Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer? - Chapter 53: I’m Angry, but… (1)

As the Dragon pulled our ship, we counted our casualties.

What we found was that the damage, while realistically less than it should have been, was more than we had expected.

“Hey, did you bring any alcohol?”

“Why would I have brought something like that along?”

“So, you really don’t have any?”

“Of course, I have some.”

Two of Windhand’s subordinates. Four of the friends recruited by that former adventurer who said he was in my debt. Three of the skilled sailors Deb had found and hired.

Half of the priests who had followed us from the Temple also died due to excessive use of Divine Power, and two wizards of the Magic tower died from having their heads caved in while being thrown around on the ship.

One of the adventurers also went missing.

These were painful deaths. Most died from being swept away by the tsunamis rather than from their injuries, so there was nothing we could have done.

“Sprinkle it.”

The sailors scattered some water—alcohol—they had brought with them just in case. The adventurers and priests who’d regained their senses gathered together.

“I guess that’s the sailors’ memorial rite.”

At that moment, Deb, who had been away for some time, sat right next to me. He seemed to look at the wizards around me before turning slightly toward me.

“…Mister Archmage has deep internal injuries, so he needs a few days to recuperate. I heard that Miss Inquisitor simply collapsed from exhaustion and is sleeping, so there is a high probability that she’ll wake up today or tomorrow. At least we don’t have to worry about their lives.”

That… was good news. I felt even sorrier for Windhand, who lost his men for no reason after getting caught up in this.

“Hey, could you pour them a drink, too?”

Speak of the devil. Just as I was thinking about him, Windhand came to me and asked me to scatter some alcohol, as well.

“They’d be happy if the Dragon Slayer also mourned their death.”

I stared at the bottle of alcohol he held out to me, then roughly grabbed it.

Most everyone had already done it; no one was scattering alcohol on the ship anymore. I was the last.

However, that didn’t mean I could just simply pour out some alcohol. I tossed the bottle into the air.

Slash!

I quickly drew my Zweihänder and cut the liquor bottle in half, spilling out all its contents. The alcohol spread far in all directions.

“Mister…”

“Wahaha, how hot-tempered!”

“Wooow, that should have taken care of all those bastards at once!”

“You bastards, you should feel honored to get a drink from the Dragon Slayer himself!”

“How about showing that dragon’s head…”

“Ah, you guys, enough, get out of here!”

Fortunately, no one was offended by my actions.

That was the end of the sailors’ memorial service, accompanied by a lot of noise.

* * *

By the way, the place where the Dragon led this half-wrecked ship was the same village we had visited before.

Perhaps because of the low water level, the Dragon stopped at a certain point, but the creatures carrying the boat accompanied us all the way to the shore. The tattered ship was completely beached on the sand.

“Wh-What is going on…?”

Led by the village chief I had seen before, the villagers came rushing out with weapons and torches in hand. Although, since they were all skinny, they didn’t look very threatening.

“We’re not dangerous! We aren’t pirates!”

However, we were also incredibly exhausted. If a fight were to break out now, it would only cause unnecessary harm.

Windhand, who got off first, took the lead, and Deb, after looking at me for some time, joined him. Since they were familiar with Deb, the atmosphere quickly calmed down.

Kiiiii.

Meanwhile, the Dragon slowly began to retreat. I could see it because I stayed on the boat until the very end.

“…?”

That wasn’t the only thing: I also received something from it.

An orb left the Dragon’s mouth, flew through the air, and landed in my hand. Vrrm, vrrm. The bead I now held gave off some slight vibrations.

> [Now that the child intended to devour me and become the next master has died, the cycle of the sea has been broken. There will no longer be an owner of this ocean.]

…Hey, wait a second. Was it talking to me?

> [It’s the last of my power and what my child was originally meant to absorb. I shall give it to you as a gift now that the cycle has come to an end and I am returning to nature.]

I felt a strange sense of betrayal. Of course, it could speak whenever it wanted, but no, no.

> [Keep it. It will be beneficial for you.]

…Everything was already over. I wondered how much easier it would have been if it had just talked to me during the fight, but we still managed somehow. It even gave us a ride back.

I didn’t really know what this was, but the important thing was that it rewarded me. The problem was that this item didn’t have a description, so I had absolutely no clue what to do with it, but whatever.

> [Thank you for saving my child.]

The Dragon dove back into the water. Soon, the nightly sea took on its original shape.

“What did it mean about this ocean no longer had an owner?”

“So, eating that would make you the next master?! What did it mean by ‘cycle’?! What a great discovery!”

“Uwaaah, the Dragon has already left. I didn’t get to fully examine it yet!”

At that moment, the wizards near me began shouting loudly. They didn’t dare interrupt the conversation between me and the Dragon, but as soon as it was over, they kicked up a racket.

“The power gifted by a Dragon, aah… Just what is it? A condensed form of Arcane Power? God, I want to research it so badly!”

Some even looked at the pearl I held and that dragon head with covetous eyes. It wasn’t anything new, as those guys had kept staring at me on the ship, but that didn’t mean it had become any less burdensome.

“E-erm, Sir Demon Knight…”

However, I could only act as my character setting dictated.

Ignoring the stares and words of those mages, I looked at the vibrating bead.

There still wasn’t any item description for it. Following common cliches, it might be a dragon egg.

However, it said that this was its power, not its egg. It never even mentioned that I should care for its child or something, either.

Moreover, although it was vibrating, it strangely didn’t feel ‘alive’, exactly. At the very least, it didn’t seem to be a living being.

“Please, can’t you show it to us for a little while? Even just a bit is fine!”

“Please, Sir Knight!”

“We will graciously return it to you right away!”

Yeah, nah.

I quickly put the bead in my inventory. It felt like the number of useless items in my inventory had increased yet again, but it was better to leave it there than dangle it before those wizards’ eyes.

I had gotten a little more familiar with the wizards of the Magic Tower on our way back… To put it nicely, they were pure scholars and truth seekers, but more bluntly, they were obsessed with research.

They were like those eccentric scholar characters you’d frequently come across in various media or the type of people who go batshit crazy whenever something piques their interest. Well, that was the type of personality they seemed to have, at least.

Apparently, that was also why those wizards had been staring at me before we set sail. I’d thought they were pissed off because of the three harpoons I wasted, but it turned out they just… really wanted to examine me.

I only discovered that because they told me themselves, as well. Well, more precisely…

『Can I study you?! Please, I want to at least examine you before setting sail!』

『If Sir Archmage hadn’t stopped us, I would have asked you much earlier! Please, just one drop of blood, no, no, just 5ml, no, no, no, just 500ml!』

『Could you please sign this permission slip to perform experiments on you, just this once?… Ah, this is a secret from Sir Archmage, okay?』

I found out because they asked me things like this. To be honest, I didn’t especially want to know. I could also understand now why the Archmage told me not to get involved with them.

“Please, please just a little—!”

Sir Archmage, just how hard were you fighting in places I couldn’t see? Just what did you do to get these crazy scholars under your control?

I jumped out of the boat, hoping the comatose Archmage would wake up just a minute earlier.

“Sir Demon Kniiiight—!”

The desperate cries of the wizards, too weak to follow me, went on.

* * *

* * *

“Wow, looks like you have quite the fan club there.”

I nervously reached the beach and settled down. A sailor approached me, giggling: it was the former adventurer who had recruited his friends to help, saying he felt indebted to me.

“Shut up.”

“Haha. I didn’t know wizards were such a nerdy bunch. They’re completely different from the wizard adventurers.”

He sat on a rock near where I was sitting and started chatting away. I thought only the wizards had thrown their reservations overboard, but this one wasn’t so simple, either.

“…Is that it? The dragon that attacked our ship?”

Then, the former adventurer looked at the dragon head I had taken. Although split in half, a head as tall as me lay on the sand, making its presence known.

Honestly, if it hadn’t been so light, I would have just cut off its horns or pulled out its teeth.

“How miserable.”

It certainly was a miserable sight: cut in half, its brain and eyeballs already swept away by the sea, its blood all drained, and the muscles flabby around where it had been severed. However, that wasn’t what this former adventurer meant.

“So very… miserable.”

He had lost friends today.

“Can I smoke?”

Those words served more to inform me than to ask permission. He lit a cigarette gotten from who knows where.

As someone who had previously smoked, I was really craving one as well right now.

“Young man, please!”

“Leave it to me!”

I then saw a man running through the village all of a sudden. He probably rushed off to contact the people waiting at Gamak Bay.

“If you go back… you’ll probably be awarded the Medal of Honor again.”

The former adventurer, watching me intently, suddenly spoke up again.

I wasn’t so sure about that. After all, this wasn’t an official request from the Adventurers’ Guild. Would they really give me a medal for this?

“The Lord might call you, too.”

Urgh… That would be a bit annoying. I didn’t know much about ceremonies around here, and my character certainly wasn’t exactly a fan of these types of things, either.

What if I was forced to lose my temper and consequently got chased out as a result?

“Phew. How do you manage to resolve such huge cases one after the other? Wouldn’t people like you guys be called Heroes?”

Those words made me feel somewhat odd.

It sounded like he didn’t know the Inquisitor was an actual Hero, but he still almost guessed it.

“If you were actual Heroes… Then those who died would be the Heroes’ companions, right?”

The cigarette, which had nearly burned out, fell to the floor. He took out another and lit it. I could smell its acrid smell again.

There should be no mercy for chain smokers. I turned away my head.

“…Heroes or whatever aside. Instead, if possible, please continue making your name known. That way, the families of the deceased can be proud.”

The cigarette caught embers before white smoke began billowing out. It almost seemed like an incense stick.

“…What am I saying? Just forget about it. You’ve already done enough. Just take it easy.”

That person who practically cursed me to be involved in many more incidents suddenly spoke to me kindly.

I didn’t answer him even once, only crossing my legs. As if expecting such an answer, the former adventurer smiled and left.

All that remained here now were the moon, the stars, and the sound of the waves.

Whooooosh.

I enjoyed the noisy silence of this lively village a bit longer. I could faintly hear Deb running to and fro, but that didn’t matter.

My character would never help with these things!

“Ah, there you—”

“I told you to go away! Do you want to be cut down?!!”

…I couldn’t help, but what about those wizards?!

“Hey, get the wizards out of the way.”

“The wizards of the Magic Tower are acting all arrogant now that their leader is gone…”

“Are you done, priest?!”

Fortunately, others went to stop the wizards instead. Some people wanting to help out also told me to just let those guys be.

If Windhand had ordered them to do this, I would call it an amazing decision.

Thanks to that, I felt like I could comfortably think about my physical condition, my future, and all the other questions that came to me during the Raid.

Whoosh, whoosh.

I checked my HP and my fatigue level while watching the waves.

Everything seemed fine. My HP was full and my fatigue level had fallen to its 20s, probably because I had slept for about three hours on our way back.

The wounds on my arms and ankles from the Spartoi bites weren’t severe enough to inflict injury penalties. It hurt worse than it was, so I doubted I would even need bandages.

Well, the only problem was that I still felt kind of unwell… Largely due to my motion sickness. That would be resolved over time, though.

Compared to when I was in complete tatters in Tatara, this was all still quite comfortable.

Unlike me, the Archmage and Inquisitor were completely out of order, but that was fine as long as their lives weren’t in danger.

“…”

Then, the next thing I had to worry about was the entirety of this incident and how it would be handled after.

Honestly, though… Did I even have anything to worry about?

Of course, it wasn’t that I didn’t have any questions. However, thanks to the Dragon’s last words, I had learned quite a bit.

So, by working my fantasy novel-infested brain, I latched onto its words about the cycle, absorbing power, and its child.

If I had to roughly guess the whole story, the Sea Dragon and the black dragon were parent and child, and the position of ‘master of the sea’ was passed down by the parent letting the child devour it in a constant cycle. However, this incident had broken that cycle.

I still didn’t know the reason for its corruption. I also had no hints to help me find out. I didn’t particularly want to know, either.

Hmm. If it was plot-related, I would figure it out sooner or later. If it wasn’t, finding out would only serve to satisfy my curiosity, but did I need to do that? I wasn’t the type of person who needed to know every single detail about past events to feel satisfied.

Instead, I was far more curious about what awaited me in the future than what caused this incident.

For example, when would the Negative Energy spread by the black dragon disappear? Would we have to locate the Spartoi that dragon might have spread around and eliminate them all? I wondered if something similar would happen again later.

My gamer mindset speculated on whether there would be any additional Quests related to this. Even if they popped up, I couldn’t complete them now because I had another compulsory Quest—Windhand’s—to take care of.

Ah, receiving my compensation was also important. I got a strange bead from the Sea Dragon, but that was only the Dragon’s reward.

I was rather nervous about what compensation I would receive and how they would distribute the dragon parts.

Had it been caught in the bay, the majority would have gone to the Magic Tower and the Lord… Now, my contribution to the mission was more or less the highest.

I didn’t really need everything, so I only wanted enough to make another sword out of the items. It was questionable whether a sword could be crafted with these materials, to begin with, but anyway.

“System.”

Now, I finally had time… time to check out that new skill, at long last. And to think more about this game.

I couldn’t put it off any longer.

“Let’s have a conversation, shall we?”

In other words, let’s stop deceiving each other.