The Hunter and the Mad Scientist

Chapter 1

As the hidden episode was released, a new building appeared on the map.

[Count Avondale’s mansion]

To be exact, it was a place that was originally there but could not be entered. A mansion of considerable size, located a short distance from Upper Lane, a residential neighborhood of the upper class.

“Oh, I didn’t know this place would open”

The mansion looks rather stark. There were no beautiful fountains or gardens full of exotic trees, and there were no signs of human habitation.

‘Count Avondale’s mansion is basically……An abandoned house.’

The settings in the virtual reality game ‘Golden Claw’ are as follows. The hidden episode “The Secret of Count Avondale’s” began with newspaper boy Jack sending a note containing rumors about Count Avondale mansion.

Jack, who knows all kinds of rumors from the mansions of socialites to the back alleys, also said that the quiet mansion at the end of Upper Lane is a “haunted house.”

He heard a strange sound as he passed around the mansion at dawn and didn’t forget to add that it’s real secret information that he hasn’t told anyone in small letters on the corner of the crumpled note.

A dungeon with monsters will not suddenly appear in the “Golden Claw,” which accounts for 80% of the game content. At best, there must be an item hidden by Count Avondale, who died 12 years ago or a monster that makes weird noises.

If you go to the abandoned house and get a good item, the developer won’t let you go.

Once you get a decent item, you have to use it to fight bigger conspiracies, harder dungeons, and stronger monsters. Then you take the by-products of the monsters to the magic engineers to make them into good equipment, and then you take the equipment and break the dungeon. The game was a repeat of the pattern.

“Golden Claw” is the story of hunters (players) who defeat dungeons and monsters that suddenly appear in a steampunk world based on 19th century London.

‘It’s okay if this imperial city disappears.’

But I have to protect the city to win the game, so I can’t help it. I hope that the money gained from colonial management and the developed magic civilization will drop good items.

When I stood in front of the door, a notification window popped up.

I entered without hesitation.

A huge gate opened with a screeching sound and I felt like I could hear bleak background music. Something like a mixture of the sound of a broken music box and the sound of a percussion instrument that gradually accelerates along with the beating of the heart. And at the right time a crow’s cry was heard.

The weeds reached the dusty porch across the covered garden. I twisted the doorknob with my hands in Hunter’s gloves and of course it was locked.

“I brought something for a time like this.”

It’s not like once or twice that I’ve drilled an empty house while playing this game. If you are a user of “Golden Claw,” there is a disposable wire that you must carry in the inventory. When I put a wire in the keyhole and jolted, there were clack, clack, clack sounds.

Of course, a typical magic engineer’s house would have had a device that sounded loud throughout the house as soon as a wire was inserted into the keyhole of the gate.

“…….”

As expected, there’s nothing. It’s been 12 years since the owner of this house died. Twelve years will wear out the batteries.

What did he say the Count Avondale died of? I went through the information Jack brought me, but I couldn’t remember it properly. Well, it’s not important.

“It’s open.”

It was a deplorable thing for the dead count to see.

Some outsider it’s going to rob his house. No, he should be thankful that he hasn’t been robbed since he’s this sloppy. The door, much higher than the height of a person, was quite heavy.

I pushed the door open and entered the hall.

“Thump.”

The door closed behind my back. Maybe it was because of the sound that cut me off from the world, but the air seemed to have changed from before.

The mansion was not much different from an ordinary aristocratic mansion. The owner, Count Avondale, was said to be a freak, but it didn’t show much.

There are stairs that spread to both sides at the end of the hall where sculptures and ceramics are displayed. I thought there would be weird stuffed animals, but I don’t think he was a freak on that side.

I turned on the map, but the interior structure of the mansion is all black. It was a structure that did not show the map until you explored it. Like a dungeon.

Where should I go first?

The structure of the aristocratic castle or mansion is there. Let’s refer to the royal castle, which is already completely explored!

[Map: Royal Castle]

I turned on the Royal Castle map.

There are too many rooms but I don’t think there will be this many rooms in this mansion.

I’d better refer to Lord Humphrey’s mansion, which I robbed last time. I turned on the map again and pressed Sir Humphrey’s mansion in the middle of Upper Lane.

[Map: Humphrey House]

Hmm. Now it’s a little similar. Where should I go first? I’m going to open them all anyway.

The best way to get information is to study. A good magic engineer would have filled his study with useful information.

I went up the stairs referring to the structure of Lord Humphrey House. The place with the best light on the third floor is the perfect place for a study. Let’s turn the handle, sure enough, it was locked.

[Inventory]

I pulled out a wire. There were 157 wires left now.

‘It’s kind of a waste. I should have stopped at a hardware store before I entered the mansion.’

The owner of obsessive-compulsive disorder thought that she would not be relieved if she did not have 999 pieces.

The door opened. A big window with white sunlight, a desk in front of it and unknown instruments and small lights on the desk appeared along with a space surrounded by bookshelves on all four sides.

‘The ceiling is open.’

Maybe it was just this room, with the ceiling open and up to the second floor were all bookshelves. Each shelf was full of books. The chandelier from the ceiling glistened brilliantly. Wait a minute.

“Chandelier?”

Does it make sense that the chandelier glows in a house where the front door alarm system is broken?

I think there’s something wrong. Is it a setup that someone still lives in this castle? An old butler or maybe young servants? It’s obvious, but it’s usually like that.

I step toward the study more cautiously than before and I turn my head toward the space inside the study.

“Who are you?”

“Isn’t that what I should say?”

There stood a man with two books in one arm and loose blond hair. His white face, about a million light years away from the working class, was pure and elegant. However, the physique under the one-layer shirt was seemingly solid.

‘Putting in a handsome guy that suits my taste……Is it an Incubus dungeon?’

This mansion is just an abandoned house, not a dungeon. If it was a dungeon, I’d get an alarm. But now, it doesn’t seem like it’s even an abandoned house, so that was a problem. Was Jack’s information wrong?

When there was no answer, the man leaned against the bookshelf, smiled crookedly, and asked again.

“Who are you to come into my house without a word?”

No, let’s do my best. It was definitely an abandoned house. The alarm was off, the garden was ruined and Jack never gives wrong information.

There are times when I might say, ‘Actually, there was this kind of backstory!’, but it has to be revealed at the end. There was never a case where people lived normally in a house even though it was abandoned!

“I’m Hunter.”

“Hunter? Then you should go to the forest.”

“A hunter who catches monsters!”

The man put the book down on the tray. Is it time to take out his weapon? The man strode up. I’m ready to take out my weapon. One more step…….

I caught a long rifle in my hand as I was groping through the inventory. It was the first weapon I had mastered, and even after I started using other weapons, I could handle this rifle as if it were part of my body.

“You’re sloppy for coming to kill me, and you’re proud that you came to steal something.”

The man, who rubbed his chin and raised his head up and down not far away, smiled brightly.

“What’s your name?”

“……Esperanza.”

“That’s a nice name. Esperanza, take a seat. Put down that ignorant big weapon. It’s a gun I’ve never seen before, but I’m interested in it.”

His tone of voice changed from rude to respectful. Then he pulled something out of his arms and pressed it. After a while, the door opened with a knock.

“Count, did you call?”

“We have an unexpected guest. Get the tea ready and some food.”

The man, who checked his hand wearing gloves, added.

“Something you can simply pick up and eat.”

“Yes, Count. But that lady……?”

“I’m going to find out about her in the future. Millen, don’t forget my stimuler when you bring the tea.”

The man named Millen, who appeared to be a servant, closed the door without asking a single question about the situation.

“There’s a servant……?”

The voice that asked belatedly trembled. People can live in abandoned houses by making concessions a hundred times. The inside could be this normal but you can’t live with a servant.

“He said it was an abandoned house…No, it was definitely an abandoned house.”

“The Avondale mansion abandoned? That’s an interesting story. This mansion has always had an owner in the last 150 years.”

“But it’s been empty for 12 years…….There’s no front door alarm, and there’s a lot of grass in the garden!”

“The gardener who worked on the weeding yesterday would be sad to hear it.”

Esperanza pursed her lips while the man, who sat diagonally on the sofa and folded his arms, looked at Esperanza with a face saying, “Now that I’ve heard all your nonsense, I’ll say what I have to say.”

When their eyes met, the man with a light smile around his mouth asked in a gentle tone that gave her goosebumps around her neck.

“The shape of the gun is very unique, can I take a look?”

“Yes, well, look.”

I wasn’t in the mood to do something so I handed over my weapon.

What the hell’s going on? The whole time I handed over the gun, I was full of thoughts that I didn’t understand. He said the gardener worked on the weeding yesterday so I ran at the window and looked down.