"Do you feel like talking today?" (Makoto)

"Of course! It's my job, Guest-sama" (Tour Guide)

Amane and I are in front of the Tour Guide who laughed me to bed yesterday.

The two of us searched all the buildings in Olympia Village, looking for people or information. It seems aside from Juanita, there's barely any NPCs in the village.

Most of the buildings are closed down. I was an anticipating a ghost town based on my experience in Sugar Maple, but even I was taken aback by how empty this "real" world should have been.

There's a grocer, a pawn shop the deals in magical goods, and a nurse who heals wounds.

There's NO Quest NPCs, the type of characters who would give you a task where you can get stronger or obtain a stronger item. Just those basic job NPCs and Juanita, who is not just a maid but apparently the Adventurer's Guild receptionist.

Yet, Juanita does nothing quest related, as the guild's branch is just the Olympia Hotel. The worker NPCs are friendly but ignorant outside of their inventory.

So the only person who might have any information is...

"You." (Amane)

The tour guide nods approvingly. I notice that she's still wearing that sharp dress, but a detail I missed is she has arrow ears unbefitting of a human.

She's some kind of demihuman, huh. I don't remember what the tour guide looked like in the original Sugar Maple.

"Normally, you'd be correct. The tour guide would be the person to explain this wonderous place to the new Guest-samas. But unfortunately for you, I am not a tour guide!" (Tour Guide?)

She starts to laugh. Her mouth is so wide I can see her fangs.

Fangs??

"What do you mean?" (Amane)

"A tour guide? What's that? Do you really need a tour of such a small village? If you've made it to Olympia Skywalk, you should be rather strong, yes? Why would you need a tour?" (Not Tour Guide)

"If you're not a tour guide, what are you?" (Makoto)

"I'm a bus driver!" (Bus Driver)

"Ah. Oh." (Makoto)

"Eh?!" (Amane)

I look at Amane, while showing my open hand to the smug-looking bus driver.

"Bus drivers, cab drivers, and light rail engineers operate under the 'Tele-Taxi" system. They operate magical machines that can teleport you to any place you've visited before." (Makoto)

"Touma-kun, how do you...?" (Amane)

Oh, right.

Now that I know Amane thinks I'm a different person, I introduced myself as "Touma" rather than "Satou Makoto". I'm happy my old boss is alive, but she's not my boss anymore and I don't want to be told what to do.

If I were told what to do, though, I'd still do it with 110% effort!

"C~orrect! I don't talk about places, I take you to places! That isn't to say I'm not knowledgable, but don't compare me to a mere tour guide!" (Bus Driver)

Tele-Taxis are one of four ways to move around the maps in Sugar Maple.

You can go from location to location on foot or vehicle, like bicycle, skateboard, hoverboard or ship.

You can use wormholes, but those connect only fixed locations and they are scattered about. Wormholes do not teleport PCs between continents.

You can use Tele-Taxis, and you can use warp scrolls that will exit you from any place to the nearest town.

Tele-Taxis are the most powerful of transportation in the game, as you can teleport between continents or teleport to any "field" you've previously visited. You can even teleport to a boss area in a dungeon! But the power of this teleportation is matched by the steep cost of renting the taxi, and the limitation that you cannot go to new areas using a taxi service.

The only place the Tele-Taxi could not take the player is Horn Island, the tutorial continent. But I read on a dev blog long ago that the service could teleport you into the final dungeon, which was below the Cardinal Temple on Horn Island, accesible only at the end of the game. So even that rule could be bent.

"Allow me to introduce myself!" (Bus Driver)

"I am Mariposa san Andrea, driver of Olympia's Mabus, the only Tele-Taxi service above the Goering Peaks!" (Mariposa)

"Mhm, that sounds impressive indeed." (Amane)

"Amanogawa-san, Himmel Cumulonimbus is the only explorable area above the Goering Peaks. She's using your ignorance of the area to sound big and important." (Makoto)

"R-rude!! How dare you say such a thing!" (Mariposa)

The bus driver buffed her cheeks and started hitting my chest.

"Please forgive me Andrea-san, your beautiful face doesn't deserve the expresson you're making!" (Makoto)

I said beautiful but I think a more accurate adjective would be "cute". Andrea-san is very attractive, second only to Amane, and is easily the best looking person in this 6 person village. Her demihuman features add a flair of exotic charm that just adds to her apperance.

"Beautiful?" (Mariposa)

She stops and gives me a puzzled look.

"D-did I offend you...I meant it." (Makoto)

Does she not get compliments often?

"I've never been called beautiful in my life..." (Mariposa)

She does not get compliments often!

"Afterall, because of these, no man would ever want me..." (Mariposa)

She starts to motion toward the chest area where breasts normally would be.

It's come to that?!

"Andrea-san, in my country, men would go to war over a woman as beautiful as you." (Makoto)

Not a lie, my department went to war over Amane.

"Somehow, I'm getting irritated listening to this flirting." (Amane)

Mariposa put her hands to her cheeks, miming embarassment or satisfaction. I'm glad she's feeling better.

But it looks like she's starting off into space.

"Andrea-san..." (Makoto)

"It's san Andrea." (Mariposa)

Huh?

"You two can call me Mariposa-san. "san" is a particle for nobility among my species, the papilla. The language of humans uses "san" as an honorific and it can get tedious addressing me as "san Andrea-san"." (Mariposa)

It's a pleasure to meet you, Mariposa-san.

...

"So, where would you like to go? Back to Newberry Island? The first ride is free!" (Mariposa)

I make a frown face.

"I've only been to one other place...the first field south of town." (Makoto)

"Eh?!" (Mariposa + Amane)

"Amnogawa-san too?! (Makoto)

Why was she surprised? Didn't she see my level?

"You haven't even registered Newberry Island? You mean to say, you are adventurers who weren't born on Horn Island?" (Mariposa)

Born...I guess that's how the NPCs would phrase it.

"Touma-kun, I am concerned for a different reason than Mariposa-san. You've expressed knowledge about this world you couldn't possibly know." (Amane)

"You are quite perceptive, Amanogawa-san." (Makoto)

"Then..." (Amane)

"To answer your question, I have some scattered memories of this place, and one such memory is of the Tele-Taxi system." (Makoto)

"Old memories...I see, so you have been to this world before?" (Amane)

"Y-yes." (Makoto)

Technically maybe kind of sort of.

"Then tell me...why did we come to this world? Why did God-sama select us to come here?" (Amane)

I'm not sure how to answer that, not having met the God-sama she refers to.

But if I were to explain the plot of the original game...

"Amanogawa-san, we are here to slay the Demon King." (Makoto)

I saw Amane swallow her saliva.

"Y-Yes! The Adventurer's Guild was established to help any individual who would take up arms against Maou-sama, who threatens the very stability of the world!" (Mariposa)

A Demon King is often the final boss in online RPGS, and Sugar Maple was no different. If anything, it was a pioneer and one of the first MMORPGs to feature a Demon King antagonist.

Demon Kings have a variety of origins and a range of power levels. Some can merely be the champion of a race of mazoku, others could be some super powerful asura-like being.

I've never seen the one in Sugar Maple and I'm skeptical it was even put in the final game, but it exists as the flavor-based reason for players to go on an adventure in the first place.

"So if we slay this Demon King...what happens after that?" (Amane)

Why are you asking me?

"I don't know that much. Shouldn't your God-sama have explained it to you?" (Makoto)

"He didn't say anything of the sort. He merely apologized to me and outined the powers he was giving me. He didn't even say where he was going to reincarnate me, or as what." (Amane)

"Well, what did he say to the others with you?" (Makoto)

"I assume you mean my beloved subordinates...none of them were with me." (Amane)

Huh?

"You weren't reincarnated together?" (Makoto)

"No. In fact, I have not met any of my subordinates. The first human I've met is you, a reincarnator unrelated to the heat wave incident." (Amane)

Did I reincarnate before Amane? Tachibana and Hina-san were right by me when I awoke, so I had assumed we had reincarnated together and got separated after the fact.

"Amane-sama, I could not help but overhear you use the word "reincarnation" over and over. Perhaps...you and Touma-sama are isekaijin?" (Mariposa)

We both looked at Mariposa-san.

"That's right." (Makoto)

"I see...that explains everything." (Mariposa)

Mariposa looked a little down. Her slit eyes lost some light.

"I have met many of your companions. Some were already aware of the Demon King legend, while others had to learn about this world from me. All of them are headed down Olympus Tor with the intent of settling in Goer's Hamlet.

"How many did you meet?" (Makoto)

"Yesterday, I met about 10-15 humans, all of whom descended into the tower." (Mariposa)

I get it.

It seems like some of my coworkers were familiar with Sugar Maple or Sweet Sugar Maple and the Demon King plot. They don't care that the region we've spawned in is the midgame, they'll settle in this area and try to level up enough to cross through the Murder Mines.

10-15 humans is about 2/3rds of our department. With Tachibana and Hina-san dead, that means 3-6 people are on Newberry Island, Horn Island, or...somewhere else in the world. Although if they did manage to spawn in the Unknown Continent, they're as good as dead.

"What should I do?"

Amane asks nobody in particular, but she says it in a way that addresses herself.

As a woman who lived a very linear life to the top of power, I'm sure the unprecedented freedom she's now feeling has left her at a loss for what to do.

"Amanogawa-san, I can't tell you how to live your life. But I can tell you how I intend to live mine. Unlike you, I have no special abilities. I'm classless and my level is the lowest. The region we're in isn't made for beginners like me, if I go out there, I will die."

"My only hope is to leave this place, and go back to the beginner area, and hope I survive." (Makoto)

Amane listens to my speech in silence. I can see pity in her eyes. She knows that I'm useless and would be dead weight if I stayed here.

"If you leave for those regions, will you ever come back here?" (Amane)

"No." (Makoto)

"Why?" (Amane)

"Amanogawa-san, without blessings, i could never be a match for you. I could never be a match for anyone. If there was any hope of me slaying the Demon King and returning home, it's beyond my abilities in this world." (Makoto)

It's fruitless to try anyway.

The monsters in the Murder Mines and flying above the Goering Peaks are beyond the strength of what is achievable through grinding. You could grind for decades and only gain a single level past 50, and be completely unable of beating such monsters.

The second class advancement NPCs and quests were never implemented in the game. Some of those Quest NPCs are supposed to be here in the Skywalk, and they're MIA.

Amane is strong, but she only has a first job class. Tachibana and Hina-san were killed by the weakest of mid tier monsters right outside of town.

The Demon King is an impossible dream, and more importantly...why would you do it?

Was that boiling cauldron of a planet we called Earth really worth all this effort and sacrifice to go back to?

I did not hate my life. I worked hard but it was rewarding, and I lived fairly luxuriously compared to most salaryman.

But none of my family is left live and all my friends and coworkers died with me. There's nothing left for me in Japan, and if anything, I should make it my mission to tell this new world how amazing Japan is.

I do wish I got to see the Hams win the Nippon Series...

"So." (Makoto)

"I will stay in this world and live out the rest of my life. I won't raise a finger against the Demon King. I'm sorry if this is hard to hear."

Mariposa looks concerned, while Amane looks defeated.

"I had a feeling. It's a pity. I feel like with your low level and classless, you secretly might have the highest growth potential. But it doesn't matter if you have nothing tying you to Japan." (Amane)

"Yes." (Makoto)

"I can't live like that, Touma-kun. This isn't my world and I left too much behind. If you will not party with me...or even just accompany me down the dungeon, this may be our last meeting." (Amane)

"And a memorable one it has been." (Makoto)

Sorry, Amane.

I met you two years ago and chased after you all that time in my own way.

In this world, things will be different.

You will have to chase me.