Chapter 1 : Agnes Levadein (1)
Chapter 1 : Agnes Levadein (1)
Deltain Hebron.
He was a man with so many nicknames that one couldn't possibly list them all.
Looking at a few of the representative ones, they were like this.
The First Demon Hunter.
The Father of Magitech.
The Seventh Archmage.
And, the Hero.
They were all nicknames bordering on fantasy, but not a single one of them was false.
For Deltain Hebron was a living legend who, about five years ago, slaughtered all the demons that had torn through dimensions and crossed over, even annihilating the Demon King.
Some said.
That he must be an angel sent down by the gods of heaven to prepare for the demons.
Or perhaps the successor who inherited the will of the vanished dragon.
Or if not that, perhaps a traitorous demon who hates demons.
But if one were to ask Deltain himself, the answer would be different.
The words Deltain Hebron would use to define himself were the most important secret he had to hide for the rest of his life.
'Fucking game.'
He was a castaway who had encountered this world as a game, and then been sucked into it.
He was a stranger with a hometown he missed.
Where should he start?
The man who was now called by the name Deltain closed his eyes and reflected on the past.
[Evil Lore]
A game he started after an acquaintance told him to get a hobby while he was deep in work.
Thinking back, the reason it was a game in the first place was funny.
Would you believe that he started it after getting completely hooked by the provocation of the acquaintance who suggested the hobby: 'You'll never be able to beat this, want to try?'
In fact, that must have been the only mistake that drove him to this situation.
Falling for the provocation that he would never be able to beat it must have been the biggest mistake of his life.
A month of playing the game out of spite.
He cleared the game with surprising perfection.
At that moment, he was sucked into the game called [Evil Lore].
And that is how he ended up in this situation.
Deltain clicked his tongue, 'Tsk,' at the past that made his stomach churn even when thinking about it again.
'I already cleared the game. So why can't I go back?'
Being sucked into the game itself wasn't that big of a problem for him.
It was a game with quite a high difficulty, but since he had already finished the walkthrough, it couldn't be difficult even if it had become reality.
Using the interface that started flickering before his eyes from the day he was sucked into this game as a weapon, he cleared the game in such a short time.
Yet, he was still in the same place.
Deltain had nothing to do but vent his annoyance at the interface that was just displaying the screen.
All that increased day by day was his complaining.
Because that was the situation, he couldn't help but open his eyes wide at the sudden change.
"Fucking thi...."
<Starting update.>
"...ng?"
<Downloading files. 1%... 7%... 19%...>
3 years after clearing the game.
Because he had been so consumed by lethargy, he couldn't help but make a blank face at the change.
<...100% download complete.>
He couldn't help but spit out profanity at the reality that had descended.
<Starting DLC 'Eternal Contract'.>
"...What a load of bullshit."
What greeted him after 3 years of waiting was a DLC for the game that he had never heard of in his life.
*
<Collect the materials for the contract.>
Chambler's Dream (Complete)
Gaias's Heart (Incomplete)
Token of Endless Winter (Incomplete)
Deep Sea Jewel (Complete)
·
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Deltain scowled at the interface that appeared as soon as he opened his eyes.
Then, he blew a 'whoosh' of air to scatter it.
After getting out of bed, the next thing he did was nervously run his hands through his hair.
As his red hair, reminiscent of a blazing fire, was swept back, his golden pupils, which had been hidden until then, were revealed.
Deltain let out a deep sigh with a face plastered with annoyance and headed straight to the shower room.
Swaaaa-.
The cold water pouring from the showerhead pounded against his body.
He used it to wake up his mind and reflected on the past days.
-Another failure.
He recalled the woman's mockery.
'...It's been 3 months.'
It had already been 3 months since the DLC started.
That much time had passed since Deltain started the nonsensical quest to collect the materials for the contract.
There was no major progress.
Not knowing what this quest meant, the fact that the materials appearing on the interface were all unknown, and that this DLC didn't exist when he played the game could be reasons, but there was a separate reason that was the biggest problem for Deltain.
'Goddamn Demon Flower.'
Seed of Demon Flower Extrias.
It was the only material among those mentioned whose location he knew, and a material that he couldn't extract no matter what he did in-game.
Deltain was experiencing this slump because he failed to extract it.
<96 days remaining until the Demon Flower Extrias blooms.>
Demon Flower Extrias was a curse that parasitized the human body.
And it was a curse where the only way to remove it was to sacrifice all of the host's life force to make the flower bloom.
In other words, there was no way to extract it in the form of a 'seed' in-game.
Couldn't he find a way through various experiments?
It was impossible.
In this game, there was only one living host of the Demon Flower Extrias.
<Agnes Levadein's lifespan is decreasing.>
Agnes Levadein.
The legitimate daughter of Duke Levadein and the most beautiful woman on this continent, everyone's first love and a love that can never be fulfilled.
A woman 'set' that way.
<The Demon Flower's growth is accelerating.>
Deltain was in a situation where he had to extract the seed without a single mistake using the only specimen existing in this land.
*
The scenery of Tardan, the capital of the Empire, was strange.
To be precise, it was strange in Deltain's eyes.
Old-fashioned buildings reminiscent of a medieval city filled the entire city.
However, all sorts of products of civilization that didn't match it were lighting up the place here and there.
Streetlights, cars, and the suit from Earth, Deltain's hometown.
Deltain thought while looking at the scenery while sitting in the back seat of a luxury sedan.
'Did I make it for nothing?'
What is there to say.
All of this was the product of civilization that Deltain had created over the past 3 years after clearing the game.
Fitting the name Father of Magitech, he had overcome the boredom that had plagued him for the past 3 years by bestowing civilization upon this land.
'...No, if I hadn't made them, I would have been uncomfortable.'
Deltain closed his eyes.
The destination, the Levadein Duchy, was still a 20-minute drive away.
He had to make up for the lack of sleep due to an unpleasant morning.
"Wake me up when we arrive."
"Yes."
An elderly driver answered his words.
Deltain let the words drift by and fell into a short sleep.
*
He knew at once that it was a dream.
"What the hell, how am I supposed to beat this?"
It was because the face of the man sitting in front of the computer and spitting out profanity was so familiar.
Deltain let out a dry laugh at the face he hadn't seen in a long time and crossed his arms.
'This is new.'
It was his past self.
To be precise, himself before being sucked into this game.
Deltain walked over and looked at the computer screen he was glaring at.
[Demon Flower Extrias is blooming.]
[Agnes Levadein dies.]
What was displayed on the screen was a scene from the quest 'Memories of First Love', which existed as a sub-quest in-game at the time.
'Ah, it's a dream from when I was doing this quest.'
Agnes Levadein was on the screen.
True to the characteristics of [Evil Lore], which was basically a dot-graphic game, she, made of dots, was dead with a pure white flower blooming in the center of her chest.
Deltain scowled.
It was because the sight of Agnes dead like that reminded him of the mockery she had made the previous day.
-Another failure.
A bad-tempered woman who provokes the person helping her instead of being grateful.
That was the kind of person Agnes was in Deltain's mind.
Deltain suppressed the unpleasantness that had arisen.
Then he continued to look at the computer screen and sank into memories.
[Loading save file.]
'I once spent a lot of time on this quest.'
There was a time when he spent two full days out of the 30 days he played the game just on this quest.
True to the name 'Memories of First Love', it was a quest that appealed to love while saving a sickly woman.
For Deltain, it was a quest he challenged with the thought 'Maybe there's a hidden piece?' because of the extremely difficult difficulty for a sub-quest.
'I couldn't clear it in the end, though.'
Now he knew the reason.
'There's no way I could clear a DLC main quest in the main game.'
Thinking about it again, it was a composition where the malice of the creator felt too strong.
'They shouldn't have put it in the main game in the first place.'
Complaining was inevitable.
'Memories of First Love' was a quest that started when the player met Agnes and accidentally awakened the 'Demon Flower' dwelling in her heart.
It was a penalty-ridden quest where if you didn't clear it within the time limit, Agnes would die and you would have the big shot Duke Levadein as an enemy, and as such, it was a quest that made you expect a reward.
If you clear this, I'll give you something good.
They gave off that nuance, but then made it impossible to clear, so from the player's perspective, it was infuriating.
"Ah... another failure...."
The man in front of the computer wiped his face with his hand.
Deltain chuckled and mocked the man.
'Try as hard as you want, I can't even clear it, so do you think you can?'
While thinking such thoughts.
-Count, we have arrived.
Such a voice rang out in the space.
The scenery blurred.
The sensation of his body floating lightly came to mind.
Deltain felt a momentary daze, then soon woke up from his sleep.
*
The Levadein Duchy was located in the best spot in the capital.
If I say that if you leave the mansion and walk for 10 minutes to the left, you reach the Imperial Palace, and if you walk for 10 minutes to the right, you reach the luxury district, can you roughly understand?
The fact that the mansion was located in such a good spot meant something.
It was the size of the authority Duke Levadein possessed.
Above ten thousand, below one.
He was the Prime Minister of this country, in a position where such words were fitting.
And he was Deltain's client.
"I see Count Hebron."
The middle-aged gentleman with impressive blonde hair, Duke Levadein, bowed his head briefly.
Deltain received the greeting according to the aristocratic etiquette he was now used to.
"I see you, Duke."
"Thank you for your hard work again today."
"It's a request."
Duke Levadein smiled bitterly.
"...Even so, I must say thank you. You are the only one who found out what my daughter's illness is, Count. You are my only lifeline, so how could I treat you poorly?"
Deltain smiled bitterly at those words.
Because for him, the Duke's situation had a pitiful aspect.
'His only daughter has such an illness and there's no way to cure it, so he must be going crazy.'
The Demon Flower, which wouldn't have bloomed in-game if it hadn't met the player, suddenly started growing upon entering the DLC.
An extremely unfamiliar disease that no doctor or priest could identify.
It would be strange if he didn't feel sympathy for the Duke's situation, having no choice but to cling to him, the only one who recognized it.
"...I will do my best."
Deltain said that and entered the mansion.
Following the hallway he had become accustomed to, to the 3rd floor of the mansion, and from there to the room at the very end on the right.
In front of the room with the best view in this mansion, Deltain took a short deep breath and knocked on the door.
Knock. Knock.
"I'm coming in."
He didn't wait for an answer.
It was based on experience.
Deltain knew she wouldn't answer until the end to test his patience.
Swing-.
The door opened.
There was a woman with long, dazzling blonde hair.
"I didn't tell you to come in."
Cherry blossom-colored eyes turned toward Deltain.
Her eyes, with dark circles, folded into a crescent moon shape.
It must be a beauty that makes one breathless.
Deltain steadied his momentarily wavering mind and answered in an indifferent tone.
"So what?"