"Uh... that..."
Hades looked at the man in front of him, who was bare-chested, muscular, and staring at him warily, as if he was about to stab him with the pitchfork at any moment.
If this were an NPC, the expression was too rich. There was a "uncanny valley" effect in games, so to avoid that, YGGDRASIL wouldn't make NPC expressions too elaborate.
But the man in front of him, in Hades' view, had lifelike details, from his hair to the subtle twitches of his muscles. This made him feel a chill.
"I want to ask, where is this?" Hades asked the man. If this were a game, these NPCs would only respond to players' inquiries with pre-set lines and actions.
So after a few exchanges, Hades could roughly figure out the current situation: whether he was in a virtual world or had come to reality.
"Who are you!?" Emert asked again, his tone involuntarily becoming harsher. He glanced around, and although it was dark, the terrain was flat with no place to hide, so he judged that the young man was alone.
But this didn't make him lower his guard. He would judge whether the other party was a thief based on the young man's answer.
"Tch~, so it's a virtual world after all." Hades heard the man say the same words and clicked his tongue.
He had already decided that he would sue the manufacturer of the nano-device he was using.
YGGDRASIL obviously couldn't disregard the explicit legal provisions and access the realistic experience function that was intended for medical use, so it was likely that the device he was currently using had malfunctioned, and he happened to encounter the game's delayed shutdown, or a new prank beta test for the second installment. These things needed to be observed further.
"What are you talking about?" Emert was taken aback, then pushed the pitchfork forward and said, "Answer me, who are you? Where did you come from?"
"Yes, yes, I'm from "Midgard." So, is this "Helheim?" How do I leave the game now?" Hades said, his tone slightly impatient.
He had things to do tomorrow, and he didn't want to keep wasting time here. Saying the keyword "leave the game" would probably trigger the NPC's pre-set dialogue options.
NPCs had fixed templates, and as long as players could say the keywords in the dialogue, they could trigger the NPC's pre-designed dialogue options.
Presumably, YGGDRASIL's operator couldn't openly lock players in the virtual world, as that would have the opposite effect on publicity.
Damn it, this was really unlucky. He just wanted to log in to say goodbye to his childish but hard-worked youth, but he encountered a device malfunction and the operator's new game experience event.
But the man's next words stunned Hades.
"Game? What's that? I don't know what you're talking about, but can you leave? You're not welcome here. If you don't leave, I'm going to be rude!"
Emert didn't know what the other party's words meant. In his eyes, the young man was like an idiot, babbling things he couldn't understand, but that didn't matter. He just needed to drive him away.
"Huh?" Hades stared at the man, and a bad feeling suddenly arose in his heart. The NPC's reaction was unexpected.
"If you don't want to suffer, leave this place, or I'll show you how powerful this pitchfork in my hand is!" Emert waved the pitchfork a couple of times.
Judging by his build, the other party was weak and couldn't possibly be his opponent. Although he didn't seem like a thief, it would be a headache to be pestered by an idiot.
"Who's outside?"
Just then, a female voice suddenly came from behind Emert. Then Hades saw a girl in thin clothing peeking out from behind the man.
She had blonde hair and brown pupils. In the dim light, he could see her tan skin. Judging by her face, she wasn't very old.
She was looking at Hades curiously, her eyes blinking, looking very lively.
"Why are you out here, Enri? Get back inside. This guy might be crazy." Emert kept his eyes on Hades while lowering his voice to speak to his daughter, Enri.
Although Emert deliberately lowered his voice, in this quiet night, even the smallest sound could be heard. Perhaps Emert didn't care if he was overheard.
"Huh?" Enri heard her father's words and looked at Hades in surprise, timidly shrinking her head back.
Hades stared blankly at the two people in front of him, then suddenly slapped himself hard. The crisp sound of the slap made Emert and Enri look at each other in confusion.
"Not an NPC?" Hades muttered to himself, rubbing his cheek. He had used almost all his strength in the slap, almost bringing tears to his eyes.
This kind of pain definitely exceeded the nano-device's limit of 30% realistic sensation.
"Hey, kid, let's get something straight. I don't want to cause trouble, and I hope you don't either. As long as you leave this place, I won't bother you."
Emert used his body to push his daughter back into the house, his words carrying a warning.
Carne Village had no defenses or patrolling personnel. Although it was far from the city, it was close to the Great Forest of Tob, and because the village was located at the edge of the "Forest Wise King's" territory, no monsters would come to attack the village.
As for robbers and thieves, there were even fewer, mainly because there was nothing of value here. Robbers and thieves had to consider the cost of their actions.
So Emert, who had rarely encountered such a situation, was far from being as calm as he appeared. If he had experience, he wouldn't have gone out to check at all.
Seeing that the other party seemed to be retreating into the house, Hades quickly shouted, "Please wait, I am a traveler who has come here from a very far place."
"Traveler?" Emert stopped his slow retreat towards the house. He asked, "What proof do you have?"
"Proof?" Hades thought for a moment and said, "Isn't what you consider my babbling just now enough proof? Those are the greetings from my hometown."
"Hmm? Including slapping yourself in the face?" Emert asked, looking at Hades suspiciously.
"Uh... that... please don't mind it. That's just my... personal habit." Hades awkwardly scratched his nose.
It would be a bit too strange to call even that behavior a greeting from his hometown.
But as soon as Hades finished speaking, Emert and his daughter Enri both took a step back, their eyes filled with fear and pity.
"Wait, I mean, this isn't... isn't... uh... not my usual behavior... so... please don't misunderstand. I'm a normal person," Hades quickly explained.
Although it was hard to believe, even felt surreal, that slap had convinced Hades that even using his top-of-the-line nano-virtual device couldn't simulate that kind of pain.
Not to mention the reactions of Emert and his daughter, which were almost flawless, completely lacking the stiffness of NPCs.
Their expressions, demeanor, and words were all like real people.
And YGGDRASIL could never have NPCs like that.
So... he really came to reality... But... where was he? It didn't seem like YGGDRASIL, and it couldn't possibly be Earth.
If there were still a place like this on Earth, it would have already been seized and developed by capitalists.
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