VRMMO: My first Contractee is Yandere
Chapter 48 The Team Up [1]

The moment I logged in, Liora noticed my presence immediately.

"GOD, Liora was lonely!!!" she cried, clinging to me, her petite body pressing against mine.

'Good thing I'm not into that sort of thing,' I thought.

"Uh-huh, Liora, I missed you too, but this is enough, don't you think?" I gently pried her off.

"Hnnngh, just a little more," she pleaded.

When I finally managed to break free, I realized we weren't at the inn. Instead, we were in an unusually luxurious place. Despite the wooden structure, the ceiling was incredibly high.

In Elfland, "glowing mushrooms" are often used for lighting, but this room boasted a splendid chandelier made from something resembling "semi-transparent bird feathers." The flames inside were real, ignited by magic—a true fantasy setting.

"Liora, where are we?"

"The royal castle. A weird person insisted we come here. The armored guy told me to go, so… I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine."

I understood the situation. I had been invited to the royal castle before but hadn't bothered to go because it seemed like too much trouble. Dealing with important NPCs feels too much like real life, which is a pain.

I never expected the quest to progress on its own if I didn't show up. Usual game strategies don't apply here. My favorite method of ignoring annoying side quests…isn't possible, it seems.

In many open-world games, getting involved often leads to a bad ending, though it can be interesting in its own way.

"So, that armor shop guy was a royal family member? What's happening now?"

"That strange princess keeps bringing sweets!"

"Sweets?"

As I tilted my head, a maid opened the door. Behind the enormous door, the princess appeared, holding a plate of sweets. The maid seemed flustered, clearly wanting to carry the plate herself.

The princess, smiling brightly, placed the sweets on the table.

"Here you go, Lady Liora! Please enjoy these as well!"

"Now that God has arrived, I'll take my leave."

"Oh my! Lord Nero! I've been proposing something to Lady Liora that she hasn't been willing to consider."

This sounds like another bothersome quest. However, I'm familiar with the princess's personality. As long as it's not too troublesome, I might as well hear her out.

I prompted the princess to speak.

"I've been officially recognized as a user of the [Goddess of Mercy]. However, I'm still under-leveled, so I can't fully unleash its power. Therefore, I'd like to form a party and gain experience."

…What should I do about this?

If it's just adding one more NPC, it wouldn't be too much of a burden. She seems to have at least minimal skills, and if she has a powerful divine artifact, even better. It would also increase Liora's safety.

However, it's unlikely the princess would come alone. If the butler joins us, I'd have to refuse. That would mean Rere would come along, and I really don't want that.

It's not that I dislike Rere; I just replace dealing with people exhausting. I still haven't been able to cancel the forced friend registration from an earlier event.

I wouldn't mind being disliked, but my conscience keeps getting in the way.

Isn't it wrong to delete someone's contact info? Without any valid reason?

When I deleted a work contact and changed my number, I felt more fear than relief. I'm quite a coward, aren't I?

Ah…

I wish I could cleanly cut all my human relationships… The one I want to cut most right now is with my neighbor. I wish they would at least clean up on their own.

I had Liora ask.

"The god says, if Rere isn't coming, we'll accept."

"Oh my! That's perfect. The butler is high-level, after all. Forming a party with him would make the experience points less efficient."

By the way, why isn't the princess a spirit-bearer?

Unless they're very eccentric, most people would accept a contract with a spirit since it only offers benefits, especially someone like the princess who fights regularly.

Yet few of the people around her, other than the butler, have contracts.

When I had Liora ask, this was the response we got.

"The spirit that tried to contract with me… it was, um, rather improper…"

"Improper?"

"I-it kept talking about my b-breasts, saying they were, um, erotic, or that it wanted to lick my face, and so on…"

Ah…

It was probably a player who got carried away and harassed her. Most of the spirits in Elfland were contracted by the second wave of players. They didn't realize how intelligent the NPCs in this game are.

Or perhaps they just thought, "It's just an NPC," and let loose. I can understand the feeling. You can say things to game characters or 2D characters that you would never say to real people.

Even idols, who are as distant as 2D characters, sometimes get treated that way on social media.

But I don't use social media, so it's not something I worry about.

"Because of that, I've avoided contracting with a spirit, and those around me have refrained as well to avoid offending me. It's hard to tell one spirit from another, after all."

"What about the butler?"

"He made a contract before I was approached."

"I see."

That seems to be the situation. I'm relieved that it wasn't anything too outlandish. At least she's not a die-hard anti-spirit person.

Anyway, if it's just forming a party, that's fine.

After discussing how to divide the loot (apparently, they are fine with us taking 100%), we headed deeper into Elfland.

▽

"Take this!"

The princess shouted as she struck the head of a Forest Goblin with her long staff. The staff burst into flames, and the goblin vanished without a trace.

It seems the princess can handle close combat as well. She frequently uses that explosive staff art. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she flashed a bright smile.

"How was it, Lady Liora!? Did you see me in action?"

"…I wasn't watching."

"No way!"

By the time the princess had defeated one goblin, Liora had already taken down five. They were pesky enemies that used both magic and arrows.

The goblins had a fairly high leve", so Liora went for the quick kill.

Liora pulled out the arrow stuck in her shoulder. The poison had already been neutralized, and the wound quickly healed thanks to [Regeneration].

She hadn't bothered to dodge to ensure a swift attack, but it still looked quite painful.

"My clothes, they're fine."

Though her military dress had been torn, it didn't show any signs of damage. The [Appearance Maintenance] skill seems to be quite useful.

Meanwhile, the elf who had come along as a bodyguard—a female elf wielding knives—was bent over, breathing heavily, unable to hide her exhaustion.

A few drops of sweat dripped to the ground.

"Let's… let's take a break… shall we…?"

"Again…?"

"Please… I beg you… huff, huff."

The princess also looked troubled.

The elf escorting us seems to have very little stamina. It feels like she's holding us back, but I suspect she's just pretending.

She's probably a scout type. Or maybe she has stats suited for an assassin. The reason my [Appraisal] failed is that royal guards are equipped with items that interfere with it… However, it wouldn't be surprising If she were at a higher level than us.

She's likely using the breaks to scout ahead.

Samurai hasn't fully matured as a scout yet, so this helps.

"Let's rest, Liora. In the meantime, let's review what you have accomplished while I was gone, okay?"

"Yes! I worked hard!"

"If your skill levels have improved nicely, maybe I can leave you alone a bit more often."

"A-aahh… no… uuh… ooh… g-gwaahhh… aaahhhh. No!!! God wahh, please don't leave me wahhh!!!"

"Lady Liora!!?! What happened, why are you crying?"

"It was a joke, Liora! Just a joke! I'm joking, okay?"

I meant to tease her a little, but Liora's emotions got all tangled up, thinking her hard work was going to backfire on her.

I should avoid playing around with Liora.

She's already been subjected to enough role-playing. I should be gentle with her. I should spoil her.

I became flustered as Liora started to cry out of control.

After finally convincing her, I took a look at our current situation.

[Zephyr has leveled up]

[Zephyr's Dark Magic has leveled up]

[Zephyr's Darkness Creation has leveled up]

[Zephyr's Dark Aura has leveled up]

[Zephyr's Regeneration has leveled up]

[Zephyr's Appraisal has leveled up]

[Zephyr's Item Box has leveled up]

[Liora has leveled up]

[Liora's Scythe Technique has leveled up]

[Liora's Moonlight Scythe Technique has leveled up]

[Liora's Landscaping Skill has leveled up]

[Liora's Light Magic has leveled up]

[Liora's Flash Magic has leveled up]

[Liora's Loneliness Resistance has leveled up]

[Liora's Shrine Maiden has leveled up]

[Liora's Summoning has leveled up]

[Liora's Chant Extension has leveled up]

[Liora's Angel's Factor has leveled up]

It seems everything has increased, except for Samurai and my Alchemy skills. Despite not being on the battlefield, these results are quite impressive.

How long has it been? Three days, maybe?

It seems Liora has been practicing her swings and testing her skills, holed up in the guild's training grounds.

Let's take a closer look at the status.

Name: [Zephyr]

Gender: [Male]

Level: [50]

Race: [Dark Spirit]

Magic: [Dark Magic 57]

Craft: [Alchemy 18]

Skills: [Regeneration 38], [Appraisal 17], [Darkness Creation 55], [Dark Aura 38], [Enemy Resistance Reduction], [Item Box 12], [Adversity Enhancement], [Fatal Avoidance], [Skill Not Set]

Stats: Attack [250], Magic Attack [250], Durability [250], Agility [250], Luck [250] [Gift of Venom]

Title: [Voice of the Deceiving God], [Ruler of the Tragic Plays]