Supporting Characters in the Game are Obsessed

Elf Doctor.

A being like a fairy or demigod that appears in folklore.

As their recognition grew, they became a staple in various subcultures.

In fantasy, the features of elves include pointed ears, beautiful appearances, and an absurdly long lifespan of hundreds of years.

Perhaps because of these traits, they were a race destined to be swept up in people’s peculiar tastes in modern society.

Well, for example.

Gender-fluid elves with gigantic weapons in their groins, or elves who have sadistic hobbies and prefer to become slaves, or elves who plunder and torture across galaxies…

In fact, I wasn’t aware of the existence of elves from the start.
It’s not that I had never heard the term while gaming.

In the limited prison of ‘appearance’, it was extremely easy for cyberpunk citizens to change their skin to green, make their ears pointy, or turn their whole body into a chunk of metal.

Calling them orcs, elves, and dwarfs, I only knew them as unique skins.

But.

Their existence was real.
They existed naturally as part of the social fabric.

I didn’t know what kind of setting there was.
I had no interest before falling into the game, and after falling into the game, I had no time to think about such things.

I glanced at the “elf” in front of me, recalling the game’s settings after a long time.

I didn’t know how long it had been since I saw another elf besides Andrea.

I couldn’t even remember except for the elf doctor I met when I went for a (forced) mental health consultation.

Seeing an elf in Neon City was extremely rare, which is likely why the lower-class people had such strange images of them.

Orcs are abundant in back alleys, and dwarfs can be commonly seen in specialized shops thanks to their unique craftsmanship, but not elves.

I cautiously opened my mouth to ask her, the short elf.

“…Um, you are an elf, right?”

“Uh, it’s not a fake ear made from surgery. It’s my real ear. Anyway, it’s not like it’s the first time you’re seeing me. The person behind you is probably the same kind of elf.”

Thick, blue cigarette smoke rises into the air.

The elf, abandoning the mysterious atmosphere, looked at me while holding onto her electronic cigarette.

36. The Areas of Expertise Differ (4)

In the cyberpunk world, it’s common knowledge that you can’t infer ‘age’ based on ‘appearance’.

This holds true even for elves.

I summoned the Confucian scholar sleeping in my heart and showcased my utmost etiquette to the other party.

“I would like to convey my greetings first.”

“?”

“Despite your advanced age, may your body thrive eternally.”

“What nonsense—.”

“I hope you are not offended by this ignorant child’s impoliteness.”

“Aren’t you the one being rude right now?”

“Ha ha.”

“…I wonder where this strange kid came from.”

The elf frowned in disbelief.

Perhaps it was because I, too, had dark circles under my eyes; her irritation felt doubled.

With a sigh, little floating dolls that had been hovering around gathered around her.

It looked like they were trying to comfort her.

“Hey, get lost already!”

However, the elf, receiving that comfort, waved her hands strongly as if swatting away flies and brushed off the dolls that had come for consolation.

Receiving comfort from living, moving dolls is a dream for many children…

But the elf, who was supposed to be receiving that benefit, was filled with irritation. Of course, a small part of that irritation could be my influence, but I didn’t care.

The elf took a deep breath to calm her annoyance, leaned slightly back, and looked down at us with her chin raised.

“First, sit down. It’s killing my neck having to look up at you all the time.”

The gap between the sitting elf and us standing was quite substantial. My neck would hurt.

We exchanged glances and sat our butts on the carpet in front of her.

Now that I was closer, the elf’s tired face was even more pronounced.

Her gaze spoke of the passage of time.

It was certain.

This person was definitely much older than Bill—

“…I don’t know what weird thoughts you’re having, but I’m only in my twenties, you know?”

“Ha ha, elder. You really don’t have to lie like that. There are plenty of people as old as you around me.”

“……I’ll need to see your ID. Open the port signal.”

A notification popped up in my visual interface, alerting me to data outputs.

Ugh, do I really have to go through all this hassle?

But rejecting it felt like the elf in front of me would grab me by the collar.

As I accepted the signal, the elf’s city identification data, which was obscured, was disclosed.

Her name is Emily ■■■, gender is female.

Age—

…

“…21 years old?”

“See? Don’t treat me like an oldie anymore.”

I pondered for a moment and then asked, a thought that suddenly crossed my mind.

“Have you been in the city for 21 years?”

“…Ugh, drop it!”

Elf Emily slammed her fist down on the carpet.

– Thud.

Her small hands made a sound that was very quiet.

Even with such annoyance, she didn’t seem intimidating because of her youthful appearance.

“…You’re saying you came here looking for a ghost, right?”

As Emily said that, the dolls that had been crying on the floor floated back up into the air.

“But this isn’t a ghost, you know? Like I said before, it’s a spirit. While it shares a common ground with spiritual beings, it’s a more fundamental existence.”

A more fundamental existence, huh…

The dolls were holding hands above Emily’s head, dancing around.

They didn’t seem like that.

I turned my head to look back at Andrea, who was massaging her numbing legs.

“What else do you see?”

“Huh?”

Andrea glanced at the dancing dolls in response to my question.

“…Hmm, something is holding onto the back of the dolls. It’s like a lump, really strange. You can’t see that, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Correct.”

I and Eve nodded in agreement.

As Eve continued, she added.

“Signals through various sensors are also undetected. It’s an ‘occult phenomenon,’ as it was expressed.”

Even Eve, who lived in the net space, seemed surprised by the sight.

A slight hint of surprise appeared on Eve’s usually expressionless face.

The dancing dolls floated toward the direction of Eve and Andrea as if gliding gracefully.

“……”

For some reason, they didn’t come towards me.

I wanted to see the dancing dolls up close…

I didn’t let that thought show and feigned calmness.

Eve lightly poked the head of the doll that had floated toward her with her finger.

– …!!

The doll made of straw looked startled and returned to its owner, the elf.

Eve mumbled, staring at the back of the doll.

“The existence of spirits or ghosts is said not to be physically observable.”

“You seemed surprised too.”

“Indeed. I learn that this emotion is what you call ‘wonder.’”

Even though they weren’t the ‘ghosts’ we had anticipated, we had undoubtedly found a clue regarding the incident.

Few people would know about or be able to handle the existence of spirits like this. Without Andrea, another elf, we would have struggled to find clues.

The outline of the criminal was becoming clearer.

Another being capable of dealing with spirits, like an elf—

……

I cautiously directed another question at Emily, who was sitting in front of me.

“…Um, you don’t hold any negative thoughts about businesses, right?”

“What nonsense.”

Emily answered with a frown.

I carefully glanced at Eve. Eve slowly shook her head. It seemed there was no falsehood detected through biometrics.

So for now, this person doesn’t seem to be the culprit.

After a brief moment of silence, Emily frowned again and continued speaking.

“Well, now that business is concluded, I’d like for you to leave soon.”

Her long, dark green hair flowed out from under her hood.

She stood up, looking down at us.

She seemed shorter than Julia, but she was only slightly taller than my sitting height.

Normally, I should be on guard because I came to a suspicious place, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel that way.

“Especially you.”

A real little kid.

“…It’s you.”

You can’t even ride the Viking at the amusement park.

“Geez, you! You! You!”

Emily’s little hand grabbed my head and shook it around. For reference, her strength was so weak that my head barely moved.

Oh, so she was calling me.

I slightly lifted my head to look up at Emily’s face.

Maybe it’s because she’s an elf.

Besides the dark circles, her face was quite cute.

Emily frowned at me, glaring.

“…I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere, but whatever.”

In contrast to my peaceful thoughts, her words were shocking.

“Right now, the spirits are scared of you, you know? Look, these good kids are only going to you.”

“No, even if you say that….”

“What on earth is your identity?”

“……”

Just a regular wizard.
I don’t know anything about spirits.

When I didn’t continue my response, Emily threw down her hood as if shaking me off.

“…Anyway, it’s done. All your curiosities have been resolved, right? There’s no need for a consultation fee, so just go.”

That was a bit difficult.

‘Spirits.’

For sure, the only expert we knew about that had solid information about that existence was the elf in front of us.

Of course, there may be others if we looked, but in Neon City, where elves are extremely rare, it would be quite difficult.

Leaving with just the information that the criminal who committed corporate terrorism used spirits felt insufficient as we hadn’t gathered enough clues.

“Hey, don’t do that…”

“Enough already!”

Well, in that case, I should have teased her a bit less earlier.

“You too! Hurry up and take the others and get out…!”

But suddenly, Emily’s voice that was shouting began to lessen.

Her gaze become fixed as if she were stone at Andrea, who was also an elf.

Emily removes the hood she had been wearing again.

She squinted her eyes and slowly examined this and that on Andrea’s face.

“…?”

Andrea, with a puzzled expression, met Emily’s gaze for a moment, and then Emily pulled out a large pair of glasses from her robe and put them on her face.

Perhaps it was because the glasses themselves were big, they fit awkwardly on Emily’s face.

At that moment.

Emily’s pupils grew wide.

“…Ah, ah, ah.”

“Ah?”

Ignoring my interjection, Emily stared blankly at Andrea.

Soon, a loud voice erupted from her.

“Miss Andrea?!”

“Uh?”

My dazed response seemed to have carried over to Andrea, as she tilted her head and muttered upon hearing her name.

Like she was rapping, Emily spouted words quickly.

“Red hair like blood! Model-like face! It’s real! It’s the real thing! Wait, wait, wait! I’m a real fan! Look at this!”

I leaned in to sneak a peek at the card that Emily held up to Andrea.

[No. 762 Golden Fan, Emily Chase]

It seemed to be a card issued by a fan club, and Andrea seemed to recognize what it was too.

“Oh, so you’re my fan.”

Andrea took off her round sunglasses and hung them between her clothes and chest. I had no idea why she was putting them there.

Emily looked like she might start crying anytime.

“Of course! Those who aren’t real fans wouldn’t even congratulate Miss Andrea on her engagement! But I can genuinely celebrate you! If that’s Miss Andrea’s happiness!”

“Thank you.”

“──!!”

Ugh, that screech could break my eardrums.

A high-pitched scream burst out.

Thankfully, it seemed I could get more information regarding the clues.

I naturally walked back a bit and cautiously interjected into their conversation.

“So, you’ll share the information about the spirits, right?”

“Tch, but since you’re with Miss Andrea… Just a moment.”

As Emily turned her head towards me, her expression twisted into something extremely grave. It looked like the kind of face you’d make when you’re told it’s your turn in a horror film.

Emily adjusted her crooked glasses and looked directly at me.

Perhaps she hadn’t recognized me earlier because she had bad eyesight without her glasses, but now she was clearly looking at me.

Emily’s voice came out low.

“…You trashy scoundrel?”

“…Excuse me?”

I couldn’t help but feel startled by the sudden insult.

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