Unwilling to Let Anyone Lead Too Ordinary a Life

Gentle sunlight spilled down from the sky, illuminating all of Aragane Station.

Rather than a city, this place was more like a rural village.

The houses were all made of wooden planks. There were no modern residences to be seen, let alone towering buildings.

The streets were the same, with bare earth exposed to the air. There was not an inch of Asphalt Road.

Yet on the outskirts of such a city stood Steel Walls that seemed utterly out of place.

Led by two samurai, Fang Li slowly walked down the street.

All around him, passersby turned their gazes toward him and whispered among themselves.

Under these circumstances, Fang Li felt like a criminal being paraded through the streets, unbearably uncomfortable.

Of course, that was inevitable. Who could blame them when Fang Li's attire was so unusual?

No, rather, his attire only seemed extremely unusual in other people's eyes.

At this moment, Fang Li wore a set of casual clothes, the kind that would not stand out if thrown into a crowd.

Unfortunately, in this era when the Industrial Revolution had only just begun to affect the world, his outfit looked strange no matter how one looked at it.

At the very least, nearly all the pedestrians around him wore kimono-style clothing.

As a result, Fang Li, dressed in modern clothes and walking down the street, naturally drew countless stares.

With everyone around him staring like that, Fang Li felt uncomfortable all over and truly wanted to slip away. He could hardly bear it.

Fortunately, that difficult time soon passed.

Led by the two fierce-looking samurai, Fang Li arrived at the Steel Walls surrounding Aragane Station.

Many samurai were already standing guard there.

However, these samurai all carried highly unusual weapons.

"Guns?" Fang Li froze slightly.

One of the samurai snorted. "You should call them Steam Guns."

After the Industrial Revolution began, steam engines had become indispensable, epoch-making devices.

The island nation could not mass-produce high-quality gunpowder, so it introduced steam engines not only into railways, but also industrial machinery and firearms. Thus, Steam Guns were more common than muskets.

The special steam engine developed by England, the "Maclachlan Engine," used the epoch-making concept of steam compression. Not only could it provide the immense power needed for huge vehicles, but it could also supply portable high-pressure boilers for steam weapons.

Therefore, a closer look revealed that every gun carried by those samurai had a line connected to their backs.

There were two cylindrical boilers there.

These portable boilers were called Back-Mounted Engines and had a wide variety of uses.

One of those uses was powering Steam Guns.

Compared to the muzzle-loaded gunpowder rifles used until now, magazine-fed Steam Guns were far more convenient and powerful. In this age threatened by Kabane, they were one of humanity's sources of psychological comfort.

That was right, merely psychological comfort.

Although Steam Guns were considerably more powerful than gunpowder rifles, they still could not destroy the iron-like membrane covering a Kabane's heart.

Because of this, people without a decisive means of fighting Kabane could only build fortified settlements and hide within them.

The samurai stood guard around the area with portable high-pressure steam boilers on their backs and hunting-rifle-shaped Steam Guns in their hands.

There were especially many samurai guarding the gate, their expressions exceedingly fierce.

To fight the Kabane threat, the Shogunate that ruled the island nation had built fortified settlements called "Stations" throughout the land. The only things that could travel between these Stations were armored locomotives, commonly known as Hayajiro.

The Hayajiro were operated by the Shogunate, with crews recruited from each Station taking turns on duty.

Through this method, the Stations circulated their respective goods and sustained their livelihoods.

Thus, the Shogunate, which controlled the flow of goods, held enormous power and consequently ruled the entire island nation.

Therefore, the only things permitted through those steel gates were Hayajiro from other Stations.

However, that also came with risks.

For example, if someone aboard a Hayajiro had been bitten by a Kabane, then entered a Station and transformed into a Kabane there, the entire Station would face a tremendous threat.

Without any decisive means of fighting Kabane, the people here were destined to live every day in constant fear. Their inner terror even bred dark emotions.

Clearly, the samurai responsible for guarding the gates carried just such restless fear.

After all, if Kabane invaded, they, the gate guards, would be among the first to die.

Under such circumstances, forget Kabane—even if an ordinary person approached for no reason, wouldn't that ignite the fear in their hearts and result in being targeted by Steam Guns?

Thinking of this, Fang Li looked at the samurai over there a few more times.

Seeing this, the two samurai leading the way assumed Fang Li had been frightened and began mocking him in turn.

"You're scared already? Wouldn't you be scared senseless when you actually see a Kabane?"

"He's just a Wanderer. Do you really expect him to fight Kabane?"

The two samurai's mockery made Fang Li withdraw his gaze, and he felt somewhat irritated.

However, when he thought about how these people faced the threat of destruction and could only seek superiority over their weaker fellow humans, his irritation turned into pity.

Perhaps they saw something in Fang Li's eyes, because both samurai's expressions darkened.

"You! Go stand guard on top of the wall!" One samurai pointed at a spot on the Steel Walls and shouted with apparent anger, "That position is empty. Go guard it!"

"Now?" Fang Li raised his empty hands. "Shouldn't you at least give me a weapon?"

"That has nothing to do with us. If you want a weapon, find one yourself." The other samurai snorted. "If Kabane appear on the wall, you must drive them back. Otherwise, you'll be the first to die."

With that, the two samurai left on their own and ignored Fang Li entirely.

Watching the two samurai gradually walk away, Fang Li could only feel helpless.

"They won't even give me a Steam Gun?"

Without a Steam Gun, how was he supposed to guard this place?

If Kabane climbed onto the wall, was he supposed to jump down and fight them hand-to-hand?

"So these samurai never expected anything from me in the first place?"

That was only natural.

Although the Main God Space would arrange identities for Main God Envoys, those were merely the most basic identities.

Otherwise, Main God Envoys might rely on the advantages of their identities to overcome difficulties and gain rewards.

Therefore, the identities arranged by the Main God Space only ensured that Main God Envoys would not appear too out of place in a world. It did not consider any other issues.

Given that, Fang Li, an outsider and a Wanderer, could never gain the trust of these cowardly samurai, much less obtain weapons from them.

If he wanted to complete the mission and preserve his life, he could only rely on himself.

The 1,000 Exchange Points and 5 Free Attribute Points given by the space existed precisely for times like this.

Only by making good use of the resources at their disposal could Main God Envoys complete Main Quests in world after world, earn rewards, and obtain what they wanted.

If they only thought of relying on aid and protection from characters in the story, then there was no need to mention their final outcome. There would be nothing but death waiting for them.

"If it were someone else, they'd probably find this situation incredibly troublesome, wouldn't they?"

Even with the 1,000 Exchange Points and 5 Free Attribute Points provided by the space, dealing with Kabane was no easy matter.

After all, unless one pierced a Kabane's heart, it would not die.

Yet its heart was protected by an iron-like membrane that even Steam Guns could not penetrate.

How could a newcomer to the space, someone without even a single skill and unable to afford a single piece of leveled equipment, possibly kill one?

"Unfortunately, the space seems unwilling to let anyone lead too ordinary a life..."

No matter what, Fang Li had obtained a trump card capable of dealing with Kabane.

(Please click! Please recommend! Please bookmark! Please support!)