“You’re SURE you know how to handle this?”
Rolling her eyes, Lexi replies in the affirmative for what feels like the hundredth time.
Guns come from MY world, Eric. Or at least they come from every other world but Terra.
It’d been a shock to learn that guns are considered a useless luxury here, when they’re relatively cheap and commonplace back home.
> ”Why would we pay engineers, alchemists, or sages thousands of gold coins for a weapon that’s slower than many spells, aura-blasts, or Imperial Knights using Flash?”
Up until that conversation, Lexi hadn’t fully realized that Eric and Ray had deliberately reduced their speed that time in order to sustain the skill over a long distance while they’d been fleeing the northeast.
> ”Not to mention, this weapon relies too heavily on ammunition that can only be manufactured by players. It’s a ridiculous device. At least arrows can be made by anyone with access to common materials, or even a tree. And anything can be a projectile in a pinch. No matter what players say, this is our world - so we fight our way.”
She hadn’t been able to disagree with him at all. It’d been Jordan who’d suggested coating two bullets in griffin tears for hunting the basilisk, and that had led to a conversation at the dinner table about who amongst them is best trained to handle a gun.
Unsurprisingly, the gentle Elise has never touched one in her life, and since spawning in this world had only seen the weapons in nobles’ homes when they proudly displayed the luxury good in glass cases.
Lexi herself hadn’t actually used them outside of the shooting ranges her father had taken her to on occasion, and that one time at an army open day when the military had been showing off the latest locally produced assault rifle.
(In that same conversation, she’d learned that Shade Raphael is a crack shot, though even Jordan isn’t sure why. Lexi doesn’t want to assume it’s because he’d been involved in gangs or crime in his own world, but looking at his track record here it’s highly likely).
With one last, doubtful glance, Eric hands over the beautifully crafted double-action revolver, two griffin tear-coated bullets already chambered. Ray checks her Mask of Mist once more, before nodding at his commander.
Here we go.
Not only can the basilisk kill with its breath or glance, it’s incredibly fast and they’re hunting it on a rainy day, which means Lexi is at risk of slipping and falling.
She’s already used Foresight twice while they discussed their strategy one last time after leaving the horses, and both times she’d seen herself losing her footing on wet ground before staring at a vicious, reptilian face.
Hence Eric going with Plan C and giving her the gun.
Let's just hope this actually changes things for the better.
Visibility is poor, with a light fog rolling in, though Lexi possesses Sight and Intuition which should help her track the monster as Eric and Ray rush in. The knights can’t use aura blast from a distance due to the lack of visibility and the basilisk’s senses and speed - since it can both evade and counterattack if the knights just blast aura randomly - which means they need to get close enough to sight it and pierce it with their blades.
Fortunately, being high level knights means both Eric and Ray can wield their aura defensively, to protect themselves from the basilisk’s poison breath. Though nothing can defend against the feathered reptile’s deadly gaze.
Don’t screw this up.
She knows she’s overreacting, since she’d seen the number over the creature’s head in Foresight - level 60, which makes it much lower ranked than the knights - but she can’t help worrying that she’ll miss and end up hurting one of her escorts.
I’m not that good a shot. I’ve fired less than two hundred bullets at a stationary target and that’s it.
Stop it, it’s too late for that. They can’t leave you with the horses because that’s too far away, and they won’t be able to reach you in time with this visibility and the basilisk around.
Just get it right. Don’t mess up. Not again, not now.
Taking a deep breath, Lexi tries to relax her shoulders, straining her eyes and ears for clues.
There!
Sight briefly shows her a little box, before it disappears. Seconds feel like hours before red lights appear, and Lexi struggles to hear above a thundering heartbeat.
Don’t rush it. Just wait. Remember what that asshole said about being a sniper?
She’d dated an ex-sniper once, who’d told her that his job had mostly been to wait around - sometimes lying in his own excrement - and then ensure enemy targets pinned themselves in fear, not knowing where and how many hostiles they were facing, while he called in backup.
Not sure if he was talking out of his ass, since he lied about almost everything. But I guess that part was true? Most guys would try to tell you they’d been responsible for numerous kills like in the movies - that guy just made his sniper days seem boring at best.
Forget it, forget him. Focus on now. Eric and Ray are counting on me, since the rain means they can’t coat their swords in griffin tears. I need to get this right if the three of us want to make it out of here.
The red lights jerk, spin, dash, spread out, and concentrate. Lexi almost screams when all three stop temporarily, fearing the worst, but then two lights break away and she heaves a sigh of relief.
I knew you guys could do it.
Sometimes she wonders why she’d been granted a time attribute class when she’s always been an impatient person.
That bitch Karma, I guess.
Waiting is difficult, especially when she can’t see what’s happening - can only rely on Sight and Intuition - and Eric and Ray are trying not to speak because they don’t want to risk inhaling toxic fumes.
Hang on.
The basilisk’s movements have a distinct pattern, almost like in games.
No, it’s protecting something.
“It’s got an egg!”
The two red lights she assumes are Eric and Ray don’t even stutter, but she knows they heard her.
> ”A basilisk lays only one egg in its lifetime, my lady. And that egg is highly prized for use in creating antidotes to poisons.”
Now we’ve leveled the playing field.
One red light seems to search for the egg before another, larger one rushes towards it, the last light hot on its heels.
Gotcha.
Time for Flow.
Breathing in deep, she focuses on observing the impact of the fog, wind, rain, and slippery terrain on the movements of all three combatants, trying to anticipate where the creature will go.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
There.
Her gut tells her to take the shot, that it’s now or never, and she squeezes the trigger once her arms have moved into a position that makes her instincts scream.
It’s deafeningly loud to someone like Lexi, and she immediately raises her shoulders in a belated attempt to shield her ears but the pain has set in and she knows she can’t take another shot, not for awhile, because it hurts, it’s ripping out my ear drums and clawing at my mind and...
“...dy!”
Hurts! Stop!
Shaking joins the loud noises right by her ears, right in her head, and Lexi curls tighter, trying not be sick, trying not to rip her own ears off because everything just hurts too damn much and...
“LEXI!”
Daddy...?
“Lexi! Get a hold of yourself!”
That sounds familiar.
“Lexi, I swear if you don’t stop this right now you’ll be running laps for WEEKS.”
Oh HELL no.
Forcing her eyes open, blinking as she tries to orient herself in a spiraling world, eventually Lexi realizes she’d collapsed onto hands and knees - dropping the gun and curling up, though Eric now has a firm grip on her wrists - and had been screaming her throat raw.
“Wh...wha...basilisk?”
Relief floods an expression that’s usually cold, bothered, or snide with her.
“We told you thirty-seven times already. Are you going senile?”
Asshole.
Seeing her glare at him must be one of the greatest joys of his life, given the expression on a face no less handsome despite the rain, blood, and dirt.
“My lady.” The weather conditions almost make it look like Ray’s crying. “You killed the basilisk.”
I did what?
“S...so then my shot, that shot, it worked?”
She can’t believe it, not when she’s not actually trained to shoot, had only followed her dad to shooting ranges for some fun father-daughter activity to shake up the routine now and then.
“You said you weren’t very good with guns.” Eric just looks relieved. “But that shot went straight through the diadem on its head.”
Thank you, Lady Luck.
Ray takes the gun and helps her stand, and then Eric disappears into the fog for a bit before returning with a harvest pack that’s thicker than before.
On their way back to the inn with the busty barmaids, Lexi thinks she lost her hearing during the fight.
“I should’ve known even a gun with dampened sound would be too much for your ears. Sorry.”
Did I just use up a lifetime’s worth of luck?
----------------------------------------
It takes them almost ten days to reach the capital gates after killing the basilisk, since the weather takes a turn for the worse and they have to carefully make their way through cold torrential downpours.
Despite all that, Lexi isn’t upset. She’s one of the few people she knows who enjoys rain immensely - enjoys being soaked to the bone and chilled slightly (now that she has the warming amulet from Jordan, the cold doesn’t bother her much), enjoys the way everything around her turns gray and deafeningly quiet, enjoys feeling all alone in an isolated world.
The sun takes over the sky only once they’re less than a day from the capital, and then she’s uncomfortable due to the chafing and soggy clothes, but she psyches herself up with thoughts of a warm bath, great food, and even better wine at the manor.
Of course, they have to report to the Guild first, and that sours her mood immensely - especially when that smarmy guild master appears and tries to demand the basilisk egg as part of the quest’s terms.
Lexi hadn’t spent years exploiting technicalities for clients to go down without a fight.
You just messed with the wrong person, bitch.
Some of the first books she’d memorized in the duke’s library had been the laws of the empire, followed by the rules of the Guild. She’d also carefully inspected each quest document, checked the fine print thrice on every piece of paperwork the Guild had asked her to sign.
The basilisk on two legs is seething, barely containing his rage at losing out on such a precious item, and maybe yellow lights start to take on a faint orange hue eventually but Lexi doesn’t care because she’s the type of person to go all in when she’s pissed off.
And when she dislikes someone this much, she prefers to burn the bridge between them in order to roast marshmallows.
One large, gloved hand covers her mouth just as she’s about to make this vile man explode, and then Eric is dropping some sweetly snide nothings before she’s carried out and lifted onto Violet.
As soon as Ray has helped her dismount at the manor, the two men start laughing uproariously.
“His...his face! Gods, that snake’s FACE!”
“My lady, that was amazing!”
Huh?
The entire way back, both knights had been clenching their jaws tight, Ray holding Violet’s reins firmly to ensure Lexi wouldn’t try to turn around and unload the rest of her mind on the guild master.
“That’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen!” Eric is struggling to stand and control his mirth, wiping his eyes. “Oh Lexi, you’ve earned yourself a day off combat training.”
Stingy bastard.
Later, when the rest of the servants hear about how she’d categorically put the conniving guild master in his place, Lexi receives hearty congratulations and applause everywhere she goes in the manor.
Even the duke orders for one of his most prized bottles of wine to be brought to the dinner table.
Needless to say, Jordan promises her expensive gifts, and Elise is attempting to write a song about the incident so the bards can carry Lexi’s name far and wide.
If everyone hates him so much, how is that guild master still alive?
----------------------------------------
Great. Another nepo baby.
It turns out the guild master is the second son of a marquess and a late oracle, which makes him both a noble of considerable standing and one who carries the blood of a player.
The reason no one has killed him yet is because he never leaves the Guild, having equipped the building (and himself) with the best defensive items he could expense to the organization.
Players’ abilities are weakened at the ground floor then nullified elsewhere in the Guild building, so he’s safe from our powers. And the amount of magic items he has makes him a hard man to kill as long as he remains within his safe zone.
Lexi isn’t a particularly petty person, but she always makes it a point to repay what she’s received threefold.
I’ll get you one day. It’s only fair since you’ve exploited and mistreated players for years, sold their information, whereabouts, and lives to the highest bidders and then bribed your way to innocence.
But mostly I’m gonna get you because you tried to mess with me directly and take what’s mine. I don’t forgive anyone who does that.
For the time being, while she’s still a low level player, Lexi focuses on what she can do to improve, spending time with Elise whenever she can.
The older sage had told her that there’s no way to disable Guide or Sight without using expensive magic items that block all skills, but she’d also said that with enough practice Lexi would learn to be able to look past the little displays and see the world as it is.
Eric gets Dhampir Lily’s help in listing the basilisk and its egg in the underground auction, since they’d fetch higher prices there, and even though the redhead seems to detest Shade Raphael he doesn’t have a problem making money off the illegal channels owned by the legendary player.
> “Making that Shade work for me is a pleasure.”
Lexi and Elise had laughed merrily at that, before happily planning their shopping trip.
Thirty-three thousand gold coins.
That’s how much money the three of them have made from selling the spoils of the quest in the underground market, after deducting the auction’s commission. (Since it’s an off-the-books sale, they don’t have to pay taxes on their earnings). According to Dhampir Lily, who’d heard it from Shade Raphael, the guild master had sent someone on his behalf to the auction but that person had given up early on.
A snake and a Scrooge. Sounds like a bad joke.
The next day, Lexi takes Vena along because she feels bad for the girl/woman being stuck in the manor all the time, and because she has no idea what to buy for a 50 year old in a 10 year old’s body.
Although the half-elf holds her hood tightly over her brunette head at first, eventually those small hands are too busy clutching snacks and gifts to bother. Some people point and whisper, but one look from Eric always silences them easily.
It’s a fruitful trip, and Lexi is both pleased with the amount of valuable items she’d bought at a bargain as well as the reaction of everyone she’d presented gifts to.
11,000 gold coins goes a long way in this world.
The duke has ordered the butler, Vincent, to store the weapons, armor, and accessories Lexi had purchased safely in a spare study, while Eric goes through the list of items with Ray and decides on who to sell them to based on ability, affinity, and affluence.
Lexi would feel bad about corrupting the empire’s sword, but it turns out he’s always been a lot more gray in his morals than she’d thought.
> ”Ric’s the kind of person who’d do whatever it takes to complete his mission, Lexi.”
Jordan had told her that when she’d been staring at Eric, and it makes sense in a way. As the Commander of the Hawk Legion, he’s had to do his share of covert operations, get his hands dirty for the sake of his masters - a person who clings to abstract but absolute notions of right and wrong wouldn’t have made it this far.
Later, Elise whispers worriedly to her that Crown Prince Jordan’s habit of wearing that simple silver bracelet around proudly and telling everyone it’s a gift from Lexi has triggered Summoner Selena to meet Oracle Kass, as well as Shade Raphael once again.
She’d only meant to show the prince her appreciation for the protection bracelet he’d given her, had deliberately given him a single use magic item that would save his life from one fatal poisoning since he faces danger even in his own home.
Eric grounds her immediately at the news, telling her that it’s better to lie low than attract even more attention from “those people”. Lexi doesn’t mind the forced lockdown though, teaching Vena sign language - after creating an advanced enough Terra-Sign vocabulary based on all the books and dictionaries she’s managed to cram - which interests the redhead and his deputy enough to the point that the entire Hawk Legion and Dawn Knightage start taking lessons daily.
The day after the official invitation from the palace comes, a steady stream of designers and merchants livens the manor as the duke, Eric, and Lexi prepare to attend the party celebrating the 30th anniversary of the emperor’s reign.
Lexi has always hated crowded places. And she doesn’t need Intuition to tell her that this party will be one of the most dangerous battlefields she’s ever stepped foot in.
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CHAPTER 17 END