Dark Fantasy’s Extra

Blue Paper Moon was the last game I played in my previous life.

The basic background is that a powerful witch called Red Hood twisted the ordinary world and spread a curse, causing monsters called ‘Beasts’ to overflow, and the protagonist joins the Hunting Order to become a ‘hunter’ to fight against them.

There were various characters, intricate branching points, and numerous endings.

The character development and combat systems were excellent, and even those had detailed effects on the branching points, giving it an almost roguelike feel.

The quality was so high it was hard to believe it came from a newly emerged development company, and naturally, Blue Paper Moon’s popularity lasted for years.

In my previous life, I was completely absorbed in that game.

I spent almost all my time outside of work playing it.

Until I saw all the different types of endings, I didn’t look at anything external to the game except the official setting book.

Since I didn’t even look at guides, I kept replaying Blue Paper Moon even after its popularity had waned.

With each playthrough, the enemies became stronger accordingly, so I never felt it was easy.

That’s exactly what I loved about it.

The feeling that I could challenge it with everything I had.

Although that led to my actual life taking a nosedive…

And then, just like usual, after seeing the game’s ending, I felt extremely sleepy, and when I woke up, I found myself reborn in a world identical to Blue Paper Moon.

So if you ask if I’m happy about it, absolutely not.

Games are good because they’re games.

Even if people die constantly, trusted people betray you, and efforts built up over time turn to bubbles in an instant, you can laugh it off because it’s a game.

Being reborn in a poor, struggling village rather than a comfortable, good family was just the cherry on top.

“Hilde of the Grimm family…”

I briefly recalled the tutorial of the game I had played so long ago.

Blue Paper Moon begins with a man named Noah trying to save a heroine in danger.

The combat wasn’t that difficult.

It was a tutorial, after all.

But that’s the story of the male protagonist version.

When playing as a female protagonist, while the combat was similar, the story was different.

The default name for the female protagonist was Hilde.

She’s a noble lady from the Grimm family, and while traveling by carriage, she’s attacked by a pack of Beasts.

The Beasts kill all the guards, and Hilde is left alone.

Then she picks up a dead guard’s weapon and begins her fight for survival.

…Picks up a dead guard’s weapon.

In this case, I could be that guard.

No, thinking back more carefully, the guard was wearing a hunter’s uniform.

No matter how I look at it, if I take this mission, I’ll end up like that.

Moreover, that tutorial was the end of my playthrough as the female protagonist.

When playing games, I always chose male characters for immersion.

In Blue Paper Moon, except for that one time, I played as a male in all my numerous playthroughs.

The game’s stories that I remember until now are…

“What’s wrong? Do you have another schedule? If so, the mission…”

“Ah, no. I’ll do it.”

The words came out before I knew it.

Now there’s no way out.

In the first place, I can’t just ignore it when the protagonist has appeared.

I tried to return to my quarters first to think about what I should do.

But the moment I opened the door upon returning, an overwhelming silence engulfed me.

“…”

My companions who shared this room were all wiped out yesterday.

Now I’m alone.

I need to think about tomorrow’s mission plan.

But before that, there’s something else I need to do first.

I organized the belongings of my dead companions.

Soon, someone will come to send their things to their families.

My time with them hadn’t even reached a year yet.

I joined when they reorganized due to reduced numbers.

They all had less experience than me, so I had thought I should guide them well…

Who will join next, I wonder.

Whoever it is, they’ll be filled with relatively new recruits with even less experience than those who died.

It’s natural to recruit new people to replace those lost.

But they have less experience, so their chances of survival are lower.

If new recruits die early or retire due to injuries again, they’ll recruit more new people, and this vicious cycle repeats.

In the past, nearly half of the lower-ranked hunters from 7th to 9th rank lasted as long as… no, as long as I have now.

But now, the number of veterans is less than a quarter compared to back then.

I had been thinking this would happen since long ago.

In Blue Paper Moon’s story, there’s a background setting where the seals of other witches, Red Hood’s sisters, weaken, causing the number and quality of Beasts to increase rapidly.

From now on, powerful Beasts will continue to increase, and the probability of hunters dying will increase accordingly.

Just like the seniors who guided me in the past, and the juniors I should have guided.

“…I have to go.”

Whether the protagonist is male or female isn’t what’s important.

If we don’t somehow lead this harsh world to a good ending, incidents like today will continue to happen.

In the worst case, if the protagonist fails and dies in the tutorial?

Then there will be no one to stop the unsealed witches and Red Hood.

For me, for us to survive, the protagonist must safely complete the tutorial and come to the Hunting Order.

*    *    *

The next day, I went to ‘Cranion’, the city near the Hunting Order headquarters.

Cranion grew centered around trade with the Hunting Order, and there are several villages in the surrounding area that depend on the Order for their livelihood.

The Grimm family established a strong foothold in Cranion by selling various goods to the Order.

This mission is just helping with a kind of exchange meeting to introduce the family’s daughter to the Order.

At least until now.

Since it takes about 3 hours to walk from the Order to downtown, I left early in the morning and barely managed to arrive before lunch.

Walking through the city, I drew some glances, but not enough to worry about.

Hunters often come to this city for various missions anyway.

Of course, I know where the Grimm family is located.

Until now, I hadn’t thought to connect that family with the protagonist.

It’s difficult to remember every detail down to the name and family name of a female protagonist I played just once in the tutorial of a game from decades ago.

Until now, I had only been thinking about the male protagonist named Noah, and when playing as a male, the Grimm family was just an extra.

Even their mansion was just background scenery that couldn’t be entered.

But this time is different.

“Are you from the Hunting Order?”

A maid was already waiting at the entrance of the mansion.

“Yes. I’m 9th-rank hunter Eugene, assigned to Lady Hilde’s escort today.”

“Welcome, hunter. The young lady is waiting for you.”

I followed the maid into the mansion.

It’s my first time entering a noble’s house.

Passing servants glanced at me.

“He’s carrying quite a lot of things.”

“Wasn’t he just supposed to be a conversation partner for the young lady?”

I could hear their whispers.

As they said, I had brought as much equipment as possible.

Holy oil and silver bullets, smoke bombs, emergency herbs and bandages, even several types of spare weapons.

“Must have a lot to talk about. Kind of cute.”

“Shh, don’t say such things about a hunter.”

They probably thought they were speaking quietly, but I could hear everything.

Hunters have much sharper senses than ordinary people.

I arrived at Hilde’s room.

Beyond this door is the protagonist of Blue Paper Moon I’ve been waiting for so long.

I swallowed hard.

“Young lady, the hunter from the Order has arrived.”

The maid knocked on the door and announced.

Immediately, the door opened, revealing a girl with black hair and blue eyes.

“Really?!”

Hilde said with a bright face.

Her eyes immediately turned to me.

“Welcome, hunter! I’ve been waiting! Please, sit here…!”

“Young lady.”

The maid spoke gravely.

“Ah. Um, that is…”

Hilde flinched, then hesitated before grabbing her skirt.

“Welcome, hunter of the Order.”

She greeted.

The movement was as natural as if it were ingrained in her body.

Her voice also changed to have that unique old-fashioned noble quality.

“Pardon me. The young lady is very interested in the Order, so she got a bit excited.”

The maid said.

“It’s fine.”

I nodded briefly.

“There’s still time for conversation before departure.”

“Really?!”

“Young lady!”

Was she originally this kind of personality?

“Sigh, I apologize. Then I’ll leave her in your care.”

The maid bowed and left.

After that, I told various stories to Hilde, who was waiting like an eager puppy.

“While it’s widely believed that bigger Beasts are stronger, that’s not always true. There are actually types that make themselves smaller to deceive their opponents. Those Beasts are particularly dangerous.”

“While silver bullets are effective against Beasts, it’s better not to expect too much from them against anything above mid-tier. Instead of bullets, weapons with mass… like swords or axes might have some effect even on high-tier ones. Though it would just be like a pinprick to them.”

I explained as much as I could within what I knew.

To increase Hilde’s chances of survival when the Beast pack attacks, it’s better to know as much practical knowledge as possible.

“A hunter’s gun is specially produced only by the Order. Unlike lead bullets, silver bullets are weak and can break even when shot from ordinary guns. Naturally, silver fragments would remain inside the gun, and it would break down easily.”

It was a long explanation, but Hilde listened intently with sparkling eyes.

Her gaze of sincere admiration for hunters is almost overwhelming.

Seeing that expression and feeling somewhat confident, I casually offered her the spare pistol I had brought.

“Would you like to borrow this for a while?”

“Really?!”

“Of course. If you’d like, I also have quite a few spare melee weapons…”

I took out a dagger and a hand axe.

“There’s no need to give me such things…”

While she was declining with words, Hilde’s hand had already taken the hand axe.

A pistol and a hand axe.

Coincidentally, those were the weapons used in the tutorial.

They’re also easy to hide under clothes.

“About how to use them…”

“Ah, it’s okay. I already know.”

“Pardon?”

“Actually, I’ve been practicing with these kinds of weapons since long ago. I learned from a former hunter who was my home tutor. Father and Mother just thought it was simple exercise though. Ah, this is a secret, okay?”

So that’s why she was so good with weapons in the tutorial.

I thought it was just game logic, but I didn’t know there was such a setting.

Come to think of it, the male protagonist also had a setting where his father was a former hunter, so he learned from childhood and was proficient with weapons from the tutorial.

This world keeps to its lore better than I expected.

After that, I continued telling Hilde various stories until it was time to depart.

“A real hunter really is different. There’s so much I didn’t know… Um, hunter… no, pardon me, but I haven’t heard your name yet.”

“It’s Eugene.”

“Mr. Eugene. Are there many female hunters?”

“There are very few among lower-ranked hunters.”

“I see…”

“However, from middle-ranked hunters, the number of women increases significantly, and among high-ranked hunters, there are slightly more women.”

“Really?”

“Anyone with ability can become a hunter regardless of gender or background.”

The Hunting Order accepts anyone who has magical power and healthy limbs, except for the insane.

They don’t even care about criminals as long as they’re not on record or just petty thieves.

I, too, was able to become a hunter right away when I came of age because I was born with magical power.

“Then perhaps…”

“It’s time for departure.”

The maid knocked on the door from outside and announced.

“Yes! …Um, Mr. Eugene. These…”

Hilde tried to return the pistol and hand axe.

“You can keep them a while longer.”

I’d rather she keeps them.

They’ll be useful later when the Beast pack attacks.

I got into the carriage in the mansion’s courtyard with Hilde, following the maid.

Even for an escort, one usually doesn’t enter the carriage, but due to the relationship between the Grimm family and the Hunting Order, I could share the same space.

The guards escorting the carriage also mounted their horses.

While they all had serious faces, their expressions showed no thought of the horrible things to come.

The distance between the Order and downtown is 3 hours on foot, but it’s much shorter on horseback.

It would be strange to think something could happen when dozens of armed people are traveling together for such a short distance.

Moreover, this is the area where the Hunting Order headquarters is located.

It’s understandable that they would let their guard down.

But just 30 minutes after leaving the city, we were attacked by a pack of Beasts.