The danger level of this tabletop campaign was far higher than Xia Jienan had originally imagined. Although the investigators did not need to scheme against one another, the external threats lurking in this world grew more terrifying with every passing hour.
After the first night, he had become aware of the existence of the inhuman. After the second night, he inadvertently touched upon memories that should never have been touched. And then, on the third day after that second night, he, now a new believer, received a command from Anthony along with the other followers.
Kill those heretics.
When Xia Jienan accepted the mission, he did not let a single flaw slip. He even took the opportunity to chat casually with the several “colleagues” cloaked in heavy black robes who were going with him, discussing the details of the operation as if he were truly one of them.
It was only then that he learned: the entire town of Guerrero had already been infiltrated and taken over by Anthony.
These people had long abandoned their humanity. As for what they were about to do, they considered it nothing more than what “should” be done. They would offer sacrifices to their god, and those heretics could serve their greatest purpose by becoming those offerings. To them, this was a good thing, the natural thing.
All the more so because their god would grant them “new life.”
Rewind the time back to that morning.
Xia Jienan was cursing nonstop in his heart while keeping a cheerful smile plastered on his face, exchanging polite words with the companions heading out to “purge the heretics.” When the group walked into a narrow alley, he seized the chance and struck first, knocking every one of the people in front of him unconscious.
Only one of them had bad luck, Jienan’s roll had landed on an extremely difficult success, and he might have hit that one a bit too hard.
But now wasn’t the time to worry about that. He had to go save the people these believers were targeting.
However, before he could go rescue them… Xia Jienan still remembered that notebook, Anthony’s carefully guarded “sacrifice,” Alide. According to what the butler had said the day before, that Alide should be inside the church.
He should still head there first, and at the same time he needed to investigate the whereabouts of Du Yun and the others.
However, when he arrived at the church entrance, he saw several people carrying farming tools walking toward the inside of the church.
Obviously, they were not here to do farm work inside a church. Bringing tools like those here could only mean they were here to do “something else.”
Xia Jienan slipped quietly to the doorway. Before those people could slash at the nuns inside, he spoke up.
“Everyone, stop for a moment.” Hidden behind the robe, he raised his voice. “Chief Priest Anthony says he still needs them alive.”
The people inside froze at his words and turned toward him one after another. Alide, realizing only then what she had almost experienced, showed no panic, only a calmness, as if she had expected this all along.
“In that case,” she answered coldly, “you can go back and tell him that as long as I am alive, I will never let his plan succeed.”
After speaking, Alide lifted her chin. “I will never become the same as you.”
The middle-aged man holding a sickle grew irritated. “What does an old woman like you know?!”
He turned to look at Xia Jienan again, suspicious. “The chief priest clearly told us to bring her corpse back today.”
Xia Jienan let out a polite cough, stepping forward a few steps into the church. “It’s precisely because he realized a corpse won’t do that he sent me here.”
The middle-aged man looked him up and down, then suddenly asked, “Why do you look a bit unfamiliar to me?”
“Really? You don’t recognize me?” Xia Jienan replied. He took a few more steps forward, stopping right in front of the man. He raised a hand, positioning it as though he were about to remove his hood, and when the man focused intently on that movement, Xia Jienan used his other hand to fire a shot.
[Point-blank Shot 68/90, Regular Success. 1d8 = 8.]
The middle-aged man collapsed instantly, severely injured and knocked unconscious. Without a moment of hesitation, Xia Jienan spun around and, while the others were still frozen in shock, quickly locked onto his targets and fired three consecutive shots.
In a typical turn-based tabletop session, accomplishing something like that would be impossible. But because he was physically here, he could rely on skills he possessed in the real world.
His gaze sharpened. After taking down three more people, the rest finally snapped out of their shock and tried to flee in panic.
But how could Xia Jienan allow them to run off and expose him? He fired three follow-up bullets into the fleeing figures, then immediately turned and fired seven shots toward the doorway.
Only after he had completed all those actions did the dice begin to roll.
The results were already plain in front of him. Whatever numbers the dice landed on afterward no longer mattered.
Exhaling, Xia Jienan turned back toward Alide, who was still watching him warily. He removed his hood and offered her a gentle smile. “I’m not with them.”
“Oh, right. Are you Ms. Alide?” Once she nodded to confirm, he continued, “Do you know Sean?”
Alide stiffened slightly, murmuring, “That child, Sean…”
Xia Jienan nodded. “Yes. I’m his friend.”
Alide lowered her head with a small, helpless smile, a touch of relief in her expression. “So he’s managed to make good companions.”
Before her words faded, all the softness disappeared from her face again, replaced by firm resolve. “I’ve already asked the other friends of that child to take him away. If you go toward Lola Street right now, you might still catch Carl’s carriage.”
Xia Jienan asked, “His other friends, are they a man and a woman?”
“Yes…” Alide paused and asked in surprise, “You know them?”
“We came here together.” Xia Jienan glanced toward the outside of the church and then back to Alide. “There’s a lot I want to ask you, but as you can see, this really isn’t the time to have a proper conversation.”
“These people weren’t only trying to attack you. They’re planning to kill other heretics as well…”
“So I want to save those people. Not just you, but them too. But once I rescue them, I’m not sure where I can hide all of you.”
Alide looked as though she wanted to say something, but in the end she held her tongue. She sighed. “I understand. Come with me.”
She led Xia Jienan to the staircase near the bell tower and opened a concealed door there. Behind it, the space looked like a storage room, filled with piled goods. After weaving around stacks of grain, they found a cellar-like entrance hidden beneath.
Alide pointed at it. “This is the church’s sanctuary. During wartime, the believers can hide inside.”
Xia Jienan nodded. “Then I’ll bring the others here. Please go down first and help them when they arrive.”
Alide had intended to stay outside with him, but hearing his words, she found she had no grounds to refuse. The place indeed hadn’t been used in a very long time, and someone needed to go down to clean it and prepare. So she lifted the wooden board and descended into the cellar.
Once she disappeared below, and faint candlelight flickered up from the opening, Xia Jienan stood and began cleaning up the people inside the church.
He was experienced, and he measured his strength well. Most of these people were simply incapacitated; a few had been knocked completely unconscious. This time was slightly better, none of them had the unfortunate luck of being killed outright.
Guns, after all, were different from other weapons. One careless moment and someone could die instantly.
He moved all of them into the church’s resting room, tied them up securely, knocked out any who were still conscious, and then dug into his bag to find some of Jiang Xing’s medicine for them, ensuring none of them would wake within the day.
When everything was finished, he surveyed the chaotic interior of the church one more time, pulled his hood over his head, and headed toward Lola Street.
Rescue the people here first, and hopefully run into Du Yun and the others along the way.
But even after saving people all along the route to Lola Street, he didn’t see a single person. Earlier, on his way here, he had at least spotted several robed believers hurrying in one direction. Now, there wasn’t a trace of them.
It was as if the entire street had lost every living soul.
Xia Jienan felt that something was wrong. Even if there were problems with this town, it shouldn’t be to this extent…
Suddenly, his sharp eyes caught sight of a door left wide open.
He hurried toward it, and the moment he stepped inside, he saw a young girl slumped lifelessly in a chair, her expression frozen in terror. At her feet lay another figure in a black robe, collapsed on the floor.
[SAN Check 0/1, 52/79, Success. SAN = 79.]
He crouched down and flipped the robed person over. The man had already stopped breathing; the cause of death was a bullet that had pierced through his back and gone straight into his heart.
Someone was killing Anthony’s people.
The realization struck Xia Jienan hard, there was definitely more than one faction at work in this town.
He stood up, momentarily setting aside his concerns about Du Yun and the others, and began checking every house along the road.
At last, from a house not far away, he heard what sounded like people arguing.
Xia Jienan rushed toward the sound. Just as he reached out a hand toward the doorway, a bullet whistled past the back of his head.
It didn’t hit him, but it did blow his hood clean off.
Hidden under the robe, Xia Jienan tightened his grip on his gun and turned toward the direction the bullet had come from, only to meet the gaze of someone he hadn’t expected to see.
“…Sean?”
✦ ✧ ✦
Nycreth
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
Their journey continues. Their coffee cup, however, does not.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · Guerrero’s Lair (1)Chapter 2 · Guerrero’s Lair (2)Chapter 3 · Guerrero’s Lair (3)Chapter 4 · Guerrero’s Lair (4)Chapter 5 · Guerrero’s Lair (5)Chapter 6 · Guerrero’s Lair (6)Chapter 7 · Guerrero’s Lair (7)Chapter 8 · Guerrero’s Lair (8)Chapter 9 · Guerrero’s Lair (9)Chapter 10 · Guerrero’s Lair (10)Chapter 11 · Guerrero’s Lair (11)Chapter 12 · Guerrero’s Lair (12)Chapter 13 · Guerrero’s Lair (13)Chapter 14 · Guerrero’s Lair (14)Chapter 15 · Guerrero’s Lair (15)Chapter 16 · Guerrero’s Lair (16)Chapter 17 · Guerrero’s Lair (17)Chapter 18 · Guerrero’s Lair (18)Chapter 19 · Guerrero’s Lair (19)Chapter 20 · Guerrero’s Lair (20)Chapter 21 · Guerrero’s Lair (21)Chapter 22 · Guerrero’s Lair (22)Chapter 23 · Interlude (1)Chapter 24 · The interlude (2)Chapter 25 · The interlude (3)Chapter 26 Part 1 · Calling in the Wind (1)Chapter 26 Part 2 · Calling in the Wind (1)Chapter 27 · Calling in the Wind (2)Chapter 28 · Calling in the Wind (3)Chapter 29 · Calling in the Wind (4)Chapter 30 · Calling in the Wind (5)Chapter 31 · Calling in the Wind (6)Chapter 32 · Calling in the Wind (7)Chapter 33 · Calling in the Wind (8)Chapter 34 · Calling in the Wind (9)Chapter 35 · Calling in the Wind (10)Chapter 36 · Interlude (4)Chapter 37 · Interlude (5)Chapter 38 · Interlude (6)Chapter 39 · Interlude (7)Chapter 40 · Interlude (8)Chapter 41 · Interlude (9)Chapter 42 · Welcome to Doville (1)Chapter 43 · Welcome to Doville (2)Chapter 44 · Welcome to Doville (3)Chapter 45 · Welcome to Doville (4)Chapter 46 · Welcome to Doville (5)Chapter 47 · Welcome to Doville (6)Chapter 48 · Welcome to Doville (7)Chapter 49 · Welcome to Doville (8)Chapter 50 · Welcome to Doville (9)Chapter 51 · Welcome to Doville (10)Chapter 52 · Welcome to Doville (11)Chapter 53 · Welcome to Doville (12)Chapter 54 · Interlude (10)Chapter 55 · Interlude (11)Chapter 56 · Interlude (12)Chapter 57 · Interlude (13)Chapter 58 · Interlude (14)Chapter 59 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (1)Chapter 60 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (2)Chapter 61 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (3)Chapter 62 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (4)Chapter 63 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (5)Chapter 64 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (6)Chapter 65 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (7)Chapter 66 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (8)Chapter 67 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (9)Chapter 68 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (10)Chapter 69 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (11)Chapter 70 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (12)Chapter 71 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (13)Chapter 72 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (14)Chapter 73 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (15)Chapter 74 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (16)Chapter 75 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (17)Chapter 76 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (18)Chapter 77 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (19)Chapter 78 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (20)Chapter 79 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (21)Chapter 80 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (22)Chapter 81 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (23)Chapter 82 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (24)Chapter 83 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (25)Chapter 84 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (26)Chapter 85 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (27)Chapter 86 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (28)Chapter 87 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (29)Chapter 88 · Tunnel in the Dark Night (30)Chapter 89 · Interlude (15)Chapter 90 · Interlude (16)Chapter 91 · Interlude (17)Chapter 92 · The Promise of Hamelin (1)Chapter 93 · The Promise of Hamelin (2)Chapter 94 · The Promise of Hamelin (3)Chapter 95 · The Promise of Hamelin (4)Chapter 96 · The Promise of Hamelin (5)Chapter 97 · The Promise of Hamelin (6)Chapter 98 · The Promise of Hamelin (7)Chapter 99 · The Promise of Hamelin (8)Chapter 100 · The Promise of Hamelin (9)Chapter 101 · The Promise of Hamelin (10)Chapter 102 · The Promise of Hamelin (11)Chapter 103 · The Promise of Hamelin (12)Chapter 104 · The Promise of Hamelin (13)Chapter 105 · The Promise of Hamelin (14)Chapter 106 · The Promise of Hamelin (15)Chapter 107 · The Promise of Hamelin (16)Chapter 109 · The Promise of Hamelin (18)Chapter 110 · The Promise of Hamelin (19)