"It's real. There was definitely grass growing up to my knees earlier."There was still grass stuck to my clothes. Above the knee was clean and below was a ss. As if proving that the garden I had just passed through wasn't an illusion. But if there were front and back entrances, structurally that couldn't be possible, and the rusted gate I had opened and entered earlier was like that......pletely unrusted......."What's going on?""You would know better than I would, intruder. Did you enjoy touring the garden?"The gun barrel touching the back of my neck was cold. A gun barrel pressed close to the skin so it could definitely blow my head off in case of any mistake, with a tall, slender man standing at the end of the long barrel. There was no killing intent, but I could feel the threat."I figured out roughly how to use it. Even if a gun looks unusual, the usage is obvious. It seems to use advanced magical technology, but it's strange that no place has announced this kind of technology until recently. It would definitely make a fortune, so why didn't they?"As if asking whether I knew the reason, the gun barrel pressed down firmly. I could guess that he wouldn't shoot, but the sensation of the gun barrel touching the tender flesh of my neck was chilling."Ugh.""I'll gradually hear about which underground organization developed this technology and why you targeted this mansion specifically. Please, do cooperate.""You really don't know about that?"That gun, although I had maxed out its level and attached various additional attributes, was essentially a basic item given from the ga's opening. I had already moved on to newer equipnt, but since I had raised this gun with affection from the beginning, I hadn't sold it even while using other weapons.Anyway, everyone from the queen to street urchins in back alleys knew the form of this gun. It was the representative form of 'hunter's weapons.'But he didn't know this? Soone who lived in a huge mansion and had a study of this scale? Soone who was confident they knew all published technologies?An ominous premonition flashed by like fire."What year is it now?""1837."I was screwed. How many people would morize what year the background of a ga based on a virtual era was set in? Even hearing the numbers, I had no sense of whether they were correct. The hundreds place seed right though."Um, how old was Queen Harriet?"Perhaps because he was still pointing the gun at , the man answered easily."Her Majesty celebrated her thirty-seventh birthday this year."The banquet commorating the queen's fiftieth birthday and congratulatory envoys from all over the world, and the incident where neighboring country princes and princesses who visited to attend the party disappeared after being swept up in a dungeon, and all sorts of troubles that occurred in conjunction with the major event of the queen's birthday. It was a quest from just a month ago, so I rembered it."Thirteen years ago. Then you must be Count Avondale?"'Who was supposed to be dead?'I didn't say that.The man's eyes narrowed as if trying to grasp the situation. The gun barrel touching my skin twisted so it wouldn't hurt."Lord Avondale. Call
that. Everyone does."Noble titles were quite complicated, but I had already been playing 'Golden Claw' for seven years, so I was familiar with that much. I didn't know if the historical accuracy was correct though."Lord Avondale.""Good. Esperanza. Thirteen years ago?"Thirteen years ago.One year before the day of disaster when dungeons appeared in Nine Holder and monsters poured out.Thirteen years before the ti of the ga 'Golden Claw' where I had just been staying.Right now, in Nine Holder, a city with a population of 6 million, the navel of the world, there were no monsters. No hunters either.I had suddenly beco the world's strongest."Ah, damn those Golden Claw bastards. Why are they doing this to ......!"??????°??☆????°??????The rifle aid at my neck remained the sa, but the location had moved to the sofa. The instruction to move quietly since he could fire at any ti wasn't particularly threatening.'Lord Avondale' might not know, but hunters could open their inventory at any ti to pull out new weapons, and rifles like this had the weakness of being quickly neutralized just by pushing the barrel aside. So they were useful in long-range anti-monster combat but."So, thirteen years from now this place becos abandoned, and I die next year? Is that your claim? What was my cause of death? Acute heart attack? Traffic accident? Paoran poisoning?""What was that again......."'Jack, I'm sorry for not cherishing you until now.'I really couldn't rember.Since he said he died 12 years ago, the most likely cause was the monster crisis. Even saying that, he didn't seem to believe it much."But do you smoke paoran? That's not very good for your health.""I know.""Ah, you smoke knowing that. I see.......""You have a way of speaking that makes
feel like complete trash."My neck instinctively shrank. I hadn't ant to criticize. Anyway, with a life that would end in a year, who would say anything about smoking as much as he wanted before dying."No. Smoke a lot.""Since I'm going to die anyway? You're the trash one.""Your lordship shouldn't keep saying trash, trash.""Are you saying my way of speaking isn't refined? That's true. Your attire isn't refined either though."I was suddenly attacked. What about my clothes. It's a ga, so what if I dress like this."Esperanza, even poor people don't wear pants that cling to their legs like that.""Ah, in a year no one will be able to say that. How are you going to run away from monsters wearing a dragging skirt?"Monsters were predators. They reduced humans, who had prided themselves on achieving the pinnacle and flower of magical civilization, to re prey. Their great architecture, luxury goods coming from colonies across the sea, and piled gold bars had no aning in the face of the fear of death that could strike at any mont."If what you say is true, then so be it. It would be aningless to criticize the attire of soone carrying such weapons. But it would be better not to think of going outside in that outfit with sothing like this. The police would arrest you."He caressed the long barrel of the rifle as if pleased with it. His fingers were straight and long. The back of his hand with protruding tendons gripped the barrel. Still aiming the gun at ."It's very fortunate that I'm the first person you t. I have no intention of reporting you. Whether to the police or to a ntal hospital."The round gun barrel moved along my neckline. The barrel slightly lifted my chin. It was a good angle for eye contact. Lord Avondale's eyes were gray. Traditionally the eyes of 'the wise one.' Of course, such things were all prejudice, but in the ga world, eye and hair color were important indicators for interpreting characters.Gray eyes really are pretty."Esperanza, do you have sowhere to go?""......No."I had money, but without identification, I couldn't rent a house. I did have a hunter ID that was issued after completing the tutorial, but it had a date from several years in the future stamped on it, so it was useless."Do you have more of these things? Then I could let you stay."Now I understood what they ant by calling him eccentric.Believe it or not, he wanted to live with a woman who suddenly appeared in his house carrying a rifle? It was an amazing lack of safety awareness. Maybe he thought it was okay to get a little dangerous for research purposes.Anyway, it worked out well for Esperanza. Believe it or not, she had found a place to stay for now. It would be nice if she could return to the original ti just by leaving through the front gate, but......'There's no nu window.'Hidden by the red wood color of the study, I hadn't even noticed that the nu window of the sa color had disappeared. No nu window ant logging out was also impossible. If it had been a more flashy and noticeable color, I would have noticed right away.Original ti or whatever, I couldn't even leave this ga right now. Completely lost. I didn't even know what to do. I hadn't even received a quest yet. Right now, Lord Avondale's suspicious goodwill was desperately needed."If I give you more of those things......?""I'll treat you as a guest."Finally, the gun barrel moved away from my neck. Lord Avondale naturally took possession of the rifle. Even if it had been his from the beginning, it couldn't have been more natural."I'll give you sothing better, so could you give
that back? It's my first weapon.""Show
the weapon first."A count was certainly suspicious. I chose sothing appropriately cheap and low-level from my inventory. Anyway, you don't know the function until you properly try it."This is a scythe. Using guns and also using scythes, huh.""It's not just a scythe, it's a magical tool. An anti-monster magical tool."I had collected it for achievent purposes, so the level was poor, but it would be fine for research."Interesting. Good, let's go with this."I put the original rifle into my inventory. Lord Avondale watched this intently and asked casually."Is it a magic bag? I suppose such things will be distributed about 10 years from now.""Similar. But I can't give you this too.""I don't need it.""Ah, yes."Since NPCs also carried magic bags around, the technology must have existed 13 years ago too. It was different from inventory, but there was no need to teach him about it."Let's go with these for now. Millen is late.""Well, you did ask him to bring sothing strange.""A stimulator? Esperanza, is this your first ti seeing a magical engineer?""Not the first ti, but......."Among the NPCs Esperanza had t, there were magical engineers. There was Dr. Sullivan, a fellow with Einstein hair who was half-crazy from research. You couldn't communicate with him properly and he never gave proper information. His job was to sit in a huge circular study or research lab with strange liquids bubbling in beakers, muttering nonsense. But he was quite useful in that he repaid you with big money and good equipnt if you brought him good materials."He wasn't the type you could have a conversation with."I didn't know if Dr. Sullivan was already a doctor 13 years ago. He might have been a graduate student. Then he might have been crazy in a different sense?"There are many prejudices about our profession. Like, we capture people and dissect them."Lord Avondale smiled with twinkling eyes. Even in his nacing state holding a scythe and gun in each hand, he made good use of his natural radiance. Thanks to that, his words sounded like a very funny joke, but."That's true though!""Only dead people, legally."He said as if displeased. His eyes were fixed on the scythe, making it seem like he was saying 'If they're not dead yet, I'll make them dead people.'"Ah, yes.""We'll have ti to talk about prejudices gradually."
Reviews
All reviews (0)