Chapter 54: Dragon Quest
He couldn't just leave his landlady standing at the door.
So, he had no choice but to ask Mrs. Sato, "Mrs. Sato, would you like to play with me?"
"Oh? May I?" Although Mrs. Sato asked, she immediately reached out and closed the door, her clogs already off, her feet on the tatami.
Seeing this, Tanaka rolled his eyes inwardly but still picked up the controller. The battle continued.
Tanaka explained the basics of the game screen to Mrs. Sato while controlling the protagonist and choosing to attack.
"Bang!"
The red Slime was defeated, disappearing into a puddle of pixels, and a message popped up on the screen indicating experience points and gold gained.
"Oh! We won!"
Mrs. Sato even cheered softly beside him and clapped her hands lightly.
Tanaka glanced at her in surprise; his landlady's reaction was a bit unexpected.
He continued to control the character, exploring the map, and entered a cave.
The cave was pitch black, and visibility was limited.
"Oh dear, it's so dark in here, I can't see the way."
Mrs. Sato couldn't help but say, leaning slightly forward, as if trying to help the little character on the screen see clearly.
Tanaka remembered buying a torch in town earlier and quickly selected it from the item bar to use.
On the screen, a small circle of light lit up around the character.
"Oh, now I can see, how convenient," Mrs. Sato mumbled softly.
He fumbled through the cave, avoiding a few bat monsters, and finally found a treasure chest.
"Quick, open it and see what good stuff is inside!"
Mrs. Sato was even more eager than Tanaka, her eyes fixed on the screen.
Opening the treasure chest, inside was a "Copper Sword."
"A weapon! Great!" Mrs. Sato seemed even happier than he was. "Quick, equip it! The attack power must have increased!"
Tanaka was torn between laughter and tears, but he equipped the new weapon as she said, and indeed, the attack power stat increased.
Landlady, you even understand attack power?
Later, he encountered a ghost-like monster that wasn't strong in attack but could use a spell to put the hero into a sleep state.
"Oh no! He's asleep! Wake up!" Mrs. Sato stamped her foot beside him.
It took a while for the hero to wake up on his own, and his HP had dropped quite a bit.
Immediately after, the ghost cast another spell, and the hero's HP dropped again, a critical situation.
"Use 'Hoimi'! Didn't you learn it just now? The one that restores health!"
Mrs. Sato was so engrossed that she even started giving "tactical guidance," her voice a little agitated, her fingers gesturing in the air.
Tanaka used the healing spell "Hoimi" as she instructed, and watching the hero's HP numbers rise, he also breathed a sigh of relief.
They finally won with difficulty.
Mrs. Sato let out a long breath and wiped her non-existent sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief, as if she herself had won.
"Phew, that was close."
From initial confusion to curiosity, and then to complete immersion, she even started asking questions actively.
"Is that monster with the hat strong? He looks silly."
"Where do we go next to find clues? What did that old man mean by what he said?"
"Do we have enough money to buy that shield? I saw it in the shop, it looks very sturdy."
Tanaka felt like he wasn't playing a game but rather giving a live commentary, with an extremely engrossed commentator sitting beside him.
However, this feeling wasn't bad at all.
It wasn't until the setting sun slanted into the room, dyeing the tatami a golden hue, that Mrs. Sato suddenly realized how long she had stayed in Tanaka's room.
"Oh dear! Look at my memory! I must hurry back to make dinner!"
She said goodbye a little awkwardly, but before closing the door, she poked her head back in and quietly asked, "Tanaka, is this... dragon quest, bought in Akihabara?"
After receiving an affirmative answer, she hurried away, leaving Tanaka alone staring blankly at the screen.
Is Mrs. Sato... going to buy one too?
The sky was gradually darkening.
As Kenichi Tanaka's stomach protested with a series of "grumble grumble" sounds, he reluctantly chose "Record Adventure" in the church, listening to the priest's solemn voice declaring the end of his journey for the day.
He turned off the TV, boiled water, took out the instant noodles he usually stocked for emergencies, and then slumped onto the tatami, his mind still filled with images of the continent of Alefgard, the monsters to defeat, and the unknowns to explore.
Skipping work today to buy the game seemed... worth it. Skipping work...
"Shit! I still have to fabricate a visit record and a market research report! Ah! Why isn't it the weekend yet!" Tanaka looked at the calendar clearly showing Tuesday and the fact that he had skipped work today, and clutched his head in pain.
After work on Friday, Kenichi Tanaka, having completed his week's work, made a serious bulk purchase.
The convenience store shelves were almost completely cleared out by him.
Dozens of cup noodles, instant curry packs of different flavors, mountains of senbei and potato chips, and several bottles of carbonated drinks in glass bottles that claimed to refresh the mind.
The shopping bags dug heavily into his fingers, but his face was filled with an almost devout excitement. As he carried the last two bags of snacks and drinks, humming an off-key dragon quest theme song, and arrived at the apartment building, his steps suddenly halted.
His landlady, Mrs. Sato, was standing at the entrance of the building, talking to an older, somewhat stern-faced woman dressed in an elegant kimono.
It was Mrs. Kawai, the landlady of the building next door.
Tanaka originally wanted to lower his head and quickly slip in, pretending not to see them.
But Mrs. Sato's noticeably eight-octave-higher excited voice clearly pierced his ears.
"...It's really not difficult, Kawai!"
"Just like I told you, you don't need to be flustered at all, it's just like reading a storybook, except you're walking through this story yourself!"
"Look at me, at my age, I also thought it was a young person's thing at first, but after Tanaka showed it to me, oh, I couldn't stop!"
Mrs. Sato's voice was filled with the joy of sharing, even accompanied by hand gestures.
Mrs. Kawai's face, meanwhile, showed a mix of hesitation and unconcealed curiosity.
"Is that so? But I can barely figure out the TV buttons..."
"It's okay!"
Mrs. Sato patted her chest, as if guaranteeing to teach her.
"I'll show you mine! It's very simple, you just choose 'attack' or 'run', or use that 'Hoimi' to heal... It's very fun! Come on, want to see it at my place?"
Mrs. Kawai seemed to be persuaded, half-reluctantly nodding.
Just then, Mrs. Sato, with her sharp eyes, spotted Tanaka carrying large and small bags.
"Ah, Tanaka, you're back?"
She immediately greeted him with a smile, the wrinkles on her face smoothing out.
"Perfect! I have to thank you properly for introducing me to something so interesting!"
"Now, when I'm not cooking every day, I just want to go beat up some Slimes!"
Her face radiated genuine happiness, a pure joy like discovering a new continent, which choked the polite words Tanaka had prepared in his throat.
Mrs. Kawai beside him also cast a gaze mixed with scrutiny and curiosity at Tanaka, as if appraising a young man who brought "novelties" to his neighbors.
Tanaka could only give an awkward smile, nod, and quickly escape into the hallway.