Prologue
Prologue
Kuro Kurori ssu~
Though the prologue itself is a bit boring, but it will eventually gets better (I hope).And thus, I hope you enjoy the chapter~
「My lady, I have received the package.」
As soon as I came back from school, the first person I met was Yamamoto-san, a butler of my household. If I remember correctly, it’s today, huh… I was too busy and had forgotten about it. But in truth, I was looking forward to it and concealed my inner excitement.
「Understood, thank you very much」
Yamamoto-san immediately leave without saying a single word… Well then, I will also go back to my room and prepare it!
I, Ichijou Reina, am the eldest daughter of the Duke Ichijou’s household which is one of Japanese aristocrat families.
I’ve been raised in this tough family environment and taught adequate manners of a lady that is appropriate for the family. I hate this kind of life since I was a child, especially those eyes, as if they saw a tool when talking to me with the intention of approaching my father… maybe, or should I say, I believe that my father also hates me. I have thought about it myself, but I’m still not sure where did I do wrong….
I think that there are not so many people have had the experience of pouring water to the ant’s nest or catching insects and make them fight when they were a child. However, for me, there was no limit of hesitation as well as restraint to do those kind of stuff.
Thinking that I had done it in the public gaze is too bizarre for the current me…, but I can say for sure that it will still be regarded as a youthful indiscretion due to the fact that I was only a small child.
That is why, I liked my mother who always taught me to be 『normal』. She will stop me before I overdid it, taught me carefully and kindly about 『righteous conduct』, and told me to consult with her if something happened.
When I think about it now, my mother was probably worried about my future while thinking about me, who is her only daughter.
It was after I got into elementary school that I came to such a turning point. Children are cruel and sensitive to 『strange object』. A beautiful wet feather-colored black hair that has the same appearance with her mother. Not wearing common 『everyone’s』 clothes or latest children’s clothes, but instead western clothes that was made from the scratch and proved to be expensive at a glance.
At this level everyone would still said 「wow」 and 「cute」…
However, I was not 『normal』.
While being a child……no, probably because, I, was a child, excluding the time when we enrolled, I noticed that I have started to bully those so-called 『strange object』.
But at this time, I did not realized that this was a bullying and thought that it was just 『a regular play』 like what I always do. Hiding people’s things and burned it in front of them, pushing someone down until his/her front teeth are broken, and if they complained, I will put insects inside their mouth and forced them to chew. There was no free time for me.
Such thing continued on and on until no one wants to get close to me. Then, it happened when I passed the staff room. I could hear my mother apologizing… though, I did not know what she was apologizing for but I felt that 『I have probably done something wrong』.
I didn’t know what reason my beloved mother did such a thing, however, all I know is that it was probably my fault…
With only that much, I became frustrated and stood still. My mother who just came out from the staff room, saw me right in front of her and surprised. But, she then eventually smiled and said,
『Wanna go home?』
And from then on, I stopped 『playing』. Even if something happened I ward it off with a girlish smile and I never give myself in. As my age grew older and older, I have noticed that I was strange.
My father sees me more and more with cold eyes and seems to always hit my mother harshly. But my mother still endured and looked at me with warm eyes.
However, when my mother suffered from cancer and died after a few years of battling it, my father immediately remarried with his cheating partner and even brought in her daughter and son. My intuition told me, 『Aah, if I let this be, I will eventually play with them』, thus I moved away along with my mother’s furniture from her room in the mansion. Fortunately, my father was not interested to what I was doing.
My father only doted his step-daughter (little sister) and son (little brother), and had already lost interest in me a long time ago, hence he said nothing to me.
However, it was a life-and-death matter for me. The reason being was, my mother, who used to be the support of my heart, was nowhere beside me and it was difficult to come to terms with the 『abnormality』 in me. As I examined the various conflict regions and the criminal laws of this country, I stumbled upon s for online games towards the end.
I got intrigued and investigated it a little bit more, and bought it immediately as it was just right for the current me and the service was also about to be opened.
And that is what was arrived today.
「It’s finally arrived, Karma Story Online! The service itself had just started yesterday but it’s still within the acceptable range.」
Karma Story Online, commonly known as 『KSO』, is a new VRMMORPG which the players themselves are the ones who could change their karma value depending their own actions. Then, they will eventually belong to one of the three factions, order, chaos and neutral. Although I said factions, there is nothing that you need to do such as belonging to a specific organization or country. NPCs will be treated as criminals or saints, and there would be important cost for your decision, such as restrictions on a certain facilities, classes that can be picked or cannot be picked, etc.
In this game, you can not select the side you belong to from the beginning. The karma value changes while the players play the game as it relies on his/her attitude toward NPCs, conquest method, contribution to a specific country or organization, etc.
Almost all players who are still unable to move from the first town will be neutral.
「It’s been more than a day since the service started, maybe some people are already out of the neutral faction…」
And above all, on the official website, it was written that the admins will tolerate any speech or behavior unless it violates the real laws such as cracking or sexual harassment in the game. I think that this place is the best choice for 『playing』.
(TL Note: Well then, let the swear words piled up)The fact that one’s standing position changes depending on one’s actions is contrary to my home environment where as my standing position is clearly defined from the beginning regardless of my own intention, thus it has drawn me in as it’s an extremely attractive offer for me. It seems that this game is also a way to release all of the resentment and frustration which cannot be done in real life.
「Okay then, the installation has already finished, so let’s play right away!」
As I already went to the toilet and well hydrated, I lied down on the bed which has a faint smell of mother, and excitedly crowned myself with the head monitor which similar to a thin halo. Selected the game icon with eye movement, and logged in as it is.
(TL Note: I don’t understand about the Head Monitor (the raw says Bed Display) here… maybe the author was trying to say a head display or similar to it as it says that it looks like a thin halo.)