WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

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

[Translator – Aren]

◈ Chapter 311 Make it Stronger (5)

"...I asked him to keep it under wraps."

Well…when I made that request to the information broker, I did ask him to keep it strictly confidential, not that I really trusted that he would do so. And in the end, the fact that he hadn’t had helped create Deathbringer's trust in me.

Still, I felt oddly conflicted. It was like finding out that a bank teller had given someone else my account information.

It was a little different from having shattered expectations. It was that bitter taste in one’s mouth you get when a trust you’d simply taken for granted gets broken.

"Erm, I forced it out of him, Mister……”

But when I stood there with an ambiguous expression on my face, Deathbringer swallowed even his tears and stared at me nervously. I wasn’t trying to pressure him, so I wasn’t sure why he was acting like that. I slowly rubbed the back of my neck.

"I wasn’t trying to scold you.”

"...I’m sorry."

No, seriously, I wasn’t trying to scold him. It wasn’t like I’d desperately trusted the broker to begin with, and I’d been fully prepared for this information to somehow get out.

Even the discomfort I was feeling now was closer to a simple ‘Oh, really?’ than ‘How annoying' or ‘That’s unpleasant.’ So I really was fine. Seriously, but……

"Hmm."

Even if I told Deathbringer that, he probably wouldn’t believe me, huh? From another perspective, what he did was practically the same as investigating someone’s private matters behind their back.

"Thanks for trusting me.”

"......!"

So I decided to change the subject instead.

Deathbringer’s tail puffed up instantly.

"Th-th-th-thanks? Wh-wh-what for?”

On top of that, he started stammering like his speech function had malfunctioned. He looked like what you’d get if a vibrating phone turned into a person.

Erm, was me thanking him really that shocking…? Deathbringer was so stunned that I even forgot my lingering discomfort and ended up flustered instead.

"H-here, take this!”

In the midst of all that, Deathbringer suddenly thrust out his arms and held out the thing he'd been carrying. It seemed like this was his way of breaking through the strange atmosphere that had settled over us. I didn’t really mind.

"...It gets cold after sunset. I mean, I guess you might be able to return to the city before then, but the sandstorms get pretty rough……”

As he handed it over, Deathbringer kept awkwardly spewing out excuses. This didn’t seem to be another attempt to clear the air. It felt more like he was trying to provide some justification so I wouldn’t refuse.

"...Thanks.”

And the reason he felt the need to provide that justification was probably the long history of refusals I’d built up while acting as my character. Feeling both sorry and grateful that I’d put him in the position of having to justify his own actions, I answered with both emotions packed into my voice.

"......!"

Deathbringer, who had stepped forward to hand me the items, once again made the fur on his tail stand straight up. His mouth, which was now diamond-shaped, and the way he unconsciously stepped backward showed just how badly he’d been shocked.

“...M-Mister just said th-thank you t-twice.”

Ah, please. I felt the urge to clutch my forehead.

"...My sins run deep."

"W-well, it’s not exactly your fault, Mister……”

Maaan… Things were already this bad. What would’ve happened if I’d changed the way I talked, too?

I felt a bitter pang rising up about the overbearing way of speaking I’d deliberately kept up to lessen this sense of incongruity. I’d considered that if things seemed okay, I might switch back to polite speech, but that clearly wasn’t an option.

"Do you doubt me?”

"It's not that I doubt you. It’s just…I never once imagined you’d ever say something like that, Mister……”

I mean, if that was how he reacted just because I expressed my gratitude twice, what would happen if I suddenly started speaking politely?

Setting the whole Demon issue aside, their brains might break first. They’d probably think something like ‘There’s no way the Demon Knight would act like that!’

[But isn’t that only a problem if you keep traveling with them, my dear Gretchen?]

'Shut up.'

I silenced Wrath, who had cowardly stabbed me with an inconvenient fact, using a sharp mental command, then swallowed my bitterness again.

Deathbringer rolled his eyes around, gauging my mood, before hesitantly opening his mouth.

"I’m sorry."

These words had been uttered countless times before, yet somehow they came out wrapped in a different atmosphere this time.

"For trying to stab you for real that time, and for not apologizing to you sooner. And……”

"Wait, why are you……”

"I was wrong."

Why was he apologizing for that? The stabbing thing was just an accident. And everything after that had only happened because I’d kept my distance so thoroughly that he hadn’t been able to apologize.

I was a little taken aback, but Deathbringer didn’t listen to me. Drip, drip. His cheeks, which had briefly dried, grew wet again.

"I really was wrong……”

And his weeping didn’t stop there. The young man’s face crumpled like a balled-up tissue. He might not have been exactly handsome, but he was still good-looking enough, and it took only an instant for that face to fall into disarray.

His nose turned red, and his features lost all composure. It was such a wretched sight that it made me think that if guilt ever took on a human form, it might look like that.

"I’m not even asking you to forgive me, Mister…Just, just……”

"No........"

In the end, I let out a sharp breath. This wasn’t a laughing matter, but his expression looked so ridiculous, and the fact that he’d been carrying this around in his heart all this time was just so damn absurd that I couldn’t help it. The fact that the corners of my mouth didn’t actually rise is proof of my superhuman will.

"I’m so sooooorrryyyyy........"

Honestly. Those two really live up to their "dumpling" nickname. First the Inquisitor and now this guy. They keep taking turns swelling up from crying.

Feeling oddly ticklish on the inside, I gently rubbed the back of my neck before finally accepting the sobbing Deathbringer’s apology.

Maybe it was because there was a half-lidded gaze fixed on me from behind me. Or maybe because this was an apology I’d never expected to receive. Either way, the feeling of accepting was truly a complicated one.

"...What are you going to do now?”

Deathbringer finally calmed down after a good while. Hic. The lingering traces of his long crying session still occasionally made their presence known between his words.

“Who knows.”

Now that I thought of it, Meister asked me that as well. Now it was Deathbringer’s turn. Well, I suppose anyone would be curious about the future of someone in my situation.

"Are you going to leave, Mister……?”

Then again, I didn’t know what lay ahead of me any more than he did. I told Deathbringer as much of my plan as I had told Meister.

I hadn’t decided on anything in particular. For now, I wanted to apologize to all of them. That was why I was still here.

That was pretty much it.

"M-Misteeeer……”

Yet, at those words, Deathbringer looked moved all over again. I had no idea what exactly touched him so deeply. Was hearing that I wanted to apologize really that moving?

"Erm, if possible…maybe we could travel together like before…No, I guess that’s a bit too much to ask for…….?”

"......?"

Together? Uhm… It’s not like I particularly hated that idea.

I thought of the Inquisitor, the Archmage, Berserk, and the newly joined Meister. Would they accept me back?

Besides, if I started traveling with them again, I’d probably end up fighting endlessly again……

"After you left, Mister…The ironwall had a really hard time. I never got to talk to her properly, so I don’t exactly know what was hardest for her, but…whenever she had to save something, there were times when she had no choice but to give something else up……”

I clenched my fists reflexively. My absence had put the Inquisitor through something like that?

That kid had been forced to make trolley-problem choices?!

Th-this wasn’t even about having to fight anymore……!!

"Never mind. Please pretend you didn’t hear anything. You’ve already suffered enough already, Mister.”

"......"

Like hell I could just pretend like I didn’t hear anything. I barely stopped myself from banging my head against the ground. The thought that my little kimchi-dumpling, that precious little puppy, had suffered, and that I was the cause of it, was just that unbearable.

Of course, looking back at my own circumstances, even if I went back to that moment, I would still make the same choice, but still…

[Oh, please. Gretchen, just spend the next 9 years wandering around. Why insist on walking a road of thorns—]

「I want to stop you from taking the difficult path as well… But please, don’t hold back from doing what you want to do. There’s no need to worry about your physical body either. Kind soul, do what your heart desires. Whatever you choose, I’ll support you.」

Meanwhile, the voices of those inside of me expressed their own opinions. Wrath was consistently against it, while Faust… Well, he wanted to stop me from suffering but felt like he had no right to stand in my way, so he chose to offer his support instead. Support that even accepted the risk of my dying if I traveled with them again.

"...We’ll discuss this again later. There’s no telling how the Temple might react.”

Well, anyone with a conscience would probably say something like that…but precisely because of that, it calmed me immensely. I pushed the topic aside for now.

"Yes.”

Even though he seemed a bit disappointed, he didn’t argue any further. Whooosh. A gust of sandy wind passed through the brief silence that had settled between us.

"...By the way, is this the, erm, Great Demon?”

"Yes."

"It’s really…filthy.”

It really was. I silently nodded in agreement. The Great Demon Behemoth truly was a filthy creature.

"...You won’t be able to come into the city until this thing is fully purified, right?”

"Is the situation bad?”

“Yes, kind of. There are many civilians that got caught in the curse…the animals are going crazy as well…and the plague’s spread quite a bit.”

What was going on? That was even worse than what I’d expected.

I pried a little more information out of Deathbringer regarding the city’s state. Things were even worse than what I’d seen from the walls. All the more so because even Deathbringer didn’t know the full picture.

It was a good thing that Behemoth was a stupid pig……

Considering how much damage that stupid thing had done to the city, calling it a good thing might sound a bit odd, but looking at it objectively, it was true.

If that bastard had been just a bit smarter, realizing what it was up against and immediately running away, the damage to the people would have been far greater.

"Purification……”

Anyway, purifying this much Demonic Energy would probably require either the Inquisitor herself or dozens of priests working together. Given what I’d just heard about the state of the city, I had no idea whether that could happen within a few days. I fell into thought for a moment.

'This might be way too late to ask, but…well, can’t I just absorb this?’

Then an idea suddenly occurred to me.

'Or would that cause problems?'

I did feel a brief twinge of hesitation, knowing the fate that befell the Skyflow Tiger after it devoured Moby Dick.

But if I pulled it off, it could eliminate the need for purification while strengthening me at the same time.

'Isn’t there some way to absorb it where I only get the benefits…? Like increasing my Demonic Energy reserves or improving my physical abilities?’

It felt too good an opportunity to pass up. With a shameless demand attached, I pressed Wrath for an answer.

Standing slightly off to the side of my field of vision, Wrath crossed her arms and gave me a peculiar look.

[If you really insist…you could just discard the name and consume it. Considering that a Demon’s essence is contained within its name, though, it would be like eating kimbap without the rice.]

'What are you talking about?'

[…The name is the essence, the soul is the existence, and the body is the vessel. Mortals are different, but for Demons, that’s basically how it works. The nature and form of one’s power are determined by their essence, and without a soul, their existence can’t be established. Finally, the vessel is…literally what the word says. A vessel that contains the other two.]

I frowned the moment that we shifted from the already abstract concept of devouring something’s name to something even more conceptual. It wasn’t like I couldn’t understand it, but it still felt pretty vague.

[...To use some game analogies, a name is like a class. You know how your skills, stats, and the way you build your character all change depending on your class, right? And the soul is…roughly like the player. Without a player, both the class and character are completely void of meaning, right?]

Fortunately, the explanation that followed made said concepts a lot easier to grasp…though comparing such massive concepts like name and soul to a game class and its player made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

It was like trying to summarize a grand, elaborate work of art in one slightly cheesy sentence. I almost felt sorry for those concepts.

[Do you still not get it?]

'...No, I do. So, is devouring the name really dangerous?'

[A name is usually consumed together with the soul, you know? But the act of devouring something also means keeping it inside your vessel until you finish digesting it. In other words, the name, soul, and body end up gathering together in one place.]

'...Which means there’s a chance of them reviving...'

[I really like how quick you are to catch on.]

So that was the background behind what had happened to the Skyflow Tiger. I shook my head inwardly, marveling at how even dead Demons could somehow turn their corpses into traps. Seriously, they were a truly vicious race from start to finish.

‘But names and souls aren’t concepts that exist physically, right? How do you eat them?’

[Names and souls might not be material, but the body is. And the two don’t vanish the moment the body dies. They merely evaporate slowly while still held within the corpse. So if you devour the body that still contains its name and soul, you absorb them along with it.]

'...Then how are you supposed to avoid consuming them?'

[Ah, that’s not a problem. The name and soul are usually contained in the head. As long as you avoid eating that part, it doesn’t really matter. Well, if someone were going to discard those two, they would probably not eat it at all or just the heart.]

Wrath casually chattered on, mentioning that this was how she herself had dealt with the first Gluttony. I wasn’t particularly curious, but at the same time, it did make me wonder.

'The first Gluttony?'

[That Behemoth you killed was a pig that ended up devouring the corpse of the Gluttony I killed and inherited the title.]

'Why the hell did you leave the corpse behind and let that filthy thing come into existence?’

[First of all, I’d just finished fighting them, so I didn’t have enough strength left to burn the corpse. And I didn’t want to gamble on devouring something equal to myself. Like I just said, it’s dangerous.]

But as Wrath continued, she let out a light sigh as she lamented. Her voice sank, weak yet sharp, like someone who had just seen something disgusting.

[Besides, Gretchen, if you’d seen the first Gluttony’s body yourself, you never would’ve even suggested eating it.]

‘... What did it look like then? No, never mind that. Is eating with your mouth the only way to absorb something?’

[I’ll keep this brief for the sake of your stomach. The first Gluttony had a colony-type body. And for what it was made of…I don’t think I need to spell that out, do I? And Gretchen, if there had been any method besides ingestion, do you really think I would’ve eaten only the heart and thrown the rest away?]

Hearing the Demon kindly but firmly explaining this, I immediately gave up. If I was going to try strengthening my abilities, it had to be through something at least remotely normal. I didn't want that foul-smelling thing anywhere near my mouth.

[Still, the heart should be fine. Why not give it a try?]

'Get lost.......'

Even the slightly toned-down suggestion was unacceptable. Eating a raw heart? I absolutely couldn't do that. And considering the size of that thing, its heart had to be massive as well… Yeah, absolutely not doing that. Never ever.

「... Feed it to Ratel.」

While I was recoiling in disgust, Faust, who had been quiet until now, finally spoke up.

[...Wait.]

「Ratel acts as a medium connected to an external space. In other words, it also serves as the medium for your inventory. So you can feed it to Ratel.」

[Do you think that space connected to Ratel is infinite?! Something that huge won’t fit!]

「It swallowed that turtle in Bemurchen too. Don’t lie to me.」

[That was only possible because sacrificing Mammon temporarily strengthened my power!]

Seriously, this damn Demon. Even while pretending to cooperate, she still kept the important details to herself. Looking at this master of the underhanded who made it impossible for me to ever let my guard down, I tightened my grip on the contract’s leash.

[...You really do have to offer something as a sacrifice, though.]

Wrath immediately folded.

'Then I can sacrifice half that body and put the other half inside.'

[Ancient magic isn’t supposed to be used like this… No, wait, more importantly, Gretchen, aren’t you abusing it a little too much just because you aren’t the primary party of the contract? If anything goes wrong with the pact, the price will be paid entirely by that kid—]

「Don’t worry about me. She’s exaggerating. There’s almost no burden on me.」

Still, Wrath grumbled a bit. Judging by Faust saying that there was almost none, it seemed that her words were at least somewhat true.

'...If it’s almost none, doesn’t that mean there’s some?'

「It’s just the mental strain from renewing the contract each time. Unless my soul itself is being used as a sacrifice, I don’t take any actual damage, so don’t worry.」

I felt a little uneasy at how firmly the boy spoke, but I relaxed after seeing that Wrath remained silent.

Given Wrath’s reluctance to use Ancient magic or whatever it was, I figured that if the boy were truly being harmed, she would’ve told me just to get me to stop. If that counts as trust, then I guess I trusted her.

'Alright. I’ll trust you.'

[Damn it……]

Anyway, with this, I probably didn’t need to keep guarding this damn pig-bastard’s corpse anymore. I nudged Deathbringer, who was either deep in thought or just spacing out.

"Wh-wh-what is it?”

"Can you go back to the city and pass on a message?”

"Huh?"

“Tell them that I plan to dispose of the Demon’s corpse. Warn them that the Demonic Energy may surge because of it, so tell them not to be alarmed… Something along those lines.”

"Huh??”

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