Ganersam Volume 1

We found ourselves inside a gun shop. The walls of the store are filled with various weapons, mostly guns of different sizes.

There were a couple of traditional weapons like swords and polearms, but most of them were firearms. I was standing near the entrance, and the sight I saw in front of me was quite concerning.

Nia, the ex-soldier, is standing beside me near the entrance, silent and still. Considering her military background, there’s a chance she’s just standing there waiting for orders, or there’s a chance she’s also confused, looking at a certain other girl dashing around.

That certain other girl is of course our resident ex-angel, Emma. She’s been looking at the guns with sparkling eyes like a child looking at toys, which is very concerning.

“Are these all non-lethal?”

I checked the description of the weapons on display. They either use paralyze, sleep, or both.

“Yea, we don’t sell lethal ones here. There’s a risk of inspection, y’know?”

Matthew, who turned out to also be the owner of the store, approached me.

“Misana may be the home of the bounty hunters, but it’s still under the jurisdiction of the local government. If you want a lethal weapon, then you’ll need to head to the black market, I don’t recommend it for newbies though.”

Amel said as she toyed with a pink revolver.

Pink revolver.

There’s something weird about people’s taste around here.

I looked around the store. The collection is so vast, ranging from small handguns to medium-size submachine guns and assault rifles, all the way to massive heavy machine guns and sniper rifles. Almost every type of gun I could imagine existing on Earth, exists here.

Although it’s admittedly a bit weird seeing a full-blown machine gun firing sleep bolts.

“Could we really have anything?”

“Any one thing. It’s on the house. Your second guns gonna cost you, though.”

I nodded to Matthew’s words. That’s pretty generous of them, but I assumed Riko was paying. I accidentally took a peek at Riko’s card before, the bounty hunting rates do look good. If I didn’t misread it, the latest job he took yielded him 9 million Gualham, although what that job is was unclear to me.

1 dollar is the same as 10 Gualham here, so that means he got 900.000 dollars. Considering how some sniper rifles cost up to 95.000 Gualham, it would be very generous of him to be paying for us.

But then again, that depends on what we pick. Sniper rifles were on the high end of the spectrum, and it would be unrealistic for all three of us to buy the same type of weapons. Emma’s currently looking at a couple of them, though, so she would probably pick one.

“Too heavy... too heavy... too heavy...”

Emma muttered silently, her bright expression replaced with a painful frown. I tried to pick up a sniper rifle.

It’s hard to tell objectively how heavy it is. I mean, sure, you could check the weight by putting it on a scale, but how that number translates to your average person, it’s hard to tell.

For someone like me who has superior strength, it’s not heavy, but for someone like Emma?

Seeing her face, Matthew approached her.

“Ah, don’t worry about that, little girl. I have clothes that boost your strength, follow me.”

Emma then followed Matthew to the rear. Nia approached Amel while holding a long polearm in her hand.

“Could I have this?”

She asked shyly. Compared to her original polearm, or staff, this one is about the same length. It had a black color, and its point had a sharp triangular shape on all 4 sides. Below that are two small crystal balls stacked above each other.

Amel took a look at the polearm and swung it around.

“Great choice. This polearm has both a physical damage buff and a magic damage buff. It’s not as great as your original one, but it’s decent enough.”

Amel returned the polearm. Nia thanked her and gave her a smile before putting the polearm on her back. A gun caught Amel’s attention. She grabbed it and threw it at me.

“Paralyze and Sleep are categorized as high-level magic. Considering you can’t even control medium-level magic, I think you should just go with the LIAR.”

“LIAR? Wait, how do you even know I can’t control magic?”

“I’m a bounty hunter, remember?”

I really need to be careful with her. I looked at the gun she threw at me. It’s pretty small for a rifle, and it’s light.

It’s colored mostly black, with two yellow lines on each side going through the entire body of the gun.

“Light Interchangeable Assault Rifle. You could use both sleep and paralyze lasers on it.”

Again with that naming sense. Do these people even know what liar meant? Probably not.

I holstered the gun on my back.

Since when did this fantasy adventure turn into sci-fi?

Emma then returned to us with brand new clothes and a sniper rifle on her back. She’s wearing a brownish-green colored jacket over her white dress. On her right waist, you could see a small handgun holstered there.

“What do you think?”

She asked us as she turned her body around, her skirt flared in the air.

“I think you look nice.”

I gave her a genuine compliment. She looked like a pretty city girl with that outfit, although the existence of a strength-boosting jacket is really convenient.

“Alright, with this we could start the mission!”

Amel said excitedly as she cheerfully turned toward the door.

She’ll be more serious when the time comes, right?

Right?

“Hold on, Amel. Did you forget already? The ship will cross above us in four days or so.”

Amel stopped her steps. She turned toward us with a bright red on her face.

“Ah, silly me.”

She said with an innocent smile.

Oh, dear...

Now I’m genuinely concerned.

After that, Amel showed the girls around, and Riko invited me to a bar. Located in the middle of the town, one could describe it as the kind of bar you see in cowboy movies.

Dirty, dark, and full of rough-looking people. The place is pretty small, and light rays from the afternoon sun pierced through the broken wooden window covers.

Admittedly, it does look a bit weird. The town’s style is middle eastern, so having a wild-west-styled bar in the middle of it contrasts its surroundings.

“Who’s this new kid?”

A young man asked arrogantly as we entered the bar. He was sitting on one of the bar stools. He was wearing black glasses and a black tuxedo. His style made him stand out in the bar.

Not waiting for an answer, he hit me with a challenge.

“Hey, let’s duel.”

He said confidently. This dude is probably the asshole in my story, my hated rival, so I decided to just completely ignore him and followed Riko to a table.

Despite looking at me with anger and annoyance in his eyes, he didn’t pay me any more attention.

“Who’s that?”

I asked as Riko put an order for two beers.

“I don’t know, I won’t bother to know his name. He’s an annoying kid that keeps challenging people. If he ever disturbs you in the future, just ignore him. It will shut him up.”

The waiter then brought his orders. We cheered and enjoyed the drinks.

“Be careful though. He may not look like it, but he’s actually strong. So far, no one has managed to win against him, although they’re kind of stupid for accepting in the first place. Also, no one knew about his gift. He’s very tight-lip about it.”

“He’s an Amnesia Clansmen too, huh?”

“Yes, most of the people you see in this bar are Amnesia Clansmen, either that or they knew the truth behind us. Misana is a place with high-level monsters, and it’s pretty close to Alpha compared to other dangerous locations, so it’s the perfect place for Amnesia Clansmen to grind.”

So I guess information regarding our origins isn’t considered a taboo topic here.

Although people would probably think I’m crazy if I start going around saying I’m from another world.

“I understand, so what do you want to talk about?”

I asked as I took a sip of my own beer.

“There are some things I want to ask about. Firstly, what’s Emma doing here?”

“I pulled her down.”

His eyes went wide. He examined me as if I were some other being.

“... I thought there’s a rule against that?”

“She couldn’t come as an angel, but she could as a normal human being. That’s probably why she’s a lot weaker... Did you ask her that before?”

“I asked out of curiosity. She does look disappointed when I don’t push it further, though.”

Riko thought to himself for a while.

“Nia? How about Nia?”

“Nia’s a cademon that betrayed the demon’s army. The demon’s army sent wyverns to Alpha to take her out.”

“From my research, she seemed to be one of the main weapon tester for the demon’s army. I heard she could learn almost anything instantly.”

“I haven’t seen her do that, though. Didn’t you taught her how to fly on the way here?”

“Yes, she is able to understand stuff quickly. Give her a couple more flights then she’ll be able to fly solo.”

He said as he leaned onto the couch.

“So, what’s your gift?”

It was my turn to ask him.

“Mine? I’m the type that is concerned with how people saw me, so I asked Emma to give me something related to that. I got lip-reading, enhanced vision, sensitive ears, and several other bonuses. I could activate them when needed.”

“Perfect for bounty hunting, then?”

“I really didn’t think about bounty hunting when I asked that. I just can’t think of anything else back then. If I could reset, I would probably ask for money or the like.”

“But, if that’s the case, how do you control magic? Emma said every Amnesia Clansmen had a buff that increases their stats tremendously. I struggle to control my overpowered magic because of that.”

“I think that depends. If you chose a skill like me, your stats won’t be buffed as much, but instead, you’ll receive extra bonuses relating to your skills. For example, I’m able to perform most basic tasks like lockpicking and sneaking without making any noise. An item, for example, a sword, isn’t light. If you ask for an item, your limitations in stats may hinder the use of the said item, that’s why your stats are buffed. Emma is probably registered as an item, thus you’re expected to channel your magic through her.”

“Tried that before, but it didn’t work.”

I wonder how things would have gone if Emma could breathe fire.

We then fell silent for a while. I sipped my beer, and Riko ordered another glass.

“So... what did you want to ask?”

“What did you mean?”

“You didn’t invite me here for small talk, right?”

If he really is interested in the stuff I just said, he could ask me back at the inn. Hearing that, he leaned closer to me.

“You know about our mission right?”

“To destroy the demons?”

“That’s not enough. When a demon dies, they’ll respawn in hell. They then made their way back to Hell’s Gate and returned to this world. Our mission is to seal Hell’s Gate, and stop them from coming through.”

I remember Raben saying something about The Hell’s Gate, saying that it’s a location far up north.

“The demon’s army is advancing in the front lines, pushing the humans back.”

“What happened to the other Amnesia Clansmen?”

“A lot of them lost interest in fighting against the demon’s army. I myself help with gathering information and intel, but I don’t fight in the front lines.”

“So you’re asking me to help?”

“Yes. Alexander may be a key figure in stopping this. I need you to give it your all.”

To be honest, I kinda hoped for a peaceful life, especially after getting chased around by monsters so many times.

But I guess I don’t have other options, do I? Even if I reject him here, I’ll somehow still get roped into the action.

“But do you really need to ask that in private?”

“The bounty on Nia is real, but I’m not willing to fully trust her just yet. Emma is the angel that gave us the mission, so it would be weird to ask from her, and Amel is in the process of discovering about us. It’s not a bad thing if she finds out, I think, but I prefer to keep her out for a while longer.”

“You say that, but you exposed us when you entered that mansion.”

“That was supposed to be a joke.”

“A very, very, very bad one.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Actually, there’s one more thing I would like to ask.”

“What’s that?”

“Amel has been interested in adventuring for a while now, so could you take her in?”

“Why me? Aren’t there any other parties available?”

Amel is pretty, but I doubt I could take care of three girls at once.

“There’s Emma on your team. I trust her, but I don’t have the courage to ask her directly. Amel is an important friend to me, so I would like you two to keep her safe.”

I really don’t understand why Riko’s so respectful towards Emma. Maybe he hasn’t seen Emma’s human side. Thinking about Amel, she seems like the type that would run into danger without thinking twice.

Wait, no, she would probably run into danger even after thinking twice.

Remembering the mansion raid, she looked like she had a plan, and she seemed skilled enough, but she didn’t think her plans through and just went with whatever.

“Friends, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Friends?”

“Why are you focusing on that one word?”

“Nevermind.”

Riko then stood up. Putting a hand on my shoulder, he gave me his parting words.

“You don’t need to answer me now. I would prefer that you see for yourself how great she actually is, then make your decision.”

He said as he left the bar. I drank the remaining of my beer and left.