Fay’s suggestion of forming a party frankly left me speechless.
‘If we only travel together, I have a feeling we’ll be in for a lot of trouble.’
Considering Fay’s actions up to this point, she was certainly not a dependable companion.
Her antics ranged from screaming and crying in terror over a single puppy to being swindled by various merchants.
‘She’s full of bluster and prone to carelessness.’
She was the type to stumble and cause problems at crucial moments.
One might say she was the kind of person who would lose their train ticket right before boarding during an overseas trip.
“Uh… let’s think about that for a while.”
Thus, I tentatively expressed my refusal.
I tried to be as gentle as possible to avoid hurting her feelings.
“You’re… refusing me…? Fay LeBlanc, the youngest top graduate of the Magic Tower?”
Seeing her tremble, it seemed my gentleness hadn’t been very effective.
“No, it’s not that you’re lacking, Fay—”
“Why, why?! There must be a reason!”
“It’s not like that. We haven’t known each other for long, so I thought we should take more time to get to know each other, you know?”
“That’s what you say to a date you don’t like!”
Fay clenched her fists and shot up from her seat.
She then pulled three exquisite golden medals from her backpack and showed them to me.
“Mr. Will, do you know what these are?”
“Um… no?”
How could I possibly know, having only just transmigrated today?
“These are graduation medals! And here! Do you know what the blue gem embedded in the center signifies?!”
“What does it signify?”
My empathic questioning seemed to delight Fay slightly, as she began to speak.
“It signifies a top graduate! I graduated at the top of my class from the Magic Tower, which boasts an abysmal graduation rate! And I did it simultaneously in three departments: Physical, Chemical, and Life Magic!”
“Wow—”
“This isn’t something to be dismissed with such a flat exclamation! In the explorer market, where mages are scarce, just showing one of these makes joining any decent mid-tier guild as easy as pie (TL Note: A Korean idiom meaning ‘very easy’)—”
She launched into a breathless monologue about how rare a mage of her caliber was in the explorer industry.
However,
‘Her type always causes trouble on trips.’
Her impassioned speech only solidified my skeptical conviction about her joining.
For someone seeking a quiet, peaceful, healing journey, traveling with her seemed difficult.
Perhaps sensing my hesitant expression, Fay paused for a moment, then spoke with a determined resolve.
“Fine, seeing is believing. Tomorrow, there’s a basic request for rookie explorers. I’ll participate, so you can judge there. I’ll personally show you my skills with your own two eyes!”
Refusing now would not look good.
“Ah, yes. Then, let’s do that.”
“Good! It’s decided then!”
I nodded.
After all, since my goal was to explore the depths of the dungeon, I had to start as a rookie.
Before officially embarking on an expedition, it was better to have someone I knew around.
“Then let’s go get some equipment right now to prepare for tomorrow! We need to be out by dawn to accept the rookie request! Don’t worry about the cost! I’ll cover everything!”
“No, you don’t have to go that far…”
“It’s fine! Thanks to you rebooking the inn, I have money left over!”
Fay marched out of the pub with great vigor.
However,
“Ugh! Th-this! Why isn’t it opening?”
“Fay?”
“Yes?”
“That door opens by pulling.”
“…Ugh.”
I still couldn’t help but feel she was unreliable.
****
In the lowest part of the district known as ‘Threshold.’
An arcade of equipment and exploration tool shops, located in an alleyway leading to Nether.
“It looks like an antique alley, somehow.”
“It practically is. All the artifacts found in Nether are presumed to be thousands of years old.”
From bronze swords etched with bizarre patterns to sleek, futuristic swords that looked straight out of science fiction.
Unidentifiable mechanical devices lay alongside armaments one might expect in a fantasy setting.
All manner of weapons, spanning East and West, ancient and modern, reflected the light cast by oil lamps and glowing stones, awaiting their masters.
“Oh, wait, is that…”
Amidst them, my gaze was drawn to a sleek, black piece of equipment hanging above one shop.
It had a round muzzle, a long barrel, and a handle.
“That’s a gun.”
More precisely, it was something akin to a rocket launcher.
Such a thing was openly displayed? Wasn’t this a fantasy world?
“Oh, Mr. Will, do you know about that? The Hunter Rifle.”
Why was its name ‘Hunter Rifle’ too?
Hadn’t the genres gotten a bit mixed up?
“No, I’m not sure if I *know* it… How can something like that exist here?”
“How can it exist, you ask? It’s a prime example of an OOPArt (TL Note: Out-of-Place Artifact). It must have been brought from Nether, right?”
“An OOPArt?”
“Below the third layer, the Twilight Zone, you’ll find relics and flora from other worlds. The Hunter Rifle is one of the most prominent OOPArts discovered there. It was found early in explorations, discovered in large quantities, and allows even unskilled users to unleash terrifying firepower, making it a representative OOPArt.”
“If something like that suddenly appeared, wouldn’t it cause chaos?”
A gun, suddenly appearing in an era of swords and magic, seemed like a broken game balance.
“Indeed, it caused many problems. That’s why the Artifact Association strictly controls the import and export of such relics.”
In other words, they were careful to prevent these invasive species from spreading beyond this region.
“Ah, then, if it’s not too much trouble, could you perhaps buy me a Hunter Rifle?”
“I could buy one, but it’s useless without ammunition. And that ammunition is strictly controlled by the Artifact Association. So, buying it would be pointless, wouldn’t it?”
“What?”
She *could* buy it for me?
That amount?
Fay, who seriously offered to buy something I’d joked about, suddenly seemed terrifying.
“Let’s think about weapons later! Just follow me! I’ll get you equipment that’s even more important than weapons!”
So, I followed Fay and purchased items from several shops.
There were tools for dungeon life, such as a stone that produced fire when a spell was cast, a canteen imbued with purification magic, and a sleeping bag.
“It really feels like going camping.”
Somehow, it felt like the day before a school trip.
After packing all these various necessities into my bag, we finally headed to the area dense with weapon shops to find a weapon.
“By the way, Mr. Will, are you a swordsman? The type who handles everything with just one sword?”
“Hmm… just, whatever I can get my hands on, a bit of everything?”
I just bluffed.
I had no such thing.
“…Ah, that… right, I suppose so.”
Upon hearing my words, Fay suddenly seemed a little intimidated.
“…?”
She seemed to be misunderstanding something, but I couldn’t tell what.
‘That aside, it would be good to have a weapon that’s easy to use for self-defense.’
I had a sword, but my attempts at wielding it alone had been less than satisfactory.
I probably couldn’t even catch a wild boar with it.
Therefore, I needed equipment that could exert power regardless of my skill.
Something like a self-defense pistol to ward off wild animals.
As I pondered this, aimlessly wandering the streets,
“Oh?”
Something caught my eye.
“Fay, is that an OOPArt too?”
“Huh? Oh… it looks like it.”
Where I pointed, a hunting rifle hung, priced to include seven bullets.
“But why is the price so low?”
It was unbelievably cheap.
“What’s going on…?”
Just then, a kindly old man with an impressive bushy beard emerged from inside the shop.
He had the benevolent look of a grandfather one might encounter anywhere.
“Is this really for sale at this price?”
“Yes, it is…”
“Isn’t this an OOPArt? Selling something like this at this price—is there a reason?”
At my words, the grandfather looked puzzled and asked back.
“What did you say? Opalz? What’s that?”
“No, OOPArt.”
“Obalt?”
“OOPArt, OOPArt! If someone who runs a business here doesn’t even know that…”
“My child used to run this shop, so I don’t know much… Is it perhaps something valuable?”
Oh.
Upon hearing that, I roughly understood the situation.
‘Like a Nintendo Switch (TL Note: Referring to a gaming console, with ‘X’ replacing ‘ten’ for stylized censorship) posted incredibly cheaply on Jungonara (TL Note: A popular South Korean online second-hand marketplace).’
The grand catastrophe that occurs when a family member, unaware of an item’s true value, disposes of it on behalf of the original owner.
– *Gulp.*
This was a jackpot.
Buying an incredibly expensive piece of equipment at an absurdly low price.
My heart couldn’t help but be swayed.
‘If I just close my eyes and buy it…’
That costly OOPArt in my hands.
Greed subtly crept over me.
But,
“Grandfather, I think there’s a mistake. This equipment shouldn’t be sold at this price. Please put it away and ask your child about it.”
Ultimately, I sided with my conscience.
‘No matter what, it’s clear he’ll run into trouble.’
Profit was important, but I didn’t want to put the grandfather in an awkward situation for no reason.
And I wouldn’t die without it, after all.
“…Just take it at the original price.”
However, the grandfather shook his head.
“What are you saying? If your child comes…”
“They cannot come.”
The grandfather continued with a sorrowful expression.
“My child, in fact, went on an expedition recently and became one who never returns. I lived outside and came back upon hearing the news.”
“But an item like this at this price…”
“Hahaha… just take it at that price. This old man no longer needs money. More than anything, my child would be happy for it to go to a kind-hearted young person like you.”
How could this be.
I felt a lump in my throat from the kindness of this otherworld.
“…Thank you. I’ll cherish it.”
“Hahahaha, yes, yes.”
And so, Fay and I were able to return with more profit than expected.
“This really is a good place.”
Where there are people, there is kindness.
That heartwarming truth, I realized anew that night.
After leaving the shop with such a warm feeling, as I was about to step out of the alley—
– *Thump.*
“Hah, Mr. Will, you’re naive in these matters too.”
“What?”
Turning around, I saw Fay wearing a smug expression.
“By the way, that gun and those bullets, they’re extremely dangerous, so hand them over quickly.”
“Dangerous, what do you mean…?”
“That, it’s probably cursed.”
“Cursed?”
“My sister told me that suspiciously cheap OOPArts that come into the hands of rookie explorers are traps set by unscrupulous merchants, so you shouldn’t even look at them.”
“Unscrupulous merchants?”
That grandfather?
“Don’t be fooled by his kind appearance. This equipment likely has a curse that kills the user, and a binding magic that returns it to the curse user.”
“What? So that means…”
“Yes, the buyer eventually dies, and the gun returns to that old man. That’s how they make their money.”
“How could that be…!”
The idea that such a kind-looking grandfather was actually a swindler aiming for my life.
My image of this ‘healing game’ was beginning to crack.
“Hoohohoho, of course! That’s only if I, the Magic Tower’s top elite, weren’t here!”
To my downcast self, Fay said with a triumphant smile.
“What?”
“I’ll remove the curse for you. The amateur curse spells those merchants use are less than a child’s scribble to me!”
“Ohhh…!”
I couldn’t help but admire this dependable side of Fay, which I was seeing for the first time.
Fay, you were an amazing person after all!
Perhaps I had been mistaken, only seeing her gullible side.
“Then I’ll begin! Where…”
Fay, who confidently took the gun and meticulously examined it—
“…It’s not there?”
Soon, she looked at me with a bewildered expression.
“The curse… it’s not… there…”
“…”
What is wrong with this person?
“Of course it’s not.”
Such a kind-looking grandfather would never do such a sinister thing.
“No, that’s not it! In ‘Threshold,’ items like this are *always* cursed items! They’re meant to stab naive rookie explorers in the back for profit!”
This is why prejudice is dangerous.
The old saying, ‘What one sees is what one is,’ exists for a reason.
“Fay, why don’t you try trusting people a little?”
I gently urged the distrustful person before me to try trusting others.
“No… that’s strange… this isn’t how things are here…”
Fay mumbled, still shaking her head as if unconvinced.
I sincerely wished that her distrust of humanity would be healed in this peaceful city.
****
***Game Log***
[Item Acquired: Cursed Hunting Rifle (Grade B OOPArt)]
[Curse of the Magic Bullet: Greatly increases the user’s proficiency and accuracy with this gun. However, the last bullet will inevitably pierce its owner. (Unavoidable)]
[Binding Magic: If the owner of this equipment dies, the equipment will return to Verdun, its magical enchanter.]
Applying mod pack resources…
[Censored.]
[The curse has been temporarily deactivated.]
…Continuing the game.
