Hell Mode: Volume 5, page 33
Nearly fifty players were needed to kill this one boss. And yet, only one copy of the ring would drop, even though everyone wanted it.
“Speaking of, you reached thirty-five in your past life, right?”
“I did, yep.”
“Were you married?”
“No, I was single.”
“Huh? But you were a Holy Knight who killed Demon Lords.”
Cecil was now under the misconception that Allen was, in his past life, a Holy Knight named Kenpy who had saved the world from threats such as this ice queen and Demon Lords. By all rights, he should have been married. Cecil found it surprising that he was not.
“Well, how do I put it? I mean, marriage was a thing, yes.”
“I’d be really shocked to hear it wasn’t!”
Of course, Cecil’s understanding of Allen’s account was fundamentally mistaken. He was actually talking about online games that he had played. In some of these games, players could indeed buy a private house and get married with other players, but the way these features worked was very different than in real life. Those differences were a large part of why Allen remained single throughout.
“Well, Allen? Details.”
“The introduction of the ice queen’s ring actually led to a lot of scamming.”
“How so?”
Only parties filled with extremely experienced players had a chance at killing the ice queen and getting her ring. Compounded by the fact that she could only be fought once a month, there was only a very limited number of those rings around.
Consequently, unscrupulous players started getting creative in their attempts to get their hands on one. Some simply bought it with money, but others did not hesitate to kill and seize it given the opportunity.
“That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t get married, though.”
“In my past world, we had a custom of giving the other person a ring when getting engaged with or marrying them.”
“Oh? A ring?”
In this world, it was also customary for lovers to gift each other trinkets and accessories. However, as Allen proceeded to explain, back in his world, there were such things as engagement rings and wedding rings that held extra meaning as visible representations of the relationship between two people.
Knowing this, quite a few male players who wanted the ring came up with the idea of playing with female avatars to beguile those who had one. Lo and behold, there were actually a few cases of players losing their ring this way.
“When I heard that one of my friends also fell victim to this scam, I simply couldn’t bring myself to consider getting a wedding anymore.”
“Are you actually talking about a friend and not yourself?”
“Nah, I didn’t fall for it. I was keeping a distance from it all and waiting until everything calmed down.”
In short, Allen’s strategy was to wait for new content to come out first, be it a new boss, dungeon, item, or something else, before going back and enjoying the previous release.
“You don’t have to lie to me. I see, so that’s part of why you don’t like talking about your life as Kenpy.” Cecil nodded knowingly as if she had just made a brilliant deduction.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Don’t worry. There are bad women here too, but I’ll protect you.” Cecil nodded again—assuringly, this time—as Allen gave her a puzzled look.
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Copyright
Hell Mode ~ The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing ~ Volume 5
by Hamuo
Translated by Taishi
Edited by Seanna Hundt
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2022 Hamuo
Illustrations © 2022 Mo
Cover illustration by Mo
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2021 by Earth Star Entertainment
This English edition is published by arrangement with Earth Star Entertainment, Tokyo
English translation © 2023 J-Novel Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
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