Reborn in a Dating Sim: Life as a Mob is hard in an Equestria Girl’s Dating Game!

Reborn in a Dating Sim:

Life as a Mob is hard in an Equestria Girl’s Dating Game!

Chapter Fourteen

“I am not sure how I feel about this,” Diamond Tiara said as they looked at a normal trading post, “I mean, doing business with the Academy would be better in the sense that the funding would stay there.”

The trading post that they currently were in front of was one that was ran inside of the capital itself. While it was located in the capital it wasn’t, by any means, a place of refinement. Where the Academy’s store itself appeared to have the same aesthetic as the rest of its surroundings this did not. The trading post looked as if it was something left over from the adventurer’s era. It wasn’t made of polished marble and glass, but instead the building looked to be made of rough hewn logs. Simple windows were cut out every sixteen to eighteen feet, and from what they could all see the building covered as much ground as one of their dorms.

To say that it was huge would be an understatement. It simply dwarfed the Academy’s store. Copper looked at the building and then he looked back at Diamond Tiara, “Look, we need to go ahead and sell the cores. I promised Professor Honeypot that I would absolutely consider the request to wait, and I did. I considered it all of the way over here,” he said as he looked at the building again, “I get that using the store back at the Crystal Academy would be easier in the sense that it would ensure that the noble family running it got the sale. But chances are that it would break them. Plus, I really don’t want to carry around an I.O.U. for an indefinite amount of time. I’d just rather go ahead and get paid. We put in a lot of effort, and we should be rewarded for it.”

There was a moment of quiet, before Applebloom cleared her throat, “Ah can see where yer coming from Tiara,” she said as she looked at the building, “Ah can, but cain’t ya see the smarts in this? We can get some connections here that we cain’t at the school. We can connect with adventurers, and figure out what our next steps would be.”

Copper nodded, and he heard Sunset finally step closer, “Honestly, I don’t care,” she replied as she stood there, “We can get paid here, or at the Crystal Academy. Either way works. Sure, getting paid at the academy has some benefit in that we can rub it in the faces of the others attending. It also makes it seem very likely that our prestige will be noticed by the professors and the council that gather there. This however will allow us to build our prestige outside of the Academy. We will have the chance to expand our names.”

Copper watched as Diamond Tiara looked to Artemis who shrugged, “Honestly, I will follow my Captain’s lead. What he directs, I will do, and I will do happily,” she said, her voice full of reverence, “If he so chooses to sell the cores here, I am fine with it. Just as I would be fine with him planting a core among the islands and creating a new labyrinth.”

The answer was a little direct, but Copper was thankful that Artemis agreed with selling them here. Of course, according to her, she would have been fine with dumping them out somewhere. With that he opened the door to the trading post, and they walked inside. Right away he could tell that it wasn’t merely a trading post. This was an adventurer’s hall. The sight of it brought the scenes from the various fantasy stories, and anime that he’d watched over the years. In the game he could see the outside of the building while on dates with the guys the Protagonist dated the various guys in the game, but he had never been inside of it.

The floor was made of rough hewn lumber. Most likely from the logs that created the the walls of the hall itself. Several tables lined the front part of the hall. All of them had adventurers that were sitting at them. Most had either food or were busy drinking what smelled like beer. The smell of it hit him, and he missed the sweet bitter taste of a good cold beer. Still, there would be time for that later. There was a counter, and from what he could remember from the various fantasy stories was that all business took place at the counter.

“Excuse me, Miss,” he said getting the attention of the woman behind the counter, “I wanted to sell the monster cores that we’ve collected.”

The woman nodded, “Very good young sir,” she said as she smiled, “Please step over to the counting area.”

With that he followed her direction and stepped toward a section of the counter that looked like there was a small bowling ball return slot. It was designed to dump the cores on it, and they passed under what looked like a faint blue light. With that he lifted the bags of holding they had, and he tapped the first one. The twenty-five crystal ant cores came out, rolling down the return slot, and then he lifted the bag with the wasp cores. All twenty of them followed suit. He was sure that Professor Honeypot knew the number of cores he had, but he also doubted that she purposefully counted the first five that had been killed in making their way to the entrance of the third floor before heading back and saving Sunset.

Finally, he sent the five scorpion cores down. When he did the light flared brightly for each one. The woman standing on the other side swallowed, and then looked at him, “Sir Knight,” she said, her voice holding reverence, “You grace us with your presence. The fact that you’ve slain such powerful monsters is a true testament to your strength.”

The words seemed almost foreign to Copper. He seemed to be surprised for a moment before he really looked at the lady behind the counter. Her expression was one of honesty. She wasn’t poking fun at him, and she wasn’t trying to trick him. She had called him a knight. He then considered exactly what that meant. She was calling him someone who had power, who had the ability to do more than simply exist. He breathed in for a moment, “Thank you,” he said, deciding not to force the issue, “I’d like to to get pricing on all of this.”

She nodded, and he watched as she began going over a ledger that she had picked up. He watched her work, and he felt the body of Artemis press against him. The fact that she felt so normal, so human, wasn’t lost on him. The fact that she had more or less explained that she would willingly allow him to do things to her hadn’t escaped him either. He had no intention to push for any of it though. He had to remember that at the end of the day he was the master of his body. He could contain and control himself. Sure, biologically he was a teenager, but emotionally he was far older. That age came with wisdom, and that wisdom was exactly what was keeping him from simply accepting what was being offered.

“Kinda odd that she called ya a knight,” Applebloom commented, “Not saying that ya ain’t good ‘nough ta be a knight, but yer like us a first year student at the Crystal Academy.”

He nodded, “I know,” he replied, “But I’m not going to argue. I mean, at the end of the day we’re getting paid, and I’m fine with it. Besides, we can more or less take the money that we’re making here, and we can figure out the next step.”

In truth he was already making a few plans. One of them was to potentially see if there was a way he could take the Academy’s store over. He wasn’t wanting to exactly cause the noble family that ran it to be out of it completely, but at the same time he knew that the school was using the family to more or less get more notoriety for its contribution and not really giving anything back to it. That was just an example of the higher ups using those lower for their own devices. The best thing in the world would be to knock it down a peg.

Granted, it wasn’t like he could change it overnight, but there were things he could do. One of which would be to move it off of the campus of the school itself. Once that was done it would be practically be a matter of time of changing it from the Academy’s store to a store that had a deal with the Academy. They wouldn’t be over it anymore. There wouldn’t be any redirecting it back to the school. Somehow he believed that whatever had been the original intention had long since been lost.

The decision was more or less about ensuring that the people over the Academy was brought down a little bit. It was leveling the playing field. Well, that was what he was telling himself, but in truth he wasn’t completely sure. Granted, he could argue that it was exactly what he felt, and what he believed, but he knew that wasn’t the truth of it. The truth was that he was grasping at straws at what to do next. As it was he was already making the mistake of being too close to Applebloom and Diamond Tiara.

Both of them were considered main characters. He was a background character, a mob, and he didn’t need to be interacting with them. Instead his job needed to be to raise them up. Well that and to live a decent life. The second part of that was less than likely. In order to live a decent life he needed a wife. In order to find a wife he needed to attract one, but ultimately he had his dungeon crawl with One Eye Mash and the Island he found. Both of which seemed to raise him in level, but that was about it.

He wasn’t really on the radar for anyone. Not that he could blame them. Most of the girls were looking for someone of higher status. Even in this dumpster fire game world some truths were universal. All girls wanted to date the ten guys. It didn’t matter if they were ones or tens themselves they wanted the same guy. “Guess that somethings just never change,” he said, not really thinking about it, “I mean really.”

“What never changes?” Diamond Tiara asked, as she stood next to him, “What, I’m part of your party, so naturally I’m curious.”

He shrugged, “Only that it seems that all of the girls at the Academy want the same few guys. That all of the work a few of us put in will never be noticed. Basically, at the end of the day what I’m doing, and what my friends are doing, is worthless. That might sound bad, but it sure feels that way. Maybe I’m wrong, but it certainly feels like it. I’d like to think that I’m wrong though.

She studied him, “I think that you’re being dramatic,” she said as she looked at him, “I mean I’m sure that there’s been someone that showed some interest in you.”

“Sure,” he said, “Although at the end of the day I can’t say that I’m really surprised. It’s usually the same no matter where you go. So, it’s just more or less accepted at this point.”

She shook her head, “No, you’ve got to be wrong. I don’t see it like that at all,” she said as she looked at Sunset who shrugged, “What, he’s not completely wrong,” she admitted, “I mean until today I would have figured that he’s just a new money nobody. After today, well, I’d give him a small chance. Unless one of the Prince’s friends decided he wanted to date me. Then I’d be gone in a heartbeat.”

Copper looked at Diamond Tiara who actually had the good graces to look admonished a little bit. She looked a little unsettled by the news. For a moment he actually wondered if maybe it was her actually seeing some truth to what she was saying. Instead she shook her head, “No, I’m sure that’s not the case. I cannot simply believe that the girls I know would be so hung up on superficial things that they’d simply ignore someone who was a genuinely good person,” she said her eyes turning back toward him, “I’ll help prove it. I won’t directly get involved, but I’ll ask around. I’m sure that they will confide the truth to me.”

He saw Sunset shrug, “Personally, what I said feels like the truth for most of the girls,” she replied before she looked at him, “And what I said before is true too. I feel like I could give you the smallest of chances. Maybe you’d be worth it, but at the same time you’re a little odd. I mean you don’t go scraping and bowing to other girls. You try to treat yourself like you’re an equal. There’s something fetching about that.”

He shook his head, “Thanks,” he said as he looked at her, “But at the same time no thanks. No offense, but I don’t want to invest time in someone that will decide to step out the moment that she’s got a shot with someone of higher standing. I’d much rather find someone that actually wants to be with me because they want to be with me. Sure, I don’t mind the tea parties, but that’s mostly because of Doctor Fancypants. He’s shown me the importance of what they stand for.”

She shrugged and he felt Artemis closer to him. There was an answer, but what his father had said still stood in his mind. There were nobles who would look down on this. They would go out of their way to ensure that Artemis and he suffered. Plus, there was the fact that while she was growing emotionally she was still young in that regard. He couldn’t take advantage of that. He just couldn’t force that kind of thing on her. Even if she was asking for it. That sounded terrible, but when she offered herself he just couldn’t say yes.

He didn’t want her feel confused, or let down. So far his reincarnation had been a mixture of good and bad. But all of it had proved something very important to him. It had proved that coming back as an overpowered super character wasn’t just luck of the drawl. He’d managed to do everything he did because he remembered who he had been. He’d written things down, and he had kept extensive notes about the world he was in.

He’d forced himself to learn what magic his father’s small library could offer, and then when he came to the academy he learned more. He was taking classes that normally weren’t specifically for boys. There was nothing saying that they couldn’t take them, but it wasn’t expected. He even joined the newspaper club so that he could learn wordless magic. That had been a huge step in the right direction. All of it, every last bit of it, was so that he could become better than he had been.

And not a bit of it was impressing any girls. The one thing that knew that he needed to happen wasn’t happening. He understood exactly where this put him. The men that couldn’t marry were considered defective. It meant that officially he would be a lost cause, and it would reflect poorly on his family. What bit him worse was that it would mean that Delicate Emerald would win. He couldn’t stand the idea that the woman who dared to call himself his mother would win against him.

“Copper?” Diamond Tiara asked, “Copper, you there?”

He nodded, “Sorry, just thinking some deep thoughts,” he replied as he looked at her, “If you want to attempt to prove me wrong, feel free, but I can’t promise that you’re going to like the answers.”

He then looked across from where they were and his eyes went wide. He pointed, and they turned to see Satin locking lips with Platinum Reserve. The two of them were in the corner, but it was Diamond Tiara’s eyes that grew wide, “How dare she?!” she seethed, “How dare that little plebeian bitch play with Prince Apollo’s heart like that!”

He could see her shaking, her features rigid with anger, and he knew what could happen here. The two of them began to leave, and she took out her magical tablet. She used it for a moment, and he saw what she was doing. He’d realized that they were like cell phones. He knew that they could be used in such a way that it was like using facetime. He hadn’t realized that pictures could be snapped and stored on the tablet.

“I can’t believe it!” she exclaimed, her anger still hot, “How could she?! How could she mess with his heart?! I’ll show this to him, and I know that it will make him understand that she’s not worth it!”

She was so lost to her own anger, that he wasn’t going to attempt to talk her out of it. She was hurting, and the pain of what he’d put her through was likely still raw. He couldn’t blame her for being upset. Hell, he’d been upset too. Cheating was something he considered an unforgivable crime. He didn’t think that anyone who cheated really deserved another chance. He was pretty well convinced that Delicate Emerald had cheated on his father multiple times. She was a garbage person as far as he was concerned.

“Tiara,” Applebloom said as she touched her, “Lookit, Ah get it. She’s bein’ a dirty polecat. She really is, but are ya doin’ this fer the Prince, or are ya doin’ it fer ya?”

Diamond Tiara stopped, her features still rigid, “Both,” she admitted, “I am doing it for myself because I want to be with the Prince. I truly do love him, but I’m doing it for him for the same reason. I love him, I truly do, and I want him to not get hurt in the long run. She is obviously messing with his closest friends. It won’t end well, and I want to save him some pain and embarrassment.”

Copper looked at her, “Then try to do it privately. Don’t do it at the social,” he said as he she looked at him, “I know, it would feel better at the social. It would ruin what little amount of credibility she has, but it would also publicly shame him. Personally, I don’t specifically like the prince. Sorry, I don’t. He seems to be someone that is too far up his own ass to be liked,” he said as he looked at her, “But you like him, and I doubt that you really want to hurt him like that.”

She nodded, “Then I’ll do it tonight,” she said, “The social is tomorrow, and I will gain an audience with him tonight and explain what I’ve seen, and how I feel, then.”