WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving as a Warrior in a TRPG World ◈

Chapter 31: Secret (4)

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For some reason, the longer Gerik held the skull, the fonder he grew of it.

Wanting to find out exactly what the skull could do, he reflexively tried to appraise it using his status window.

[Plague God’s Rat Skull]

『Type: Totem』

『Rank: Epic』

『Effect: Rat Man Control (0/10)』

* Lures wild Rat Men to the totem.

* Rat Men lured to the totem can be controlled through it.

* Build a Plague God’s Altar and offer blood sacrifices there to increase the number of Rat Men that can be controlled.

『Special Notes: Cursed Item』

* Gradually corrupts its owner’s mind and leads them to perform evil rituals. The corruption worsens with repeated contact.

* As the corruption worsens, the owner mistakes it for their own will and ultimately becomes a slave of the Plague God.

『Remarks: You who chose me, do not fear. Your will and mine will become one in the end. - Plague God ??? -』

"This is insane..."

Perhaps it was the power of his status window. The moment Gerik called up the skull’s information, his mind cleared.

Realizing he had come to view the evil object favorably without even noticing after touching it, Gerik felt a chill run down his spine.

"Hey! Why’d you throw that?!"

When Gerik dropped the rat skull in horror, Jensen threw himself forward and caught it with a startled look.

"It’s cursed! It’s dangerous to keep holding it!"

Gerik shouted as he watched Jensen clutch the rat skull protectively against his chest.

"Cursed? What are you talking about? It’s just an item that lets you summon Rat Men and make them do your bidding! What, are you some kind of priest or mage? How would you know it’s cursed?!"

"Uh... Well..."

Gerik couldn’t tell Jensen that he had a cheat ability called a status window, so he had no response to Jensen’s angry outburst.

"...The moment you touch the skull, you start feeling good about it for no reason. How could that be anything but a curse?"

Gerik spoke as gently as he could, trying to persuade Jensen that they should turn the rat skull over to the Adventurers’ Guild.

"Are you insane?! We risked our lives and barely managed to get this thing! It’s even been paid for with our companions’ blood!!"

Jensen went ballistic at Gerik’s suggestion that they hand such a valuable item over to the Guild.

Since their mission had been Sewer reconnaissance or Rat Man extermination, Jensen stressed that they had a right to any Spoils acquired while carrying it out.

"Forget its value as an artifact, it’s got crystals and rubies on it! You idiot! Sell this and we’ll be swimming in money! And you want to hand it over to the Guild? Are you out of your mind?!"

"..."

If they could dispose of it safely, they could receive an enormous reward, so Gerik couldn’t deny that Jensen’s reasoning made sense.

"Then... why don’t we ask the Adventurers’ Guild to sell it on consignment?"

"No."

Jensen snorted as soon as he heard Gerik’s suggestion.

As Gerik said, the rat skull contained the evil power to summon and control Rat Men, so Jensen said the Guild would surely confiscate it by force.

"And while they’re at it, those damned Guild bastards will appraise the artifact at a shit price and try to pay us off. Over my dead body will I stand for that!"

After fiercely denouncing the Guild, Jensen dropped his usual cynical expression. For the first time, he gave Gerik a gentle smile.

"How about we sneak it out and sell it somewhere ‘nice’ instead? We’ll split it fifty-fifty!"

Jensen tried to persuade Gerik, saying that his years of adventuring had given him several “reliable” contacts.

"There are buyers everywhere! There are black markets connected to noble lords, and plenty of mages looking for powerful magic items like this! If we sell it right, we could easily get a hundred gold coins for it!"

Jensen insisted that as long as the two of them kept quiet, they could deceive the Guild without any trouble.

"Do you really think so? The moment the Guild searches the Sewer and finds this chamber, they’ll find something suspicious, no matter how thoroughly we damage this place to hide what happened."

"That’s exactly why we can’t report it! We take the item and run!"

Jensen said that if they left Stonecreek in secret with the rat skull without reporting it, the Guild could do nothing about them.

"Come on! How the hell would they know why we left? They might think it’s strange, but they haven’t suffered any losses! Do you think they’ll chase us down just because we didn’t collect a reward?"

"...It’s still too dangerous."

Gerik was tempted by Jensen’s talk of a fortune. Still, there was no guarantee Jensen wouldn’t betray him, and Jensen’s condition had been growing stranger by the second as he held the rat skull. Gerik rejected the offer.

"..."

The mood sank in an instant. Neither of them said or did anything openly hostile, but they both sensed the subtle tension and each took a small step back.

‘Do I have to fight him...?’

Jensen’s eyes were slightly bloodshot. Anyone could see that he looked enthralled after picking up the rat skull. Rather than trying to dissuade him any further, Gerik cautiously rested a hand on his waist, ready to draw his longsword at any moment.

"Phew... It can’t be helped. You’re right."

"...?!"

Yet, to Gerik’s surprise, Jensen sighed and handed him the rat skull instead of continuing to argue.

"I think something really is wrong with my mind. Could you hold on to this for me?"

Jensen had accepted his opinion and even asked him to keep the rat skull. Gerik let his guard down for a moment.

Just as he was about to suggest putting it in a sack and dragging it along because of the curse.

Puff...!!

"Ghk!?"

Using the handoff as an excuse, Jensen had already moved close enough to throw the pouch at his waist straight into Gerik’s face.

Grayish-white powder burst from it and got into Gerik’s eyes. Pain flared through them as if they were on fire, and he clutched his face with both hands.

"You’re dead!!!"

Hearing Jensen’s murderous voice through his closed eyes, Gerik realized he had been foolishly deceived.

He tried to draw the longsword at his waist and force his eyes open to fight back, but the powder made it impossible to see, leaving him unable to retaliate properly.

‘I’m screwed...!!’

He had repeated to himself countless times that he must always remember Lugos’s advice, “Be most wary of humans.” Yet at the most important moment, he had let down his guard and been caught. Gerik regretted it bitterly.

Whummm...!!

The small Gnome Jensen leaped as if throwing his whole body forward, aiming his shortsword at Gerik’s neck.

A strange noise burst from Gerik’s ring. At the same time, an energy barrier enveloped him and began distorting the area around him.

"Ghk...?!"

Jensen had clearly thrust his shortsword forward, but an unknown force naturally deflected both blade and body away from Gerik. A bewildered groan escaped Jensen’s mouth.

Crash...!!

Jensen, who had leaped for Gerik’s neck, was thrown off course by the Guardian Barrier and slammed straight into the wall.

‘Skyler’s Quintet...!!’

Gerik snapped back to his senses, realizing the magic ring had saved his life once again. Though it hurt terribly, he forced his eyes open and looked toward the source of the crash.

"Argh...!!"

Jensen’s figure came faintly into view, writhing in pain after smashing his head and body into the stone wall.

"Huff... Huff...!!"

Gerik endured the pain that felt as though his eyes were bleeding and desperately raised his longsword. Moving as carefully as he could, he approached Jensen, who was groaning on the floor.

"Huh...?!"

Dazed and dizzy from hitting his head against the wall, Jensen had only just managed to compose himself and struggled to stand. Then he saw Gerik holding up his longsword with murder in his eyes.

"Wai...!"

Shhk!!

Jensen raised a hand, panicked, trying to stop Gerik. But Gerik, having already been betrayed by the cunning Jensen, had no intention of sparing him. He swung his sword without mercy, hacking Jensen apart.

"Urk!! Ghk!!"

Normally, he would have used Slash to take his enemy’s head clean off. But he still could not see clearly.

Gerik had no choice but to swing his longsword wildly, and Jensen paid for his betrayal with a brutal death.

"Haa... Haa..."

With his eyes still impaired, Gerik continued swinging his sword even after Jensen had been so badly wounded that he could no longer scream, preparing for any possible counterattack.

Only after he felt certain Jensen was dead did he finally lower his sword and lean against a nearby wall to catch his breath.

"Goddammit..."

Vowing never to leave himself open in any situation again, Gerik took off his gloves and rubbed his eyelids, which had swollen badly from the powder.

It seemed to be no ordinary powder. Even touching his eyes made them sting painfully.

‘Will washing them help?’

Gerik took the leather waterskin from his waist, held it to his face, and carefully splashed water over it. Fortunately, it seemed to work. The pain in his eyes began to fade little by little.

"Damn... It’s getting better now..."

It did not seem to be poisonous. After carefully washing his eyes with drinking water for quite some time, Gerik felt his vision return.

The foreign sensation still bothered him, but once he could see his surroundings well enough, he looked toward where he had swung his sword.

"Ugh..."

Perhaps because he had swung his sword far too many times to make sure Jensen was dead while unable to see, Jensen’s corpse had been horribly mutilated.

It was his own doing, but it had been so brutal that Gerik frowned and looked away.

‘Somehow... I ended up taking all the Spoils.’

He had come along as a guide hired to support a Copper Plate party, yet somehow he had ended up with all the Spoils. Gerik’s heart raced at the unexpected windfall.

‘For now, I’ll leave the mage’s belongings and the Plague God’s Rat Skull over there.’

It would be terrible to carry such a valuable item around only to have his mind corrupted and go mad without realizing it. Gerik used his longsword to push the skull into a corner.

‘The mage who strengthened the Plague God’s Rat Skull that much must have stored plenty of wealth in the workshop, right?’

Before it was strengthened by offerings, the power granted to its owner by the Plague God’s Rat Skull was control over ten Rat Men. But the mage Gerik had killed today had controlled nearly a hundred Rat Men.

That would have been impossible without offering sacrifices over a long time to strengthen its power. Since the mage had been hiding and operating underground, Gerik hoped the mage might have accumulated a fair amount of treasure.

"What a dump..."

Though spacious, the living quarters were shabby considering the number of Rat Men the mage had commanded.

In contrast, the Plague God’s Altar set up behind the living quarters was considerable in scale. Gerik realized that the mage had been so thoroughly enthralled by the Plague God that the mage had even neglected the workshop.

‘I shouldn’t go anywhere near the altar.’

Gerik approached the altar, wondering if there might be something valuable there. The moment he heard an unidentifiable whisper, he recoiled in horror.

Deciding to leave the disposal of the altar entirely to the Adventurers’ Guild, he gave up searching it and focused on the mage’s workshop instead.

"Ugh... What kind of research was going on here...?"

Disgustingly, it seemed the mage had intended to cut off monsters’ hands and heads to offer as sacrifices. Monster body parts were scattered all over the workshop.

Yet the closer Gerik got to the bed, the more neatly books and food had been arranged. It unexpectedly felt like someone lived there.

‘Is this... a journal?’

Footnotes:

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