Chapter 19: Abyss City 1.0 (2)

Golden hair like threads of gold, and pointed ears, the symbol of the race of beauty.

Ironically, the princess who possessed these traits had nothing.

A dark room where electricity barely worked.

And the only objects in that space were a creaking bed and a table filled with firearms and their parts.

That was all.

“…”

Silently, she loaded the magazine and inspected the gun.

Click! Click! Click!

The massive sniper rifle, which had only been frightening at first, was now the princess’ only friend and support.

I’m tired.

Finished with her preparations, the girl took off the goggles she was wearing and sat on the bed.

She didn’t lie down.

Sitting, she buried her face in her hands and caught her breath quietly.

Lately, when she was alone, she’d been spending a lot of time like this, frozen.

So much so, she felt like she could stay like that forever.

Mom… Dad…

Life in Tigrova was like a non-existent memory for the princess.

Her last memory in Tigrova was reading a fairy tale book in a spacious room.

A childhood spent waiting for her parents to return in a luxurious room.

She was too young to learn anything and too immature to have a firm sense of self.

At a time like that, she was suddenly whisked away by the Elders, who said she had to escape, and began her life outside.

Unaware of the situation, all she heard while fleeing in a hurry was that her parents had been killed by the Grand Emperor of Snow, the new ruler of Tigrova.

And that the Grand Emperor of Snow was now trying to eliminate the Elven royal family, so she had to escape. That was all.

A story too harsh for a young princess to accept.

With her spirit shattered and no time to compose herself, the princess was raised in the outskirts as a bullet to reclaim Tigrova.

─ Princess. The filthy blood Humans and Beastkin are no different from Satan.

─ Do not speak to races other than Elves. They are deceitful beings with mouths that spew lies at every opportunity.

─ You are the only remaining royal Elf. You must take responsibility and lead us.

─ To have such doubts, has your desire to take revenge for the former king faded？

─ Come what may, we will support you as our princess. Our existence is your proof.

My head hurts.

Words she’d heard repeatedly from childhood till now.

So much so, that they now echoed in her ears even in quiet places. She even heard them in her dreams.

“…”

But the girl’s spirit was much stronger than anyone else’s.

Though she had experienced long periods of psychological distress, her spirit still retained its form.

The Elders didn’t know that the doubts the princess had harbored since the past had not completely disappeared.

I have to get back to the city somehow.

Contact with the outside world, which the Elders strictly forbade, saying that royal blood shouldn’t mingle with commoners.

The first time she was caught, she was left traumatized by the harsh scolding she had received from Elders, but she still hadn’t given up.

She needed evidence to justify her actions.

She wanted to know what exactly happened on the day Tigrova’s ruler changed.

Avoiding the Elders’ eyes, the princess tried to unearth the truth of that day, but the information available to the public was limited.

No matter how hard she tried, she was unable to find a definitive story about her parents.

And wherever she looked, all she could find was that Tigrova’s ruler had changed from an Elf to a White Tiger Beastkin.

There must be some information somewhere…

Knock, knock, knock.

The sound of knocking brought her thoughts and her rest to an end.

The face buried in her hands were forced to face reality once again.

─ Princess. Are you there?

The Elder’s voice.

The girl suppressed the feeling of suffocation and answered.

“What is it?”

─ Important guests will be arriving soon. Please go and greet them.

“…”

Unlike usual, she didn’t reply immediately.

More than her body, her mind was so exhausted that she didn’t want to move. But the princess couldn’t say this to the Elder.

As the short silence prolonged,

The Elder continued, as if accustomed to it.

─ Distinguished guests require appropriate treatment. Since the former king is no longer with us, it is only right that you go.

“…I understand.”

She barely managed to stifle the sigh that was about to escape her lips.

The princess rose from the bed and began to lightly arm herself.

Rohan first checked his smartphone as he stepped out into the night streets.

He made sure that no sound or vibration would give away his presence, even if a call came in or a notification like a message arrived.

And while doing so,

He saw that Ichinose’s profile picture had changed to a cat.

Cute.

Somehow, that single thing felt like a good omen.

His steps became lighter.

Let’s go.

After checking the route in the downtown area one last time, he boarded a bus that was about to depart.

It was past rush hour, so there were quite a few empty seats.

He inserted his token and sat down.

Although there were no office workers commuting inside the bus, the air was heavy with the smell of alcohol, as if there were some intoxicated passengers who had enjoyed a lively gathering.

“…”

Creak! He opened the window slightly for ventilation.

Then, taking in the cold, fresh air, Rohan began to organize his information.

The Main Story starts with The Broken Crown, Act 1.

He carefully went over the internet news and the Quest to see if he had missed anything, lining them up once more.

Inside the rattling bus, Rohan’s eyes focused intently on the letters.

That’s his fault for going to the restricted area where those guys are, just to make a sensational video.

That’s all there was to the incident. Nothing more, nothing less.

Abyss City Gamers didn’t know which channel was run by this 30-year-old male creator, nor what he looked like.

It was just recognized as the starting point of the Main Quest.

The point is.

The important point was that the perpetrators had already escaped.

And they had committed the crime for fun, unrelated to the request.

It was a crime they habitually committed on their way to meet their clients, the Old Elves.

Rohan’s gaze shifted to the Quest window.

Then, after clearing the window, he raised his head and stared at the bus ceiling.

Those bastards.

Trying to regain their glory using the princess as a weapon, the Old Elves knew that they only had one chance and understood well what failure meant.

That was why they were acting so extremely passive and shady.

“…”

To confiscate those old men’s dentures, the group Rohan was about to face was similar to the last, yet different.

While there was the similar objective of confirming Noa Frozenheart’s range of activity and her usual routes, they weren’t hired just for that.

They were also meant to check for the presence of guards that the Grand Emperor of Snow might have planted for his daughter’s protection.

They won’t be putting Noa in danger through force, but…

Even so, they were much more expensive and professional than the Yard-Pound Brothers, possessing the perfect Skills and techniques for dirty deeds like theft and surveillance.

Thanks to that, Rohan was reminiscing about the launch day of Abyss City.

He tried to recall the tantalizing Main Story he had experienced that day in as much detail as possible.

Originally, to find out who’s behind it from the beginning…

The first thing to do at the start of the Quest was to pinpoint the location of the disappearance by gathering information from the buzzing citizens amid the ominous news.

Next, it was to discover the Peacekeepers controlling access while wandering around various locations suspected to be the accident area.

The third was to infiltrate the area while avoiding the eyes of the Elysium Security Bureau Peacekeepers and collect evidence.

After completing this process, a rough location would be marked with a circle on a corner of the map.

Then, exploration would take up another chunk of time.

If I go through the exact same steps like in the game, I’ll be slower than the actual Peacekeepers. No, in the first place, avoiding their line of sight like in the game is impossible.

The Elysium Security Bureau was not some incompetent law enforcement group.

It was mentioned several times that they had many skilled individuals protecting Academy City, and that it was very difficult to join as a Peacekeeper.

That setting, which he hadn’t fully grasped in Abyss City, would now shine through, having transformed into reality.

So, once again, Rohan would skip the intermediate steps and head straight for the result.

Mixed with omissions, even though he didn’t know what kind of changes would come about in reality due to his actions, there was no other clear answer for Rohan at the moment.

─ This stop is…

Beep!

Rohan pressed the stop button to get off the bus.

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Even though it was Academy City, there were places that were difficult to call ‘Academy City’, at least for now.

And so, searching his memory, Rohan entered under a lightless bridge and arrived at an industrial complex where development had been suspended long-term due to corporate bankruptcy.

He walked, muffling his footsteps as much as possible.

Avoiding the streetlights that blinked with half-dead light, he insisted on moving only in the darkness.

There.

As he went deeper inside, he spotted three cars with their engines running. A dump truck loaded with containers and two sedans.

Two had their engines running but their driver’s seats were empty, and only one sedan had someone inside.

In the driver’s seat of that one, there was a guy giggling while gazing at his smartphone.

Because of that, light was spilling out from inside.

Except for his face, His body was covered in tattoos symbolizing his affiliation.

Did the others go to have a look around?

No matter which angle he looked from, the man seemed to be all alone. There was no one lying down either.

Even though there were no other passengers, he saw a firearm placed right next to him.

“…”

And just to be certain, Rohan closed his eyes and listened carefully.

Apart from the heavy engine noise, he could hear metallic sounds and giggling laughter in the distance.

Good. I’ll do it now.

If he was going to do it, now was the time, while they were still far away.

Rohan moved to find the ideal position.

As quickly as possible.

The place where those guys were supposed to meet the Elves wasn’t here.

But where would the thieving instincts go? Just as a sparrow couldn’t pass by a rice mill,

Hearing about the abandoned industrial complex, these guys had come to see if they could find anything that could be worth money and to dispose of any accumulated bodies.

Rustle. Rustle.

Minimizing the sound, Rohan slowly lowered his posture and grabbed a handful of weeds from the ground.

He dipped them lightly in the stagnant muddy water.

The strong night wind was perfect.

Slap!

Part of the weeds Rohan released from his hand stuck to the car’s side mirror like hair.

While it wouldn’t interfere with driving, it would flutter and make distracting movements.

Did he notice it?

Whirr── The driver’s side window rolled down.

“Damn it… So dirty.”

Cursing, the driver’s hand reached out to remove the weeds stuck to the side mirror.

Rohan, with a knife in one hand, darted forward and roughly pushed the driver’s arm down.

Crack!

The arm bent in a direction it shouldn’t.

He saw the driver’s eyes widening in shock. The man’s mouth and abdomen convulsed, preparing a scream.

“Shh.”

Rohan shoved a sock into the man’s open mouth and, like lightning, plunged the knife deep into his throat…

“Ugh, ughmph──!!!”

Twisting the embedded blade roughly.