Ganersam Volume 2
Chapter 1

It had been a week since we arrived back home in Alpha. Things had been surprisingly peaceful. We hadn’t gone on a single quest since arriving, and none of the girls seemed to bother.

It was as if everyone agreed to just forget about our ‘official’ jobs as adventurers. Not much has happened, either. Nia made an adventurer card in order to allow her to share rewards with us, Amel used her part of the reward to buy a new set of armor, and Emma decided to buy... something.

Whatever she bought seemed to occupy a large portion of her mind, as she often could be seen taking glances at the front door, waiting for her package to arrive. Nia doesn’t know what to do with her money, so she offered it to me. But of course, being the gentleman that I am, I can’t accept a girl’s money.

As a result, she decided to just buy a carriage instead. It was pretty useful, though. Walking could get tiring sometimes.

On the days when Emma wasn’t sleeping at some random place in the house or watching the door, she went to the library. Nia often went along with her. Amel had been spending time helping Riko, which made me question why she even joined us in the first place.

Riko and his ‘team’, aka just Amel, were still searching for the third slate for Asparagus, and that’s precisely the reason why I had been treasuring the short calm time I have now. I’m sure someday, sooner or later, they’ll somehow replace it, and I would somehow be dragged into a big mess.

I haven’t been wasting time, though. For now, I have been working on a little project...

“Done!”

I muttered proudly. I grabbed the glass cup and took a sip out of the bright brown liquid I just made.

I enjoy the sweet flavor as the liquid goes down my throat. It does feel a bit weird drinking this without a straw, but I could make that later.

The drink I’m making is a glass of boba tea.

I realized that boba didn’t exist yet, so I decided to start a business selling them. Thanks to Lisya’s help, I managed to secure a spot in the guild. We already started selling normal milk tea and the like, and boba would be a fine addition to our menu.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact that I learned to make one from a cooking game back on Earth. I can’t remember why I even played that game.

With the recipe now secured, I grabbed my phone and called Amber, who was in charge. Amber was Riko’s friend, who was a merchant and technician working here. I trusted her in running the business.

It had been 3 days, and we had already seen quite interesting progress. I was a bit skeptical at first since I expected most adventurers to prefer beer over tea and coffee. But as it turned out, hot milk was decently popular before sleep, coffee was the go-to for morning quests, and cold milk tea was great for relaxation.

We still couldn’t compete directly against the guild’s own tavern, but if we continue making a profit, we could go out and make our own cafe.

Honestly though, imagining the possibilities does excite me a little. I may be a gamer, but feeling real-life pain does put me off from going adventuring. After explaining to her the changes I made to the recipe, I hung up. I would probably visit her place sometime to see the progress.

It’s a bit funny, as so far I have never actually visited Amber’s place myself. Even Riko himself has never visited her place. She would just show up with the goods in tow, so I would naturally be curious on where she makes those stuff. As I continued drinking my boba, the bell rang.

I returned the cup to the table and went to the door. In front of it, a postman stood while holding a package.

“Excuse me, I have a package for Miss Emma.”

“Yes, this is her residence.”

“Can you sign here, please?”

I signed a piece of paper the postman handed to me.

The postman then proceeded to give me the large black box. The box was pretty heavy, with a large red fragile sticker on top of it. It had Emma’s address on it.

I thanked the postman and brought the box inside. The box was coated with duct tape. I decided against opening it before her. I hid the box under the living room table.

I went back to the kitchen and finished the boba. I washed the cup and returned it to the cupboard before going back to the living room and sitting on the sofa.

Bringing out my phone, I sent Emma a short message regarding her package. She didn’t immediately reply, as expected. She’s probably engrossed in some random book right now. I lazily sunk myself onto the sofa.

So... yeah, that’s basically how daily life has been since we returned. Nothing weird or spectacular happened, just a group of friends doing everyday stuff. To be fair, most of the stuff we were doing, we did as individuals, not as a group, but we were still sleeping under the same roof, so I guess that counts.

I was expecting some kind of event to be triggered after all this while but turns out everything had been going smoothly.

Another vibration came from my phone. This time, it was a message from Emma, telling me to not open the box.

I don’t know if she understood the meaning of her words. Asking someone to not open something is practically begging them to open it. I decided to follow her words though, in order to not trigger her anger. She would probably tell me what’s inside if I asked anyway.

I replied a quick ‘don’t worry’ before returning my phone to my pocket.

Things really are peaceful. I wonder how long would it last?

“I’m back.”

A sound came from the door. It was Amel.

“Welcome back. Any leads?”

“You wouldn’t believe what we found!”

She approached me and whipped out her phone. On it is a picture of a dungeon.

“That’s where the third slate is located?”

She vigorously nodded.

“Yes! We should get going ASAP!”

“Hold your horses, Amel. Let’s ask the others first.”

“I don’t have any horses...?”

I already knew their answers, I’m just trying to delay it a bit. It would be inevitable that we would go adventuring again after a while.

And since I’m a protagonist, a thing that I consistently joke about, I would be dragged into this stuff sooner and later.

“Is that Emma’s package?”

The black box under the table caught Amel’s attention.

“Yes. She told me not to open it, though.”

“Well, she did tellyounot to open it.”

Amel said as she approached the box. I immediately grabbed her hand.

“Emma told me not to open it, and I’m tellingyouto NOT open it.”

“You’re no fun.”

I released my hand and Amel distanced herself from the box.

“Anyway, I’m going to take a bath.”

“Have fun.”

Amel then walked away, leaving the living room.

“Actually, I just realized something. You’re using your cloak?”

This is the first time I’ve seen her using her cloak since back when I first met her.

“Yes, I need to maintain my mysterious aura.”

“But you didn’t use it yesterday, or the day before?”

“I forgot where I put it. Just found it last night.”

“... I see...”

I really can’t comment much about that. Amel continued her way upstairs. It didn’t take long for the other two to arrive.

“We’re home.”

Nia gave a greeting as she entered. Emma completely ignored me and rushed to her package.

“You didn’t open it, did you?”

She asked me, her sight locked to the box, searching for any proof that I had opened it.

“Of course not. What is in it, anyway?”

Emma went back to her room. Nia sat beside me on the sofa.

“Did she rush you back the second she knew her package arrived?”

“No. We were already on the way back when you messaged her. She did tell me to ‘press the gas’ the second she received that message, though.”

“I see.”

Emma soon came back, a cutter in her left hand, and her sniper rifle in her right. She placed the sniper rifle on the floor.

She then popped the small knife out, and carefully cut through the duct tape sealing the box. Her knife ran through the entire length of the box, and she slowly pulled the lid off.

Inside was...

“Oh my God.”

A gun. It looked like a soviet built assault rifle, similar to the famous 47, but with more modern-looking aesthetics. The famous wooden finish to the weapon was replaced with a black carbon kind of finish. The assault rifle was placed in the middle of the box and was secured by black foam.

With sparkling eyes, Emma pulled the assault rifle out and started to stroke it caringly, like a mother caring for her baby.

I wished I was that rifle.

She then put it aside. She pulled out the remaining foam under the rifle, and under that foam are several boxes, neatly arranged next to each other.

She pulled the boxes out, and after reading the label on each of them, started arranging them on the floor. This time, she took her sniper rifle and put it on her lap. She ejected the magazine and put it aside. With a screwdriver that was included in the package, she unscrewed the part above the magazine, the magazine well.

She pulled that off and replaced it with a different well. The new well was slightly bigger, and has two small cables on its left side. She attached the new well and looked at it satisfied, before inserting a new magazine in it.

“What are you doing?”

I had been silently observing her this entire time, since I thought I could figure out what she was doing purely from watching her.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m replacing the magazine well so I can use more lethal lasers as ammunition.”

Well, if it’s obvious I won’t ask...

Wait...

What did she just say? Lethal lasers?

...

“Is that even legal?”

“Well, I have a license.”

She said as she showed me the piece of paper hidden underneath the boxes.

Just when did she do all this?

“So that assault rifle... is lethal too?”

“Yes. I’m also planning on upgrading my handgun to something lethal, but I haven’t found one that suits me.”

... Maybe I should start making some house rules.

Nia and I fell silent as we watched Emma continue tinkering with her weapons. She also did some modifications to the assault rifle, adding in a scope and a grip.

“Ah, you’re back.”

Amel, fresh out of the bath, descended the stairs. The sweet aroma of soap filled the room.

“Is that the K-49 Kritz?”

Emma nodded to Amel’s words.

“That’s a good choice. It has a high fire rate and is really powerful. The only weakness is that it’s rather unstable.”

“Isn’t that a pretty serious weakness?”

It sounds serious to me, at least. I never held a 47 on Earth, but I did play shooters before. Recoil is a big factor to consider when firing. I don’t know how different recoil back on Earth is when compared to the recoil in this world, but the 47 on Earth is one of the harder to control ones.

“I’ll get some training later.”

Emma said nonchalantly. Considering how quickly she learned to snipe, I guess it wasn’t far-fetched to think she would learn to master that rifle quickly.

“Can we go grab a quest? I want to try these bad boys out.”

Emma said as she tried to lift both weapons up. However, due to their weight, she could only lift one at a time. It was still better compared to when she didn’t have her jacket, she could barely lift a single rifle back then.

She gave me a pleading smile.

“Fine...”

I picked up the sniper rifle and holstered it on my back. If Emma’s going to take two full-blown rifles with her, then there’s no need for me to carry LIAR with me. We all turned toward the door, prepared to head out to the guild.

“... wait...”

I looked back at Amel who was following us.

“Didn’t you just go to the bath?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re going out again?”

“Yes.”

“Should you be using that, though?”

“Ye...”

Amel realized what she was wearing and hastily turned back to her room, and I received a sharp glare from Emma as a result.