CH 36

Chapter 36 – Arms Dealer of Death

I really wondered what would become of the world from now on. Just thinking about it made me feel depressed. Just a month ago, this street was filled with smiling children.

Who would have thought that such a disaster would happen after I had finally managed to escape from the battlefield and start over as a teacher guiding children in a peaceful Japan? It was as if God was trying to tell me that I could only live on the battlefield.

“…Sigh.”

“Boss?”

Hearing my involuntary sigh, one of my comrades looked over at me with a concerned look.

“It’s nothing. More importantly, keep your wits about you today too, you guys!”

In front of me… No, in front of us, there was a building. It was a single-family home that was about 150 square meters in size. According to my comrades’ information, this place had become a dungeon, and monsters were appearing.

“You all hear me? Never act alone. Always move in pairs and cover for each other.” (Leader)

“““Yeah!!”””

The six comrades that I had brought with me replied in unison. All of them were former salarymen, bookstore clerks, and so on, who had led normal lives until not long ago.

But now, they had been transformed into soldiers wearing military uniforms, holding weapons in their hands. It was truly a wretched time we were living in.

But if we didn’t do this, people would be gradually killed off. And eventually, my family and I would become among the sacrificed. That was something I absolutely could not allow to happen. As long as there was someone to protect, I had to serve as a weapon and fight.

Yes, that even meant making the most of my experience as a former mercenary. It wasn’t an occupation that I was proud to say I’d had in the past. After all, it was a trade related to killing people. That was an appearance I never wanted to show in front of my kids.

However, even if they were scared of me or tried to avoid me from now on, I had no choice but to do this.

I had to believe that someday, peace would definitely be restored once more.

“Alright, let’s go in!”

I had been using my experience to recruit and train these comrades so that they would be able to handle weapons. Although they were still a bit clumsy, they had grown to the point of being able to handle weak monsters with no problems.

However, they would still let their guards down, get caught in traps, or receive injuries. It was my job to make sure that they could return to their families as unscathed as possible.

For that reason, I needed to take the initiative to fight at the frontline and advance the attack. I stood in the doorway with my gun at the ready. One of my comrades handled the door―and opened it.

“No monsters. Clear.” (Leader)

I proceeded through the doorway, and my other comrades all followed. Next was the room behind these sliding doors, but…

…Strange, there are no monster presences…?

Making eye contact with my comrade, I held my gun at the ready as the sliding door opened.

“…C-Clear.” (Leader)

Sure enough, there was nothing in the room. There were no signs of monsters in the courtyard, and even after doing a clean sweep of the entire first floor, we didn’t find anything.

“What’s happening here, Boss?”

One of my comrades spoke up, noticing the strangeness of the situation. In all of the dungeons so far, there had always been some kind of monster on the first floor, without fail.

Right now, however, it was clearly unnatural for there to not be a single monster presence. Plus, in the prior investigation of this place, they had confirmed that there were monsters here on the first floor without a doubt.

Abnormal situation? Should we retreat at once? No, but there’s no sign of danger.

This was something that I had cultivated during my time as a mercenary. Whenever danger was close at hand, I would be able to feel the hairs on my skin rise. There was no such feeling right now.

“…For now, don’t let your guard down. We’ll head right up to the second floor!” (Leader)

There was supposed to be a ‘Shiny Stone’ somewhere in the dungeon. Once we broke that, the monsters would never appear again. Staying vigilant of our surroundings, we went slowly up to the second floor, making sure not to trigger any traps.

There were three doors, and one of them was open, as if it was inviting us in. There are no monster presences on this floor either, huh…?

I stealthily approached the open door and, once I was ready, swiftly entered with my gun at the ready. Soon after, I was startled by the presence I found at the end of my muzzle.

“Well, well, well. You sure took your time getting here. I’ve been waiting quite a while now.”

There was a man leisurely sitting there on the sofa, enjoying a cup of tea.

—

I was currently in my own room, staring at a monitor. The images on the monitor were showing the armed forces and a mysterious young man with silver hair and a goatee in a room on the second floor of a house.

“Alright, first contact complete.”

As you may have guessed, this entire situation was arranged by me. That young man was the actor I had prepared, the Arms Dealer of Death—Enjou Yuri. He had a female-sounding name, but he was male and was half-Russian.

Incidentally, this was the other me who had been imitated using the [Copy Doll]. This monitor was another fantasy item.

By simply placing a red sticker called a [Camera Marker], it was possible to monitor the situation in a radius of 10 meters around that sticker. Naturally, that sticker was attached to Enjou Yuri.

This method allowed me to check the situation going on around the [Copy Doll] at any time, even if it was far away. It was super convenient. Even though the other side couldn’t hear my voice, I had the luxury of being able to hear the audio and video going on around the [Camera Sticker].

“W-Who are you? Why are you here!?” the man questioned while pointing his gun at Enjou.

This guy seemed to be the leader of the group. His appearance certainly matched Sol’s description, and the people around him were calling him ‘Boss’.

“Ahaha, I don’t know why you’re being so wary of me, but as you can see… I have no intention of being hostile towards you,” Enjou said in a playful, lighthearted manner. I felt like I might have gone a bit overboard when making up this character, but whatever.

“Answer me! Did you clear the dungeon here?!” (Leader)

“Yes, that’s right. I destroyed the Dungeon Core.” (Enjou)

“Dungeon… Core?” (Leader)

“Huh? You don’t know about it? I’m talking about that crystal-like stone.” (Enjou)

“…! Ah, the Shiny Stone, huh…? I see. So it’s called a Dungeon Core.” (Leader)

Apparently, he didn’t know the name of it. If you have friends who play games, it wouldn’t be surprising to have at least heard about it, but…

Or so I thought, but everyone in the group appeared to be in their forties or so.

“One more question.” (Leader)

“Yes, go ahead. If it’s a question I can answer, that is.” (Enjou)

“….You defeated the monsters alone… and destroyed the Core?” (Leader)

“Правильный! That’s correct!” (Enjou)

“….? Are you Russian?” (Leader)

He was well-educated enough to know that that was Russian just now…?

(TL: правильный means ‘correct!’ in Russian. It’s apparently pronounced kind of like ‘pravil’nyy’.)

“I’m half-Russian. My father is Russian, and my mother is Japanese. Whoops, that reminds me that I haven’t introduced myself yet! My name is Enjou Yuri. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” (Enjou)

“You’re quite the friendly one, aren’t you? What are you doing here, half-Russian guy? You said you were waiting for us?” (Leader)

“Yes, yes, I was waiting for you.” (Enjou)

“…? What are you after…?” (Leader)

He suddenly became even more wary of me. Well, this character was like this after all. It was natural to be suspicious of a guy as shady as this. But that was fine. I wasn’t trying to be friendly or anything.

I just wanted to establish a relationship of mutual gains, and for that purpose, it was actually more convenient for them to be cautious of me.

“Before that, let me tell you what I do for a living.” (Enjou)

“What you do for a living…?” (Leader)

“Yes. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Enjou Yuri―an arms dealer who travels the world.”

“An arms… dealer?” (Leader)

“Oh? Are you not familiar with such a thing? An arms dealer sells weapons―” (Enjou)

“I know that. I’m just saying that I don’t trust you.”

“Well, well, how harsh of you. Then how can I get you to trust me?” (Enjou)

“…Supposing that were true, would you be able to prove it?” (Leader)

He seemed to be nibbling at the bait a little bit. Even if he couldn’t trust me, it made sense to be interested in the word ‘weapons’. After all, he was a fighter. For him, weapons were absolutely indispensable.

“Right… Please go ahead and open those cabinets over there.” (Enjou)

“Cabinets?” (Leader)

In the direction that Enjou was pointing, there was a sizable cabinet sitting in the corner of the room. The leader’s comrades went over to the cabinet and were about to open it, when…

“Wait! Don’t touch that so carelessly!” the leader shouted at his comrades. His comrades jumped and their bodies stiffened in place.

“Man, there aren’t any traps on it, you know? If anything happened to any of you, you would kill me in a heartbeat,” Enjou declared with an unwaveringly daring smile.

After a moment of visible hesitation, the leader declared that he would check it himself and went over to the cabinet.

In the meantime, his comrades watched my movements closely, pointing their guns at me. The leader cautiously approached the cabinet with one hand on his gun, quietly grabbing the handle.

After slowly pulling the door open, he was shocked by the contents.

“T-This is!?” (Leader)

“What’s wrong, Boss?!” (Comrade)

In response to their leader’s surprise, all of his comrades turned their gazes away from me out of concern.

Come on now, how could you all take your eyes off of Enjou at this point? What a bunch of amateurs.

A sigh escaped my lips as I watched the monitor.

“Desert Eagles, S&W M500s, AK rifles, and even F-2000s… There are scopes and grenades too…!” (Comrade 1)

“Wow, that’s amazing! All of these bad boys are better than our current weapons by far, aren’t they!?” (Comrade 2)

At the leader’s words, the attention of the other members of the group were all drawn towards the weapons, and their excitement soared. But the leader was still remarkably calm and directed a steely gaze at me.

“…Where did you get all of these weapons?” (Leader)

“I told you. I’m an arms dealer that travels all over the world. What you see there is only a part of my collection.” (Enjou)

“T-This is just part of it!? W-Who is this person exactly!?” (Comrade)

One of the comrades cried out, directing a marveling gaze at Enjou.

“An arms dealer… Come to think of it, he said he was waiting for us. That means…” (Leader)

“Yes, is there anything you want from there?” (Enjou)

“……” (Leader)

Enjou and the leader stared at each other, neither averting their gaze. The leader probably thought that Enjou was planning something behind his back.

But for them, it was a chance to obtain powerful weapons. His face seemed to be troubled as he weighed the benefits against the suspicion, trying to decide whether or not he should go through with the business negotiations.

“B-Boss, it’d be quicker to just threaten this guy and take his weapons!” (Comrade)