Umbra Frontier Online – A Casual Playthrough of the Umbra Witch

"""Thank you for the meal!"""

Hikari, Himeji and I echoed each other as we finished our extremely spicy meal.

I may have overdone it, wanting to finish all of the hot spices left in the cabinet so that I could buy more tomorrow.

As a result of my mistake, Hikari was left satisfied, whereas Himeji and I needed a lot of milk since our tolerance towards the spice level weren't as high as Hikari's.

The food was delicious though. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure Himeji agrees too. But it was still incredibly spicy for the both of us, so now we're dying here while Hikari takes out her pudding in the fridge to eat.

 "How... was the meal, Himeji?"

"It's... good.... but very spicy."

"Sorry."

It took us a while to recover from the spiciness of our dinner. Meanwhile, Hikari is lazing on the couch, reading manga and eating potato chips as she waits for Himeji to recover.

I did ban her from playing video games for a day after she recovered from her cold, since she played until morning before that.

I'm sure Hikari must be dying to play the game right now, judging by that grumpy look on her face as she flipped the pages of her favourite manga series.

"It's getting late. Is your tongue all right now, Himeji? I'll bring you home. Or do you still need some more time to rest?"

"Umm.... About that, Big Brother Yoruto..."

"Himeji's sleeping over for today."

"What?" I was quite surprised to hear that. "Why didn't you tell me beforehand?" I asked Hikari, since she didn't mention it in the text she'd sent.

"I forgot. Sowwiiee."

Gaaah. This girl....

I sighed. Then I turned to Himeji.

"You did bring your necessities, right?" I asked her.

"Y-Yes! They're all in my bag!" she replied weirdly in a loud voice.

"And do your parents know about this?"

"Y-Yes. I got my mom's permission."

"I see. Well, if there's anything you forgot, just ask. Okay?"

"Ok."

I got up from my seat and took the empty dishes to wash them in the sink.

"Both of you still haven't bathed yet, so go and take a bath."

"Okaaaay~! C'mon! Let's go, Himeji!"

"Ah! Don't push me, Hikari!"

"And remember to do your homework if you have any!"

"Kay kaaaaay!"

While the girls went off to the bath, I washed the dishes and brought Himeji's bag to Hikari's room afterwards.

It's quite heavy. Do Junior High School students carry this much nowadays?

Well, she did bring along extra for the sleepover today. So I guess the weight is because of that.

"Ah."

And then I remembered something: I had forgotten to replace the shampoo in our bath.

I went back downstairs, grabbed a new bottle of shampoo from one of the storage cabinets and headed to the bath where Hikari and Himeji are.

"Hikari, Himeji, I forgot to hand you a new bottle of shamp—"

"Aaahh~!"

Himeji's loud cry suddenly pierced through my eardrums.

"Hikari, what are you doing!?"

"My my, Himeji~ You sure have grown spectacularly well. Especially here."

"D-Don't.... Not there.... Aaahnnn~"

With enough being heard, I immediately opened the bathroom door and smacked Hikari's head with the shampoo bottle.

"Ouch! Hey what the heck, bro!?"

"Why the hell are you molesting your friend, you perv!"

"What? It's just a little bit of skinship. Also, why the hell are you in here, bro!?"

"I came to hand you a new bottle of shampoo since that one is empty. Instead, I find myself smashing you with it."

"Bro..... Phrasing."

"Anyways, here's your shampoo and I'll be leaving now to play UFO. Byeee~"

"Hey! No fair! How come you get to play the game while I can't!?"

Heh.

I internally laughed at Hikari's remark. Then, turned around and gave the most evilest smirk to her face.

"Why would I ban myself from playing such a fun game?"

Naturally, this sets her off.

"Gaaaaaaaah! You big bully of a big brother! I wanna play too! I wanna play too!"

"You can play tomorrow, my cute little sister. The ban is only for today after all. And Himeji..... sorry."

"I-It's okay, Big Brother Yoruto. H-Have fun with the game."

Leaving those two girls alone now, I went up to my room and went ahead with logging into the game. 

It's time for me to attempt the Liberation Quest. But first, I should probably restock on my potions since I have yet to do that earlier after logging out of the game with Yura.

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[Welcome back to Umbra Frontier Online.]

[Transporting to the last logout point....]

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Meanwhile on Hikari and Himeji's side, the former is taking a peek into her brother's room. Snickering away like a gremlin up to mischief.

"Kikikiki~ Foolish brother. You really thought I would sit back and follow your rules, just because you say so? Well not this time! Muahahahaha!" the mischievous little sister monologued, as she turned to her friend and asked.

"Himeji, you brought the stuff, right?"

"Well, yes. I did. But umm, Hikari... are you sure about this?" Himeji questioned her friend's decision, being worried that the thing they were about to do might get them into trouble. More specifically, it might get Hikari in particular into trouble.

But Hikari snapped.

"Of course I am! Why would I not be!? This is not like trying to secretly play a video game under the blanket when it's past my bedtime. We're going to play UFO and logout before my brother does and he wouldn't be none the wiser. Gosh! I've always wanted to say that phrase." she excitedly rambled on.

"He doesn't even know who we are or what we look like in the game. How can I get caught when these conditions are completely in my favour?"

"That's true. But still......"

Himeji was worried regardless. After all, they also do not know when exactly Yoruto will logout of the game and check up on them.

Himeji believed that he would logout early before somewhere around 10 at night and check on them, whereas Hikari believed otherwise.

But in spite of her worries, Himeji still did as Hikari asked and brought the 'stuff' with her for the sleepover.

That 'stuff' being the Dive Gear which Himeji owns.

What Yoruto did not know about the Dive Gear is that there are two versions of the console headgear: The first being the standard model that he and Hikari own; the other being a compact-sized, portable Dive Gear which is what Himeji's has as she takes it out of her bag after they had gone into Hikari's room.

"Hehehe. I'm surprised your parents bought you the compact-sized. Isn't that supposed to be more expensive because of its portability?"

"Well, yes. But Mom and Dad thought it would be better that I have this since I frequently visit your house almost everyday."

"Well then, let's not waste anymore time and start playing before my brother finds out!"

And so, while Himeji plugs her Dive Gear into a port, Hikari dove onto her bed and switched hers on.

"Ok Hikari. I'm ready when you ar—" Himeji was about to inform her friend, but when she turned around, she was shocked to see Hikari's hands shaking as she clutched onto her Dive Gear tightly with a nervous expression.

"Hikari, are you alright?"

"Huh? Of course I am! Why would I not be?"

"But.... you're shaking."

"Oh. This? Don't worry. It's alright. It's just that... well... this is actually the first time I'm going against my brother's punishment. So, I'm kind of scared...."

The revelation revealed by Hikari got Himeji surprised.

Ever since they've become friends, Himeji's impression of Hikari was that she is loud, energetic and mischievous at times; someone who would be fun to get along with, but can also be excessively annoying sometimes. She would also get into trouble with her teachers because of some of the pranks she would pull on them. Overall, she is a good-natured, easygoing girl who can sometimes be a bit of a troublemaking wild child. That is what Himeji thought of her friend as.

Which was why she thought it'd be normal for Hikari to misbehave and disobey her respectable elder brother's rules.

So, to hear that she had never went against that was a surprise to Himeji.

"Hikari.... You were a good kid?"

"What do you mean 'were'? I'm always a good kid!"

"Ow ow ow ow ow! Don't pull on my cheek!"

"Well don't say strange things then. Good grief."

Hikari lets Himeji go then and holds her Dive Gear again with the same nervous expression.

Seeing her friend being this unusually afraid, Himeji puts her own Dive Gear aside first and asks, "Do you still want to do this, Hikari?"

There was a moment of hesitation in Hikari's mind as she wondered if she should really do this.

Yoruto has scolded her before, disciplined her many times and can therefore be strict with her as often as he dotes on her. However, not once has he ever been angered by her actions and behaviour and that's what makes Hikari afraid.

Even when he smacked her on the head with a bottle of shampoo earlier, Hikari thought of it as her brother disciplining her since she was misbehaving then.

So if she were to break the temporary ban her brother instilled onto her, and if he were to get angry because of that, Hikari couldn't imagine what he'd be like when that happens.

She was having second thoughts for that reason. But more importantly, she was afraid of upsetting her big brother who is also like a parent to her.

And so, after some thoughts, Hikari placed her Dive Gear down and switched it off.

"Let's not." she said. "I'll probably end up playing until late at night again if we do now. And brother would probably extend the ban when he finds out."

"Sorry Himeji." she then apologised. "You went out of your way to bring your Dive Gear with you. Yet, ended up not using it today."

"It's okay, Hikari." Himeji delightfully placed her Dive Gear aside, as she herself didn't even want to play tonight. Not when she's having a sleepover at her friend's place where there are so many more things to do besides playing a VRMMORPG game.

"I'm still surprised that Hikari can actually be a good girl when it comes to Big Brother Yoruto."

"Gaaaaah! I told you, I'm always good girl!"

In the end, Hikari and Himeji did not play the game for tonight as they had a girls' talk for their sleepover instead.

The topic was about [REDACTED].

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[Back to Yoruto...]

Beyond the Shade Forest where the next city is located, I have been traversing through the fog that is in the way for a while now.

With the Lumen Stone in hand, a path of light was shown to me to follow which is what I am doing right now.

It has only been five minutes since, but felt like an hour as I continued walking along the path guided by the light.

There are no monsters in the fog. Even Lampy's light doesn't shine in here, nor does my Night Vision skill seem to work as well.

I am in complete darkness in this fog, with the light from the Lumen Stone as the only thing I can see clearly.

It's kind of eerie being in this situation. A different kind of vibe from travelling in the Shade Forest, that's for sure.

But just when I wondered how much more I have to walk, I found myself exiting the fog soon enough to see a spectacular crowd of players, gathered before the large gate of the Holy City, Arialight, with many tents and shops set up outside of the city walls.

I had barely ever seen other players when I was exploring the Shade Forest, so this sight was a surprised for my eyes.

The players have set up a settlement here. Wow...

I was honestly amazed. That's all I could say.

Well then, time for me to attempt this Liberation Quest, I suppose.