Punching Machine

Mallow arrived at the beginner town, the『Flower Garden』

Like its name, the town was full of many varieties of flowers.

Mallow didn't know much about flowers, so she didn't know the flowers' names. But the flowers were beautiful. That was enough for her.

「（But… it seems the flowers are different from the last time I was here… or maybe it's just my imagination?）」

She tilted her head.

Maybe it was because a year had been passed, so her memory was a bit vague.

But her guess was actually right.

About 3 months ago, there was an update. A new feature had been applied to the town.

The feature wasー at The Flower Garden, the varieties of flowers would automatically change every month.

Furthermore, there was an anniversary event going on today. The flowers that decorated the town had become even more luxurious and gorgeous.

But, what changed The Flower Garden wasn't just the flowers.

There were many banners written "Happy 1st Anniversary" everywhere and the NPCs were giving out balloons to the players. Also, there were also various food stalls selling foods and drinks. Hence many players were eating on the streets.

「Wahh… it looks like a festival here」

Mallow bought a skewer grill and walked along the street with her mouth full of meat.

Since she was here now, it'd be a waste if she didn't enjoy the festival.

But she couldn't waste too much money now, because she didn't have much.

She only had the starting money from the beginning of the game and some money from maintenance compensation.

She never had a chance to use it, so it just kept piling up. But still, it wasn't really that much.

「Nom… nom…」

Every time she chewed the meat, her mouth overflowed by the meat juice. The sauce was perfectly soaked into the crunchy surface. It was really delicious.

It would be hard to find a top-class gourmet meal like this in the real world.

「Dehihious~~~」

Said Mallow with a full-mouth.

「Ahh… If I knew there was something delicious like this, it would have been nice if I showed up to the town sometimes…」

After she finished eating her skewer grill, she threw away the stick to a garbage can on the edge of the street and looked around for the next stall.

It wasn't only the NPCs who had the stalls. There were also players selling items like potions, weapons, and equipment.

But Mallow wasn't interested.

There were some delicious potions though. But she was only interested in eating delicious food.

Takoyaki, cotton candy, fried noodles, and many more of festival food on sale.

She really wanted to eat all of them. But her stomach had a limit. She had to choose carefully which to eat.

「Hmm… maybe… I will eat that kebab next」

Mallow started eating again, enjoying the festival.

And then 10 minutes had passed.

Then she just realized that she ended up in the game section of the festival now.

There was a target practice stall, catching the superball stall, and many more.

Classic festival games.

By the way, in catching the superball stall, there were items' names written on the balls. You may have the item if you can catch it.

Superball was maybe useless in the world of sword and magic like this. But if you can to get the items from it, it'd be useful.

But it wasn't making Mallow interested either. Because… she was still a bit hungry.

But when she was about to leave, there was a stall that made her curious, because a crowd was surrounding the stall. And then she walked towards there with curiosity.

「What's going on here?… 'Punching Machine'?…」

There was an arcade game that gave you a score based on your punching power. You can get various items as a reward based on your score.

Apparently, you can see the player's name who had the best result on the monitor.

1st place was『Gray』with 8445 points.

「Hoo… maybe I'll try it」

She was still hungry but… strangely, she became interested to try it, and joined the line.

Fortunately, the rotation was fast. Well, people only punched the machine once and then left. Of course it was fast.

Finally, Mallow's turn came. The shopkeeper NPC with a bell in his hand guided her to the punching machine.

「And here comes our next challenger! A lady with blue eyes!… Any question about the rules?」

「Umm… can I use a skill?」

「It's fine as long as you don't use your weapon」

「I see, well then…」

Before that, she had to pay 100 manee (currency in the game).

Then she put all of her strength into her fist.

Andー

「[Gigant Punch]!!!」

SMACK!!!

A really powerful right straight punch.

The bystanders who were watching Mallow became quiet.

It was because…

Her score was…

9999 points

In other words, the highest score you can get.

「…What?…」

Mallow herself was shocked as well.

She never thought that she would be able to get such a high score.

She had trouble reacting.

The first person who recovered from the confusion was the shopkeeper.

Of course, it was because he was an NPC.

Then he shouted out loud while ringing the bell.

「Congratulations!!! You got the highest score!!!」

「Eh?… Waiー」

Mallow was trying to stop his loud voice, but it was too late.

And then the crowd got louder and louder.

With a smiley face, the shopkeeper talked to the nervous girl.

「Maaanー You are amazing, lady! I didn't expect that you can pull out the highest score on this game」

「Y…yes… thank you…」

「And this is your reward! 5 bottles of『Elixir』and 10.000.000 manee. Use it well」

「Okay…」

Mallow picked up the items and money quickly, immediately left the place, and logged out.