Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer? - Chapter 87: I Want to Talk (3)

People tended to underestimate things they didn’t experience themselves.

Even if told of certain dangers, should they be outweighed by their usefulness, people would choose to accept them after rationalizing their decision.

Just like what was happening now.

“I have been well aware of your movements. Although you were treated rather unpleasantly… you still helped us greatly.”

I looked at the archbishop freshly dispatched by the Temple. His attitude seemed extremely friendly.

Was it because the island restoration speed more than doubled with my help? Or was it because I stepped onto the battlefield to create a path, giving the Inquisitor a chance to rest? Or was it because I minimized the damage done to the people of the Temple, no matter whether they were against me?

“Thank you for your help in restoring this island.”

Well, this was a good thing. Whatever the reason, the archbishop seemed to have judged me a useful tool and decided to merely observe me.

“Sir Archbishop!”

Of course, the bishop who’d directly witnessed my outburst was furious at the archbishop’s decision. Even after seeing the results of my efforts, he still claimed I was dangerous and insisted I be put to death, so it was only natural for him to act that way.

“You shouldn’t take him so lightly! He can go berserk again at any moment!”

“The Hero vouched for him, and hasn’t he proven himself over the past few days?”

“Sir Archbishop!”

Personally, I couldn’t empathize with the latter’s point of view. Given that my life was at stake here, I really hoped the former would win this argument.

“I don’t know why you’re being so sensitive.”

However, that didn’t necessarily mean I liked the former.

There was nothing more frustrating than a superior unable to understand the hardships of those working on the field, and secondly…

“Wah, I completely lost my appetite…”

As Deb said, if someone like that just came to someone in the middle of eating and started talking to them, the food would only taste worse.

I simply continued to eat, not caring whether the bishop argued—under the guise of persuasion—with the archbishop. After recapturing the last city, I couldn’t eat anything, as I had to wait for additional manpower to arrive, so I was famished.

The Inquisitor, likely exhausted from all the accumulated fatigue—despite my handling of the worst—immediately fell asleep before she could eat, but whatever.

“Mister.”

And right as I was almost done eating, Deb, who had finished before me, moved his eyes slightly while holding some food in his hand. He was signaling that we should leave quietly.

“Let’s go.”

The Archmage, who’d aided us using his pen rather than his force not too long ago, also came along to provide rear support with his magic. It seemed he’d noticed people were uncomfortable with me since that day.

Maybe he felt uncomfortable himself, considering he’d been acting strangely from that day on… He wouldn’t leave me alone whenever I went out or had places to go.

Even if that was the cause, I didn’t refuse his consideration. I also didn’t want to interact with the Temple’s people, considering I already had a record of running wild.

Talking to the higher-ranking members of the Temple? That was even worse. The kimchi dumpling was enough of a connection to the Temple for me.

“Wow, seriously. Look at how all those people’s attitudes changed.”

Under Deb’s guidance, I secretly—if one could even call this secretly, considering only the bishop and archbishop didn’t notice—left the restaurant. We could finally feel comfortable, considering the people around us, despite staring, remained silent.

“After setting sail tomorrow at dawn, we won’t have to see those bastards again. Urgh.”

I was of the same mind. After tonight, we could finally leave this island.

“I heard they’ll be holding a victory celebration over at Jacrati… In just one day, this is all over.”

Thinking about it a bit, the work here wasn’t much different from what we’d done in the other regions, but I felt strangely sick of this place.

Was it because the scale of this matter was too great? What we’d gone through up until now had been at a city level, but it had now jumped all the way to a region level. As such, the time we’d spent here had been overwhelmingly long…

“Rather, now it’s finally time for our payment, right? Wow, ten million Gals.”

Hmm, yeah. We’d spent almost a month in the Yabad region. That was enough to make one feel sick of a place.

“Ah, you also asked for a new sword, right? I can’t even fathom what a blade made of dragon scales and teeth would be like.”

As Deb had said, all that was left now were the rewards.

I slowly returned to our assigned abode, leaving behind a certain someone even more excited about the rewards than me.

Corpses of people and Demons yet to be disposed of greeted us everywhere we passed. The smell of ash wafting over from the ruined buildings added to the atmosphere.

“Hey, you came back?”

Or was the real addition Windhand, who had hidden in our sleeping quarters?

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m guessing you came along with the archbishop?”

“I was the one who got him here to begin with. I’m also the one who’s supposed to give you a ride tomorrow.”

“Ah.”

I sat on the bed set up in this place that resembled a guest room.

For reference, the Inquisitor was also sleeping in this room, rolled up under a blanket. Only a few rooms were left intact, after all, so it ended up like this.

“But why did you come here?”

Deb placed the food he’d brought along on the bed beside the Inquisitor and went to his place next.

As such, Deb and I were occupying one side of the room, sitting pretty much next to each other, the Inquisitor was sleeping on the other side, and Windhand was sitting in the middle.

“Well, I don’t really have any official business or anything…”

Then, Windhand’s eyes rolled to immediately look in my direction.

“I know you rejected me last time, but I still have no one else to turn to but you.”

Soon after, he closed his eyes and bowed his head.

“Please. Please allow me to pay those ten million Gals you’re supposed to receive from the Lord of Jacrati.”

His request was just too heavy and serious for me to strike it down as sharply as I did before. With how things were, even my character would probably listen to his reasons, at least.

“Of course, I know already I’m in no position to convince you like this, but… you’re the only one I even have a chance of convincing.”

“It doesn’t seem much easier to convince Mister than the Lord, though.”

“No, it’s a lot more likely.”

After some hesitation, Windhand added some more words.

“That way… we can pay back what we owe.”

“We?”

“I mean me and my brothers.”

At that moment, an overwhelming curiosity overcame me regarding the various clues I’d received so far.

No, seriously now. What kind of relationship did he have with the Lord that he would willingly pay off such a huge debt for her? From how he spoke, it even sounded like it wasn’t just Windhand who would come forward to help, but his brothers as well.

“…Why?”

“…?”

“I understand that you desire to repay us. I can accept that much. But I don’t understand why you stepped up to reward us in the Lord’s stead.”

Fortunately, Deb asked the question burning on my tongue in my place. He seemed quite curious about this point, as well.

“Rather than suddenly telling us about some debt you need to repay, why don’t you openly tell us what’s behind this? That would make persuading us easier, at least.”

At Deb’s words, Windhand’s expression changed subtly. He seemed torn about whether or not he should tell us.

After some time, he appeared to have made up his mind, though he still looked quite uncomfortable.

“It’s because she’s my mother.”

He dropped that bombshell of a remark on us, creating flood-like waves.

“What?”

“Not my biological mother. I lost her forty years ago. She took me in after that.”

“…The Lord?”

“Yes.”

Once a dam broke, it wasn’t so easily repaired. As Windhand wiped over his face, he confessed to us his secret circumstances he’d kept hidden until now.

“It’s not just me. Outlaw Chima, Blue Moon Watia, Guileless Tony, Lion Kampen… Many other pirates also grew up under her. There are even more if you include the kids who didn’t grow up to become pirates.”

“No, but why…?”

“Otherwise, we all would have followed our parents.”

Seeing how Deb perked up his ears and tail, it seemed he didn’t expect that answer, either.

I felt similarly. If not for the fact I was trying hard to pretend I wasn’t interested in any of this with my eyes closed, I would have found it hard to manage my facial expressions.

“To explain this, we’ll have to go back forty years… After the Zombie Outbreak was resolved forty years ago, the Yabad region was flooded with orphans, right? Parents evacuated their children first, after all, so a quarter of all survivors were children. Jacrati’s situation wasn’t any different.”

“Ah, so?”

“Right. You might have guessed it already, but Pion was the one who took the initiative to solve this problem. She couldn’t bear letting all these children die, so she took them all in.”

However, he wasn’t done with his story yet. Windhand leaned back.

“Because of her actions, she was deprived of her position as successor… Ah, she wasn’t yet the Lord at that time. The former Lord was greatly opposed to Pion’s charity work.”

“…So, he deprived her of her status.”

“Correct. Not only that, but he also cut all his support and kicked her out of the castle.”

“Wait. Then how did she manage to feed and clothe the kids…?”

“Pion got those things through her own efforts, of course.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“How many kids were there?”

He waved his hands at those words. Had there been any alcohol around, he probably would have opened a bottle right around this time.

“That’s why my brothers and I became pirates. We watched our benefactor work herself ragged, doing all kinds of dirty work, growing thinner by the day, yet the money was never enough. To make matters worse, the number of orphans kept increasing rather than decreasing… So, what could we, who only knew the sea, do?”

“…Did the Lord approve of your actions?”

“Are you crazy? She was absolutely against it.”

Sadly, there were no cigarettes in this place. It had been a long while since I had the urge to smoke one, but listening to these things with a sober mind was incredibly frustrating.

“The day my eldest sister returned with money earned through piracy, Pion kicked her out, saying she shouldn’t even dream about showing her face again until the day she died. That day was the first time she emptied a whole bottle of alcohol in front of us. Usually, she wouldn’t even drink cold water before us.”

“…What about your older sister?”

“Pion is a woman who rarely goes back on her word. She really didn’t look at her again until the day she died. My brothers who later became pirates were treated the same. Ah, of course, she personally held their funerals, though. As is common with us sea dwellers, most didn’t even leave a corpse behind.”

“Then why did you still decide to become pirates?”

“I told you. We couldn’t do anything other than that because we hadn’t learned to do anything else. Well, the Lord did try to teach us, but… honestly? It was just faster and a lot easier to grab a sword and go out on sea than learn how to write in a stuffy room.”

I was even tempted to drink some alcohol, which I didn’t even like that much. Usually, I would rather crack my head with a bottle than pour alcohol into my stomach.

“Of course, I’m not saying what we did was good. But, you know, I grew up watching my brothers with blood on their hands secretly coming to us in the dead of night to leave behind some meat, vegetables, and other daily necessities for us to eat. And when I became old enough to go to sea, there were still so many kids younger than me around. So, what was I supposed to do? If that dirty money could protect my family, I felt I had no choice but to take it, even if it meant getting criticized by that very family.”

“…”

“That’s also why the Lord… doesn’t take our favor. She’s no idiot. It wasn’t like she didn’t know it was us, who had become pirates, leaving all these things behind for them. However, even though she knew, she had no choice but to take the supplies. If she didn’t, the children would die. Although she felt miserable about this, she tolerated it.”

“…I guess she considered this a debt.”

“Yes. That’s why when she became Lord, she allowed privateering, which was very much out of character. She said she couldn’t bear to stop the children who’d grown up to become like this due to her generation’s failures. Of course, most of today’s generation of pirates grew up receiving welfare…”

Windhand laughed slightly at that moment. “Thanks to that, we don’t even have to pay taxes to Jacrati,” he said. It wasn’t even particularly funny.

“That was pretty long, huh…? Anyway, that’s why I’m trying to pay her back. She still seems to think she owes us… However, it is we who owe her.”

Ah, I was about to go crazy.

I could barely resist wildly scratching my head in frustration. Anyway, this story really, really, really stimulated my conscience.

I had to somehow think about how my character would react, but before that, I had to get my body back under control.

“So please, I… can’t we just give you those ten million Gal instead? It doesn’t matter where the money comes from, right? She has so much more use for that money. Unlike us.”

I-I know, but the character break, the character break…!

“So, erm, Mister…?”

“Please.”

My desire not to break character overcame my conscience…!

“So.”

As for that money, I was okay with not getting it. I was never a money-hungry person to begin with, so why did they expect me to collect a reward from people whom a horrible disaster had just struck?

However, the only reason I couldn’t just tell him, ‘Yeah, whatever, you can just give it to me,’ was because it was a serious character break.

“I definitely recall telling you quite clearly that your devotion has nothing to do with me. Don’t involve me in your affairs.”

I had no idea if there was any way to help them without breaking character, but I couldn’t risk it by fulfilling his request. After all, dams tended to collapse because of small cracks, not big holes.

Rustle.

Was it just me, or did that bundle of blankets behind Windhand start shaking?

* * *

* * *

“We have arrived.”

I stood on the boat, listening to the shouts of Windhand, who was acting rather awkwardly—more business-like—ever since yesterday.

As we got closer, Jacrati looked much better than when we’d left. There was no more smoke rising from flames, and most of the burnt-down buildings had been demolished or were under repair.

“People will probably cheer when you get off, so don’t be too surprised.”

Furthermore, the port was full of people holding flags and handkerchiefs.

If one didn’t think of the words “overcame crisis” when looking at them, one would be too much of a realist.

“It’s not over yet, but the people seem to think it is.”

Or maybe too principled, like the Inquisitor.

“You’re not wrong, but haven’t they already overcome the greatest hardship? That’s what this event signifies. It gives them hope that since they’ve now overcome the greatest hurdle, they can easily overcome the rest. It’s to boost their morale.”

“Ah, I understand. Then the reason they asked us to march through the city…?”

“Of course, it’s because of that.”

Still, I was glad the Archmage was back. Someone who could explain all these things was finally with us, though he’d left out a lot to fit the Inquisitor’s perspective better.

“I wonder if I can even be included in that, though.”

I’d been traveling on land for a while now, so the motion sickness I had right now was no joke.

I barely held back my upset stomach and listened to what Deb had to say. Anyway, that guy also tended to undervalue himself.

“How could you be left out? You were the one to save the Hero.”

“Urgh, that’s…”

And I almost killed that Hero.

At that moment, I stepped away from the ship’s railing. I went down to the ship’s lower level, crunching sounds coming from under my feet.

My goal was my assigned room.

“Where are you going? You’ll have to come back up again soon.”

The Archmage voiced his doubts. It wasn’t such a strange question to ask since disembarking the ship required me to remain on the deck.

“Demon Knight?”

However, I wouldn’t be participating in the victory celebrations. I didn’t want to because it was too burdensome and also didn’t fit my character settings.

So, the others could just eat their heart out. I would wait and get off when the people in the port were gone and quickly move along the street.

“…Surely you’re not thinking of skipping out on this, right?”

“I’m not some circus clown.”

It’s not like I didn’t want to march through the city because I felt like I was about to barf out my insides.

“That’s.”

The Archmage hurriedly followed behind me. He seemed to be planning to persuade me or something, but unfortunately, I wouldn’t change my mind.

Moreover, I had an invincible cheat key.

“Do you know how famous you are in Jacrati? If you skip out on this, the people will certainly be disappointed…”

Before the Archmage could talk any further, I grabbed my right arm and gritted my teeth.

I didn’t know whether he would interpret my actions as the Demon acting up again or me thinking I didn’t deserve to stand among them. Well, it didn’t really matter.

“…I understand. I’ll inform the Lord.”

Anyway, I successfully managed to get the Archmage off my back using this invincible guard technique. Hahaha.

I easily sent back the Archmage and locked the door behind him. However, before I could even feel any kind of joy from getting out of participating in something really bothersome, my motion sickness popped up again as if to remind me of its existence.

It had been a long time since I was put in this state. I felt like dying.

Knock, knock.

Who was it now? I heard some knocking from the door.

I’d already defeated the boss mob Archmage, the only one with a feasible chance of persuading me, so who…?!

“What?”

I tried to check who my visitor was while lying in the hammock. I sure as hell wouldn’t open that door. If they were bothered by that, they could just go!

“Demon Knight.”

However, the voice coming from behind the door was unexpected. I blinked. I thought he’d never talk to me again, so why had Windhand come to see me?

“The request reward has been prepared.”

For a moment, I didn’t understand what I’d just heard.

Why would I receive any reward from him… Ah! The matter with Vipurit and rescuing Jacrati were two separate requests.

The down payment had been so large that I didn’t even think about the full reward. Things had just changed so much from his initial request.

“I managed to raise seven million Gal, collecting some from here and there… would that be enough?”

Although he was speaking to me, it seemed Windhand was still upset, considering his tone was rather business-like.

It didn’t bother me too much, though.

Well, the money might be a bit lacking compared to the content of the request, but this sure wasn’t an amount a single individual, much less a pirate, would be willing to pay.

And that was even considering the penalty for not providing the archmage.

“If it’s not enough, I’ll get more, but it’ll take some time…”

“It’s enough.”

Crucially, this guy would run around helping his country in the future, so I didn’t want to extort money from someone like him needlessly. So, I just accepted the amount without question.

Also, my motion sickness worsened if I talked too much, so I definitely didn’t just take it because of a whim. Seriously.

As the victory celebrations started, I could hear loud cheers from outside.