The autumn wind blew bleak and chilly. Sitting inside the carriage, Selim Nutrisk took a delicate sip of Red Tea.
Even though the ground outside the carriage was littered with corpses of both humans and monsters, a blue-haired girl was still fighting several vicious wolf-shaped beasts, yet none of it disturbed her afternoon tea ritual.
As the blue-haired girl’s Longsword pierced through armored scales, the last monster let out a wretched howl, froze into an ice sculpture, and shattered into pieces.
Tea time was over. Now, it was time to receive guests.
Inside the carriage, Selim calmly heard the sound of monsters collapsing. Unhurried, she put her tea, snacks, and a still-evaporating Potion into her Game Backpack.
She had finally waited for the person she wanted. There was no way she could let the other party realize that this monster attack had been a setup she orchestrated.
After tidying everything up, she took out a Small Mirror from her Game Backpack, rubbed her cheeks in its reflection, and began to adjust her expression.
“A pitiful girl who’s suffered a monster attack, one to evoke sympathy, this expression is just right.”
Reflected in the mirror was a pale, pitiable beauty.
“Silver hair and red eyes, that counts as a signature combo. In terms of looks, I’m certainly not inferior to those Main Heroines.”
“Sadly, in the game’s backstory, I’m a poor wretch.”
“It was bad enough to be born crippled from the waist down.”
“But then to be killed, first carved up by a stranger, then have my soul extracted by my own father to be made into Soul Currency and traded to an Evil God, never to reincarnate.”
Thinking of this, Selim couldn’t help but sigh. She tossed the mirror into the Game Backpack and closed the Data Panel in front of her.
She possessed both the Player Template and NPC Template, but this new template combined the worst of both.
She lost the Player’s advantage of questing and leveling up, and at the same time, lacked the NPC Template’s tough, resilient stats.
Her Data Panel was as incomplete as her current body, both were in a damaged state.
Simply put, if she tried to use her former Player’s approach to fight her tragic fate, it’d be like playing a Souls game with a character who couldn’t dodge.
Rationally speaking, she figured she’d be happier just hanging herself early.
But the combination of both templates wasn’t without benefits; she could surpass the Talent limit that restricted Players.
As long as she stacked enough Talent and Feat entries, she could become a Mechanism Monster—then her fate in this world might not be unchangeable.
To accomplish all this, she needed a few loyal Potential Stocks as helpers.
She first set her sights on a Main Heroine from the game.
“Sophia Hoffk, become the Longsword to rewrite my destiny. Don’t disappoint me,” Selim murmured to herself in a voice only she could hear.
Meanwhile, outside the carriage, a cool, clear voice came from the blue-haired girl named Sophia Hoffk.
“Are there any survivors?”
Selim rested her hand on the carriage window and leaned against the tilted seat, making sure not to let slip the calm air she’d had while enjoying tea just moments before.
“Ah~ Mm.”
Parting her rosy lips, Selim rehearsed the weak tone she should use, her frail voice tinged with a bit of relief as she called out from inside the carriage: “Help me, I’m here.”
Upon hearing someone respond, Sophia frowned slightly, her expression annoyed, but still chose to approach the carriage.
A slender hand pushed aside the carriage’s curtain. Sophia gathered her loose blue hair into a ponytail as she leaned her body inside.
A shallow old scar slashed diagonally across her left cheek, just brushing her eye, yet it didn’t mar her beauty.
Her emerald green eyes were as tranquil as a lake, as if the bloody battle just now was as easy as eating and drinking.
A suit of leather armor accentuated her tall figure, and the Longsword in her hand, still flickering with Blue Flame, gave her an air of heroic grace.
If Selim were to describe her image, it would be of a woman who looked strong-willed—a female knight who would never yield.
She opened Sophia’s attribute panel.
[Name: Sophia Hoffk
Class: Demon Hunter
Rank: Moon Phase
Talent: Omnifusion Cinder (Red), Otherworld Rebirth (Gold)
Feat: Advanced Sword Technique (Blue), Demon Hunting Art (Blue), Extraordinary Knowledge (Green)……]
Once she was sure that Sophia was indeed her target, Selim said to her in a naïve tone, “Such a beautiful lady knight.”
Sophia hadn’t expected to be complimented so straightforwardly. She froze for a moment, then helplessly pointed to the Moon Pendant hanging on her chest.
“I’m a free Demon Hunter, not a lady knight sworn to serve anyone.”
“What’s the difference? All I know is that my savior is a beautiful, powerful lady knight.” Selim met Sophia’s gaze as she replied.
“Heh, there’s a big difference. I’m not your lady knight, and I have no obligation to save you for free.”
Sophia made a gesture asking for money with her hand, but she never dropped her guard toward the environment. Only after confirming that besides Selim there were no other living beings nearby did she gradually suppress her magic and sheathe her sword.
The Blue Flame still lingering on her blade was scattered carelessly to the ground, freezing the muddy dirt road into Frozen Soil.
About ten meters away, an unlucky Ant Nest sat right at the edge of the Blue Flame’s influence, and from that day on, their world had a polar region.
Watching Sophia’s sharp sword movements, Selim couldn’t help but be impressed—someone with a top-tier battle Talent like [Omnifusion Cinder], even with only a remnant of her strength before her character developed, could still have a major impact on the world.
Strong, beautiful, no wonder she was already a fan favorite before Selim transmigrated.
Of course, Sophia also had a tendency to be a bit of a money-grubber. In the early stages of the game, as long as you paid her, you could raise her favorability and even hire her for some tasks.
But once the money stopped, her favorability began to drop just like a corporate drone and their job.
One couldn’t help but suspect this was a dirty tactic by the game devs to recycle Soul Currency.
With that in mind, Selim didn’t plan to pay Sophia to be her boss. As a hardcore Player, she knew all the plot secrets about Sophia.
For example, she intended to use Sophia’s secret identity as a reincarnator to keep her in check.
With Sophia’s help, she could ensure her Evil God lapdog fiancé died early, so she could be a pure-hearted young widow and avoid her own doomed fate.
Then, by getting close to Sophia and letting “friendship” change into something else, she could find her villainous father a fine grave.
Imagining herself sitting atop her enemy’s grave, Sophia kneeling at her feet, Selim couldn’t help but smile.
“You’re safe now. All the monsters have been dealt with. The Demon Order mission is over.”
Sophia rapped on a carriage wheel, which had sunk into the mud but still looked lavishly decorated, paying no mind to Selim’s subtle change of expression and only calculating how much reward she needed to make this trip worthwhile.
In her mind, more earnings were just right; anything less meant she’d lost out.
This Demon Order mission hadn’t been difficult, and Sophia had finished it easily, but she wasn’t happy.
If there hadn’t been any survivors, she could have looted the caravan’s goods, even though most of it would have to be returned to the families according to the rules.
But there were always chances to fudge things, and since Sophia was in a financial crisis, she wanted to secretly pocket as much extra as she could to fill her purse.
However, if there were survivors, she’d have to follow the Demon Hall’s rules and take the Shiyi Tax required by the Demon Order—ten percent of the rescued party’s current assets, putting the initiative in the other’s hands.
If her “client” was an annoying merchant, Sophia could always put her sword to their neck to keep them from undervaluing their assets—she’d been short-changed like that before.
But… now, the person in the carriage looked like a sickly underage girl—not suitable for “adult” games.
Pressing her temples, Sophia lamented that she couldn’t treat Selim like a conniving merchant. It gave her a headache.
She could only negotiate the price in the most ordinary way.
“Unknown Capital Noblewoman, you should know what issuing a Demon Order means.” She rubbed her fingers as she continued, “You understand, right? You can bring out the reward now.”
“Huh? Reward? When? Was that a thing?” Selim feigned ignorance, blinking her lovely eyes at Sophia.
Sophia’s fists clenched, knuckles whitening.