novellhall Chapter 27 The Boundary Between Virtual and Reality
Chapter 27 The Boundary Between Virtual and Reality
Later, Miyazawa Itsuki stopped thinking about leaving the guild. After all, having another gaming partner wasn't a bad thing.
It wasn't until the other two members of the guild logged on and discovered Miyazawa Itsuki's presence that they reacted very strongly.
The two seemed unwilling to have anyone else join the guild. Miyazawa Itsuki gleaned some information from their argument.
This appears to be a private guild formed by three real-life friends, established solely to facilitate their joint actions.
However, thanks to the priestess's insistence, Miyazawa Itsuki ultimately stayed in the guild.
However, the mages and swordsmen treated him rather coldly, basically ignoring him.
He only logs on occasionally, and when he does, he only calls out to the priestess to join him in the guild chat, ignoring Miyazawa Itsuki standing next to the priestess.
Incidentally, the mage's ID is 【星辰】 and the swordsman's ID is 【竹】, both of which are female characters.
Although the pastor seemed remorseful for ignoring him, Miyazawa Itsuki didn't seem to care.
As time went on, his understanding of the game deepened, and he became skilled at defeating monsters on his own.
Especially after discovering that the priestess's gaming skills were actually quite disastrous, he actually preferred to act alone.
But every time he logged on, seeing the priestess running over to him with such joy, wanting to take him to a dungeon, Miyazawa Itsuki simply couldn't bring himself to refuse.
Although the pastor was talkative and technically inept, she was a very easy person to get along with. Miyazawa Itsuki also enjoyed his interactions with her.
He was active in the game for more than two months, and spent about two months with the priestess.
After finding a more cost-effective source of income, he left a message for the pastor saying he was leaving and never logged on again.
"So, when exactly did I marry the pastor?"
Miyazawa Itsuki racked his brains to search for his memories.
"..."
After a long while, he finally remembered something.
"I think I did give my account password to the pastor."
In the days leading up to his departure from the game, Miyazawa Itsuki was busy with real-life matters and had no time to pay attention to the game content.
At that time, the game was facing a large-scale event, requiring players to stay online every day in order to obtain a high-value item.
After realizing he didn't have much time to participate in the activities, Miyazawa Itsuki was about to give up. However, the pastor volunteered to keep him online.
At that time, the two could be described as having a close relationship. Miyazawa Itsuki's account contained nothing of value except for a few items, so he simply gave her his account password.
After Miyazawa Itsuki logged in, he saw that the priestess had actually helped him get the item. He thanked her and then put the item up for sale on the exchange.
Miyazawa Itsuki's eyes revealed understanding.
Ah, it's probably because after I left the game, the priestess manipulated his account to enter into a marriage contract in order to obtain some in-game items.
He had heard that in some games, marriage grants exclusive contract skills and items that provide significant bonuses.
Since the pastor's friend is also a female character, the contract can only be concluded through his account.
Miyazawa Itsuki believed this explanation.
"Anyway, there's not much in this account, so I won't cancel it. I'll leave it to the pastor."
Miyazawa Itsuki glanced at the [Eternal Vow Ring], smiled, and prepared to bid farewell to this short but pleasant online friendship.
But at that moment, his chat window started vibrating frequently.
[Yuuka: Tree-kun!!!]
[Youhua: You're finally back! Youhua missed you so much!!]
[Worry Flower: Worry Flower will be teleported to Tree Lord's side shortly, please wait for me]
Miyazawa Itsuki was a little surprised.
Why is the pastor suddenly online?
Just now, all the profile pictures in my friends list were gray.
He only has the pastor as a friend. So when he logs on, he can tell whether she's online just by glancing at her friend list and seeing whether her avatar is gray or colorful.
Miyazawa Itsuki waited in place for a few seconds, and a teleportation beam flashed around him.
The role of the pastor is revealed in this.
It was a girl dressed in a white nun's habit, with long silver hair and crimson eyes. A very pretty and cute face model.
The moment she saw Miyazawa Itsuki, ellipses started appearing above her head.
The pastor is typing.
[Worried Flower: Tree Lord Tree Lord Tree Lord Tree Lord Tree Lord]
[Tree Tree Tree: I'm here, Miss Yuhua. Long time no see.]
[Yuhua: I'm so happy that Shujun has finally come back.]
[Yuka: But I'm also a little angry, just a tiny bit.]
[Youhua: Shujun has been away from Youhua for a total of 3,714 hours and 18 minutes. Where has Shujun been all this time? Why did he leave?]
[Yuuka: Is it because you find Yuuka annoying? Or did you create a new account to play with other women? Can I get to know her? Did Shujun cheat on you because her skills are better than Yuuka's?]
The familiar string of words confirmed it was indeed Miss Yuuka herself.
[Shushushu: Stop! Why use the word "cheating"? I don't remember ever being with Miss Youhua.]
[TreeTreeTree: Did Miss Youhua log into my account to get married? I saw the ring in my inventory.]
[Youhua: ...Youhua doesn't know either.]
It felt familiar; the pastor would act silly whenever she encountered a question she didn't want to answer.
[Yuuka: Anyway, it's good that Tree is back. Yuuka isn't angry with Tree anymore. Let's go mining together! While Tree was away, the game updated with lots of new minerals!]
The pastor started sending out team invitations.
[Tree Tree Tree: I'm sorry, Miss Youhua, no]
[Yuuka: Eh, why?]
[TreeTreeTree: This is my last time logging on. I just came back to take care of some things. Since I've met Miss Yuuka, this is a good opportunity to say a proper goodbye.]
[Tree Tree Tree: Thank you, Miss Youhua, for taking care of me these past few days. I'm also very happy to have met you in the game. I hope you can enjoy the game happily in the future. All good things must come to an end, and I'm sorry I can't continue playing with you, Miss Youhua.]
"..."
Silence, and more silence.
The pastor stood there, stunned and motionless.
Even the ellipsis didn't appear above its head, as if the owner behind it was also stunned.
One minute later.
[Yuuka: Eh————————]
[Youhua: No no ...
[Yuuka: Why does Tree-kun have to leave?! If it's because Yuuka is too bad, I'll work hard to improve my skills! If it's because Star and the others are intentionally distancing themselves from Tree-kun, then I'll leave the guild, and we'll create a new guild together. I'll never act with anyone other than Tree-kun again...]
The rapid-fire output showed that the priestess was quite excited.
[TreeTreeTree: It's not Miss Yuhua's fault, it's that my real life has changed, and I can no longer devote as much energy to the game as before. I'm sorry.]
During the two months they spent together with the pastor, they never mentioned the word "reality." It was as if their relationship was just a game.
So, at the moment of parting, he used this as an excuse to finally make the pastor realize what the pull of reality was.
The pastor fell silent again.
Miyazawa Itsuki waited for a while but didn't receive a reply, so he typed something.
[Tree Tree Tree: That's all for now. I hope Miss Youhua can be happy every day. Goodbye.]
After typing this reply, Miyazawa Itsuki prepared to log off.
[Yuuka: Wait a minute!!!]
[Yuuka: I don't want my relationship with Tree-kun to end like this.]
Miyazawa Itsuki smiled helplessly.
He was no different.
If it weren't for the immense pressure of reality, he wouldn't mind spending time leisurely in the game every day, like a normal high school student, to extend his time with the priestess.
However, everyone's life path is different. He is not yet entitled to spend his time in games as he pleases.
Miyazawa Itsuki was about to say something more comforting when he saw the message sent by the pastor again.
His gaze froze.
Let's meet in real life.