Mebius World Online – Mari’s VRMMO Diary, Embarking on a Laid-back Adventure as a Novice - Chapter 52

There’s 6 chapters of interlude in this segment, this chapter is one of them.

ANOTHER INTERLUDE

52. Mari-nee and the reason a certain leader were born

“Damn it, in the end, I couldn’t finish work before the date changed again…”

The clock hands were already pointing to 1 a.m.

According to the motion sensor, the only desk that needed the fluorescent light on was mine.

Other desks had already become pitch dark by 8 p.m.

The idea of balancing work and private life, a policy set by the country or the company, was established a long time ago, but only the clever ones are reaping the benefits.

As for the boss?

For the boss, such policies were meaningless from the beginning.

After all, he would claim to have meetings and disappear every evening.

I don’t know what he discusses, but there has been no tangible outcome, and naturally, he never returns after the meetings.

By the way, many of us in our late thirties, who were entrusted with the so-called middle management positions, either resigned or changed jobs or fell ill.

The boss and the company are aware that the overtime hours are absurd, and while listening to our complaints, they still say, “But you have to do your best, right?”

No, damn it, it’s not about doing my best. Recognize the crumbling middle layer and exhaustion, for God’s sake!

And you the subordinates, I’m not doing your work to protect your private lives, you know?

Muttering curses, I inadvertently put my hand in my pocket, realizing that what should be there is missing – I had involuntarily quit smoking.

For someone like me who rarely drinks, gambles, or fools around with women, losing the stabilizer of my mind, cigarettes, was a bitter decision forced by the heartless announcement of allowance cuts by my merciless wife.

I let out a sigh without thinking.

They say if you sigh, happiness escapes, but my happiness has been in the negatives for a long time.

I want to say to the person who came up with that saying, “If sighing makes happiness escape, then what should I do to make happiness come?”

Or rather, what is my happiness??

Thinking aimlessly about the exhaustion of overtime, I swayed on the train just before the last train and headed home.

“I’m home.”

I said the usual line upon arriving home, but there was no response.

The last time I received a reply like “Welcome back” was, oh… I can’t remember when exactly.

Initially, we exchanged messages about my return times on message, but as work piled up, I corrected my return time repeatedly, and gradually, I stopped receiving confirmation messages from my wife.

At this time, she’s probably already sleeping with the kids.

I silently ate the dinner prepared on the kitchen table, already cold, without turning on the TV.

I decided to convince myself that just having dinner prepared is still better, and I’m relatively fine.

After finishing dinner, I took off my work clothes and changed into casual attire, putting on a blindfold.

The current me is, in a way, not exaggerating to say, enduring real-time for the sake of the upcoming time.

My oasis, an escape from daily life… that was the world of Mebius World Online.

In this world, I chose to call myself Graham.

There was no particular reason, but it just sounded cool.

In this world, I was free.

While mentally cursing my “damn boss” and “stupid subordinates,” I vented my frustrations on monsters, fighting continuously.

The more I fought, the higher my level and skill level became, and with the accumulated gold, my equipment became more sophisticated.

I became engrossed in the visible results and the self that achieved them.

For that, I didn’t mind sacrificing sleep time.

Before I knew it, my level had reached the cap, meaning the limit, and that’s when I realized.

What I was doing was ultimately a release of stress, just like pouring water on parched sand.

As long as there was the water called stimulation, it was fine, but the moment it ran out, I was tormented by thirst.

Of course, I could have continued to enhance my skill levels or improve my equipment further if I wanted to, but what would be left once I completed even that?

Confronting this reality, I logged into MWO without doing anything, just gazing absentmindedly at players with hopeful faces in the Eden Adventurers’ Guild.

While gazing, I found myself half-heartedly cheering… no, I lied.

I cheered about 10%, felt jealousy about 90%, and resigned myself to the fact that I no longer had the capacity to expect anything from such situations.

However, one day, I encountered a player who seemed like a high school student. She was still in beginner gear, timidly facing challenges. Strangely, I didn’t feel envy and found her somewhat endearing.

But when I looked at the quest she received, I frowned.

Boar was a monster to be dealt with after passing the beginner stage. It wasn’t an opponent for someone with beginner gear.

Should I stop her, or is it none of my business?

During my hesitation, the girl went ahead.

“Damn it…”

While I had often cursed without showing it outwardly, this time, it was directed at myself, quite rare, I know.

Whether it was regret, atonement, or self-loathing, I remained still at the Adventurers’ Guild, continuing to wait.

Even if she failed the quest, maybe at that moment, there would be something I could do for her.

Contrary to my expectations, the girl survived. Moreover, she defeated a named monster called Bloody Boar.

I was surprised.

The surroundings were in an uproar about the “Capture” skill, but I was more interested in her strength.

Strong players were abundant.

I, too, am not bragging, but I am on the higher side.

However, this girl’s strength was different.

I didn’t understand what was different at that time.

Even after that, I often saw her at the Adventurers’ Guild, and before I knew it, I couldn’t help but be curious about her.

…Wait a minute.

It’s not a crush, right?

It’s not a joke, right?

I won’t get reported, okay?

Absolutely not!?

I decided to talk to the guild staff who often conversed with the girl.

There, I learned the girl’s name was Maria.

And that she frequently resides in a church in town.

There was a church in Eden? I had no idea, probably because it had no relevance to conquering or getting stronger.

Drawn to it, I headed to the church and witnessed something.

Maria, interacting with the church sisters and children, displaying her caring nature.

Maria herself is still in beginner gear.

In contrast, how about me?

My equipment has become splendid, but what about my character?

What am I even doing?

Feeling unbearable, I logged out immediately afterward.

After spending some time in agony without logging in, a few days later, I finally mustered the courage to log in again.

I wanted to know.

What Maria was doing.

What the difference between her and me was.

To find out more, I observed the times when Maria wasn’t around… So it’s not that! Don’t call the police!! I visited the church.

Feeling awkward coming empty-handed, I bought some sweets.

Come to think of it, although I’ve bought things when my real-life kids asked for them, have I ever chosen and bought something on my own?

Initially wary, I hastily explained that I just wanted to know what Maria had done for them, and before I knew it, I was passionately narrating.

It’s embarrassing for an adult of my age.

However, Sister Estelle, who introduced herself as such, seemed to see through my conflict. She calmly and objectively shared the facts and circumstances, deliberately avoiding subjective opinions.

I don’t know how to express the surprise, emotion, and embarrassment I felt when hearing that story.

But let me assert this:

I have never felt such profound respect for someone in my entire life.

“But why? Why can she do such things!?”

Before I knew it, my thoughts were spoken aloud.

“With no expectation of return and not even rational. Who is she, really!?”

To my quasi-question, Estelle provided an answer.

“Maria-san can naturally entrust herself to the feelings in her heart. Everyone’s heart is always whispering to them, you know? But we are too entangled with many things, causing us to miss that voice.”

Though she spoke in a tone as if teaching a child, strangely, I didn’t feel a sense of irritated.

“But Maria-san is not only that; I think she can also hear the feelings of others. Are you, are you listening to your own feelings? Are you listening to the feelings of others?”

For some reason, those words struck a chord in my heart.

About work, about my wife, about my children.

Ah… is that so? Is that how it was?

Suppressing and storing up, forcing myself to endure without venting, blaming others in my mind without confronting them – for someone like me, such a state of mind was unreachable.

My thirst would never be quenched.

Damn it, the sunlight today is unusually harsh and stinging my eyes.

Estelle didn’t say anything as I gazed up at the sky; she left me alone.

From then on, with a fresh start, one might wish for a turn of events… that’s what I’d like to say, but reality isn’t that sweet.

That’s the nature of reality.

However, even so, within the world named MWO, I found hope.

Although the workload didn’t decrease, I managed to catch the boss heading for a meeting and assigned him the decision-making tasks he should have done. I also made subordinates who were about to leave at the regular time do the tasks they were supposed to do today.

Well, tomorrow I’ll probably have to deal with the aftermath of those tasks, but tomorrow is another day – I don’t need to worry about it.

On that day, I left the office on time for the first time in a long while.

My wife and children were surprised at my unusually early return.

I explained what I had been thinking until now, gave my wife a bath bomb, and the children a cake I had bought.

Honestly, the conversation was awkward, and there wasn’t much of a response, but it couldn’t be helped.

It was the result of my neglect over the years.

Then, if that’s the case, let’s take the same amount of time to redo it.

With the thought that the same amount of time was needed, the feeling of impatience was somewhat subdued.

That night, before logging into MWO, I checked the bulletin board. I learned that there were people paying attention to Maria, or rather, Maria-san.

The reason for the attention was her appearance, but that was fine.

Maria-san’s true essence will surely be apparent to everyone soon.

So, without revealing what I knew, I made a post on the bulletin board.

And I created an organization for Maria to live as she wished in MWO.

It was named after a thread I randomly created, but due to some difficult-to-argue reasons like “The thread owner should take responsibility,” I ended up becoming the leader of that group.

The name of the thread, or rather the organization, was “Gathering of Young Girl Fanatics.” (In other word, lolicon)

In a moment, the organization that would later be called the ‘Cult’ was born.