I Didn't Know That (3)
“What... demons fighting among themselves?”
The Inquisitor saw the one who dashed toward the demons first. It was bewildering. He was a turncoat—one who had contracted with demons and betrayed the gods.
“A turncoat, why...?”
Those who contracted with demons became little better than the demons’ thralls. They were not ordered about by low-ranking demons of meager intelligence, yet they could never turn against them either.
And yet he was charging those very demons without the slightest hesitation? Even letting them tear into his body while he doggedly hunted down the main body?
This was impossible. Something like this simply could not—
“No... no, Inquisitor. That man is no contractor of demons.”
What she had learned did not account for this.
“Pardon?”
“…To think I would actually witness a possibility I had only half-believed. Demon Energy converting into magic power... hmm, what this will bring about in days to come...”
At the Archmage’s muttering and grave expression, the Inquisitor tightened her grip on her mace. She judged that if anyone knew, it would be him.
“A more detailed explanation, if you would, Archmage.”
“…Ah, of course. It was only ever a hypothesis in academic circles, so there is no way you would have known, Inquisitor.”
The Archmage stroked his staff with thick fingers as he answered her.
“That young man... did not, I believe, contract with a demon to gain its power. Rather, he became the demon’s host and thereby came to wield it.”
“A host... you mean... he has become a zombie?”
Zombies she had been taught about. Those whose bodies had been stolen by demons, no longer able to move by their own will.
Living corpses controlled by the parasitic demon—beings for whom only death offered rest.
“Precisely so. Yet while ordinary zombies lose their self to the parasitic demon, that young man appears to have suppressed the demon and seized the initiative himself.”
“What! That cannot be possible!”
“What, exactly, is impossible? Inquisitor, there is no such thing as impossible in this world. There are only things that are regarded as impossible.”
The Archmage gave a faint smile as he watched her cry out in something like desperation. It was an ambiguous smile that almost looked like weeping.
“Otherwise, what are we to call the young man before us?”
In that instant, the man who had at last located the demon’s main body sliced the serpent to pieces. The moment a demon’s power killed a demon.
“Then I’ll tear that mouth of yours open, just as I promised.”
I delivered the line while happily immersing myself in the concept.
“Wait—there seems to have been some misunderstanding. I will apologize for the attack, so would you please hear me out?”
The mage hurriedly stopped me. Now that I looked, he was a man of truly impressive stature.
“Misunderstanding? That’s an amusing word. Was it a misunderstanding when you treated me the same as those vermin and came at me?”
He was ridiculously tall. When I faced him head-on my gaze only reached his neckline, so he had to be at least two meters.
Or perhaps his race was different. In Legend of Heroes there were four races: Middles, Slend, Cueoty, and Shagi.
And the fully beast-form Shagi, closer to bipedal beasts, were on average that large of build.
“Please, forgive us. There was Demon Energy tangled about your arm, so we mistook you for a zombie parasitized by a demon. As a demon hunter you would know... but for one who has become a zombie to retain the self is a rather unprecedented affair, is it not?”
Oh... how was I supposed to react to this? Since the story seemed intent on covering for me either way, I could afford to get a little angrier.
After that calculation I ground my fist. I twisted my face into something ugly, hoping it looked like a tangle of rage, understanding, and self-loathing.
“What...?”
More importantly, I couldn’t remember the zombie lore. What had it been? It had been a bit different from ordinary zombies, I thought.
Judging by the line “zombie parasitized by a demon,” it was roughly a host... sort of thing? That seemed about right.
In any case, for someone with a complex it wasn’t a pleasant thing to hear. It would make you feel truly inhuman.
“Had we known you retained the self like an ordinary person, we would not have attacked. I apologize.”
Grind.
I let the sword hanging from my shoulder drop and clenched the hilt hard. At the same time my right hand brushed the eyepatch over my right eye and the bangs that had fallen over it.
Immersed in the concept, I suddenly found those things hateful, filthy, and horrible.
And to the same degree I hated these people who had misunderstood. Not that I truly hated them, of course—just that the concept felt that way.
In reality I understood their position and knew they were NPCs, so I felt nothing much, but at least the concept I was immersed in could not feel the same.
“Ha... a zombie, is it...”
Sometimes, when acting, the vocal cords deliver the lines on their own and the body moves of its own accord.
As if the concept slips free of my hands and acts by itself. This seemed to be one of those times.
“How dare... the likes of you treat me as something so base.”
So I immersed myself more deeply than usual and even raised the sword.
Of course, holding it one-handed was a little heavy, so the sword hand trembled faintly. Please, let others see it as rage.
“…It was clearly our mistake. If there is something you desire, I will grant it if possible.”
Ah, this might not be the right timing to think it, but this was filthy fun. Having an opponent—NPC—who reacted and played along made it even better.
It felt like coordinating with my university classmates.
“Damn it. You’ll grant it if possible? If I demand you cut out your own tongues, will you do that?”
“That is...”
“If you cannot even do that, then spare me the cheap apology.”
What was I going to do with other games now? No—why was I even thinking of other games? Legend of Heroes and its deep lore were gods.
Still, I wished they’d just patch the movement system and user convenience.
“…In my heart I want to rip out your jaws and hang them at the village entrance, but if I did that I would be no different from those demon bastards.”
“…Hmm.”
“Get lost.”
In any case, with a buoyant heart I pretended to swallow the anger I had spat out. I lowered the sword as well.
Is withdrawing like this the right call?
A brief doubt about my decision surfaced, but I quickly answered it myself.
Even without minding the story, this was correct. He hated demons; he would not want to act like one.
Honestly, yes. Among the Demon Knight’s official settings, the sharp and prickly temperament came—I believed—from the anxiety that the demon in his arm might rampage at any moment.
In other words, because he never knew when he might become a demon again and kill people, he behaved savagely from the start so no one would stay near him.
Would such a personality, after one misunderstanding, truly lose it enough to go for mutual destruction? Against a human who was not even a demon?
He would be plenty angry, but so long as it was a misunderstanding he would not necessarily try to kill. The thought that killing humans was something only demons did would be firmly planted.
That was my interpretation.
“…….”
I slung the sword onto my back and turned away. The quest included recovering proof of the hunt, so I needed to take it.
“Wait.”
I bent to collect the serpent’s corpse. Matching the motion, the priestess’s—that is, the Inquisitor’s—voice reached me.
“…I, too, will apologize.”
I had thought she would say something about me taking the corpse, so the apology surprised me a little.
“I... no, whatever I say will only sound like an excuse. I am sorry for attacking first. I apologize with all sincerity.”
Uh... honestly I had never even cared. Looking only at the settings, the misunderstanding made sense, didn’t it?
Rather, it was impressive that I had not clashed with the temple until now. Later the oracle would descend so I would not be able to clash even if I wanted to.
“If you desire compensation for this matter...”
Separately, the concept disagreed with me.
“Unnecessary. That hypocrisy.”
So of course I had to follow it.
“……!”
Yet even when the player was this uncooperative, the way they kept dragging the story forward was somewhat admirable.
Of course the original goal was probably to go beyond cooperation and become companions...
Hmm. That was a bit iffy. After all this fighting and clashing, becoming companions easily did not seem likely. I was not even sure whether a companion system actually existed.
Above all it was far too sudden and out of the blue. I was a happy casual player who liked everything, but ordinary users would not enjoy this kind of unannounced join-up.
“It is not hypocrisy—”
“There, there, Inquisitor. Calm yourself.”
“Archmage...!”
Come to think of it, had I not leveled up while killing the serpent? I was debating which skill to take.
Attack skills were pretty good, and after this incident detection did not look bad either. Or maybe I should take the close-combat martial arts tree for more corrections or higher defense.
“More importantly, let us also return. We did not leave because we failed to catch the demon; the purification is already complete, is it not?”
Oh, right—purification.
“…Understood.”
I casually opened the purification progress window.
98%
Just as I had overheard in their conversation, the two of them must have been purifying as they went.
I was a little envious. For the Demon Knight class the only way to purify was to set things on fire.
It was one of the Demon Knight’s penalties. Thanks to it we were immune to Demon Energy corruption, but the preference rate had still been a bit low.
Priest classes had separate purification skills, and other classes could buy purification stones from the temple, but Demon Knights could not do either.
“…….”
“…….”
…So could someone please tell me why those two were following me?
“After a full week of hardship, it must feel unfinished.”
“…Not so. As a servant of the gods it was only what I ought to have done.”
Seriously, why were they following? I had opened the full map and was taking the straight path to the village, but NPCs would not know that.
The atmosphere was awkward; would it not be better to take a different route? Ah... could it be because of the story?
“I told you to get lost.”
Just in case, I decided to try a threat. NPC reactions were realistic enough for that.
“You seem to think my words are not worth heeding.”
I gripped the hilt at my waist and twisted my waist slightly. I almost turned to the right unconsciously, but the thought of the eyepatch came just in time.
I had nearly become the strange guy who looked back with the eyepatched eye.
“If it was unpleasant, I apologize. It was not intentional.”
The two people I turned to face had orbs of light floating around them. I had wondered why they had not lit them earlier, but I was the same, so I had no room to talk.
What stood out, though, was that besides the orbs of light there was something shaped like a compass floating as well...
“We were following a path-guiding spell. It seems the places we two marked are the same.”
So the navigation function was implemented as magic. Suddenly I had become the self-conscious over-reactor.
“…….”
The silver lining was that they were not actually following me. If the problem was that the straight path overlapped, I could just peel off.
There was nothing I needed to resolve in that village anyway, and I had no intention of boarding a carriage again. There was no reason not to part ways—so long as the system allowed it.
Thus I pretended to scowl and changed direction. Since I had arrived here after hours by carriage, returning to the starting village would require diligent walking.
“Wait, where are you going?”
At that the Inquisitor asked about the path I was taking. Feeling no need to answer, I simply did not reply.
“Hey, the forest at night is dangerous...”
But I could not let a remark that pricked my pride pass.
“Only for the likes of you. Do not force your standards upon me.”
“…Even so, going alone is not good.”
No, if I had to pick the most dangerous thing in this forest it would be you, so going alone would be safer.
Of course saying that inner thought aloud would break character, so I barked savagely.
“It seems your ears fail to serve as ears.”
Fortunately, even after hearing that, the Inquisitor did not try to stop me further.
I had no idea what kind of event it had been, or what the story had wanted if it was a story, but in the fight between the system and concept roleplay, concept roleplay had taken the decision win. Ahaha.