My Alter Ego’s Path to Greatness - Chapter 12
Afternoon (2)
People waiting in line to enter the castle gate and guards checking in front of the gate.
As you pass through, secretly giving money to picky soldiers, you see countless people…
‘I was expecting this, but why is it like this?’
Although it is a bit small, it is definitely a city as it is surrounded by walls and has many buildings.
‘But why is it so empty?’
Even the soldiers guarding the castle gate only glanced once and were busy whispering among themselves without saying a word to me as I passed through the gate.
‘First of all, it’s fortunate that there are no inspections.’
I knew nothing about this world.
Just like the old man in the slash-and-burn village, there is no way that a vague explanation would work for the city’s guards.
If you ask about this and that in a picky way, you are bound to get into trouble.
‘I even prepared a few silver coins to nudge you at times like that.’
Even though it was still bright, there weren’t many residents walking around and they didn’t seem to be interested in me as an outsider.
The whole city was just lifeless.
‘Why is the atmosphere here like this? Is something wrong?’
I felt uncomfortable, but decided to look for accommodation first.
Even if I went somewhere else later, I had to collect some information here first.
‘Let’s see…. Where will the accommodation be? Should I ask that person?’
When I approached a person who seemed to be a nearby resident and was about to ask for directions, the inside of an alley next to the road suddenly caught my eye.
A muscular giant with a tattoo on the back of his neck and a scruffy girl who appears to be about ten years old.
“…sorry! “If you give me just a little more time…”
The girl was begging the giant with a tearful face, repeatedly lowering her head.
“I know the situation, but you know I can’t wait for long, right? Give me 3 days. “If you don’t bring it back within three days, I can’t do anything about it.”
He uncrossed his arms, scratched his head, and answered bluntly with a disapproving look on his face.
And without listening to the girl’s answer, he turned inside.
“said? You two. “Two silver coins in three days.”
At the last voice he uttered as he disappeared into the darkness of the alley, the girl sat down on the spot.
The girl, who sat there blankly for a moment, took a deep breath and slapped her cheek as if trying to swallow her tears.
Then he stumbled and stood up.
‘Hmm… A young girl exploited by a city hoodlum. It’s a worn-out cliché.’
As it is a medieval fantasy world, it is something that happens all the time in this world.
Even if I went on a rampage claiming human rights, nothing would change and there was no reason to do so in the first place.
As
I was standing there looking at the ground, a girl who had been stumbling while looking at the ground collided with me as she came out of the alley.
“Ah… I’m sorry…”
I looked down at the girl who was bowing her head right in front of me.
Skin that is rough for one’s age and hands that are scarred and swollen.
The empty eyes and implicit gloomy atmosphere were very familiar to me.
After apologizing, the girl trudged past me and walked back out.
Drooped shoulders and steps without the slightest hint of vitality.
For some reason, the back of it caught my eye.
‘Hmm, two silver coins.’
I took out a pocket from inside my arms.
It was a money bag prepared separately for bribes, and it contained a number of coins and five or six silver coins.
‘I didn’t know the prices here, so I put in a generous amount. It seems that the value of silver coins is greater than I thought.’
I thought I wouldn’t have any use for it as I passed through the gate without inspection, but with good timing, a suitable use arose.
‘I just happened to need information about this world.’
A local person who will provide information and who will faithfully fulfill our requests.
At the same time, he is a person with little risk of doing other tricks.
Didn’t the perfect partner appear before my eyes?
‘I don’t know if I can trust it yet, but it’s only if I can get information for this amount of money.’
He took out two silver coins from his purse and put them back in his pocket.
‘Well, this must be fate, too. I was going to use it as a bribe anyway, but it would be more efficient than that.’
I took long strides towards the girl who was still walking unsteadily.
I don’t know what it was thinking, but it made its presence known and approached closer, but there was no reaction.
“Hmm… Is that the kid over there?”
“…….”
“Hey~? “I have something to say to you for a moment…”
I tried to talk to him, but there was no answer, so I spoke louder and tapped him on the shoulder…
“Hey! “Well, I was wrong!”
Seeing the girl jump up in surprise, he too blinked in surprise.
“……”
“Uh, hey… who are you?”
This is the person who will be your employer.
I had no intention of giving recklessly just because I felt sorry for the girl’s situation.
A relationship that benefits both parties is strong and long-lasting.
I don’t know how long I will stay in this city, but I have to protect what I have to protect.
So now, let’s discuss working conditions.
***
After meeting a girl in the city, Heinz easily found a place to stay with her help and began gathering information.
With a local guide by my side, everything went smoothly.
“Now… then shall I get started with my work?”
Gold bars! It was time to harvest the gold bars.
Traveling to another world is good, but shouldn’t the first priority be eating well and living well?
‘But it’s a bit scary to just summon Hans.’
Didn’t you realize its majesty directly when you encountered Heinz?
‘Still, there is also “Myeongkyung Index.” It’ll be okay for a little while.’
Still, just in case, I closed my eyes to avoid eye contact and summoned Hans.
Saaa…
As soon as I was summoned, I felt a cold chill.
Even though I didn’t see it directly, I instinctively realized that there was something ominous in front of me.
[Wow… isn’t this a joke? “I’ll never be able to appear in front of people for the rest of my life?”
I muttered, looking at my frozen body while standing in Hans’ view.
The voice, resonating with magical energy, aroused fear as if the devil was whispering from underground.
‘But it seems like I’m getting better, perhaps thanks to ‘Myeongkyungsu’.’
When I first summoned Hans, the skill was shaking without mercy, but now I have become accustomed to it and my mind has gradually calmed down.
“Phew, it’s okay now…”
I opened my eyes with a calm mind and immediately turned my head when I saw Hans.
No, I just turned around and headed to the bathroom.
“Let’s keep our distance for a while. I need to go to the bathroom for a moment. “I need to pee.”
Even though no one was listening, I mumbled something and distanced myself from Hans.
‘As for the items, Hans just needs to take them out and put them away.’
While I was in the bathroom, Hans put down the items he was holding to one side.
Precious metals, including gold bars, and magic tools.
I packed a few magic tools with protective abilities. Because the safety of the main body was the top priority.
I picked up my skull staff and lightly tapped the floor just in case.
[Well, I guess summoning isn’t possible in this world.]
It seems like it was impossible to cross the dimension and summon the undead from that world.
I don’t know if it’s possible to create a subspace that belongs entirely to Hans and store it there, but I don’t know about such magic right now.
‘Well, as you grow up, you will gradually find out.’
Because this is enough for now. There was no need to rush.
Bibibbibik—Clap
As I was getting used to Hans, who was walking a little distance away from me after doing some work in the bathroom, the front door opened and the avatar who had gone out to exercise came back.
I was thinking about giving it a cool name, so I didn’t have a name yet, but it was a useful guy with the “Acceleration” skill that instantly increased speed.
‘I prepared a wooden mask to reflect the times and I thought it would fit quite well.’
After returning from exercise, the avatar held in his hand a wooden mask prepared to put on Hans.
Isn’t it possible to wear a plastic mask in a fantasy world?
No, I can’t use it, but I still like it better this way.
He moved the avatar, placed the mask on Hans’ face, and tied the straps on the back tightly.
In case it fell off, I secured it several times with a strong leather strap.
“Oh… there’s a vibe. “It feels different and more vicious than before.”
I looked at Hans’ face and clapped my hands.
As the avatar was running around the neighborhood, something suddenly caught the eye of the avatar: the nobility Hahoe mask that Hans was currently wearing.
The blue natural blooming from the eye sockets that looks like a leisurely smile wearing a robe, the teeth peeking out from the open mouth, and the chill seeping out like fog between them.
It was literally a scene from a horror movie.
‘Oh wait. Does this have any meaning as a mask?’
A thought like that suddenly occurred to me, but I quickly gave up.
Even if Hans wears a cute pink bunny mask, he will look like a psychopathic serial killer.
First of all, hiding the fact that he was not human was enough to serve as a mask.
‘Hmm… I guess I can insist somehow if I can’t see the skull directly.’
Trying to ignore Hans’ intimidating appearance, he took his handbag and put the gold bars in it.
‘First of all, is the gold bar brought in 3 kg? This is enough for now.’
In the long term, I was thinking of buying a house on the outskirts of Seoul and surrounding it with all sorts of barriers, but since I couldn’t move out right now, I just had to prepare slowly.
‘I have to believe that it will get better in the future. ‘I can’t live like this forever.’
First of all, it was decided to just sell these gold bars normally.
I guess you could say I found it while sorting out the things my parents left behind.
Since my family wasn’t that poor and things were in turmoil these days, selling this amount of gold was no problem.
The avatar, who was ready to go out, stopped for a moment as he was about to go out the door.
Since I own expensive items, I was a bit worried.
“I’m a little nervous about just leaving like this.”
Even though I took the magical tools for protection, something felt uneasy.
As I looked around and thought about it, I caught sight of Hans standing blankly.
***
“thank you. good bye.”
The gold purchaser’s employee greeted me with a ninety-degree bow and sent me off.
As expected, there were no problems with sales and no accidents occurred.
I smiled with satisfaction as I looked at my bank account balance, which was enriched because it was rewarding to come to a place that was said to buy gold at a high price.
The street had already become dark and the street lights were turning on one by one.
I walked with a lighter heart and glanced at the shadow on the floor.
A shadow that looks especially blacker than anywhere else.
‘I may not be able to appear in front of others directly, but I’m glad I can use it like this.’
Hans, who used black magic, was hiding in my shadow.
I hid it in preparation for an emergency, but it seemed like I was overly worried.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeence
Kwaang—!
As soon as I finished thinking, the security door to the gold purchasing shop behind me came down, and a moment later the wall burst open.
‘Why don’t bad premonitions turn out to be wrong?’
I closed my eyes tightly and glanced behind me.
A muscular werewolf over 2 meters tall and a man wearing a black mask clinging to him escaped from the hole in the collapsed building and fled down an alley.
When I took a quick look inside the building, which was in disarray, I saw that precious metals had disappeared and people had collapsed.
Fortunately, I came out right before the incident, so I wasn’t directly caught up in it.
But…
‘Villains…’
These are people who commit crimes with their awakened abilities.
Of course, there are guardians who protect citizens from such villains, but as always, they cannot protect people from all dangers.
Like your own family.
I looked in the direction they disappeared for a moment and then started walking again.
The surrounding area became chaos with people reporting and taking videos.
The guardians will track them down, and if they are caught, they will be severely punished for crimes of subterfuge.
If I don’t get caught….
‘I will eat well and live well. But there’s nothing I can do.’
Han Seong-hyun left the scene of the incident and headed home.
***
“Okay, Operation Wolf continues. Now, all you have to do is go to where the portal is and get out of there!”
“It’s about 3 minutes until the Kreung Guardian comes, that’s plenty.”
The operation was simple.
When ‘Wolf’, the person in charge of military force, overpowers the guards and destroys the safe and security device to secure an escape route, ‘Porter’, the person in charge of transportation, sucks up all the precious metals and cash and places them on Wolf’s back.
Afterwards, he quickly moves to the place where the ‘portal’, which is in charge of escape, is located, and ends up escaping far away using his supernatural ability.
“Kahaha—Guardians come too late and have to see their stupid faces!”
“Heung! done. “We’ve arrived, so get down.”
They soon entered the construction site.
Because the gate, which is the portal’s special ability, took a long time to create, it could not be used right away on site and had to find a location in advance and prepare for escape.
Tadat—percussion!
As I hurried inside, I saw construction workers pushed into a corner, unconscious.
And the portal that should have been waiting after creating the gate was also knocked out.
“uh…? what?”
‘Something’ in the darkness standing in front of the collapsed portal.
“Krrrrr….”
The hair on Wolf’s whole body stood up. It lowered its body, exposing its teeth and claws, and raised its tail.
But those eyes were clearly filled with fear.
“Uh… what is that…?”
Porter’s condition was even worse. Accidents come and go. My thoughts didn’t flow.
And ‘it’ raised one hand and pointed at them.
The last thing Potter saw was a smiling face with glowing blue eyes amidst the looming shadows.
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