WeTried Translations

Translator: Goku

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◈ I Became a Villain Perfect for Leveling Up

Chapter 048

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48. Ill-Fitting Shoes (5)

The altar’s flame, burning as if it would never go out, wards off the chill of dawn.

“Not sleeping?”

“Yeah.”

Sigrun, lightly dressed, rested her chin on my shoulder.

Her languid breath touched my cheek, and an addictive scent brushed past my nose.

I stared blankly at the sandals I was going to give to Carmen.

“Worried about Carmen?”

“…….”

I had thought it would be at most a week after the separation. I hadn’t expected this much time to pass.

It’s been over a month, and she hasn’t returned, so worrying is only natural.

Even though she has Far Sight and possesses power stronger than anyone else. The image from the game won’t leave my mind.

A woman whose limb ligaments were severed… waiting only to die.

A woman who longed for the outside world with Far Sight, staring at freedom.

Sleepiness came, and my head bobbed, but I held on tightly to the sandals in my hand, not letting them go.

“Dean. Don’t overdo it, get some sleep.”

“…Okay.”

To carry out the plan at the Bastille Prison tomorrow, it was important to conserve as much stamina as possible.

When I lay down on the handmade bed, Sigrun carefully burrowed into my arms, like a cold-blooded animal seeking a warm place to maintain its body heat.

Altair and Eirene had already fallen asleep. It seemed she intended to indulge a little.

Holding Sigrun in my arms like hugging a body pillow, I closed my eyes to forget my worries.

….

The next day. Seeing Sigrun, whose hair was disheveled from being touched in her sleep, the two women were simultaneously shocked.

Sigrun, who nonchalantly washed her face with her hands, stuck out her tongue and sent a victor’s gaze.

“You bitch…!”

Eirene, thoroughly provoked, emitted a cold aura, creating a crisis where a fight seemed imminent.

Looking around with half-closed eyes at the commotion, Eirene withdrew her cold and snorted.

“Hmph….”

Leaving behind the small incident that occurred in the morning, everyone who had finished their preparations were doing their final checks.

“If you feel like things are going even slightly wrong, get out immediately.”

“Yes.”

Keeping Altair’s worries deep in my heart, the journey to the Bastille Prison began.

From what I remember, the Bastille Prison was built to hold political prisoners or nobles.

The guards patrolling are just two.

Since they were ordinary people, not even mid-bosses, there was nothing to worry about.

However… if there was a problem, it would be the prison’s traps.

Corridors where giant spheres roll, spikes pop out from the ceiling if you step on the wrong floorboard, and vicious blades swing from the ceiling like pendulums.

The level design, enough to make the Rusty Clock Tower look tame, crushed the morale of gamers who had been running hard since the first day of release.

The fortunate thing was that there was a gimmick to stop the traps. If I could just solve that, taking Carmen out would be a piece of cake.

“Aren’t you going to bring the Beast’s Hammer?”

“No. Since I have to deal with people, not monsters.”

“I see. Good judgment.”

Since the prison itself is a narrow structure, the Beast’s Hammer would only be baggage. Freud’s Fang, which has both portability and utility, is more suited for this journey.

Following the road to the Bastille Prison, I entered a forest where the trees had been completely cut down.

It wasn’t a scenery I could see in the game. Just as I was deducing it was a logging area for construction material,

“Hurry up and dump it!”

“She’s pretty, can’t we have a go with her first before dumping her?”

“Do you want to get infected by the Abyss too?”

“…Ah, I understand.”

Masked men carrying dozens of corpses on a transport cart appeared from somewhere.

As if accustomed to this kind of work, a few people dug the ground. The rest pushed the bodies into the pit and covered them with dirt.

“…That’s Dina’s doing, right?”

“Yeah.”

When I asked Sigrun, who had seen Dina’s atrocities, the answer came back that the culprit was indeed her.

She plants the Abyss in various regions like that. It seems she plans to trigger them all at once to bring about destruction.

“Wait a moment, Dean. I’ll handle it.”

As I tried to feed blood to Freud’s Fang out of habit and deal with the masked men, Eirene blocked me and revealed herself openly to them.

“Who’s that bitch?”

“Isn’t she a student from St. Liberta Academy? Lost her way?”

“If you’re lost…, we should help you out, right?”

“Heheh…! That’s right. We should help you out….”

The masked men, stopping their work and letting out lecherous laughs, each picked up their tools.

Shovels, pickaxes.

They weren’t weapons, but they were tools enough to threaten people.

Eirene shed cold from her feet and looked down on them with contempt.

-In an instant, the logging area turned into a snowy field, and a cold wind blew.

In an instant, death spread in a fan shape. Ice thorns rose sharply.

As if they weren’t even worth freezing, the sharply rising ice thorns simultaneously turned the masked men’s bodies into a beehive.

The masked men resisted the ice thorns piercing their bodies, then died one by one, bleeding.

The spilled blood froze in the cold, becoming crimson icicles.

As if crimson spider lilies had bloomed. The snow maiden among the countless corpse flowers-

Eirene, who had brought about the calamity, turned her head nonchalantly and smiled.

“I’ll handle the bodies infected by the Abyss.”

Altair, who had naturally glossed over that sight, pulled flint from her pocket and set the bodies on fire.

The bodies infected by the Abyss quickly burned up and turned to ash.

“…Let’s move.”

Honoring the victims who were tragically sacrificed after being infected by the Abyss, we resumed our journey to the Bastille Prison.

….

Passing the logging area, the number of trees and plants noticeably decreased, and a golden desert where a sandstorm blew unfolded.

Bastille, the land where no water flows.

The prison, built on a land where no life exists, exuded an aura as if trying to cut off outsiders’ access.

“I’ll move alone from here.”

As planned. From now on, I would separate from them and move alone.

“…Okay. Come back safely.”

Eirene brushed off the sand dust that had lightly settled on my shoulder, conveying her worry.

“I’ll be rooting for you.”

Altair, nodding, encouraged me.

“I’ll be waiting.”

Sigrun smiled brightly, already preparing for the moment of my return.

Receiving everyone’s send-off, I gripped Freud’s Fang and melted into the sandstorm.

Sweat flows from the heat, so far removed from the season of autumn.

The platinum armor reflects the intense sunlight, creating a heat haze around me.

When the sandals hanging at my waist fluttered in the sandstorm, I gently raised my hand to hold them so they wouldn’t fly away.

As I gradually got closer to the Bastille Prison visible in the distance, the pressure became directly palpable.

“…….”

I could see figures that looked like knights gathered in groups at the prison entrance, monitoring the surroundings.

There’s no reason for knights to gather like that and block the prison entrance.

Because the prison itself has enough security to keep outsiders out.

“…I need to hurry.”

Feeling an increasing sense of unease, I quickly slid down the sand dune.

“So I told you, at that place, with that woman…. Huh? Who are you?”

At the sudden appearance of the platinum knight, the knights who had been chatting while on guard duty sent confused looks.

Whether I looked like a high-ranking knight due to the armor design, the one who seemed to be in charge approached, sweating coldly.

“Which order are you from, sir…?”

“Aquila Knights.”

At the power of the name Aquila, the knight, even more tense, blocked me from entering the prison.

“His Majesty the Emperor is conducting business inside… so you cannot enter the prison today.”

“………….”

The Emperor.

The moment the name of the one who rules the continent was heard, my circumstantial evidence that Carmen was in the prison became conclusive.

“Can you not hear me? Take one more step, and I will deem you a traitor and draw my swor-”

“Shut up.”

“Ghk…?”

The knight, his neck severed, soon fell to his knees, bleeding, without even realizing the situation.

“It’s an attack!! Everyone, draw your swords!! It’s treason against His Majesty the Emperor; permission to kill on sight!!”

As I flicked the blood off Freud’s Fang, the knights, belatedly grasping the situation, all drew their swords.

“…Carmen. I’ll come rescue you right away.”

Calling her name with longing, I fed blood to Freud’s Fang, transforming it into a basket-hilted sword.

“Approach from multiple directions!! Basket-hilted swords are weak; just avoid the vital spots!”

The knights skillfully saw through the weakness of the basket-hilted sword, scattering in multiple directions and targeting blind spots.

They mistook the raging basket-hilted sword for a normal weapon, parrying it or deliberately taking hits to get closer. Those who allowed the attacks soon shed bloody tears from their eyes.

“It’s poison! The blade is coated in poison!! Everyone, retreat!!”

The knights sensed the anomaly and immediately retreated. But over half of them had already been hit.

Stepping on the heads of the paralyzed knights, one by one, bright red blood burst out, and sticky bloodstains smeared the platinum armor.

“…Haah.”

When my eyes, unaffected even by the intense sunlight, turned to them, an emotion of fear simultaneously settled on the knights’ expressions.

Grabbing one knight whose body was stiff from paralysis poison and using him as a meat shield, the knights, full of camaraderie, could not swing their swords rashly.

Losing morale in real combat, where mindset is crucial, ultimately means death.

Those who couldn’t swing their swords due to camaraderie had their throats pierced by the flying blade and met their end.

Thud-

The knight used as a meat shield was thrown to the ground. A low noise, signaling the end of the fight, was carried on the sandstorm and scattered.

Passing through the field of corpses and pushing open the prison gate, a chilling noise of giant hinges interlocking rang out, revealing a wide cavern.

It seemed someone had entered recently. Several sets of footprints remained on the prison floor.

Among them, a mismatched shoe print caught my eye.

“…Carmen.”

…The shoes I had given her out of concern that her feet would get chafed. Those shoe prints, the soles almost worn down, were definitely Carmen’s.

…Seeing drag marks left together on the floor, she was in shackles.

“……….”

Looking at all the traces except Carmen’s footprints, it seemed she had been forcibly imprisoned in the Bastille Prison after being arrested.

‘Why… did you save me?’

‘That’s right. I didn’t trust you either.’

‘Please…! Your life isn’t worth that much!’

Suddenly, the moments I spent with her flashed vividly before my eyes like a lantern slide.

《 Checkpoint designated ▶ Bastille Prison 》

- To save her. I silently moved my steps into the prison.

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