Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented

To cut to the chase, yes, Chris’s body was indeed two.

“Oh my.”

[Onmyoji ‘Christu’ (Online)]

– Rain, Palman, it’s your house, right? Just wait a second! I’ll be there soon!

“What kind of nickname is this…”

I was overwhelmed by Chris’s dreadful naming sense.

Is it ‘Christu’ because it’s Chris’s alternate character?

Even her alternate character is an Onmyoji?

“Ugh!”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

I began to soothe Igrim, who had started to whimper in my arms.

Donga donga.

“Kyah!”

The baby snuggled in my arms and constantly smiling was just too cute.

“What to do…”

I gazed at Igrim’s face, feeling a bit dazed.

I love babies too much.

“Hehe, looks like our baby likes Rain.”

“Is, is that so? Haah… so cute.”

“Rain is cute too… cough, right?”

“?”

The elf woman murmured to herself for a moment and then seemed to find it funny.

The elf woman who was half sitting on the bed was Palman’s wife. Her name was Rachel.

“Since Rachel and Palman are your parents, she’s bound to grow into a stunning beauty.”

It seemed Palman, the Elf Guard Leader, had been busy lately. He left his postnatal wife at home to attend to users in the meeting room.

Nowadays, users take on Palman’s quests to deal with the remaining demon race stragglers or protect the Elf Forest.

“Is the favorability low?”

It’s a task to fill in the favorability needed to enter the Elf Kingdom, one of the conditions for the Abyssal Tree. The advance party users had already passed the roads, but regular users were just starting to enter the Elf Forest.

After clearing the Abyssal Tree, the Elf Forest was completely opened up to users. Although there were certainly standout users among them, they disappeared quickly.

If you become hostile to the elves, you won’t be able to receive the Abyssal Tree quests. However, maintaining good relations with the elves allows you to receive consumables and new part items such as belts that are helpful for the Abyssal Tree strategy.

The first raid dungeon in Astria Online, ‘Abyssal Tree,’ initial strategy ended. The record of glory from the two-week-long initial strategy team was engraved with the names of three raids.

No Name Raid, Hong Baek Raid, Skada Raid.

The strategies were established by the members of all named clear raids, and video lectures began appearing on streaming sites.

But.

I chuckled slightly.

“It’s not that easy.”

So far, no additional clear raids had emerged.

In a way, I, who had used a cheat key, aside from naming information and the outstanding raid leader Chris, could say that the ‘Skada Raid’ achieving a third clear without any strange users and without any information was truly a remarkable raid.

“Oh, is that the Hero?”

“Hello.”

I nodded to the white-haired elf man who came into my view as I brushed aside the leaves hanging at the entrance.

Palman looked at me and smiled.

“I’m glad to see you getting along with our princess, Hero.”

I scratched my face.

Currently, Palman was the only one calling me a hero in this world. Every time I heard him say “hero,” it felt strangely odd.

I handed Igrim, who had begun to softly snore, to Rachel and stood up.

“My friend should be arriving soon.”

“Will they come often?”

“Yeah. Maybe once a week.”

Even if different regions become unlocked with the next expansion, I’ll still need to come here once a week to clear the weekly raid dungeon ‘Abyssal Tree.’

I gently touched Igrim’s chubby cheeks, which were nestled in Rachel’s arms.

“Little Rain must listen to mom and dad, okay? Big Rain will be off to work.”

Duh-bang duh-bang.

As I left Palman’s house, I soon heard footsteps.

Duba duba.

“Hmm?”

The cute little footsteps drew nearer to me.

Who is it?

I was supposed to meet Chris.

I turned to where the footsteps had stopped.

Chris was taller than 170 cm, which is tall for a woman.

I? I’m over 30 cm shorter than Chris. I have to look up at her.

Usually, when I turn my head up, I can see Chris’s face.

“Eh.”

But there was no one in the space I looked up to.

Instead, a strand of red hair was gently swaying in that spot.

I lowered my gaze.

“Gah.”

“Rain!”

A familiar voice.

A confident smile.

Beautiful red hair.

It was indeed Sister Chris.

And…

A slender figure…?

A slightly smaller height than mine?

A cute face?

“Gah…”

I took a small step back.

Who are you?

“It’s me, it’s me! I’m Sister Chris!”

The girl with red hair had a look of surprise on her face, spilling out a familiar yet slightly childish voice.

“…Sister Chris?”

“Wahh, Rain didn’t recognize me!”

The girl with red hair looked about to cry. It was the same look Sister Chris often made.

But with that face making such an expression,

Thump.

“Hot!?”

I clutched my heart.

So cute!

Of course, I liked the cool sister too.

But this was something else.

Swish.

My hand started to move on its own.

And I grabbed the swaying strand of little Chris’s red hair.

“Rain?”

Chris’s face showed confusion.

Fiddle fiddle.

Is this that silly hair they talk about?

While I was fiddling with little Chris’s hair, I pulled her into my embrace.

Hug.

“Ahh!?”

Little Chris, who was startled and flailed in my arms, soon settled down.

With a dazed expression, I quietly patted little Chris’s head.

“Sister, you’re cute.”

Chris’s face turned beet red as she mumbled.

“…They said I could benefit from this character customization, and it really is true.”

The alternate character ‘Christu’ belonging to Chris, little Chris, and I were heading toward the Abyssal Tree when I asked something I was curious about.

Why did Sister Chris become little Chris?

“How’s the synchronization rate?”

If the physique changes drastically, the synchronization rate would drop significantly.

Little Chris puffed out her chest.

“Remember the new capsule we used in the last official meeting? It’s part of the real-use synchronization rate test.”

“Oh.”

A capsule that drastically boosts various senses. If it circulated in the market, users would enjoy a much more realistic gaming experience.

Currently, ‘Astria Online’ has a synchronization rate capped at 20%. That capsule is supposed to raise the practical synchronization rate, so even if the physique decreases the synchronization rate, it would still be around the 20% range.

Her voice sounded slightly childish, but it was still Chris’s voice. No matter how much you customize your character, you can’t change the voice of the base physical body. Does her throat sound a bit childish because of her small appearance?

“It’s obvious, but this customization is based on my body. Of course, it’s ten years ago. Master Bae Merong’s skill, isn’t it amazing?”

“Oh, really.”

Pet pet.

“…But why do you keep patting my head?”

“Ah, sorry.”

I unconsciously withdrew my hand that was patting little Chris’s head. Instead, I held her tiny hand.

Sister’s childhood self was incredibly cute.

I could understand how Chris felt when she kept patting my head. Is this what they call empathy?

Duba duba.

Duba duba.

In front of the Abyssal Tree, where I arrived with Chris, familiar faces could be seen.

“Oh, Chris, Rain… …Gah!”

“Keek, how is it? I told you to look forward to it, right?”

“Chris-senpai, you really are amazing. You said you liked cute things, and now you’ve turned cute yourself.”

“Hmph. I’ll only be logging in when running weekly raids with Rain.”

Seob Seop Yi, the ranger of Hong Baek Guild, swallowed hard at the sight of Little Chris, while the pink-haired Onmyoji and the warrior who looked like Cherni chuckled.

“Seob Seop Yi’s alternate character is a spirit user? And Uncle Cherni is a warrior, while Sister Bae Merong is an… Onmyoji?”

“Yeah. How is it? Not bad, right?”

Bae Merong twirled around, surrounded by the Onmyoji stones floating around her.

Even as an alternate character, her face didn’t look too different. The same was true for Chris; she became cute and shrunk a little but still resembled her original self.

“An alternate character, huh.”

I fell into a brief contemplation.

With an alternate character, I could run weekly raid dungeons and daily quests as many as the number of alternate characters I have.

I had thought about it too.

“It just feels a bit unrealistic.”

At this moment, I understood that this world was a game, but still, the idea that I could become two made me feel a bit uneasy. I wasn’t sure how my character’s buggy synchronization rate would act on an alternate character.

Chris strutted over and glared at Seob Seop Yi while chattering away.

“What are you looking at? You’re always twitching, aren’t you, Mister Raid Leader?”

“Ah, um. I see… You’re really cute.”

“Do you want to get kicked out of the party!?”

“Gah, I’m sorry!”

Seob Seop Yi, who was staring at little Chris with wonder, caught a tongue-lashing.

“Me, Rain, Bae Merong, Go Seung Woo, Seob Seop Yi, Cherni. Now, we’re all here. The other members from different parties will be coming soon.”

The members of the Hong Baek Raid gathered in front of the Abyssal Tree totaled six. Not all the party members seemed to have alternate characters.

“What about Uncle Jukdae?”

“He’s busy. He’s leveling an alternate character, but it’s still low.”

“What’s the nickname?”

“Darkness in Dark.”

After a brief, trivial conversation, we soon noticed a group approaching us from this direction.

At the center of that group stood an elegant beauty with bright brown hair.

I let out an exclamation, gazing at her.

“Oh, a beautiful lady.”

“Ugh.”

Little Chris’s hair on her head stood on end. Is she in guard mode?

The tall beauty approached us with a bright smile and introduced herself.

“Raid First Setup Team 2, pleased to meet you. Hehe, I’m Skada, the raid leader of the ‘Skada Raid.’”

“Oh.”

That must be Skada, the raid leader of the ‘Skada Raid,’ who cleared ‘Abyssal Tree’ for the third time.

Skada’s eyes sparkled as she glanced back and forth between me and Chris.

“This is, Rain? Just as I heard, quite adorable…. And, Chris’s alternate character? Oh my, cough cough. Chris, you too.”

Whack.

Little Chris blocked my view in front of me.

And she growled.

“Grrr!”

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