◈ Episode 144. I Shall Personally Play Along
I could tell from the question.
‘She still hasn’t realized.’
The demon that had claimed to be the matriarch of House Simuard had been hunted down.
The terminal curse and the status ailment should both have disappeared.
But Velliere seemed unaware of it.
Reality and the Arcana Continent.
Was it because the two worlds could not be connected without passing through a rift? Well, if not, then since the effects of the status ailment had been faint, the backlash upon its removal must have been slight as well.
Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter.
The moment I mentioned her name—Yula Simuard—
she would come to know the whole story, just like the servants of House Simuard.
But was there any need for that?
Of course, that included Marcelo as well. Even if he learned the truth now, nothing would change. Why hadn’t he noticed? It would only deepen his guilt.
As a demon hunter, I knew.
Demons were the kind who would exploit even a human’s regrets.
So simply keeping my mouth shut should have been the best course of action.
And yet this damned pride of mine refused to let it pass.
“I was not done in. I have returned after hunting millions of demons.”
“……!”
At my shameless boast, Velliere flinched.
After all, my purpose in entering the Arcana Continent had always been to find a clue to undoing the terminal curse.
Velliere’s rolling green pupils widened.
“Millions……! Oh, dear! In my concern for Chief Marcelo, I overlooked it for a moment. The Arcana Continent could not possibly have been safe. Then that blood on your clothes must be yours, Chief Lee Hoyeol……!”
Velliere immediately drew up her mana.
“You must still have wounds remaining, yes? Thanks to the holy relic of the Goddess Church you gave me, I was able to care for Marcelo until now. Please, will you grant me the chance to repay your grace?”
A holy relic of the Goddess Church?
Ah, she meant the [Ceremonial Robe Tainted by Evil].
Once it was purified through the exorcism ritual, its true name and effect had been revealed.
[Silken Robe of the High Priest of the Goddess Church].
As if a level requirement of 700 weren’t enough, it even had the additional restriction that only someone possessing a skill related to [Healing] could equip it.
I couldn’t use it anyway.
I’d handed it over in case it might be of help to Velliere.
Still, I was glad it had helped.
However.
“I shall accept only your sentiment.”
“Before the injury spreads, please let me treat you at once……!”
“No, I have no injury.”
Literally, there had to be somewhere injured first.
For someone who had died once, I had returned to reality terribly intact.
Velliere still seemed unable to understand.
Well, of course she would be full of questions.
‘Even by common sense, it’s a bit much.’
I had returned from the Arcana Continent after just two hours,
and first changed out of my blood-soaked, tattered clothes.
Yet strangely enough, I had no injuries.
What had happened to House Simuard, and how had I returned after hunting millions of demons? My actions could only seem questionable…… And Marcelo had awakened perfectly fine as well.
“……Haha.”
Was she laughing because she was dumbfounded?
If so, laugh as much as you like, Senior Velliere.
After making such a scene at the Round Table meeting, I had returned after two hours.
Whatever I had done, it was understandable that laughter would escape.
I shall specially permit roaring laughter.
But soon, Velliere’s hand went to her eyes.
She wiped away the tears gathered in them.
“……No. It does not matter, Chief Lee Hoyeol. Thank you for returning safely. And most of all, thank you for saving Chief Marcelo. No—Marcelo.”
Rustle—
Velliere bowed her head respectfully.
……
It seemed there had been no need to think of an excuse.
Well, what did the reason matter? What mattered was that Marcelo, the true chief of our Magic Tower, was safe. Having collected her emotions, Velliere spoke.
“Chief Marcelo is still resting in the private room.”
Shouldn’t I at least go visit him, even if belatedly?
From a moral standpoint, that thought did occur to me.
Yet I spoke coldly.
“I will confirm Marcelo’s condition at the meeting.”
“……By meeting, do you perhaps mean the Round Table meeting?”
“I do.”
That was right.
Because I had witnessed it.
The wretched state of the Arcana Continent with my own two eyes.
Now, let’s suppose.
There was no need to go as far as a high-ranking Demon King.
If [Laxioros, Overlord of the Western Demon Realm], or a demon of similar level, were updated into a rift right away? Just as it had always been until now, the world would be paralyzed by shock once again.
‘The demons’ activity hadn’t slowed because of the Demon Kings being crushed.’
What needed to be corrected had to be corrected.
The crushing of the Demon Kings had been nothing more than a “trigger.”
Including Decarabia, thanks to my hunting of four Demon Kings,
vacancies had opened among the seats of the Demon Kings.
And among the demons, it seemed a [War for the Demon King’s Throne] had begun to seize those vacant thrones.
—“If you do so, I, Laxioros, shall grant you the honor of participating in the War for the Demon King’s Throne alongside me as my equal!”
Yes, the reason the demons had been quiet
was because they sought the seats of Demon Kings.
They had merely been watching one another.
I had no way of knowing how the war would proceed.
However, there was one thing I could guarantee.
‘After millions will come tens of millions, then hundreds of millions.’
The calm before the storm.
Whether the war began or ended,
the moment some incident occurred,
the demons’ offensive would become incomparable to before!
Yes, this Round Table meeting was to prepare for that.
However, this complicated situation—
I could not explain it to Velliere in detail.
So I had no choice but to summarize it in a single line.
“At last, the time has come for the Magic Tower to move.”
“……!”
Of course, I too had to move quickly.
As I said, this was not something that I, nor even the Magic Tower, could handle alone. In other words, it was time to use authority after a long while……. No, “authorization.”
*
His mind was perfectly clear.
Yet Marcelo lay in bed, quietly tucked beneath the blanket.
Absolute rest.
It was because of Velliere’s earnest insistence.
Beyond the door came a conversation he could not ignore.
“Truly, truly, thank goodness. Sob.”
“……Senior Bangrit, isn’t crying a bit too much?”
“Bensch William, are you one to talk?”
“Huh? What did I do?”
“Pressing your ear right up against the private room door, making such a fuss……!”
……
Had they been in the kind of relationship where chiefs and seniors worried for one another?
‘It still feels unfamiliar.’
Marcelo smiled faintly.
Still, it wasn’t as though he couldn’t understand the change.
After falling into the world of adventurers, the Magic Tower had gone through so many incidents.
“I suppose they made even those of us bound by competition unite.”
“You are correct, Chief.”
“……Oh, Senior Matisse? I didn’t realize you were here.”
As expected, was he not the senior of black magic for nothing?
In the corner of the private room,
Matisse, who had been sitting in the shadows, answered Marcelo’s mutter.
Marcelo carefully raised himself up.
“Wouldn’t it be better not to overdo it, Chief Marcelo?”
“It is not overdoing it.”
Marcelo smiled awkwardly.
“I’m so perfectly fine that lying still feels embarrassing.”
“Then I am relieved.”
“By the way, where is Senior Velliere?”
“She said she had somewhere to stop by and stepped out for a moment.”
“Ah, is that so?”
That the terminal curse had vanished—
Marcelo could not even imagine it.
After all, he had collapsed unconscious as if a film had been cut.
“It seems she suffered a great deal because of me……”
At most, he could only guess that Velliere had poured her efforts into treating him.
Matisse closed his mouth.
Then he recalled the conversation he had shared with Velliere
just before Marcelo woke.
—“……It seems he has already grasped some kind of clue!”
—“The pattern of the curse is disappearing.”
—“……I can’t believe it.”
Everything had happened before the sun even set.
Matisse’s mind was filled with question marks.
What kind of clue had Chief Lee Hoyeol grasped in the Arcana Continent?
How much had he known before deciding to enter the continent?
However, Matisse kept silent.
Whatever it was,
it was not news for him to deliver with his own mouth.
“Ah, come to think of it, did Chief Lee Hoyeol enter the Arcana Continent as planned? No, before that, Senior Matisse. For how many days was I unconscious?”
……
A pure expression, knowing truly nothing.
How was he supposed to answer this?
Should he honestly say that even half a day had not passed?
“Judging by the fact that there isn’t the slightest fatigue left in my body…… I must have lost consciousness and slept for at least five days. Ah, this is not the time to be lying down like this……!”
I have to handle the piled-up work……
Watching Marcelo mutter, Matisse pressed a hand to his forehead.
Not even a day had passed, so there was no way any work had piled up.
“Um, Chief Marcelo. That work is……”
Of course, Matisse’s dilemma did not last long.
Clack—
Velliere had returned to the private room once more.
“Chief Lee Hoyeol has returned.”
Along with unexpected news.
“……R-Returned, you say?!”
A commotion came from the slightly opened crack of the door.
Bensch’s twitching lips were visible.
Soon, voices full of questions followed.
“Wait, Chief Lee has already returned?!”
“He told us to believe in him, so I didn’t doubt it…… but even so, this quickly?”
“Then Chief Lee is in the Magic Tower right now?”
Even Matisse, who normally would have been appalled by Bensch’s fussing, remained silent.
More than anything else, news regarding Chief Lee Hoyeol took priority.
Only one person reacted differently.
“……What do you mean, he has already returned?”
It was Marcelo, whose sense of time had grown hazy.
Velliere exhaled and steadied her breath.
As for what had happened in the Arcana Continent, Chief Lee Hoyeol, the person directly involved, would surely reveal it at the Round Table meeting……
“Chief Lee Hoyeol said this.”
There was only one thing Velliere could tell them.
“He has returned after hunting millions of demons.”
“……W-Wait! Wh-What did you say?”
“M-Millions?! My ears are wrong, aren’t they? Right? Senior Velliere!”
Crash—
Now the senior mages flung the door open entirely and barged in.
Before everyone, Velliere declared it clearly once more.
“No. You heard correctly. In a mere two hours or so, Chief Lee Hoyeol hunted millions of demons on the Arcana Continent and returned safely to the Magic Tower.”
“!!!”
Did that make any sense, either logically or magically?
The strongest armed force on the Arcana Continent.
Shock settled over the faces of the Magic Tower’s chief and senior mages.
*
The Yusra Kingdom, Frost, the Holy Land Muon.
There was no need to distinguish between regions.
Now that the activity of demon-type monsters had quieted down,
wherever one went, it was packed with players.
“I told you. As long as those demon bastards aren’t around, it’s manageable.”
“Seriously, before I sleep, I mutter Homen, Homen.”
“Ah, by the way, what happened to Skal?”
Even after rolling around in rifts suited to their level,
these were players who still had the energy left to chat like this.
Given the topic, the chatter did not end easily.
“Well, since the people involved haven’t said anything, it’s only speculation. But would he dare budge? We’re talking about Lee Hoyeol. Even speaking politely and respectfully wouldn’t be enough.”
“Right? He didn’t even use his name, he called him the Evil Dragon Hunter!”
“But Skal’s stubbornness is no joke either. If it were me, I’d say I misspoke last time, I’m sorry, I’d like to have a proper conversation again. I’d back down at least a few steps.”
It was not a pointless battle of pride.
Hoyeol was connected to Skal’s hidden class, [Dragon Knight].
That was why Skal had clearly shown himself in an official setting.
Which made it even harder to understand.
“Is this really the time to protect his pride when even begging wouldn’t be enough? I don’t get it.”
“But isn’t it strange?”
“What is?”
“Skal, at a glance, he’s obviously an attention seeker. How did he live quietly until now?”
“Ugh, now you’re reading faces too? Instead of studying Skal’s face, how about you look at the monsters’ faces properly? Earlier, the aggro bounced and came to me……”
Of course, what mattered to players more than public gossip was the experience and items before their eyes. For that reason, the players had no choice but to focus all at once.
Ding—
The bell rang, announcing the hour.
Bwooo—
At the same time, the sound of trumpets rang out.
And all at once in the Yusra Kingdom, Frost, and the Holy Land Muon.
The players looked at one another.
The bell was one thing, but trumpets were sounding……?
It was a rare occurrence.
No, since the Cataclysm, it had never happened even once.
It was only natural to realize it instinctively.
“……Hey, something big is coming.”
“Brothers. Looks like something’s about to pop up.”
“Damn it. What is it, what is it?”
Gulp.
Bwooo—
The longer the trumpet call continued, the greater their anticipation grew.
Hadn’t someone said it time and time again?
The greater the anticipation, the greater the disappointment.
“……!!!”
But not this time.
As much as their expectations had grown—
No, a development unfolded that far surpassed those expectations.
In the most intuitive way possible.
A message appeared before the players’ eyes.
[Quest: The Unending Holy War]
“……Holy shit, what kind of quest is this?!”
At a glance, it was no ordinary quest....
The Yusra Kingdom.
The Golden Round Table.
I looked at those seated there.
Hakuna, King of Yusra.
Harkon, acting lord of Frost.
Talim Evere, commander of the Holy Knights of Muon.
“At last, it begins.”
“The holy war. I have been waiting only for this day.”
“May the Goddess’s blessing be with us.”
Their gazes, filled with solemn resolve, all turned toward me at once.
Hundreds of millions of demons, was it…….
Shouldn’t we at least match them in numbers before we begin?