we waited for a little while?」
「It's a bit worrying. I hope nothing bad happened」
It was already late at night and we usually log out during this time, but we waited for a bit more. However, in the end, on that day no contact was received from Eve-san.
I wonder what this is, this feeling of uneasiness…
Chapter 29 END
9: I hope they will specify what Eve’s gender is already, it's difficult for me when the narration talks about her. I don’t know which to use, he or she.
Ass to Ass