Is this really just an RPG? !

Chapter 1 Meow's Encounter (1)

Yvette City.

The second largest city in the Alexander Empire, it is not only an important port, but also an important commercial center. Although Yvette City is located near the sea in the northern part of the empire, with low temperature and humid air all year round, it is not a suitable place to live, but it still has a population far exceeding that of most cities in the Alexander Empire.

After the Melville incident, because the college needed to be rebuilt, most of the students chose to go home or travel on their own, including me, Lilith and Emily. However, the attitudes and thoughts of the three of us are slightly different. Emily is going to Iceland to find potion ingredients in order to restore her body; It is convenient for travel; as for me, I decided to follow because the task of [Escort the princess back to the Alexander Empire] was displayed on the task bar.

Nothing happened all the way to Yvette City, and the mission did not give any new hints.

It's a bit annoying.

"Would you like to take a break first?"

"Go directly to book the boat ticket. The boat ticket from here to Iceland is not very easy to book."

"Emily, you are quite clear, have you been to Yvette?"

"Hey! It turns out that the ferry ticket from Yvette to Iceland is not easy to book?!"

"Brave, you are... an idiot."

Here we go again, and he is labeled as an idiot when he opens his mouth.

My heart has been greatly hurt.

"Although the Alexander Empire is not the westernmost country, it is still quite far away from Iceland. According to the current average speed of ships, it takes more than ten days from the city of Yvette to Iceland. Such a long voyage, In addition, there are not many people going there, so naturally there are very few boats.”

"I see."

After listening to Emily's explanation, I nodded.

"I don't know if I can book it... If I book the ticket myself, I probably don't have any hope."

"That's right, after all, Senior Sister, you are just a minor now."

"Even if the body is smaller, the brain is different from ordinary people!"

"... What lines are you stringing?"

"No, I just suddenly wanted to say that, and I can mock the IQ of a wave of brave men of all ages."

Emily hugged her hands and closed her eyes with a serious expression, and nodded vigorously.

"Yes, I heard you right, the IQ of the brave men of all ages."

"..."

It's okay to say it so seriously, but what kind of mentality is it to repeat.

Does this guy have any grudge against the brave?

I looked at Lilith helplessly, only to find that Her Royal Highness had already bent over with laughter and couldn't stop at all.

"Ahahahaha! No, anyway, booking a boat ticket is not a troublesome thing, but since there is only one boat bound for Iceland, if you miss the time, you may have to wait for more than half a month."

Lilith took a few breaths before she recovered, and there were still tears from crying in the corners of her eyes.

"I'll go and book the tickets myself. Neil and Emily take this to the hotel on 8th Street and just show it to the waiter there. Open...three rooms?"

"Two, Lilith sleeps with me!"

"Of course, my sweet girl."

"Oh oh oh, as expected of a princess, I feel like my heart can't take it anymore!"

"..."

The relationship between the two beautiful girls I know seems to be developing in a very subtle direction?

After watching Lilith leave, Emily and I didn't know what to do next. In theory, I should go to the hotel on the 8th street as Lilith said, but I always have a feeling that "if I go directly like this, I might be scared", and Emily's attention is around At the shop, they simply stopped and did not move.

Unfortunately, Emily quickly lost interest in these ordinary stores.

"Go directly to the hotel?"

"If you wish..."

I answered like this.

"Let's not go for now, even Lilith will spend a lot of time booking the boat ticket, right! Where's Qiuqiu?"

The young senior didn't know what to think, and suddenly mentioned my elf partner.

"Still sleeping."

I squatted down and pulled the hood off, and Qiuqiu inside was sleeping crookedly and without image.

"In the past, she would choose to sleep in the elf world. After all, it was just a small magic thing. For the elves, it was as simple as opening a door, but Qiuqiu said 'the door is locked'... probably the kind that has already There's a strange feeling of going in by yourself."

"Eh?"

"I probably know the reason, but it's a pity that this kind of thing is too troublesome to talk about."

"Then don't say it, I don't bother to understand."

"Sister, you are really decisive, what about your curiosity?"

"With age, he dies like a dregs."

"Pay attention, you are only a girl of about ten years old now."

"As a young child, my heart is like dead ashes."

"……ha?"

"nothing."

Emily waved her hand to interrupt this series of strange conversations, she jumped up and took the long golden card away from my hand in an instant.

"I'm going to go directly to the hotel. Although such a long trip didn't make my grandmother feel tired, it made my girl's body a little too much. What I want to do most now is to take a good bath, so Neil is in charge of shopping. !"

"Eh?"

"I'll take Qiuqiu away."

"good……"

Inexplicably, I was dragged down by Emily to squat down, watching her take the sleeping Qiuqiu away and disappear into the crowd, I realized something, I seemed to be abandoned by my three teammates? Even if you really have something to do, you still won't leave me behind!

Feeling a little hurt.

"Where should we go next?"

Qiuqiu is not around, and I don’t even have anyone who can complain to me; I am completely unfamiliar with Yvette City, so I can’t think of where to go; The robber's den, the backpack has long been stuffed, and it is better to sell some decorations that have no sense of existence than to buy things.

——In terms of the fact that there are fewer and fewer criminal groups in the Alexander Empire, it's a good thing!

Feel sorry for those poor robbers.

"Well, as expected, let's clean up the backpack."

Although I have some spatial skills, I never have to worry about carrying too many things and making it inconvenient to move. I just need to open a small different dimension and stuff things into it. This is my backpack. But such a dedicated space will be full one day.

Like now.

Looking at the prompt on the screen that said "1% of the usable space in the backpack", I felt a little stiff.

It is full of magic scrolls and props, as well as a series of gold and silver jewelry, and there are even several strange statues alone. I really want to find a place to exchange all these things that are useless except for selling money into gold coins, but it is a pity that ordinary pawn shops cannot afford to buy these jewels alone.

What is even more regrettable is that the auction held in Yvette City just ended more than ten days ago, and the next one will have to wait for two or three months. If I have this time, I have probably already been to Iceland and the said to exist. The blue dragon returned to Yvette City after having fun.

"What should I do..."

Folding his arms across his chest, he walked and thought about what to do with the pile of valuables. I haven't figured out the answer yet, but I found myself unconsciously walking into a deserted alley. Although both front and back lead to the street, I don't know which way to go is better.

The position of the mound can be found with the positioning of the system.

It's just that I don't want to go to the hotel right away. I always feel that I will be caught by Emily and complain about it, such as "the brave's ability to recognize the way is as good as ever", even if I plan to go to the association to appraise the scroll... But I don't know the way!

When I first came to Yvette, it was Qiuqiu who was in charge of guiding the way. Now she has been abducted by Emily, and I am the only one left. Local spellcasters association. I really don't know what kind of mentality the builders have. If the damage was more serious at that time, would the association be forced to rebuild in another place?

uncertain.

Anyway, I have lost the chance to start.

"Son, do you want to try some fresh fruit?"

"Hey... hey!"

Hearing the voice of a middle-aged woman, I never recovered and realized that I had come to a new place. On both sides of the street are small stalls selling ingredients and fruits. Most of the people coming and going are ordinary residents, and occasionally you can meet a few neatly dressed servants.

"Um!"

Anyway, there is nothing to do, just buy something to eat and find a place to rest.

"Then I recommend this! The chira fruit that is abundant in the empire, this is just picked, and it tastes very comfortable... By the way, child, you are a traveler."

"Eh?"

"It's rare for people dressed like this to come here, not to mention that you just subconsciously observed the surrounding situation, which means that you are here for the first time."

"That's it..."

Can ordinary people also have such a strong power of observation? !

Suddenly I feel so weak!

"I kind of miss my Mao boy who has been away from home for three years."

The woman seemed to be thinking of something.

"Away from home for three years, why?"

"What else can there be? A young and energetic child is determined to be famous. When he grows up, he shouts 'Go on a journey to find wealth and bring it back'. He set off with a few silver coins. If it wasn't for him, he would send letters back regularly. , I guess I won’t continue to have expectations.”

"Eh."

"How long have you been traveling, child?"

"More than a year..."

"It seems that you are much more capable than that incompetent kid."

"No...just because..."

Because I am a brave man.

Just like what Qiuqiu said, bravery is a very delicate profession. It does not necessarily have strong combat power, but it is absolutely invincible in terms of luck. Even a guy like me who is often unlucky can always use luck to ensure his own safety at critical moments.

…………

Suddenly, I found myself very unreliable.

Apart from being big, it has no characteristics at all.

"child?"

"It's okay. If you meet a good companion, traveling is not difficult. I met a lot of people who helped me along the way."

I said that without knowing how to comfort you.

But the other party didn't really care about this kind of thing.

"It's a bit too much. I'm really sorry to hear some uninteresting stories."

"No no no, it's okay."

"These should be regarded as thank you for listening to my story, please accept it."

"Ah... I see, thank you very much."

"Be careful when traveling."

"Um."

After saying goodbye to this middle-aged woman, I wandered to a place that was probably the central square, found an empty bench and sat down, put the bag of chira fruit next to me and started to be in a daze.

I had never considered this kind of thing before. After hearing the woman’s story, I suddenly realized one thing. Although I only have memories after the age of 16, it does not mean that I did not exist before the age of 16.

In other words, are my parents waiting for me to come home somewhere like her?

"I don't know at all!"

I scratched my head hard and couldn't think of any answer.

In terms of sophistication, it seems difficult for me to understand anything.

However, thinking about this issue did not last long before being interrupted.

"Meow..."

I don't know what creature's cry drew my attention.

It was a black cat, sitting on the other side of the bench, looking up at me with emerald green eyes, raising its hind legs from time to time to scratch its ears.

After seeing all kinds of strange monsters, this is the first time I have seen such a cute and harmless little guy.

More importantly, when I looked at it, I had a strange feeling of "can understand what it wants to express".

Just like now.

"Meow."

"Are you, hungry?"

There is causality in this world.

To put it simply: if Emily didn't take Qiuqiu away, then I wouldn't wander to the market in a daze; if I didn't go to the market, I wouldn't be able to hear a story from a middle-aged woman and get a A bag of chila fruit; I haven’t heard the story of a middle-aged woman, the possibility of me going to the central square is almost zero, so it is naturally impossible to meet this black cat; even if I encounter a black cat in other places, there is no chila fruit My own relationship with it is just a passer-by.

I came to a conclusion: I used a bag of Chira fruit donated by others to get a black cat who can be cute and coquettish and warm my heart, which is much better than that Qiuqiu who is always complaining about me.

…………

Wait!

Why should I have a cat?

"Meow!"

The black cat I named Roger stood in my hood, with its upper body lying on my shoulders, looking curiously at the people coming and going around, meowing a few times and rubbing against me. Even though it is completely bilingual, the magic is that I can probably understand what Roger is saying, and Roger can understand what I am saying.

"Meow?"

"I'm going back to the hotel. I'm going with two girls. Don't be naughty when you see them... Oh! There's also an elf who's smaller than you. She's my partner."

"Meow!"

"How should I describe it? It feels like a very easy-going person, Roger, you have an advantage in appearance!"

"Meow?"

"Well, there is nothing wrong with meow, who is very handsome."

That's about it.

I can easily communicate with Roger, as if there is no language difference. Although animal trainers who have lived with pets for a long time can also do this, my relationship with Roger is more special than those people. According to the causal theory mentioned earlier, the encounter between Roger and I was predestined.

It's a bit mysterious.

But unexpectedly it felt good.

Although I don't know the way, but I can lock the location of Qiuqiu, and Emily has already brought Qiuqiu to the target location, I just need to go to the place where Qiuqiu is. So, I brought a black cat to the gate of a hotel that looked a little too luxurious.

As expected of Lilith's recommendation.

Maybe this is the royal industry?

"Excuse me, are you Neil Franks Noyce?"

"Ah...um."

It's rare to be called by my full name, and I couldn't react for a while.

In front of him is a gorgeously dressed waiter, who should be working in this hotel and is mainly responsible for receiving guests. It stands to reason that even if most people recognize me, they only know the identity of the "brave" and will call out my full name... Maybe Emily greeted them when they came?

Maybe Lilith also arrived at the hotel before me.

"Well, I'm Neil."

"His Highness has already ordered, she is waiting for you in the room, do you need me to take you there?"

Your Highness is talking about Lilith.

Sure enough, I was the last one to arrive.

"Thank you very much, I'm not very familiar with it... By the way, can I bring this cat in with me?"

"Of course, sir."

"Then please."

"My pleasure."

There is really nothing to fault the well-trained waiters.

"This is it, then I will take my leave first."

"Um."

After the waiter left, I knocked on the door.

"Neil?"

"Well, it's me."

"Wait a moment."

"Um."

"Wait until Emily and I finish this round!"

"……ha?"

I know that if you want to enter a girl's room, you will usually wait at the door for a long time due to various situations, but this is the first time I heard that it is the reason for "finishing this game". Considering the relationship between Lilith and Emily, there should be no fights, that is to say, what game are they playing?

This game even made Qiuqiu unable to open the door? !

"Oh, sorry, I just hit the critical point."

"Ha... Sure enough."

Hearing the first words of Lilith who opened the door, I felt a little helpless.

"Eh, cat?"

Probably because Roger in her arms was too eye-catching, Lilith quickly noticed this dark cat.

"Well, I met it in the central square, gave it something to eat, and then followed me like this."

"You really didn't take it away by force?"

"Where does it look like! Roger, say hello to our Royal Highness Princess Lilith."

I grumbled and held Roger up to Lilith.

"Meow!"

"... Neil."

"Um?"

"Although it is very cute, it is illegal to lay hands on cats. The empire has relevant laws."

"There is such a law?!"

"Human beings always have a few more subtle guys."

"Oh... that's not right! What kind of guy do you imagine me to be!"

"It's nothing, come in first, it happens that playing cards with four people is more interesting."

"It turned out to be playing cards."

It should be a game created by Lilith. If it is Emily, she can only come up with ideas such as "developing new potions" and "thinking of new medicines for the brave", although in terms of Lilith's personality, And she wouldn't mind these few ideas that seemed pretty good to her.

Being a brave man is really satisfying.

When you enter the room, you can see Emily and Qiuqiu sitting on the ground, and a mess of cards on the ground. There is also a pure white cat lying on the table next to it. It just looked up at me and retracted. Continued Sleep in the sun. As soon as Roger spotted the cat, he jumped out of my arms and jumped onto the table to nest with him.

There is no sense of incongruity.

Like two fat rabbits.

And I don't know if it's my illusion that the pupils of the two cats are the same color?

"Brave, why are you moving so slowly?"

"Walk around a little longer."

"Abducted a cat by the way?"

"...Why, senior sister, you look like His Highness!"

"Pfft, just kidding, but I really didn't expect you to like cats, Neil."

"It can't be said that I like it, but I don't hate it."

I answered like this, even though it sounded like I wasn't sure about it.

Although the hotel looks luxurious from the outside, the rooms inside are not too unexpected. In other words, if you compare it with the lobby of this hotel, you will feel that the layout of the rooms is relatively simple. Qiuqiu just raised her head to greet me when I came in, and then concentrated on thinking about the cards in her hand. It was a very delicate situation for those cards that were bigger than Qiuqiu to stand in front of her. .

It makes people want to laugh.

"Neil, do you want to join in too? It's more fun to play with 4 people."

She sat down directly on the spot, collected the scattered cards on the field and the cards standing in front of Qiuqiu, and cleaned them again, and then divided them into four piles according to their colors. Qiuqiu didn't feel disappointed by the interrupted game, but looked at the cards in a different posture, as if looking forward to the new game.

So what game is it after all?

Looking at the cards of the four colors of red, blue, yellow, and green, I feel a little stiff.

"Neil, haven't you played such a famous game?"

Maybe it was because the expression on her face was too obvious, Emily who was sitting across from me could see through my thoughts at a glance.

"I haven't played it, and I don't know the rules at all."

"It's very simple, master! Chuqiu, I learned it once I played it!"

"Well..."

Suddenly I don't want to play this game anymore.

The rules are not that complicated: the red ones are character cards, the blue ones are prop cards, the yellow ones are action cards, and the green ones are magic cards. The game process is to hurt each other crazily, and the last survivor is the winner.

A game full of intrigue in the adult world.

After all, each character card is very special, with certain advantages and fatal weaknesses. Generally speaking, the identities of each other are unknown, but through some details in the game process, you can detect which character card the opponent is, and then Then you can know its weakness, and finally as long as there are cards that restrain the character, you can kill it with one hit.

In various senses, it is very similar to a cup grabbing game that takes place in a city in a certain world.

"That's right! What time is the boat ticket?"

"At 10 o'clock in the morning the day after tomorrow, luck is not bad."

"It would be nice not to have to wait weeks..."

I felt relieved for a moment and let out a heavy breath.

"Any plans for tomorrow?"

"Lilith and I are going to visit the administrator of this city, and Qiuqiu will follow us."

"Hey... you left me alone again."

"Master, your tone is so strange. Besides, isn't there a cat to accompany you?"

"Speaking of cats, I should prefer to sleep on my stomach in the sun. Besides, Roger is more interested in that white cat...By the way, who is the owner of that white cat? Senior sister?"

"Unfortunately, it's the one on your right."

"Eh!"

"Yes, Ron was adopted by me."

Lilith blinked, but I couldn't understand what she meant by blinking.

"The white cat is a female, and the black cat is a male... It's too strange for the two of you to name it. Luo Jie gave the black cat a female-like name, and Ron gave the white cat a male-like name."

"It's Roger!"

"How can I tell the difference between the pronunciations, you idiot, Brave."

"Yes, blame me, blame me."

"And the two of you! What kind of mentality did you choose for the name? Does it have anything to do with Rowling?"

"Um……"

Lilith suddenly lowered her head, as if she was thinking.

"First of all, I just made up the name randomly."

"I'm the same as Neil."

"For the same thing, don't pretend to be contemplative! It will cause misunderstanding..."

Before Emily could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by Qiuqiu. She threw out the cards in her hand at the speed of light and reported a series of operations. She successfully killed me sitting on her right hand, and finally flipped over the character card in her hand to activate the special effects of the character to get rid of Lilith who was sitting opposite. Play me and Lilith's cards to deal with Emily.

This is the start of the second round.

Qiuqiu: "Yeah!"

I:"…………"

Lilith: "..."

Emily: "..."

This is the first time I know that my partner is so lucky!

As the first person to be killed, I took on the task of shuffling the cards, but probably because I am not compatible with this technique, no matter how hard I try, I can’t make smooth moves like Lilith’s, so I can only shuffle the cards at will. Then stack them together again in such a pointless way.

"By the way, when was that white cat raised?"

After the new game started, I changed the topic to the cat named Ron.

"Master, don't you know?"

"Unfortunately, I don't know about it at all... Wait! The order is wrong! I only have two!"

"It's one of the rules of the game, Neil, you are still distracted... Brave! That one is mine!"

"Tsk tsk, I'm just learning from you, senior."

"Cut, how about reconciling and starting over together?"

"I think this is pretty good, right Qiuqiu!"

"Hey, Lilith, you don't even favor me!"

"The game is also a battle!"

"Okay, okay, the final result is that I and the brave only have 4 initial cards, Qiuqiu and Lilith, do you have 5?"

"That's it. In exchange, Neil will be the first to act in this game."

"Hey! What's my opinion?"

"As a man, you have to take care of yourself."

"Even if there is such a saying, it shouldn't be put in the game...Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'll be the first."

Obviously the first person is the most disadvantaged.

When the understanding of other players' identities is 0, they don't dare to take any too bold actions. If they are accidentally seen through their identities, they will become the first unfortunate child to be killed by a sniper.

"The topic was taken away by you unknowingly, so what happened to the white cat, there must be something about the academy that I didn't tell me."

"No, it's just that you dozed off during the tea party, Neil, and didn't hear it."

"I'm very sorry, Your Highness... Oh! [The Dilapidated Cross] activated the inversion effect and gave Lilith a bad luck symbol. I'm really sorry, Your Highness."

"I can't hear your apology at all!"

Lilith directly picked up the pillow next to me and threw it at my head.

Then I fell down because of Her Royal Highness's strange power.

If the player is included in the game, does this count as being forcibly defeated at the beginning?

"It's really too much to give me such a vicious state that may lose 2 HP at the beginning."

"After all, senior sister is one block away from me, so I can't reach it."

"You mean you planned to give it to me? Brave! Besides, you can definitely give it to Chuchu! Did you forget that she was the biggest winner in the last game?!"

"She has a piece of [God's Asylum] hanging on her body, how can I add it! You should show it to me!"

"Oh, so your role is not 【Misfortune Maker】."

"Even if it is, it won't activate the character characteristics in the second round!"

"Tch, rude man..."

"Hmph, stupid brat..."

"You two have a really good relationship."

"Eh? Your Highness Lilith? The relationship between the master and Miss Emily is not bad?"

"Falling in love and killing each other is also very common."

"How is it possible (not)!"

The game that was interrupted by the noise restarted, and it was Lilith's turn after I finished my turn. Seeing that she wasn't in a hurry, I looked back at the two cats, and Roger and Ron were already asleep before I knew it, and the loud noise of the game didn't wake them up.

"It's really similar, except for fur color and gender, it's very similar in every aspect."

"Probably brother and sister?"

While Emily made a guess, she took a vicious status card in front of my character card.

"……distance?"

"I have [Ancient Alchemy Tool: Multi-angle Mirror], I'm so sorry."

"Tsk."

I turned my head dissatisfied.

With my character's characteristics, I can instantly bounce this vicious status card back to the user, but it's not good to expose it so early, so I can only tolerate that uncomfortable card next to my character card.

"Those two cats are supporting the familiar."

"Eh?"

I was stunned when I heard Qiuqiu's answer, and I almost lost my grip on the cards in my hand.

"That is to say! One of the familiars!"

"No, no, I don't know much about making demons."

"Master, what have you been studying in the academy?"

"Probably how to properly deal with annoying red hair?"

"...Oh, by the way, Neil also has a red hair in your dormitory."

"Your Highness, what you said..."

"It's about the same."

For some reason, Lilith's expression was filled with great sadness.

Although I really want to know if the red hair in Lilith's mouth is the strong female knight who hugged me and shouted "Let's go back to my hometown to get married", because that scene was too destructive to me, I decided to put such a big Put aside a question, and concentrate on playing the board game in front of me... Eh?

"Well, activate the item card [Harp on the Seabed], the target is the owner!"

"...Because of the effect of the item card [Harp at the bottom of the sea], discard all the cards in your hand, and because of the characteristics of the character card [Surviving Apostate], this character is targeted by the item card [Harp at the bottom of the sea] When the time comes, the identity will be forcibly revealed, and 7 points of HP will be lost, and I still have 1 point of HP."

"Then activate the magic card [reach to the future], pay 1 HP and deal 1 HP damage to any designated target on the field."

"..."

Then I just hung up.

There are no cards in my hand that can save me, and there are no cards that can defend against Qiuqiu's magic cards. With my HP reduced to 0, I can only give all the remaining cards in my hand to Qiuqiu and become the first loser.

Yes, that also means Shuffle is still me.

Shuffling the decks in that horrendous way with mocking looks from Emily.

"Why is there such a characteristic?"

"The master doesn't memorize the legendary stories, of course he can't understand! This game is created according to legends and myths."

"Eh?"

"The human 'Peters' known as the 'surviving apostate' is a very special guy. It is said that he believed in all the sects on the mainland at that time, and betrayed the sect he believed in, so he obtained the 'can take away gifts or The ability to transfer doom', but he was finally killed by the deep sea banshee... eh? The name of this deep sea banshee is not recorded in the endless library!"

"Don't worry about this kind of thing, just tell me the result."

"Because he heard the singing of the deep-sea banshee, when he tried to use his ability to win the other party's favor, he couldn't concentrate because of the charming sound of the piano, and there was a mistake in using the ability, which caused him and the deep-sea banshee to fall into the bottom of the sea. There has been no news about him since then.”

"That's it, so [the sunken harp] has become what he fears the most."

"In fact, the harp is also a very powerful thing. Just like the card effect "make the designated target discard all cards", the harp itself has a very strong charm."

"Understood."

It's really a game that can give people a long experience.

Of course, the premise is that there is a guy who is familiar with legends or myths among the players participating in the game.

"Boom! Boom!"

Suddenly, a bell rang outside the house.

Before I knew it, it was already 12 o'clock at night.

"The bell of Yvette City comes from the old bell tower in the central square."

"Eh……"

Hearing Lilith's explanation, I suddenly understood.

After all, I have only been to the central square during the day, and I have also seen the dilapidated clock tower.

"It's the second day, but there's nothing to do today, let's continue playing?"

After Emily proposed, Qiuqiu and Lilith immediately agreed.