Esther de Baronia - Chapter 4.1

As usual, he woke up in a familiar room.

It was a nice 2DK room with a clean interior and separate bathroom and toilet. A solid 20 minute walk from the station, but it’s a good place to live and he has lived here since he was 20 years old.

He wore a VR headset when he fell asleep, and the top of his head was a little heavy. The headset was turned off because it automatically logged you out when you fall asleep.

He pulled the device off his head with both hands, placed it on the side of the bed, sat up and let out a big sigh. It wasn’t the most refreshing morning, but he felt strangely energized by the realization that it was his day off.

A man who works for a major power company never loses a day off to work.

Even if he worked somewhere else, he wouldn’t get paid as much, but he could live comfortably thanks to his qualifications, which he earned by spending a lot of his time studying.

Thanks to this, he lived like a student, staying up all night on Fridays and playing games. The only difference was that he had plenty of money.

It was like being a bachelor at its best.

He forgot to take a bath and his body was sticky. On top of that, he smelled like sweat.

He took a towel from the cabinet and headed for the bathroom to take a refreshing shower, not wanting to have the smell of a disgusting man pervading his room, which he kept clean for a single person.

He turned on the liquid gas heater, set the temperature a little higher, took off his clothes, went in, turned the faucet to make sure the temperature was stable, and rinsed his head with slightly hot water at once.

The heat shocked him a little , but it soon turned into a pleasant, yet warm sensation and his dim consciousness gradually awoke

(Haha this guy hasn’t felt anything yet, try rinsing cold water for as long as you can in winter, after you wake up; this is a challenge, or you can’t?).

It was a funny dream, though; He couldn’t believe he would feel pain inside a game. It was strange to hear Rushka behaving like that.

Anyway, after he got out of the bath he was going to make breakfast and play Apocalypse again. Today’s event should be the attack on The High King.

If he cleared it, he would get a monster that could be used for chimera synthesis, so he could strengthen it steadily.

He hadn’t finished raising his rare monsters yet, so he would probably be using chimeras for a while.

He didn’t have to worry about work at all, the only thing ruminating in his head was the continuation of the game.

He thought about which monsters to get to the next level, which territories to take, which races to bring into the country… there was so much to do.

He wondered if he had finished everything he just thought about, but he shook off the strange notion that he hadn’t, and reached for his shampoo.

“Oh!”

He slipped. The floor of the bathroom had not been cleaned recently, so it was slippery with dirt and soap residue.

He tried to reach his arms somewhere to support himself, but he missed; his legs were tangled up and he couldn’t support his body weight. He couldn’t stop himself from falling backwards into the tub and turned his head around to see what he‘ll fall into. (*T/L: Sorry, I don’t understand this part and I couldn’t make it any clearer…) (P/R: what he just said is he fell and he tried to see what he’s gonna fall into or what he will hit).

His head fell towards the edge of the bathtub.

****

As he woke up, a bang manifested on his forehead.

“～～～～!!!”

Karon, who raised his head up vigorously and held his forehead in pain, his eyes closed tightly, but gradually the pain subsided and he opened his eyes in thin tears.

He’s not in a familiar bathroom of his apartment, but in a familiar room in the castle.

He looked around and then saw Wallwood’s desk. As he glares at the person who had head-butted him, but there’s no apology, so he looks away.

He pinches his cheek and it hurts more than what he thought it would. The pinch combined with the pain on his forehead brings tears to his eyes again.

He rubs it with the sleeve of his black coat, sits back on the sofa, slumps his shoulders and lets out a dry laugh of self-mockery.

‘What? Isn’t this the dream?’

The line between the real dream and the strange reality seems to blur, but he understands that he’s here now, and that it’s real. He has no choice but to accept it.

Before he knows it, he has fallen asleep and the night has turned to morning outside.

The room is illuminated by a dim, magically-activated orange ferrite, but bright sunlight streams through curtains which are so thick that they look like rugs.

Stepping languidly to the side of the curtain, Karon grabbed the curtains with both hands and pulled it to the side with all the force he can muster.

The heavy curtains have somehow managed to create a gap just big enough for one person to fit through, and as he squints down at the glare, he sees a group of people moving in unison amongst the sparse activity.

It is the army of Esther de Baronia. The city seems to have calmed down enough that they don’t need to stop to see them strolling around.

A quick check of the quests section of the console shows that a good number of them are ready to be reported.

They must have been working very quickly. The fact that he has to worry about how he’s going to evaluate monthly salary assessment adds to his bedtime depression and makes him feel even heavier.

With a finger on the console window, he reports everything, receives his rewards and checks the remaining quests. Only 20% of the houses are built, explored the surrounding areas, and conquered, but he has no choice but to be patient about this.

Even if he tries to hurry up, the marching speed of the army is determined by the average speed of the demons in the unit, so it can’t go very fast if they are slow guardians or soldiers.

He sent them to get the land with high-power firearms, but he hopes they didn’t kill the natives recklessly.

His head hurt when he stared at the city blankly. He wonders if the afterglow of the dream he had just dreamed about still remain, and the feeling of frustration kept growing.

He missed that small, stuffy room.

It’s a pretty lonely life, considering how wonderful it is to live alone and without a girlfriend, but it’s far better than now, when he can’t afford to relax with the threat of death so close at hand.

But He doesn’t know how to get home, or if he can go home.

He doesn’t know what happened to his country, and he doesn’t know what this world is.

The first thing he wants to know is what happened to the game. If he could just figure that out, he would be relieved.

Even if it’s a lie, even if they say it’s just a specification, he’ll still be able to relax.

But the answer he wanted never came.

He tried to send a message to the GM, but it had no responses, and it’s impossible to send an email to the management. In the end, it’s up to Karon himself to act.

This means that he inevitably has to get involved with the demons.

If he checks the loyalty level, it is fixed at MAX, but there is no reason why this should apply.

He can’t just trust the game system to bypass it.

And it’s not like he can max out the loyalty of every character. In addition to being created by the player, the demons breed and increase their numbers on their own, so there is no way to keep an eye on them all.

Of course, there’s no way he’s going to spend a fortune on soldiers he doesn’t even know, and it’s impossible to keep on the tabs loyalty of all the characters, so taking the game system at face value is still a risk.

But he knows that he can’t stay indoors forever. Everyone moves at will, therefore, if he gives instructions mechanically, everything will not be solved.

As a King, he needs to work with his troops and shows his face to the people.

It’s up to Karon to do it. However, he doesn’t want to make a move at the moment when it is unclear.

In the meantime, he has to deal with the problem at hand: finding the right environment for the demons and investigating the surrounding areas.

They have enough food to last for a long time, and if he can find a civilization, he can negotiate for precious metals that are not so necessary for the operation of the country.

Whatever he does, he wants to make sure the country is stable and out of chaos.

It’s the first time that Karon felt the weight and responsibility one needs to carry to have the authority the Crest of the country has on his hands.