Time to pay taxes

For the next three days, the duo raided dungeons while Akira taught her how to spot weak points and fight without using system skills.

It was a peaceful evening, with the sun painting the sky red halfway through the mountains. The duo sat for a rest on a park bench.

Haruka dozed off on Akira's shoulder while Akira scrolled through the internet.

'Just 17 hours for E-rank dungeons to spawn,' thought Akira. 'To purchase the weapons I need, we unknowingly came close to Tokyo. I planned to visit my parents before the E-rank comes, but it seems impossible.'

When he switched to the system, he saw a sales video. The system had a feature to take videos and upload them into the system. They could only use system auto camera, they couldn't upload video from real-life cameras.

Viewers could watch them while the uploader could charge a certain amount of coins to watch, or they could just upload for free.

This feature cost 50,000 coins, so only players who decided to stream purchased it. This was the platform where he had been searching for his favorite weapons.

The man in the video showed a deck of cards while explaining the features. 

"This is a weapon-type item. You can throw this weapon and recall it. After testing, I found that you need intelligence stats to bring this back if a card is struck.

Sadly, this weapon only increases intelligence and there is also a passive saying that it will ignore 60% of defense. There are 52 cards according to a full deck of cards.

No one is willing to buy this even at a very low price. Please, someone who is interested in collecting this, please buy them from me.

Other S-rank weapons cost tens of millions of coins, but I will only sell this at 800,000 coins. I will even exchange it for crystals worth 800,000 coins. So please take these away from me. I beg you."

Akira quickly went to the comment section. 'People don't know the calculations for damage, so they ignore passives and only focus on the stats of weapons, skills, and artifacts.

But ignoring defense is the best passive effect a weapon can get, and this weapon is especially for me since intelligence stats are the best for my profession. This might be the best deal I will ever get in my life."

The man just uploaded this video and got disappointed. 'Sigh! I don't think anyone will buy this in the near future.'

*Ding*

He got a system notification.

He checked it.

And suddenly freaked out. "Whaaaat?"

"Shut up! Yuji," a woman shouted from below.

"Sorry, landlady," he shouted from the window. 'I should quickly ask him to come… no, I have to go to him.'

**Yuji: Where are you, sir?

Black bear: I am in Doshi. We have to meet quickly. As you are in Tokyo, I will come there. Let's meet at the Tokyo Player Association branch.

Yuji: Yes, sir. Please don't change your mind.

Black bear: I have to worry that you might sell to someone else.

Yuji: No, you don't have to worry at all. I am already on my bike. I will quickly reach the place.

Black bear: Wait, it will take a few hours for me to reach, and don't chat while driving.

Yuji: Yes, sir. I will wait there until you come.**

A couple was passing by and saw Akira and Haruka on the bench.

"What weirdoes," the girl whispered. "Are they taking a blind date to a whole new level?"

"And that girl is still wearing a mask even while sleeping. Let's get out of here."

Akira felt awkward and slapped his mask.

A few hours later,

"Thank you, sir. Thank you for taking this away from me." Yuji bowed again and again.

'You will soon regret this decision,' Akira thought and said, "You are welcome. For this, I will give you some information, which you should never tell anyone."

"What is it, sir?" Yuji asked.

"Be ready, tomorrow." Akira walked away.

'Huh? Just three words?' Yuji wondered. But as they were players, there must be some catch, so he kept it in mind.

Akira and Haruka went to a huge building in Tokyo. Many players were coming and going out of the building and most of them were wearing masks.

"It seems wearing masks became a trend after that day," said Haruka with a giggle.

"Saves us the trouble of hiding," said Akira.

When they went inside, many office women and men, mostly women, were guiding players with their work in the association.

"The government was quick," said Haruka.

'The Japanese government was the fastest to issue player laws and control the disaster. We should register quickly,' thought Akira.

A woman came to them and asked, "Are you new here? Do you want to register with me as your manager? I can take care of all your needs in the association."

"Sorry to trouble you," said Akira politely, "but we are traveling, so we can't take your services. We just came to register in the association."

"Tsk, just registration? Sadako san, don't bother with them. The registration device is over there, go and register on your own," said another female manager with a sour face.

"Tamao san, please don't talk like that," Sadako reproved her gently, "sorry for that. Let me help you register."

"You are just wasting your time." Tamao walked away.

"She's too much." Haruka flared.

"We are busy, can you do it quickly?" Akira asked while stopping Haruka from cursing.

"Yes, please come this way, sir." She took them to a table, made them sit down, and started asking them questions.

"Your name, sir?" She asked.

"It is inconvenient to tell you details," said Akira, "is there a system to insert details secretly?"

"Yes, but you need the approval of the branch manager, sir. It might take a few hours to days."

"I think we can select the branch association leader we want to affiliate with, right?" Akira asked.

The head association leader was the main head of the national player association; he was in charge of everything.

Branch association leaders were in charge of branches in prefectures.

In the same office as branch association leaders, next in charge were branch managers.

"There is indeed such a feature but no one knows about that. Do you know a branch association leader?" Sadako asked.

"Yes, I have someone in mind. His name is Yamamura Jirokichi."

She searched and found it. "Yes, here it is. Please scan this QR code and send your details to the address. This way only the branch association leader can check your details."

Akira did as she said and after all the fillings were done. She sent the request.

"Sadako san, you can do your work while I wait here. You can come after you get the notification."

"I cannot do that." Sadako firmly disapproved. "My job is to fulfill player's requests. Until you exit this building with satisfaction, I won't leave you."

Good thing Haruka fell asleep on Akira; otherwise, if she heard those words, Sadako would have been in trouble.

It didn't even pass 5 minutes, and a ding came from Sadako's tablet. "It got approved already? You know how to choose, sir. Your registration is completed. Please wait a minute."

She quickly went and brought two mobile-type devices.

"I registered your accounts on these association-authorized mobiles. From now on, you can use these to communicate.

These have a strong anti-hacking system, and not even the head association leader can tap into your communication without at least 10 branch association leaders' approval, that too only when the player is suspected of committing a crime."

"Thank you, Sadako san, but I really have to trouble you with something now," said Akira while waking up Haruka.

"It's fine. I am here to help, sir."

Haruka tried to rub her eyes, but her mask stopped her.

Akira stretched his arm, and materials started to flow from his palm. They filled the table and started to fall down quickly. It quickly grabbed the attention of everyone around.

"Wait…wait, sir. Stop it." Sadako asked in a panic. Everyone around them was shocked to see all that; they quickly surrounded them to see who it was. Akira stopped.

"Just how many materials do you have?" Sadako asked, forgetting to mention sir.

"This is just a small fraction. I want to sell them to the player association," said Akira.

"What? Is he an idiot? The player association takes 40% of it as tax. You will be left with nothing if you sell it to the association."

"Is he a fool?"

"Are you sure, sir?" Sadako asked in shock.

"Sadako san, we have a very important schedule and don't have time to see your shocked expressions. Bring all the appraisers this branch has. We will sell all we have to the association."

Akira made a grabbing gesture, and all the materials got sucked into his palm.

"What is that trick?"

"All of them got sucked into his palm."

"They must have gone into his inventory."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

The players talked about that incident nonstop for a few days.

"Please wait a minute, sir." Sadako quickly got up and went inside. She came back and took Akira and Haruka inside the branch manager's room.

Soon, many appraisers rushed into the room. Most players waited outside with bated breath.

The appraisers started counting the cost of all the materials. As they finished counting, more and more materials appeared. It took half an hour just to calculate the total amount.

"Branch manager," an exhausted appraiser said, "the total cost of these materials is 103 million yen."

Sadako gasped, closing her mouth.

"Sadako san, you earned big time," said the branch manager with a smile.

"No, branch manager," said Sadako, "they are just traveling and only decided to register in our city."

"Even so, this sale still comes under your name, so take it?" Said the branch manager.

"Yes," said Akira, "we only decided to sell here because of your service, and also we would like to pay 100 million yen as tax under our names to get the 3rd level VIP status."

"Huh? What is that?" Sadako asked curiously.

"Ho!" The branch manager was surprised. "I didn't expect you to know that system so quickly.

It is a system given to taxpaying players. If they pay 10 million yen worth of tax, they will get 1st-level VIP status. It's 25 million yen for 2nd VIP status and 50 million yen for 3rd VIP status. But there is a big restriction.

The tax is only accounted for through materials. You can't buy the status with yen or system coins. Congratulations, Sadako, you earned 1 million yen. Now you can pay for your father's operation."

Sadako quickly bowed because she didn't want them to see her cry. "Thank you, thank you so much, sir." They understood that with the cracks in her voice.

"OK, calm down, Sadako, for bringing such a valuable player under our association, I will give you 1 week of paid leave. Quickly complete the process and take your leave."

"Thank you, branch manager."

They completed the process in a few minutes, and Sadako sent them away warmly.

"People have a lot of troubles," said Haruka in a grateful tone. "My family is blessed to have you."

'No, my family is the one blessed to have you, Ruka, but I can't say it to you.' Akira suddenly stopped.

Haruka looked at him and tilted her head in wonder.

'Wait.' Akira felt twisted inside his head. 'Something isn't right.' Haruka's words triggered some kind of hidden mistake Akira had been making since the game descended.

'What is that? I can't grasp it but I feel something is wrong. Something isn't going well.' He pondered and almost pulled his hair trying to get that. He was out of breath just from thinking.

Haruka became concerned and patted his shoulders. "Black, what's wrong? You are gasping for air."

That calmed him, he still couldn't tell what it was but he knew he was forgetting something very important, but tomorrow was a big day, so he sealed off the feeling.

"Nothing, it seems I am exhausted, let's go to a hotel."