First Promotion (2)
“Agh! Hey, don’t hit the same place twice—kgh!!”
“There are things a demon is allowed to do, and things a demon is not allowed to do!”
So.
Um.
Should I… stop them?
Violence was being exchanged between the supervisors. No, that wasn’t quite right—it was being carried out one-sidedly.
Because Elice was absolutely pummeling Tibar?
“A-a mature demon in juvenile form is actually more common than you’d think—”
“Oh, I’m sure it is, you fucking bastard!”
“Ack! Aaaagh!”
“Didn’t you see her crying?! Didn’t you see the look on her face in front of us? Who’d shove a child all the way to the front line, and into a place this horrible, for fuck’s sake! Why!”
No, I mean.
I’m not a child, though. I’m clearly an adult, and…
“Aaaagh! Hey! My arm! My aaarm!!! My arm is seriously going to break! It’s breaking!!!”
Uh…
“Just die!!”
…It was probably too late to explain myself now, wasn’t it?
I quietly edged away, putting some distance between us.
I didn’t want to get directly tangled up in that violence right now.
“Kyaaahhh!!!!!”
It was scary.
Very, very scary.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Phew, phew……. Oh my, Sister. I’m sorry. I made a scene, didn’t I? Fufu.”
“It’s, it’s fine.”
Before I even had a chance to explain that I wasn’t a child, the fight…? No, the one-sided beating came to an end.
…Or rather, I hadn’t even had time to explain. He’d literally been beaten within an inch of his life.
Elice, unlike her vicious expression from earlier, was now wearing a bright smile.
The contrast was so extreme that I found myself stumbling over my words, caught off guard by a fear I couldn’t quite suppress.
“I’m sorry for the late introduction. I’m Elice, serving as both priestess and supervisor in the Demon Realm Cult’s First Division.”
“R-right. But, um… is that person over there okay? He doesn’t look in good shape.”
“Oh, that man—no, that brother? He’ll get up soon enough. Given his race, something like that won’t kill him.”
He looked like human paste, except, well. A demon paste…?
“And again, I apologize for the disturbance earlier. I showed you an unsightly side of myself. Since we’re pressed for time, I’ll skip the administrative procedures and interview. Consider it my way of making amends.”
“Uh, is that… allowed?”
“Of course, Sister. In fact, for an F-rank promotion exam, the interview is mostly a ceremonial formality anyway, and this is well within our capacity to handle. Fufu.”
“Ah, then. Th-thank you?”
“Oh, don’t thank me for something so small.”
So this means I get to skip the interview—good, right?
There had been a bit of a commotion, but thanks to that, I think I’d calmed down a little. My heart, which had been pounding until a moment ago, was beating quietly again.
“Kuuuuu…”
I suppose all I can do is pay my respects to Tibar, who had become the sacrificial lamb.
“Then the combat assessment is next… if you don’t mind, could I have a brief talk with that son of a bitch—no, with my brother here? The criteria have created an exception, so I think I need to speak with him for a moment.”
“Ah, yes. Um, go ahead and talk as much as you want. I’ll just… go stand over there for a bit.”
“My, how kind. In that case, here.”
Elice reached into her robes, then held out her hand to me.
“Wow…”
On her palm were candies. Six of them, in fact—the same candies that cost two points apiece.
“Would you mind waiting a moment while you have these?”
“Ah, yes.”
For a second I nearly got lost staring at the candy, but I quickly shook myself awake and turned away. Whatever was happening, it was probably best to give them some space.
I was still a little scared, but she seemed like a good person. Of course, not just because of the candy.
She wasn’t human—she was a demon—but at least…
She was kinder than the intruders who came here, kinder than the people I’d met in real life.
“…If I’d met someone like that in the real world, would I have been different back then?”
In the way she could get so angry on behalf of a complete stranger.
She was more righteous.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“…Hah. All right, then. Let’s have a little talk. Hey. Get up.”
Looking after the girl as she returned to her quarters with the candy in hand, Alice turned her head and said that.
It was a cold, almost glacial attitude—utterly unlike the way she’d treated Kangkang a moment ago.
“…Urgh. I really thought I was going to die.”
In the Demon Realm, supervisors always worked in pairs. Not merely to keep personal judgment from creating victims.
“You’re a priestess, so why the hell do you hit people like that—”
“To beat the shit out of assholes like you. More importantly, you know this isn’t something you can wave away as a little ‘joke,’ right?”
“…I know. You saved my life. If the higher-ups had caught on first, my head would’ve been on the chopping block for sure.”
That was because the Demon Realm itself was ruled by a divided system: divine authority and royal authority, split down the middle.
“And you knew that, yet you were going to carry out the procedure anyway? What the hell gave you the confidence?”
“No, I—I have my reasons. Seriously.”
“Spare me the ‘reasons’ bullshit.”
Two powers, divided in half, checking and balancing each other. That was the government the Demon Realm had chosen.
“This is a blatant violation of rights, and it’s against the rules. What exactly were you counting on that made you think you could avoid even taking corrective action? No amount of backing is going to cover for this.”
The divine faction, as followers of the Demon God, judged by conscience and absolute good.
The royal faction, as followers of the royal house, judged by public interest and practical benefit.
And in the present situation, from Alice’s point of view, the one handling the divine faction in this review…
“This is something that should get the dungeon shut down entirely.”
…was wildly off.
Tibar sighed and flipped through the stack of documents in his hands. He looked as though he had no choice in the matter.
“I can tell you. But if I do, you’re going to have a headache.”
“A headache? What, are you the Demon King or something?”
“Higher than that.”
“…?”
“I said, higher than that.”
“…What the hell does that mean? Don’t tell me—”
“You’re thinking of the right thing.”
Tibar let out a sigh and held out the documents.
A photograph of a little girl, and beneath the paperwork, the seal of the approver who had signed it.
It was unmistakably the crest of the Demon King.
Only there was one thing slightly different about it.
“It’s an oracle from the Demon God. The person in charge of this appointment is…”
It was the Demon King’s seal, used in the role of conveying the Demon God’s revelation.
“…You mean that thing they’ve been doing since centuries ago? The Demon God’s special selective hiring?”
“Yeah, that.”
That was why Tibar had gone through the procedure without a shred of suspicion.
There was no way someone chosen by the Demon God could be ordinary.
“How was I supposed to doubt it? There hadn’t been a single problem the whole time it’s been in use.”
“…Then the Demon God made this choice? Hiring a child for the front line?”
But now that that obvious belief had been shattered…
They were in a situation they couldn’t simply brush off, and couldn’t just argue away either.
“Hah. No wonder I felt a kind of power similar to mine…”
“Probably the Demon God’s power. That’s why I said you’d get a headache, Alice.”
The scale of this was already beyond what a supervisor could handle.
And yet it wasn’t easy for a supervisor to object either.
“So, what’ll it be? Are you going to withdraw the review and file a formal objection? Or do we go ahead with the exam and just make some accommodations? Whatever you choose, I’ll help. Honestly, I don’t exactly like this situation either.”
It was an incredibly difficult choice.
But.
“…There’s no helping it now, damn it.”
“I figured as much. If it’s you, Alice, then of course. All right, I’ll notify the Gatekeeper and withdraw the exam—”
“Proceed with the exam.”
“Huh?”
At the very least, there was only one judgment she could make in this situation.
Under normal circumstances, she would have had to act according to the divine authority she represented.
“This is the front line. A battlefield for holding back those loathsome human bastards. What if something happens while we’re busy asking for bureaucratic approval?”
Unfortunately, the Demon Realm was already suffering from a long illness.
The illness of war.
A disease that cost everything and gained nothing.
“Judging by the dungeon level earlier, it definitely isn’t F-… but we don’t know what kind of bastards might come pouring in.”
“Then we proceed with the exam as is? We should at least raise her rank as soon as possible so she can get a little more supply, right?”
“Exactly. That’s the best we can do. As long as she’s alive, we can bring her back to the Demon Realm later or do whatever else.”
To contain an illness, efficiency had to come first.
Better to disinfect now, even if it hurt, than let the wound fester and burst open.
“File the objection after that. Use every possible means and get it done as quickly as you can.”
“…Right. Well. That’s the most rational decision.”
With apparent satisfaction, Tibar lifted the stack of papers again. Then, as if something had just occurred to him, he froze.
“Th-therefore. The rest of the procedure is still going as planned, yes?”
“Of course. Let’s finish this quickly and go. Time is of the essence—”
“Then… who’s going to handle the combat assessment?”
Tibar squeezed his eyes shut. The scene from before seemed to flash through his mind—the forest, where even a scan had required enormous courage.
Alice also stiffened. At least on this point, they had both seen the same thing.
What lay behind the seemingly innocent girl was something entirely opposite. Just thinking about it made their skin crawl.
And the most outrageous thing of all was… the bird sitting on the girl’s head.
Alice and Tibar did not want to face that thing as enemies. Under any circumstances, ever.
“…Rock, paper, scissors!”
And so, when the result of their clearly divided fate came down, Alice looked utterly devastated.
“Ah, wait. Hold on. Alice? Didn’t you throw a little late just now—”
“I-I’ll go in first and check the documents! Good luck with the exam!”
“Hey! Alice!! Alice!!!”
It was only natural that despair and hope would be split so cleanly apart.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
(Photo)
(Video)
The supervisor seemed to go easy on me a lot. He acted kind of like the intruders who came in last time, didn’t he?
└YouKnowThat: Am I like this because I’m a psychopath with no emotions? Seeing stuff like this makes me want to fuccckkkk (deleted comment)
└StreamOfShoals: lol that necromancer was acting all cocky and now look at him, serves him right. I just shut my eyes and scrolled down super fast (deleted comment)
└TakeTheSea: I only watched the end of the video, but what on earth did you have to do to make the supervisor leave with that look in his eyes…
└Author: Give it a watch. It’s fun.
└TakeTheSea: suddenly an intruder came so I think I need to go stop them nnnn
After I safely finished the promotion exam, reactions poured in just like always.
What exactly were those deleted comments? They always seemed to get deleted with surgical precision whenever I posted something.
“Even though the content itself wasn’t anything special.”
It was just the supervisor getting lost like an adventurer, seeing something, and then urgently ending the exam. That was all.
Though I suppose what he saw sitting on my shoulder was a certain chubby little bird, which might have looked pathetic to him.
Chirp?
“It didn’t even peck him.”
That, more than anything, was the weird part. If it had suddenly pecked him, I could at least have understood his reaction.
I don’t know why people were so shocked by such small things. Well, I passed, so maybe I should just leave it at that.
“…Come to think of it.”
As I let the thought go, something else surfaced.
Right after I entered, the enemy had invaded, and after that things had been so hectic that I hadn’t had time to think about anything else.
How do I get out of here?
Do I just keep doing promotion battles until I hit the highest rank?
Have the people who left already done that?
└StreamOfShoals: uh
└ThrowTheFirstStone: hmm
└TakeTheSea: shit right, you really were a total newbie
└donBug: wow now that you ask it like that, it’s kind of hopeless. How am I supposed to explain this?
How to get out of here—more precisely, how to escape this place and return to reality—was an extremely important question.
These people had surely fought tooth and nail for that goal…
“…Why can’t they answer?”
For some reason, there was no reply. Even though so many people were clearly reading my post.
It was as if they knew the answer, but didn’t want to say it.
Or as if there wasn’t a way out in the first place.
└RockIsRolling*: Uh.
└RockIsRolling*: Well, nobody has actually gotten out yet.
└Kangkang: Since when have you been here?
└RockIsRolling*: I mean.
└RockIsRolling*: Pretty long?
└ThrowTheFirstStone: I’ve been here about seventy years, lol
└StreamOfShoals: lol, what a newbie. Still haven’t hit triple digits?
…Why?
Why hadn’t they been able to leave for so long?
This was a game, wasn’t it? If it was a game, there had to be a clear condition for clearing it, right?
└Kangkang: Why haven’t you seen the ending yet? Doesn’t Seck also have an ending? It’s a packaged game.
└TakeTheSea: ha lol, it’s been a while since I heard someone say that.
└donBug: What the hell was that developer thinking, making a game like this lol
Why still unable to leave?
Why hadn’t they been able to return to the real world through all those long years?
└SaveMePlease: What even was the idea behind an online game that can’t be played multiplayer?
└TheDifferenceBetweenReasonAndReasonableness: You’re cooperating anyway, aren’t you lol
If you were dragged here, then there should be a way out. That would only make sense.
So why, for all those long years—
└RockIsRolling*: Well, there’s just no other way to explain it.
└RockIsRolling*: A way back definitely exists. The old admin checked into it years ago.
└RockIsRolling*: You just have to choose one of two options.
└RockIsRolling*: Option one is making the Human Realm irreparably screwed.
└RockIsRolling*: Whether it’s a guild, a magic tower, or a cult. Anything that poses a threat to the Demon Realm—anything that keeps them from ever reaching into the Demon Realm again.
“…What?”
It was an absurd condition. To make an entire world irreparably broken?
└RockIsRolling*: Just so you know.
└RockIsRolling*: It’s not impossible, okay? If you rank up more later, the concept of dungeon expansion shows up, and then we can even invade from our side.
└RockIsRolling*: The problem is, well. The Human Realm is a little. Vast.
Sometimes when I looked through the gallery posts, they were dealing with numbers that couldn’t even compare to the intruders I’d wiped out.
Hundreds, thousands of enemies. They must have been fighting battles like that for at least a few hundred years.
And yet the Human Realm still seemed to be standing strong. They were still facing that many enemies.
“Then why do they insist on this method? What is the other one, anyway…?”
But when I actually looked through the gallery, it felt like everyone lived for that alone.
Their obvious hostility was aimed at the Human Realm, not the Demon Realm. At least, regardless of their own race.
Even though it was nearly impossible. For some reason, that was the only thing they insisted on.
Why? Why would they choose such a difficult path—
└Kangkang: Then what’s the other one? Why don’t you choose the other option?
└RockIsRolling*: Well, this one is easier.
└RockIsRolling*: Defect to the Human Realm.
└RockIsRolling*: And annihilate the Demon Realm.
…
Oh.