episode_0019

Blonde hair that looks like gold thread and pointed ears that symbolize the beauty race.

The princess who had them paradoxically had nothing.

A dark room with no electricity.

The only things in the space were a bed that creaked every time he lay down, and a table filled with guns and their parts.

That was all.

“···.”

He silently refills the magazine and inspects the gun.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

The giant sniper rifle that was scary when she first got it is now the princess’s only friend and support.

‘I’m tired.’

After finishing cleaning, the girl took off the goggles she was wearing and sat down on the bed.

Don’t lie down.

Sit with your face in your hands and breathe quietly.

These days, when I’m alone, I find myself standing still a lot.

So much so that I feel like I want to stay like this for the rest of my life.

‘Mom··· Dad···.’

For the princess, life in Tigrova was like a memory that never existed.

My last memory from Tigrova was reading a fairy tale in a large room.

It was my childhood, waiting for my parents to come home from their fancy room.

I was too young to learn anything and too immature to have a solid sense of self.

At that time, I started living outside, led by the hands of elders who suddenly came and told me that I had to run away.

All he heard while running away in a panic without knowing what was happening was that his parents had been murdered by the new ruler of Tigrova, King Seolho.

The story ended with them having to run away because the Great Emperor Seolho was trying to cut off the elven royal family.

It was too harsh a story for a young princess to accept.

The princess, whose mind was shattered, was raised as a bullet to retrieve Tigrova in the border region, without even having time to collect her thoughts.

─ Princess. Humans and beastmen have the same dirty blood as Satan.

─ Do not mix with races other than elves. They are disgusting creatures with mouths that will spew lies at every opportunity.

─ The princess is the only remaining royal family member. You must take responsibility for us and lead us.

─ You have such doubts. Has your desire for revenge against the former king diminished?

─ We will honor the princess no matter what happens. Our existence is the princess’s only proof.

‘My head hurts.’

Words I’ve heard over and over again for too long, from childhood until now.

When I’m in a quiet place, I can now hear it as an auditory hallucination. I even hear it often in my dreams.

“···.”

But the girl’s heart was stronger than anyone else’s.

Although she has experienced a long period of psychological distress, the girl’s spirit still retains its form.

The elders do not know that the princess’s past doubts have not completely disappeared.

‘I have to find a way back to the city.’

Any contact with the outside world is absolutely opposed by the elders, as royal blood should not be present among the lowly.

The first time she was caught, she was scolded by the elders to the point of trauma, but she hasn’t given up yet.

He needed evidence to justify his actions.

I wanted to know exactly what day the ruler of Tigrova changed.

The princess tried to find out the inside story of that day while avoiding the eyes of the elders, but the information released to the public was clearly limited.

No matter how hard the princess tried, she couldn’t find any definitive information about her parents.

No matter where I looked, the only thing I found was that the ruler of Tigrova had changed from an elf to a white tiger beastman.

‘There must be information somewhere···.’

Knock knock.

My thoughts and rest were interrupted by a knock on the door.

The face that had been buried in his hands faced reality again.

─ Princess. Are you inside?

The voice of the elders.

The girl answered, trying to cover up the feeling of being suffocated.

“What’s going on?”

─ Our distinguished guests will be arriving soon. Please come out to greet them.

“···.”

Strangely, unlike usual, there was no answer.

She was too mentally tired to move, much less physically. But the princess could not bring herself to tell the elder this.

A long silence followed.

The elder continued speaking in a familiar tone.

─ A guest of honor deserves to be treated accordingly. Since the King is not here, it is right for the princess to go.

“···Okay.”

I barely managed to hide the sigh that was about to escape.

The princess, who got out of bed, began to lightly arm herself.

*****

Rohan, who came out into the night street, started by manipulating his smartphone.

So that no sound or vibration is heard even when a call or notification such as a message comes in.

While setting it up like that.

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

‘So cute.’

That one somehow seemed like a sign that things would work out well.

I feel like my steps are lighter.

‘Shall we go?’

After checking the route in the downtown area, board the bus just before departure.

It’s past closing time so there’s quite a bit of space at the desk.

Insert token and take a seat.

There were no workers leaving work on the bus, but the air smelled heavy with the scent of alcohol, as if there were drunk people enjoying a lively party.

“···.”

Squeak! Open the window slightly to ventilate.

Rohan sorted through the information in the cool, fresh air.

‘The main story begins with Act 1 of The Broken Crown.’

Let’s go through the internet news and quests again to see if we missed anything.

Inside the rattling bus, Rohan’s eyes read the letters with concentration.

[30-year-old male creator goes missing while exploring ruins of restricted area]

─ As a result of tracing the last phone call with an acquaintance, it is presumed that someone attacked him while he was filming, and according to the data released by the Elysium Police Department, only a severed leg was left at the scene···.

‘It was a mistake to go to the restricted area where those guys were to make a provocative video.’

That’s all there is to it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Abyss City gamers don’t even know what this 30-something male creator looks like or what his channel is like.

I just thought it was the starting point of the main quest.

‘The point is.’

The important point is that the people who caused the incident are already far away.

And the fact that they committed the crime for fun, regardless of the request.

It is a crime that is committed habitually on the way to meet the old elves who are the clients.

Rohan’s gaze turns to the quest window.

Then he cleared the window, raised his head and looked at the ceiling of the bus.

‘Those scum.’

The old elves who seek to regain their glory with the princess as their weapon know that they have only one chance and they also know what failure means.

That is why they act extremely passively and gloomily.

“···.”

The group Rohan will face to confiscate the dentures of those old people is similar to last time, but different.

There is also the purpose of checking Noah Frozenheart’s radius of action and the routes he usually takes, but he was not hired for that sole purpose.

It is also a group that confirms the existence of a bodyguard that King Seolho may have planted to protect his daughter.

‘It’s not like I’m putting Noah in danger by force, though.’

Even so, they are much more expensive and specialized than their Yardpound brethren, and have skills and techniques that are perfect for dirty deeds like theft and surveillance.

Thanks to this, Rohan is reminiscing about the opening day of Abyss City.

I try to recall in as much detail as possible the thrilling main story I experienced that day.

‘If you want to find out who’s behind it from the beginning…’

The first step in starting the quest is to gather information bit by bit among the citizens who are in an uproar over the ominous news and identify the missing person’s location.

The second is to go around several places that are presumed to be the accident area and find security officers controlling entry.

The third step is to infiltrate the interior while avoiding the sight of the Elysium Police Department officers and collect evidence.

After completing this process, your approximate location will be marked in a circle in one corner of the map.

Then again, exploration takes up time.

‘If you do it exactly like in the game, you’ll be slower than a real sheriff. No, it’s impossible to avoid sight like in the game in the first place.’

The Elysium Police Department is not an incompetent public authority.

It has been mentioned several times that there are many powerful people protecting Academy City and that it is very difficult to become a sheriff.

The setting that was not felt in Abyss City will shine now that it has become a reality.

So this time too, Rohan will skip the intermediate process and go straight to the result.

Although the movement that includes omission may create some changes in reality, there is no clear answer for Rohan at present other than this.

─ This stop is ···.

Beep!

Rohan pressed the bell to get off the bus.

··

··

Although it is a school city, there are places that are ‘still’ difficult to call a school city.

Rohan searched his memory and entered under the bridge where there was no light.

We arrived at an industrial complex where construction had been halted for a long time due to the company’s bankruptcy.

I walked with my footsteps as quiet as possible.

I insisted on moving only in the dark, avoiding the streetlights that blinked half-dead.

‘there is.’

Digging inside, I saw three cars with their engines running: a dump truck carrying a container and two sedans.

Two of them are running, the driver’s seat is empty, and the only occupied vehicle is the sedan in the front.

There’s a guy in that one driver’s seat giggling while looking at his smartphone.

Thanks to that, light was spreading inside.

Except for the face, his body is covered in tattoos symbolizing his affiliation.

‘Did the rest go look around?’

No matter which angle you look at it, it’s alone. There’s no one lying down.

Even though there were no humans on board, a gun was visible sitting right next to him.

“···.”

Rohan closed his eyes and listened for certainty.

Apart from the dull engine noise, a metallic noise and a chuckle could be heard in the distance.

‘Okay. I’ll do it right away.’

There is quite a distance, so if you are going to do it, do it now.

Rohan moved to find the ideal spot.

‘As fast as possible.’

This is not the place where they promised to meet the elves.

But where will the symbols of the thieves go, just as sparrows cannot just pass by a mill.

They visited the abandoned industrial complex to find something of value and to dump the piled up corpses.

Sarak. Sarak.

Rohan slowly lowered his posture, keeping his voice as quiet as possible, and picked up a handful of weeds from the floor.

Lightly moisten it in stagnant muddy water.

The night wind was blowing fiercely, which was just right.

Bam!

Some of the weeds that Rohan had thrown away from his hand were stuck to the side mirror of the car like hair.

It’s not a problem to drive, but it does have an annoying, swaying motion.

Did you check that?

Jiiing── The driver’s window rolled down.

“Fuck··· Dirty.”

A driver’s hand trying to clear away a clump of grass stuck to the side mirror along with a curse word.

Rohan, holding the knife in one hand, lunged forward and roughly pushed down on the driver’s arm.

Thud!

An arm that is lowered in a direction that should not be broken.

I could see his eyes widening in shock. His mouth and stomach were heaving as he screamed.

“Shh.”

Rohan stuffed a sock into the bastard’s gaping mouth and swung the knife sharply, stabbing him deep in the neck.

“Ugh, eubuup──!!!”

He roughly twisted the stuck blade.