“Lord Moria?”
Kazuma’s mind raced.
He had never heard that name before.
But that wasn’t the important part right now.
Raid Faction!
A faction whose members actively attacked other Players!
The seemingly petite and adorable Gothic girl standing before them was an enemy who could potentially kill them!
Every muscle in Kazuma’s body tensed.
He shoved Gintoki, who was still clinging to him, aside and forced himself to calm down.
Fear wouldn’t solve anything.
Especially when facing an enemy capable of making you lose the will to fight and leaving you with nothing but the urge to curl up in a corner and draw circles on the floor like a mushroom.
“Hey! You doll-looking freak!”
Gintoki had finally recovered from his ghost-induced panic.
Still hiding behind Kazuma, he cautiously stuck out one dead-fish eye and pointed at the ghosts surrounding Perona.
“Put those green things away! What if you scare some children? Even if you don’t scare any children, scaring a kind-hearted adult like me is still bad manners!”
Perona couldn’t even be bothered to roll her eyes at him.
She lightly raised the tip of her parasol toward the two men huddled together, a mischievous smile curling across her lips.
“Horohorohorohoro… What useless men. You’re both pathetic compared with Moss Head.”
She paused.
“But since you’re the first batch of ‘Reputation points’ I’ve encountered after arriving in this world, this princess will be merciful and tell you.”
Her expression suddenly became intensely excited and yearning.
A blush spread across her cheeks, and her eyes glittered with fervent anticipation.
“As long as I save up enough Reputation, I’ll be able to see Lord Moria again! I thought he had died… I never imagined—never imagined he was still alive!”
By the time she finished speaking, Perona’s voice had become choked with tears, yet her face was overflowing with happiness.
Her incoherent declaration left Kazuma and Gintoki completely baffled.
Perona, however, had no intention of explaining herself.
She was already completely lost in her own world.
Her thoughts instantly returned to the gloomy, enormous castle on Kuraigana Island—the place that, despite its eerie atmosphere, had made her feel incredibly safe.
After she had sent that green-haired, directionally challenged swordsman, Roronoa Zoro, off on a ship at the Sabaody Archipelago, the enormous castle had been left with only herself, “Hawk-Eye” Dracule Mihawk, and a group of baboons that imitated human behavior.
Life there had been peaceful to the point of boredom.
Every day, her entertainment consisted of ordering the baboons to clean the castle, preparing meals, and occasionally tormenting the World’s Greatest Swordsman, who seemingly had nothing to do besides drink, train with his sword, and read the newspaper.
That day, just as usual, she snatched the newspaper from the news-delivering seagull and prepared to see what boring news had made the headlines.
Then a photograph and a name printed in the newspaper struck her like a bolt of lightning.
[Former Warlord of the Sea — Gecko Moria, Spotted on Hachinosu in the New World!]
“M-Moria… Lord Moria!”
Perona’s pupils contracted violently.
The newspaper slipped from her hands.
She covered her mouth as tears the size of beans rolled uncontrollably down her cheeks.
After the Paramount War, she had learned from the newspapers that the World Government had attempted to eliminate Lord Moria.
During that period, she had felt as though all the color had been drained from her world.
It had been the darkest time of her life.
She had believed she would never see again the man who, despite being lazy and arrogant, had taken her in and cared for her almost like a father.
The newspaper clearly said he was alive!
“That’s wonderful… It’s wonderful…”
“Waaaahhh…”
Perona could no longer hold back.
She crouched on the ground and burst into tears, crying like a child.
The baboons in the castle were startled and gathered around her, scratching their heads in bewilderment.
No one knew how long she cried.
Eventually, she abruptly wiped away her tears and sprang to her feet.
Her face was filled with determination unlike anything she had shown before.
She was going to find him!
Immediately!
Right now!
She rushed into the castle and found Hawk-Eye sitting alone in the courtyard, quietly sipping red wine.
“Hey! Hawk-Eye! I’m leaving!”
She planted her hands on her hips and loudly announced her departure.
Mihawk merely raised his sharp, hawk-like eyes.
He didn’t change his posture in the slightest.
His voice remained as calm and emotionless as ever.
“Mm.”
“I really am leaving! I’m seriously leaving!”
Perona emphasized every word.
“Once I’m gone, no one’s going to clean this castle! No one’s going to wash your clothes! No one’s going to cook your meals! You’ll rot away here all by yourself! You’ll get moldy! You’ll grow mushrooms!”
Hawk-Eye lifted his wineglass and took a sip.
Again, he gave her only one word.
“Mm.”
His indifference infuriated Perona.
She had spent two years in this creepy place.
She had taken care of him for two whole years.
And this man didn’t feel even the slightest bit reluctant to see her go?!
Huffing angrily, she turned around, grabbed the small suitcase she had already packed, picked up her parasol, and marched toward the castle exit without looking back.
“Goodbye! You cold-blooded wooden blockhead!”
She cursed him silently as she walked.
But just as she was about to step through the castle gates, a deep, clear voice came from behind her.
“Take care on the way.”
Perona’s footsteps abruptly stopped.
Every complaint she had been preparing vanished from her throat.
She froze.
She couldn’t believe her ears.
This man…
This man who, for the past two years, had done little besides train with his sword, drink wine, and read newspapers, and who had always been as cold as a block of ice…
Had actually said something so gentle to her?
A wave of warmth rushed into her eyes.
The tears she had only just stopped flowed freely once again. Find the original chapter at g.com.
“Waaaahhh! Why would you suddenly say something like that?! You bastard, Hawk-Eye!!!”
Crying as she shouted, she turned around and ran out of the castle.
She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, she wouldn’t be able to bring herself to leave.
And so, dragging her suitcase behind her, she fled the castle as though running for her life.
However, the moment she stepped beyond the castle grounds and prepared to summon her ghost doubles to scout ahead, an irresistible force suddenly enveloped her.
The world spun.
The scenery before her shattered into dazzling fragments of light.
The next second, she appeared inside this abandoned church, with something called the system suddenly existing within her mind.
Kazuma and Gintoki stared at the girl before them as she laughed and cried with wildly fluctuating emotions.
They exchanged glances.
“This girl… Is something wrong with her head?”
Gintoki whispered into Kazuma’s ear.
“Shut up. You forgot she can hear you?”
Kazuma whispered back.
Perona finally snapped out of her memories.
Following the example Kazuma and Gintoki had demonstrated earlier, she swiped her hand through the air.
Her own system panel appeared before her.
Its interface was blood-red, filled with an ominous and aggressive aura.
She skillfully opened Bond Summoning and began searching for the name that had occupied her thoughts for so long.
[Gecko Moria — Reputation required for summoning: 4,000,000]
“Four million…”
Perona bit her lip.
The number gave her a slight headache, but the determination burning in her eyes was even stronger.
“Wait for me, Lord Moria! I’ll summon you here very soon!”
Out of curiosity, she continued scrolling through the list.
Then she saw another familiar name.
[“Hawk-Eye” Dracule Mihawk — Reputation required for summoning: 12,000,000]
“Twelve million?!”
Perona cried out in surprise.
“That’s three times as much as Lord Moria?! What makes that guy so expensive?!”
Although she complained aloud, she knew perfectly well that the man’s strength was indeed worth such a price.
Finally, her eyes landed on the portrait of the green-haired swordsman.
[Roronoa Zoro — Reputation required for summoning: 8,000,000]
“Hmph. That directionally challenged Moss Head costs eight million too.”
Perona pouted.
Memories of the exhausting two years she had spent taking care of him every day came flooding back.
She closed the system panel and once again fixed her gaze on Kazuma and Gintoki huddled in the corner.
Her objective was perfectly clear.
First, she would save up four million Reputation and summon her most beloved Lord Moria.
And these two seemingly helpless men who were so terrified of ghosts…
They would be her first haul in this new world.