Chapter 3 Samurai Hearts – Tutorial (3)

“Little brother, are you ready?””

“Yeah. I’m ready.”

“Alright! Then, let’s officially start the Samurai Hearts broadcast!”

-Everyone, clench your teeth!

-Hell is opening

Seung-yeon smiled and manipulated the game.

Once again, the same cherry blossom petals swirled around Seung-yeon and Dohyun.

And when all the cherry blossom petals were gone, it was no longer the hill full of cherry blossom trees.

It was a Japanese-style castle, specifically the space where the head of the Atsuragi Family held meetings with his vassals.

The dignified head of the Atsuragi Family sat imposingly at the head of the table, with vassals lined up on both sides, prostrating themselves.

Seung-yeon and Dohyun were prostrating in the center of the conference room, in front of the head of the Atsuragi Family.

It wasn’t just the location that had changed.

The clothes they were wearing had also completely changed.

All modern clothing disappeared, and they were wearing armor like samurai.

Seung-yeon’s was a feminine armor with an overall reddish hue, and Dohyun’s was based on black, with an impressive scarf that partially covered his face.

It looked similar to the armor commonly called Do-sei Gusoku, but the overall design seemed more refined.

‘My body really won’t move.’

Dohyun wasn’t flustered, even though the surroundings had suddenly changed, his clothes had changed, and his body wouldn’t move.

Because he had already heard about the VR game from Seung-yeon.

He was told that the story part of Samurai Hearts would proceed on its own, so he just had to watch.

“Red Fox and Black Wolf. Your swordsmanship is highly praised.”

“You flatter us.”

To the words of the middle-aged man sitting in the lord’s seat, Atsuragi Toyohashi, Seung-yeon, the character called ‘Red Fox’ in the game, replied.

At the same time as her reply, Dohyun, the Black Wolf, quietly lowered his head.

Of course, Dohyun didn’t lower his head himself.

He was just taking that action automatically according to the progress of the story.

Dohyun was thinking about something else.

It was about the title the lord had called him and his sister.

‘Red Fox and Black Wolf. It’s a bit childish, but well, it’s a game.’

What if he was called that in reality?

He might have been so embarrassed that he couldn’t even stand.

In that respect, he thought the phrase ‘because it’s a game’ was really good.

‘Anyway, I’m the Black Wolf, right?’

In Samurai Hearts, women play the role of ‘Red Fox’ and men play the role of ‘Black Wolf’ to advance the game.

Each character has detailed backstories and vast settings, but Dohyun knew nothing.

It was because Seung-yeon, who didn’t think it was particularly important, hadn’t told him.

Actually, it didn’t matter if he didn’t know.

Samurai Hearts was a game focused solely on combat, so not knowing the settings didn’t hinder the game’s progress.

Even while Dohyun was lost in other thoughts, the story of Samurai Hearts was steadily progressing.

“I want to entrust you with a mission. Will you accept it?”

“If it is our lord’s command, we will walk into burning fire with a smile. Give us your command.”

“Your loyalty truly moves this lord. Yes, good. I will command you.”

Lord Toyohashi, who had snapped his fluttering fan shut, continued in a low voice.

“This time, my successor, Atsuragi Tatsuki, is going on a tour of the territory. This lord wants to finish this without any problems, as this is Tatsuki’s first tour of the territory. To do so, we must attach skilled people to the escort.”

“Are you saying?”

“As you guessed. You will protect Tatsuki. Your swordsmanship is already clearly outstanding, and your loyalty is also great, so how can I not trust you?”

At the words of Lord Toyohashi, the Red Fox bowed deeply and replied.

“We will do our best to repay the trust our lord has placed in us.”

“Hmm! Truly reliable!”

Lord Toyohashi nodded in satisfaction.

At the same time, cherry blossom petals, which he had now seen three times and was therefore somewhat accustomed to, began to flutter in all directions.

Dohyun wasn’t flustered because he had experienced it several times before.

He had already realized that these cherry blossom petals were used as a kind of ‘screen transition’ in Samurai Hearts.

As Dohyun thought, the scattering cherry blossom petals disappeared and the scene that appeared was different from before.

They were standing outside the castle, and a young boy on horseback was looking down at them with bright eyes.

This boy was Atsuragi Tatsuki.

The successor of the Atsuragi Family, who would later take over the Atsuragi Family and become the lord of the Red Fox and Black Wolf.

“Are you the warriors who will be escorting me this time? I heard you are very skilled with the sword. You seem very trustworthy.”

“You flatter us.”

This time too, it was the Red Fox who answered Tatsuki’s words.

It was a progression tailored to the character setting.

Due to the character setting, the Black Wolf was very taciturn, so the Red Fox, who was more sociable, was doing the talking.

If it was a single-player game, the story would have been slightly different, but now it was a two-player game.

‘But how long do I have to keep watching this? I’m starting to get bored just standing still.’

It was around the time Dohyun was thinking that.

“Then shall we depart now?”

“Yes. Little Lord.”

The conversation between the Red Fox and Tatsuki ended.

With that, Dohyun immediately realized that something had changed.

It felt like he had more freedom.

And that soon turned out to be true.

In fact, he had regained the freedom of his body.

He realized that fact after seeing Seung-yeon, who had been prostrating in front of Tatsuki, jump up and start broadcasting.

“Okay, the opening is finally over. This little kid is the one we have to protect this time. As expected, the person we have to protect being a cute little kid is a traditional cliché.”

“What, is it okay to say that?”

Tatsuki was standing blankly in front of her, and she was calling him a ‘little kid’.

Dohyun asked, puzzled, and Seung-yeon burst out laughing.

The viewers’ chat room also burst into laughter at Dohyun’s remark.

-Newbie is cute

-I was like that at first too

-When you play a VR game for the first time, you’re careful about what you say in front of NPCs

“VR game NPCs usually only react and act to certain words. For example, let’s see… I called Tatsuki ‘Little Lord’ in the opening, right?”

Seung-yeon, standing in front of Tatsuki, said, “Little Lord.” and Tatsuki, who had been standing blankly, looked at her and said.

“Is something the matter? Let’s depart quickly.”

That was the end of the reaction.

After finishing his words, Tatsuki just closed his mouth and stared blankly at Seung-yeon.

Despite being in the position of Little Lord, he didn’t say a word about being called a little kid, or about Seung-yeon broadcasting.

Only then did Dohyun fully understand what Seung-yeon meant when she said that NPCs only react to certain keywords.

“So that’s what you mean.”

“I heard they’re in the process of creating NPCs that react and act flexibly, not just to set keywords. But I’ve only heard about it, I’ve never actually seen it.”

-But if that’s possible, isn’t that practically perfect AI?

-It’s too heavy to put in a VR game

-A game with only 1 NPCㅋㅋㅋlolㅋㅋ

‘I see,’ Dohyun nodded in understanding.

“Anyway, the opening is over, so let’s get started in earnest, little brother.”

Seung-yeon took a big step and started moving.

Since she seemed to already know the way, Dohyun followed her without saying a word.

Tatsuki did the same.

‘Kurobbitz’ donated ‘1000 won’!

[Victoria-nim. Victoria-nim. Do you know where to go?]

“Thank you for the 1000 won donation, Kurobbitz-nim~ Yes, I know. I peeked at other people’s broadcasts. I didn’t watch all of it because I was afraid of getting story spoilers, but I checked the initial progress.”

‘MilrinBanghakSukje’ donated ‘1000 won’!

[Studying in advance]

“Thank you for the 1000 won donation, MilrinBanghakSukje-nim~ Isn’t it natural to study with advance preparation and review, focusing on the textbook? I’m Victoria, a prepared broadcaster!”

Even while walking, Seung-yeon was constantly communicating and chattering with the viewers.

It was only natural, as it wasn’t a game she was playing alone without broadcasting.

How well a broadcaster can make viewers not feel the boredom in boring scenes in the game is a measure of their ability!

There was no way Seung-yeon, a fairly skilled broadcaster, wouldn’t know that.

That’s why she was constantly continuing the conversation with appropriate topics.

The sound of the broadcast was full, so there was no reason for the viewers to be bored, and that was the same for Dohyun, who was walking silently.

It was fun just watching the viewers and Seung-yeon throwing out ad-libs and chatting.

Watching him quietly listening to the conversation, the viewers…

-Little brother is in viewer mode ON!

-He’s listening intently~

-That’s how you get into broadcasting

…chattered, but he couldn’t know that.

Tatsuki, who was following behind on horseback, would occasionally say a few words, and the contents were like this.

“Only after becoming an adult can I finally work for the Atsuragi Family.”

“Do you know the first head of the Atsuragi Family? He purified the Atsuragi territory, which was full of monsters.”

“It’s my dream to become like the first head of the Atsuragi Family someday. So I want to lead the Atsuragi Family back to its heyday.”

At first, Dohyun was curious about what he was saying, so he listened, but soon he stopped paying attention.

That’s because Tatsuki only repeated those three sentences.

He realized that he was just spouting a set script as an NPC.

“I think it was around here?”

How long had they been walking like that?

Seung-yeon suddenly stopped walking as they entered the forest path after passing the hill.

“What’s here?”

“An ambush.”

Dohyun asked in surprise.

“An ambush?”

“You just skimmed through the opening video, didn’t you? Even just watching that, you can clearly tell there’s going to be an ambush.”

“I was thinking about something else for a moment.”

Seeing Dohyun sulking, Seung-yeon sighed as if she couldn’t help it.

“What does it mean that they’re sending us to prepare for an ambush?”

There’s no game that would bother sending a player to a place where there are no events.

When a game tries to send a player to a certain place, it means that there is an event already prepared there.

Moreover, before departing for that place, the NPCs mentioned an ambush?

That’s an all-too-clear flag.

There’s a high probability that there will be an ambush!

Furthermore, it’s natural for a tutorial to proceed after the opening.

Since Samurai Hearts is all about combat, it was easy to guess what that tutorial would be like.

“Anyway, it’s going to be soon, so get ready.”