This Is the Rule, Everyone Is Responsible

The days that followed were probably the easiest, most peaceful, most ordinary days Lynn had lived since transmigrating.

He had almost forgotten that he was a mental patient.

While waiting for the weather to warm up completely and for himself to truly become a farmer, Lynn learned from Jonathan Kent how to operate a combine harvester, how to replace the custom tracks on a towering specialized tractor, how to keep birds from digging up freshly planted seeds, and how to tell which mustelids could be hunted and which were protected by law...

Honestly, if Lynn had not known what problems lay beneath the surface of this world, he really would have thought this kind of life was pretty good.

The kitten had failed to remind Lynn, but Constantine did.

"Lynn, I think you should have time to help me now, right?"

Lynn really wanted to say something like his leg was broken, but Constantine's tone was serious. "Lynn, what I'm asking you to help me with is also helping yourself.

"Don't you want demon souls? Come find me in Gaffaro Town."

Rather helplessly, since it concerned his own reward, Lynn had no choice but to go even if he did not really want to.

Besides, Lynn was quite interested in Constantine as a person. If everyone in the world were treated as game characters, Constantine would probably be the richest NPC in the early game—the kind of ideal beginner boss who could drop top-tier gear.

Although Constantine's alignment could only be described as neutral good no matter how one looked at it, Lynn had no reason to make a move directly. Still, Lynn believed that, with Constantine's personality, he might be the one to strike first.

Lynn had not shown Constantine his bag of holding and other items for no reason.

He had understood the principle of not flaunting one's wealth in his previous life. Knowing something about the "scum" in Constantine's name, how could he possibly have been careless enough to do something so foolish in front of someone he had just met?

The bait was sitting right there. If Constantine decided to rob Lynn, then he was sorry.

Robbing a teammate did not count as robbery.

It was all loving care.

The place Constantine had mentioned was not far from Metropolis. It looked distinctly local. Metropolis was an international metropolis, while small towns like this were better representatives of Kansas.

Rather than wearing the baseball cap he had worn on the way there, Lynn chose a slightly curved wide-brimmed hat favored by farmers. It looked much like the sort cowboys wore, though its overall shape was squarer and closer in feel to a women's sunhat.

There was naturally no train station in town, and the bus only came once every few days, so Lynn had no intention of waiting for it.

He had ridden here on a bicycle.

After all, it was daytime. Riding over on a balloon would have been a little too conspicuous.

Constantine had not said where he would wait for Lynn, but Lynn, riding his bicycle, spotted Constantine sleeping on a long wooden bench right at the entrance to town.

He really was not afraid of the cold. The snow had not even fully melted, yet he was lying outside asleep in nothing but a trench coat.

Lynn took a comic book from his bag of holding and opened it. With the cat perched on his shoulder and dressed in a black long coat, he walked step by step until he stood before Constantine.

"Here lies a piece of scum, a beast, a bastard, a parasite.

"Once he lays down the burdens of this life, we shall kindly lay him in the earth.

"He was scum in life, and now that he is dead, he remains scum.

"He had no virtue whatsoever, and his wisdom..."

"All right, all right, Lynn, please. I just fell asleep. Please let me live a few more days."

Constantine was quickly forced to open his eyes amid Lynn's thoroughly inappropriate string of eulogies.

He removed the leaf covering his eyes and rubbed his mess of hair. Only then did Constantine seem to feel the cold, rubbing his hands hard over his shoulders twice.

Then he saw Lynn's mount behind him.

"Lynn, don't tell me you rode here on that thing."

Was this some kind of magical artifact too?

"Yep. A Twenty-Eight. More than three hundred million people around the world use it. A reliable companion you can always trust."

After knocking and prodding it for ages, Constantine finally believed that it really was an ordinary bicycle.

Then the way he looked at Lynn became even more peculiar.

"You... don't have a better means of transportation? You must at least know a little about magic circles and portals, right?"

Lynn scratched his head. "It's not like I don't have any, but that thing is a little too conspicuous, and it still doesn't listen to me very well. So I switched to transportation normal people use. Is there something wrong with that?"

Nothing was wrong with that. He had merely ridden a bicycle through wind and snow for six hours.

Looking at Lynn's clothes, Constantine thought, This guy is fucking resistant to cold!

"You said that conspicuous thing of yours is a magical artifact? It doesn't listen to you... is it a life-form? A sealed artifact?

"Ha, why not let me help you tame it? You know, I'm one of the strongest magicians around. For free."

When Lynn heard that, he immediately nodded. "Sure, sure, sure! I'll take it out right now..."

"Wait. On second thought, forget it. Let's deal with your compensation and reward first."

Constantine could see people like Lynn just by looking in a mirror. How could someone like that possibly be kind enough to let others gain any advantage over him?

Give him a break. Whenever Constantine ambushed a teammate, he automatically assumed that if he did not ambush them first, they would ambush him.

Naturally, whenever he wanted to covet a teammate's equipment, he assumed the teammate was coveting his equipment too!

The only difference was that those previous teammates might not actually do it.

The kid with a cat on his shoulder was another matter.

Constantine rubbed the back of his head. It still hurt now. That was a lesson learned!

"What's wrong? Does your head still hurt? Did you catch a chill? Let me take a look. My family has practiced traditional Chinese medicine for generations..."

"Stop! Thank you, but I really don't think that's necessary."

The two walked into town step by step, scheming against each other the entire way, their words hiding blades. Every three sentences came with two stumbling blocks and eight traps. It was exhausting.

"Lynn, that's my lighter, not some magical artifact."

"Ah, smoking is bad for you. I'll hold it for you... huh? What's that?"

Watching Lynn stuff his solid copper lighter into his own pocket, Constantine could do absolutely nothing about it.

At last, he understood a little of the pain of having equipment snatched by a teammate.

Hmph... there'll come a day when you give it back...

"Lynn, no need to keep walking. This is our destination."

Constantine stopped at a fork in the road at the center of town, hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.

"Here?"

Lynn looked left and right, then walked to Constantine's side. "There's nothing special about it."

Hmm, this kid's magical skills really are not that impressive. He must have relied on having enough magical items to catch me off guard and knock me to the ground.

"Nothing special? Heh... Clear your mind..."

Constantine raised a hand and pressed it against Lynn's forehead. "How about now?"

Exploding light filled Lynn's vision. The next second, he saw demons and ghosts dancing everywhere.

"...So ghosts have to obey traffic laws too..."

At several intersections, densely packed "people" stood everywhere.