Woomph-!
The Great Sword swung down from above, shattering the Orc’s skull.
The recoil had me slightly lifted off the ground.
Without stopping, I used the Great Sword as support to kick my legs backward.
Spinning in mid-air, I reclaimed the Great Sword.
Whew-!
Once again, I swung the Great Sword from above.
Wahh-!
Another Orc’s torso split in half right in the path of my sword.
Hoo!
I took a short breath and landed on the ground.
Through my sense, I scanned the surroundings.
“One, two, three, four, five…!”
Five corpses lay scattered on the ground.
I unfolded the request form I had received from the guild.
The text was invisible, but I could clearly feel the scratches on the paper through my senses.
In the middle of the request form was a scratch shaped like the number 5.
The receptionist, Hermila, had kindly marked it for me.
“The world is still worth living in! Haha.”
Thinking of Hermila, I chuckled and plunged the Great Sword into the ground, releasing my grip.
My vision darkened, and my strength drained out of my body.
Hmm… Is my mind going blank? Anyway.
“I really can’t get used to this…”
I squatted down, took the hammer tied to my right thigh, and rummaged through the remaining Orc’s corpse.
The first thing I touched was… the Orc’s boob.
“Yuck…”
Going further up, I felt the collarbone, and even higher, I caught the sharp fangs with my fingertips.
“Ugh… It’s sticky…”
I gripped the teeth firmly and swung the hammer.
After a few swings, I felt less resistance on the hammer.
“Hmph, is that enough now?”
I stood up for a moment to check the condition of the skull I had crushed with the hammer while gripping the Great Sword handle.
“The broken bits are a bit lower…”
Letting go of the Great Sword again, I squatted down and swung the hammer near the gums.
With a Crack-, warm liquid splattered around my ankles.
“Ew…”
Shivering, I stood up and gripped the sword handle.
It wasn’t clean, but only the teeth had come off separately.
“Hmm- not bad.”
I gathered those and put them into the leather pouch tied to my waist.
Then, I pulled out all the remaining Orc’s teeth.
I smiled proudly as I tapped the now heavier pouch.
“That’s enough for today’s meal-!”
I strapped the Great Sword to my waist and slung the hidden backpack over my shoulder.
I wiped the blood off with a cloth I took from the bag and started moving.
It’s time to get paid!
Riiiip- Tap- Riiiip- Tap-
The Great Sword, dragging on the ground, made an annoying noise.
I looked back.
…It wasn’t visible, but I turned around using my senses.
Next to my footprints, the imprint of the Great Sword was also marked.
Sigh…
Frustrated for no reason, I thumped the Great Sword with my fist and continued walking.
Riiiip- Tap- Riiiip- Tap tap-!
*
“Excluding the floor repair fee, it’s a total of 1 gold. Great job, Noah.”
Hermila smiled at me and handed over the payment.
Ahhh… This is why I love hunting.
I treated myself last time, so today it’s my turn!
“Th-thank you…”
Despite my heart and mind, this pathetic body couldn’t even say it properly.
I sighed deeply, widening my senses to scan the surroundings.
The stench of sweat.
A wooden interior.
A large round table.
Stains from spilled drinks all over the table.
Adventurers drunk and noisy.
In contrast, adventurers staring solemnly at the bulletin board.
It was a familiar sight I had seen for eight years in a game.
The name of the game was [Black Sun].
It was a game I poured all my time and love into.
The gameplay was a typical Soul-like MMORPG, but the customization was remarkably free.
Although you leveled up abilities in the same way, you could gain a large amount of points by lowering different abilities or imposing penalties.
Because of this, many characters with bizarre concepts were created.
I had created about a third of them.
One day, I stumbled upon an eye-catching post in the community.
[What about a blind, flat-chested, great sword-wielding girl? But how do I overcome the blind penalty?]
Just seeing the title sparked something within me.
Such… romance could never be found anywhere else, I thought, and I immediately logged into the game to create a character.
The gender was female.
Hair was black.
Eyes were red.
Class was warrior.
Weapon was a great sword.
And I imposed the blind penalty.
Now that the big picture was set, I needed a trait to counter the penalty.
While looking through options, I found just one method.
A trait called “Sense,” obtained by maxing out Great Sword Mastery.
When equipped with the Great Sword, I could clearly feel my surroundings.
Yes. So long as I’m equipped.
Without the Great Sword, I’d just be a blind, weak, idiot girl, but that didn’t matter.
After all, it’s just a game; when would I ever need to put down my weapon?
Anyway.
The points I had to invest to acquire Sense were enormous.
It was far from enough, even with the points gained from the blind penalty.
I ultimately decided to throw away all sorts of stats.
I set my height to 145.7cm, the minimum required to equip the Great Sword.
I matched my agility to the minimum needed to hunt and did the same for my weight.
I discarded all the necessary living stats like social skill, cooking, and dexterity.
Low social skill means NPCs wouldn’t like me, making it difficult to receive quests.
But who am I?
An eight-year veteran of [Black Sun].
We veterans don’t care about such things.
I boldly discarded those stats.
Cooking? If my health drops, I can just buy potions!
Dexterity? The blacksmith can handle all equipment maintenance!
Intelligence and other stuff? All useless, so I tossed them too.
It’s a game, after all.
Cooking… dexterity…!
Why would they be needed in a game!?
If my health drops, I just eat a potion! Huh?? All tasks requiring dexterity can be done at the blacksmith!!
So I threw it all away! Why!!
But! I never expected to possess that character…
Anyway… With stats near zero for living ability, I couldn’t even have a proper conversation with NPCs, let alone carry out simple equipment maintenance.
Thanks to a Great Sword unsuitable for my height, I was left leaving knife marks on the adventurer guild floor day in and day out.
No matter how much I could feel my surroundings through Sense, I still couldn’t see words, images, colors, or people’s appearances.
Still, after two months of living like this, I could at least tell a little about expressions through the movements of facial muscles!
I’m amazing!
Haa…
Sigh escaped easily from my pitiful fate.
As I exhaled sadly, Hermila gently caressed my head with a worried voice.
“Noah. Are you having a hard time?”
“N-no…”
I am!
I really want to see Hermila’s face!
I saw her often in the game, but never in real life!!
“If you’re having a hard time, just let me know anytime. I can listen to you after work. Got it?”
“Yes… Thank you.”
I nodded, feeling Hermila’s gentle touch.
After a while, Hermila opened her mouth as if she had thought of something.
“Oh, right, Noah. A designated request has come in; would you like to do it?”
“A-designated…? Uh…”
That feels awkward.
Moreover, it’s suspicious!
Why would they look for someone who only knows a bit about hunting, has no social skills, and is blind?
Hmm… Is it my appearance?
Well, my face is cute.
Thanks to my dense essence in my character design.
But if someone reacts to this flat-chested little girl…
Absolutely not!
No matter how much they offer, I won’t do it.
“I-I won’t…”
“The most important reward! The reward is 30 gold. Quite a sweet deal, right?”
“I’ll do it…!”
For that much, I’d sell my soul.
“Whoho, good choice. Shall I read it for you instead?”
I nodded.
Hermila carefully tore open the letter and unfolded the request form.
Then she leaned closer and whispered quietly in my ear.
“Let’s see… The content is escorting to the village of Cartia. The reward is 30 gold. It says that confidentiality is a mandatory condition.”
Confidentiality?
How do you know I have a heavy mouth?
“If you accept, it says to wait at the furthest corner of the adventurer guild by 1 PM on August 27th.”
The 27th… That’s tomorrow!
“N-tomorrow…?”
“Indeed. It’s a bit past 6 PM now, so oh my, we’ll need to hurry with preparations!”
It’s already 6 PM…!?
Did I really take 11 hours to gather Orc teeth!?
And where the heck is Cartia village?
“Uh… Hermila, how far is Cartia village…?”
“Well, it should take about a week by carriage?”
“A week…?”
Hermila paused before slowly opening her mouth again.
“Noah… Have you never done such a long request?”
“No…”
“Alright. I’ll write you a list; just prepare according to that, and you’ll be fine.”
Wow… Is Hermila an angel…?
Why is she being so nice to me!?
Even if she does this, I won’t give her anything back…!
My nose tinged with emotion.
Once I get that 30 gold… I’ll definitely treat everyone.
“Th-thank… you…”
“…No problem. First, go in and wash up, Noah. I’ll give you the list after dinner.”
My throat felt tight as I vigorously nodded and headed toward the inn.
As I was leaving, Hermila’s gaze felt like that of a stray puppy.
