WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer

[Translator – Aren]

◈Chapter 270 If it Exists (8)

I let out a long breath, watching the Demons gather on the rocky plains, where grains of sand blew in little swirls.

Since I was within the Demonic Realm past the frontlines, I was moving under the assumption that if any priests sensed my Demonic Energy, they’d mistake it for a regular Demon's and not that of the ‘Demon Knight’... But would they really? What if this decision turned out to be a mistake that will eventually come back to bite me?

These kinds of worries had been circling in one corner of my mind the whole way here.

“Hah.”

Even so, I couldn’t stop. I absolutely wouldn’t.

As a Korean, I couldn’t just leave without paying them back for the meal.

Whoosh!

I pulled out the sword from my inventory and swung it. A wave of dark Demonic Energy spread out like wildfire, or a tsunami, rushing toward the horizon.

Swish! The Ghouls and Skeletons that had just begun to gather fell to the ground, their upper and lower bodies cleanly separated. There were about a hundred of them.

Crrrk.

Kyaargh!

“Those things are so gross, seriously……”

Even so, some of them still stubbornly clung to life, flailing their severed limbs. The Skeletons, especially, were trying to pull out their shattered spines to somehow reconnect their other pieces.

That was why slashing attacks weren’t that effective against the undead. A slight grumble slipped out of my mouth without much thought.

Claaatter!

Thankfully, most of the Skeletons’ attempts ended in failure.

On top of that, the Ghouls, which were far superior to Skeletons, that were within my range, got completely wiped out. As long as I didn’t accidentally slice open their bellies, there wasn’t any risk of them resurrecting.

So that should be enough. It had to be.

The city’s burden should be lightened by at least a hundred enemies now. I had at least done the barest minimum to repay my debt……

For the first time in a while I enjoyed the wind breezing through my hair instead of feeling that uncomfortable wig on my head. Not that the heat actually felt pleasant or anything.

I mean, I still felt a hint of embarrassment for feeling proud over killing just one hundred. There was also some relief, thinking that this whole thing might not have been as dangerous as it first seemed to me. And then there was a spoonful of worry that I might have gotten here too early before the Demons fully gathered…… With all these emotions mixed into a single mess, I couldn’t help but feel uncertainty rising within me.

“There aren’t any more coming, right……?”

Still, I couldn’t afford to stay here any longer.

This place was the front lines facing the Demon Realm after all.

Swish.

Almost unconsciously, I brushed my right arm. Contrary to my worries, my right arm—and the Demon within it—was completely silent.

It hadn’t stirred when I entered the Demon Realm, nor had it shown any sign of change even after an hour passed.

So, did that mean that entering the Demon Realm didn’t actually empower Demons?

I recalled something the Archmage once said. It felt like an eternity ago, and yet, also as if it was just yesterday. Perhaps because it was one of the reasons I ended up so deeply buried in this character.

『Great Demons are…… essentially no different from Satan…… So we must be wary……』

Of course, that didn’t mean I remember exactly what she said. I wasn’t some kind of genius after all. It has been… What, six months? Maybe longer.

Anyway, there was no way I would remember something that was said half a year ago that precisely. I was just recalling the point she was trying to get across and nothing else.

『So let’s try to find a way to seal it……』

Yes, those words that were part worry, part suggestion.

Words that hinted at a future that, in the end, never came to fruition.

Haah.

I let out a sigh. If this were Korea, which would be in the depth of winter by now, it would feel could but right now it felt stifling simply because this was a different world. The arid desert air masked the shape of my breath with its dry heat.

Frrrrrk.

Then suddenly, something like the sound of metal scraping began to rise from the sand. An armored arm and a neck lacking a head made it quite easy to identify.

A Dullahan. An undead created from a Knight destined to be killed by Knights. Or perhaps Knights were raised to slay these undead, only to be reborn as Dullahans.

“Oh… I didn’t expect actual combat.”

The irony between Knights and Dullahan wasn’t unlike the “Chicken and Egg” problem. A lot of people had been arguing about it for quite some time, or that was what I heard at least.

“I guess I’m getting to practice what I just learned.”

At the very least, I doubted such debates would continue in this city. Or they would surely decrease in frequency at least.

Krrrrrk.

As the Knight raised its blade with the sound of scraping metal, I tightened my grip on my longsword. Instead of letting the blade hang low like I usually did, I raised it and placed my right hand on the blade.

I wanted to practice right-handed swordplay, but with my Disguise skill deactivated, I had no other choice.

Anyway, once I assumed my stance, the Dullahan mirrored me. The headless Knight’s black armor clanked in the process. Its pose looked very much like the one Sir Walter had shown me yesterday.

There was no way that all swordsmanship styles started the same way, so it was probably a distinctive characteristic of this city’s swordsmanship.

“…Honor to the victor.”

Did that mean that this Dullahan was once a living Knight of this city?

…Could they have known Sir Walter?

“Enlightenment to the vanquished."

I glanced at the faded scales peeking through its armor. They looked yellowed with grime and dust, but I felt like they would gleam a fine shade of black if they were properly polished.

“And fairness to the duel.”

So I offered them the same respect in the way that I had learned from Berserk. Even if they were a Demon now, their body once belonged to a Knight who fought for the people. I figured the least I could do was show them proper courtesy.

Frsssh.

Was it just my imagination? While I was offering my salute, the Dullahan didn’t lunge at me. Instead, as if matching my actions, they let out a sound similar to a metallic whistle in time with this ceremony. It felt rather strange. 

Clang! Then the Dullahan and I collided.

* * *

[…You go to truly great lengths to disrupt my plans.]

On the throne located in the middle of a lake, the being that looked down on the world gripped their royal scepter. Before them, a thin, wide mirror of water displayed a scene from somewhere far away in the world.

Thump, thump. With each slight tremble, the image shifted angles every second. A land of red stone, two silhouettes, the occasional static.

Boom! The soundless explosion filled the entire surface of the water mirror, making it shatter. The cause for this was that the energy wavelength of the location that they were observing had grown unstable.

─If you permit it, I shall go and personally deal with it.

Certainly, this was something that should have been done from the very beginning.

They tapped the royal scepter against the edge of their sphere of influence, an area that they could not observe clearly. Tok. The moment their fingernail brushed the base of the throne, the mirror restored itself. The scene it showed was the same place as before, but with a slight difference.

There were no longer two figures standing, but one.

─Morning Star, please permit it.

[I will not permit it.]

─……

However, the outcome of that battle was actually of little importance. The victor had been decided from the very start.

『So sly. If you wanted to watch, why not come here yourself?』

No, the real question was why that person allowed them to observe this.

[…Is this an act of deceit, or is it not?]

The region mortals called the Demonic Realm lay entirely within their sight. The farther from the center, the less they could see, and the easier it was for their ‘vision’ to be interfered with, but it was still within their domain.

[Wrathful one, you are ever so fond of testing me.]

And the other party knew this. Yes, that was the problem.

Even knowing full well, they would have realized it the moment the other set foot in their domain. So why? Why weren’t they scattering disruptive waves within a one-kilometer radius like they usually did? Why weren’t they even pretending to notice their surveillance?

Just why?

…Because the host had won over them again?

─Then, Morning Star… What of the plan……?

The being slowly exhaled.

[We will not alter it. Carry it out exactly as assigned.]

There could not trust the assumption that this wasn’t Wrath. Just as they had been called Morning Star before Pride, that being had been called Deceit before Wrath.

[Inform Sloth and Gluttony.]

And precisely because they had once been called Deceit, they were paradoxically incapable of winning.

[The time has come to deliver the end to the battlefield.]

That was the future of a liar that no one could trust.

* * *

‘That damned bat again……’

Right as I was starting to get the hang of the anti-personnel techniques Sir Walter had shown me, just after I managed to destroy the Dullahan’s heart without damaging its body.

A strange sensation made me glance upwards. There was nothing I could directly pinpoint as ‘that’s it!’ I just felt this odd sensation of being watched.

Like… What was it again? Ah, right. Like that Demon who draped a veil over me and provoked me. Or more precisely, like what I felt in that forest where I had spent the whole night hunting that bastard down.

“…Is it because this is the Demonic Realm?”

Hmm. Back then, I had felt this weird sensation as well. But since I couldn’t find anything in the end, I just chalked it up to my imagination.

“I guess going all the way to Munmund from here like this isn’t possible……”

But given the location, this didn’t feel like something I should brush off so casually.

I decided to give up on my little dream of hunting Demons along the edge of the Demonic Realm as I traveled. It wasn’t anything hard to let go, mostly because I never thought that it was possible to begin with.

I had no way to secure supplies in this dried-up desert after all.

Clank.

Instead, I picked up the Dullahan’s corpse lying before me. In the process, the rocky ground, crushed under my boots, crumbled even more. Crunch. The faint Demonic Energy it held dispersed into the air.

I could finally understand why this palace was called the Demonic Realm.

Grrrk─

“Damn, that scared me.”

Well, I guess the Demons that occasionally popped out from gaps between rocks or emerged from the sand lived up to their name as well. Was I in a haunted house or a desert?

Crack!

I stomped on a Skeleton that leapt out from between two rocks. The skull caught between my boot and the ground let out a nice crunching sound before shattering completely.

Clatter.

At the same time, the light flashing in its eye sockets faded completely. Smashing the head seemed to be the right answer, seeing that the hand gripping my ankle stopped moving as well.

Though that damn thing wouldn’t let go until I gave my leg a good shake.

“Urgh.”

I better leave before another one jump scared me. After checking the number of remaining Ghouls and Skeletons, I hurriedly left the area.

Well, going out there on a whim didn’t mean I wanted more eyewitnesses of me. And the most effective way to do that is to cut down the time I spend fighting.

Sure, the distance between here and the city was big enough that no one with average eyesight would see me as little more than a tiny dot. Even I couldn’t make out the people standing on the walls from here.

But there’s no guarantee no one had some sort of Magnifying spell – or a Arcane telescope – and… I couldn’t shake off the unease that the gazes I was feeling on me might be from the city and not from the Demons side.

Bang!

Just like when I came here, I cloaked my legs in Arcane Power and sprinted away. My coat, something I hadn’t worn since I decided to abandon my character, flapped in the wind.

Without anything getting in the way of my upper body, it somehow felt more comfortable than the cloak I had been constantly wearing lately.

Bang!

As for the boots pounding on the ground… Hmm, those had always been uncomfortable, so I couldn’t really compare them. They did have the advantage of not smelling even after walking all day, though.

The pants and shirt? Well, aside from whether they had an auto-clean function or not, they were about the same as my normal clothes in terms of comfort. If I had to point out a good point of these clothes, it would be that they fit my body snugly and didn’t flap around as much. 

By the way, the fact that the clothes I had fit so loosely wasn’t my fault. The problem was this damn world where people over 190 cm were rare unless they were Shaggi. And the market for ready-made clothes of that size was tailored to those kinds of body types……

Damn it. If only Shaggi had the build of judo or MMA fighters, these clothes would fit me perfectly. Why did they all have the build of sumo wrestlers, goddamnit? Was it because of the fur?!

Having a bunch of probably rather offensive thoughts about Shaggi—please let them forgive me, considering it was the industry’s fault I always had to pay extra for alterations when buying clothes—I leapt forward again.

Crrsh. The ground that had served as my launchpad crumbled, my body floating up and over a cliff several meters high. The stacked rock formations beneath me were like layers of oyster mushrooms, passing underneath my feet instantly.

Boom!

From there, I continued in a straight line until I reached a wall. I cleared a few more ridges before arriving at the tallest one. A wall, or more like a log fence, blocked my way.

That thing wasn’t actually meant to stop Demons, but to make it obvious when one passed through—after all, to get through they would have to break the wall, leaving clear evidence, right?

Whoosh!

Of course, I was more than capable of getting over it without breaking it…… Using the same route I had taken to enter—well, not exactly identical—I had no trouble avoiding detection. Perhaps because the area was so incredibly wide, I didn’t have to worry about guard posts as much—none of them would notice me.

And like that, I reentered the non-demonic realm without incident.

Now, there was nothing left to hold me back anymore.

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