This Love is Futile

Chapter 085 – The Thing Called [Good Luck]

“A little while ago, there was a woman who tried to get into the noble’s district. The woman showed her identification papers and tried to simply pass through the gate. However, the nobleman whose name was on the identification papers said he didn’t know her and rejected her. Because of that, she couldn’t go in. She stood in front of the gate begging the nobleman for help. I guess there was some sort of mistake.

“‘I came here as you ordered me to, milord. Why won’t you come to my aid? At this rate I’ll be killed,’ the woman had shouted, moving closer to the nobleman. He grew furious that she stepped near him and slashed at her with his sword, injuring the gatekeeper who was trying to hold her back as well. It caused quite a stir. The town was in an uproar, the nobleman disappeared, leaving the woman’s dead body there, the gatekeeper was too injured to do his job, and even the guards had to be called out.”

“Wow…” My face contorted after hearing Monto-san’s story.

Are noblemen not held responsible for causing such messes?

“In the end, they decided that the woman was to blame for her own death because she tried to go through the gate without permission. And things got needlessly more complicated because they twisted the truth in their report to the castle, saying that the injured gatekeeper had been colluding with the woman. The gatekeeper was the one who got into trouble in the end. Then they tried calling in people from the outer gate, but nobody wanted to come. I mean, who would? So they sent for a gatekeeper from another town and one was dispatched here. That’s your lover boy there. He’s not just anyone though. He has that… [Good Luck], yeah.”

“[Good Luck]?”

What’s [Good Luck]? I wondered.

Monto-san glanced at me and muttered, “No way…”

“You don’t know much about that gatekeeper, do you? You’re his lover and you don’t know? No, maybe you don’t know because you’re his lover…”

“Know what? Is there something about Vidello-san?”

“There sure is.”

What was it? Well, it was true that whenever Vidello-san did something, my luck went up. Is that what this is about?

I anxiously waited for Monto-san’s next words and, after thinking about something for a while, he let out a small sigh under his breath.

“If you really are that guy’s lover, it’s better for you to know. Even if the person himself doesn’t want to tell you…”

“……”

“It’s not like I know much about it either, but they say that guy’s a man burdened with [Good Luck].”

“A man burdened with [Good Luck]…?”

“You, you’re a foreigner, right? I don’t know if it’s true, but rumors say that one of his parents hailed from the same place as you.”

My brain stopped working.

Hold up.

Hold up just one second.

Was he saying that one of Vidello-san’s parents was a real person?

Was that what he was trying to say?

I didn’t understand.

“But we only started coming here five years ago.”

“Well, yeah, that’s about when you foreigners started showing up. Why’d you start coming here then? How and where did all these foreigners start popping up from?”

That… five years ago was when ADO first came out. Everyone bought the headgear and started playing the game. That was why Vidello-san, and Monto-san in front of me, were NPCs brought to life by artificial intelligence… No, I couldn’t even say that for sure anymore. I mean, if they were really AI-driven NPCs, would they have this warmth? This heartbeat? 

Other VR games weren’t like that. The way the characters moved and talked; you could tell they were NPCs right away. 

I remembered being amazed at how real the characters in ADO seemed.

But.

I read about it once on the site: a player had managed to tie the knot with someone from this world and had a baby.

If they were really just NPCs, that couldn’t have happened, even if by mistake, right?

There were games that were centered on building families. But in that case, there would have been a fixed cycle of starting a relationship and then having children after a certain amount of time.

Then, what about this world? Was it a game? Or was it a different dimension?

“From your expression, looks like the foreigners don’t know much about it either.”

“No, nothing. I don’t think anyone’s even thought to ask if such a thing was possible.” I shook my head.

“I see, so it’s the same as us.” Monto-san gave a bitter smile and stood up from his seat.

“Wait a bit. It looks like this is going to be a long conversation,” Monto-san said and headed toward the kitchen.

In the meantime, I took a deep breath, trying to unknot the tangle of thoughts inside my head.

This world had such an excessively detailed history. Complete with real-life heroes. But what if that wasn’t just the setting for the game? What if it was this world’s actual history?

What the hell are we players then? When we log out, we go back to our original world. When we go back, our bodies… the bodies in the game… What exactly…?

Good thing Monto-san was in the kitchen, I tried logging out for a second.

I clicked on the logout button at the bottom of the screen and slowly regained consciousness.

When I snapped my eyes open, I was in my room with the gear over my head. 

This was the real world.

This body of mine was solid.

I pressed my hand against my chest as if to stop my heart from leaping out and reached out for a water bottle. I downed the whole thing in one gulp and then logged back in again.

There was a sensation like I was in an elevator and when I opened my eyes, I was in Monto-san’s house.

“Mac? Are you tired?”

The world was turned on its side and I could see Monto-san.

Seeing the way he looked at me with a slightly concerned look on his face, I must have collapsed on the couch.

“Were… my eyes closed? My body was the same, right?”

“Mac? Yeah, when I came back, you were on your side with your eyes closed. Scared me a bit.”

“I see…”

First of all, why did I never question the fact that my body remains here even after I log out? It wasn’t like that in other games.

But, if you die in the game and come back, the body disappears and then reappears in a fixed location. For me, that was the workshop. Those who didn’t have their own designated places returned to the inn where they were staying or buildings similar to temples that existed in every town.

I wondered if our bodies were like those of magic beasts, made out of magic particles, but I didn’t really know.

“Looks like something’s got you all confused. Should we end this conversation for now?” Monto-san handed me a new cup of tea as he peered at my face.

“No. I’d like to… hear,” I answered, taking a sip of the tea to calm myself down.

The taste of the beautiful, purple tea spread inside my mouth and calmed my pounding heart a little bit.

“Why did they summon the guy with [Good Luck]? Because there was someone who wanted to use that luck for themselves.”

“Use for themselves? Is something like that even possible?”

“Not really. But it’s a pretty famous story and everyone’s heard the rumors about the man burdened with [Good Luck]. However, people only know that he carries good luck with him and that he was born in this world. Also, that he seems to be a pretty nice guy too. Well, generally speaking, most people think that his [Good Luck] just means that the people around him get a bit lucky. Those who know the truth, though, don’t think that way and never want to use his luck.”

Monto-san paused and took a sip of his tea. Boots still on, he put his feet up on the couch and leaned his back against the chair. His atmosphere was relaxed, as if he were just making small talk.

“I think the noble who summoned him here knew that if he was around, his own luck would go up and that your boy has a good work ethic. The nobleman used that to convince the big wig in charge of the gatekeepers to call that guy in. He wanted to reap the benefits of the [Good Luck] that comes out of him.”

“What is…?”

“It’s just a bit of gossip, but, well, there’s some credibility to it. This is what I heard from my sources. Apparently, that nobleman wanted to use the rumored [Good Luck] to expand his family’s influence. And then, as soon as your boy got here, the nobleman’s rank was raised in recognition of the high-grade potions he presented to the king in a time of a potion shortage. But just last week, when the nobleman was about to poach your boy, it was discovered that he was fighting with the guild and his family was cut off. And just a few days later, he went missing.”

“But, you know,” Monto-san let out a puff of air, “when I actually talked with the man burdened with [Good Luck], it turned out he’s a real good guy. He must have gone through a lot.”

He glanced at me with sharp eyes. As if to make sure I wasn’t thinking of using any of that luck for myself.

“The nobleman who summoned him, as soon as he tried to get his hands on that luck, made an enemy of the adventurers’ guild and the head of the guild made her move. That same head who stood by silently no matter what was done to her. That guy’s probably not with us anymore…”

“…”

Does that mean that the nobleman who was frantically trying to kill Crash died at Emily-san’s hands?

That the traitor who was part of the guild contacted the true master before they were found out, but were abandoned by him. And that Emily-san found out about it and made the person behind the attack disappear?

My heart was thudding loudly.

“That is the kind of good luck that that man is burdened with. It’s a bit hard to wrap your head around, but if you get greedy and try to use that luck, it’ll come back to bite you. Those who aren’t aware of it get to reap the benefits though. It’s that kind of thing. It’s a shitty kind of luck, but those who don’t know about it try to use it. And the backlash against those who do is worse than you can imagine.”

“I-I didn’t know.”

“You, now that you know about his [Good Luck], what do you think of your lover?”