WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer?

[Translator – Aren]

◈ Chapter 303 Proof (8)

The Inquisitor swallowed hard as she watched the man barely clinging to life beneath Meister’s hands. Hic, sob. Tears and snot continued streaming down her reddened cheeks and dripped onto the ground.

"You really do cry ugly……”

"Waaaaaaah.”

"Ah, stop bawling already. You’re going to get dehydrated at this rate!”

Watching her, Deathbringer wiped her face with the lining of his cloak. It was by no means a gentle touch. His hands grew rougher in proportion to all the resentment he had built up toward the Inquisitor, and he put even more force into it.

The Inquisitor’s face was squashed beneath his hands.

"We didn’t bring any water with us.”

"I-Iii waaaah.”

Oh, for crying out loud. Watching her burst into tears all over again, Deathbringer simply took his cloak off entirely. Too much of the lining had already been coated in tears and snot to keep using it.

"Demon Kniiiiiiiiight.”

"I can’t even cry because of you, seriously……”

But the face revealed beneath the removed cloak wasn’t exactly looking normal either.

Though not as bad as the Inquisitor, the tip of Deathbringer’s nose and the rims of his eyes were red as he sniffled and swallowed back his own tears. It was all because he was worried about the Demon Knight.

"Both of you shut up before I kill this bastard by screwing up the treatment. You’re too damn loud for me to concentrate.”

"Hic."

"Damn it......."

But the person holding the most power here right now was none other than Meister.

At a single word from him, the two of them covered each other’s mouths. Meister genuinely seemed like the kind of person who might kill someone for being too noisy, so they had no choice. Saving the Demon Knight came first.

"Haah, this is damn awful…”

While they desperately kept each other quiet, Meister, who was carrying out the bare minimum of emergency treatment, was beginning to feel slightly beside himself as well. Nothing major. Just the small matter of having absolutely no idea how to keep the Demon Knight alive.

"We’re going to need to bring in a wizard capable of healing magic.”

After all, how was he supposed to fix someone whose arms and legs were completely wrecked when he had neither proper tools nor medicine?

And it wasn't as though only the man’s limbs were ruined. There was a penetrating wound through his abdomen, and the rest of his body was covered in injuries that looked anything but minor. This was so far beyond what ordinary first aid could handle that it wasn’t even funny.

The only reason he was still alive now was because the man himself was absurdly tenacious, not because Meister was accomplishing anything. There was simply nothing he could do for him here.

"Th-then……”

"Ride back to the wall right now and bring several wizards. Honestly, there’s no other option.”

Of course, there was a high chance he would die before they managed to return even if they did bring wizards. A round trip would take roughly 30 minutes, and the Demon Knight didn’t exactly look capable of surviving another 30 minutes in this condition.

But move the Demon Knight to the wall instead? His organs would be shaken around so badly that his own bones would probably end up piercing them and killing him. In the end, this was still their best option.

"O-okay……”

"You go too. If we send her alone, she obviously won’t be able to explain anything properly, and if you go alone, you might get attacked by a Demon.”

"...Y-yes."

“And before you leave, put up a wall around us. I’d rather not get killed by a Demon.”

"...Th-then what about the Demon Knight?”

"It’ll be fine. He’s wearing an item that lets divine power pass through.”

Meister hurriedly chased the two of them off, then finished wrapping the bandages and spreading medicine over his wounds.

His face had lost so much color from excessive blood loss that it looked like a plaster statue, almost like a corpse, but fortunately, his chest was still rising and falling. Meister wiped away the sweat that had begun running down his face.

"If you survive this, researching the tenacious vitality of Arcane Power users might actually be worthwhile.”

No, had they already finished researching that in the North? He had never so much as glanced at a paper in the field of biological research, so he had no idea whether anything had been published on it.

Muttering to himself, Meister popped the cap off the hemostatic agent.

"Anyway, that all assumes you survive first.”

Then he poured the hemostatic agent liberally over the mangled leg.

Even if he survives, that leg was probably beyond saving. Healing magic had yet to reach the realm of regenerating lost limbs, and because of his constitution, he couldn’t receive a priest’s divine healing either.

Even at a time like this, his mind was calmly assessing reality.

[Right. Everything has to start with surviving.]

"......"

When the person who had been dying with vacant, unfocused eyes suddenly spoke perfectly clearly, Meister instinctively recoiled.

Click. At the same time, what he grabbed was a multipurpose knife he had modified to be useful in just about any situation.

"What are you?”

[Who knows? Who do you think?]

Their gazes met and tangled heavily.

* * *

Who do you think?

I let out a deep sigh as I watched that damn Demon start acting like an asshole the instant she got outside.

Maybe I shouldn't have let her out. Maybe I should’ve just gone out myself. That quiet bit of regret came as a bonus.

「W-Will this really be alright……?」

"I’m watching her. She’ll keep it within reason.”

I had already blocked the last-resort method she had tried earlier, and there was also the contract that allowed me to stop her at any time. Surely she wouldn’t try anything else now.

With that thought, I briefly recalled what had happened just before. It had started the moment I lost consciousness after saying, ‘I want to go home.’

"Ah."

First of all, at the moment I thought I had died, I opened my eyes again in the mental world. Why haven’t I gone back?

Naturally, that was the first question that came to mind.

I felt around my chest and kept looking around, checking whether I had actually died and whether I had returned. Honestly, I was pretty pissed off too. You said I’d go back if I died, right? You said I’d go back if I died!!

「...The bomb didn’t go off.」

What finally calmed my anger was the boy’s statement as he frantically bound the Demon in chains [You XXXing piece of XXXX, you XXXX—] The Demon, restrained by the chains, was spewing a torrent of obscenities far too vulgar to repeat.

The boy and I cleanly ignored her.

"It didn’t go off?"

「...No.」

"That shouldn’t be possible."

White Wind had guaranteed that the moment I said the keyword ‘I want to go home’ aloud, my heart would immediately explode. So why? There hasn't been any particular opportunity for it to break, and even if there had been, I'd gotten it repaired promptly every time, so why?

Even during the Bemurchen incident, it had stayed safely inside my inventory along with the orb, ultimately escaping without so much as a scratch. So what the hell happened?!

「I-I don’t know.」

But neither the boy nor I had any way of figuring out the cause. Feeling utterly deflated, I flopped onto my back. Oh, I’m on a boat. Only around then did my surroundings finally enter my awareness. I was lying in a small boat floating atop the sea of blood.

"...And the reason I still haven’t gone back?"

「Because you’re not dead yet.......」

"I see."

After bleeding that much, I still hadn’t died from blood loss? And the Inquisitor hadn’t taken my head off yet either?

I sat back up, feeling rather conflicted about the latter. Maybe I had gotten the keyword for the chest protector wrong, so I considered trying to say it again.

But every attempt to wake up outside ended with me being thrown back here alongside an overwhelming wave of drowsiness. No matter how many times I tried, it was the same.

So I couldn’t. Having realized that, I simply gave up trying to wake up outside. Death apparently had no intention of arriving easily, instead continuing to keep all of us stewing in anxiety and tension.

Around then, even the Demon gave up throwing a fit and flattened herself against the ground. Seeing that, the still-wary boy sat down while keeping hold of the chains. Faust’s eyes were red around the rims, but not a single tear had fallen.

"Faust. Come here.”

「......!」

Well, that was kind of anticlimactic. With that stray thought, I pulled Faust toward me.

A boy who might die soon. I wanted him to at least feel some warmth at the end of his life. I still resented him, but that didn’t mean I wanted even his death to be lonely.

"...Hey."

「...Yes!」

"If I die like this, I’ll wake up in reality immediately, right?"

Yeah. No matter how badly you wronged me, at least the end of your life was allowed to be warm.

「...Yes. You’ll wake up immediately.」

"Exactly where I was when I logged into the game?”

「...Probably not. Time flows there too, even if time passes differently between the two worlds.」

"...Time is passing there too? By how much?”

「The difference in the flow of time isn’t fixed at a constant rate, so……」

Still nestled in my arms, the child raised his hand and repeatedly curled and extended his fingers. It looked as though he were counting numbers.

「Um.......」

Apparently, he wasn’t very good at calculating it. While the boy tried to work out an answer, I blankly surveyed the mental world. Perhaps the sea of blood rose according to how severe my injuries were, because its depths only continued to increase.

The Demon, bound in chains and bobbing along on another little boat, was there too.

「About 2 weeks……?」

"2 weeks, huh?”

I had been wondering why death was taking so damn long to arrive when my brow furrowed slightly. The amount of time was shorter than I had expected.

"But my body should still be inside the capsule……?”

Though whether that was entirely good news was another matter.

A problem I had thought of long ago, back when I had only just realized I was trapped inside the game, came back to stab me. My eyebrows rose automatically, and my eyes narrowed further.

"...Isn’t my body dead?”

「N-no, it isn’t.」

Would the people around me really have discovered my body before it died from malnutrition or dehydration?

At the single muttered question, the child recoiled in alarm and shook his head furiously. The last traces of baby fat on his cheeks and his tousled hair shook along with him.

「Your physical body is protected by the contract. Even without any special nutritional intake, even if physical force were applied, no harm would ever come to it.」

"...Oh."

That was at least reasonably good news, though perhaps it had been an obvious precaution in the first place.

I felt a small wave of relief washing over me while wondering whether this was the sort of thing that could turn the entire medical world upside down. It was the kind of reassurance I couldn’t help feeling as a human being.

[...They’re treating it. People around this body are treating it.]

But while we were prepared for death and waiting for it to arrive, the situation changed slightly.

"...Really?"

[Yeah. The Hero is even leaving to bring someone capable of treating the body.]

I gave the delighted Demon a displeased look, then ultimately sighed at the indescribable expression on the boy in my arms.

"But will that actually be enough to keep me alive? It feels like I’ll die from blood loss first.”

[If I go outside…]

"What changes if you go out? You still need Arcane Power to recover, don’t you?”

[...Arcane Power can simply be replenished by offering sacrifices.]

I see. So offering sacrifices replenishes Arcane Power.

"You think I’m going to allow that?”

My gate turned ice cold. [Just hear me out.] It was immediately afterward that the Demon switched back into groveling mode. And only after crawling before me several times and even renegotiating the contract did she finally receive the opportunity to go outside, which brought us to the present.

—Don’t look at me like that, I seriously hate this as well.

"That bastard, really…”

I narrowed my eyes as I watched the Demon take her frustration out on Meister. Should I tell her to come back right now?

「.......」

...Damn it. I’ll let it slide one more time.

Watching Faust curl himself up as he observed the Demon, I repeated the word “Patience” to myself over and over. If she wasted any more time, I was done letting it slide. That resolve was engraved alongside the word "Patience."

* * *

"What the hell?”

Meanwhile, Meister narrowed his eyes at the Demon Knight, who had just told him that he seriously hated this.

Judging purely by how long he had known him, it hadn’t actually been all that long. But he knew perfectly well that the Demon Knight was not the sort of person who spoke like that.

[How can this be? Ancient magic, how can this be? How could you stick me with an idiot like this……?]

"What are you?”

[Stop rushing me, Gretchen. Do you really think I have any other choice right now? This is miserable. Absolutely miserable. Why do I have to end up like this……?]

Should I kill this thing? Meister briefly considered it as he stared at the being, whether the Demon Knight or the Demon, he couldn’t tell, that did nothing but say whatever it pleased.

"...Meister."

But fortunately for someone, that thought was never put into action. The red in the other’s eyes had faded.

Meister instinctively realized that the owner of those eyes was the person he knew.

"What?”

"...I intend to regenerate my body by borrowing the Demon’s power.”

"Like that bet you made before?”

"...Who knows? Rather than a bet…It would be more accurate to say our wishes happen to align, so we’re temporarily joining forces.”

"Then why didn’t you do that earlier?”

At his question, the Demon Knight slowly exhaled. The situation apparently was taking its toll on him. Each syllable came out one by one at a sluggish pace, which was somewhat ridiculous and yet entirely understandable.

"...Even if it’s only temporary, joining hands with a Demon in front of a priest would look rather strange.”

Fair enough. From what he’d heard, she’d apparently started out saying he had to die because he was a Demon. Holding hands with a Demon and being all buddy-buddy right in front of her would be a bit much.

Meister immediately understood the Demon Knight’s excuse.

"So that thing that popped out earlier was the Demon, then.”

"...Yeah."

"Fine. I don’t care, so do whatever you need.”

"Then back away. You’ll get caught up in it.”

Going even farther, Meister retreated all the way to the barrier of divine power. Soon, the Demon Knight’s eyes, which had been gray, turned red once again, and white slime began rising through the gaps between the stones piled across the ground.

Shhhhhk.

The white slime began forming a whirlpool across the ground like the Moskstraumen, then opened a pitch-black hole at its center.

Tap. Soon, two long shadows emerged from within the hole. One pure-white sword and one ordinary longsword.

"Those are……”

The pure-white sword among them was easy to recognize. Of course it was. He had carved it himself.

That was the masterpiece he had completed using the Skyflow Tiger’s bones as its foundation and layering all manner of enchantments upon it.

"Why do you have that?”

He knew Green Ears had once carried those two swords around. But when Meiser had woken up after losing consciousness in Bemurchen, they had been gone, so he had assumed they were lost during the disaster… He certainly hadn’t expected them to come popping out from there.

Meister blinked in surprise.

[O Ancient Magic.]

Unfortunately, however, there was no one here who intended to satisfy his curiosity. Ignoring him, the Demon murmured an incantation.

[O Absolute Law, Scales of the Universe, grant a rightful exchange.]

At that, the two longswords began crumbling apart into powder as though they were being dismantled, scattering into the air. There was no need to think too deeply about it. That was clearly something along the lines of disintegration.

"Shit."

Knowing just how much effort it had taken to make that thing, Meister watched his masterpiece dissolve into thin air and spat out several particularly filthy curses.

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