< Devil Hunter and Wargrave (Part 2) >
“So, why are you asking me about that game?” Zin asked Leona, and Leona started to explain what kind of game the ‘War of Wasteland’ was, what the objective of the game was, and how the groups were different.
“So the wasteland people group- ”Just as Leona was about to explain about the units, Zin cut her off.
Zin knew about RTS games. He wondered how long it had been since he had played a video game. Some rich people collected video game consoles from the pre-apocalyptic days, and tried to play them.
However it was nearly impossible to possess and play video console games unless the person had a great deal of money and time. Although Wargrave built recreational facilities, Zin did not have time to enjoy playing video games.
“Hold on, get to the point.” As Zin was tired of listening to the long story, Zin cut Leona off again.
Leona became upset and shouted, “You mister came out as a unit in that game!”
“… What?” Zin didn’t expect to hear that.
“There was a boss unit named devil hunter. So I produced one, and the unit looked exactly like you.”
“… How did it resemble me?”
“You know that sword, Phantomvein? It carried it behind its back. The overall appearance seemed like you.”
She was not able to try out the unit’s skills, but the unit looked like Zin. There were not many strange people who carried a giant grey sword around.
Zin became serious, and Leona continued carefully. “I heard that it used to be a war game before… and that it was modeled after that… At least, that’s what I heard.”
And as Zin listened to Leona’s explanation, he raised his head up suddenly. “War game? I see…” Zin slowly nodded as if he was knew the answer.
“What is a war game?”
Ramphil answered instead of Zin. “It’s a war simulation. Each troop’s data and factors are set, and the simulator system predicts what the outcome of the war is going to be.”
Leona was not able to understand what Ramphil was talking about.
“Ramphil, sorry, I don’t understand what you just said.”
Ramphil was not helpful at all, as he was explaining to Leona with terms that she didn’t understand.
“It’s not too different from the game that you were playing. It’s used to imitate a war.”
And in fact, the war game was nothing too fancy. Leona was still unsure, but she had no urge to understand everything about it.
Zin thought for a bit and said, “If the video game was modeled after a war game, it’s not surprising that the game had data about a devil hunter… But it seems weird that the game developer designed the devil hunter unit to look like me.”
Zin looked unpleasant, but he wasn’t mad at Leona. Leona continued to ask some more questions.
A devil hunter like Zin was probably not common. And Leona thought that Wargrave had nothing to with devil hunters. Leona was very curious about something, but she didn’t know how to ask. Zin watched Leona thinking to herself.
“You are wondering how Wargrave exactly knows the appearance of a devil hunter, aren’t you?”
“Yeah!”
“It’s not just the appearance. They probably know everything about my body, skills, and everything.”
Leona was surprised that Wargrave knew a whole lot more about him. She didn’t expect that at all.
“Mister, you must have been very close to the Wargrave people.”
Zin laughed out loud, as Leona was talking like Zin was high school buddies with a military organization.
Leona figured that Zin had gone through many events in his life because he had lived for a long time. And in fact, Leona did see flash of Zin’s memories. It wouldn’t be too strange if Zin had business with Wargrave.
“Mmm… I am not sure if ‘very close’ is the right word.”
“Then, how do they know about you and the devil hunter’s data?”
A war game needed exact data about the people and monsters. The data on skills and abilities had to be properly input into the game. Leona wondered why a war game would have all the data about the devil hunter.
Zin simply answered, “Well, that’s because the devil hunters created the Wargrave organization.”
“What?!” Ramphil blurted out.
—Crrrreeeeak! —
“Ahh!”
Ramphil was more surprised than Leona at Zin’s answer.
Leona was breathing hard as she was hung onto the seat belt, and Zin sighed as he looked at Ramphil, who was in utter shock.
“I figured that you would be hearing this fact for the first time, but man, that was a violent reaction.”
“I… I want to listen more in detail.” Ramphil got off the driver’s seat, and stood in front of Zin. Zin shrugged as if he thought it was not a big secret.
“Well, I don’t have much to tell you, but Kaltz was a devil hunter. And really that’s about the whole story. There should be data about devil hunters in the war game, and that video game probably reused the data of the devil hunter unit.”
Zin was slightly curious about the unit unlocking requirements, but he didn’t care much about it. The video game was just a byproduct of the Wargrave developers.
But all that was not important to Ramphil. Ramphil wondered what kind of person Zin was as he said the name of founder of the Wargrave.
The first executor, the great general Kaltz.
He was the legend of Wargrave, and Ramphil did not expect Zin to say that name. Leona was amused at the whole conversation, and Ramphil was astonished. Zin was amused at their different reactions.
Ramphil said, “I want to hear more.”
But Zin shook his head.
Zin didn’t want to talk about it anymore. However Ramphil wanted to hear more from Zin after hearing him speak about the facts of Wargrave that nobody else knew about.
“You can’t just stop talking now.” Leona complained and Zin smiled.
“Well, I can now.”
“Wow you are so annoying…”
“I will tell you one more thing then.” Zin smiled and started talking again. “In the case of Kaltz, he was a dragon hunter.”
“A dragon hunter?” Leona did not know what a dragon was.
Zin told the two a fact that not many people knew. It sounded outrageous, and it felt like he was talking nonsense.
Leona already knew that Zin was a devil hunter and he specifically hunted witches. But he was saying that Kaltz, the founder of Wargrave, was a dragon hunter.
“I will tell you the rest of the story when I feel like it. Let’s get going.”
Zin started a topic that could not be easily understood, and both Leona and Ramphil were wondering what this story was all about. They were slightly annoyed that Zin didn’t tell the full story.
“A storyteller never tells the full story in one sitting.”
“Well, that’s what storytellers do. It bugs the heck out of the listeners, you know!” Ramphil complained as he started to drive the vehicle.
—Vrrrruum! —
The vehicle started moving violently, and Leona screamed, “Ouch!”
—Vrrrrrroooooooo! —
“Eaaaaaaaaaaassy!” Zin had his arms crossed calmly, and even though he was at fault, Leona was the one suffering. Although Zin was smiling, he soon became serious as the vehicle continued to move.
So, they put the data of a devil hunter into a war game, and then made it into a video game?
Even though Zin talked as if it was not a big deal, he felt uneasy about it.
I sense some hostility here…
Zin wondered why the devil hunter’s data would be input into the war game, and he wondered why the devil hunter unit was created based on his own appearance. Kaltz had obviously entered the devil hunter’s data based on Zin into the war game. Why did he do that?
It was possible that they entered the devil hunter information to run simulations when the devil hunter was an ally. Or it could have been to run simulations in the case where the devil hunter was an enemy. Or it could have been for both situations.
Zin wondered if there was any way to run a simulation with an unpredictable ally like a devil hunter.
I don’t know…
Whatever the motive was, it was not important. And it didn’t matter if the video game was developed for a specific reason.
Kaltz became an ordinary human after running away from his fate, and Wargrave, the organization that Kaltz created, remained as his legacy in this world.
Zin ,who remained as a hunter, continued to live in this crazy world.
It was impossible to know what his original motive was.
After the Apocalypse, the world was always in turmoil. But as Zin thought about the past, it seemed like the past was relatively peaceful.
The worst devil had appeared in the world, Wargrave was about to engage in an inter-continental war, and the Reaver group in Siberia was rapidly expanding its territory.
It seemed like troubling times were quickly approaching. A nightmarish time was approaching, similar to how the devils were running rampant in the past.
—Vrrrruuumm! —
The vehicle sped toward the Heavenly Power castle. And just as Zin had been doing for years, he had to wait for what was to come.
-----
The vehicle was fully fueled, and the road to their destination was in good condition, mostly open field, with clear visibility.
There were not many trees along the way, but several stretches of brush. The plain was clear and there was a wide sky in front of the team. Leona was amazed as she looked at the wide and blue sky in front of her. Leona sat in the turret and was looked at the scene around her.
“Wow, look. I can see the sky in front of me!”
“I see.”
As Leona heard Zin’s unenthusiastic tone, she became annoyed and said, “What an awesome reply…”
Leona had lived in the Korean peninsula where there were not many plains, and she was amazed when she saw new sceneries.
Having great visibility meant that objects could be spotted from far away. It meant that anybody could spot the moving car in the middle of the plain.
Monsters attacked any moving objects, but they behaved like animals. As the vehicle made a lot of noise, the monsters became restless.
Leona spotted something moving near the bushes, and shouted, “I see enemy at 2 o’clock!”
She yelled again as six monsters run out from the brush. Zin taught Leona how to call directions with the needle of a watch, and Leona was able to communicate appropriately.
But there was no point, even if there were monsters.
The monsters ran away from the AV as soon as they spotted the vehicle. Leona looked at the monsters running away and shouted, “The enemies are retreating!”
“Stop fooling around and come down now,” Zin said to Leona sternly and Leona came down.
“… Okay.”
“That’s no fun. The enemies are running away, and I had no chance to shoot the weapon. Why are they running away even though they do not know what an AV is?”
The monsters ran away from the vehicle as they heard the booming sound of the engine. This was the reason Zin let Leona fool around at the turret.
“Would you be willing to hunt something metallic that is making a loud noise?”
“… Yeah, I suppose that you are right.”
The moving metallic monster was threatening in the eyes of a monster. It was natural instinct for the monsters to run away from the AV. The ride was very smooth, but unfortunately there was no reason to use the plasma gun.
—Vrrrrruumm! —
“It’s pretty quiet.” Leona seemed to be bored as she could only hear the sound of the vehicle. She continued to play with her AKM.
Zin sighed and murmured, “It’s better when things are quiet.”
“I know that too,” Leona replied with a hard face, “I just feel uncomfortable that things are too quiet.”
Leona was worried that something was going to happen, she didn’t like the silence at all. On the other hand, Ramphil the driver shouted out, “If we continue north, we’ll reach a city. Are we going to go around it?”
“Hmm…” Zin thought for a while.
The Group had expanded its presence to Harbin, and based on the words of the Reavers, the area north of Harbin was completely controlled by the Group.
“There is no reason for us to check if the city is under the control of the Group. Let’s go around the city.”
“Will do.”
Ramphil passed the city of Suihua, and continued on the path to Yichun city. There was no reason for the team to check the status of a city. Their main goal was to reach the Heavenly Power castle as soon as possible.
“What is the Group?” Leona didn’t know about the Group and their presence in northeastern Asia.
“I don’t know much, but pesky Reavers seem to be controlling this area. There is no reason for us to fight them, so we are avoiding them and going around.”
“Mmm… really?” Leona did not understand what Zin meant.
-----
A week after the team left Harbin, they were able to arrive at the city of Yichun, where the Heavenly Power castle was located.
Compared to other cities, the ruins of Yichun seemed to be different. They all got off the vehicle and looked at the Heavenly Power castle.
“What… what is this…?” Leona was astonished at the surprising scene in front of her.
The city of Yichun should have been on a plain, but there was a high plateau in front of them.
< Devil Hunter and Wargrave (Part 2) >
“So, why are you asking me about that game?” Zin asked Leona, and Leona started to explain what kind of game the ‘War of Wasteland’ was, what the objective of the game was, and how the groups were different.
“So the wasteland people group- ”Just as Leona was about to explain about the units, Zin cut her off.
Zin knew about RTS games. He wondered how long it had been since he had played a video game. Some rich people collected video game consoles from the pre-apocalyptic days, and tried to play them.
However it was nearly impossible to possess and play video console games unless the person had a great deal of money and time. Although Wargrave built recreational facilities, Zin did not have time to enjoy playing video games.
“Hold on, get to the point.” As Zin was tired of listening to the long story, Zin cut Leona off again.
Leona became upset and shouted, “You mister came out as a unit in that game!”
“… What?” Zin didn’t expect to hear that.
“There was a boss unit named devil hunter. So I produced one, and the unit looked exactly like you.”
“… How did it resemble me?”
“You know that sword, Phantomvein? It carried it behind its back. The overall appearance seemed like you.”
She was not able to try out the unit’s skills, but the unit looked like Zin. There were not many strange people who carried a giant grey sword around.
Zin became serious, and Leona continued carefully. “I heard that it used to be a war game before… and that it was modeled after that… At least, that’s what I heard.”
And as Zin listened to Leona’s explanation, he raised his head up suddenly. “War game? I see…” Zin slowly nodded as if he was knew the answer.
“What is a war game?”
Ramphil answered instead of Zin. “It’s a war simulation. Each troop’s data and factors are set, and the simulator system predicts what the outcome of the war is going to be.”
Leona was not able to understand what Ramphil was talking about.
“Ramphil, sorry, I don’t understand what you just said.”
Ramphil was not helpful at all, as he was explaining to Leona with terms that she didn’t understand.
“It’s not too different from the game that you were playing. It’s used to imitate a war.”
And in fact, the war game was nothing too fancy. Leona was still unsure, but she had no urge to understand everything about it.
Zin thought for a bit and said, “If the video game was modeled after a war game, it’s not surprising that the game had data about a devil hunter… But it seems weird that the game developer designed the devil hunter unit to look like me.”
Zin looked unpleasant, but he wasn’t mad at Leona. Leona continued to ask some more questions.
A devil hunter like Zin was probably not common. And Leona thought that Wargrave had nothing to with devil hunters. Leona was very curious about something, but she didn’t know how to ask. Zin watched Leona thinking to herself.
“You are wondering how Wargrave exactly knows the appearance of a devil hunter, aren’t you?”
“Yeah!”
“It’s not just the appearance. They probably know everything about my body, skills, and everything.”
Leona was surprised that Wargrave knew a whole lot more about him. She didn’t expect that at all.
“Mister, you must have been very close to the Wargrave people.”
Zin laughed out loud, as Leona was talking like Zin was high school buddies with a military organization.
Leona figured that Zin had gone through many events in his life because he had lived for a long time. And in fact, Leona did see flash of Zin’s memories. It wouldn’t be too strange if Zin had business with Wargrave.
“Mmm… I am not sure if ‘very close’ is the right word.”
“Then, how do they know about you and the devil hunter’s data?”
A war game needed exact data about the people and monsters. The data on skills and abilities had to be properly input into the game. Leona wondered why a war game would have all the data about the devil hunter.
Zin simply answered, “Well, that’s because the devil hunters created the Wargrave organization.”
“What?!” Ramphil blurted out.
—Crrrreeeeak! —
“Ahh!”
Ramphil was more surprised than Leona at Zin’s answer.
Leona was breathing hard as she was hung onto the seat belt, and Zin sighed as he looked at Ramphil, who was in utter shock.
“I figured that you would be hearing this fact for the first time, but man, that was a violent reaction.”
“I… I want to listen more in detail.” Ramphil got off the driver’s seat, and stood in front of Zin. Zin shrugged as if he thought it was not a big secret.
“Well, I don’t have much to tell you, but Kaltz was a devil hunter. And really that’s about the whole story. There should be data about devil hunters in the war game, and that video game probably reused the data of the devil hunter unit.”
Zin was slightly curious about the unit unlocking requirements, but he didn’t care much about it. The video game was just a byproduct of the Wargrave developers.
But all that was not important to Ramphil. Ramphil wondered what kind of person Zin was as he said the name of founder of the Wargrave.
The first executor, the great general Kaltz.
He was the legend of Wargrave, and Ramphil did not expect Zin to say that name. Leona was amused at the whole conversation, and Ramphil was astonished. Zin was amused at their different reactions.
Ramphil said, “I want to hear more.”
But Zin shook his head.
Zin didn’t want to talk about it anymore. However Ramphil wanted to hear more from Zin after hearing him speak about the facts of Wargrave that nobody else knew about.
“You can’t just stop talking now.” Leona complained and Zin smiled.
“Well, I can now.”
“Wow you are so annoying…”
“I will tell you one more thing then.” Zin smiled and started talking again. “In the case of Kaltz, he was a dragon hunter.”
“A dragon hunter?” Leona did not know what a dragon was.
Zin told the two a fact that not many people knew. It sounded outrageous, and it felt like he was talking nonsense.
Leona already knew that Zin was a devil hunter and he specifically hunted witches. But he was saying that Kaltz, the founder of Wargrave, was a dragon hunter.
“I will tell you the rest of the story when I feel like it. Let’s get going.”
Zin started a topic that could not be easily understood, and both Leona and Ramphil were wondering what this story was all about. They were slightly annoyed that Zin didn’t tell the full story.
“A storyteller never tells the full story in one sitting.”
“Well, that’s what storytellers do. It bugs the heck out of the listeners, you know!” Ramphil complained as he started to drive the vehicle.
—Vrrrruum! —
The vehicle started moving violently, and Leona screamed, “Ouch!”
—Vrrrrrroooooooo! —
“Eaaaaaaaaaaassy!” Zin had his arms crossed calmly, and even though he was at fault, Leona was the one suffering. Although Zin was smiling, he soon became serious as the vehicle continued to move.
So, they put the data of a devil hunter into a war game, and then made it into a video game?
Even though Zin talked as if it was not a big deal, he felt uneasy about it.
I sense some hostility here…
Zin wondered why the devil hunter’s data would be input into the war game, and he wondered why the devil hunter unit was created based on his own appearance. Kaltz had obviously entered the devil hunter’s data based on Zin into the war game. Why did he do that?
It was possible that they entered the devil hunter information to run simulations when the devil hunter was an ally. Or it could have been to run simulations in the case where the devil hunter was an enemy. Or it could have been for both situations.
Zin wondered if there was any way to run a simulation with an unpredictable ally like a devil hunter.
I don’t know…
Whatever the motive was, it was not important. And it didn’t matter if the video game was developed for a specific reason.
Kaltz became an ordinary human after running away from his fate, and Wargrave, the organization that Kaltz created, remained as his legacy in this world.
Zin ,who remained as a hunter, continued to live in this crazy world.
It was impossible to know what his original motive was.
After the Apocalypse, the world was always in turmoil. But as Zin thought about the past, it seemed like the past was relatively peaceful.
The worst devil had appeared in the world, Wargrave was about to engage in an inter-continental war, and the Reaver group in Siberia was rapidly expanding its territory.
It seemed like troubling times were quickly approaching. A nightmarish time was approaching, similar to how the devils were running rampant in the past.
—Vrrrruuumm! —
The vehicle sped toward the Heavenly Power castle. And just as Zin had been doing for years, he had to wait for what was to come.
-----
The vehicle was fully fueled, and the road to their destination was in good condition, mostly open field, with clear visibility.
There were not many trees along the way, but several stretches of brush. The plain was clear and there was a wide sky in front of the team. Leona was amazed as she looked at the wide and blue sky in front of her. Leona sat in the turret and was looked at the scene around her.
“Wow, look. I can see the sky in front of me!”
“I see.”
As Leona heard Zin’s unenthusiastic tone, she became annoyed and said, “What an awesome reply…”
Leona had lived in the Korean peninsula where there were not many plains, and she was amazed when she saw new sceneries.
Having great visibility meant that objects could be spotted from far away. It meant that anybody could spot the moving car in the middle of the plain.
Monsters attacked any moving objects, but they behaved like animals. As the vehicle made a lot of noise, the monsters became restless.
Leona spotted something moving near the bushes, and shouted, “I see enemy at 2 o’clock!”
She yelled again as six monsters run out from the brush. Zin taught Leona how to call directions with the needle of a watch, and Leona was able to communicate appropriately.
But there was no point, even if there were monsters.
The monsters ran away from the AV as soon as they spotted the vehicle. Leona looked at the monsters running away and shouted, “The enemies are retreating!”
“Stop fooling around and come down now,” Zin said to Leona sternly and Leona came down.
“… Okay.”
“That’s no fun. The enemies are running away, and I had no chance to shoot the weapon. Why are they running away even though they do not know what an AV is?”
The monsters ran away from the vehicle as they heard the booming sound of the engine. This was the reason Zin let Leona fool around at the turret.
“Would you be willing to hunt something metallic that is making a loud noise?”
“… Yeah, I suppose that you are right.”
The moving metallic monster was threatening in the eyes of a monster. It was natural instinct for the monsters to run away from the AV. The ride was very smooth, but unfortunately there was no reason to use the plasma gun.
—Vrrrrruumm! —
“It’s pretty quiet.” Leona seemed to be bored as she could only hear the sound of the vehicle. She continued to play with her AKM.
Zin sighed and murmured, “It’s better when things are quiet.”
“I know that too,” Leona replied with a hard face, “I just feel uncomfortable that things are too quiet.”
Leona was worried that something was going to happen, she didn’t like the silence at all. On the other hand, Ramphil the driver shouted out, “If we continue north, we’ll reach a city. Are we going to go around it?”
“Hmm…” Zin thought for a while.
The Group had expanded its presence to Harbin, and based on the words of the Reavers, the area north of Harbin was completely controlled by the Group.
“There is no reason for us to check if the city is under the control of the Group. Let’s go around the city.”
“Will do.”
Ramphil passed the city of Suihua, and continued on the path to Yichun city. There was no reason for the team to check the status of a city. Their main goal was to reach the Heavenly Power castle as soon as possible.
“What is the Group?” Leona didn’t know about the Group and their presence in northeastern Asia.
“I don’t know much, but pesky Reavers seem to be controlling this area. There is no reason for us to fight them, so we are avoiding them and going around.”
“Mmm… really?” Leona did not understand what Zin meant.
-----
A week after the team left Harbin, they were able to arrive at the city of Yichun, where the Heavenly Power castle was located.
Compared to other cities, the ruins of Yichun seemed to be different. They all got off the vehicle and looked at the Heavenly Power castle.
“What… what is this…?” Leona was astonished at the surprising scene in front of her.
The city of Yichun should have been on a plain, but there was a high plateau in front of them.
