There were several reasons for that trial.
«Hey, why don't you say anything?»
First of all, I had never revealed my identity to anyone. In other words, this person could only be making assumptions about me. They had no evidence to conclude that I was an evil spirit.
«I have already told you. I come from America. After all, we are like aliens here, shouldn't we stay together?»
Therefore, this behavior was clearly irregular. A player could probe me if he suspected I was too, but be so brazen? Logically, it didn't make sense. Actually, he could be a local. What kind of nerve did they have to reveal their identity first?
In a city where you receive the death penalty the moment you are caught as an evil spirit?
Well, maybe if they had only been here a month, that was the time to be naive. But he had just said that he had arrived in the city more than three years ago. There was no point in thinking that he had survived three years acting like this.
«There is a kind of association of games that we have created between us. I recommend it». Above all, the way he pronounced the noun «game» was stupid, like a Korean character in a foreign movie.
If he didn't intend to hide his identity in the first place, he would have spoken to me in English.
Maybe if I had, my doubts would have diminished a little, but this bastard was beating around the bush instead of doing things the easy way. That's why I came to a final conclusion based on the evidence given.
«Hey, can't you trust me now?»
This bastard wasn't a gamer, but he pretended to be one to probe me. And I could only think of one reason why a local would hide his identity in reverse.
He's here specifically to catch me.
Well, I guess I saw it coming in a city where the existence of evil spirits was known to the public. I couldn't find anything about it in any of the books in the library, but there must have been an institution specialized in dealing only with evil spirits.
You must remain skeptical. Since there can be no physical proof.
And so my task was decided. I must dismiss all your doubts. Right now, I may just be probing, but one day they might use magic to start an investigation. I needed to nip this in the bud so they could never even consider that option later.
But how?
What steps should he take to convince them that he was not an evil spirit? The answer to that question was really simple.
One step.
I took a big step forward.
«... Why are you coming towards me suddenly? It's too cl-»
«I have a question for you».
My statement was answered with silence. The guy paused for a moment, smiled as if happy, and nodded. «Oh yeah, anything».
«Then I will ask you freely. Are you an evil spirit?»
«What do I have to hide now? I am. That's why...»
Well, I had a definitive answer. «Enough. You don't have to say anything else».
«Excuse me? What m....?»
«The chief told me that evil spirits must be killed on the spot».
«W-Sorry...?» A face full of confusion.
I screamed loudly to make it resonate throughout the square and charged at him. «Behell-aaaaaaaaaaah!»
The barbarians did not tolerate injustice. A fist landed exactly on his temple. Shame, doubt and fear formed in the man's eyes, which had turned into squeezed bread, but looking at me like that was of no use. It wasn't like he was doing this because he had a personal grudge. And if he thought about it, he was looking for it.
A slap!
The man openly revealed his identity to me, but if I pretended not to know anything and ran away, I would only become more suspicious. That was something a local barbarian who was raised the right way would never do.
Bang!
Therefore, I grabbed the neck of the man who lost his balance and threw him to the ground as a combined movement.
Hit! Hit! Hit! Hit! Hit!
After getting on top of him, non-stop, I hit him with watermelon-sized fists over and over again. His physical stamina level seemed to be quite high and his skin was tough, but it was nonetheless useless in front of me as I had recently raised my strength stats.
«It-wait...!» His face became bloody in just a few punches, but I didn't hesitate and did what I had to do. Of course, he shouted as if this was unfair. «I am not! I am not!»
Yes, of course you are not an evil spirit. But what can I do? I have to live too.
«You lie too? You really must be an evil spirit.»
«No, I mean...! Agh! Ahh!!!»
How many more hits did I take after that? A large crowd surrounded the sudden fight, as well as the guards, just as I wanted.
«Hey! What are you doing! How dare you use violence in the middle of the city?».
«Get rid of me!»
I stopped hitting him immediately and got up. Was it because of the second quality material of my armor? Unlike when I was framed and arrested by the guild before, the guards remained vigilant and approached carefully. It was not necessary.
Wham!
I picked up the unconscious man, threw him at the guards, and shouted loudly for everyone to hear: «This man is an evil spirit! He revealed it to me himself and tried to do something funny».
«That? Evil spirit?» The guards who approached the fainted man, thinking he was the victim, shuddered when they heard my words. The curious onlookers also murmured. Of course, most were suspicious.
«Evil spirit? That barbarian must have misunderstood».
«...Misunderstood or not, it's going to cost that guy a lot of money to turn a person into pulp like that.»
Makes sense. A barbarian's screams wouldn't be so reliable. But what about this? «I am Bjorn, son of Yandel! I swear on the honor of a warrior that I don't tell lies!»
Little Balkan, Bjorn, son of Yandel. It was hard to say with my own mouth, but it was the trendy name in town these days.
«Little Balkan?»
«...Now that I think about it, I heard he's wearing a lithium shell».
«So that man really is...?»
«If it is, it's worth believing...»
«Such a well-known explorer would not hit an innocent person and say such nonsense».
The murmurs continued and public opinion changed. Even the guards realized who he was and seemed confused about what to do.
At this moment, a man who appeared to be the captain of the guards approached. «Can I check your ID?» It was a polite question that would have been unimaginable in the past. As soon as I handed him my card, he looked at me with strange eyes. «You really are the chosen one. First, let me thank you. My brother has returned from the Labyrinth thanks to you».
«Does your brother belong to the Dzarwi clan?».
«No, but he is one of those who paid the protection fee and followed you».
Huh, there had to be less than ten of those people still alive. It couldn't be a major coincidence. But that was that and this was this. «So when are you going to kill that evil spirit? It's a shame he's still alive».
«That will be decided only when the investigation is completed. Looks like you'll have to walk us to the police station, okay?».
«Hmm, I'm pretty hungry, though...»
«We will provide you with a meal, of course. If what you say is true, you have just provided us with distinguished service.»
«Distinguished service, huh?» I thought about it carefully, unlike what I used to do. How would a barbarian respond to that? As always, I didn't have to think much. «What does that mean?» It was a question that couldn't come out without delving into the psyche of a barbarian.
The captain of the guard chuckled and replied: «It means you did something big».
«Something big? So will I have meat as a garnish?». Maybe this was going too far, even for a barbarian. That thought came to mind, but looking into the captain's eyes, it didn't seem to be the case.
«...I will treat you with my own money if necessary, so I hope you will come with us».
«In that case, well...» After that, I followed the guards out of the central square.
But for some reason, this was what I kept hearing from behind.
«Little Balkan killed an evil spirit!»
«With this story, I won't have to pay for drinks today.»
***
[Your reputation has increased +1.]
[Your reputation has increased +1.]
***
I was slightly uneasy about it being a completely improvised plan on the fly, but then everything was resolved without problems. When security personnel searched the unconscious man's clothing, a plaque emerged.
«Oh, this is the mark of an evil spirit hunter».
At first, there was also an uproar in the security department. It was natural since the person who was brought in after being suspected of being an evil spirit had the mark of an evil spirit hunter. Therefore, the security department contacted his association, and soon a person who appeared to be the man's superior arrived.
«Uh, so this man... is an associate of ours...» At first, he had an absurd face, but after understanding the whole situation, he answered my question with a terrible voice.
«This man revealed that he is an evil spirit with his own mouth. How do you explain that?»
«That is... a common measure that is usually taken against those who have achieved fame in a short time or who have achieved an extraordinary feat».
«Enough. I don't understand if you say it so complicated».
«We suspected you».
«That? Are you saying that you suspected me of being an evil spirit? Who was? The one who suspected me? Was it you?»
When I snorted furiously as if I had been insulted, the superior sweated profusely. «As I said before, it is a common procedure...».
«Simply say it! Are you kidding me?»
«What is certain is that this will not happen again! So please keep your voice down...»
He was beginning to understand why barbarians lived like this. It was easy. The perplexed reactions were also quite amusing. «Hmm, then what will happen to me? If it is not an evil spirit, shouldn't it be punished?»
«W-of course not.»
«That's a relief. So I'm sleepy, so I'm leaving».
«P-Sorry? Oh yeah... go ahead...»
As soon as there was an opportunity to jump, I left the building and returned to the inn. I acted bravely in front of those people, but internally, all I wanted was to leave.
Fuck...
To be honest, he was tired, as tired as being chased by the Lord of the Soil.
I had no idea they had such exhaustive information.
America, Europe and all that. The game was even mentioned, and his way of speaking was natural enough to think he was from Earth. Well, I was able to see through it because of its terrible Korean pronunciation, but, still. What kind of crazy difficulty was this?
Yeah. Not all the bastards here are stupid...
No wonder Tarikan Riyen was taken to the guillotine.
»America»? Taiwan? Europe? Where do you come from?»
«Wow, you almost fooled me. You are very good at acting. Aren't you only three months old?»
«Ah, you don't have to keep your guard up. I'm from America. I shouldn't have even touched this damn game».
In a strange city, with no one to turn to, if suddenly someone approached you and said something like that, it was natural to fall into temptation.
Damn...
The more I thought about it, the more screwed up this world was. It was sad enough that they suddenly dragged you here and treated you like an evil spirit, but now these bastards even threw bait at you? Monsters could just be beaten to death, but it wasn't like he could do the same to these guys, which made them worse.
«Ugh...»
I breathed the sigh of relief I had been holding back.
But I think I've had a good time so far.
Of course, I didn't know if the evil spirit hunters or whatever those bastards were had really erased his doubts about me, but I did everything I could right now, so there was nothing else to do but wait carefully.
From now on, I must act more like a barbarian.
After reviewing my future course of action, I entered my room. Then I lay down on the bed with my clothes on. But... what was this now? There was an envelope on the bed. When I opened it and checked the contents, I found a letter and a pill the size of a thumbnail.
What is this? Has Missha written me a letter? No, I wouldn't have had time.
As soon as I read the letter, I stiffened.
This is a letter sent randomly to a scout believed to be a player. If you can read it...
A letter written in English. I was about to throw it away in surprise, but when I remembered that no one else was here, I got under the blanket and read it carefully. Broadly speaking, the content was as follows.
This is a letter sent randomly to a scout believed to be a player. If you can read this, never reveal to anyone that you are a gamer. Oh, and I ask you not to translate the content of this letter, even if you are caught by an evil spirit hunter. Anyway, what I want to say is the following. We have a completely anonymous community, and you can join us by taking the attached pill. If you don't want to go in, please throw away the pill. I sincerely hope for your survival.
The more I read it, the more complicated my head became. Was this the work of those same bastards?
Damn, but it's too plausible to be theirs...
The fact that he only used simple words? Perhaps they were being considerate of non-English speakers. For starters, this game only supported English. They would have thought I could understand so much.
If it were me, I would have used this method to differentiate and invite players.
This was different from evil spirit hunters, who could only imitate us. This letter was carefully written from the players' point of view.
GHOST HUNTERS
Just look at the community name in the top column. Wasn't it too clever to be written by an evil spirit on the verge of death in the interrogation room?
But did those bastards write something like that?
Of course, it could be like an interval attack, pretending to be careless and aiming for when you were careless. Therefore, I expected the sender of this letter to be a player. He didn't really need a community, but... If it was a card from evil spirit hunters, he didn't trust that he could survive in this city.
[PS The king of Rafdonia, son of a bitch!]
How can you defeat bastards dedicated to hunting evil spirits?