Zugzwang (1)
The next day, Damian gathered all the goblin subjugation requests at the guild and was sorting them by scale and damage level to determine the order.
Originally, in the source material, he had simply thought he could rake in money with his strong companions, so he accepted every goblin subjugation request the guild had to offer.
“Hamel Plains, Blue Cliff Cave, northern Wailing Forest…. The goblins that appear in each region differ in both numbers and types.”
The wanted posters were stacked neatly on the table.
Damian recited the guild requests as if confirming whether the future he knew matched the present.
“Hamel Plains has goblin riders mounted on horses and other animals, while Blue Cliff Cave has goblin mages that absorb mana stones to cast spells…. There are certainly many difficult ones.”
“Goblins like that exist?”
“Yes. They didn’t originally, but new variants appeared once the Demon King began to stir. The Wailing Forest even has a goblin king.”
Originally, weak mobs like slimes or goblins were classified as the weakest monsters in fantasy games, often treated as nothing more than passing experience shuttles.
However, in this game world, under the premise that the Demon King was moving, even those mobs gained intelligence and split into different types.
Damian and his companions had originally overlooked this point. Believing themselves to be the hero party without a doubt, they set out to subjugate goblins only to suffer a crushing defeat at someone’s hands.
‘…In the original, the player would save them, but the other female characters only cared about the protagonist Damian. Even after I helped them.’
I leaned against the wall, secretly eavesdropping on their conversation from the side.
‘But right now, there is no player. And for some reason, Damian already knows information about the future. Ignorance is the most rational means of responding to the infinite….’
It was a phrase I had heard somewhere before.
My ex-girlfriend, who had been a literature girl, used to tell me various quotes and recommend books.
Red herrings, carpe diem—those were examples.
She had even said the reason she started the game in the first place was because the hero’s name matched the one in Hermann Hesse’s novel Demian, which piqued her interest.
In fact, some other famous games had succeeded by drawing motifs from classic novels.
“Let’s start with Hamel Plains. Luna, can you use magic to bind the grass in the field and make traps?”
“Y-yes, I think I can. But why bind the grass to make traps?”
“Horses are animals that get startled and bolt at even small obstacles in front of them. Anything smaller than that as a means of movement would trip and fall.”
Listening to Damian’s suggestion, I couldn’t help but feel my eyebrows twitch slightly.
The Damian from the original wasn’t the type to use his head like this. Moreover, even if he knew the future, it felt alien for him to speak while keeping the idiom “repaying kindness with grass” in mind.
It gave off the sense that he was imitating someone I knew. Strength gathered in my hands, forming fists.
“…We can confirm kills at the guild by bringing back ears or noses. Even if we defeat goblins, we won’t receive the reward without proof.”
“D-do we really have to? Th-that’s gross…. Can’t we just report it to the guild…?”
Even now, Damian spoke as if he knew the original flow, mentioning how they had failed to receive rewards because they hadn’t collected ears or noses as proof.
“We can’t do that. No matter how newly formed our hero party is, we must follow the guild’s rules.”
Damian gripped his staff tightly and gently patted the brim of Luna’s hat as her hands trembled.
“D-Damian….”
The moment his hand touched her, the gloomy half-elf’s face flushed red like a tomato.
‘…Good thing I came to observe directly instead of sending a scout. Subtle changes in expression or gesture can’t be known unless you see them yourself.’
Watching the scene, I scratched my chin with a finger.
No matter how capable the spy Phantom was, only I could notice the minute details like micro-expressions or the tremor in someone’s voice.
“Feeling a bit calmer now? Don’t be too scared. As long as you don’t let your guard down, they won’t be that difficult an opponent.”
“As expected of our hero. Hearing that fills me with confidence.”
“That’s the Damian we know!”
“So, what are you planning to do after gathering the money? You must have a reason for collecting all these goblin subjugation requests, Damian.”
Raybi, Calliope, and Isabella each voiced their opinions as if jealous of Damian’s actions, surrounded by four women showering him with affection.
In that situation, I felt a slight sense of displeasure.
If it had been a different story game, maybe not, but these were the ones from the original who made players spend hundreds of thousands of won on gacha pulls for a single character only to treat the player poorly.
However—
“…I want to bring Shade-nim into our party and make sure his intentions or plans aren’t disrupted. Besides, money is essential for any journey, isn’t it?”
Damian spoke while making unnatural eye contact with me, as if I were visible to him.
Those words didn’t seem directed at his companions. It sounded as though I were the key capable of changing the future he knew.
“Damian-nim, hasn’t that man already returned to the Thieves’ Guild? Even if he has eyes and ears scattered around, he won’t hear this.”
The saintess Raybi, who used crows in place of sight and hearing, said this to Damian, but his expression remained noble.
“No. If it’s my voice, that person will listen no matter where or when.”
An expression without a shred of doubt. It was impossible to tell how many times he had repeated worlds or peered into the future.
“Just as I trust all of you, I also believe in Shade-nim at the same time. We will be able to change the predetermined fate.”
Predetermined fate.
Choices for the future.
And a promise that couldn’t be remembered.
These three phrases flashed through my mind, and I could vaguely guess what kind of future Damian knew.
A bad ending.
These days, games often showed such endings first, then created a hopeful future afterward.
‘Maybe he regressed from a world destroyed by the Demon King, or perhaps he looped repeatedly toward a happy ending.’
But even that felt somehow different.
His swordsmanship was still immature and clumsy. Moreover, the movements he used to block my attacks, despite supposedly knowing the future, had been far too slow to react.
‘The world is always full of things I don’t know. No need to confine my thoughts to a narrow black-and-white view….’
Tap.
As if placing a piece on a chessboard, that sound echoed in my mind.
Memories of the past that still wouldn’t fade.
‘Right. Let’s hold off on any hasty judgments for now.’
Suddenly looking at Damian, I recalled something my ex-girlfriend had said and decided to observe the original flow a little longer.
Soon, the boss of Chapter 1 would appear, and the hero Damian and his companions would be forced to suffer defeat.
There would be some difference here.
* * *
──Clang!
Damian’s sword barely managed to deflect a goblin’s spear tip, and Calliope’s axe came crashing down on their heads with heavy breaths.
With every hot exhale, attacks followed to sever their breaths.
Chaotic melee, deadlock, overwhelming force.
In short, the hero Damian and his companions were little better than a ragtag band.
The hero party that headed to Hamel Plains, the Wailing Forest, and Blue Cliff Cave to subjugate goblins endured hardships one after another.
“Damn it, there are too many…!”
Even though they had bound the grass beforehand, they couldn’t stop the additional enemies that kept coming and barely secured victory.
No matter how strong an individual was, without enough force to overturn numerical disadvantage in battle, one couldn’t defeat the many.
“Everyone, stay calm! We’ve eliminated all nearby enemies, so no reinforcements will arrive! If we just deal with the vanguard here…!”
“Who doesn’t know that? It’s hard to block the mages in the rear! I’m not my father, you know!”
In the second battle, failing to understand the difference between the front and rear lines led to them being surrounded by the enemy in a disadvantageous situation.
If victory or defeat in battle was determined solely by individual strength and numbers, who would willingly fight a battle they were bound to lose?
They lacked strategy, combat experience, and innate sense—too many missing pieces.
“Huff…. Hah….”
The hero Damian’s sword was dull and slow. Even though he knew the attacks in advance and dodged, his reactions were too delayed, causing severe stamina drain.
It had been the same when he fought me. After the battle, his entire body and armor had been drenched in sweat.
It was the same now. Even while fighting the final goblin king, he couldn’t completely block attacks and took the impacts directly.
Swish…! Thud, splat!
After exchanging blows for a long time, Damian’s iron sword finally found an opening, slicing through the goblin king’s neck and sending its head flying.
Covered head to toe in goblin blood staining their armor, Damian and his companions ended their final battle.
“We did it, everyone!”
“W-waaah!! It’s finally over!!”
“As expected of Damian-nim!”
Only after completing all three goblin subjugations did the hero Damian and his companions finally resemble a proper party.
They began covering each other’s weaknesses and moved with strategy rather than charging recklessly at the enemy.
This, too, was different from the original.
Originally, they should have belittled the player as incompetent and blamed all faults on me while fighting.
‘Imperfect regression? Or are his memories hazy? It feels too awkward to call it a natural reaction.’
Watching Damian’s movements, I sensed the dissonance once more.
Perhaps he had deliberately erased his own memories. The human mind might not be strong enough to endure repeating regression thousands or tens of thousands of times.
Or perhaps, from the very beginning—
- Shade, but if that hero really does know the future…. Shouldn’t you follow what that kid says?
My thoughts were interrupted by Phantom’s sudden telepathic message. She had been watching my meeting with Damian from the start, so she knew certain things.
‘No, there’s no need for that.’
- Why?
‘Because I don’t believe in prophecies or fate. If everything in the world moved according to some predetermined script, what would be the fun in that?’
I shook my head again at Phantom’s question. No matter how much of a regressor Damian was who knew the future, my very existence had already twisted that fate like an impurity.
Besides, if there truly were a god and fate existed, I wouldn’t have parted with my ex-girlfriend in the worst possible way.
This was guilt, and lingering attachment.
Raising affection levels to steal the gacha characters back from Damian’s side, creating new opportunities to personally confirm the story my ex-girlfriend never got to see.
That was the reason I had endured this tiresome world for twenty years.
‘A red moon will soon rise in the sky. Phantom.’
Now I would truly know whether Damian was someone capable of changing the original future.
“…A red moon will soon rise in the sky. Everyone, prepare for battle.”
Damian and I spoke the same sentence almost simultaneously—
The sky that had been tinged with sunset suddenly darkened, and a full moon the color of blood rose.
An ominous omen that sent chills down the spine.
Along with it, from the pool of blood formed by the goblins’ corpses, the form of a dark-red knight emerged.
“□■! □■! □■□■□■□■ □■□■□■!”
The boss of the original story’s Chapter 1.
The Blood Knight let out an incomprehensible cry and charged toward the hero Damian.