WeTried Translations

Translator: Goku

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became a Villain Perfect for Leveling Up

Chapter 029

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29. Stained in the Shadows (3)

Time passed to the extent that Eirene's scent of flesh felt stronger than the scent of trees flowing through the forest.

Seeing the darkened sky and realizing it was their time, the chirping insects created a gentle hum.

“Dean. What's this dagger?”

Perhaps worried he might commit suicide, she asked, fiddling with Freud's Fang she had brought over.

“Freud's Fang.”

I replied simply, as it didn't seem like she intended to confiscate it, and her eyebrows twitched at the word "Freud."

“How did you.... kill that serpent... alone?”

“No. It just suddenly appeared after I woke up.”

I wondered if she was curious why I possessed Freud's Fang, the giant serpent guarding the Labyrinth of Fissures.

But I didn't know the exact reason either.

It had simply appeared the next day after fleeing Maeve.

“…Hm.”

Eirene let out a soft hum and stroked the dagger's blade with her finger.

She seductively brushed the blade, a risky closeness as if it might cut her.

“It's not a weapon you took from someone else, is it?”

Tilting her head, she looked at me and asked a question mixed with half-playfulness, half-earnestness.

To that question, I could now answer with certainty.

“I've never done that.”

Meaning, I had killed people, but never for the purpose of plunder.

“Can I have this?”

“No.”

“Too bad. Here.”

Perhaps quite fond of Freud's Fang, Eirene showed a regretful expression when handing the dagger over.

Her expression was much improved from before, when she looked like she might never get up if she swayed and fell again.

Unlike me, who was left with a bitter feeling, she felt a refreshing sense of having washed away the frustration accumulated in her heart.

After quietly sheathing the dagger at my waist, I got up and began to search the surrounding plants.

“Dean? Are you moving now?”

“No.”

Soon after, I found bear nettle berries, growing profusely like weeds.

“……”

Looking at the purple berries, subtly shining like jewels under the moonlight, I suddenly recalled my brief day at the Aquila Knights.

Eating warm food and conversing noisily with people.

Having people who cared for me.

Although the actual time spent there was less than half a day, the time with them felt like it would remain in my heart forever.

“…Eirene?”

“It's alright. I'm here.”

Eirene carefully hugged me from behind.

“I'll embrace you. Dean's body... and heart, all of it...”

I couldn't properly hear her softly whispering voice, but the emotions conveyed pushed away some of the spreading melancholy.

So I moved my stopped hand and picked the berries.

The fruits, hanging in bunches like grapes, soon filled both my hands.

Returning to my spot with Eirene, who clung to my back and showed no sign of letting go, I found a suitable leaf to use as a bowl and put the berries in it.

“Let's just fill our stomachs with this... Eirene?”

“…Smells good. Huh? Ah, yeah.”

When I called her, who had been burying her face in my back, she finally ended the back hug and noticed the piled-up berries.

“Bear nettle berries.”

She gently picked a berry, put it in her mouth, savored it, and then a shy smile blossomed.

Eirene seemed to have not eaten properly until she met me, as she quickly devoured the piled-up berries.

Knowing that the berries wouldn't be enough to fill us, I collected a few more from around and brought them back.

“Eating it continuously makes me sick of it. Aren't you, Dean?”

“Not really.”

I had never thought of getting sick of bear nettle berries until now.

My sense of taste wasn't particularly refined enough to offer any profound impressions.

As I thought of finding some other edible plant for Eirene and was about to get up, a cold air blew.

“Would it be better to eat it like this?”

White frost formed on the skin of the purple berry in her hand. When she bit into it, a crisp crunch sound was heard.

“You try it too, Dean. This is quite good in its own way.”

“……”

“Dean?”

When a frozen berry was pushed towards me, I instantly felt nauseous and pulled away.

The hand that had pierced my eye, and the chilling cold that had frozen my eye.

All of it flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern, and I instinctively bashed my head against a nearby tree and vomited.

“Dean?! Are you okay?”

“Don't come near...”

“…!!!”

I extended a trembling hand, drawing an invisible line.

She, who could cross the line with just one more step, froze in place as if turned to ice.

Because two people who shouldn't get close were forcibly drawn together.

It was a natural law, like magnets, for one side to be pushed away and broken.

Eirene, looking at me, clasped her hands together and her shoulders trembled.

She wanted to reach out, but despair, knowing that if she got any closer it would be irreversible, enveloped the pure white woman, preventing her from acting rashly.

“…Dean. Do you... want me to... leave?”

As time passed and she slowly raised her head, Eirene posed a question to me.

It was both a judgment, questioning her own sin, and a confirmation of her place.

I took Eirene's hand and, moving somewhere, asked in return.

“…What do you mean?”

“……….”

Not unaware that the meaning behind what she was asking wasn't just one thing, I spoke to her, who remained silent, wishing only to hear an answer.

“I hate Eirene.”

My dislike for Eirene was genuine.

This feeling would never change.

Anyone would inevitably hate someone who had brutally murdered them dozens of times.

“…I see... Yeah. I guess so.”

Her previously dismissive demeanor turned sorrowful at the answer that made her realize her place.

“But... I hate it even more if someone like you dies.”

“………Why?”

“Because I want Eirene to suffer more than I did.”

When I conveyed the true feelings I had only just realized, Eirene set aside her sorrow and smiled with affection.

“…I'm sorry.”

Unlike her smile, what was conveyed was an apology.

Forever out of reach. Like a child's dream of simply wanting to fly.

She apologized to me.

Knowing it wouldn't reach, she didn't despair over her situation even more.

Because she had decided to accept the truth that she had become evil.

“…The moon is truly beautiful, Dean.”

Eirene approached, now trying to understand someone who had no choice but to be that way.

“Where are we going?”

“….”

“You're not telling me... Okay.”

Even amidst the distance, Eirene didn't let go of the only hand she was permitted to hold.

The two individuals' time, as if stopped, faded into dusk.

《 Checkpoint designated ▶ Altar of Lamentation 》

The entrance to a colossal cavern, hidden by widely spread trees.

Altar of Lamentation.

We both arrived there.

“…So this is Dean's home?”

Traces of someone having lived there still remained around the entrance.

Clumsily carved wooden log chairs.

Even makeshift tents woven from branches and plant stems.

But the traces I clearly remembered were distorted.

The wooden log chairs were overturned.

The makeshift tents were all dismantled and strewn across the floor.

“…Carmen.”

“Carmen? Who's that?”

As I muttered to myself, wondering if Carmen had perhaps come, Eirene's eyes widened, and she looked at me.

“….”

Something was off.

Because if Carmen had come, there would be no reason to create such a mess.

Her personality was certainly not fiery. Rather, she would have missed our meeting and waited quietly at the entrance.

“Dean, wait a minute...! Who is Carmen?!”

I let go of Eirene's hand and hurriedly ran into the Altar of Lamentation to check inside.

The altar stretching down the stairs.

Seeing it, I felt a certainty.

“I asked who Carmen is?!”

“Quiet.”

“…….”

At the Altar of Lamentation. Someone other than Carmen had taken residence.

It was highly likely not Maeve.

Because she would still be trapped in the Labyrinth of Fissures.

Large gourds scattered on the altar floor.

The faintly emanating smell of alcohol and blood instilled certainty.

Bandits.

Hostile NPCs that often appeared as random encounters in Desperado Reunion.

I unwrapped the bandage Eirene had put on me, took out Freud's Fang from my waist, and cut my palm.

Blood welled up and touched the dagger's blade, which then transformed into its whip-sword form.

Eirene, who had been at a loss due to my sudden self-harm, belatedly noticed my expression and realized I had no such intention.

“Hm? What are you guys? On a picnic or something?”

Just then. The voice of the one who had illegally occupied the Altar of Lamentation was heard from behind.

“Get lost. This is our territory. Oh, and you, stay here next to her.”

Slowly turning to where the sound came from, the bandit, faced with a chilling killing intent, flinched but finished his sentence.

“This damn bastard, Dean's home...!! ...Dean?”

I simply raised a hand to stop Eirene, who was radiating killing intent as if to charge immediately. Then, I aimed Freud's Fang at the bandit.

“Ha...! Do you think you're something just because you're unarmored with a longsword?”

If it were an ordinary longsword, I wouldn't have done this.

“I'll kill you and defile your girlfriend as spoils of war!”

An arrow was loaded into the crossbow, and then, shot at an incredible speed, reached me.

The blade moved as if it had a will of its own, lightly twisting the path of the incoming arrow.

“!!!”

The bandit, realizing the situation was wrong, belatedly loaded and fired another bolt from the crossbow.

The arrow was easily deflected by the whip-like blade, to a pitiful degree.

The fellow, whose pride wouldn't allow him to flee, charged at me with a menacing curved sword.

“Die!!”

Just before his curved sword and shout reached me, the blade shot into his shoulder, digging into his flesh.

“Kughaaak!!”

I approached the bandit, who had dropped his curved sword and was screaming in pain from the spreading paralyzing venom.

“How many people came in here?”

“Hyaaaah!!! Aaargh!!”

As I interrogated him, slowly pushing the embedded blade further into his muscle fibers, I quickly got information.

“Seven people!! Including me, seven people!!”

After getting the necessary information, I mercilessly severed his neck.

“….”

Eirene was staring at the brutal scene of me killing the bandit with a shocked expression.

“Go down to the altar, Eirene.”

Not particularly wanting to show this side of me, I asked Eirene, and she calmly nodded before stepping aside.

So, after closing the altar's door to secure Eirene's safety.

I once again deflected an arrow that flew in as a surprise attack.

Six bandits remained.

I picked up the head of the guy I had just decapitated and threw it in the direction the arrow had come from.

…I will bestow eternal darkness upon the wicked.

That would be the only answer for my atonement.

A shadow filled only with darkness cannot swallow light.

But if it is the same darkness, it will be swallowed by the shadow that is me, never to escape.

“Come out.”

I slowly began to walk towards the bastards who had ruined my only sanctuary, and also towards the sacrifices for my level-up.

Shoutout to bunnilover4321 on Discord

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