“Who are you, really?”
‘She’s definitely not a summoned being; she seems like a normal human, just like me, but who exactly is she?’
“Hmm… well, why don’t you try to guess who I am?”
“…At the very least, I know you’re dangerous.”
“Oh, come now, Summoner~ I’m not that kind of dangerous person~?”
‘I don’t know who she is, but given how she’s talking, she must be a dangerous one.’
‘Perhaps even the mastermind who brought me here?’
‘With her pink hair and slit eyes, she looks suspicious no matter how I look at her.’
“By the way, I was quite surprised to see you open the door without even knowing who was outside. Aren’t you a bit too defenseless?”
“What, got a problem with that?”
“Oh my, Summoner, really. Such harsh language doesn’t suit your adorable appearance, you know?”
“I don’t want to hear that from a villain like you. Get lost.”
“Oh, a villain, you say… I’m not a bad person. I’m just a wandering merchant who came to sell some wares.”
‘A wandering merchant?’
‘…Now that I think about it, I’ve seen a woman with slit eyes and pink hair several times in this game before…’
“Ah, that’s right! You’re the one who always brings everything *except* what I want!”
“Oh, was I? My apologies for that~”
‘…Her attitude doesn’t seem apologetic at all, though?’
“Haa, then why did you talk like some mastermind the moment you came in, making me misunderstand… I got all tense for nothing.”
“Ahahaha, my apologies for that. I’ve often been told I look like a mastermind, so I tend to enjoy it. Besides, there were so many fan arts depicting me that way, weren’t there?”
“Ah, you’re right, there *were* a lot of fan arts like that…? Wait, what did you just say?”
“Fufufu, I already know that you, Summoner, are a user. Oh, don’t worry. I’ll keep it a secret between just you and me.”
‘How on earth does she know?’
‘No, perhaps she’s just testing me. It’s possible the wandering merchant, sensing something strange about the Summoner who usually only showed her hands, is trying to uncover the truth, isn’t it?’
“Hmm, you seem rather disbelieving…”
“Of course, I’m the Summoner, aren’t I?”
“But Player, you were originally a man, weren’t you? And a mo.tae.sol.lo (TL Note: A Korean slang term for someone who has never had a girlfriend/boyfriend or been in a relationship since birth.) who had no friends and couldn’t even date.”
“Gweck!”
“And you were brutally killed by a truck that ran a red light, only to wake up and find yourself inside ‘Everyone’s Summoner,’ the game you used to play. You became a woman because you had chosen a female Summoner in the past, right?”
‘No, why does she know all that in such detail!?’
“Well, I did expect you to be surprised. I suppose I’m the only one who knows all of this in such detail.”
“W-what? Wait a minute, could this possibly be one of those scenarios where, ‘This world is actually one of many worlds running a simulation, and we have summoned you, the player, believing you are suitable to be the hero who will protect our world. Please protect our world!’ type of thing?”
‘…Honestly, it’s the kind of development you’d see in a novel, and if it were something like that, it might even be kind of cool?’
“Huh? No, this is just a normal game made by a normal development company.”
“O-oh, it’s not…?”
‘Damn it, I got all cocky trying to guess…’
‘…Hmm? Wait a minute, something feels off.’
“First of all, you’re a being *inside* the game. Shouldn’t you not know that this world is actually a game?!”
“Did you know? Actually, I’m not the only one who knows this is all just a game.”
“W-what… Then the fact that I’m a man, too, all of that…”
“Ah, don’t worry about that; no one knows that fact except me.”
‘Whew… that’s a relief…’
“…No, it’s not a relief at all! How on earth do *you* know all of that?!”
“Hmph~ I wonder why that is~?”
“Don’t tell me, you’re the one who brought me here?”
“That’s correct~ Well, I had nothing to do with the truck, though.”
“What? Then the accident was…”
“It was genuinely an accident caused by running a red light. I merely brought a user like you back to life as the Summoner.”
“Thank you for saving me…”
‘To think a character who seemed like a mastermind is actually my savior—what kind of light novel plot is this?’
‘Well, it doesn’t matter. Just the fact that I can live and move like this is enough for me.’
“By the way, Summoner, you really need to learn how to be suspicious of people. I told a few lies in there, and you didn’t even doubt them…”
“…What?”
“For example… the idea that everyone knows this is a game world? That was a complete fabrication. Yet you fell for it so easily… Aren’t you a bit too naive?”
‘Correction. I just want the woman in front of me to disappear as quickly as possible.’
‘Though it’s not something I should say to my savior, I’m referring to that woman, the so-called wandering merchant, who constantly lies and possesses a wicked hobby of confusing people.’
“So, you came here just to tell me that?”
“Oh, come now, of course not. I came here to do my job, you know?”
“Haa, just go home today. I’m already utterly exhausted because of Phoenix, so I don’t have the energy to deal with you…”
“Will you still say that after seeing this~?”
“Oh, I don’t need… it?”
My head had been throbbing from the fatigue of Phoenix’s high-speed flight and the mental strain of sifting through a deluge of information, some true and some false, all at once. Yet, the moment I saw the item the wandering merchant presented, all my exhaustion and pain vanished instantly.
“…How much is that?”
“Hmph~ I thought you said you didn’t need it earlier…?”
“E-eh, did I ever say that…?”
“Hmph~ If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll just leave.”
“I’m sorry, I said I didn’t need it, but on second thought, I desperately need it.”
The reason I reacted so strongly was that the item the wandering merchant showed me was a Summoned Being Summoning Guidebook.
In this game, to summon beings with specific elemental attributes achievable only through combination—such as the “Strong Ice” attribute formed by Ice + Ice, or the Archdemon and Archangel formed by Demon + Demon or Angel + Angel respectively—a special guidebook is required. Without it, summoning is impossible.
And there is only one way to obtain it.
Purchase it from the wandering merchant. There is no other method.
However, the drop rate for these guidebooks is incredibly low. It’s so rare that even I, who has played consistently for ten years, haven’t been able to collect them all.
Furthermore, even if the wandering merchant managed to acquire one despite the low odds, whether it could be bought with gold or with Universal Documents (TL Note: A currency-like item that can be exchanged for various items or used for purchases.) was also entirely random.
“The price is… 3 million Gold. What do you say?”
“I’ll buy it right now.”
This time, I was lucky. It wasn’t Universal Documents, but Gold, and at the cheap price of 3 million Gold at that.
“Please bring these guidebooks more often.”
“I’d love to, but acquiring guidebooks is quite difficult. You have to hunt monsters to get them, and that’s no easy task.”
‘…The guidebooks come from monster hunting?’
Having learned their origin, I finally understood why the wandering merchant didn’t sell guidebooks more frequently.
Even though this game is primarily about healing, its combat system is exceptionally well-designed.
Moreover, the rewards are excellent. Free-to-play users practically *must* engage in it, as it offers a generous amount of Universal Documents.
“…Why don’t guidebooks drop when *I* hunt?”
“That’s because you don’t get them by killing monsters; you have to subdue them and then turn them into guidebooks.”
‘…What is that? That’s terrifying.’
“Well, that’s why I do this job. If I hadn’t intentionally done it, this game would have failed, and you, Summoner, probably wouldn’t have survived.”
“When you put it like that, it sounds like you deliberately killed me.”
“…Will you stop bringing guidebooks from next time?”
“I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”
‘I still have many guidebooks left to collect. Please, don’t take that away from me.’
“Well then, I’ll be going now. I don’t really have anything else today besides this.”
“Alright, safe travels.”
“Now, shall I take a look at this guidebook~? I wonder what combination will appear~ I’m so excited~?”
The attribute revealed in the guidebook was Fallen Angel. Come to think of it, was there even a Fallen Angel attribute?
“…The combination for Fallen Angel is Archdemon and Archangel?”
‘But I haven’t even obtained the Archdemon or Archangel guidebooks yet!’
“…You swindler!!”
‘What am I supposed to do with just this?!’
To vent my frustration at being swindled, I grabbed my bow, preparing for a monster hunt.
****
“You swindler!!”
‘Hmm… judging by the reaction, it seems she can’t make the combination.’
‘Oh dear, what should I do? I was actually counting on that…’
“Puhuhut, there are so many users like her, which is why I can’t quit this job.”
‘While it’s true that I subdue monsters and turn them into guidebooks, I can actually change their contents.’
‘Then, I sell the altered guidebooks to users at exorbitant prices, and watching them buy without properly checking the contents, only to get angry later, is what fuels my work.’
‘You might call it a wicked hobby, but isn’t the one who falls for it the bad one?’
“Oh?”
Just as I was about to enter the forest to leave after observing from a distance, I saw the Summoner grabbing her bow.
She’s probably going monster hunting… but I hope she doesn’t hunt today, if possible.
‘Because if she goes hunting, she’ll surely…’
“No, not even a single animal, let alone a monster, is in sight!!”
‘…come back empty-handed.’
‘Indeed, I haven’t seen a single animal, let alone a monster, since I arrived here today…’
“Found one!”
‘…Oh, come on, even if she found one, the Summoner has never handled a bow before, so there’s no way she’ll succeed in hunting…’
“Got it!”
‘…She got it?’
‘Summoner… she might be more remarkable than I thought?’
‘It would have been difficult to shoot a bow well after only a day since arriving here… It seems she might be a talented individual after all.’
‘Or perhaps she was someone who regularly handled a bow even before this.’
“Well, it doesn’t really matter to me which it is… At any rate, something interesting might happen to the Summoner soon, don’t you think?”
‘Oh, of course, I’m on the Summoner’s side, so I won’t do anything to harm her.’
“Uhuhuhu, we’ll meet again soon, won’t we?”
‘…Oh, and of course, I’ll be coming to sell my wares.’
