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

Chapter 41: Better Next Time (6)

“Why do you look like that, Mister?”

“He’s not injured, so don’t worry.”

After part of it was cleaved, the sea blackened. I seriously did my best not to throw up, but while I didn’t vomit, I went down like a wet rag.

“Then that is…?”

“That’s the only clue we could get.”

Still, the [Slash] I fired did its job. Although the Inquisitor’s barrier was consequently blown away, the attackers targeting our ship were also cut apart.

Furthermore, we managed to catch a glimpse of what was beneath the water…

“What… is that? A beast? A Demon?”

“That is something we will be trying to find out gradually from this point on.”

I still wasn’t sure. Did I really see something around the reef area, or did the water’s reflection just play a trick on my eyes?

However, there was one thing I could say for certain: from this moment on, if I was ever asked to board a ship, I would rather stay behind for a few days.

“Then will we remain here for longer?”

“I believe that should be the case, at least for now.”

I tried pretending not to notice the Archmage checking my complexion. The moment I became aware of it, I would have to act all vicious to fit my character, so I would be better off just continuing to feign ignorance. Especially now that I had no energy left.

I really hated feeling seasick.

How was it that even after I returned to land, my motion sickness didn’t go away?!

“Demon Knight, are you okay?”

I looked down at the kimchi dumpling, tightly pursing my cracked lips together—I bit on them too much.

Maybe it was because I hadn’t much time to consider my words due to my nausea. On the one hand, I wanted to reassure her and say that I was fine. On the other hand, I wanted to stay in character and tell her that she was annoying and should piss off.

“What difference would it make whether I’m okay or not?”

“…I-I mean, that’s also true, but…”

“Go away.”

In the end, my desire to stay in character won.

I thought telling her to piss off was a bit too much, so I tried to smooth it over a bit… However, after some consideration, the character I was playing should be moderately vulgar. It probably would have been fine if I told her to piss off, although it wasn’t anything decent from my perspective.

I suppressed the dizziness that overcame me and walked toward the forest. I honestly just wanted to lie down and curl up in a warm bed, but I feared that if I did after what happened on the ship, my image would completely shatter and evaporate into thin air without a single trace remaining.

And if that happened, I would be at risk of getting bludgeoned with a mace again. Sob, sob.

“Be back around evening!”

Whatever. This Demon Knight would just sleep in the forest, then.

* * *

“Let’s go to Grü Teltz right away.”

I was just about to go to sleep in the forest…

I had just found a good spot and lit some insect-repelling incense—they were part of the gift bundle I had received—but before my back could even touch my chosen rock, the Archmage, accompanied by Deb, spoke to me as they came to visit.

“I would normally ask you to rest for a bit, but this situation isn’t normal.”

“This might be on the same level as Tatara… No, it might be even worse.”

Was it fortunate I wasn't asleep yet? Or was I unfortunate, seeing how I wouldn’t get any rest?

Well, I was just glad that the motion sickness had let up.

“Is it Demons?”

“It might be something similar.”

Pull.

After hearing the Archmage’s answer, I extracted the Zweih?nder I had stabbed into the ground and tied it to my back.

“Guide me.”

Giving out some coercive and commanding comments like that was only a bonus. It had been so long since I could act like this, to the point that my eyes were becoming a bit wet.

Phew, I shouldn’t cry like this, though… I was… Before being the Demon Knight, I was also an adult, after all…!

I left the forest with that nonsense swirling around in my head. Just when I thought I preferred being up all night to riding a boat, it turned out I would actually end up doing both of those things in a single day.

“Now talk. I led you to the Demon Knight first because you said it was urgent, so why are we doing this?”

It sounded like Deb also hadn’t heard what all this was about, either. As we exited the forest, Deb poked the Archmage.

“Did I forget to explain? My apologies.”

“Don’t apologize, just spit it out.”

“Hmm. We should include the Inquisitor in this as well, so let’s have a proper talk after going back.”

Unfortunately, he delayed explaining the situation once more. I doubted he did so to tease us, but I still didn’t feel good about it.

There were two ways to infuriate people. The first was to just stop in the middle of talking, and the second was…

Well, whatever.

“Sir Archmage!”

Anyway, since I didn’t go too deep into the forest, we soon reached the beach. The Inquisitor was pacing in circles outside the village with five horses.

“I prepared as you told me to, but…”

“You did well. Let’s leave right away.”

“Yes.”

Perhaps knowing I didn’t have to make any preparations, the Archmage immediately pushed us to leave quickly.

The situation seemed to really be quite urgent. Even during the events in Tatara—of course, he didn’t yet know what was happening then—he didn’t move so urgently.

“Just what the hell is going on?”

“Something happened to the Sea Dragon.”

First, we all mounted our steeds and signaled them to move. The five horses started running along the road, shaking their heads.

“Didn’t you already speculate that was the case?”

“Speculation and certainty are rather different. Furthermore, it’s a lot more serious if the Sea Dragon itself becomes corrupted, don’t you think?”

“What?!”

“Are you saying… that the Sea Dragon got corrupted?”

The other two seemed awfully surprised by his words. I, on the other hand, felt somewhat relieved.

What could I say? I had been wondering whether Grü Teltz would end up getting attacked like the prior city, so I was relieved to hear that this was connected to the dragon.

After all, I had been preparing for that for quite some time.

Oh, of course, I didn't predict it would turn out like this because this scenario occurred in the original or something. Not to say that there wasn't anything similar in the game. Honestly, this was like the backstory for those Raids…

Was it something huge? However, the target was neither friend nor foe? Then, they would usually say it got corrupted or something that would lead to a Raid.

I was far more worried about my seasickness, though… However, could one prevent a Raid from happening once it began in a game? I had no other choice but to accept my fate.

“Look at that.”

As I was lost in thought, the Archmage freed one of his hands and took something out. It was an item with a bone-like texture and sharp edges at some sides as if it had been split apart.

“What is this?”

Since we were riding horses, the other two took the item and checked it one at a time. I didn’t really have to look at it since my conclusion probably wouldn’t change even if I did.

“It’s a dragon’s tooth.”

“A dragon’s…”

“And they were the things the Demon Knight killed earlier.”

I almost fell off my horse. Those teeth were those water lizards I had killed.

“The ones we saw earlier?”

“That’s right. They are more commonly referred to as Spartoi.”

Those teeth had turned into water lizards, or did the water lizards turn into teeth instead? I could somewhat understand that. I had come across a lot of similar settings, after all.

However, what I focused on was that those things would more than likely appear as mobs during our battle against the Sea Dragon.

They might show up in tight clusters around us during the boss battle or right before it.

The prospect of receiving dragon teeth by killing them was rather tempting, but it would just be annoying if they showed up like that.

“How did you find that out?”

“The moment I injected my Arcane Power into the corpses, they returned to their original form. That is a characteristic of Spartoi. I contacted the Magic Tower to verify it, so I’m sure.”

At that moment, the Archmage’s attitude changed completely as if the Spartoi themselves weren’t that important.

“However, Inquisitor, didn’t you claim to feel Negative Energy from them even though they weren’t Demons?”

“Yeah. I can feel it even now… Ah!””

“It looks like you realized… It could be that the Sea Dragon was consumed by Negative Energy.”

“Wait a second, does that mean… Are you saying that the Sea Dragon is the cause for all of this, Sir Archmage?”

“You’re right. Furthermore, if we don’t do anything, the entire West Sea may eventually be completely contaminated. That’s what it means for the Sea Dragon to become corrupted. However, the question is why it happened…”

Either the Demon Worshipers did something, or it just happened by chance through some mutation. I didn’t think it was that important, though.

How profound could a Raid possibly be, even if its setting seemed that way? There weren’t many people who even paid attention to these things to begin with. Well, I dug into these settings sometimes when working on a new character.

“Both the cause and its effect will disappear if we just kill them all.”

“…I’m usually rather wary of your extreme methods, but this time, I think you are right.”

The mage shook his head, his face calm.

“It would be best if we could Purify the Sea Dragon and return it to its senses, but depending on the degree of corruption, we may have to kill it.”

When he said that, the system window popped up, covering my view.

「? Corruption Washed Up from the Sea

? Find a way to approach the Sea Dragon

? Find and Purify the Source of Corruption」

Like that, I was able to verify it. Good. Whatever the cause, fighting the dragon would be the right call.

“Then we should speed up.” However, let alone fighting, how could I endure my extreme seasickness? Sigh, it seemed like my future self would have to go through many hardships.

* * *

* * *

The village chief said it took her son six days to reach the city. For us, half a day was enough as we were riding horses.

However, that didn’t stop the night from falling.

“As the situation is extremely urgent, I believe it would be best if we split up and moved out right away. Although I contacted the Tower beforehand, I will need to hear more from them personally for more details.”

As I listened to the Archmage, a thought came to my mind.

Thinking back on it, there wasn’t only a Temple but also a Magic Tower in The Legend of Heroes, right? But how come I couldn’t see one anywhere?

“So, I was thinking of going to the Magic Tower to ask for some reinforcement…”

“I will go to the Temple. Could you please give me a piece of the tooth?”

“Of course. Here you go, Inquisitor.”

I had no clue, and I also wasn’t in any position to ask right now.

As I shoved my questions away, I uncrossed my arms. Only Deb and I had nothing to do.

If I followed the Inquisitor to the Temple, I would obviously be mistaken for a Demon once again, and there was no way that Deb would voluntarily follow her.

Accompanying the Archmage to the Magic Tower would be meaningless.

Honestly, what would I even do there? He would go there to request reinforcements, so what use would my accompanying him have? I could just sit by and watch. It wasn’t like I was against observing and the like, but…

Ah, right. I should consider that the Archmage was also looking for sealing methods. If he wanted to find a way, would he really want to use the Temple? Of course not. He would use the Magic Tower’s research facility.

That was another reason why I shouldn't follow him: if I did, would he misunderstand my actions? Phew. I almost got into some serious trouble.

“You…”

Just because I had nothing in particular to do didn’t mean I wanted to listen to any of their instructions! I desperately worked my brain. It would have been so much easier if the system just gave me some instructions, but it didn’t even make a single sound at the moment.

So, what should I do? Well, what could I do…?!

“If you’re going to ask me to check the Adventurers’ Guild, don’t even bother to open your mouth. I’m the only one familiar with it.”

I was the only pure adventurer among us. Where else was I supposed to go other than the Adventurers’ Guild?

“Yes. Then please check that place.”

The problem was that I didn’t know what I should even do there. Was I just supposed to find out the trends? That couldn’t be it. Was I supposed to report this incident to the clerks there? That way, they could gather up some adventurers right away, right?

“Then I’ll follow Mister; this isn’t something the back alley guys can help with, anyway.”

“Get lost.”

“Are you confident you’ll be able to explain everything on your own, Mister Knight?”

Facts sure do hurt. I’d sure be thankful if he explained everything for me.

“Then let us split up and take care of our respective tasks. Ah, let’s gather at the Adventurers’ Guild after finishing our errands.”

“Yes! See you later!”

I glared daggers at Deb with the moonlight shining on my back as the Archmage spoke. Of course, Deb just whistled and casually looked away.

Anyway, I couldn’t win against the shamelessness of a thief.

“…”

Flutter.

Still, I couldn’t give up on acting cool.

I was the first to leave before any of the others even took a step.

“Wait, let’s go together.”

However, after taking a few steps, I realized something: this was my first time in this city, so I had no idea where the Adventurers’ Guild was located.

“But, Mister, have you ever been to this city?”

…I should have left Deb with the Archmage somehow! I stopped my eyes from shaking incessantly and quickly thought of how I should act now.

First, I could ask him why he was following me, and if he didn’t hear me tell him to get lost again. I hadn’t missed the timing yet. However, was he the type to actually go away just because I told him to?

Second, I could admit I didn’t know where we were going. That would be out of character, so I didn’t even consider it.

Third, I could say that I was lost in thought and went the wrong way. Was that the only path left for me…? Still, it would be better if I started with the first option and then tried the third.

“Hey, is that you?”

However, before I could even turn around and open my mouth, someone else kicked up a racket. Since it was already nighttime and only a few people were walking around, I couldn’t even consider ignoring that person, thinking we weren’t their target.

“Aren’t you the Demon Knight?! I never thought I’d see you here!”

“Someone you know?”

No, I didn’t know that guy.

I furrowed my brows and looked at the person approaching us. I might have seen him somewhere before, but maybe not. Still, I felt more like I didn’t know the guy. Who was he?

“Who are you?”

Why would my character act politely in this situation? Anyway, I asked him with a not-so-friendly attitude.

Rather than being surprised, the other person just smiled and laughed out loud. The mouth sandwiched between two long sideburns opened, revealing some yellowed teeth and a tongue covered in a white coating.

Sometimes… No, quite often, I was rather disgusted by the details of this game. Now was one of those times. Didn’t that old man know how to brush his teeth? I even bought expensive salt and some willow leaves to take care of my own every day.

Deb wasn’t really doing anything, but since I was the one taking care of this, he followed behind me.

“Can’t you remember? Well, it’s quite understandable on your part, but still, I’m a bit disappointed.”

It seemed we actually knew each other. I didn’t have any acquaintances here, though.

I narrowed my eyes.

“What? Didn’t you give us some medicine when we were trying to stop you from entering the sewer system in Tatara? I saw you there. And weren’t you also present when I explained things to the Archmage?”

Hmm, ah, aah. Aaah!

I finally remembered. Well, not completely, but I had some vague idea of who he was.

So, he was the one who got the antidote from me before being completely corrupted?

“Do you really know him?”

Deb asked me in a rather subtle way. Since he was of the Thief class, he was probably rather sensitive about these kinds of things. Thieves knew about camouflage and disguises and the like better than anyone in this world, after all.

“So, what’s your business?”

Instead of claiming to remember him, I continued to speak rudely. Deb should have roughly understood.

“I don’t really have any business with you. I just called out because I was happy to see you. Aren’t you my life’s savior? Oh yeah, did you get the gift? Some of us you helped out decided to gather some things for you. I just put in my part and left, so I didn’t hear about your next destination.”

Rather, this guy. Wasn't he a bit too talkative?

“Don’t worry, I saw him take it with him.”

“Oh, is that so? That’s good to hear. And you are…?”

“I’ve been traveling around with Mister Knight here for a while now.”

“I see. So, I’m guessing you aren’t going around with the Archmage and Inquisitor anymore.”

Deb should have seen my twitching lips and corners of my eyes—all acting, of course—as he reacted accordingly.

Of course, there was no need to tell this guy every detail, so Deb didn’t bother explaining our party’s current situation.

“Ah, my apologies. I’ve been holding you up. If you only arrived just now, you should be in quite the hurry to find an inn, right? Or are you looking for a bar?”

One second. Didn’t that guy know the location of the Adventurers’ Guild? How should I ask him about it without breaking character?

“If that’s the case, I can recommend some places.”

“Ah, that’s fine. We’re going to the Adventurers’ Guild.”

Deeeeb! Couldn’t you just ask him for directions now?!

“This late at night? Did something happen?”

“Well, something like that.”

“I see…”

So, in the end, there was no way to ask him for directions. I just turned around, swallowing my tears.

“Ah, wait. The guild moved buildings recently, so if you head to its old location, you won’t be able to find it. Can I guide you there?”

How could there be such a coincidence?

While I was thinking about how to get myself lost because I didn’t know the guild’s location, this guy I had helped before showed up and casually guided us. I didn’t even have to worry about my character settings.

“…Take the lead.”

The butterfly effect was the best!