Day 2 of the Minecraft Flare Server.
All crew members except Mollru participated on Day 1, each creating their own bases and setting personal goals, engaging in individual play.
Rita went out for a neighborhood inspection under the pretense of checking on progress.
“Ria built a palace, huh?”
“Heh, I am a princess, after all.”
“Ah, yes. I suppose so.”
Each character in Minecraft has a distinct appearance to differentiate them.
The princess concept VTuber Ria seems to have built the palace she will live in.
Rita moved among the people, overseeing everything and managing progress.
In her spare time, she enjoyed the game within the server but was currently interviewing crew members to see how they were doing.
“Hanyang is going to hunt the End Dragon?”
“Yep. That’s supposed to be the strongest, right? I’ve got a full diamond set.”
“You need to raid for that.”
“Soloing is totally possible.”
The crew member Hanyang, who has a relaxed manner of speaking, seems to have little interest in building.
Well, she usually doesn’t play such calm games anyway.
The End Dragon, often referred to as the final content of Minecraft.
She set off to hunt it.
“Where’s Jay?”
“—I’m here!”
“What? Where are you talking from?”
“Right here, over here!”
Hearing a voice from far above, Rita looked up.
A pale character was nodding atop a tall building.
Rita clicked her tongue upon seeing the oddly stacked structure.
“It’s good to have individuality, but… just stacking it up high doesn’t necessarily make it better, you know?”
“It’s a tower, a tower.”
“It’s just bricks stacked in a line.”
“I’m going to… stand in the sky.”
“Excuse me, Jay?”
“Uh-huh-huh-huh.”
Everyone seems to be enjoying the game in their own ways.
Rita thought about whether there was anyone she hadn’t met yet and successfully remembered one person.
Speaking of which, where is Mollru?
“Hey, where’s Mollru?”
[Mrl]
[Underground]
[??]
[Seems like they’re digging]
“Underground?”
Rita glanced down at her feet.
-Mollru found 5 diamonds.
A system message popped up in the chat in real-time.
It seems the viewers’ claims about digging for minerals underground were true.
Rita became curious about what Mollru was doing.
[Is this person a hikikomori? Why won’t they come out?]
[This is a new concept of hikikomori.]
[Why are they just digging?]
[They must be digging for diamonds.]
[No, they already got diamonds earlier.]
[You should come out and see the sun.]
[I wonder if my mom feels like this.]
[Ah!]
[Mom, I’m sorry…]
[It’s been 3 hours without seeing the light…]
Today is the day after a break yesterday.
All crew members participated in Day 1, except for me.
I got a rough idea of what happened through clips sent by viewers.
It was impressive to see new crew members roaming around in groups.
This isn’t a competitive content, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of being left behind.
I was criticized for not participating in the crew’s content from the start as a newcomer.
Conversely, there were claims that I could do whatever I wanted because my broadcasting level was high.
But I don’t think that’s true.
Every little thing can be a trigger for division.
Now that the crew has come together, shouldn’t we actively participate?
-Crunching sounds
[Did this person turn on a macro?]
[Seems like an auto, report it.]
[It’s nice and calm though.]
[Too calm, I’m falling asleep.]
[Can you at least say something while digging?]
So that’s why I’ve just been digging for hours.
Honestly, this was my first time playing Minecraft.
I had only seen others play occasionally, and that was just a few minutes of short videos.
I had no idea how this game worked or what functions it had.
I learned basic controls and functions from Rita, but it took too long to learn the intricate details.
It seemed like it would be more fun to figure those out myself.
Someone told me that as I dug and mined, I would understand what everything was.
The ground knows the answers, or at least that’s the feeling.
“Hey, it’s diamond.”
I mined another diamond.
When it comes to that, there’s nothing to learn.
It’s just a simple truth: diamonds are good. They’re rare.
Much more so than the common iron ore or gold.
[Is it time to stop now?]
[How many diamonds do you even have right now?]
[Is this a diamond mining content?]
[It’s originally a game like this, haha.]
[You’re doing just fine, what’s up with it?]
[These guys are whining, haha. If you watch Minecraft YouTubers, they dig for 10 hours just to mine minerals.]
[Is Mollru a Minecraft YouTuber?]
[For real, what we wanted to see was some interaction with others while building or something.]
[Is this person a nerd? Why do they seem to avoid people?]
[They are a loner but don’t seem like a nerd when talking with people.]
[It just feels a bit strange and gloomy, digging alone.]
[Don’t slander them.]
[You’re also holed up alone in your room.]
[Let’s approach this from another angle. Why does the teacher have to go outside? Shouldn’t people outside come in here?]
[Haha, these low-quality streamers, the great Mollru has come but doesn’t even greet us.]
[Oh?]
[Don’t create divisions.]
[These troublemakers are trying to stir things up now.]
[Should we just go play Eo War instead?]
[After digging for hours, how would we find them?]
Mining for minerals was surprisingly addictive.
I could do it mindlessly for a long time without realizing how time passed.
But now, it was time to go up.
I felt like I had learned enough features and gotten used to the game, and viewers were starting to express mental fatigue one by one.
I began retracing my steps and spotted a character loitering at the entrance where I started digging.
“Rita, hello.”
“Oh, Mollru! Did you just dig for hours? That must have been pretty boring.”
“It was okay. A bit like taking off fish heads.”
Like a monk tapping the wooden block and chanting scriptures, my mom used to take off fish heads while practicing Buddhism.
I had helped my mom a few times, and at first, it felt frustrating, but gradually, it brought a sense of calm, like discovering life’s truths.
Through mindless mineral mining, I was able to feel that feeling again after a long time.
“If you enjoyed that, you’ll likely find other things fun too.”
“Really?”
“Building, or maybe farming…”
What captured my interest more than building was farming.
Growing up in the countryside, I had loved that unique atmosphere.
After moving to a desolate city as an adult, I often thought that when I retire, I want to return to farming.
Tilling the land and producing crops while raising an animal in a wide yard.
For example, like the horse Ria is riding.
“Do you have a horse?”
“Yeah, if you wander around, you’ll see one or two.”
“Wow…”
So you can farm and also ride horses.
Is there such a great game?
I happily stroked the horse that Ria was riding.
-Neigh!
I meant to pat it but ended up punching it inadvertently.
My character is surprisingly aggressive.
[Oh no.]
[Animal abuse!]
[Mollru doesn’t like horses, memo…]
“Ah! You shouldn’t hit it. It has run away now.”
“I meant to pet it. I’m sorry.”
After parting with Rita, I gathered the materials needed for farming through conversations with the viewers.
“Everyone, I’m going to log off early today. Take your time and enjoy yourselves.”
Rita decided to finish the broadcast earlier than usual due to personal reasons.
Leaving the rest of the people on the server as they were.
One of the fun parts of this situation is seeing how much things have changed the next day when I log back in.
Just like how the sun doesn’t set in Britain, even if Rita logs out, those left in the server keep playing.
What changes will happen tomorrow?
“I’ll come back tomorrow. Sva.”
[NOBZ]
[O Bangal]
[BB]
Rita ended the broadcast with anticipation.
The next day, Rita logged back into the Flare server.
“Let’s see how everyone has been doing.”
Her first stop was Ria’s palace.
There was no one there.
Next, she visited Jay’s tower.
It was also empty.
Finally, she arrived at Mollru’s underground cave.
She couldn’t find any traces of people at all.
“Where did everyone go?”
Rita tilted her head.
She had heard from viewers that everyone was online, but the fact that no one was there felt weird.
What she encountered was an unexpected sight.
“Hey, hey! If you’ve squandered your time, get out.”
“Isn’t this a setup? Does this even make sense? Did I build this?”
“Thanks for the meal~ cough~”
The crew members were lost in gambling.
