Chapter 18 - The Hero Who Saved the Estate
Translator: Dusky90
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: The Hero Who Saved the Estate
Otto finally came to his senses the following afternoon.
The immense aftereffects of using [Kairos' Punishment] had overwhelmed him, leaving him completely exhausted.
“Ugh...”
Otto opened his eyes.
“Are you awake now?”
Camille, who had been watching over him, smiled when Otto stirred.
“Where am I?”
“The Lord’s bedchamber.”
“Bedchamber…?”
Otto sat up and started looking around.
“Why am I in the bedchamber...?”
“Huh?”
“Right! What day is it today?”
Otto sprang up from the bed in alarm.
“What about Condor? Did Condor show up?”
“Don’t you remember?”
“Huh?”
“The Lord disposed of Condor, didn't you?
“Oh, did I?”
“Here, take this first.”
Camille handed Otto a warm cup of tea.
“Slurp.”
Otto accepted the tea, took a sip, and only after a moment’s pause did yesterday’s events finally come back to him.
‘Right. I remember now. I fought Condor. Ugh. Guess my memory went blank for a moment.’
Otto breathed a sigh of relief.
“But… why does it hurt so much here… Ugh…”
Otto clutched the back of his head and groaned.
Feeling around with his hand, he discovered a large bump on the back of his head.
“It seems you've suffered a concussion.”
“Concussion?”
“You told me to hit you with a poker, didn't you?”
“Ah.”
Only then did Otto understand why the lump was there and nodded.
“Ah. Right. That's how it was. So that's why it hurts so much?”
“Well, you did take a pretty hard blow to the head...”
Camille pointed at Otto's armor hanging on the rack.
Upon closer inspection, the back of the helmet was badly dented.
If a helmet made of plated metal could be dented like that, it was easy to imagine how hard Camille had whacked the back of his head with the poker.
“No.”
Otto frowned in disbelief.
“You hit me hard enough that my helmet got dented?”
“Uh…?”
“Were you trying to kill me all along?”
“No w….”
“What do you mean No?!”
Otto growled.
“You took the opportunity to hit me hard!”
“Absolutely not.”
“But the helmet got dented like that? Huh? Looks like you were aiming to smash my head open, right?”
“Given the situation, I had no choice…”
“So you hit it so hard the helmet got dented!”
“...I'm sorry.”
“Honestly, you intentionally slugged me harder, didn't you?”
“No.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t lie. Be honest, didn’t you put some emotion into that?”
“No I didn't.”
“Feels like you put some emotion into that…”
“I swear.”
“Hmm.”
Otto glared at Camille, suspicion evident in his expression.
“I'll give you a pass this time.”
"....."
“I’ll play alongm, so you play along too.”
"....."
“They’re just waiting for a chance to rebel, I swear!”
Camille was frankly a little indignant, but considering Otto's accomplishments, he didn't argue.
Otto had achieved remarkable results.
Condor had returned as a fearsome monster.
He fought the monster to the death, and won.
Despite being a lord, Otto risked his life to defend his realm, so it's safe to say he's a better lord than anyone else right now.
So what if he gets a grilling?
Otto was the hero who saved the estate.
Unbeknownst to Camille, though.
In fact, Otto didn't just save the Orth Estate, he saved the entire world.
* * *
“Oh. Right.”
Otto looked back at Camille and asked.
“You got anything for me?”
“You mean this? I retrieved it from the Condor's remains.”
Camille pulled a black orb from his breast pocket and handed it to Otto.
[Notification: You have acquired the 'Orb of Fear' item.]
The Corrupted Condor was a boss monster that dropped the Orb of Fear, one of the three Orbs required for his Awakening.
This was one of the reasons why Otto kept Condor alive despite being capable of killing him.
“What are you up to?”
“I'll tell you about it later.”
“Okay.”
“Hand me the poker.”
“Here it is.”
Camille hands Otto the weapon that made the lump on his head.
“By the way, that fire poker... what is it?”
Camille asked.
“This?”
Otto smirked at the question.
"It's nothing special. Just something that helps clear your head."
“It clears your mind? That fire poker?”
“Yeah.”
Otto nodded his head.
"It's basically a cure-all for things like mind control… really handy in a lot of situations."
This fire poker had been among the furnishings in the lord’s bedroom of the Ort Territory, and at first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary fire poker.
But in reality, it was hiding a special effect.
[Awakening Poker]
A poker that helps you come to your senses.
If you get hit on the head with this poker, you snap to your senses.
Category: Blunt Weapon (Poker)
Grade: Unique
Durability: 487/500
Attack Power: 1
Magic Power: 0
Additional Effect: None
Special Effect :
-[Awakening] Dispels charm, brainwashing, hallucinations, intoxication, sleep, and similar effects from the target.
-[Where am I? Who am I?] Has a 1% chance of causing a concussion.
Caution: Use appropriate force—too hard a hit could accidentally crush the target’s skull.
The [Awakening Poker] was one of the items he found while scavenging around the map.
Impossible to clear the game with Otto de Scuderia?
That’s half true and half false.
It’s nearly impossible, but if you figure out the right method, beating it isn’t out of reach.
By making use of the hidden objects, items, and backstories scattered throughout the map, it was actually possible to clear [Territory War] with Otto de Scuderia.
They are just harder to find....
‘The answer is always close by, though it’s easy to overlook.’
Otto smiled as he thought that.
“Now I understand why Your Majesty insisted on using the mace.”
Camille said to Otto.
“If you'd almost had your body taken over by the entity in that mace....”
“Even this poker wouldn't have been able to bring me back to my senses, since they're strong, Elder Brother. I don't think the likes of us could stand a chance against them.”
“Thank you for thinking well of me.”
“It’s an objective evaluation.”
Otto smirked.
Despite Camille being a bit annoying at times, his skills alone placed him as the best knight in all four realms of Lota, Sorun, Racene, and Orth.
With enough experience gained, he could potentially awaken as a Hero Unit.
“What about the mace?”
Camille held out the crate containing [Kairos' Punishment] to Otto.
“Leave it here for now. I'll be needing it for a while.”
“Okay. But....”
“I know. I'll be careful.”
Otto was going to be careful with the [Kairos' Punishment].
Why?
Because he didn't want to have his body possessed.
* * *
That night.
- Open your eyes.
“Mmmm... just... a few... more... minutes...”
- I said open your eyes.
“I'm too tired....”
- You trash!
“Trash...?”
Otto woke up to the sound of someone cursing at him.
But when he looked around, his room was completely empty.
“What the hell... Is this the after-effects of having a concussion....”
Then.
- Where are you looking?
He heard the voice again.
"Wh-Who’s there?!"
Otto jumped out of bed in a panic.
But no matter how much he looked around, there was no one in sight.
‘Are the aftereffects of the concussion this severe? Or… am I going senile?’
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
*Shake* *Shake*
The [Kairos' Punishment] inside the box was vibrating faintly.
"Wait… did you just call out to me?"
- Then is there another piece of trash here besides you?
"What did you just say?"
Otto scowled.
“Trash?”
- If you’re not trash, then what else could you be?
"This bastard’s really lost..."
Otto’s eyes blazed with anger.
Character.
Sure, Otto de Scuderia was trash, he could admit that a hundred, a thousand times over.
But gamer Kim Dojin was not trash.
"Who the hell are you to call me trash?"
- Someone with such miserable physical skills like you… what else could you be but trash?
“Do you think I wanted to end up like this? Damn it!”
- Shut up! Quietly hand over your body!
“Did you leave it with me or something? Huh?”
- Honestly, someone like you is just wasting oxygen by staying alive. Now hand over your body as tribute to me...
“This bastard.”
Veins bulged on Otto’s forehead.
“Damn it.”
To express his anger, Otto smacked [Kairos’s Punishment] with the [Poker of Awakening].
*Clang!*
A sharp metallic ring resounded as the poker struck the mace.
- Aaaaaaaaaah!
Kairos’s scream rang out.
"Huh?"
- You… you damn bastard…!!!
“This works?”
- How dare you strike me….
“Will it work again?”
Otto swung the poker and struck the mace once more.
- Ack!
Right after, Kairos’s scream echoed through the air.
The [Poker of Awakening] was an item that jolted its target’s mind awake.
In short, it didn’t deal physical damage—it inflicted mental damage instead.
And that mental damage appeared to inflict quite a bit of pain on Kairos’s soul residing in the mace.
"Yeah, you picked the wrong guy to mess with."
Being woken from sleep was irritating enough, but being insulted as trash right after—there was no way he’d take that well.
Otto rolled up his sleeves and started whacking the mace over and over with the fire poker.
*Clang!* *Wham!* *Smash!* *Clang!*
- Aaaackh!
- Ugh! Aaah! You damn… uaaaah!
- P-please… just stop!
Otto continued punishing Kairos until he was practically begging with his hands and knees.
“Just this once, I’ll let it slide.”
- Ugh....
“Try waking me up again while I’m sleeping. See what happens.”
= Y.. You...!!!
Kairos was furious, but fearing another beating from Otto, he held back from further insults.
“If you were going to die, at least do it properly. What are you doing clinging to the mace like that? Pathetic.”
- This guy… do not insult me…
“Insult? I don’t think someone sticking around out of fear of death has the right to say that.”
- I’m not scared of the afterlife!
“Then why are you sticking to the mace instead of moving on?”
- I'm just filled with resentment and a sense of injustice.
"If you're dead, you should just let it go and move on."
- What do you know to be talking like that!
Kairos snapped in anger.
- How could someone like you possibly understand this grievance and pent-up resentment!
"What grievance?"
Otto scoffed.
“What have you ever done correctly?”
- Huh…?
“Right. You became Emperor and went around torturing and killing people, didn’t you?”
- What are you talking about?
“You even killed women and children with your mace. Then you went insane and reportedly even ate human flesh, right?”
- What kind of nonsense is that?
“Hmm…?”
- What kind of crazy person would even think that!!!
“My ears are about to burst.”
Otto scowled and said.
“So now you’re trying to deny it after all that?”
- I’ve never eaten human flesh! Not even a bite! And I never ruled with tyranny! Who did I supposedly torture or kill?!
“Stop lying.”
Otto didn’t buy Kairos’s words.
“It’s all recorded in the history books.”
- History books...?
“Didn’t you just pick all the bad deeds and get beaten up by Great Emperor Argonne?”
- Emperor…? Did you just call that bastard Argonne ‘Emperor’?”
“Yeah, Emperor. He defeated you, the tyrant, became Emperor, and eventually unified the entire continent.”
- What the hell… That damn Argonne actually gets called Great Emperor… and he smeared me with such a filthy, despicable accusation…
“False accusation…?”
- Being backstabbed by the one I considered a sworn brother is bad enough… but to have one's lifelong honor—more valuable than my very life—trampled into the dirt…
A tinge of gloom settled in Kairos’ voice.