New Class! Plague Doctor! Now Available!

I twirled the black revolver that had burst from my chest, examining it from every angle. The familiar weight and the way it clicked satisfyingly into my grip nearly brought tears to my eyes.

—Click! I thumbed the lever on the left side of the dull frame and gave the gun a light shake, ejecting the cylinder.

‘Looks exactly like an S&W series, but it’s a six-shooter… What a weird piece. This thing?’

—Trrrk! When I applied pressure with my fingertips the cylindrical chamber began to spin smoothly. I stared at it, lost in thought.

‘I never expected to end up using a revolver.’

In Terraforming, revolvers had a terrible reputation. They were concept trash used only by weirdos doing Western gunslinger cosplay. That was it. And for good reason—the average ammo count was a measly six rounds. Above all, reloading was a nightmare. When lunatics were screaming and charging straight at you, who had time to pop the cylinder and load one by one? Some maniacs claimed speed loaders fixed that, but at that point you might as well just use an automatic with a fifty-round drum magazine. A single gunshot wasn’t nearly enough to stop the meatballs swarming in from every direction.

But.

In this barbaric medieval fantasy world where people ate with knives that had carved up human organs or with bacteria-covered bare hands instead of forks and chopsticks, this was the single most lethal weapon imaginable.

Sword saint, archmage—bring them all. I’d send every last one to the goddess’s embrace before they could even meet my eyes.

However.

There was one tiny problem.

‘Where the hell are the bullets?’

They just tossed me the gun and expected me to figure it out? Was I supposed to load it with cockroaches or something?

‘And why does this thing come out of my chest?’

Did I not become a Plague Doctor but accidentally class-change into a walking gun safe? Hmm. Better to just check the patch notes. Thinking about it alone was a waste of time.

—Click! The cylinder spun endlessly, clearly well-oiled. I slid it back in, stopping the rotation, then quietly summoned the patch notes so I wouldn’t wake my party.

“Patch notes.”

‘What is this?’

It was far more serious than I expected, so I was genuinely surprised. Instead of the usual chat-log style, it was displayed as an actual page in a translucent window. Unlike the old days when text poured down like a rainstorm and made my eyes throb, this was definitely easier to read.

‘Still, I didn’t think they’d directly mention Terraforming.’

I had guessed as much, but it seemed the Goddess knew exactly where I came from. But… ‘The greatest healer of Terraforming!’ Me? Since when?

I let out a small, dry chuckle and was about to drag the window when a sudden question made me freeze.

‘Why am I trying to drag it with my finger?’

This wasn’t a smartphone. From what I saw yesterday, Sion and her contractor seemed to control the UI with pure will. Couldn’t I do the same?

To test it, I slowly lowered my outstretched hand and stared at the translucent window, focusing.

‘Next.’

—Rustle.

As I earnestly wished for the next page, the sound of a turning book page reached me and a new section appeared.

‘It actually works?’

Looked like I wouldn’t be mistaken for a crazy demon gesturing at thin air anymore. A bit late, though.

‘Wow. What the hell is this?’

Character flavor text I didn’t even know about. Extremely interesting. Goddess, you’ve got a real talent for storytelling, huh?

But… that line. ‘Those wretched bastards. I’ll wipe every last one of you out.’ When did I ever say that? I have zero memory of it. Seriously.

Well, settings and behind-the-scenes lore aren’t that important anyway. I’ll just move on. I’m far more curious about what happened to the fifty-five traits I stayed up all night collecting than some useless flavor text. Even if the Goddess who burned the midnight oil writing all this is disappointed, too bad. I’m a pragmatic demon.

‘…She didn’t delete all my traits, did she?’

Kkachi still looks fine, so probably not. Still a little worrying, though.

Kkyu?

Shut it. I didn’t call you.

Oh, right. I told you to block some of the pain earlier, but you just watched? Kkyukyu! What? There’s a reason you couldn’t help? What is it?

Kkyukyu…. A secret? Since when do we have secrets between us? You damn bird, did you actually go meet a female magpie or something?

Kkyukyu! It’s a misunderstanding?

Misunderstanding my ass. Sigh… Fine. Because of all the time we’ve spent together I’ll let it slide just this once. If it happens again, we’re finished. Understood?

Kkyu~

Since when does a magpie know how to sigh? Did the Goddess give you an AI upgrade?

Kkyu!

‘For real?’

“Tsk.”

‘…What the hell am I even doing right now.’

The one-man two-role skit I performed to celebrate Kkachi’s return ended in glorious fashion, drowned in the self-loathing that hit me a moment too late. Still, it did feel like Kkachi’s emotional range had grown a little richer. This definitely feels like there’s going to be an update related to Kkachi.

‘Next.’

—Rustle.

‘So the gun’s name is Injector.’

My eyes naturally drifted to the revolver I was holding. I slowly lifted the weapon called the Injector for a closer look. A jet-black body that allowed no reflection of light and a long, imposing barrel.

‘I really like the look of this thing.’

The problem was that, judging from the description alone, the performance seemed pretty lame.

‘Fills it with fear.’

In other words, it shoots fear instead of bullets. So basically…

‘A blank round?’

Completely useless except for threats or warnings. What exactly am I supposed to do by firing fear…

‘Wait a second.’

—Please let me know the emotion of fear. Then I’ll let you stay the night whenever you want, Raven. How about it?

…This might actually be useful. There’s a customer with a very peculiar taste who craves fear, isn’t there? Even someone who can’t feel emotions might feel something if you shoot pure terror straight into their brain. Normally I could use it to drive off dangerous beasts or troublemakers.

‘Now that I think about it, it’s not bad at all.’

I felt strange, like I’d acquired a prop for a fear-demon cosplay, but the more I considered possible applications the better it seemed.

‘I want to test a skill.’

Could I activate it with will alone like the UI? Let’s see.

Skill activation, Filling. Skill activation Filling. Skill activation. Filling. Filling, filling.

I stared hard at the Injector and desperately wished for the skill to trigger.

Oh, so that’s how it works. I’d wondered what “charge” meant in the Injector’s description. So I pour in mana and the amount of fear delivered increases accordingly.

‘Not bad.’

Looking at it now, my mana pool was far larger than I’d imagined. I remembered that the biological energy I’d accumulated had been converted into mana, but I hadn’t realized it was this much. Over thirty million!

‘Well, I did eat a lot of meat pies while preparing for the boss fight.’

But then—

Why does it feel like my mana just dropped? And it keeps decreasing.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

It really is dropping. Wait, what did I even do? I’m just breathing and keeping my eyes open. One point every five seconds or so. At this point mana is basically my life force. Every five seconds another second of my lifespan is shaved away.

Watching my lifespan tick down in real time was a novel experience, but not exactly a pleasant one.

‘I’ll only use active skills when I absolutely have to.’

Once Sion wakes up I should ask her how to replenish mana. This is a fantasy world—there’s probably something like blue potions, right?

‘Still… I should at least test it once.’

I can’t exactly inject untested medicine into a patient. My hands trembled slightly as I prepared to spend some of my precious, life-equivalent mana.

‘Charge. One.’

The number went up! But one seemed too small. No, starting with the minimum amount for the first test was smarter. I could always increase it later.

—Click! Just to be sure, I opened the cylinder and peeked inside. A single ominous black bullet that seemed to swallow all light was now loaded. Good. Ready.

Then shall we begin the first clinical trial of the fear vaccine?

—Click. With a flick of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my wrist I snapped the cylinder back in and pressed the muzzle to my own head. Even if a physical bullet fired, the mask’s indestructible-object property should prevent serious injury.

Out of habit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my index finger, held straight, curled around the trigger and slowly pulled it back.

Now. Time to feel one point of fear!

Come to think of it, this is still a gun. Will it be loud?

The thought flashed through my mind a moment too late.

“Ah?”

But it was already too late. The trigger had been pulled.

Click.

“Oh sh—”

—BAAAAANG!!!

An ear-splitting roar shook heaven and earth. The recoil slammed my head sideways. Crack! For an instant my eardrums felt like they’d burst and my brain seemed to hemorrhage, but Kkachi must have finally gotten to work because the pain vanished in a flash. Regeneration speed seems faster now.

But there was a different problem.

“Unyanyanyaaaang!!!”

“Ueeehhh!?”

—Damn it! What the hell is that noise?!

—Kyaaaaaaaak!!!

—Nyanyanyang!!! It’s a bomb-fly attack, nyang!!!

—…What on earth is that sound? Did lightning strike somewhere?

The party members sprang up like live fish freshly pulled from the water, and a symphony of colorful screams erupted from every direction. Bang bang bang!

—…Open the door, Raven.

—Crow oppa? What the hell is this crazy stunt so early in the morning? I was so curious I didn’t even change my clothes!

And finally, the thick killing intent I could feel through the door… Somehow I had perfectly drawn wide-area aggro.

“Damn.”

Still. It’ll be useful for lure-hunting.