Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

She wasn’t even wearing her helmet today, and her equipment was also different from last time.

Most importantly, her sword flashed in a blue light that made him shiver.

“When did you come back to the capital! If you come, please tell me!”

“Ah, yes, Leeha. Wait a minute, my equipment……”

“Equipment? Did you change equipment? I just realized, is your musket gone? Did it run out of durability while fighting Rising Sun?”

“What?”

“I saw the Rising Sun battle too! That was no joke. It was covered in ‘Today in Middle Earth’ and was in the spotlight for two days! Have you seen it as well Leeha-ssi?”

“I-is that so? Leeha. I am not able to watch TV these days because I’m always on Middle Earth.”

Shin Nara looked at Leeha with sparkling eyes.

It had been a while since they saw each other so Leeha was a bit embarrassed with how welcoming Shin Nara was.

‘This is what it’s like to be alive…. She’s really healthy and pretty.’

Her skin, hair, and eyes were shining. How about her body that was trained in fencing. After Leeha looked at Shin Nara for a moment, she said excitedly.

“I couldn’t even imagine getting them to one place and catching them! No, the courage to attack them alone was great. Also I-……

“What? What are you talking about?”

Shin Nara stopped.

Looking at her as if frozen, Leeha tilted his head. What did she do?

It wasn’t until her face began to heat up that she managed to speak again.

“Protected! I protected you-? Ahh!”

“What? T-that’s right. Nara-ssi protected me. Thank you for that time.”

Was she talking about the time when he hunted roadrunners?

Leeha bowed his head toward Nara. Shin Nara Twisted her body.

“I should be the one thanking you. Thank you for trying to defend me. More importantly…”

She shyly raised her sword.

Even those who didn’t know anything about swords would understand.

“The seal……?”

“Yes. It’s released. Ehehe. It is now a complete magic sword.”

“Congratulations”

“It’s all thanks to Leeha-ssi”

She got excited and kicked a stone. Her figure looked cuter than ever.

‘It’s now a magic sword. Rankers are definitely different. Does it mean that she’s as strong as a named NPC if not stronger?’

The assault captain in the second Human-Demon war, one-armed Lepanto. Shin Nara would at least be stronger than that NPC.

“Leeha-ssi.”

“What?”

“Do you have a guild?”

“There’s the guild I made while fighting Rising Sun-.”

“Are you going to maintain that guild?”

“No. I have no intention of doing that.” He didn’t want to become a guild master.

Being a leader always required sacrifice. The role of a leader is to get cursed at regardless of doing well or not. It was enough for Leeha to be able to earn money.

Nara’s eyes glistened as she did not know Leeha had such thoughts.

“Then would you like to join the Sacred Knights?”

“Eh? What? Where?”

“The Sacred Knights! It seems Leeha-ssi has high intimacy with the Sacred Knights, and you should be able to join if you could complete a few quests. I will recommend you!”

‘What? What was she talking about?’ Leeha’s eyes widened.

The Capital’s Defense Knights, does she want me to join the strongest knights in Fibiel Kingdom?

“That fact that I have a high intimacy-”

“Ah, t-t-that- that’s because I belong to the Sacred Knights! I was able to see it!”

Shin Nara covered her mouth and quickly waved his hand as if it was hot.

‘She is able to see it, but why did she say she see mine?’

Leeha thought about it for a while, but he couldn’t figure it out.

“N-no. Thanks for the suggestion…… but I don’t have any plan of joining a guild yet.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I still have a lot of work to do.”

He had no intention to waste time socializing. He had to learn how to use the pistol and get used to it, before actually trying to use it for hunting.

‘I have to get stronger. Because Kidd didn’t say anything for nothing.’

Leeha glanced at the pistol he held in his hand, Nara also looked at his hand.

“That weapon…”

“Ah, this is a new one. Because my musket couldn’t be used.”

“Kidd?”

“What?”

The figure of the woman who had just blushed and twisted her body disappeared.

Nara held up her sword, whose seal was unsealed, and looked around.

“Did Kidd give it to you? I’ve never seen anyone other than him use a musket like that before!”

“No, I made it. The man named Kidd gave me a hint, but”…

“Hint? Have you met Kidd?”

“What? Ah, yes. At the academy-.”

“Where?! Where is he!?”

Nara came so close that her nose touched Leeha’s nose.

Leeha got flustered and stepped back, he didn’t know that he would fall.

“He’s not here anymore. I don’t know where he is either.”

“Academy? You mean he was at the Musket Academy?”

“Yes.”

“Tsk, he ran away again.”

As Nara was disappointed, Leeha got curious.

It was funny that when he saw Kidd for the first time Leeha thought that they were in a relationship.

‘Rather, it’s like she’s disappointed that she was not able to kill him, right?’

Shin Nara was a ranker. Kidd

was not a ranker. Why was she disappointed?

“May I ask why you’re looking for Kidd?”

“What? Ah, that… It’s nothing. It’s because I wanted to get revenge.”

“Revenge? What do you mean revenge?”

“…”

Nara muttered.

However, Leeha got even more interested. Was it difficult to say? What the hell did Kidd do that Shin Nara was looking for him for revenge?.

“I lost to him. Before.”

“What? What do you mean lose? Rock Paper Scissors?”

“No.”

Power rushed into Nara’s hand that was holding a sword.

“We had a 1v1 match, but I lost.

“Nara-ssi lost? To Kidd? The 1v1 you’re talking about is the 1v1 I am thinking, right?”

Nara nodded. And she bit her lips lightly.

Thinking that even her angry expression looked cute, Leeha opened his mouth again.

“It’s a long time agon…… right? When you were low-leveled? That should be it. There was a time when I got beat up by a rabbit as well.”

Leeha laughed while recalling the time when he was level 1 to comfort Nara.

However, even after hearing Leeha’s story, Nara did not laugh.

“No. I was already a ranker at that time. It wasn’t even that long ago.”

“Unbelievable- Really?”

“Do you know how Kidd got the nickname ‘Sleeping’ Kidd?”

“N-No.”

“He loved to sleep. So much that he could even sleep in Middle Earth.”

“You can sleep in Middle Earth?”

No, even if one could sleep, does one have to sleep in here? One could experience it 5 times lower than in real-time, so one could say it’s efficient….

‘Doesn’t he get tired of sleeping too much? My conversation with him before was a bit strange.’

Just when Leeha thought Kidd was a strange person, Nara talked again.

“I think Rising Sun went after Kidd when he got a new item.”

“Rising Sun…… They really were everywhere.”

“Yes. At that time 30 Rising Sun members went to see Kidd, who was sleeping on his stomach at a pub in a village. Users were worried about PK happening in the village.”

“If it’s a village, it’s understandable. Those guys…”

Because it happened to Leeha as well. It must have been a very desirable item.

“So what happened? Did they target sleeping Kidd?”

“Yes. I only heard of it. They said it was so quick that no one was able to take a video.”

“Oh, how did it go?”

“Thirty people suddenly died. Kidd laid on the table and he did not raise his upper body. The only thing that moved was his arms dropping under the table.”

“What?”

“After a while, he got up with a drowsy yawn, and asked “What are all these?”.”

“T-That…… He killed 30 people while asleep?”

“He got a nickname after that. ‘Sleeping’ Kidd. No one could avoid his gun, which could aim at its target even while he’s asleep.”

While sleeping, he killed 30 people and they disappeared.

Kidd’s words suddenly came into Leeha’s mind. He might become a [Rival] to such a person.

* * *

“H-How was it even possible? No, that’s absurd. I can’t believe it. It’s weird that Nara-ssi said she got beaten, also he fought while sleeping-.”

“It’s true. After hearing that, I went looking for Kidd.”

“What?”

She went to him to fight, and Shin Nara lost?

Her eyes lit up when she recalled the past.

Shin Nara no longer looked like a cute, shy girl. She emanated a spirit of a lioness with her heart blazing.

“Even so, no, the level difference would have been extreme-.”

“You know that level is not everything in Middle Earth, right? Why would an unfriendly game like Middle Earth only reveal the level ranking?”

“Why is that?”

“They are throwing…. preys

to get caught. It’s like releasing information to [Outsiders], strong people that are not rankers.”

“What?”

“There are a lot of those in Middle Earth, Leeha-ssi. Those who are strong regardless of level. No, those who are overwhelmingly stronger than their level show. Leeha-ssi knows it as well, right?”

“Ah…”

Only then did Leeha understand what Nara was trying to say.

In Middle Earth, level wasn’t everything.

Level can be used as a criterion for receiving quests or other things, but becoming stronger didn’t necessarily mean raising one’s level.

‘Stats……!’

Stat points. Only 5 points were given per level.

The higher the level, the harder it was to level up, so getting stat points is very important.

‘One can get stats from achievements or items. In other words, being strong regardless of level-‘

It meant obtaining more achievements than anyone else.

Even Leeha’s stats were not directly proportional to his level. Someone who has significantly higher stats than their level?

He didn’t even have to look far to find it. Leeha himself is one of the people who could be called [Outsider].

“Didn’t you know that killing a ranker would get you an achievement? If you kill a ranker in the top 100, you will receive a corresponding achievement.”

“Really?”

“That’s why Middle Earth released the top 100 level rankings. To induce [Outsiders] to prey on the rankers. If you could hunt them, their level will go down, so rankers need to be vigilant.”

Leeha was once again horrified by the management of Middle Earth.

It was a place that induce endless competition! Even a little carelessness or weakness would cause one to fall off a cliff.