Published: September 9, 2025
Satou here. Despite many people not playing game tutorials unless they're mandatory, making them is actually quite difficult.
In real life, I guess training and on-the-job training (OJT) are similar to that~
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When I finished my training and tidied up, I received a "telephone (遠話)" call.
It was from Arisa.
“Um, hello? Is this Pendragon's residence?”
Hearing Arisa’s slightly high-pitched voice, I desperately tried to hold back a sense of helplessness.
Is this like an old-fashioned landline phone!?
“Moji moji, Dozura ni ogake deshou ka?”
“Ah, sorry, I dialed the wrong number.”
Feeling a bit mischievous, I pretended to be someone else. I thought Arisa would immediately scold me, but she just apologized sincerely and then hung up.
It was a joke, but maybe Arisa just doesn’t like using the phone? Feeling a little guilty, I called her back.
“Y-Yes, this is Arisa Pendragon!”
I wanted to tease her but held back. Something must have happened, so I used clairvoyance to check on her situation.
“Arisa, it’s Satou here. Did something happen?”
“Oh thank goodness. When I called earlier, some stranger picked up and I got really startled.”
I saw Arisa looking panicked.
She didn’t seem hurt, but things looked pretty bad.
“So, I kinda messed up. Can you come help me?”
“Okay, I’m on my way.”
I answered her without hesitation and asked Aarize to teleport me with a dryad directly to the facility (attraction) where Arisa and the others were. It was apparently a famous place, and as soon as I told her the name, she sent me there immediately.
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“This is the third Fairy Trial Ground.”
The entrance looked like a small black building shaped like a chibi one-headed bat. We entered through its wide-open red mouth. It really felt like an attraction.
The place was full of harmless traps and served as a playground for Elf children.
Most kids finished all eight attractions over years of play. Unless you had really poor reflexes, it seemed easy to clear. But exceptions existed everywhere—Aarize, one of those exceptions, tried to follow me here but Lua stopped her with a desperate look.
Since Aarize might be clumsy, I decided to have her wait outside.
Just in case we were late coming back, I asked Lua to call for backup.
Inside, a moving doll (Living Doll) lay on the floor with its head seemingly torn off. Judging by the state of its neck, Liza’s spear was probably the cause. You’re not supposed to break the attractions!
I used full map exploration to check the internal layout.
It was quite large, roughly the size of a six-story building.
Everyone seemed split into three groups.
Nearest were Liza, Lulu, and Pochi. In the middle were Arisa and Mia. Furthest inside were Tama, Nana, and the tour conductor, Shaggnig the leprechaun.
Wait, Lulu and Mia were here too?
Using quick change skill, I switched from borrowed hunting robes to dirty work clothes.
I set a marker to the shortest route and dashed through with skystride, remotely disabling unavoidable traps with magic hand as announced by my trap detection skill.
The traps were considerate; none would cause injury.
Instead of poison gas, strange irritating gas sprayed out. Pits were filled with knee-deep water. Arrow traps had shock-absorbing leather on the tips, preventing serious harm even if hit.
From hiding spots where we dodged traps, moving dolls disguised as monsters attacked. Their weak points were painted, and striking those with wooden swords or fists would stop them.
Still, their placement was nasty.
There were traps waiting right after safe spots, or fake monsters set in presumed safe zones, reminiscent of classic trap-heavy video games.
After about a minute, I reached Liza’s room. Going down corridors and stairs, it seemed we were quite underground.
The room had a 6-meter high atrium. Near the ceiling, Liza was caught in a suspended net trap, looking disgruntled.
Right beside her was a wall shaped like a monster’s face. Pochi was caught inside the monster’s mouth halfway down his body. His dangling legs looked like they were protesting. Of course, as this was an attraction, Pochi was unharmed.