Chapter 12: I Didn't Know (5)

Chapter 12: I Didn't Know (5)

I swear, I didn’t mean to break through the Archmage’s {Binding} chains.

No, I mean, I did, but I... I didn’t think they would break so easily, of course. Even if there wasn’t any difference in level between us, {Binding} should last for about two seconds.

Did they even change the Wizard’s skills in the remake...?L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

“Ehem... Calm down, you two.”

“But!”

“Inquisitor! Have your eyes been blinded by your hatred toward evil?!”

The Archmage’s shout made even my head ring. Of course, I still tried to act out my character, as it didn’t seem like he was too preoccupied with scolding the Inquisitor.

“Take a good look. Do you really think this young man has killed that man?!”

“But if he didn't kill him, the blood...! The blood...”

The Inquisitor closed her mouth when she saw the thief shaking in the middle of the hall. It seemed like she realized that she was mistaken once again.

“...He isn’t dead?”

She repeatedly opened and closed her mouth. In a way, it was kind of cute. It reminded me of a priest character in a script I once read, so I found her kind of... funny?

Huh?

I doubted my eyes for a moment. Why did the Inquisitor’s face seem so familiar?

When we first met, it was too dark to see anything, and I had been too immersed in roleplaying to notice how familiar she seemed.

“H-he’s really still alive...?”

I quickly scanned over the Inquisitor, who still seemed to be out of sorts.

Her hair was blazing red, contrasted nicely by her green eyes. Her hair was not too long, but a part had been loosely tied to one side.

If my memory served me right, she looked exactly the same as the representative image for the Priest used on the settings page. I was also pretty sure I’d seen her face dozens of times in the remake trailer.

“...You have seen the truth, so why must you say it over and over again?”

And the Archmage’s face... It was the same as the representative image for the Wizard: the distinctive animal features of the Shaggi race, and especially the aesthetic white lionesque appearance. I would never be able to confuse his face with someone else’s.

But what confused me was why the characters of other classes appeared.

After one selected a specific class in the original Legend of Heroes, only that character and not those of the remaining choosable classes would appear.

Since it had been an online game, one might encounter other players’ characters. However, none of the other classes appeared during the game’s plot.

In that case, was this one of the changes they’d made to the story? I mean, they were appearing before me far too often to be just passing NPCs. In a weird way, It felt like the game was trying to bind us together.

Right. Now that I thought about it, there were a lot of scenes with five people standing together in the Trailer. I had thought it was to avoid showing preference for a single class, but was it actually alluding to the plot?

However, in that case, were those people supposed to be my Companions...? We were always fighting, though...?

No, I mean. If I had known that, I would have acted a bit differently.

“...Please, explain this situation.”

As I concluded my thoughts as such, the Archmage spoke to me. It was quite fortunate I usually managed to organize my thoughts rather quickly.

“Are you really asking me to explain? Me?”

Just because I’d realized they were probably supposed to be my Companions didn’t mean I would change my attitude.

Of course, there had already been several games that broke when roleplaying led me to not get any party members, but there was no reason for me to stop now. The fun I felt right now was much more important than the difficulties I might eventually face.

Ahaha. Roleplaying was just too much fun. Really fun.

“...I know that neither the Inquisitor nor I have the right to demand an explanation from you. However, there are other people here, as well. How about you relieve their anxiety first?”

Inwardly, I truly admired the Archmage’s words. As expected, a sage was a sage, after all. I truly wished to learn from him, even at my age.

“...”

However, I saw no reason to just let this slide. I glared at the Wizard and pulled my sword out of the ground. I then kicked the trembling assailant still on the floor.

“You...!”

The Inquisitor tried to say something, but the Archmage was one step faster. He quickly came down the stairs and covered her mouth.

“Confess what you did with your own mouth.”

“H-help...”

“Do I have to repeat myself?”

Sigh, I felt like I was the villain here, even though I wasn’t. How thrilling.

“I-I was after his money!”

Fortunately, the thief spoke before the Inquisitor’s temper flared up again.

“When I saw you tipping that errand boy, I wondered if you were loaded or something...!”

“...!”

The Inquisitor’s face turned blue, and the Archmage sighed as if he already knew what was happening.

And here I was, surprised that the reason for this event was my tipping. I thought it was just a random plot point, or I was just that unlucky, but that wasn’t it.

“What’s with that fuss...!”

At that moment, someone carrying a torch came out to the front. It was the innkeeper who had checked me in earlier when I arrived.

Now even the Archmage was kneeling before me. I reflexively gripped the hilt of the longsword I was wearing around my waist.

“Sir Archmage!”

“I know, I have no right to say this, but please...”

“No, this is my fault! Sir Archmage has nothing to do with it!”

My heart felt gloomy, but this situation wasn’t all that bad. Thanks to that, I had found a hole to escape to.

Frankly, yeah. Even if my guilt was somewhat lessened because they were NPCs, cutting someone’s tongue out—because I didn’t say I would cut their throats or something—was really annoying.

I was pretty sure I would have to hold their tongue to cut it off, and I suspected this game had even included the feeling of spit and the like. No, I was more than certain of that. I could feel it in my mouth, after all.

Taking that into consideration... I really didn’t want to get other people’s drool on my hands. I wouldn’t even want that on my sword. That would just be disgusting and dirty.

“I most definitely gave you a chance. And yet it is you who chose punishment instead.”

I spoke as coolly as I possibly could as I approached them. I could hear the innkeeper holding her breath, and I could see the shoulders of the two kneeling before me tense up.

“Sir Archmage is innocent. This all happened due to my own stupidity. Please don’t lay hands on him.”

“No, this old man...”

Because they were acting like that, I felt like the ultimate Demon King. Should I give my next character a completely twisted personality?

But even this was a little too difficult for me because of my intense guilt. I mean, these NPCs being just too realistic made it even harder. If they just repeated the same thing over and over, I would have been able to clearly tell that there were only programs consisting of zeroes and ones, so I could attack them without hesitation.

I stopped right in front of the kneeling Inquisitor. The Archmage sighed as he lowered his head and bit his lip.

The middle of his forehead was thrown into countless wrinkles, seemingly caused by him forcing his eyes shut with all his might.

“...”

Mister, you shouldn’t make a face like that... No, rather than mister, at that age, he should be called Uncle. Anyway, this uncle's heart was very weak, huh?

Shiing.

I pulled out my Longsword, clenched my teeth, and pulled the Inquisitor by her hair. Grabbing it was quite easy, given that it was tied into a single braid.

“Urgh!”

Did I pull too much? The Inquisitor let out a pained groan from her slightly open mouth. Well, showing consideration to her now was useless.

I wasn’t a dental hygienist, nor was I remotely interested in looking into other people’s mouths.

Cut!

I cut off her red braid with ease.

I was worried that the system would count that as a 《Part Destruction》, but... I was lucky and succeeded.

Tak.

I dropped the braid on the floor. Red hair spread across the ground, reminding me of fallen rose petals.

I had cut while pulling it up, so the resulting haircut seemed a bit weird...

Well, let’s say that was the price of her life, so whatever. I even gave her a more balanced haircut.

I should just move on.

“...?”

As I was pondering over that, the young woman looked up at me with round eyes, seeming very pitiful and cute. I couldn’t show my thoughts on my face.

“Next time, it’ll be your neck, so when something like this happens again, think back to this moment and keep your mouth shut.”

Ah. Now that I thought of it, hadn’t the Demon Knight’s older sister been around the same age as her?

The cutscene had passed by my eyes so fast that I couldn’t be sure, but I remembered her wielding a mace, too.

Then, let’s just say that I softened after seeing my older sister in her in the end. I didn’t really aim for that, but half the fun of roleplaying was going with the flow. It fit well enough into my original setting.

Now if I just left like that, it would be the perfect ending. Great. Like a real wandering knight.

“You’re... letting me go like this...?”

“Ah, Heavens...”

Two voices, one sounding despondent and the other filled with relief, reached my ears from behind me. I felt a little proud at that, to the point of forgetting my recent shock.

“You!”

Lalala, I can’t hear you. I managed to keep the Priest alive. If the Wizard hadn’t knelt before me at the last second, I really wouldn’t have had any other choice but to cut off her tongue or head.

I couldn’t just ignore my character setting. My guilt toward her and my roleplaying were two separate things, okay?

“Inquisitor...”

There we go, that was good.

I leisurely left the street with the sounds of the Archmage stopping the Inquisitor as my background music. As I moved from the torchlit area around the inn, I was only greeted by darkness.

...Good.

So where should I go now?

While some minor problems happened, none of them were actually significant issues.

They had made this city's map so huge that there wouldn’t be just one inn in the whole post. If I were in a hurry, I could just leave the city at night and hunt.

And above all, I was wondering how Deep Sea Pearl would handle the next story event—and how they would manage to weave these NPCs into it. Inns would definitely be the best way to accomplish that.

This game was just too much fun. Wahaha!