I Became A Collaborative Character In The Game

Chapter 15 – Lilia

The group, sipping broth made with Jogress meat and salt for breakfast, suddenly looked up.

Although the sound was quite distant, it was clearly a human scream.

“[It seems to be a woman’s scream.]”

“[Northwest direction.]”

Luther, jumping to his feet at Integra’s words, looked at Karen and Max and said,

“It’s coming from the northwest. I’ll go check it out first. Pack your things and get ready to move.”

He couldn’t tell what was happening or how dangerous it was based on a single scream.

At Luther’s words, Max and Max put down their bowls of broth and started packing.

“Integra, how far is it?”

“[Estimated to be about 200 meters.]”

It was closer than he thought.

Luther quickly dashed off, recalling the map he had seen last night.

‘200 meters northwest… that’s almost the edge of the forest.’

Where the forest ended and met the road.

“[It’s below the slope.]”

“[I recommend taking cover on the slope.]”

Good point.

Having covered the 200 meters in an instant, Luther, instead of revealing himself on the slope, crouched down nearby and raised his right arm.

“Integra, drone.”

“[Deploying drone.]”

Along with her gentle voice, the drone attached to his wrist unfolded its propellers and took off.

‘Oh.’

This was future technology.

Drones existed in Luther’s time as well, but this drone was different.

It could project a beautiful maid hologram—

‘No, that’s not the point.’

It had a much more important function.

“Integra, shared vision.”

“[Sharing vision with Master. Please close your eyes.]”

As instructed, Luther closed his eyes, and an image appeared in his mind.

The world seen from the drone’s perspective.

‘It’s like I’m a bird.’

The view from above felt different.

The drone’s camera, flying silently down the slope, captured the situation.

“Sob… sob…”

A terrified blonde woman was sitting on the ground, sobbing, and three men were approaching her menacingly.

The men, wielding swords, were clearly dressed as adventurers.

Mismatched pieces of armor, leather clothing, and accessories made from monster teeth and claws.

The blonde woman, who looked to be around twenty years old, didn’t look like an adventurer at all.

Her traveling clothes were clearly high-quality, with elaborate decorations.

More than anything, her elegant appearance didn’t fit the image of an adventurer.

She wasn’t just beautiful; she had the air of a noble lady.

‘More than half of the adventurers in Dragon Hunter Origins were scum.’

They called themselves adventurers, but in reality, they weren’t much different from wandering mercenaries.

The main duty of adventurers was to handle various tasks requiring swords in places beyond the reach of the military.

But since these places were beyond the reach of the military, they were often lawless, and this led to rampant crime.

‘People who could turn into criminals at any moment.’

There was even a saying in Dragon Hunter Origins: “Adventurer can sometimes be synonymous with robber, rapist, and murderer.”

Of course, not all adventurers were like that, as evidenced by Karen and Max, but the tendency was stronger in remote, undeveloped areas.

“W… why… what…?”

The blonde woman asked, trembling with fear, and the adventurers looked at each other and started laughing.

“Simple math, missy. We get one gold coin for completing the escort mission. But if we jump you in a deserted place, we can get at least thirty gold coins and have some fun too. So of course, we choose the latter, right?  Shouldn’t have flashed your coin purse so easily.”

The red-haired adventurer, presumably the leader of the group, and quite handsome, rubbed his hands together as he spoke, and the other two also grinned lewdly.

Judging from the situation, the adventurers hired as escorts had turned into robbers.

They probably changed their minds after seeing the blonde woman’s purse.

“Heh heh, shall we have some fun then?”

The red-haired man said, and the other two approached the blonde woman with lecherous grins.

The terrified woman looked around and screamed,

“Help! Someone, please help me!”

It was a desperate cry, but the adventurers just laughed as if it was amusing.

The red-haired adventurer taunted her,

“Have you forgotten where we are?  No one will hear you scream.”

He was right.

It was the sparsely populated Forest of Ancient Trees, and even if there were people around, they would usually ignore screams.

It was a sign of danger.

‘But there are always exceptions.’

Luther made up his mind, opened his eyes, deactivated shared vision, and spoke in a low voice,

“Integra, set the Energy Gun to stun.”

“[Setting Energy Gun to stun.]”

“[Activating aiming assist.]”

Luther nodded and leaped up the slope, extending his right hand.

*Pew pew pew!*

It was a perfect surprise attack.

The bald man and the brown-haired man next to him, whose attention was completely focused on the blonde woman, were struck in the back of their heads and collapsed without a chance to react.

The red-haired adventurer, with surprising reflexes, dodged the first shot, but it didn’t make much difference.

He could just shoot again.

*Pew pew!*

“Gah!”

The red-haired man, hit in the forehead and chest, collapsed forward.

“[Acquired a small amount of combat data.]”

“[Piece of cake, right?]”

“Indeed.”

It was only natural that small-fry adventurers would be taken down in one shot.

Luther looked at his right arm, where the Energy Gun was located, clenched his fist, and went down the slope.

He wanted to comfort the blonde woman, who had just been on the verge of being assaulted.

“[But Master, it seems she has fainted.]”

Just as Integra said,

The blonde woman, who had been screaming just moments ago, was leaning against a tree, unconscious.

“[It seems she fainted from shock after seeing the men suddenly collapse, especially after being in a state of extreme tension.]”

“[She seems to be very fragile.]”

It was a little disconcerting, but not entirely incomprehensible.

For the blonde woman, it must have been a life-or-death situation.

“Integra, let’s check her condition, just in case.”

“[Understood.]”

Luther nodded at Integra’s reply, approached the blonde woman, and carefully took her wrist.

“[She is completely unconscious.]”

“[But there seem to be no health problems.]”

“[How about leaving her before she becomes a heroine?]”

He thought he heard something strange, but Luther shook his head and examined the blonde woman again.

‘Remarkable.’

The blonde woman was very beautiful.

Light-colored, long hair and a delicate, somewhat melancholic appearance.

But no name came to mind.

‘Just like Karen, she’s this beautiful, but not a character in the game?’

While the argument “beautiful = character in the game!” was a bit of a stretch, it wasn’t entirely wrong either.

‘All the characters in the Dragon Hunter series were beautiful.’

And they were all beautiful to a certain degree.

The reason beautiful people were called treasures of the world was because of their rarity.  While not all beautiful people in the world could be characters in the Dragon Hunter series, it was still worth considering.

“Well… I guess we’ll find out when she wakes up.”

Luther cleanly abandoned the thought and turned his gaze towards the unconscious adventurers.

But at that moment,

“Luther… sir?”

Karen and Max appeared on the slope.

They seemed to have followed him because he hadn’t returned.

“Luther… sir, what happened?”

Three men lying unconscious on the ground and an unconscious woman.

Luther pointed at the red-haired man and said,

“Three men tried to assault and rob this woman.  I knocked them out and saved her, but she fainted from shock.”

Luther’s speech was still a bit stiff when he spoke longer sentences.

It seemed he needed a little more time to fully master the language.

“Hmm… I think I understand.”

Max looked around, nodded, and continued,

“It seems the adventurers they hired as escorts turned into robbers.  It’s quite common in these remote areas.”

Karen also nodded in agreement.

Luther already knew that the world of Dragon Hunter was quite messed up from the game, but their reactions still made him feel strange.

“[Master, judging by Karen and Max’s reactions, incidents like this seem to be commonplace on this planet.]”

“[But judging by the fact that she was targeted, the unconscious woman must be very naive or unaware of the ways of the world.]”

“Indeed.”

Luther replied curtly and said to Karen,

“We can’t just leave her like this, so let’s take her with us.”

“Yes, even if she wakes up, she won’t be able to go back alone. It would be best to take her to a village at least.”

It was a thoughtful answer, typical of Karen.

As Luther smiled, Max looked at the unconscious adventurers and asked,

“What should we do with them?”

“Let’s take their equipment.”

Max nodded immediately at Luther’s reply.

It seemed he had been thinking the same thing.

“Karen, please look after her.”

“Yes, Luther… sir.”

While Karen tended to the blonde woman, Luther stripped the adventurers of their equipment and frowned.

“Hmm… there doesn’t seem to be anything useful, does there?”

“[I agree with Master.]”

“[Most of it is of poor quality and poorly maintained.]”

Although it might fetch some money, they already had a lot of luggage because of the Jogress, so they decided to just take the weapons and discard the rest.

About ten minutes later,

Luther lifted the still-unconscious blonde woman onto his shoulder and stood up.

Max had dragged the adventurers away, saying he would take care of them. Luther didn’t ask what he was planning to do.

They were men who would have raped and killed the blonde woman before leaving if he hadn’t intervened.

He didn’t want to get involved in whatever Max was going to do.

“Then let’s get going.”

The group, led by Karen, who had the lightest load, left the Forest of Ancient Trees and started walking along the road.

About 20 minutes later,

“[Master, six life signs are approaching from around the bend.]”

“[Presumed to be human.]”

Luther flinched at Integra’s words, raised his hand, and signaled Max and Karen to stop.

“Luther… sir?”

“Someone’s coming.”

Immediately after Luther’s quiet words,

Just as Integra said, people were approaching from around the bend.

But their appearance was unsettling.

There were five men dressed as adventurers, and one of them was carrying an unconscious woman on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Just as Luther’s group was taken aback, so were they. But then, the bald man, presumably their leader, grinned at Luther—more precisely, at the blonde woman on Luther’s shoulder.

“[They seem to think you are colleagues.]”

“[A somewhat reasonable assumption.]”

A group carrying an unconscious woman like luggage and adventurers turned human traffickers.

Karen and Max’s expressions hardened as if they were thinking the same thing, and Luther frowned.

He already knew things were bad, but the state of law and order in these remote areas was still shocking.

And a few seconds later,

Amidst the strange tension, the bald man gestured to Luther with his chin and eyes.

“[It is presumed he means to go their separate ways.]”

You got yours, I got mine, so let’s just pretend we didn’t see each other.

After a brief moment of consideration, Luther nodded, and Karen and Max, who had been watching him, flinched but didn’t object.

“Alright then.”

The bald man said and passed by Luther with his group.

But immediately after,

The very moment the two groups passed each other,

“Get them!”

“Integra!”

The bald man and Luther shouted almost simultaneously and turned around, and the fight began.

–CROW–