Rose and the Gun

Hope slowly raised his head. The person holding the gun was on Old Williams's roof. He could not see clearly, but it was probably the stranger Wilbur had mentioned in Old Williams's house.

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"Where are we now?" Hope asked.

"In someone's yard."

"We got into a fight in someone's yard and scared them."

"You don't need to tell me that." Wilbur did not dare make the slightest movement. "What do we do now?"

"How would I know... What are you doing, Lavinia?"

Lavinia backed away with her hands raised. "Fight them, not me! This has nothing to do with me! I didn't ruin that garden!"

Amazingly, the gun barrel overhead really ignored her.

"Traitor!" Hope raged. "It has nothing to do with me either! He did all the damage! I deliberately avoided the garden, ugh!"

Wilbur's hand was still on Hope's shoulder blade. He did not dare make any large movements, but that hand pressed down hard. Hope had already been weak, and now all the air was squeezed from his lungs. He groaned in pain.

"Who are you?" the person on the roof asked.

"Local residents!" Wilbur answered. "We're Old Williams's neighbors. That wasteland to the south is where we live."

"What are you doing here?"

"Taking a walk. Just passing through!" Hope finally managed to catch his breath.

"Let him go first!"

Hope jabbed Wilbur in the waist. "Did you hear that? Let me go."

Wilbur did as he was told.

"Why were you fighting?"

Wilbur glanced at Hope. "This is my brother. He has a mental illness. He had an episode just now."

"Yes, they say I have a mental illness!"

Wilbur looked toward the person on the roof. "Ma'am, there's no need to make this so tense. We can settle this."

There was no response.

Wilbur continued, "We can compensate you for the crushed roses at market price!"

He slowly pulled out some money. Hope eyed him sideways.

One bill, two bills, one small bill, two small bills...

Wilbur's movements stiffened.

"How many roses did we destroy?" Hope asked.

"Not many, actually. Just one bush."

"How much do we need to pay?"

"...I said we'd pay market price..."

"Not enough?"

"Not enough."

Hope sighed.

Wilbur looked toward the roof. "I didn't bring enough money. We can leave him here while I go back for more."

"Wilbur, you..."

The person above said nothing, apparently considering whether Hope was worth enough.

"Then leave me here!" Hope shouted. "I'll plant roses for you!"

"No!" Wilbur refused. He lowered his voice to Hope. "Don't forget our agreement!"

"I was joking."

"Back away!" the person on the roof said.

"No! He can't stay here to plant roses!"

"Carry him back!"

Wilbur did as instructed, dragging Hope along. Hope felt as though Wilbur were dragging a dead pig, but he truly found even raising a hand difficult.

"Could you lift me a little higher?" Hope whispered. "You're going to wear through my pants like this."

A loud bang rang out.

Hope covered his ears.

Wilbur straightened up and adjusted his clothes.

"What happened?" Hope asked.

Wilbur stared at the roof. "Good news. Her gun went off by accident and didn't hit anything. It's a homemade gun. She'll need some time to reload."

"So that means... Hey, what are you doing?"

Wilbur hunched over. Despite being so tall, he somehow looked extremely sneaky.

"Keep your voice down," he said. "Don't scare her."

"Didn't you say she..."

"Damn it, Hope, but she has two guns."

The person on the roof spoke again. She sounded somewhat panicked as well; the accidental discharge had clearly been unexpected. "You can leave now. Hurry!"

Wilbur threw the money clenched in his hand onto the ground and hoisted Hope over his shoulder.

At Hope's request, they returned early to the Whateley ancestral house. Lavinia was already waiting for them.

"You're all alive!" Lavinia said in surprise.

"Alive," Wilbur answered.

"Thanks for the blessing," Hope replied. He had recovered enough strength to walk on his own. "Can I ask you a question, Lavinia?"

"It wouldn't have helped if I'd stayed there. I would only have caused you trouble."

"..."

Hope pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not that. I wanted to ask how you saw the person on the roof. Aren't you... well, shouldn't your eyesight be about as bad as mine?"

"My strength really is about the same as yours."

Wilbur grabbed Hope and forcibly pushed him up the stairs.

"Then if our eyesight is about the same..."

Wilbur cut him off. "She received some blessings from the King of Kings. She can see many things without relying on her eyes. Even if you gouged her eyes out, she would still see more than you."

"Like that ability of yours that makes my whole body weak?"

"Something like that."

Hope returned to his room and let Wilbur lock the iron chain around his hand.

Wilbur patted Hope.

"There's one more thing I forgot to warn you about. Don't try to make the residents escape. Believe me, there's no way they can unite and leave together overnight. And if you do that, we'll have no choice but to fight to the death."

The room returned to darkness.

Hope closed his eyes.

As his emotions calmed, some things appeared in the darkness:

1.31, 1.55, 0.67, 0, 0, 15

Uncertainty: 1

Source-ification: 0.3

Are these... my numbers?

Can I only see them when I close my eyes and focus hard enough?

Why are there extra things now? Two more numbers, and what are the ones after them?

So it can display words. Even simplified Chinese. Then why can't it give me an instruction manual?

The fourth number is zero. I expected it somewhat, but it's still disappointing.

Hmm, the third number isn't much different from Lavinia's, but it's far lower than everyone else's.

Wilbur had said her "eyesight" was about the same as his, except that she could see more through "blessings." Then this number should be eyesight.

At a thought from Hope, words appeared before the third number: Eyesight: 0.67.

So I can change it.

After thinking for a moment, the fourth group of numbers also changed: Mana: 0.

Can I use it as a notebook?

The sentence appeared on the final line. Hope opened his eyes, then closed them again.

It was still there. The words appeared almost instantly with his thoughts. A brain-controlled computer? Typing with thoughts.

Then can I modify the data myself?

Hope erased the sentence and tried changing his mana to 1000, but nothing happened. He changed his mind and tried making it 0.01. Still nothing happened.

His plan to become a god in one step had failed. The things that had appeared from the start could not be altered.

The first number was actually as high as 1.31. If Hope remembered correctly, everyone he had met, including Wilbur, had hovered around 1.00.

Then since mine is the highest... Anyway, I can't tell what else it is. Hope wrote the words "Talent" in front of it.

Then came the second number. 1.55.

Wilbur was 1.65, Lavinia 1.44, Paul 1.60, Annie... seemed to be 1.54, the Spectacled Youth 1.44, Little Brick 1.26...

Paul was covered in muscle, Wilbur was over two meters tall, and Little Brick was only ten...

This was "Physique."

Talent: 1.31, Physique: 1.55, Eyesight: 0.67, Mana: 0.

Though it felt somewhat strange, based on what he currently knew, that was all he could make of those four numbers.

Then there were the last two: 0, 15... He had no clue. These seemed to be values unique to him. The last number was astonishingly high, but he had no idea what it was for.

As for the two below... Uncertainty and Source-ification sounded impressive, but he could not understand them at all. He would ignore them for now.

Ah... there's also the matter of the sacrifice. Even though Wilbur and I have an agreement, I can't stay here forever. I need to find a way.

And that note is with Paul now. I still don't know how to get it back.

I should sleep first.

These wooden boards are really hard. They're not comfortable at all.

Hope imagined himself lying in Old Williams's garden. Though many unpleasant things had happened there, it was still a beautiful place.

Thud! Something fell.

Hope frowned, ignored it, and continued imagining a field of roses.

He could almost smell the roses... along with the sound of metal striking brick.

He opened his eyes. The other person was picking up the hunting rifle they had accidentally dropped.

"Long time no see," Hope said. "I know we just met, but could you put the gun down first?"