Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer? - Chapter 86: I Want to Talk (2)

As of today, I wouldn’t only support the kimchi dumpling.

From now on, the kimchi dumpling and I were one, and I’d consider any attack against the kimchi dumpling an attack against me…!

Actually managing to cover for all that nonsense I spouted made her truly god-like!!

“…Are you really not going to harm yourself?”

I got to my feet with Deb’s support. I had no idea how long I’d been tied up, but I couldn’t even feel a tingling in my limbs. I suspected it would take a long time until I returned to normal.

“Erm, the request isn’t over yet, you know?”

At that moment, Windhand spoke to me in an awkwardly calm manner, perhaps feeling uneasy that I wasn’t answering.

Rather than wanting to encourage me, he seemed to be trying to give me a reason to live. That was some rather good support.

“There are still two cities left needing to be reclaimed… There are still many Demons left. There are still some remnants of the Demon Worshipers around, too… So, erm.”

“…Where is my sword?”

Okay, okay. I’d already defeated the Boss. All I needed to do now was neatly finish this Quest.

So, could someone tell me where my missing sword was?

I remembered breaking the scimitar when dealing with the transformed Vipurit, but I had no idea where my Zweihänder went. Considering it wasn’t strapped to my back, it seemed I’d dropped it somewhere or had it confiscated after going on my rampage.

“Erm, about that.”

The only thing I got as an answer were slurred words. Those three pirates seemed not to know anything about this situation. On the other hand, the Inquisitor and Deb seemed to know but didn’t want to talk about it.

Did they think I would try to kill myself as soon as I got my hands on the sword? I wouldn’t.

“Well…”

“It’s gone.”

…How could something like that have happened?

I felt like my face started to resemble a Tibetan fox’s as I slowly closed my eyes.

“I see.”

I wondered how such a good sword could just disappear… But it should be fine since I’d already requested a new sword anyway.

Actually, now that all the important matters had been resolved, I started to feel my hunger again and didn’t have the energy to focus on anything else. I slowly made my way outside with their support.

“You…!”

And then I came across the Archmage. It seemed he came running here after hearing the news. His clothes and hair were utterly disheveled as if he’d come here in a rush.

“You’re awake.”

When the Archmage made eye contact with me, wearing an urgent expression, he started to tremble. Not for long, though.

He soon regained his usual composure. The kind smile I’d always seen on him returned to the Archmage’s face.

However, I had a hard time looking at him straight, given the grave crime I’d committed.

I could only look at him briefly before I lowered my gaze. At that point, I decided to tone down my personality a little. Hmm, it wouldn’t be too unnatural for me to be more docile toward them after this incident, right?

“There’s quite a bit I want to say to you… but it’s too much for the moment. I chose a seal that would put less strain on your body, but it still took you about two weeks to awaken. It must have been quite hard on your body.”

I see. The seal I was under should have put less strain on my body.

However, what he said afterward was quite strange. Two weeks? Two weeks had passed?

So that’s why I felt so hungry.

At the Archmage’s words, I somehow got a sense of deja vu. This felt exactly the same as when we were in Tatara—time had miraculously disappeared into nothingness.

“…I see.”

Still, from how the outside looked, many things seemed to have happened over the past two weeks.

Had I been awake, I likely would have been mobilized to rebuild the city or something. At least I avoided being subjected to hard labor, so I should be thankful for that, I guess.

Well, it was time I couldn’t get back anyway, so being pessimistic would just make me feel worse.

Moreover, no matter how I thought about it, the trigger for this new [Rage] skill of mine seemed to be negative emotions, especially irritation or anger.

Of course, I’d never seen a skill in any other game that would activate after analyzing the player’s emotional state…

However, considering this game had done weird stuff more than once or twice already, I thought it was quite possible. I had to make a conscious effort to reign in my anger, like a certain green doctor.

“Okay. Get some rest. Can I ask that of you?”

“Understood.”

“You also just came back, Inquisitor, so make sure to get some rest, as well.”

“Ah, yes!”

I readily accepted the Archmage’s consideration. Only then did the Archmage’s gaze finally leave me.

His next targets were those three pirates standing around but unable to intervene since earlier.

“I think it would be rather good if you take your leave soon. It seems the Lord is also preparing to return.”

“…Yeah.”

The Lord? I heard that the lord of this city was already dead, so if they were someone related to Windhand, it probably was the Lord of Jacrati. Why did the Lord come here…?

I thought about it for a little before deciding to give up, as my stomach was still screaming at me. I didn’t need to know everything at once, so I should eat something first. Food!

* * *

* * *

“I still can’t believe it.”

After eating and sleeping well, I heard some things. After finding out what they meant when they said I razed the castle while going berserk, I couldn’t say I felt disappointed with my treatment.

Even I wouldn’t trust someone who almost unleashed such an attack on me.

“What exactly?”

“…Isn’t it still dangerous?! There are still so many cities and villages we need to reclaim and save, so how could they make us leave Mister behind….”

“Why should we? His power will be of great help in clearing out the Demons hiding in the forest and reclaiming the villages and cities.”

In that respect, the Inquisitor was quite strange.

What had I done for her to trust me so much? To the point where she even worked hard to prevent my death penalty? I was grateful, but I couldn’t help feeling nervous.

“As I thought, there’s nothing positive about the members of the Temple.”

Even the Deathbringer, who was eating beside me, couldn’t understand it.

From what I heard, while I was in [Rage], it seemed I even tried to kill him after breaking his Kukri. Despite going through that, his attitude toward me didn’t change one bit.

No, he seemed even more attentive toward me than before…?

Anyway, I didn’t really understand why those two were treating me so favorably. What I gave them wasn’t proportional to this.

Rise.

Hmm, I didn’t get it. I just stood up, still chewing the lightly roasted carrots and potatoes.

I usually wouldn’t have paid any attention to these things, but I was in a somewhat special situation right now. Even without knowing the details, since I was always at risk of going on a rampage, I had to take a step back here.

“Wait, are you done eating already? There’s still some left, though?”

Deb was shocked to see me leave like that. He probably forgot I’d put the food in my inventory.

“Please just wait a second.”

“Aah.”

As I left without even listening to his words, Deb followed me while hastily stuffing the rest of his meal into his mouth.

The Inquisitor also seemed to be trying to come along, but she still had so much food left on her plate that it would take some time before she could follow us.

“Where are you going?”

“…Don’t follow me.”

“Are you going to another restaurant?”

I was pretty sure I’d had enough. I felt so full that I didn’t even want to think about food.

Hmm. Since it turned out like this, should I see the Archmage? He did mention having something to say to me.

“Hmm, it seems like it’s not another restaurant…”

Then again, I shouldn’t.

Since the Archmage was very busy, I changed my mind.

Moreover, there’d obviously be a lot of wizards from the Magic Tower around the Archmage.

That was the biggest problem, actually.

『Well, if it would be fine with you, could you please share some of your body tissue with us? From your right arm, if possible!』

『Well, aren’t you at all interested in the make-up and condensation of your Arcane Power? I’m actually a specialist in that field…』

I knew they didn’t have malicious intent, but they seriously needed to start seeing people as people.

That’s why I was a little reluctant to see the Archmage directly. I didn’t want to run into the other wizards.

“Then, where are you actually going?”

Well, in that case, should I just wander around the town and do some Sidequests…?

However, that might also be impossible. It seemed rumors about me had already spread, so I could see that all the civilians were deathly afraid of me.

Given how things were, there’s no way any of them would entrust me with any work. The Adventurer’s Guild that was supposed to hand out Quests had stopped operating because all of the branch’s members had died.

The Temple was extremely hostile toward me, so I highly doubted they would even talk with me. However, I couldn’t just leave behind those guys—the trio—and return to Jacrati alone.

“Mister?”

What should I do?

“…I told you not to follow me.”

“Tell me where you’re going, and I’ll consider it.”

“…”

If Deb weren’t there, I would just find some shady corner and hide from everyone. Or, I would try swinging my sword around to test out the new skills I’d gotten… Huh?

Ah, right, my sword disappeared, didn’t it? Should I just get a new sword??

“…I’m going to get a sword.”

I didn’t know whether they were running some sort of market in this situation, but I had to waste this time somehow, anyway.

With that in mind, I opened my inventory to check how much money I had. Weapon prices here were pretty high regardless of quality, so I had to make sure I had enough money in advance.

My Inventory Window popped up.

「True Zweihänder of Destruction」

「Eyepatch」

「Cracked ???」

But why was that thing in here?

Instead of looking at the count depicting how much money I had, I found a certain item inside my inventory. I couldn’t ignore it since the inventory didn’t use a grid structure, with items instead taking up space according to their volume.

“Ah, of course. You might need to get a new sword. But are there even places that sell weapons here…?”

Deb was saying something next to me, but I didn’t really listen to what he said.

I had no idea how the sword that had supposedly disappeared reappeared in my inventory, what that eyepatch was for, or how the bead the dragon gave me ended up cracked. I should just focus on the more essential things now.

“I know where they gathered those pirates’ weapons, though. Taking any of those might not be a bad idea for now, right?

But wait a second. Only then did I feel a particular sense of discomfort. I hadn’t noticed it before because it was such a minor change and didn’t actually affect my field of vision. However, I couldn’t feel anything covering my right eye.

“Mister?”

I reflexively raised my hand and felt over the area around my right eye. The eyepatch that was supposed to cover that eye was gone.

So that thing wasn’t in my inventory for no reason.

“Is there anything wrong…”

When did I even take off that eyepatch…? No, no. What was even the big deal about that? Also, wasn’t it a hundred times better that my sword was in there and not completely gone?

This was nothing to worry about. Those words were enough to blow all my worries away. If there was a problem I couldn’t find the answer to, no matter how much I thought about it, it was much easier to just humbly accept it.

“Mister Knight, if there’s something wrong, please let me know…!”

Instead—I don’t know if I could even use that word here—I put my hand into my inventory.

When my fingers reached into the bag, grasping at air, the first thing they came in contact with was a thin piece of leather.

“…Huh?”

I carefully put on the eyepatch so as to avoid catching my ears on its strap. My vision remained the same, but I somehow felt more stable now that something was pressing slightly onto my right eye. I felt complete again.

Rustle.

“…!”

However, I didn’t stop there. I also pulled out my Zweihänder. The silver blade sparkled in the sunlight.

“Wh-Why is that sword in your bag, Mister…?”

I didn’t really know. Maybe it had something like an automatic retrieval function, although nothing was written about that in its description. Well, that’s the privilege of pre-order gifts, I guess.

Regardless, it was a good thing. However, my need to buy a new sword wasn’t completely gone.

Before taking another step forward, I paused for a moment. Other than my Zweihänder, I still needed a longsword I could use in certain situations.

“Where are the pirates’ weapons gathered?”

“Wh-What? Ah… Somewhere close to the wall. Should I guide you there?”

What was he asking? He should guide me there right away.

“Then, this way…”

Deb, who’d noticed my gaze, took the lead. He seemed a touch surprised but still worked pretty diligently.

Before long, the walls came into my view.

“Huh, Sir Demon Knight?”

However, the moment we got near the castle wall, the first thing to come into view wasn’t the weapons but someone who appeared to recognize me.

Something about his face seemed familiar, so he wasn’t a stranger… Ah! I remembered. He was one of the adventurers who worked with us until we split off from the main forces.

I didn’t know how he’d ended up here, but I was strangely happy to see him.

“I haven’t seen you in a while!”

“Where are you headed to? Ah, did you want to go outside?”

It seemed they didn’t know what I did or that I was forbidden from going outside.

I left the adventurers and walked closer to the castle gate. I could see a pile of weapons close to it, so there was only one thing I could do.

“Hey, stop!”

And then I got blocked. They were people from the Temple.

One showed me a face full of hostility and fear as if he’d witnessed what I was capable of, and the other only showed pure hostility as if he’d only heard about what I did.

“You can’t go out!”

No, I mean, I wasn’t even trying to go out. I just wanted to take one of those weapons.

“We weren’t trying to leave, so please put away those weapons. We just wanted to take one of the leftover weapons…”

“Weapons? We can’t give you anything like that!”

Hmm. So, I couldn’t take any, huh…

“Wait a second, you already have a weapon strapped to your back!”

“Just who gave it to you—!”

Although Deb tried to intervene, they didn’t stop showing unbridled hostility toward me. I knew why they acted like that, so I didn’t really think much of it, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed.

I was kind of looking forward to getting a weapon for free.

“Damn Demon host…”

Then I heard someone mutter something like that. Well, the setting did dictate that a Demon was sealed in my arm, so they weren’t wrong.

“…”

They weren’t wrong, but that didn’t mean it would stop me from getting immersed in my roleplaying! Haha!

I lightly placed my other hand on my right arm and pressed down on it hard. Deathbringer, who was trying to mediate between me and the Temple, was also at a complete loss.

“O-Outside! There’s a horde of Demons!”

“What?!”

“Ready your bows!”

“Wh-What!”

However, I had to stop my acting the next moment. Those holding watch from the top of the castle wall screamed, extremely frightened.

“…!”

At that moment, my senses also picked up something coming over from beyond the wall. It was quite fast, and its goal was pretty clear, as well.

It was running straight toward the castle walls.

“Get back!”

“Mister?!”

「A hostile existence has entered a radius of 30m.」

It was too late to explain.

I jumped forward, utterly sure of what would happen. Because the Temple people were pointing their spears at me, parts of my body got scratched, but the injuries weren’t that serious.

“Just how on earth are those Demons—”

“Stop them, you idiot!”

“The Demons are coming!”

“Fire!”

I saw the guys positioned right before the castle gate getting thrown back. At the same time, the gate was shattered to pieces as if something rushed into it.

A strong shock rattled my body, which I’d covered in Arcane Power.

“Kuk!”

A slight groan pushed through my teeth. However, if I were to get pushed back like that already, putting all these people behind me would have been meaningless.

I planted my feet and let my Arcane Power flow into my hands. The Arcane Power, expelling itself from my hands before I even realized it, twisted into a spiral and finally burst out from my palms.

Baaang!

It felt like something just poured out of me, leaving me empty and, for some reason, somewhat relieved. I then saw that huge mass of black energy coming out of my hands, generating some wind before the area before me.

The Demon that had attacked me now sported a hole roughly 1m in diameter. Most of its body was also gone.

“…Crazy.”

Yeah, crazy, indeed.

I suddenly returned my senses as I looked straight ahead and saw the demon with a gaping hole as if a laser beam had struck it.

It wasn’t over yet. That guy I just killed was only the advance force meant to break down the castle gates. The real attack forces were sure to be behind it.

“Don’t follow me.”

“…I know already.”

My chest hurt a bit, like my ribs had been broken, but it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t move. So, I just pulled out my sword from my back and didn’t show the slightest sign of pain.

「❖ Fangs Aimed at Jacrati

∎ Liberate Ayu Hin

∎ Cities on Montata Island liberated: 0 / 2

∎ Optional – Demons eliminated: 0 / ??

∎ Optional – Assistant in rebuilding efforts: 0 / ??」

At that moment, this long-running Quest updated. I could slowly but surely see its end.

I had already defeated the final boss of this area, so this should be the last link in this Chain Quest.

Damn, defeating this area’s boss came before restoring the cities. The order seemed a little wrong, but whatever.

“Instead, please answer me just one question, Mister.”

I strengthened the grip on my sword as I listened to Deb.

“Should I bring the Archmage?”

I had no idea why, but my buffed Arcane Power flowed easily into my Zweihänder. It might have been that [Arcane Power Control] skill I recently developed, making me feel more comfortable with handling Arcane Power now.

“Not needed.”

Narrower, more sophisticated [Slash]es clawed at the world.

“The path to the next city will be paved by tomorrow.”