I Was Mistaken for a Saint in a Dark Fantasy

”Eri, don’t rush.”

”How can I not rush when our lives are on the line!”

”But does rushing change anything? We can’t go up anyway, not since Mr. Otto was taken down.”

”...”

”Besides, it’s already too late.”

”But still, if we hurry...!”

Slam!

But before Eri could finish, the front door was smashed inward.

The hinges tore off, sending splinters of wood flying everywhere.I just had that door fixed last year after the hinges froze...

’You bastards. My clinic is already running a deficit.’

Of course, it wasn’t likely these ruffians would respect my financial situation.

Through the dust, the silhouettes of the ruffians poured in.

One, two, three, four, five.

And one more peeking out from the very back, making six.

All of them were Clowns, characterized by the lipstick mark stretching from the corner of their mouth to below their ear and the ridiculous wig perched on their head.

The sight immediately brought to mind the expression ”a clown who failed at stock trading.”

Amidst them, the man peeking from the back had different makeup.

”Ihihi...”

Like the other Clowns, he wore lipstick and a wig, but he had also powdered his face white.

He was particularly small, even among the clowns with the white faces.

”Ahi... eheehee...”

The White Face laughed.

More accurately, he was trying to laugh.

A laugh so awkward that the expression ”a creaking laugh” seemed fitting.

Peeking from behind the other five, he looked just like a rat poking its nose out of a hole.

”H-Hello, Healer, s-sir?”

I’m a doctor, not a Healer.

First Erika, then Wangcho.

Why do people here keep calling me a Healer?

”I, I am... Kaski of Lachenden Karneval, a Weiß-Weißgesicht.”

The clown bowed his head.

”S-Since you’re an outsider, s-sir, you can c-call me White Face.”

Lachenden Karneval?

Weißgesicht? White Face?

What was all that nonsense?

Fortunately, Eri explained it before I had to ask.

”Lachenden Karneval is an Artist Faction from H-Sector.”

”Artist?”

”They all trade in people, but how they process them differs between organizations. Factions like Lachenden Karneval, which modify people and sell them as creations or spectacles, are called Artist Factions. That clown is one of them.”

An Otherworldly Freak Show, then.

They weren’t the type I wanted to associate with.

Just then, someone objected to Eri’s blunt assessment.

”A clown! How dare you insult our mission to spread laughter in this barren world—”

Seeing him get angry without stuttering, she must have really struck a nerve.

Eri ignored Kaski’s protest and continued her explanation.

”From the bottom up, they’re called Claqueur, Red Nose, White Face, and King of Fools. You can think of a White Face as equivalent to one of Wangcho’s action captains.”

”I see.”

For a small and medium-sized organization, their ranks are quite thorough.

It seemed he was a mid-level officer in their organization.

White Face, no, Kaski, was it?

”So, what business do you have with me?”

”W-We need you, s-sir.”

”Are there patients waiting for me?”

”There are c-comrades waiting for you, sir.”

It seemed they had come to recruit me as a colleague.

”I refuse.”

There was no hesitation.

I’m the protagonist, a doctor protagonist at that.

Does it make sense to join an organization that does such things to people?

Why on earth would I join the ranks of those madmen?

White Face Kaski nodded calmly, as if he had expected as much.

”Ah, what a shame. Then, I have no choice...”

At that moment, Eri cut him off, pulling out a revolver and speaking.

”Sorry, but our teacher isn’t the type to work under anyone.”

It was the gun I had acquired for self-defense.

It seems she grabbed it herself while packing the bag just now.

Clink.

Eri cocked the hammer, aiming the gun muzzle at the space between Kaski’s eyes.

’Wait. Is it okay for a 12-year-old child to hold a gun?’

The thought crossed my mind for a moment, but then I remembered this was a world with an even more vicious personal firearm called magic, and I shook my head.

Right. At this rate, it’s just a child’s self-defense tool.

”Hiiiek?!”

With the gun pointed at him, Kaski screamed and hid behind a subordinate.

He pushed a wig-wearing Claqueur in front of him like a shield and wrung his hands.

”C-Can’t we talk this o-out...?! I-I’m just here on o-orders...”

Eri frowned at White Face Kaski’s reaction.

Inside my crow mask, I let out a dry laugh.

It was because he was such a stark contrast to Wangcho’s action captain, who was supposed to be the same rank.

That guy was a person with guts of steel, the type to get stabbed in the stomach and then try to go drinking the next day, only to get an earful from me.

This organization’s action captain was pushing his subordinates forward just because a gun was aimed at him.

Perhaps this showed the difference in their organization’s stature.

Eri seemed to feel the same way, as the tension left her shoulder.

Her gun muzzle lowered slightly.

And in that relaxed atmosphere,

Kaski suddenly burst into maniacal laughter.

”Ihihi!”

Kaski shoved his subordinate toward Eri.

The shoved ’Claqueur’ also had a surprised look on his face.

Clearly, he hadn’t expected Kaski to do this.

Taking advantage of the moment his subordinate became a meat shield, Kaski charged toward the gun in Eri’s hand.

The back he had been obsequiously bowing straightened like a spring, and a gleaming jackknife shot out from his coat.

I, too, was startled by the movement and shouted.

”Dange-!”

Bang!

But before I could even get the word out, Eri, with an indifferent face, pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The charging Kaski’s head snapped back.

Right between the eyes.

Just above his red nose decoration, a neat black hole was punched through his white forehead.

”Gack...!”

With a ridiculous death scream, his body, unable to overcome its inertia, tumbled to the floor.

I found myself staring at Eri.

Eri shrugged her shoulders.

”You’re probably the only one in Limbus Pit who believes in tears and weakness, Teacher.”

Hmm.

Come to think of it, this place was the Empire’s Gotham.

It seems I’ve been underestimating Limbus Pit until now.

*

Fwooh—

After dealing with White Face Kaski, Eri blew on the gun muzzle.

”Who’s next?”

Her gun muzzle turned to the remaining five.

The five Claqueurs (wind-stirrers) at whom the gun was aimed flinched and glanced at each other.

Despite their superior’s death, their reaction was more of bewilderment than anger.

”Hey, is that a gun? Did it really fire?”

”No, crazy... a gun fires here?”

”Was that ’teacher’ fellow that rich?”

A situation where a 12-year-old girl was overwhelming five adult clowns.

It was a rather surreal scene, but in a way, the five’s reaction was natural.

Whether by gun or magic, a Rank 0 person dies with a single hit.

Unless the opponent was a superhuman of Rank 1 or higher, the threat level of a gun was no different from in my previous life.

”A working gun...”

”There aren’t even any gun shops around here.”

”Those A-Sector guys smuggle them, though.”

”That’s a different territory, you idiot.”

”Was the teacher that high up? Did we mess with the wrong person?”

One of the clowns swallowed hard.

A person with a gun is no different from a Mage.

Not just because they can kill with a finger, but more for the symbolic meaning of a gun actually working.

In this city filled with smog thick with magical power, one needed fundamental wealth to own a gun.

Furthermore, one needed the social standing to get a permit for a gun, and the power to regularly purchase ammunition.

Taking all this into account, a gun might have been more frightening worn at the hip than it was being fired.

”That was the only one, right? No way he bought multiple bullets...”

”Why? Want to find out how many are left?”

Eri cocked the hammer again.

Clink.

”That gun looks... v-very expensive... Shall we talk this out?”

”Yeah. It’s a waste of a bullet. If we sell it, we could all have a company dinner.”

The buffoons, whose rude demeanor from when they smashed the door was gone, now showed a polite attitude.

As expected, even on a different worldline, the performance of the Etiquette Injector was certain.

But Eri couldn’t easily pull the trigger either.

The revolver’s inherent limitation—its cylinder capacity—was holding her back.

There were five Clowns before her now.

And there were five bullets left in the revolver.

She could take them down with one shot each, but if they all rushed at once, even Eri would have trouble dealing with them.

Whether she knew this instinctively or not, Eri chose a standoff instead of pulling the trigger.

”Teacher. Let’s just wait like this until Wangcho arrives.”

The one fortunate thing was that time was on our side.

Because Otto had gone to call Wangcho.

So, Eri calmly waited for Wangcho’s arrival.

However, I felt something was unnatural about the current situation.

’This is strange. If one gun is enough to handle them like this, there’s no way Otto would have been defeated.’

Otto also had a gun.

On top of that, he was a bodyguard on the verge of reaching Rank 1.

The fact that such a man was defeated bothered me.

Just as I was about to tell Eri to be careful, feeling that something was off.

Thwack!

Suddenly, the head of the man standing at the very back snapped backward.

As if struck by an invisible hammer.

”Huh...?”

Thud.

The Claqueur collapsed limply.

And right in the center of his forehead, in the exact spot Kaski had been shot, a black hole had appeared.

”Wh-What? I said let’s talk!”

”I didn’t shoot.”

”Ihihi...”

An unpleasant laugh echoed through the consultation room.

”Ihi... ugh. It hurts...”

Presently, the Clown with the White Face, who had been lying on the floor, picked himself up.

The forehead where the hole had been was now as smooth as if it had been a lie.

”I-It really hurt... So mean...”

Kaski grumbled as he stood up.

Without even asking what had happened, Eri immediately aimed for his chest and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Kaski clutched his chest and fell.

But Kaski’s clothes, which I thought would be stained red, were perfectly fine.

”Keoheok...!”

And at the same time, the chest of another clown behind Kaski turned red.

At the repeat of a scene similar to before, Erika urgently called out to me.

”Wh-What is it? Teacher! The bullet seems to be ricocheting strangely! Is the gun broken?”

”No. It was a direct hit.”

”Then why is this happening?”

”It’s a Magic Engraving. He’s had an enhancement procedure.”

This would explain why Otto was defeated.

Who would have predicted something like that would pop out in Limbus Pit?

A Magic Engraving is like a tattoo that grants magical power to a civilian who doesn’t understand magic.

Of course, unlike the magic used by mages or wizards, its mana efficiency is terrible, and the range of usable magic is limited.

Nevertheless, it’s enough to reign as an apex predator among Rank 0 individuals.

”The engraving effects are and .”

The engraving allows one to acquire immunity to damage they’ve sustained.

In theory, it seems like a very powerful engraving, but in actual combat, it’s a trash engraving.

Only in games does taking damage just mean losing health. In reality, taking the wrong kind of damage can lead to a disability.

Furthermore, the amount of immunity gained at once isn’t very high, so one must be beaten to the brink of death to achieve complete immunity.

But that white clown, Kaski, seems to have offset that penalty with .

allows one to pass their injuries to an ally, with the effect of automatically transferring fatal wounds.

Kaski was combining the two by transferring the damage he took to his subordinates until he acquired immunity.

’Now I understand why Otto was defeated.’

To use a game analogy, Kaski is a Gimmick Boss.

The kind of boss that isn’t strong, but one you can’t beat even with a max-level character if you don’t know the strategy.

Hearing the explanation, Eri grimaced and shouted.

”They called me rich for having a gun, but they’re using something even more expensive!”

So that was her point of complaint.

Eri once again aimed the gun muzzle at the fallen Kaski.

I stopped her.

”Eri. Not him.”

The one to aim for was not Kaski.

As I said before, you can’t beat Kaski without knowing the strategy.

In other words, if you knew the strategy, he was easy.

”Shoot the three remaining behind him. The Wound Transfer also works in reverse.”

The strategy was to not get aggroed by Kaski and to deal with the sacrificial lambs first.

was a Reciprocal Engraving, so it wasn’t a one-way street where only Kaski’s wounds were transferred to his subordinates.

Conversely, if his subordinates suffered a fatal wound, it could be automatically transferred to Kaski.

Moreover, since transfer was unrelated to immunity, it didn’t matter how tough Kaski became.

’It’s not for nothing that both are called Trash Engravings in Uppertown.’

If that combination was invincible, probably any Tom, Dick, or Harry in Uppertown would be using it.

There’s always a reason why something isn’t used.

”Got it, Teacher!”

Eri immediately aimed at the three subordinates behind him and pulled the trigger.

But Kaski, who had already come to his senses, threw his body in the way as if to protect his men.

And from the third shot onward, the lead bullet that hit Kaski flattened as if hitting a steel plate and fell to the floor.

”What! How did he adapt already?”

”...Is it because of Mr. Otto?”

Dammit.

This was outside my calculations.

It seemed he had acquired most of his immunity to guns while fighting Otto earlier.

Fainting from the first two attacks was just an act to hide this fact.

”Hehe... Your bodyguard, Teacher... he was incredibly strong. I lost twenty subordinates on the way here... I originally brought fifty to deal with Tao Chen, but with the ones left, a delaying tactic was all I could manage...”

Add one more piece of bad news.

It seemed time was not on our side.

Wangcho is not a wizard.

No matter if he’s Rank 1, as long as he uses swords and fists, if there are many enemies, he has to meticulously wring each of their necks one by one.

And if the enemy is determined to stall for time, that time will double.

That would be more than enough time for Kaski to achieve his goal.

’Ugh. This is supposed to be a Misunderstanding Genre, so why is the enemy so clever?’

He was unnecessarily cunning and strategic, and a wave of fatigue washed over me.

But there was one fact Kaski had overlooked.

Just as he had gained power through capital, I too could overwhelm him with greater capital.

”Eri. Give me the g—”

”I-Ihihi! It tickles!”

But before I could finish, Kaski let out a mad laugh and charged at Eri.

To stop the charging White Face, Eri unloaded all her remaining ammunition.

But even after the sound of three shots rang out, Kaski was unharmed.

”Out of bullets now, right? Right?”

Kaski, who stopped stuttering once he had the advantage.

He closed the distance in an instant.

His jackknife struck like a snake, grazing Eri’s forearm.

”Ack!”

With Eri’s scream, the revolver was knocked from her hand.

Then Kaski slapped her across the cheek, sending the small girl’s body tumbling to the floor.

”S-Such a bother. Y-You’re pretty, so I’ll stop here. I-If the product is damaged, the Narrenkönig (King of Fools) will scold me again.”

Kaski tore his gaze from Eri and met my eyes.

Meanwhile, the pistol, which had spun through the air, coincidentally slid to my feet.

I bent down and snatched the revolver.

I opened the cylinder, shook out the spent casings from the chamber, and pushed in a single new bullet before lifting my head.

The target is between the eyes... no, that seems hard, so the torso.

”Hihi. I-It’s a vain effort, Teacher. A-Anyway, the gun won’t w—”

”This one will be a little different.”

I retorted, placing my finger on the trigger.