What a boring story.
Listening to Zuo Jian narrate, Eblana lay on the bed with her eyes open, staring at the ceiling. To her, the tale drifting into her ears was stale, childish, and laughably predictable. Just from the opening alone, she could already guess how it would end.
And on top of that, his storytelling was honestly awful. Who was he supposed to lull to sleep with something like this?
That was what Eblana thought.
…
"Rather than be shackled by the bloodline you call that of the swan, spending our days trapped inside the cage of fate, I would rather my children become carefree skylarks!"
"So the great skylark refused the splendid offers the other animals placed before it. Instead, it took its two children and left the forest behind. They went to a place no one knew, where they could live beneath the sunlight, in peace and freedom, just like any ordinary skylark."
"And… that's the end of the story."
Zuo Jian slowly closed the book. When he looked back at the girl beside him, her eyes were already shut. She had fallen asleep.
Her little chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. Zuo Jian stood, placed the fairy tale book by her pillow, then bent down and carefully tucked the blanket around her.
At last, he whispered softly,
"Good night, Eblana."
After that, Zuo Jian picked up the now-empty IV stand and the used bowl and chopsticks. He left the stand by the entrance to the basement, then headed off to return the dishes to the kitchen.
But when he passed through the living room downstairs, he suddenly caught sight of another tiny figure curled up on the sofa, clutching what looked like a newly opened hardcover book.
"Loughshinny?"
He called out in surprise. Only then did he realize he had almost forgotten there was still another little red dragon girl waiting for him in the sitting room.
He hurried over, about to say something, but then noticed that she wasn't lowering her head to read at all. Her eyes were closed too, and her sleeping face looked almost exactly like her sister's.
"You'll catch a cold sleeping here, Loughshinny."
Zuo Jian spoke softly as he reached over to take the book from her hands.
Yet, perhaps sensing the disturbance, the sleeping girl let out a few blurry murmurs and a soft little hum.
"Mmh… Zuo Jian… th-thank you… mmh…"
Hearing her mumble thanks in her sleep, Zuo Jian's hand froze in midair.
Then a fond, indulgent smile spread across his face.
He reached out and gently stroked Loughshinny's head, then leaned close to her ear and murmured in reply,
"You're welcome."
Then he gathered up her small body in his arms, taking the book from her hands as well, and tiptoed toward the sisters' room. He moved so quietly, afraid of waking either of them, that his footsteps were almost soundless.
It was enough to make his usual instinct to crack some terrible joke start itching again.
Ha. Maybe I've got some hidden stealth or thief talent after all.
But when he looked at the sleeping faces of the girl in his arms and the one already lying in bed, Zuo Jian swallowed the joke before it could leave his mouth.
He laid Loughshinny beside Eblana, found another blanket from nearby, and tucked it over her together with the new book she loved so much.
Then he stood and walked out.
Before leaving, he glanced back once more and quietly said,
"Good night, Loughshinny. Good night, Eblana."
When his voice faded, it was followed by the soft click of the hallway light being turned off.
Zuo Jian went downstairs, tidied up the living room, then entered the kitchen. Looking at the used dishes in front of him, he let out a sigh and set them all into the sink to soak.
But before washing them, there was still something he needed to deal with.
He stepped into the kitchen, closed the door behind him, then shut the louvered window facing him as well. Only then did he speak in a low voice.
"System. Inventory."
The blue-and-pink screen appeared once more, but this time, the contents had changed slightly.
The first item in the grid was still the familiar Rose Revolver. When his gaze landed on it, a display automatically showed how many rounds remained in its cylinder.
Rose Revolver (Lv. 1) — Remaining Ammunition: 5/5
Beyond that was the stack of Victorian pounds the system had converted for him. Since he had only recently taken Loughshinny out to buy ingredients and a few other things, the amount had gone down accordingly.
And in what should have been the last slot of his inventory, several new items had appeared.
His eyes settled on the first of them: a metal badge shaped like a polygonal emblem, decorated with a five-pointed floral motif.
He pointed at it, and a panel of information popped up.
Item Name: Badge Soaked in Tears (Lv. 2)
Effect: The holder's off hand gains Small Firearms Proficiency. Strength +5. Constitution +5.
(He refused to stain both hands with blood, because his dominant hand was meant to hold the hand of the girl he loved most.)
Effect: While carrying this item, the holder receives one Common-grade Ammunition Refill Pack every day at twelve o'clock. Ammunition produced by this effect can be stored cumulatively.
(Rain and blood drenched his face as the man raised his weapon, pouring down endless bullets and boundless fury alike.)
Zuo Jian closed the description panel for the badge.
If he wasn't mistaken, this was the random bonus item granted when he chose the strategy called Set Collector.
And whatever else could be said, this item had truly solved his most urgent problem.
First of all, there was the skill it granted.
His off hand gained Small Firearms Proficiency.
Thinking of that, he pulled out the Rose Revolver from his inventory and gripped it with his left hand. In an instant, an eerily familiar sensation surged up from his fingertips into his brain. At that moment, the weapon in his hand no longer felt like a cold assembly of wood and metal. It felt like an extension of his own bones, as though the entire arm had fused with it.
Zuo Jian lifted the Rose Revolver and casually pointed it in a direction. He didn't even need to open his eyes; he could already sense where the bullet would land the moment it left the barrel.
An exceptionally useful skill. It perfectly compensated for his lack of practical ability with the only weapon he currently had.
The "off hand" part felt a little awkward, sure, but that was nothing he couldn't adapt to.
And then there was the part about the badge generating one ordinary ammo pack every day at noon.
That was even better.
He had worried before that with the Rose Revolver holding only five rounds, every shot fired was one less bullet forever. Once he used them up, wouldn't it just become an expensive chunk of scrap?
But now…
Zuo Jian reached into the next item slot behind the badge and took out a tiny little oil-paper packet that had appeared there out of nowhere, laying it flat in his palm.
According to the system, Common Ammunition Packs could replenish weapons between Lv. 1 and Lv. 2. Conveniently enough, his Rose Revolver was a Lv. 1 weapon.
He still had no idea what logic the system used for its ranking criteria, but the important thing was this:
For now, the issue of ammunition had been solved.
With that thought, he gently pressed the grip of the Rose Revolver against the ammo packet in his hand. The brown oil-paper wrapper instantly dissolved into sparkling motes of light, leaving behind five brass rounds clinking softly against each other in his palm, each engraved with a pattern of thorned roses.
.500 Magnum Revolver Rounds (Exclusive Ammunition for Rose-Series Weapons) +5
As the saying goes: the bigger the caliber, the bigger the love.
Zuo Jian skillfully ignored the system's habit of inserting bizarre commentary into item descriptions, then opened his own status panel.
The first two effects of the badge were excellent, no question. But to Zuo Jian, the most important part was still the simplest one:
+5 Strength. +5 Constitution.
No elaborate flourish. No dramatic bonus flavor text.
Just raw numerical improvement.
And at this moment, that was exactly what he needed most.
Who could say no to straightforward stat boosts?
Especially when, thanks to those boosts, his pitiful current attributes had finally become at least somewhat respectable.
Strength: 10 + 5
(At 15 Strength, your physical power is finally comparable to that of an average adult Terran.)
Constitution: 10 + 5
(At 15 Constitution, your physical resilience is now slightly above that of an average member of the common Terran races.)
With this much, Zuo Jian figured that if something like what happened in the tunnel happened again, he probably wouldn't just collapse on the spot anymore.
With these improvements, he should… be able to protect those two girls now, right?
No.
Not enough.
Zuo Jian lifted his head, forcing himself awake, refusing to get drunk on this brief rise in power.
No. Still nowhere near enough.
Loughshinny and Eblana's identities and bloodline were too special. This level of strength was nowhere close to sufficient.
He needed more power.
With that thought, he pulled up the system panel again and noticed a brand-new section had appeared.
"Set Title Progress…?"
He tapped it open. Anchored around the first item he had ever obtained—the Rose Revolver—there stretched a dense branching tree of routes.
Some titles required three item slots to light up. Others needed four, or five. Some even demanded a full set of eight items before the title effect would activate.
Unfortunately, if the item slots weren't lit yet, he couldn't see which items belonged to the same set, much less what powerful bonus would result from completing them.
As expected, even if he wanted to get stronger quickly, there was no shortcut. Some things still had to be built up one step at a time.
Yet as he scanned the panel, one thing caught his eye.
Among the many set effects, there was one that only required three items to activate.
And astonishingly enough, two of its components were already lit up.
So the Rose Revolver and the Badge Soaked in Tears could already form two-thirds of a set?
And because only one item remained to complete it, part of the set information had already been unlocked in advance.
Zuo Jian tapped on the title, and a line of text appeared before his eyes. He couldn't help but murmur it aloud.
Title: At the Edge of the End
Set Keywords: Revolver, Law Enforcer, Outlaw
In a dark alley deep in the city's night, a place the brilliant streetlights could not touch, a white-haired Sarkaz woman sat atop a trash bin, utterly unconcerned by the filth smudging the hem of her clothes.
She hummed an unfamiliar tune under her breath, her long legs clad in black stockings swaying lightly in midair to the rhythm.
"So the great skylark refused the splendid offers the other animals placed before it. Instead, it took its two children and left the forest behind. They went to a place no one knew, where they could live beneath the sunlight, in peace and freedom, just like any ordinary skylark."
The woman softly recited the words from the tattered storybook in her hands—a thing so damaged it looked as though it had been fished straight out of the rubbish. Then the corners of her lips curled upward in something like yearning.
"What a beautiful story."
"But…"
Her tone abruptly shifted. She tore the book cleanly in half and tossed it back into the trash as though all interest in it had vanished.
"And precisely because it is beautiful, it can exist only in a story. We, meanwhile, remain divided from it by that pitiable barrier called fantasy."
"Tell me—do you think that kind of beautiful life exists only within those tiny pages of a fairy tale?"
"Or are we the pathetic ones, locked inside a prison called reality?"
When she finished, she stepped down from the trash bin and turned to the Feline man tied up beside her, his whole body bound in rope and his mouth sealed with tape.
The man had clearly sensed the undisguised killing intent radiating from her, and he began to struggle wildly.
"Mmph! Mmmh! Mmmph!"
"Oh my. It seems you aren't interested in discussing the philosophical questions left behind by Victoria's thinkers."
The woman crouched down, smiling gently.
"In that case, let's talk about something lighter. Something happier."
"Those Dublin sisters—the red dragon girls. Where are they?"
She tore the tape from his mouth and waited for his answer.
"I—I don't know! What red dragons? I only met Mr. Dublin once before! I didn't know anything about him being a red dragon! Please, let me go! I'm just an ordinary—"
Before he could finish, disappointment spread across her face. She stuck the tape back over his mouth.
"What a shame. I thought you might be a little more honest than that… but never mind."
"The night is still long. We have plenty of time."
"You know, I'm used to dealing with Sarkaz. Our kind—well, as one of those damned devilfolk myself, I can tell you—we're hard to kill. Some people can keep talking even after all four limbs are chopped off."
"But you, my fragile little Feline… this is my first time having such an… intimate conversation with one of your kind."
"I do hope you'll let me enjoy myself for a while."
As she spoke, she slowly licked lips as red as blood, then dragged the man with her into the shadows.
…And the night remained quiet.
....
My Patreon : patreon/RuneA
If you want to read the novel in advance, you can subscribe for early access. I also have many more novels in my collection that you might be interested in
I upload ten novels a day, with 3 to 4 chapters per title depending on the length. If you're following a particular series, please wait your turn a little
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it