After talking with Saya, Ryouta returned to the bedroom and saw that his girlfriends and the maids were having no short amount of fun together essentially treating Serra as a doll to dress up and put makeup on. He checked in just to make sure that Serra wasn’t being too overwhelmed and then, after seeing that she was alright, decided to go walk around on his own instead. It wasn’t really something that he would normally do, but he was in the mood for it and felt like he’d only be getting in the way by staying in the room.

So, walk around it was.

While William may have talked about unity with the protestors and considered himself to be equal to them, the more that Ryouta looked around on his own, the more that he realized it probably wasn’t true. Beautiful, classical paintings that looked like they belonged in museums decorated the walls of the halls. There were no fewer than three chandeliers he could see that looked like they probably cost more than a large house each. There were even a couple of statues, one of which was made purely of marble.

Between all of that, just how massive the manor was, and how much land there was around it – the outside gate and wall may have been broken still to show that the outside world still had access to William, but it didn’t stop him from living in a world unlike what the rest of people had to live in. He still essentially got to live in his own little bubble full of luxuries that many others lacked. He may not have had legal nor political protections in any way anymore, but the gap in wealth and what it could afford him was extreme still.

Not that Ryouta minded too much. Even if William did get to live a better life than most, he was one of the last of his breed and had no actual power over normal people anymore. He had plenty of things and essentially his own little world to live in, but he lacked any meaningful advantages as far as Ryouta was concerned.

After walking around for a little bit longer, Ryouta picked up on the scent of vanilla. The sweet scent was something that pulled Ryouta toward its source, but he had no idea what it could have been coming from. It didn’t come from the direction of the kitchen like he would have expected, but maybe William was eating something somewhere?

Would it have been rude to go and find out what it was?

Well, he was curious, and he wasn’t able to resist investigating a little bit. Especially when he saw smoke drift out through the door that he was approaching.

“Will?” Ryouta asked, hoping that he wasn’t being a bother.

“Ah, Ryouta! Please, feel free to come in if you do not mind the smoke,” William replied.

Ryouta stepped into the room and saw William sitting in a large, comfortable chair with a pipe in his hand that the smoke was coming from. “I didn’t know that smoke could smell that good.”

“It has a wonderfully pleasant smell. Much better than what cigarettes once had. Fortunately, those were outlawed before you would have ever had to deal with their toxicity.”

“Did cigarettes really smell that bad?”

“Absolutely. Furthermore, they were truly horrible for health. We called them ‘cancer sticks’ for a reason.”

“Aren’t there risks with regular tobacco, too?”

“Certainly, but they are nowhere near as harmful as cigarettes were. Are you interested in trying? I have quite the collection of pipes. There are cigars if you are interested in those as well.”

“No – no thanks. I have a feeling that they wouldn’t be too happy if I tried, plus I’m not really interested. Getting to smell it is enough for me.”

“Fair enough! Well, should you change your mind, the offer will remain standing.” William brought the pipe back up to his mouth, sucking in to pull smoke through the stem and letting it sit in his mouth for a few seconds before breathing it out. He tried not to exhale too much of the smoke in Ryouta’s direction.

“I thought you’re supposed to inhale the smoke?”

“Oh, no, no. You did with cigarettes, but not with cigars nor pipes. The smoke is much more… powerful, to put it simply. If you were to inhale the smoke, it would be even more dangerous than cigarettes were.”

“Got it. I guess I should try not to breath any of it in secondhand then.”

“Would you like to go outside? So long as there is no wind to blow it in your direction, it should not be as much of an issue. Perhaps we could take a drive down to the lake!”

“The… the lake we’re going to fish at?”

“Of course!”

“I’m in – well, I mean, if it’s not a bother. If you want to relax then it’s—”

“Please, Ryouta. I smoke mostly because I have nothing better to be doing. I would cherish the company! It would be a great way to spend the time waiting for the others, too.”

“Oh, right. Thanks for reminding me. I got a message from Eva a little bit ago, and she said that she wants us to wait until Aza lands before going to get either of them.”

“But they are landing hours apart!”

“Yeah, but she said she’d feel bad making you take three trips to the airport in a single day. So, Eva said she has no problem waiting around in the airport until Aza lands, and then we can go pick them up together.”

“I see. Well, I feel horrible about having her wait… but if it is what she wants, I will not impose.”

“Don’t worry. I’m confident she’ll be able to find something to pass the time with. Probably perform some science or something.”

“Science?”

“She loves everything scientific. Social sciences included. I’m sure an airport full of people will give her plenty of subjects to examine.”

“She sounds like quite the character!”

“You should see the kinds of things she’s done in the game we play before. She would either look insane or suicidal to normal people. Probably both.”

“Hah! Well, I look forward to meeting her. Now, shall we head to the lake?”

“Yes, please.”

William stood up from his chair with a dramatic grunt before stretching out and leading Ryouta outside. “This way!” He ended up leading Ryouta around to the backyard where, underneath a small awning, was none other than a golf cart that looked like it was from the start of the century.

“How… how old is that?” Ryouta asked.

“Older than you, that much is certain! She may even be older than me. I forget her exact age,” William answered, giving the golf cart a smack on its side. “I should probably buy her a new battery, truth be told. They keep on coming out with better and better batteries these days. I have been trying to wait for the progress to slow down so that what I buy will not be inferior within a couple of months, but those scientists are on quite the roll with battery technology!”

“To be fair, I don’t think you’d need anywhere near the latest batteries for a golf cart. Old school carts already had good enough batteries to last for a while, didn’t they?”

“I know… but I have a horrible habit of always wanting the latest and greatest. If I give in now, I know that I will not be able to resist buying every single new release until they slow down again.”

“Wouldn’t you be able to afford that without any problem?”

“I would not have as much still if I gave in to my habit all the time!”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

“Now then, shall we?” William asked, sitting down in front of the cart’s wheel.

Ryouta sat down next to him and held on as William drove through a forested path without much care. While William himself was a bit of a large and slow man, when it came to him doing the driving, he was anything but slow. Part of Ryouta was worried about making it to the lake in one piece.

And it was not an insignificant part of him.

While he tried not to show it too much, he tightly held onto the seat underneath him with his hand opposite of where William sat. Ryouta didn’t expect to be so uncomfortable, but he was. He just wasn’t used to a human being in control of a vehicle and, when he thought of the potential for human error, he remembered what happened to his parents. It was made even worse when William only drove with a single hand to keep smoking from his pipe.

But this was his first time ever really hanging out with one of his girlfriends’ parents, and he didn’t want to disappoint. William was clearly enjoying himself and Ryouta didn’t want to be the one to ruin his fun. What would he think of him if he did that?

“Are you alright there, Ryouta?” William asked, slowing down just a bit upon noticing how nervous Ryouta looked.

Ryouta forced himself to nod. “Yeah. I’m fine. I guess that I’m just not used to a human being behind the wheel. Autocars have spoiled me.”

“Fair enough! Well, if you want me to slow down, let me know. I would not want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine. You can go faster again if you want.” It wasn’t fine, but this was Alice’s dad. If it was anybody other than one of his girlfriends’ parents, he would have spoken up and said something. But it wasn’t. It was William, the man who had already done so much for them. William gave them all the money they could ever ask for if not more than what they needed, paid for their house, made this entire meeting possible where he’d finally get to meet not only Eva and Azalabulia for the first time in real life, but Rao and Tabitha as well the next day, and he was nothing but kind and accommodating since picking them up at the airport. Ryouta could handle a few minutes of being uncomfortable and remembering how he felt when his parents died.

He tried to handle it, anyways.

Fortunately, they made it to the lake before long. While Ryouta would have enjoyed it far more if there weren’t other emotions tugging at his heart at the moment, those emotions weren’t powerful enough to completely override the beautiful sight in front of him. The lake was huge with one side surrounding by trees as the other side led into a vast, open field with rolling hills in the distance.

“Here we are!” William said, turning off the golf cart’s engine. “What do you think?”

Ryouta took a deep breath before saying, “It’s amazing.”

“Glad to hear it! And I will have you know that it is fully stocked with fish. There are even some fish in there of incredible size that have eluded every attempt of mine at catching them, so perhaps you will be the first to finally catch them!”

“That sounds like a fun challenge.”

“Do you have any experience with fishing, or is it only an interest of yours?”

“No real experience, but I’ve played a bunch of realistic fishing games.”

“Hmm, I see. Worry not, I will teach you everything that you need to know!”

Ryouta thought it sounded like William wasn’t taking any of his experience seriously since it was all in a game. Then again… he couldn’t blame William for that. It was, after all, a game. He wouldn’t be able to fight like he does in-game, nor would he even be able to swing a sword around the same way, so maybe he really would need to learn everything that William wanted to teach him.

But at the same time, he couldn’t help but to feel a little frustrated that his experience was disregarded like that simply because it was from a game. It really wasn’t something that he could hold against William, though. Aside from the fact that it was a game in the end, it was also a belief that many people held and wasn’t unique to William at all. It was especially true of the older crowd, even if most of those who were older grew up with games.

“I appreciate it,” Ryouta said. “So, would we just be fishing from land?”

“Ah, no. I have a boat that can be pulled over here. It is a small boat, but it will be all we need for fishing while giving us enough space to to be comfortable. And it will allow us to fish at the center of the lake, so we will not have to worry about getting snagged in the shallow water.”

“When will we go?”

“Excited, are you?”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.”

“Don’t let those other girlfriends of yours know that you’re more excited about fishing than meeting them!” William said, loud laughter following his words.

Ryouta laughed a bit as well, even if it wasn’t true. He was looking forward to meeting Eva and Azalabulia far more. He was even more excited about meeting Tabitha and Rao. However, for the sake of humor, he played along. “Hey, I’m looking forward to meeting them as much as I’m looking forward to fishing… probably.”

William gave Ryouta a couple of friendly smacks on the back. “I understand, so your secret is safe with me! I have no doubt that it can get tiring to be around so many women wanting your affection all the time. My maids do not even want affection from me and I find them tiring! Always asking for things to do, complaining about being bored – I would have thought that being paid enough to comfortably retire in their youth while hardly making them do anything would be appreciated, but you would be surprised! No amount of work I give them is enough. I even gave them significant raises when Alice left because they had even less to do, but all they do still is mope around like abandoned pups! They could be going out and having all sorts of fun, but all they want to do is work!”

“I mean… I can kind of understand that. They want to feel useful and like they’re making use of their lives for something more than fun. Throwing money at people doesn’t fix everything.” As soon as Ryouta said that, he regretted it. That last part about throwing money at people not fixing things was supposed to be an internal thought, not an external statement. Yet, he ended up saying it without meaning to.

“I suppose that is true. I have never quite understood it myself. Rather, I understand that money cannot buy happiness and excitement, but it can buy that which does cause happiness and excitement. I pay my maids enough that they could visit another country every week if they so wished, but even so, all they want is to work and complain about not being worked enough when they are not working! Would you not rather visit a new country every week? Buy new clothes whenever you are bored? Buy a new game to play?”

“Well, I’m guessing that what they find fun is work.” And dressing up Serra, he thought.

“Hmm… I suppose it is possible.”

Ryouta could tell that William was really struggling with the idea of people having fun working rather than doing something that he personally deemed “fun.”

I guess that there’ll always be old people like this, Ryouta thought to Saya – or rather, he thought with the intention of thinking it to Saya. Then he remembered that Saya wasn’t exactly in his head whenever he wasn’t connected to Fantasy Tales Online, so he couldn’t talk about William with her. Not at the moment, at least.

But he was definitely going to later.

Then he remembered that since Saya got access to all of his memories every time he connected to the game, she would know exactly how he felt during the ride on the golf cart. He already felt embarrassed and wanted to cringe at himself knowing that Saya would get to learn exactly how he felt and why. Even the emotions that he felt now – Saya would get to know how embarrassed he felt just at the idea of it.

All he could do now was try to distract himself.

Fortunately, William was about to make that incredibly easy to do so. “While we are out here, how about we talk? I am sure you would love to ask your girlfriend’s father all sorts of questions!”

While Ryouta appreciated the invite to be distracted, he was starting to realize just how narcissistic William could be.

But that wasn’t going to stop him from asking just a few questions that would result in William going on endless rambles about his youth. William was happy to talk on and on about everything from the games he played when he was younger to what happened during the protests to simply about the different types of tobacco that he liked. He proved to be a man who could take even the most generic of questions and give them answers that sounded like he was giving an hour-long speech to a crowded audience, never once doubting that whoever could hear him was anything but passionately interested in what he had to say.

It was only when Ryouta started getting messages from his girlfriends wondering where he was that they decided to head on back to the manor. They managed to at least pass a couple of hours talking before returning, and Ryouta’s nerves handled the return trip much better than the previous drive.

Upon returning to the manor and heading back upstairs to the room where all the women were in, Ryouta saw a Serra who was passed out, tucked into the bed after being utterly exhausted by being used as a doll, while the maids were all gathered around Cassandra showing them something on Alice’s computer.

“What’s going on?” Ryouta asked.

“Ah, my hero! You have finally returned,” Alice said. “I hope that my father did not bother you too much.”

“He was fine. I like talking to him, plus he made the time fly be. He really knows how to just… kind of go on and on.”

“Yes, that is very much true, unfortunately.”

“So, what’s going on over there?” Ryouta pointed to Cassandra and the maids.

“Ah! We came up with a wonderful idea!”

Ryouta stood on the tips of his toes to peek over the maids huddled around Cassandra. What he saw was none other than the website for a game that he was incredibly familiar with by this point.

Fantasy Tales Online.

“Because they have missed me and are bored without me around, Cassandra suggested that they play FTO with us! It took them a few minutes of having it explained to them, but as soon as they understood how realistic the game was and that they could serve as our maids within it, they could not have been more interested!”

“They know it can be dangerous in the game, right? That it’s not just all cleaning and dusting or anything?”

Alice chuckled with a hand over her mouth. “Of course, my hero. That was why I explained to them a concept that I am sure you are familiar with!”

“And what would that concept be?”

Alice stuck a finger up and said, with a smile on her face, “Battle maids!”

“I’m surprised you’re familiar with that tropes.”

“Of course I am! I think you must forget that I am very much so into the same sort of media that you are into. Do my cosplays not give that away?”

“I – I guess you’re right. You kind of are a fellow, degenerate weeb. Emphasis on degenerate. You just don’t really seem anything like the kind of person who would be into it.”

“I must admit that I can see your point, so I understand. But it would do you well to remember that I am probably just as into those tropes as you! I am simply more subtle about it.”

“Except when it comes to wanting to dress up Saya.”

“We-well…”

“And when it comes to your depraved fantasies that are like the kind of hentai doujins that spawn flame wars in the comments between people who want to see more vanilla sex and people who want to see horrible things happen to everybody in hentai, with you being on the latter’s team.”

“I – I have never partaken in such petty wars! Even if I do agree that the former party there has inferior taste. It is because the real world is for ‘vanilla’ sex that the fictional one should be for everything immoral!”

“Alright, you depraved princess. So, your maids are going to start playing with us and serve as our battle maids?”

“That is the plan! I am sure that our strength will be greatly boosted by their presence. They are wonderfully dedicated and give their jobs no less than a million percent of their effort!”

“Isn’t – isn’t a million percent way too high?”

“Well, they are the kind of women who… if I imagine them playing, I do not doubt that they will play for several nights in a row without rest, sleep for one or two hours, and then play more so that they may catch up to us as quickly as possible. They will refuse to be anything but hyper competent. That is how they have always been!”

“That’s kind of intimidating in a way.”

“Imagine how intimidating they will be when they have armored maid uniforms and mighty weapons to cut down our foes with!”

Ryouta lowered his voice to whisper, “I’m surprised you’re saying something like that instead of imagining them losing and all of you getting taken away by monsters or something.”

“Please, my hero. I never wish for anything horrible to happen to those who I know within my fantasies. I am always the only one who suffers in them, and that is because I enjoy it.”

“That’s… respectable. And now that I think about it, you’ve never had a fantasy where any of us were suffering, have you?”

“Not once! Instead, you are the ones who are making me suffer,” Alice explained with a slightly turned head that she tapped on the side of.

“What are you two talking about?” Cassandra asked, joining Ryouta and Alice by the bed.

“Perverse fantasies, of course.”

“She’s right,” Ryouta confirmed.

Cassandra poked Ryouta’s shoulder. “Of course. Have fun out there?”

“Yeah, I did.”

Cassandra, staring into his eyes, raised an eyebrow at his response.

Ryouta didn’t know why she looked suspicious, but it didn’t matter since she changed the subject. Cassandra leaned back and explained, “They’re ordering their headsets right now. They’ll arrive right before our trip is over, so we can help them get set up and then they’ll be playing by the time we get home.”

“Nice. I can’t really imagine what it’ll be like having them in the game with us, but I’ll look forward to having more help. And more people to fight against undead fish monsters if they ever come back again.”

“Yeah, I don’t doubt that they’ll be intense. Anyways, I’m gonna to take an autocar to the airport. I figure that I’ll go keep Eva some company while she’s waiting for Aza. Feel like coming?”

“To the airport? Sure. What about the others?”

They looked at Alice together.

“Ah, I think I will stay here. As excited as I am to meet her, I will stay to watch over Serra and to catch up with them,” Alice answered, looking over to the maids.

“Guess it’ll just be the three of us then,” Ryouta said.

“The two of us,” Cassandra clarified. “Alice said we can use her dad’s autocar on our own and that, if we want to be alone, we can tell him that. There’s no reason for him to go to the airport with us.”

“I guess. Just kind of assumed he’d be tagging along.”

“It’s just going to be us.”

“Sounds good to me. We going now?”

“If you’re ready.”

Ryouta nodded and took a deep breath. Even if he already knew Eva for a while and had seen pictures of her in real life before, he was still nervous to actually meet her in real life. And then after meeting her, he would have to meet Azalabulia. “Well, let’s go then.”