A week later, I was in the storage shed, taking out the weapons stashed inside. These were also a part of my family’s assets, so when my dad saw me trying (and struggling) to use them years ago, he’d gotten angry with me. No one could stop me now.
I found an old-style rifle with a magazine that held five rounds. I took the most functional-looking pieces out of the bunch and began disassembling them for maintenance. I also took down a sword that had been hung as a decorative piece to test its durability and gathered various other things necessary for my mission.
Dad watched with unease. “Here now, what are you planning?”
After Nicks’s letter arrived, I resolved myself. Originally, I’d had the rather optimistic idea to use my knowledge of the game to earn some extra coin, but now that I knew the reality of my situation, I couldn’t be so lackadaisical about it.
“Before she sells me to that perverted hag, I’m going to do whatever I can to earn some cash!” I said. “There’s no way I’m getting married. No way in hell!”
Behind Dad, Mom watched with tears in her eyes.
The house Zola wanted to sell me into apparently had a horrible reputation. It was a group of old bats called the Ladies of the Forest who held conferences and talked about how men were slaves, so you could use them however you wanted. And they really did act as if their men were slaves, treating them even more horribly than their demi-human servants. They enjoyed seeing how much they could use a man until they broke him completely.
Scumbags.
On top of that, they only gathered noblemen of high status and sent the ones they couldn’t use to die in battle, or so the rumors went. However, some people wondered if the women weren’t killing the men themselves and playing it off like they died in the line of duty.
And what made this all worse? Zola was involved with them. She wasn’t technically a part of their group, but she profited from selling off third and fourth sons that were just taking up space at home. A sane individual would never associate with that sort of thing. Most women—good women—would be disgusted.
Zola hadn’t offered the same proposal to Nicks because a second son would draw too much attention. The Ladies of the Forest enjoyed gathering up young boys like me who didn’t know any better. Furthermore, as long as we weren’t students of the academy, it was easy to lie to us about the terms of engagement. Zola had tried to force the engagement before I went off to school and got wise to her game.
“Why do perverts like that have to come mess with a simple background character like me?!” I exclaimed. “A calm, peaceful life with no ups or downs would be so much better!”
“Honey…” My mom seemed troubled “…I have no idea what Leon is saying.”
“Yeah, me neither. Say, Leon… What are you planning on doing with all these weapons, anyway?” he asked, concerned. “Don’t tell me you plan to storm the capital? You better put that thought right out of your head.”
Oh man, I would love to march in there and wipe them all off the face of the planet, I thought as I cleaned the weapons, but there’s no way I can do that with my current abilities.
There were armed knights in the royal capital. If I really did charge in there, they would either arrest me, or the buffed-up demi-human servants all the noble ladies kept would beat me to a pulp before I could get close.
“If I’m gonna get rich quick, the best way to do that is to become an adventurer,” I said instead.
My parents exchanged looks.
“Adventurer” was actually among the acceptable occupations in this world. Or rather, an occupation that society had no choice but to recognize. After all, the nobles of this kingdom were descendants of the adventurers who had discovered this new land, accumulated its wealth, and made the region their home. And of course, adventure led to wealth. This was why, even at the academy, nobles became adventurers.
Or at least, that was the game’s rationale. Really, it was an excuse to have the love interests fawn over the female protagonist when they went into dungeons, where she would farm affection points with them. Nonetheless, it was now an angle I could use to save my own skin.
Dad shook his head. “You should give up on that. Dungeons aren’t the sort of challenge you can face by yourself. Plus, it will take some time before you’re skilled enough to earn money.”
Mom agreed. “He’s right, you know. And it’s incredibly difficult to find a new floating island these days. You won’t be able to make that much for the effort.”
The quickest way to make bank for adventuring was to claim an undiscovered island. Some were perfectly suited to human habitation and could be cultivated, and others were full of precious resources that could be harvested. If you found an island, the rights to it were automatically yours. You could even establish your own territory and become independent. Of course, all the islands near the continent had been claimed. There were none left…
Except for the one I knew of.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’ve made my decision, and I’m going.”
If I were the only one at risk, I could just run away and forget the whole mess, but my little brother, Colin, was only nine. I couldn’t stand by and watch him be sold to that gaggle of perverts.
My dad seemed to sense my resolve. “Do you need anything?”
I didn’t hesitate to rattle off a list of everything I wanted. I knew I was demanding the impossible, but this was a life-or-death mission. If doing nothing meant becoming a plaything for a bunch of handsy old murder-hags, then I’d rather take my chances adventuring, even if my chances of survival were low.
“I don’t care if it’s shaped like a rowboat, I need an airship,” I told him. “I’d also like some bullets. The special-made ones.”
Dad raised his eyebrows. “What in the world are you planning to do with all that? Are you really going to charge into a dungeon? You’d be better off taking the regular service airship.”
“The regular service one won’t take me where I want to go.”
I held up the rifle in my hands. It was a bit odd for a weapon like this to exist in a fantasy world of magic and swords, but then again, the airships fired cannons at each other. It followed that guns for people existed, too. When I pulled the trigger, a metallic clank signaled the weapon’s attempt to fire with no ammo.
There were some things even a background character couldn’t concede on. I didn’t want to live the rest of my life as someone’s toy. I was going to fight back. I’d show them how stubborn a mob could be.
“All right.” Dad gave in. “I’ll try to get something ready for you as quickly as I can. But you have to come back. If you don’t promise me that…you get nothing.”
It’s not like I don’t want to come back, but I know I’m putting my life on the line.
“I swear it. I’ll come back,” I lied. I wanted with all the hell in me to protect myself, save my brother, and outwit Zola. And I wanted my revenge on that witch for trying to sell me. I just couldn’t guarantee I’d get it.
I resumed my preparations, letting my anger smolder inside of me.