'twas already nigh sunset when Yuuta decided to return to the village. He had spent a considerable amount of time relaxing under a tree that he almost forgot he was in a game. Everything was just too real for him, and for some odd reason, he had also gotten used to Lav Kravia's unusual appearance. A few minutes were also spent napping but that's just a small fraction of Yuuta's idleness.
"Young hero, you've returned." Aldr greeted me at the entrance of the village. "We were becoming worried that you've come upon a misfortune in the forest. I'm just glad that you've returned unharmed. May I be so bold as to ask why you wanted to venture outside the village despite its danger?"
"Oh, about that, here." Yuuta innocently said as he brought out a mysterious herb from his bag. "This is the springtail herb, Lav Kravia told me that its medicinal effect is pretty useful for both humans and demons. And as a gift to the village, she advised me to gather a bunch of them. I hope that Village Elder will accept my offering."
"Oya~ you didn't have to step out of your way to do that. Lately, it's becoming more and more dangerous outside the village that all of our adventurers are in a grave state. We've totally run out of springtail herbs. This will really be useful, young hero. We sincerely express our gratitude towards your goodwill."
"I'm glad, I hope this village and I will be on good terms from now on." Yuuta continued.
"Of course, young hero, that goes without asking." Aldr smiled but it was hard to see his sincerity because of the beard blocking the way.
"So that's the reason why no one helped sweet master while, I, the top general of the demon lord, attacked this village! I thought the people just left sweet master to die but as it turns out, all the adventurers are out of commission." Kravia-san casually pointed out. "Had it not been for sweet master's proficiency in subduing demons, this village would've died."
"I am so sorry to hear that, young hero. Our people knew no better and trembled in fear in front of the top general of the demon lord, Lav Kravia. Still, we are eternally grateful that the young hero chose to stand for our measly little village. We may be undeserving but we hope to keep a good relationship with the young hero from now on." Aldr smoothly talked his way out.
Nevertheless, the cowardice of the villagers had already left a deep impression on Yuuta, and very much so that he found it suspicious no one stepped out for him. 'This village is hiding something and I have to find out about it before I go to the next quest. As far as I know, the hidden quest and the main quest are separate when it comes to MMORPG games like this.' Yuuta said to himself.
Yuuta and Lav Kravia cautiously walked towards the village, expecting the worst-case scenario that the whole village is against them. Yuuta had the time to give Lav Kravia the heads up before they gathered herbs and returned back to the village.
"To show my sincerity and trust towards our young hero, I will personally invite you to my house for our feast. Please, I hope that you find my house as welcoming and filled with hospitality as I am." Aldr bowed before opening the door to his house.
"Welcome back, grandpa!"
"Oh, grandpa, you're back."
"It's the young hero! The young hero!"
"Oya~ you're all here after such short notice. Thank you for helping your feeble grandpa out to prepare a feast for our young hero here. Young hero, allow me to introduce my two grandsons and my granddaughter. This is Fei, this is Mei, and this is Luxembourg."
"What on earth is up with the youngest grandson's name?!" Yuuta thought out loud, covering his mouth after his outburst.
"Oh, about that, his parents really wanted his name as such. Unfortunately, they died in the hands of wild beasts outside the village, and their only legacy was that name. We don't know what it means but we could tell that it's an unusual name that holds great meaning."
Yuuta shook his head as he suppressed a sigh coming out from his mouth. 'No, it's just a country in Europe. It doesn't have a great meaning.' Yuuta said to himself.
"Are you making fun of my name?!" Luxembourg pouted as he walked towards me. As a five-year-old, he already has such a foolhardy personality.
"Lux, don't speak to the young hero like that. Without him, all of us would've been dead." Mei lightly reprimanded him. From the looks of it, she was already twelve years old, with the same brown hair as Luxembourg and Fei.
"Yes, Lux, where's your respect?" Fei, the oldest of them all, pointed out. He seemed to be the same age as Yuuta but he looked up to him as he would an older brother. The thought of being of the same age as the young hero never really crossed his mind.
Yuuta scratched his head, taking in their conversation all at once just like in real life. Instead of having the text slowly showing in front of an NPC, the conversation in the game resembled a real-life conversation in real life, as expected of a Lucid Dream-based game.
"I'm sorry about that Lux. I was just surprised that your name is that. You see, I came from a different world, and apparently, there exists a place with the same name as yours back there." Yuuta continued. "It's a small country with its own government, kind of just like you."
"Really?!" Lux exclaimed, his eyes sparkling. "So that's where my name came from. Wow!"
"Isn't that cool, Lux!" Fei gleefully said. "How about me, young hero? Is there someone with the same name as me in your world?"
"Yes, there is. And also Mei over there. They're both renowned martial artists in my world." Yuuta stopped before he said that the two characters were from a certain gacha game.
As the group conversed, the dinner table was slowly prepared. The next thing Yuuta knew, they were all already seated in front of the dinner table.
"Does anyone want some root beer?" Aldr offered. "Mei, can you get it for me?"
"B-but... " Mei pouted as she sideglanced towards Yuuta. She had been enjoying their conversation that she didn't want to miss out on spending more time with him. With a long sigh, she stood up and headed to the kitchen.
"I'll go with you," Yuuta offered.
Mei seemed to hop towards the kitchen after seeing Yuuta stand up to help her prepare the root beer. At first, she thought that Yuuta read the situation and decided to entertain her wants, but little did she know that Yuuta had all sorts of reasons for going with her.
'Sigh~ this is going to be a long night.' Yuuta said to himself. 'Kravia-san, did you find anything?'
One of the innate abilities of Kravia-san is to transmit information through the mind. And even though Yuuta just found out about it this afternoon, he decided to utilize it tonight. They have an important mission to accomplish, after all.
'Yes, right under us is a huge magic circle. I don't know of its uses but it looks dangerous. You were right, sweet master, this village elder is certainly suspicious.' Kravia-san transmitted her thoughts back to Yuuta after hearing him in her mind. For a brief moment, Kravia-san imagined Yuuta whispering so close to her that she blushed a little bit.
'Thanks, don't act too suspicious, we can't have the children know about it.'
"Yuuta, here." Mei bashfully said as she pointed towards one of the barrels in their storage. "This has the root beer."
"Thanks, do we fill a bottle or just the glasses?" Yuuta asked.
"Um, no. We just fill the glasses. We don't have bottles in the house."
"Oh, is that so?"
After considering everything, Yuuta decided to go through it no matter what happens. 'I'll just deal with the consequences later. For now, I have to prove whether my theory is right or not. This may be too much a coincidence but I'll take the risk.'
When the two arrived at the dinner table once again, Lav Kravia wildly waved towards Yuuta. Yuuta wondered why Kravia-san always enjoys his company when he was such a boring person. And then, he would immediately be brought back to the reality that everything happening here is in the limitations of his lucid dreams, and that each and every person and entity here are all just a part of the simulations.
"Sweet master! You should try this! Try this! It's delicious!" Kravia-san exclaimed with a high tone in her voice.
Seeing her gleeful expression, Yuuta smiled in return. He decided that as long as he was in the reality of the dream world, he would enjoy it to the fullest just like how he enjoyed being able to see before.
'Besides, this is just the first of the three tests. I should savor it before it ends.' Yuuta said to himself as he served the drinks to everyone.