Chapter 19 – Unexpected Twist
(Don’t mind Chapter 14’s Orc error; it was supposed to be a Demi-human. Although the error was corrected earlier, I figured I’d mention it.)
After finishing his daily tasks, Dillin left the library, returned to the temporary dormitory, put on the coat hanging on the door, grabbed his shoddy flintlock, and stepped out.
With nothing better to do, he finished his weekly tasks along the way. Though they only rewarded him with two chips, even some loose silver was better than nothing.
Dillin had two keys: one given to him by the Academy, and the other, given to Tillysha.
The temporary dormitory was divided into a Boys’ Dormitory and Girls’ Dormitory. The residents here were probationary freshmen awaiting formal enrollment. Without official student status, the Academy didn’t bother assigning dormitory monitors, sparing Dillin the trouble of pretending to be two different people constantly.
The flintlock hanging on the door was the only effective weapon Dillin had, bought from a stall when all his savings were depleted. It was a poorly constructed, illegal replica flintlock g*n that had been resold multiple times.
Flintlocks were a human invention, created to replace bows. However, the powder used in this world was vastly different from what it was in Dillin’s original world.
Dillin had briefly studied the subject. The science behind it was complex and intricate.
In a world where magic was as real as breathing air, the importance of firearms could never rival that of Dillin’s original world. The lack of interest from most countries, combined with the vastly different ingredients used to make gunpowder that made it extremely complicated to create, greatly hindered its development.
Firearms went through a few generations of improvement before reaching a roadblock.
The primary reason, according to Dillin, was that firearms in this world were relatively weaker. Compared to magic and alchemic explosives, their effectiveness was subpar while costing significantly more to produce. Naturally, no one invested in something so fruitless. Although some human nations still equipped their armies with these weapons, they weren’t seen much in shops, not because selling them was illegal, but because everyone looked down on them.
Compared to traditional weapons like swords, bows, crossbows, spears, and knives, firearms were incredibly easy to handle but impossible to master.
Imagine someone looking down on a player using skillful technique versus a player just rolling random inputs on the keyboard. That’s kind of how it felt.
But Dillin’s perspective was different. Being from another world, the firearms that everyone despised looked quite aesthetically pleasing to him.
The metallic g*n barrel, the rustic stock—didn’t it look cool?
Although firearms were weaker in this world, they were still easy to use. Just fire off a few rounds, and you’d know the basics. There was no need for complex operations. Dillin preferred simple weapons. Knowing how to aim and pull the trigger was sufficient. Weapons are made for killing enemies, and he wasn’t an actor; battlefields were no theatres, so there was no need for flashy techniques.
With his coat draped over him and the flintlock resting on his shoulder, Dillin strolled out of the grand stone gates of Coleman Forest’s entrance.
Coleman Forest marked the boundary between the continent of Ruglien and Caleburn. The latter was inhabited by the Light Races, while Ruglien, the old continent, was now the domain of the Demon Race.
Both human and elven folklore regarded the Demon Race as extremely dangerous foes. They were sworn enemies.
Dillin learned the Demon Race mainly comprised the typical members he had guessed—Goblins, Orcs, Werewolves, and Trolls.
Dillin had never met any Demon Races, only some dumb creatures without high intelligence, so he couldn’t fairly assess how potent their overall combat capabilities were.
However, whichever tier they belonged to, they would surely mop the floor with someone like him.
In conclusion, due to being a frontier, Coleman Forest was far from safe. Some dangerous creatures occasionally strayed through. From time to time, Goblins popped up too.
Dillin once heard that a nearby village in Coleman had fallen victim to Goblin raids, where all the women were captured. Whether true or not, Coleman was not somewhere to be taken lightly.
Even if a small batch of regular monsters showed up, Dillin was confident that his flintlock would suffice. He had been to Coleman Forest before, and the monsters would flee in every direction after hearing his gunshots.
Dillin took a few steps into Coleman’s forest.
“Hey! What are you doing? Where are you going?” Soon after entering, a young man pulled another young companion back.
“Heading over to Coleman Forest to k*ll a few monsters? I’m a bit tight on cash, gotta make some, right?”
“You’ve lost your mind!” His companion frowned. “The Academy just released a notice; freshmen are prohibited from entering Coleman Forest right now.”
“Huh? Why?”
“No idea, but they said a few lower-level Demon Races have seeped in from Ruglien recently.”
“Lower-level Demon Races?? Not the Goblins?”
“Probably not. Goblins always travel in packs. If just a few appeared, it must be some other kind.”
“Really?……….. Then why didn’t the Academy put up a notice at the entrance of Coleman Forest?”
“Didn’t they put it up?” The young man pointed to behind him, suddenly pausing.
“Eh? Where’s the sign? It was here this morning, wasn’t it?”
“Who knows?”
…………
“Bang!” A sharp gunshot echoed through the forest, and with a puff of white smoke from the g*n’s barrel, a large gray-black rabbit fell to the ground.
A Demon Rabbit, a type of monster slightly larger than a normal rabbit. Compared to ordinary rabbits, it had unusually red eyes. It would feign running away when confronted by strong enemies, then hide in the grass, ready to ambush with its sharp front teeth. When it deemed you’re not chasing it anymore, it would wag its short tail, making a ‘jiji ji’ sound to taunt you, enticing you to chase it.
Such a dirty trickster.
Dillin wasn’t fooled. Upon encountering the Demon Rabbit, he calmly lit a cigarette, then silently pulled the trigger of his g*n toward the rabbit, which was leaping around while taunting him with its tail.
All the fur on the rabbit’s head disappeared, and it keeled over.
With the golden orchids in hand, two chips were credited to his account, along with a bit of extra game.
Despite the Demon Rabbit’s treachery, its meat was quite delicious, making it the prime food for travelers wandering in foreign lands.
It needed to be gutted, roasted, sprinkled with cumin, and then crunched on. Its protein content was six times that of beef.
Whistling a tune, Dillin skillfully removed the rabbit’s insides with a pocketknife, skinned it, and packed the meat away.
Demon Rabbit meat was still valuable. Since Dillin had wasted a b*llet killing it, there was no way he would leave that meat behind.
With the weekly task completed, it was now time to head back.
“Rustle rustle…………” Some bushes moved.
Dillin diverted his gaze, surprised that any monster still hadn’t fled from his gunshot.
Quickly reloading the flintlock with one b*llet, he parted the bushes.
These firearms were easy to use for killing but cumbersome in operation and maintenance. Each required loading one shot at a time and, given the flintlock in Dillin’s possession was a subpar replica made by some unknown workshop, further resold many times, it wouldn’t perform a second shot until the barrel cooled to avoid the risk of explosion.
When he parted the bushes, the view opened up. A sickening amount of bl**d was splattered around, catching Dillin off guard for a moment. A colossal greenish-blue shadow blocked his vision.
