Black Sun
“Hyaah-!”
The greatsword came crashing down from above and shattered an orc’s skull.
The recoil lifted her body just a little off the ground. Without pausing, she used the greatsword as a pivot and kicked her legs back hard. Her body spun once in midair as she recovered the blade.
“Hnnngh-!”
Then she swung the greatsword down from overhead once more.
“Uryaaah-!”
Another orc standing in the blade’s path was cleaved cleanly in half at the torso.
“Hah!”
She drew a short breath and landed on the ground. Through Qi Sensing she swept her surroundings.
“One, twooo, three, fooour, five…!”
Five corpses lay sprawled across the dirt.
She unfolded the request form she had taken from the guild. The writing itself was invisible to her, but through Qi Sensing the scratches carved into the paper stood out crystal clear. Right in the center of the form was a gouge shaped like the number 5—kindly marked for her by the receptionist in charge, Hermila.
“The world’s still worth living in! Hahaha.”
She snickered at the thought of Hermila, then drove the greatsword into the ground and let go of the hilt.
Her vision went dark and strength drained from her body in a long, sliding rush. Mm… is my head going blank? Anyway.
“I really can’t get used to this…”
She squatted down, pulled the hammer hanging from her right thigh, and began feeling over the upper half of an orc corpse. The first thing her fingers found was… an orc’s breast.
“Ugh…”
Higher up she found the collarbone; higher still, a sharp fang hooked against her fingertip.
“Eugh… sticky…”
She clamped the tooth tight and swung the hammer. After a few solid blows the resistance against the hammer lessened.
“Mmm, that should do it.”
To check the result she stood briefly and gripped the greatsword’s hilt. Information about the surrounding terrain poured into her mind. Once the sharp headache faded, she inspected the smashed skull.
“A little lower…”
She let go of the greatsword again, squatted, and swung the hammer near the gum line. With a wet crack, lukewarm liquid splattered around her ankles.
“Blech…”
She shuddered, stood, and seized the hilt once more. It wasn’t pretty, but the teeth had come free on their own.
“Mm—not bad.”
She gathered them up and stuffed them into the leather pouch at her waist. After that she yanked every remaining orc tooth free. Smiling with satisfaction, she patted the now-heavy pouch.
“Another day’s wages—done!”
She hooked the greatsword at her hip, slung the pack she had hidden in the corner over her shoulder, wiped the blood off roughly with a rag from the bag, and set off. Time to collect her reward.
Screee-tap- screee-tap-
The greatsword dragging at her waist scraped the ground with an irritating noise. She glanced back. …She couldn’t see, of course, but through Qi Sensing she looked. Half a handspan beside her own footprints, the greatsword’s trail was being carved into the earth as well.
“Sigh…”
Feeling inexplicably stifled, she gave the greatsword a couple of light punches with her fist and kept walking.
Screee-tap- screeee-tap-tap-!
“After deducting the floor-repair fee, that’s a total of one gold. Good work, Miss Noah.”
Hermila beamed at her and handed over the reward.
Heh… this is why I hunt.
Last time you treated me, so today’s my round!
“Th-thank… you. T-to… today…”
Unlike her heart, this pathetic body couldn’t even manage a proper thank-you. She heaved an inward sigh and expanded her Qi Sensing to take in the room.
The thick smell of sweat. A wooden interior. A big round table. Sticky rings of spilled drink crusted across the surface. Adventurers roaring drunk and loud. Others staring at the request board with grave faces. It was a familiar scene she had watched for eight years inside the game.
The game’s name was Black Sun.
A title she had poured every scrap of her time into with pure affection. The gameplay was a typical Soulslike MMORPG, but the character customization was insanely free. You still spent points on stats within a given pool, yet you could dump other stats or take penalties to gain huge amounts of points in return. That system had produced an absurd number of bizarre concept characters.
About thirty percent of them had been hers.
Then one day a post on the community boards caught her eye.
The title alone hit her like a lightning bolt. This… this kind of romance you won’t find anywhere else, she thought, and immediately logged in to start building the character.
Gender: female.
Hair: black.
Eyes: red.
Class: warrior.
Weapon: greatsword.
And she took the blindness penalty.
The broad strokes were set; now she needed a trait to counter the penalty. After digging around she found exactly one method.
The passive trait obtained by maxing Greatsword Mastery: Qi Sensing.
As long as the greatsword was equipped, she could perceive her surroundings in perfect detail. Yes—as long as it was equipped. Without the greatsword she would just be a useless short beautiful girl, but that didn’t matter. It was a game; when would she ever put the weapon down?
Anyway.
The points required to reach Qi Sensing were enormous—far more than the blindness penalty alone could cover. In the end she decided to dump every other stat imaginable.
Height: the absolute minimum that still allowed equipping a greatsword—145.7 cm.
Agility: the lowest value that still let her hunt.
Weight: likewise the lowest that permitted the greatsword.
Affinity, cooking, craftsmanship—every life skill went straight into the trash. Low affinity made it hard to raise NPC favor and accept quests, but who was she?
An eight-year veteran of Black Sun.
Veterans didn’t care about that crap. She dumped it all without a second thought. Cooking? Just buy potions when HP dropped. Craftsmanship? Take gear to the blacksmith. Intelligence and everything else? Useless. It was a game.
Cooking… hand skills…!
Why would a game need those!!
When HP drops you just chug a potion!! Huh?? Any work that needs hand skills the blacksmith handles for you!!
So she threw them all away! Why!!
But! But then!!!
She never expected to get possessed by that very character…
Anyway… with life stats near zero she couldn’t even hold a proper conversation with NPCs, and simple gear maintenance was completely beyond her. The oversized greatsword left constant gouges in the adventurer guild’s floorboards. Qi Sensing let her feel the world around her, yet she still couldn’t see writing, pictures, colors, or people’s faces.
Still, after two months of living like this she had learned to read a little expression from the movement of facial muscles!
I’m amazing!
“Haaah…”
A sigh escaped at her pitiful lot. While she was breathing out that gloomy breath, Hermila gently stroked her head with a voice full of worry.
“Miss Noah. Is something troubling you?”
“N-no…”
There is!
I want to see Hermila’s face so badly!
I saw her all the time in the game, but never the real thing!!
“If anything’s hard, you can always tell me. I’ll listen as long as you need after work. All right?”
“Y-yes… thank you.”
Feeling Hermila’s hand, she gave a tiny nod. After stroking her head for a long while, Hermila seemed to remember something and spoke again.
“Ah, right. Miss Noah. A named request came in this time—what do you think?”
“N-named…? Uh…”
Awkward.
And suspicious!
I can hunt a little, but I’ve got zero social skills and I can’t even see. Why would anyone look for me?
Mm… looks?
Well, the face is pretty enough. It’s a custom character packed with my concentrated essence, after all.
But if some guy gets excited over a short flat-chested girl like this…
Absolutely not!
No matter how much money they offer, no way.
“I-I won’t…”
“The most important part—the reward! The reward is thirty gold. Pretty juicy, right?”
“I’ll do it…!”
For that much I’d sell my soul.
“Heheh, good choice. Shall I read it for you, then?”
She nodded. Hermila carefully opened the envelope, unfolded the request form, and leaned close to whisper into her ear.
“Let’s see… the content is an escort to Cartia Village. Reward: thirty gold. Absolute secrecy is a mandatory condition, it says?”
Absolute secrecy?
How did they know my lips are sealed, too.
“If you accept, wait at the farthest corner seat of the adventurer guild by one o’clock in the afternoon on August 27th.”
The 27th… that’s tomorrow.
“T-tomorrow…?”
“Indeed. It’s a little past six in the evening now, so oh my, you’d better get ready quickly, hadn’t you?”
Already six…?
Collecting orc teeth took me eleven hours…?
And where the heck is Cartia Village anyway?
“Um… Miss Hermila. How far is Cartia Village…?”
“Hmm, by carriage it would take about a week, I’d say?”
“A week…?”
Hermila’s mouth hung open for a moment before she spoke again.
“Miss Noah… have you never taken a long-term request like this before?”
“No…”
“All right. I’ll write you a full list, so just prepare exactly what’s on it and go. You’ll be fine.”
Wow… Hermila, you’re an angel…?
Why are you so good to me!
Even if you treat me this well, I don’t have anything to give back…!
Her nose stung. Once she got the thirty gold… she was going to treat her to a huge feast.
“Th-thank you… so much…”
“…It’s nothing. First go wash up, Miss Noah. After dinner I’ll give you the list.”
Her throat locked tight; she could only nod vigorously and head for the inn. On the way out, the look in Hermila’s eyes was exactly the kind people give a stray puppy.