½ Prince

End of Chapter 2 Legend, Begin

Not specific enough? I tried again. “Meatbun, use your Dog Beating Technique on the man-eating slime over there.”

Still no movement… I’m pissed, I’m pissed – I’M SO PISSED! Don’t tell me that this pet has no other use except to look cute? It’s my first pet, for heaven’s sake!

Grrr! Picking Meatbun up, I hurled it at the slime. “Go and duel the man-eating slime! Don’t even think about coming back if you lose!”

“What are you getting so angry with a meat bun for?” Lolidragon asked, her shoulders shaking with repressed laughter.

Just then, the meat bun that I’d hurled struck the slime and actually made a loud “bonk” sound, giving me a shock. I quickly looked at Meatbun, deeply worried that my first pet might just be eaten by a man-eating slime and disappear.

Somebody once said, if you use a meat bun to hit a dog, you will never see the meat bun again…However, this rule did not seem to apply to my Meatbun – after it hit the man-eating slime, it wheeled three times in the air and came flying back into my hand. It even made a“whee – whee” sound, as if it was cheering and having a lot of fun.

The still-living slime came rushing over, thinking to attack me. However, I threw Meatbun at it again on reflex – even as I shouted, “Meatbun… Dog, beat!”

Just like that, Meatbun – the pet that would later be known as the strongest pet in Second Life – and I defeated our first monster together. I stood there with a bewildered expression while Lolidragon hooted with laughter, pounding the ground with her fists.

We then headed back to the Wolves’ Riverbank and resumed fighting wolves. I continued to employ my kick-and-belly-slit method. Occasionally, I also hurled Meatbun, so as to ensure that it wouldn’t be under-leveled due to a lack of experience.

In addition, Lolidragon told me that I had motivated her (I motivated her? When? I find that very suspicious…) and that she had decided to learn from me, so I was to teach her lots of moves from King of Fighters.

We stayed in the vicinity of the Wolves’ Riverbank for some time in the following days, slaying tons of wolves and leveling up quite a bit. We used the same method to kill the poor Wolf King five or six times, before moving on to fighting bears.

At this point I must mention that, after a few uses, Meatbun’s Aroma Release ability – which I’d originally thought was useless – leveled up. The area of effect greatly increased to a radius of 150 meters. By using it, we managed to lure the Wolf King and bears out; we would never have been able to find them otherwise. Also, with a wisdom of 10, Meatbun was able to learn new skills with great ease… Although I suspected that the real reason was not its wisdom, but rather the fact that Lolidragon and I did too many bizarre things with it.

Take, for instance, the other day. Lolidragon wanted to try out her recently acquired, but already level ten, ability “Poisons” – which allowed her to make many types of poisons – so she coated Meatbun with a poison and fed it to a wolf. The wolf was duly poisoned to death and my Meatbun learned a new ability: Poisonous Meatbun. After that, it continued to learn many new abilities by accident… Sigh!Meatbun, you really are a rare and precious pet.

There came a day when Lolidragon and I were taking a breather on a cliff, worn out from fighting mobs. Lolidragon lay on the ground while I stood in the face of a strong gust of wind, looking down on the landscape. At that moment, there was a sudden, overpowering feeling in my heart – an overwhelming urge to sing.

“Lolidragon… I want to sing!”

“Go ahead then!” she replied lazily.

“This ain’t a song for the broken-hearted / A silent prayer for the faith-departed / I ain’t gonna be just a face in the crowd / You’re gonna hear my voice when I shout it out aloud / It’s my life / It’s now or never / I ain’t gonna live forever / I just want to live while I’m alive (It’s my life) / My heart is like an open highway / Like Frankie said I did it my way / I just wanna live while I’m alive / It’s my life”

[Lyrics by Bon Jovi – “It’s My Life”]

I ran my fingers through my wind-tousled hair.

“Lolidragon!”

“Yeah?”

“Perhaps it’s not really for as inane a reason as proving my brother wrong that I decided to become a guy.”

“Then, what’s the real reason?”

“Maybe the real reason is that I just don’t want to hide behind anyone, not anymore.

“I want to kill monsters to my heart’s content, using all kinds of crazy methods and moves, without anyone calling me a violent woman.

“I want to swear and cuss while killing and whenever I’m pissed or annoyed, without anyone saying that it isn’t ladylike.

“I want to be able to laugh after hearing an off-color joke, maybe even add my own retort. I don’t want to be forced to pretend I don’t get it, just to prove how pure and innocent I am, but I don’t want to be called a vulgar woman either.”

I finished my impromptu speech, but Lolidragon did not say anything as I lay down silently and joined her in staring up at the boundless sky.

After a long while had passed…

“Prince.” Lolidragon rolled over and propped herself up as she looked at me.

“Yeah?”

“Let’s create our own legend!”

“What legend?”

“The Legend of Prince! Second Life’s greatest player, Prince!” Lolidragon said with a brilliant gleam in her eyes. “We’re not going to take pride in being the wives of the best players; we’re going to take pride in being the best players.”

Create a legend! I mused.

After a moment, I turned to look at Lolidragon and we shared a smile.

It’s my life.

Legend, begin.

[½ Prince Volume 1 Chapter 2 End]