Cayna

A level-1,100 player and rare high elf. The Third Skill Master.

A powerhouse on both the front lines and as a rear guard, but her specialty is using her endless supply of MP to wipe out enemies with magic. Her Guardian Tower sits in a vast forest and stretches high into the heavens; it can only be cleared if a player climbs to the top for twenty-four hours without stopping, which is (supposedly) considered the easiest of the thirteen trials. In the game, she was known and feared by her two sobriquets: the Silver Ring Witch and Ferocious Firepower.

Skargo

Cayna’s eldest son, who was placed into public service through the Foster System. A level-300 elf.

Raised to specialize in holy magic recovery, status ailment recovery, and physical buffs. Incredibly adept at using Oscar—Roses Scatter with Beauty, a skill that had, for some reason, been given to him just for kicks. Freely throws around various effects on a whim. Surprisingly popular with the public. He serves as High Priest and is the third most influential person in the Kingdom of Felskeilo. A pain in the neck who adores his mother to the point of fanaticism.

Mai-Mai

Cayna’s second child and eldest daughter, who was placed into public service through the Foster System. A level-300 elf.

Raised to specialize in general Attack Magic. Somehow, over the past two hundred years, had twins with her first husband and is now settled into life as a baron’s wife with her second husband. Currently the headmaster of Felskeilo’s Royal Academy and previously served as a mage at the royal palace. Acts like an adoring kitten desperate for attention when around her mother.

Kartatz

Cayna’s third child, who was placed into public service through the Foster System. A level-300 dwarf.

Raised to specialize in construction. Can more or less hold his own in close combat with his ax or hammer. Works at a shipbuilding factory along the riverbank in Felskeilo. Loves and respects his mother and has the most common sense among his siblings.

***

“Miiiiss, it’s morning!”

Keina weakly opened her eyes at the bright light suddenly pouring in and the young, lisping voice. She stared up at the blurry outline of a grained wooden ceiling. Sliding her gaze to the right, she caught sight of a shuttered window. To her left and beyond the expanse of white sheets, the upper half of a young girl was greeting her with a big smile and cheerful “Gooood morning!”

“Yaaaawn… Gwud mornin’?”

“Hee-hee! Time to get up, miss!” the young girl replied, her smile dazzling.

Sleepiness began to naturally ebb away. Keina stretched her torso and bathed in the morning light as if trying to soak it all in, then looked down at herself and immediately froze. The young girl standing by the bed tilted her head at Keina’s odd stiffness.

“Morning sunlight…and a wooden room?”

Until just the day before, or recently anyway, she’d always fallen asleep in that white-walled hospital room she was utterly sick of.

But more than that, Keina was dumbfounded by the fact that someone who couldn’t even stay awake on her own was getting up and stretching.

Whether seconds or minutes, the shock didn’t last long. Keina’s gaze became downtrodden, and she felt the eyes of the girl who had come to give her a wake-up call.

“Are you awright, miss?” The little girl seemed truly concerned.

Keina considered how she might dispel the sadness in the girl’s dark eyes. Casting aside her own concerns, she opened an Item Box and clumsily took out a Candy, which would restore a small amount of MP. She placed it in her palm and presented it to the girl, just like the head nurse used to do for Keina when she was a child, since she was always crying. Keina smiled and gave the Candy to the young girl.

“Th-thanks, miss!”

“Not at all,” she replied, her smile bright and her face slightly flushed. Getting up from the bed, Keina patted the girl’s head lightly.

The young servant placed the Candy in the pocket of her loose smock. She stripped Keina’s bed of its sheets and blankets, folded them neatly, and went to leave the room with a happy heart. However, she made sure to remind Keina, “Breakfast’s ready, so hurry on down, ’kay?”

Logic urged her not to become too immersed in this heartwarming atmosphere, and Keina ruminated over what had just happened.

…Open the Item Box?

As soon as the thought came to her, a translucent display window appeared on the right side of her field of vision. Then, fifteen smaller boxes popped up at once. As she used the scrollbar in the top right corner to scroll down, a vast number of items appeared.

“No…way…”

She pinched her cheek.

…Ouch. Okay, no question this is real.

Having employed a classic reality-check technique, she had confirmed that the situation she now faced was no dream. There was no choice left but to accept it.

Since she’d thought this might have been a dream, she opened the Magic Skill tab next to the Item Window. Keina blanched when saw something called Dream Dropper: Nightmare displayed.

Wasn’t this that online game she’d just been playing? Leadale?

The fact that she could move and feel pain proved to her that everything was all too real.

You can’t fight on an empty stomach. Keina—or rather, Cayna—decided she would deal with her problem after breakfast.

She timidly descended the steep, creaking stairs and made her way to the tavern’s dining hall. There, she found the girl from earlier and a plump middle-aged woman she assumed to be the proprietress.

Within the dining hall was a round table with a set of eight four-legged chairs. There was also a counter with four seats facing the kitchen. It was surely difficult to weave through the crowds when the place was filled to capacity. However, at the moment, there were only two farmer-looking men sitting in the tavern eating their breakfast of soup and bread.

“Come now, miss, have a seat,” the proprietress urged. “Otherwise, your soup will get cold.”

“Y-yes, ma’am.”

Cayna deliberated for a moment over where to sit before taking a spot at the counter. Bread and soup in a wooden bowl were soon placed before her. The young girl from earlier gave her a wooden cup of water, completing the breakfast set.

There were already several things Cayna found strange about this online world. She went over them as she began digging in.

Come to think of it, how many years has it been since I last fed myself?

***

She broke off pieces of the slightly stale bread roll and dipped it in the stew-like soup as she ate. After living without a sense of taste for so long, she couldn’t help but vocalize her feelings.

“…It’s delicious…”

“Well, miss, ain’t you just the sweetest?”

The proprietress’s surly face immediately brightened. She put her elbow on the counter and began chatting amiably.

“If it’s so good that it can put a smile like that on your face, what kind of disgusting food have you been eating until now?”

“Huh…?”

Cayna had apparently broken into a large grin and didn’t even realize it until it was pointed out to her. Thinking back on her usual diet up to that point, the only things she’d ever ingested were water and pills, plus an IV drip. Ruminating about her life after the accident, she felt a keen emptiness over all the fine cuisine she had missed out on.

“Um, well…there just wasn’t a whole lot that I wanted to eat…”

“Now, that’s a sad tale. Without good food, you’re only halfway living! Here, this is on me. Have as many seconds as you want.”

“Ah, I will. Thank you very much.”

The woman patted Cayna’s shoulder. Cayna’s cheek twitched as she looked at the stew/soup that was now almost filled to the brim.

I—I wonder if I can eat all this…

She thought it would be too much for her stomach to handle, but the enticing smell alone seemed to give her the strength to smash through her limits. Cayna realized she was a lot hungrier than she thought and unintentionally stuffed herself.

As she settled her full stomach with a cup of water, Cayna surveyed the first floor of the inn.

There was no question this village sat on the border between the White Kingdom of Felstes and the Green Kingdom of Gruskeilo. Though remote, the region’s position as a key trade route should have kept the borderlands thriving. The world setting likely included plenty of inns and carriages to account for the constant stream of merchants.

So why was this place so down on its luck?

The last time she logged out, she remembered seeing multiple NPCs and hearing a bustling background soundtrack that gave the inn a lively atmosphere.

Another stark difference from in the game was that the NPCs, who normally could only say their set dialogue, were responding to her with true emotion. At this point, you couldn’t even call them NPCs anymore. It was then that Cayna realized this world was both a game and not.

The real question for her was How long can I live in this world?

Having reached this conclusion, Cayna decided to investigate matters as much as she could. First, she opened her Item Window and checked how much money she had on hand. After seeing a ten-figure number, she took out twenty gil, which was the game’s currency.

Intent on finding out whether the twenty pieces of silver would even be accepted, Cayna presented them to the proprietress.

“Um, excuse me…”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“I’d like to stay here for a little while. Can I use these?”

The silver coins, each carved with some sort of flower design on the front and back, clinked as she put them on the counter.

The money had nothing more than numerical value in the game, but Cayna thought they actually looked pretty cute.

““What?!””

This reaction came from both the proprietress and the little girl, whose eyes grew large as she stared at the coins. The woman timidly picked one up and turned it over in her palm, examining it closely. She put it back with a sigh.