Is this really just an RPG? !

Chapter 2 Meow's Change (1)

It is very uncomfortable to have direct sunlight on your face while you are sleepy.

Besides, I remember that I should have drawn the curtains before going to bed.

"Meow!"

The heaviness in my chest made it hard for me to breathe.

Resting today, I planned to stay in bed for a while, but was woken up by the black cat my family just adopted yesterday. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, looked at Roger sitting in front of me licking his paws, and reached out and rubbed his head.

"Okay, I'm up, wait a while for me to wash up."

"Meow."

After hugging Roger to the table and changing clothes a few times, I started to stand in front of the mirror in a daze.

What are you going to do today?

I thought I would play with Lilith, Emily, and Qiuqiu until the early morning, but it turned out that I was already too sleepy at around 4:00 in the morning, so I had to end the game early, take Roger back to the room, and wash up Falling into bed and falling asleep, it was already 11 am when I woke up again.

"Meow?"

"It's nothing, I thought about something a little bit... that's right!"

Suddenly remembered something, I picked Roger up and put him on the washstand.

"Roger, do you want to wash your face?"

"Meow!"

"Hey, I really want it."

I thought cats hated water, but not Roger.

Probably because he's not really a cat.

After everything was ready, I took Roger out of the room and prepared to go to the next door to find Lilith and the others. But there was no response for half a day after knocking on the door, and it wasn't until a waiter came over and told me that "His Royal Highness took her friends to visit the administrator of the city" that I remembered Lilith's proposal to me at that time.

——"Neil, would you like to meet Mr. Warren with us?"

——"No...uh, I think it's better to stay in the hotel and sleep."

——"I said that the brave will not go, Lilith, haven't you figured out the characteristics of our Mr. Brave?"

——"I just want to take Qiuqiu with me, after all, there may be times when I need Qiuqiu's help."

—— "Hey! Do you want my help? No problem, Your Highness! As long as the master agrees, I can go with Your Highness."

——"Why are you looking at me! I know, it doesn't matter, just take Qiuqiu there!"

——"OK! Over! You are useless, Brave! We will probably be back before dinner tomorrow."

——"Hey! Are you crossing the river and tearing down the bridge!"

— "No, I'm just spreading the word about fair use."

Then, I got into an argument with Emily again, right?

So I forgot about it today.

"Your Highness has an order. If you change your mind, sir, we can take you to Mr. Warren's mansion."

"Ah...forget it, I will go out for a walk. If Her Royal Highness Lilith and the others return early and ask about my whereabouts, it will be fine if I say 'go out for a while'."

"…………Understood."

I don't know if it's my illusion, but the tangled look of the waiter in front of me makes me feel a little familiar.

Leaving the hotel, wandering the streets with Roger in his arms.

Although visiting the manager Valen is a good way to pass the time, but for me, the way of getting along with full of etiquette is really awkward. Instead of making myself suffer, I might as well just walk around the city like this , it doesn't matter if a day's time is wasted.

Besides, what I brought with me was Roger who claimed to support the familiar.

The biggest feature of this race is its keen intuition, and it can always detect the violations around it in an unimaginable way, and discover those details that may be covered up by time.

Just like now, Roger, who has not been lazy in my arms for a long time, jumped to the ground, yelled at me, and ran towards an alley.

Fortunately, there were not many pedestrians, and I was able to keep up with Roger's speed.

It's not too much trouble to catch up with Roger in the narrow alleys. The problem is that I will always encounter street gangsters for no reason, making me seem to be playing some kind of "RPG game of stepping on thunder and encountering enemies". These gangsters will encounter all kinds of throwing weapons.

Like trash can lids.

Such as bricks.

Like an empty glass bottle.

For example, I don’t know which stray cat loves the fish bone.

In order not to be thrown away by Roger, I had no choice but to take out the magic scrolls newly accumulated from robbing the robber's den with Emily and Lilith.

"boom!"

Listening to the familiar sound of explosions, I feel that I am becoming more proficient in the skill of blasting.

"Clang clang clang clang! You have obtained a new title [more proficient insanity blaster]."

"..."

It turns out that the setting of this title is still there.

Is this kind of stalk that comes out every few months really okay?

"The title [more skilled insanity blaster]

Title information: Desperate to explode! Also quite experienced!

Title attributes: Explosion power increased by 30%, explosion range increased by 30%"

# enough #

# Had Enough #

# I'm just a hero, not a blaster hero #

Ignoring the obtrusive prompt, I focused on Roger in front of me. He seemed to have noticed something, and it was very important, so he ran out without explaining to me first, and more importantly, his goal seemed to be the central square?

But if you really want to say that there is something worth paying attention to in the central square.

It really is the clock tower!

Every time I hear the bell ringing to tell the time, I will have an indescribable sense of disobedience. There must be some unknown secret. Roger should be aware of this and hurriedly lead me to the clock tower... …No, it's just that it doesn't explain Roger's composure at first.

Then it should be at the moment just now, what happened on the side of the clock tower was noticed by Roger, who has a keen intuition.

If you explain it this way, everything is understandable!

The problem was the old clock tower.

"Meow!"

"Exploded?"

After finally following Roger to the bottom of the clock tower, he was stunned by his request.

The iron gate of the bell tower is locked with an iron chain. For normal people, there is no way to get this iron gate without a key. In addition, the window sill closest to the ground is also several meters high, and the walls are very smooth, so there is no place to borrow it, and the magic circle of anti-floating and flying spells is set up in Yvette City. The improbable thing.

So Roger suggested to me to use "fried".

As long as the door is blown open, everything will become a piece of cake.

but!

I understand the truth!

But wouldn't it be a bit inappropriate to blow up a door casually!

If this is the lair of a gang of robbers, then I will directly "slap" all the magic scrolls on my body without any pressure, and I don't want to blow them up, just want a special effect. But this is Yvette City, the second largest city in the Alexander Empire, and it is still in the center of the city.

Is it a bit too casual to just "Booooooom"?

"Meow..."

"You understand too."

"Meow."

"Oh, shy... No! What's wrong with being shy! The point is to find a way to get in! You must have brought me here because you felt something was wrong!"

"Meow?"

"Don't play dumb!"

So, it's not good for a domesticated cat to be too human.

I sigh deeply.

Picking up the naughty cat and putting it back in the hood, I started to walk around the clock tower. It's not necessary to open the front lock to get in. There should be other ways, for example, find a window sill closest to the ground, find a way to swing a rope up, and climb up along the rope.

This is the most central place in the city, but unexpectedly few people pass by.

Maybe it's because the bell tower is built in a relatively remote place in the central square?

Anyway, as long as I don't do anything violent, no one should notice my actions.

"Meow?"

"Looking for the key... No, no one would throw the key nearby after locking the door on purpose."

"Meow, meow meow!"

"It's not that good!"

After understanding what Roger meant, I didn't know what to do to make a good expression.

He even told me that "since it is a decryption game, the solution to the level is often nearby", I don't know who instilled him with strange knowledge. After all, this is not a deciphering game with a limited scope of activities. In theory, as long as I am not curious about the things on the clock tower, the plot will not develop at all, and the incident will be nothing. I will leave it to other curious people in the future. The person who handles it is.

It's just, why on earth did I suddenly decide to meddle in such a hassle?

Have no idea.

"Meow!"

Roger seemed to have discovered something again, jumped out of the hood, and hurriedly ran forward. Something in the grass in the distance is shining with silver light, it should be some kind of metal product, right? I wondered why Roger suddenly got the dragon habit and began to like shiny things. When I followed up, I realized that the shiny thing was a key, and it was being held in Roger's mouth.

"key?"

"Meow!"

Roger threw the key into my hand, and told me to try to open the gate of the bell tower.

"real?"

"Meow!"

"...No matter what, it's impossible to say that you can find the corresponding key...ah, it's opened."

Originally, I was just trying to open the lock with the key I picked up according to what Roger said. As a result, I just inserted it and twisted it a few times at random when I heard a "click" sound, and the iron lock was opened . And the iron chain wrapped round and round on the doorknob broke into several sections in an instant, and scattered on the ground with a clatter.

I stretched out my hand to push the door, and after hearing the sound of "creaking", a gap big enough for one person to pass appeared.

"It really is!"

"Meow!"

"No, it still feels a little unscientific."

I couldn't help shaking my head.

This kind of setting that you can open the lock by picking up a key at random is only available to Roger!

This is the ability of my cat!

"Meow?"

"...Don't read my heart, and don't pretend to be innocent. I'll ask you for the key after the matter is over."

"Meow..."

"It's no use pretending to be pitiful!"

I always feel that this black cat is getting more and more proficient at perfunctory me, and it still looks like someone.

Probably learned from that person?

I reached out and rubbed my brows, turning my attention to the inside of the bell tower.

There is no one, and there are no cargo boxes piled up together. The only strange thing is that there is a dusty old wooden chair in the middle. I thought this chair would have something special, so I carefully threw a few detection magic on it. , only came to the conclusion that "this is an ordinary wooden chair"; the stairs leading to the top were built on the left hand side after entering the door, and the handrail looked tattered, with a few broken stones falling from the top from time to time.

Such a building.

It can basically be regarded as a dangerous building!

No one has ever noticed this.

"Meow!"

"Oh yes, lighting spells... eh?"

"Meow?"

"Probably because His Highness and Senior Sister were on the way back, so I didn't prepare this kind of spell scroll for daily use."

"..."

"Don't look at me like this! I can't help it."

I always felt as if I was looked down upon by Roger.

My heart is a little tangled.

"It's not impossible at all."

I picked Roger up.

There is too much dust here, and if he dares to walk and roll on the ground, I will never allow him to return to my hood until it is cleaned.

"There are other ways to light it, but you'd better not come out."

"Meow?"

"This is it!"

I drew the dagger out.

The magical weapon called Gungnri is usually presented in the form of a sword.

After the battle with Melville, I have been trying to develop various usages of this magic weapon, but it is a pity that Gungnri consumes a lot of magic power every time it is released. Generally speaking, after releasing three attacks, the magic power will be exhausted. And change back to the camouflage form of the dagger.

And... my mana... doesn't power Gungnri.

It can only recover mana slowly while in camouflage form, and it takes about a full day to fully recharge.

Lilith gave me a direct comment after knowing this.

"As expected of an ancient weaponry, even the setting that it can be recharged three times a day has been retained! It's amazing!"

# What's so amazing about it! #

After Lilith complained, Emily answered a sentence.

"After all, after the improvement of modern armed forces, both the charging efficiency and the energy usage efficiency have been greatly improved. It can already charge for five minutes and poke people for two hours."

# Why are they poking people? #

# How difficult are you to get along with people! #

# Who is the poor child who was poked? He was going to be poked for two hours! #

At this point, the topic suddenly changed to "the latest armed improvement plan", which lasted for about several hours, and finally ended with the two resonating and writing a hypothesis.

When Qiuqiu and I were listening to the communication between the two, we were in a state of sluggishness the whole time.

Feeling a little bad.

"Meow?"

"...a little bad memory comes to mind."

"Meow?"

"Ah! Actually this one! It's not a weapon, its body is a light stick!"

Saying this to Roger, I swung the dagger in my hand.

Afterwards, the blade of the short sword emitted a faint red light. Although the effect was not very good, it allowed me to see the situation under my feet clearly.

In this way, at least you won't fall down half way up the stairs.

"Look, it's a very powerful light stick!"

"Meow……"

"You despise me! Just said it! Don't deny it."

"Meow?"

"never mind……"

I shook my head, stopped pursuing these trivial matters, and raised my head to look at the top of the clock tower.

"Let's go up."

"Meow."

I always feel that Roger is right.

I do seem to be playing some poorly crafted horror puzzle game, best evidenced by the fact that the door inexplicably slams shut and locked from the outside the moment I walk up the stairs... Just kidding! When I came in, I made sure that all the chains were broken, and there were no suspicious people around, unless someone was watching the clock tower and locked the gate after I entered.

But that certainly couldn't escape Roger's intuition.

Even Roger couldn't detect it, so there was only one explanation left.

"...Damn it, it turned out to be the will of the Great World!"

"Meow?"

"Isn't it the 'horror decryption game' you said yourself?"

"Meow meow meow?!"

"Ah? What do you mean 'I was just joking and didn't expect it to be true'! Don't you think it's weird that you can open the door by just picking up a key?!"

"Meow..."

"It's useless to pretend to see the scenery, besides, what's in such a dilapidated clock tower..."

Just as I was about to say that there was nothing to see in the bell tower, I was hit in the face by a series of "cracking" sounds.

A large number of portraits appeared on the walls, and these portraits were arranged one by one along the stairs. The one that came closest to me was a black and white portrait of a weirdly dressed guy with a hammer chasing a girl who looked panicked and... where did I think I'd seen this girl?

Although I can't remember the face, there is a vague sense of familiarity.

"Can you see anything?"

"Meow."

Roger shook his head.

I'm a little sorry, although I don't think a cat can understand much about a work of art, but I still have a little hope that maybe Roger can detect something wrong with his intuition. It seems that if I want to know the answer, I can only go up this staircase and investigate every portrait.

The gate is closed, the window sill is blocked, and the only place I can go is the top of the clock tower!

When I came in, I felt that the dilapidated clock tower was much cleaner after the appearance of these portraits. At least the walls were no longer covered with dust. There was still only a wooden chair in the middle at the bottom, but there seemed to be something on the wooden chair. Stuff, I kind of want to look back first, but Roger stops me.

"Meow meow meow!"

"What?"

I don't know why Roger's evaluation of that thing is "it will lose the SAN value and end the game directly after watching it".

Anyway, explain what the SAN value is, I don't understand it at all!

"Meow."

"..."

Oh, and the cat is playing dumb again.

But since Roger said so, it would be better for me not to commit suicide. Besides, the important place is obviously at the hanging clock. If there is something important on the wooden chair, there is still time to go back and investigate again. Anyway, the most important thing is now. The most important thing is probably the time, because I have a hunch that I don't want to get out of here without spending a few hours.

So, let's start with these strange portraits.

The second portrait is not much different from the first portrait. It is still the mysterious man holding the mallet and the girl running away. After careful observation for a long time, Roger's prompt found that there is an extra small flower in the lower right corner, with lines It's very light, like a child's graffiti, and it doesn't match the style of the whole painting at all, making people feel like they don't know how to complain.

Why did you draw such a flower on purpose?

"Meow?"

"Outdoors? It's possible, that is to say, it's meant to express 'something happened somewhere'."

"Meow."

"That's right, keep reading to find out."

I took a deep breath and walked up five steps to the third portrait.

It’s still those two people, it’s still the same flower. The difference this time is that the outline of something appears in the painting. It may be a typed draft as a reference. The painter’s lines are very random, so I can’t Identify what the other party wants to draw from the outline.

The next few drawings are just to add outlines, and there is no place to get new information.

I have a weird guess—the author should have painted a second time on a completed drawing.

The reason is that the style of the two people in the painting is too unique and conspicuous.

I have already walked more than half of the spiral staircase, and I can only see darkness when I hold the handrail and look down. It may be because I climbed to a very high place, or it may be because there is no light source at the bottom. I have been struggling with not confirming what is on the wooden chair. My insatiable curiosity has grown stronger after seeing several portraits. It makes me want to go back now and check the wooden chair and when I came in. What's the difference.

Roger stopped me.

But he changed the reason, this time it is "the current link cannot go back".

"real?"

"Meow."

"Why is there such a setting..."

"Meow?"

"You don't know either, so how did you know?"

"Meow meow meow."

"Oh, feeling."

I see.

Intuition this thing is really useful.

Everything can be explained intuitively.

There are about thirteen portraits that I have inspected along the way. When I thought that the next one would not be a big surprise, the style of the fourteenth portrait surprised me.

The two people in the portrait kept a certain distance, but in the fourteenth picture, the mysterious man suddenly grabbed the girl and raised the hammer in his hand. What is even more frightening is that the mysterious man did not look at the girl. Above, but... how to describe it? Anyway, when I stood in front of the portrait, there was a feeling that the mysterious person in the painting was looking at me.

The messy outlines disappear and are replaced by backgrounds and things.

It was an alley, with fallen garbage cans everywhere, garbage scattered on the ground, birds and dogs gathering and fighting for food.

It was in such an environment that the girl was captured by the mysterious man.

"...There is always an uncomfortable feeling."

"Meow."

Roger thought so too.

I couldn't help slowing down my pace. There was no big difference in the following portraits. The only changes were the height of the hammer held by the mysterious man and the direction of his head.

The mysterious man gradually turned his gaze back to the girl.

Twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth.

Here is the last picture.

At the same time, in front of me is a huge hanging clock, which is full of red liquid, and it will drip on the floor from time to time, making a "da da da" sound. Due to the weird portrait and weird atmosphere, I mistakenly thought it was someone's blood, and subconsciously wanted to turn around and run down.

After being stopped by Roger, he reacted.

There is no smell of blood here.

The red liquid is probably freshly applied paint.

I don't know whose bad taste it is, but at least it's a lot of peace of mind.

When he turned around to investigate the last painting, he was interrupted by Roger who jumped out of the hood and made a threatening cry. Before he could ask the reason, he felt a sharp pain in his head, and then felt It was filled with some kind of hot, very viscous liquid upriver.

Before my consciousness was about to disappear, my eyesight suddenly became stronger, and I could clearly see the content on the portrait.

It was supposed to be the mysterious man who grabbed the girl and swung the hammer down.

On the twenty-sixth picture, I don't know why she turned into a girl and grabbed the mysterious person, and smashed the mysterious person's head with the hammer in her hand.

The memory ends here.

Consciousness is in a muddled state and has not completely disappeared.

But I can't see anything.

The body is cold.

so cold.

…………

"It hurts."

"Hey, it looks like this, are you going to wake up?"

"Well, don't pinch it, it hurts, let me sleep for a while."

"Oh! Lilith, come and see, Neil is really cute like this."

"After all, he is a brave man. In fact, the brave men of all ages are like this. They have a baby face that girls would envy when they look at them. Maybe it's Lindsay's bad taste?"

"No, no, no, that's not the point. The main thing is that Neil usually wears that out-of-the-way cloak and always looks expressionless. He's not as cute as he is now."

"Eh? Didn't you, Emily, make your own evaluation during the tea party at the academy last time? 'If you say that the bravest smile in the entire academy should be the brave', that's what you said."

"Oh, actually, I still reserved the second half of the sentence."

"What?"

"Neil is also the one who laughs the stupidest, stupidest and most needy."

"That's right."

"..."

Does this person really think I am sleepy? !

If it weren't for the lack of strength in the body, how could it be possible that he hasn't resisted until now... Wait, wait, no strength?

"Oh, Neil is awake."

I opened my eyes with difficulty, and the first thing I saw was Qiuqiu flying in the air.

"Ah! Master! You are too! If you are not feeling well, what are you trying to do? Just say it earlier!"

"……ah?"

Physical discomfort?

Although it is true that I am very weak now, I think I was in a good state the day before.

After all, after leaving the academy, I no longer have to be a drug tester and be fed strange potions by Emily.

"It's still a little hot."

Lilith, sitting to my left, put her hand on my forehead.

"Low fever, maybe he caught a cold on the way here, but it broke out when he stayed up late last night, but after all, he is a brave man, and he has almost recovered after a night's sleep. Let him rest, and he should be fine when he wakes up tomorrow." If the fever subsides, it will not affect future plans."

Eh?

So I have a fever?

Thinking about it carefully, I have never had a fever and cold for more than a year, and this is the first time I have experienced such a thing.

No wonder I always feel powerless.

"Brave, you are really serious. You suddenly fell down in the middle of the game yesterday, which frightened us all."

"Yes, yes, Qiuqiu almost cried at that time."

"Hey! No! Your Highness, don't talk nonsense!"

"Yes, yes, it's my fault, I said nonsense."

"snort!"

Oh, it turns out that my partner is also from the Tsundere family.

Seeing Qiu Qiu lose her temper, I think she is quite cute.

"Neil, are you really alright?"