#008
I entered the village just barely before sunset.
“Name and occupation?”
An armed man sitting guard at the entrance asked in an annoyed manner without properly looking at me. He was an unfamiliar face.
This too was one of the changes since entering the game world.
When monsters began appearing even in the village, the village started building fences with wood sprinkled with holy water and posting guards. At first, guild hunters and villagers took turns standing guard. But they alone weren’t enough, and ordinary residents weren’t much help either, so eventually they brought in outside mercenaries. This unfamiliar man was probably also a mercenary hunter from outside.
But I didn’t understand why they needed to ask for names and occupations. Until now, they just let people in after confirming they were human. There were no monsters that took human form, after all. Was it because crime increased as the world became more dangerous?
“…Kang Raon. Farmer.”
Kang Raon is my real name. For reasons I don’t know, just like my appearance, after being dragged into this world I’ve been going by my real name. I don’t know where the several nicknames I used disappeared to.
After hearing my answer, the mercenary finally raised his gaze to look at me. Not only that, but the other mercenaries nearby all turned their heads to look at me in unison. The guard stared intently at my face with a strangely unpleasant gaze, slowly looked over my shabby appearance, then gave a fishy smile.
“Ah, so you’re farmer Raon. Indeed, you’re smoothly featured. You don’t look like you have money though… I guess what matters is the face after all.”
The guard kept nodding while muttering incomprehensible things.
“What the hell are you talking about right now…”
“You arrived just in time. We’re closing the gate now, so hurry on in. You’re the last one.”
I was about to demand an explanation, but I was pushed inside by a large mercenary. The heavy gate closed and the mercenaries began moving busily. I wasn’t in a great mood, but anyway, I couldn’t interfere with closing and maintaining the gate during the dangerous time after sunset, so I turned around with an uneasy feeling.
“Be careful not to get stabbed in the back!”
A mercenary shouted behind me as I trudged toward the town center. When I looked back, they were clustered together, giggling unpleasantly while looking at me.
What did he mean about being careful not to get stabbed? The village atmosphere had become rough, but security hadn’t deteriorated to the point where you’d get stabbed in the back for no reason while walking down the street, had it? Honestly, hadn’t the village atmosphere gotten worse since those mercenaries arrived? I turned back toward the village with an unpleasant feeling.
The street dyed with sunset light spread calmly before my eyes. If you didn’t know better, it would seem like a peaceful scene. People with hunched shoulders were silently coming and going on the street. Normally I would have attributed that to the still sharply cold weather.
But knowing the original bright and peaceful atmosphere of the game, the gloomy and heavy scenery was still unfamiliar to me. Even after experiencing 9 tutorials, I still wasn’t used to it. The children who used to run around laughing had disappeared, and there were no longer lovers walking arm in arm, whispering affectionately. I couldn’t see people gathering in groups of three or four here and there chatting, or tourists peering into shops and taking photos.
I stepped into that depressing scenery to go to the guild. But why was it? I began to feel a similar atmosphere on the street to what I’d felt at the gate earlier. Some people were starting to glance at me.
As I went from the outskirts to the center, people gradually increased. Most were familiar faces. Through repeated conversations and favorability actions with several main NPCs, I had built up plenty of my own internal intimacy. But now they were all glancing at me from afar as if wary of a strange outsider, or completely ignoring me and passing by as if they hadn’t seen me.
‘It’s a bit lonely…’
When I was caught up in initial panic, I didn’t have the luxury to think about loneliness or anything, but after accepting the fact that I had entered the game world, I gradually began to feel subtle emotions. The fact that all the people around me were NPCs and I was the only one who had crossed over from reality kept floating to the surface of my emotions.
Was I lonely? Or was I scared?
I was walking along lost in thought when a familiar sign appeared before my eyes.
Kevin’s Bakery.
I was a regular here. That was true both when I was playing the game and after entering this game world. When I was playing the game, it was because the bread and coffee sold here had the highest stamina recovery efficiency in the early stages when I had no money, and after entering the game world, it was because I loved the aroma of freshly baked bread and brewed coffee, efficiency aside.
Kevin’s kindness as the owner also played a part in my becoming a regular. Especially when I was suddenly dragged into this world and was in turmoil, his kindness and aromatic coffee were always a source of comfort.
I approached the bakery as if drawn in. This time it wasn’t because I was attracted by the delicious aroma as usual, but because of the strange atmosphere the shop was giving off. In the stained and dirty display case were a few lumps of bread that looked quite old at first glance, and the glass pot at the inner counter was half-filled with black liquid that could have been coffee or petroleum.
And I could see Kevin’s hunched back sitting blankly in front of it. It was a sight I couldn’t just pass by without asking how he was.
When I entered, the bell attached to the door rang clearly as usual. The musty smell of mold and burnt odor that had settled indoors hit my nose. With a slow motion, Kevin turned his head.
“Welcome…”
Kevin, who was greeting me in a lifeless tone, stopped mid-sentence and stared at me for a while. Then, as if belatedly recognizing who I was, his face crumpled.
“…Raon. What brings you here?”
What brings me here? This was the first time I’d encountered such a reaction from Kevin.
He was an NPC who, even in the early days when we weren’t close, would always cheerfully ask how I was doing when he saw me, and would kindly ask, “Should I give you your usual? How about trying something new?” Even in the last round, which was the final tutorial, although he looked quite depressed and exhausted, wasn’t he still kind to me?
For him to give such an unfriendly greeting. Remembering Eira’s change, I had a bad feeling.
“Well… some bread and coffee.”
Kevin looked me up and down, taking in my appearance as I answered hesitantly. I became a bit embarrassed and brushed my hair. To be honest, my current appearance was probably worse than a homeless person’s. My already old work clothes were torn here and there, and covered with blood and dirt. Naturally my hair would be disheveled, and though I wasn’t sure, my face was probably dirty too.
But Kevin wasn’t someone who would treat even homeless people rudely. No matter who the other person was (even to back-alley thugs), he was always kind and gentle, earning a reputation for being overly good-natured. But then.
“I don’t sell to bastards like you. Get lost.”
He hurled abuse at me. Coming from Kevin’s mouth, even just “bastard” wasn’t something to dismiss as mere profanity. My mouth was about to fall open.
‘No, Kevin must have a reason for acting like this.’
I tried hard to understand the situation. The town center maintained some semblance of security, but of course it wasn’t the same atmosphere as before. Especially after food and daily necessities became scarce, stores dealing with such items were constantly hit by thieves and robbers. Kevin might have experienced a regular customer like me turning into a robber.
“Kevin. I don’t know why you’re angry at me, but I have money…”
I calmly took out money, trying to show that I wasn’t a robber, thief, or beggar, and that I had the ability to buy bread. But Kevin didn’t even glance at the money pouch I took out.
“Really? Then good.”
Kevin crossed his arms.
“The bread and coffee you like are 40,000 and 60,000 rual respectively. That’s 100,000 rual total. How many do you need?”
“What?”
I looked at Kevin’s face once, then at the price list on the counter. The prices on the price list were generally in the 4,000 to 10,000 rual range, and the basic bread and coffee I wanted were the cheapest at 4,000 and 6,000 rual respectively. (Though there was a price list, there were actually no other products in the display case besides basic bread and coffee.) Of course, even those were eye-poppingly expensive prices. How many times higher had they risen since the last tutorial?
But the price Kevin had just mentioned was too shocking to be surprised by those prices. Didn’t he just say 100,000? Did I mishear?
Kevin looked where my gaze was directed, then picked up the price list. Then he brought a pen and added one more zero each to the basic bread and coffee prices. The 4,000 rual item became 40,000 rual. Kevin put the price list back in place and looked at me with an expression that said, “There, satisfied?”
“……”
Kevin’s intention was clear. He wouldn’t sell anything to me. (Of course, I couldn’t buy it anyway, and it wasn’t quality I particularly wanted to buy.)
But why?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
