WE TRIED TLS
Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer
Chapter 248 | Is There Meaning? (2)
> [Okay, I get it, stop explaining. I get that you like this guy.]
> [Eeeeek.]
> [Seriously, who did you take after to end up this soft-headed?]
The rain kept pelting my body relentlessly.
The owner of the voice, clearly disgusted by the Mountain Lord’s praise for me, ordered it to stop. From its underlying tone, I could still pick up on its lingering dislike for me.
However, putting aside how that reaction affected me, I had to agree with the order itself. I mean, the Mountain Lord’s endless outpouring of praise was getting kind of embarrassing for me as well.
> [Why, thooough?]
> [Are you really asking because you don’t know?]
But who even was that voice’s owner? Given how respectfully the Mountain Lord spoke to them, they probably weren’t some low-ranking being…
I tried to gauge their location based on where the voice was coming from. They didn’t seem to be that far away. Even in this darkness, they sounded close enough that I should be able to catch a glimpse of them if I looked close enough.
> […Whatever. It’s not like you’re the only one who seems to like this guy.]
However, all I could see was the Mountain Lord’s slippery body. I didn’t notice anything else. It was quite puzzling.
> [I still feel rather uneasy… but fine, I’ll let it slide for now.]
Ah. Wait, could this being melt into the air like the Mountain Lord…?
After developing that theory, I refocused on the conversation I’d ignored for a bit.
“I’ll let it slide.” Those words kept lingering in my mind, repeating themselves a few times. This meant they’d tolerate me even if I made them uncomfortable. Not a bad outcome for me.
> [Of course, of course. Sir Knight is very trustworthy, Ancestor.]
> [You wouldn’t say that if you knew what he’s done.]
> [Huh?]
> [Whatever. I already said I would let it slide.]
Still, the more I listened, the more I felt like… the owner of this voice somehow knew me. Perhaps not intimately, but enough to recognize me from somewhere, I guess…?
“…Do you know me?”
I exhaled a cold yet hot breath as I searched through my memory. I wondered whether I’d ever crossed paths with the owner of this voice.
However, I couldn’t find anything in my present memory. I didn’t know them. So how did they know me?
…Could they be someone connected to the original Demon Knight?
> [So you don’t remember me, huh… Well, it’s not surprising, considering my current appearance is pretty different from back then.]
Feeling a faint sense of hope, I absentmindedly voiced these thoughts aloud, and the answer I got made my heart pound even harder. Being faced with this unexpected luck—uncertain as it was—made my heart beat like a drum… No. It might actually be slower than usual.
> [Whoa. You two have met before?]
> [Yeah.]
> [Just when?]
> [It wasn’t that long ago. Just a few days back, actually, shortly before you started acting like a pushover, right when that city started falling apart. That’s when we met.]
> […Huh?]
But judging by their words, we’d apparently met in Bemurchen. The hope I’d slowly built up instantly crumbled when I realized that, leaving only an empty void in my stomach. The tension in my muscles relaxed, and my head cooled.
> [Thanks to that guy, my other half ceased their rampage, and the puppet I was trapped in was also freed, but I didn’t expect that he’d just walk off with it… Ah, right. This works out. Would you be willing to return my old body?]
However, I couldn’t dwell on that emptiness for long. At the being’s words, my head started churning.
Their other half’s rampage? Freed their puppet body? Walked off with it?
No, putting all that aside, what exactly was that being’s old body…?
I tried my best to make my sluggish brain work properly.
All I could clearly remember from my time in Bemurchen, though, was facing off against that lava giant and waking up to find myself one step away from execution. Neither of those two incidents seemed in any way related to the situation the voice described… Ah. Could it be?
“I don’t remember.”
> [So you’re saying you don’t want to give it back?]
Shaking off the rain that kept clinging to my eyelashes, I added to my words.
“I mean exactly what I said.”
Not that this would make much of a difference.
Maybe I’d spent too long playing the role of the unfriendly and blunt bastard. Even now, my words demanded the listener interpret their meaning.
At this rate, I might really end up with a communication disorder when I get home.
> […So, is this related to that core of Demonic Energy inside of you?]
If there was any silver lining, it was that my conversation partner was quite sharp.
Before I even had the chance to add “I didn’t do it,” they understood what I meant and asked me a related question. I blinked again to shake off the water thoroughly soaking my lashes.
“…Yeah.”
> [Then I guess I won’t be getting my power back.]
“…You had your power stolen?”
> [From my perspective, that’s how it is. Though if you were to claim the victor just took their rightful spoils, I wouldn’t have much say against it.]
Rather, what was this being’s true identity anyway? From what I heard, it sounded like they’d had their body and powers taken while the Demon was controlling mine…
Were they invisible now because they’d lost their body? But how could they still live after their body had been snatched? Or, since they said their “old body” was taken, could it be they have a new one now?
But how strong had they been for the Demon to covet and steal their power? And if they were so strong, how come I’d never seen or heard of this being?
Also, where did the Demon take the power it had stolen?
> [If I can’t get it back, so be it.]
The more I listened to them, the more questions piled up in my head. After that, a soft sigh and a quiet, almost resigned voice pierced my ears. Pitter, patter, pitter, patter. The meaning of those words filtered through the pattering rain only came to me after repeating them at least three times in my head.
“…You give up easily.”
> [Clinging to something that’s already lost is just pathetic. Besides, it’s not as if I’m entirely blameless for losing it.]
Surprisingly, they didn’t seem particularly bitter about not getting their power back. That was quite unexpected. Given how much they disliked me, I thought they’d end up boiling with rage.
> [If there’s nothing else to say, let’s get moving.]
> [Hnng. Are you done talking?]
> [Yeah. Why? Do you still have something to say?]
> [There’s still a little more I want to ask, okay?]
Of course, I was grateful that this being hadn’t put the blame for this mess on me just because that Demon and I happened to share the same body. If they’d tried to do that, I would’ve been in serious trouble.
> [Why are you even here, Sir Knight? Where are you headed? Why did you leave all your companions behind…? Stuff like that.]
> [You sure have a lot of things to ask. Do whatever you want. It’s not like I can leave on my own anyway.]
> [Hehe.]
Anyway, was that other being done with me now? I still had a lot of things to ask them, though.
I was about to stop them from leaving when I became very aware of the Mountain Lord’s presence, to which I took a step back.
I knew it wasn’t the type to bash my head in over acting a bit strange, but… I couldn’t be sure. While there was no need to keep up my act as strictly as when I was around the Hero’s party, I thought it would still be better to maintain at least some of my acting.
> [So, Sir Knight, why are you here…?]
Seriously, I hadn’t realized just how problematic acting out that character would be. Because of my damn acting, I was always prevented from doing what I actually wanted to do, and I always had to take the long way around just to get my point across…
> [Sir Knight?]
Huh? Ah, right. The Mountain Lord was still talking to me.
Chiding myself for spacing out like that—strange, though. It hadn’t felt like I was zoning out that badly—I shifted my attention back to the conversation. Through my tired eyes, the shape of the white snake before me seemed to blur at the edges.
“I’m listening.”
> [Uhm. I see. So, what brings you here, Sir Knight? I mean, I’m heading back to the Great Forest, but shouldn’t you be heading north or something?]
However, I could still hear its voice. I mentally replayed the muffled words a few times before finally understanding what it said.
“That’s.”
But, well, what was I supposed to say? The Mountain Lord might not know all the details of the character setting I’d been adhering to, but it surely knew that I was obsessed with hunting Demons.
Should I just cover up the fact that I’d essentially escaped Bemurchen? Would that even work when someone who knew what had gone down in Bemurchen was here?
“That’s…”
…Still, maybe it would be better to gloss over it. If I changed the subject now and went on my way, even if the Mountain Lord found it weird, it wasn’t like it could say anything.
> [That’s?]
Right, so.
“…”
I moved my throat, which was strangely dry despite the pouring rain. However, no sound came out. At that moment, my vision started to blur even more. It almost seemed like there were two Mountain Lords.
> […Sir Knight?]
…Wait. Seeing two of an object—wait, no, the Mountain Lord wasn’t an object, but anyway—seeing something split in two wasn’t normal, right?
> [Huh?]
Even worse, the world around me was tilting. While watching this happening, I wondered why the world kept spinning. It shouldn’t be doing that. What the hell was going on? Why was the world… Ah.
Was it perhaps me who was the problem?
> [Oh my god! Sir Knight is dying!!]
I gently closed my eyes as I heard the Mountain Lord’s panicked voice in my ears.
I’d thought the ringing in my ears had been particularly bad today, but that clearly wasn’t the real problem here.
That was the last coherent thought I had.
* * *
WE TRIED TLS
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> [Wh-what do we do?!]
After barely catching the collapsing man, Mountain Lord started shouting in complete panic.
Meanwhile, the coil of his tail wrapped protectively around him transmitted just how cold yet hot this person’s body was. It was nothing like the usual temperature he remembered mortals had.
> [I-isn’t he going to die like this?!]
If the Mountain Lord had legs, he would’ve been stomping and flattening the whole area around him. However, he didn’t, and his only limb was holding the collapsed knight. Simply because of that limitation, the scenery around here was saved.
> [Is he dead?]
> [Lord Ancestor!!]
> [Ah, he’s not dead.]
Unlike the Mountain Lord, the Land Turtle just clicked their tongue. Maybe it would’ve been better for the world if that person just died here and now. They had that cold-hearted thought almost right after.
> [Why are you making such a fuss? It’s just a mortal. One who’s harboring a Demon, no less. The guy collapsed, so what?]
However, were their thoughts really just cold-hearted, or was there something else?
The Land Turtle crawled up the Mountain Lord’s body, positioning itself where they could look down at the fallen mortal. The first thing they saw was his face, which had grown so pale that it almost looked bluish.
> [Whaaat? A Demon?]
> [So you really didn’t know.]
However, rather than pity, what emerged first was fear. They couldn’t help it. From the outside, it might look like a mortal who simply contained a trace of Demonic Energy, but it actually was a vessel housing a Great Demon.
> [There’s a Great Demon inside that one.]
> [Whaaaaaaat???]
They didn’t know how this Great Demon came to parasitize this mortal body. They also didn’t know why it hadn’t completely taken over this body, leaving the mortal in control.
> […How about we just kill him now?]
> [L-Lord Ancestor?]
They only knew one thing for certain: the power and destruction that Great Demon could unleash upon the world if it ever awoke.
> [That Demon, which was already strong enough on its own, swallowed my other half and my body. It’s monopolizing all the power I once shared with the Black Serpent.]
…Thanks to that entity’s interference, the corrupted Black Serpent ultimately died and couldn’t rampage any further. If it hadn’t been for that Demon’s fire, their body, which had already been desecrated and become a Demon nest, would have spread so much more destruction everywhere.
So, in a way, you could say they owed it a small debt.
> [Can you even imagine that? Just how powerful would this Great Demon have become after devouring all the power of a Primordial Beast?]
However, could they really be grateful to that kind of being?
If they hadn’t clung so desperately to a mortal that happened to be there, they might’ve burned alongside their shell. And even though the Black Serpent’s betrayal had stripped them of almost everything, all that power had been completely snatched away from them.
For example, to make a comparison: A person broke their leg in an accident and became permanently disabled, but because of that, they avoided getting drafted into war. Should that person be thankful for the accident that broke their leg?
> [The Sea Dragon in the West and you both seem to think highly of this mortal. Fine. But that’s one thing, and this is another.]
The answer to that would probably be “no.”
> [Besides, that person… probably ran all the way here because he didn’t want to die…]
> [What? Huh? Ran away because he didn’t want to die?]
> [While staying in that tent, I overheard the mortals talking about executing him. And then that mortal vanished in the dead of night without a word. Isn’t it obvious that he ran away to protect his life?]
> [Well, that’s what it’d usually mean…]
And so, the Land Turtle tried pressing the Mountain Lord to make a decision. Not because they had anything personal against the guy, like nearly being killed by him, or bitterness over him killing what had once been their other half. That absolutely wasn’t it. It was because they genuinely believed the world would be better off without that mortal in it.
> […Can we not do that, though?]
However, even after hearing all that, the Mountain Lord only hesitated and meekly voiced his opinion.
> […Would that be too selfish?]
It would’ve been one thing if he’d shouted and loudly protested. But now that little brat who usually chattered on and on suddenly became all small and timid, mumbling his dissatisfaction. The Land Turtle was utterly speechless.
> [That… would be quite selfish…]
> [I guessed as much… But I just don’t want to do it…]
> […]
Why did this kid, who never really cared what other people said, suddenly get all meek only at times like these…?
The Land Turtle was absolutely dumbfounded, but they ultimately said nothing against it. They did suggest that this mortal should die here, but the one who’d have to act on it—and the one who’d have to take care of this mortal if he didn’t—would be the Mountain Lord.
> [Whatever. Do as you wish.]
Whatever. Those who’d suffer most if this guy survived would be other mortals anyway, so what did it matter if they just stood by and watched? With that cold logic flowing through their brain, the Land Turtle gave him their permission.
With that, the drooping face of the Mountain Lord lit up with joy.
> [Then let’s go home quickly! A typhoon is coming, and we need to get Sir Knight healed up as soon as possible!]
It was time for them to head back.
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