The student festival had just started, and I decided to take advantage of it to promote my work. Unfortunately, it wasn't my video game that I was showcasing, as the festival was more focused on films and theatrical productions. However, I did manage to get permission for a small stall to sell my wares.
I did my best with the limited resources available to me. While many people wandered around, I sat at my stall, looking for potential customers for my game. I had spent some time creating the blueprint for the books I wanted to produce and had brought 20 copies of three different titles: the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monster Manual. I was determined to introduce D&D to this world and wanted to make a significant local impact.
On the table, I displayed only one copy of each book for demonstration purposes, while the rest were filled with illustrations of various characters and monsters, complete with their names. The additional copies were safely stored in a box under my chair, along with another special box prepared just for this event.
As noon passed and the early visitors began to linger around before heading home, I knew it was time to make my move. I scanned the crowd and, after a few minutes, found the perfect target—a group of four friends engaged in cheerful conversation. Two of them were even wearing t-shirts featuring anime and game characters.
I approached them with enthusiasm. "Excuse me, would you mind giving me a moment of your time?"
They paused, exchanging glances and trying to figure out who might politely decline my request. Luckily, no one could bring themselves to do it. Japanese people are often quite polite and tend to either not decline or accept on first instinct.
"Great! Please follow me. And just to clarify, this is not a scam; I won't rob you of your money or anything like that for choosing to come with me," I assured them.
They followed me to my stall, where they began to admire my artwork before turning their attention to the books.
"Are you selling those books?" asked the only girl in the group, who was also the girlfriend of the tallest guy, if I identified correctly.
"Yes, technically! I set up this stall mainly for... advertising purposes, you could say. And rejoice! Today, you are the fortunate ones to help me! Muahahaha!"
My playful tone had the desired effect; my last words brought laughter and relaxed the group while also catching the attention of nearby passersby.
"Now, please sit down and let me ask a question... do you like RPG games?"
To my surprise, all of them were school friends who played together online, which meant they had a basic understanding of game mechanics. I opened a box made just for today and took out a stack of papers.
"Since you know the basics of classes and such, take a look at these and choose your characters while I prepare my station. Feel free to ask questions," I said.
The papers I displayed were D&D character sheets, complete with information about the game and a Yu-Gi-Oh card-like image representing each character. As I set up as the Dungeon Master and prepared the necessary dice, settings, and scenarios, I answered all their questions, explaining more about stats, perks, and other gameplay elements.
Once the four of them had chosen their characters, it was my turn to guide the story.
"Okay then, from now on, I'm your Dungeon Master, the one who will explain your situations and the results of your actions. Normally, I would start with your group forming, but since we have limited time, let's say you all formed a party in a tavern and went on an adventure. Now, you've just entered a dark forest, and in front of you..."
And with that, the game began.
---
The day ended, and I lay on my bed, ready to call it a night. In total, those four decided to play for four hours, during which I entertained them with monsters, traps, and various shenanigans, all while a crowd formed around us. I did my best to keep both the players and the audience engaged, and the results speak for themselves.
[Silver Tongue] reached level 48, I sold six Player's Handbooks and six Monster Manuals, while only two Dungeon Master's Guides. The four who played were sad to end our session since they enjoyed the game, but one of them had to leave, and nothing could change that. They bought a copy of each of my books, and I even gave them the character sheets they used—though they were no longer my characters.
Feeling the late hour, I started to close up my stall and headed to the Maid Café that Kyoya and the girls had set up with their club.
...What an anime thing to do. I also noted a strange discrepancy in their maid costumes; Shiroaki wore a standard one, while Nanako had one that was a bit more... revealing. Not that it exposed anything inappropriate, but hers did show off her 'absolute territory'—a little piece of skin just between the gown and the stockings.
Hmm... I've decided to create a medieval setting to experiment with buying costumes like those. I didn't have a maid fetish in my first life, or at least I don't think so, but I'm currently exploring all my new interests. For example, my past experiences were quite vanilla, but I've discovered that I enjoy being dominant and have a sadistic side. Though I wanted to try being submissive and a masochist at least once, it didn't seem to work for me.
Oh well, I suppose that confirms I'm a full-on sadist, not a switch.
One last note: there was another maid in their club. She was a senpai of ours who had already graduated and decided to help the club earn a favor from Kyoya... and I could feel that she wasn't entirely human.
Not that it matters much; I know little about this world's power system or its supernatural elements, apart from Kitsune and Youkai lore.
With these thoughts swirling in my mind, I drifted off to sleep.