Book 1: Chapter 52: Patch 9.0: Preparing for the Tournament

Crew? Fully staffed.

The Shoebill? Given an engine and something on the front of the ship covered in a tarp now that Tabitha refuses to let anybody see underneath. Also reinforced, repainted, and polished by Tabitha.

Rock? Rock.

Cassiel and Serra? Getting better at fishing.

Oleander? Sneaking off with Corwin every other hour.

Bonekraka? Asshole.

Fishing rods? Four of them.

Tournament registration? Completed.

Preparation status? Prepared.

Fenrir? Realizing that the tournament is about to happen, knowing that it is going to be dangerous and that death is possible, and remembering that he is going to lose everything if he dies.

Without a rebirth counter, if he dies, he’s done for. He will respawn in a random location somewhere in the game’s world with none of his acquired stats, skills, nor items. He will essentially be a brand-new player without even the benefit of getting to choose where he spawns.

Oleander was in the same situation as him until he started dating Corwin. Now, he’s apparently acquired three counters, so he’s safe.

Everybody has slept on The Shoebill as well, so if anybody dies, they’ll respawn on the ship assuming that it doesn't get sunk.

Fenrir is the only one without a counter.

He has the confidence to compete in the tournament without dying, but he’s not so cocky that he believes he’s above all odds.

He needs more counters.

Yet, the only options he knows of to get them are: have sex, kill bosses or other elite NPCs, use rare and valuable items, or kill a player far stronger than he is. The easiest of these would be to use one of those items that Saya told him about, but he has no idea what the item is, what it looks like, where he could find it, and he’s sure that it would cost far more than he can afford to lose.

Killing an elite NPC or boss, or killing a player much stronger than him, are all out as possibilities as well. He can’t just go kill a random player and hope to get lucky with getting a rebirth counter, and it’s not like there are going to be any elite NPCs nor bosses around one of the game’s largest and busiest cities.

Basically, his only option to get rebirth counters right now is to have sex.

Just the thought of it makes his face burn red.

There are only two girls he could realistically have sex with unless he wants to go and pay for a prostitute in the city. He’s learned since his time here that sex is a very profitable business in this game. Some players model their characters to tailor to specific fetishes, the game itself allows for kinks that would be either impossible or illegal in real life, and then there’s the fact that there are so many possible races for characters to be.

As annoying as it is to Fenrir, he’s realizing that a large portion of this game's player base only cares about the sexual aspects of it. On the surface, it looks like an average fantasy world with people going about their daily lives, going on adventures, living out normal lives, and so forth. But, when one looks beyond that shallow surface to find what players are doing when they’re not out killing monsters or each other, the answer is simple: having sex.

Serra and Cassiel are his only two real options. Even if it’s a game, he still believes that sex is something valuable that should only be done with those he is romantically involved with. Right now, the only girls he has any romantic interest in are Serra and Cassiel.

He knows that they each have feelings for him as well. Oleander likes to tease him about being dense, and he admits that he can be dense regarding some things, but even he knows that they like him. And they know that he likes them. After all, he already admitted to it and said that he would properly confess to them soon.

There is one problem with this.

He has never confessed to a girl before – not properly, anyway. The only “girlfriends” that he has ever had were all online and they made the first moves since they wanted to take advantage of him and his status as the Divine Brigade’s leader.

Just thinking about it gives him a headache. Never before had he believed that he would someday end up with a harem. Sure, he loves harems in anime, but he never thought he would get one in real life. His dad always lectured him against harems, but his mother always told him that he could love whoever he wants and however many people he wants.

Then there’s the doubt of if he can even properly love two girls. How does he make sure they both feel equal and like they’re getting enough attention from him? How do sleeping arrangements work? What if one of them gets jealous of him giving the other attention?

How is he supposed to afford dating two girls?

Does he confess to them at the same time, or separately? Wait, if he does it separately, wouldn’t whoever is confessed to second feel less important or jealous?

“Ah! This sucks!” Fenrir shouts from The Shoebill’s crow’s nest. Nobody else is online right now, so nobody can hear his frustrated shouts aside from the random people walking by on the pier. Even Rock is sleeping, curled up against the bottom of the mast.

As great as the idea of dating two awesome girls is, he can’t help but feel it would be so much easier to only date one of them. Yet, he can’t even begin to think about who he would choose if he had to. They both have their flaws, but they both have so many more pros.

Besides, he’s already been learning sign language for Serra and he punched a guy for Cassiel.

“Wait, aren’t I actually kind of awesome?” he asks himself in a moment of self-realization.

If he’s being totally honest with himself, he’s actually cooler than he thought he was even if thinking that makes him feel like an egotistical ass.

Maybe he’s just overthinking things? He isn’t entirely sure, but he does know that just being his usual self thus far is what has made those two girls like him as much as they do.

“I hate when nobody else is online to distract me,” Fenrir groans.

Life sucks. Alright, maybe not really, but having to actually seriously think about all of this does suck.

Then he realizes something.

All those kids who bullied him when he was younger – he bets that they don’t have a couple of cute girls waiting to date them.

A huge smile spreads across his lips.

“Take that, bastards. This loser is about to have two more girlfriends than any of you have… probably.”

Fenrir raises his hands up to the top of his head, ruffling up his hair in frustration.

This has gone back to sucking.

The beat of his heart races. It feels as if hundreds of butterflies are fluttering about in his stomach as his heart tries to pop out of his chest like some sort of old-school alien.

He believes his best option is to confess to them both at once. He knows that they like him, they know that he likes them, and he’s pretty sure that they both like each other as more than friends at least a small bit. At least, with the way that Serra teases Cassiel at times, it’s obvious that Serra likes her. He also figures that Cassiel wouldn’t get so flustered and bashful around her when she does that if the feeling wasn’t mutual.

Is he really going to do this? Confess to two girls at once?

He doesn’t know whether to be full of self-doubt or be proud of himself.

In the end, he knows what he has to do.

He has to man up and confess.

“Alright, you can do this,” he says to himself, forming his hands into confident fists.

…

“But how do I do it?”

And he’s back to square one.

No, screw that.

He climbs down the mast and heads below deck to sleep on the floor. A few more hammocks have been set up, but they’re all taken.

“Ready to wake, Saya,” Fenrir whispers.

“Aye aye, Onii-chan!” Saya says.

Ryouta looks up at his ceiling fan.

He waits until he can move properly before getting out of bed, walking over to his computer, and sending a message to Serra and Cassiel over Fiscord telling them to meet him in-game later at a specific time.

The urge to delete the messages before they see them is extremely strong. He has to grab his right hand with his left to prevent it from reaching forward to delete the messages.

He hurries back over to bed, lies down, and immerses himself back into the game.

“That was a short break, Onii-chan,” Saya teases.

“I know. I need to go fishing to take my mind off of what I’ve done,” Fenrir says. They’re sitting in the usual café.

“Oh no, you manned up! That must have been very hard for you to do, Onii-chan. I’m so proud of you.”

“If you’re going to sass me then at least do it while I’m fishing.”

Saya giggles before letting him immerse back into the game.

Confess to Serra and Cassiel? Status pending.