Freli laid out his entire past, though not all of it was necessarily true. At the very least, it was true that he had killed a noble and fled with his daughter.
More conversation could quickly build mutual trust between two people.
"And you? You don't look like an ordinary orphan. Most people wouldn't dare lay a hand on a duke's estate." The merchant drove the carriage onward, its wheels rocking and jolting along the road.
"Want the truth? I only wanted to pickpocket some fat sheep that day. Who knew I'd get myself into such huge trouble!"
"Hehe..." Naturally, the man could not fully believe Mel Carlo's words. "The trouble you caused got someone beheaded. I looked into the matter myself, or I wouldn't have dared cooperate with you."
"There's nothing I can do if you don't believe me. A lot of things are just coincidences." Mel Carlo turned to look behind the carriage. They had already traveled far from the imperial capital; only the hills in the distance remained visible.
The scenery along the way really did resemble the game world of Kandewen Continent. It was as if a filter had automatically settled over everything he saw, and the weather was nice as well.
He had already paid a deposit of one thousand Auren. The rest would have to wait until they reached Oak City. That was a beginner city, better suited to leveling up and developing himself. It was also far from the Demon King's Army, with the only risk of war coming from the Exar Theocracy to the south.
But given humanity's current circumstances, wars among humans had to stop for the time being, because there was a far more powerful enemy outside.
Just as Mel Carlo was about to lie down and rest, he opened his eyes and saw the merchant's daughter. She was leaning against the carriage wall, staring at him with wide eyes.
Her skin was dark with a reddish undertone, and her features were fairly delicate. She seemed vaguely familiar.
Wait, what was her name again? Mel Carlo quickly pulled out his notebook. He pretended to take it from his clothes, but he had actually retrieved it from System space.
"Claire... Claire Bernardo, merchant?" Mel Carlo immediately became alert. That name had appeared in the game before—one belonging to a particularly distinctive boss.
One of the Demon King's Eight Generals, [Greed], was named Claire. But she did not match the little girl before him at all. People said girls changed dramatically as they grew up, but even her hair color was wrong.
Still, when he thought carefully about the backstory, parts of it did line up. In the story, Claire had traveled with her father as a merchant in the imperial capital when she was young. Then vagabonds robbed them. After her father died, Claire was sold to slave traders, planting the seeds of her hatred for humanity. Yet through a twist of fate, the Demon King bought Claire, and she later became one of the Demon King's Eight Generals.
Other than the mismatch in hair color, everything else matched. When that boss had first been released, she had a gold-loss mechanic. The rewards were generous, but whenever players were attacked, their in-game gold would decrease. That had spawned a meme: "Lady Claire, I know I was wrong. Please don't deduct my money."
But the losses from that mechanic had been far too severe, and players later protested loudly. The story raid was changed into a straightforward reward-week event. The cursed gold-loss mechanic was removed, turning it into a pure money-farming event.
Players' opinions of the boss changed accordingly. "Lady Claire pays my salary! I want to join the Demon King's Army!"
"Your name is Claire, right?"
"Yes. Do you have a question?"
"Nothing. You just look a lot like someone I remember—a Claire with orange-red hair." Mel Carlo put away his notebook.
Claire's expression remained perfectly normal when he said that. Instead, Freli, her father, shuddered slightly, nearly losing his grip on the reins.
The man knew there was no Claire with orange-red hair, because Claire was the child of him and her mother. Claire's mother had not been named Claire; he had given his daughter that name himself.
And Claire had inherited his hair color, not orange-red hair.
But could there really be so many coincidences in the world? He was beginning to regret this deal.
"Miss Claire, have you ever met your mother?" Mel Carlo continued questioning her.
If Claire's mother had orange-red hair, that would be worth paying attention to. This was a fantasy world, after all. Magic could change many things, including the combat strength Claire displayed. If her magic awakened, it was entirely possible that her hair color would change as well.
"No, I haven't met her. I've only heard Father talk about her."
Her father had not concealed the truth from her. He had to let his child know about it, lest after he was gone, she somehow returned to that small southern country.
"Haha, if you're talking about red hair, then she must have been a demon." The merchant interrupted their conversation, unwilling to let Mel continue.
"But I said orange-red hair, not scarlet or blood-red hair. There's a difference in color, sir. This concerns something important. If I don't get to the bottom of it, both of us may regret it."
"Ugh..." The man let out a sigh without turning to look at Mel Carlo. He only grumbled, "You really are a troublesome brat!"
"So you do know something? Don't worry, I have no hostility toward you."
"In the south—the people in the southern coastal regions generally have red skin and orange-red hair."
"Skin like Claire's? To be honest, she's a little dark." Mel Carlo gave Claire another look. She was clearly a healthy little girl, though she wore her hair short and had darker skin.
"Mm." The merchant nodded, unwilling to explain further.
"Then your daughter's mother should have been the kind of person I mentioned. And your daughter may one day inherit her mother's hair color."
"You think you're some kind of prophet, kid?" Freli frowned slightly.
He did not know why this boy was bringing up such matters, but an uneasy feeling kept stirring inside him. He had never mentioned Claire's mother's hair color. Or did his daughter have some other trait that revealed her to be descended from the red-skinned coastal people? The southern climate was extremely warm, and winter barely existed there.
"Stay alive, Mr. Freli. Remember what I'm about to say, because I'm not sure whether your daughter is the Claire I know."
"If you die, your daughter may become one of the Demon King's Eight Generals."
He felt much more at ease after voicing the possible game plot to this father and daughter who resembled those people. If tragedy truly repeated itself for them, it would mean this world's story was still progressing step by step.
"To be honest, I'm starting to regret making a deal with you. What you're saying makes my scalp crawl, especially with that serious tone of yours." Freli finally stopped the carriage and turned around.
He did not know whether Mel Carlo's words were true, but they sank into his heart like thorns.
"Relax. You should be glad we aren't enemies, Mr. Freli." Mel Carlo waved a hand and stopped provoking the merchant. His daughter clearly meant a great deal to him.
This was a world similar to the game, but I wasn't sure just how similar it was.
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