I Want to Speak (2)

“…You’re really not going to hurt yourself, right?”

With Dev’s help, I managed to get to my feet. However long I’d been bound, even the pins-and-needles feeling had left my limbs. It was going to take a while for sensation to return.

“Uh, the commission isn’t finished yet, y’know?”

In the meantime, whether from genuine unease at my silence or not, Baramson piled on with an awkward show of nonchalance. It was less a prod than a reason for me to keep living. Decent supporting fire.

“There’re still two cities left to liberate… and plenty of demons. Remnants too… so, uh.”

“…Where’s my sword?”

Right, right. We’d taken down the boss; might as well wrap the quest cleanly. And while we were at it, someone care to tell me where my missing sword went?

I remembered the scimitar shattering against the transformed Bipurit, but I had no idea where the True Two-Hander had gone. It wasn’t on my back, so I must have dropped it during the rampage — or someone confiscated it.

“Um, about that…”

I looked at the ones trailing off. The three pirates clearly had no idea; Inquisitor and Dev seemed to know but weren’t eager to continue. Did they think I’d kill myself the moment I got a sword in my hands? I wouldn’t.

“Weeeell…”

“It’s gone.”

…Even so, did the plot really have to go there?

With the face of a thoroughly done Tibetan fox, I slowly closed my eyes.

“Fine.”

Not that a perfectly good sword vanishing made any sense… but I’d already commissioned a new one, so whatever.

Honestly, after finishing something that important, hunger had roared back and I didn’t have the energy to care about anything else. Leaning on the support offered me, I made my slow way outside. Food and sleep — that was all I wanted.

“You…!”

I ran straight into the Archmage. She’d probably come running the moment she heard the news; her clothes and hair were as disheveled as someone who’d sprinted the whole way.

“You’re awake.”

The urgency on her face flickered the instant our eyes met, and she flinched. It didn’t last. She recovered her composure soon enough, and the kindly smile I knew so well returned to her features.

Still, facing someone head-on after what I’d done felt a little much. I held her gaze for a moment, then lowered my eyes. Time to dial down the attitude a bit. Surely an incident of this scale was reason enough to play nice with them.

“I’ve quite a few things I want to say… but now isn’t the time. Rest for now. I chose a seal that would place as little strain on your body as possible, but a full two weeks have passed. It will have taken its toll.”

Ah. So the seal on me had been the low-burden kind. But the part that came after that was strange. Two weeks? Two weeks had passed?

No wonder my satiety was on the floor.

Her words gave me a sharp sense of déjà vu. This was exactly like Tatara. My time had been deleted again.

“…All right.”

Looking at the state of things outside, though, a lot seemed to have been cleaned up over those two weeks. If I’d been conscious, I probably would have been drafted into putting the city back together. At least I’d been spared the grind; I should be grateful for that much.

It was time I couldn’t get back. Brooding would only sour my mood. And more than anything, the trigger for this new Fury skill of mine looked for all the world like negative emotion — irritation and anger especially.

Granted, I’d never seen a skill in any game that activated by reading a player’s emotional state… but when had this game ever stopped at one or two absurdities? I figured it was entirely possible. Having to manage my temper like a certain green doctor from now on was a bit of a pain, though.

“Good. Get plenty of rest. You — a favor, if you would.”

“Leave it to me.”

“Inquisitor, you’ve only just come in yourself. You should rest as well.”

“Ah — yes!”

I accepted the Archmage’s consideration without protest. At last her gaze left me. Her next targets were the three pirates who’d been standing nearby all this time without managing to insert themselves into the conversation.

“You lot should be on your way soon as well. The lord seems to be preparing for departure.”

“…Aye.”

The lord? This city’s lord was supposedly dead, and if he had anything to do with Baramson, it would be Zakrati’s lord. Why would he be here…?

I chewed on it for a second, then abandoned the thought to the howling of my stomach. None of it mattered. Food first. Food!

“I still cannot believe it.”

That was what I heard after eating well and sleeping deeply. Now that I understood what “we blew up the castle” actually meant, I couldn’t even feel offended. If I’d nearly been hit by an attack like that, I wouldn’t hand out trust easily either.

“Why not?”

“…Isn’t it dangerous? There are still cities to reclaim and villages to save. Leaving that man in the rear while we move around is a little…”

“Why leave him in the rear? With his combat power, he’d be a great help clearing out the demons hidden in the forests and reclaiming the villages and cities.”

In that regard, the Inquisitor really was strange. What had I ever done for her that she’d go as far as blocking my execution to keep believing in me? I was grateful, but the unease refused to clear.

“Honestly, those soft temple types never have a single appealing quality.”

Deathbringer, eating beside me, was just as baffled. From what I’d overheard, rampaging me had tried to kill him while shattering even his kukri — and after living through that, the way he treated me was exactly the same as before. No — if anything, he seemed to be looking after me even more carefully…?

I truly had no idea why those two treated me kindly. All I’d ever given them was attitude.

Crunch.

Well, whatever. Chewing lightly stir-fried carrots and potatoes, I rose from my seat. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have spared this a thought, but these were special circumstances. If anyone was going to make an issue of my rampage, I had to be the one to yield a step — no exceptions.

“Wait — you’ve already finished? There’s still more.”

Dev looked startled. He’d clearly forgotten I kept food in my inventory.

“Just wait a moment, please.”

“Ah—”

I walked out without so much as acknowledging him, and Dev hurriedly shoveled the rest of his meal into his mouth and scrambled after me. The Inquisitor seemed to try following as well, but she still had far too much food left to catch up easily.

“Where are you going?”

“…Don’t follow me.”

“Are you going to the dining hall, by any chance?”

Hard to say. My satiety was at that awkward half-full point where I didn’t feel much need to go. Hm. In that case, maybe go see the Archmage? She’d said she had things to talk about.

“Hmm, doesn’t seem like the dining hall…”

No — better not. I changed my mind. From what I’d overheard, the Archmage seemed extremely busy. More importantly, mages from the Magic Tower would almost certainly be swarming around her. That was the real problem.

‘Um, if it’s not too much trouble, could you spare just a bit of your bodily tissue? Preferably the right arm!’

‘Excuse me — any interest in the arrangement and condensation of mana? I’m something of a specialist in that field…’

I knew the mages meant no harm, but they really needed to start treating people like people. So going to see the Archmage in person was something I preferred to avoid. I did not want to run into mages.

“Then where are you going?”

Well, in that case, maybe wander around for side quests in town…? But that seemed impossible too. However the rumors had spread, every civilian I saw was terrified of me. Nobody was going to hand me work in this situation. The Adventurer’s Guild that might have taken quests on my behalf had lost its entire roster and shut down. The temple was hostile toward me, so they weren’t likely to assign me anything either. And I couldn’t just leave these three and head back to Zakrati on my own.

“My lord?”

What am I even doing with my life.

“…I told you not to follow me.”

“If you’d tell me where you’re going, I’ll consider it.”

“……”

If Dev weren’t here, I could at least find a quiet corner and hide. Or swing a sword around and test the new skill I’d just acquired… ah.

Ah. My sword was gone, wasn’t it? I needed a new one, didn’t I??

“…I’m going to find a sword.”

Whether a market was even open in these conditions, I had no idea. But I had time to spare; a little legwork wouldn’t kill me.

Thinking that, I opened my inventory to check my funds. Weapons here ran expensive regardless of options, so I needed to look first.

The inventory window popped open with a cheerful chime.

But why are you in there.

I’d been looking for where the gold was listed when I found the items sitting above it. The inventory used volume-based slots rather than a grid, so there was no ignoring them.

“Ah, right. You would need a new sword. But was there even a place selling weapons…?”

Dev was saying something beside me, but none of it registered. Why the vanished sword was here, what the eyepatch was doing there, and how the orb the dragon gave me had ended up cracked — I couldn’t even begin to guess. It just made my head hurt.

“There’s a place where we collected the weapons we took off the pirates. Would it be too much to borrow one from there for now?”

Then — wait. I finally registered a dissonance. It was so minor, and my field of vision hadn’t changed, so I hadn’t noticed: the sensation of something covering my right eye was gone.

“My lord?”

Reflexively I raised a hand and felt around my eye. The eyepatch that should have been covering my right eye had disappeared. So that was why it was in the inventory.

“Don’t tell me something’s wrong—”

When had I taken the eyepatch off again… no. Forget it. What was taking off an eyepatch compared to everything else? And a sword in the inventory was a hundred times better than a lost one. At this point, I was getting off easy. With that single thought I discarded every last one of my worries. If a problem had no answer no matter how hard you thought, it was easier on the soul to just accept it with humility.

“Sir Knight, if something’s wrong you really must tell us—!”

Instead — if “instead” was even the right word — I reached into my inventory. My fingers closed on empty air inside the bag, and the first thing they caught was a strip of thin leather.

“…Huh?”

I roughly put the eyepatch on, not particularly careful about catching the strap around my ear. My vision was the same as before, but a settled pressure pressed lightly over my right eye. Only then did I feel complete again.

Swish.

“……!”

I didn’t stop there. I drew the True Two-Hander as well. The silver blade flashed in the sunlight.

“Th-that — why is that coming out of your bag…?”

Beats me. It wasn’t listed in the options, but maybe the sword had an auto-retrieve function. It was a pre-order bonus, after all.

Either way, good news was good news. That didn’t mean the need to buy a sword had completely vanished, though. I still needed a lighter longsword in addition to the two-hander. I urged my nearly stopped feet forward again.

“Where did they pile the pirates’ weapons?”

“Y-yes? Ah… over by the walls. Shall I show you?”

What are you even asking. Lead the way already.

“This way, then…”

Reading my look, Dev took the lead. He still looked somewhat flabbergasted, but he was thorough about his work. Before long the walls came into view.

“Oh? Demon Knight?”

But the moment we neared the walls, the first thing I saw wasn’t weapons — it was other people who recognized me. Their faces were somehow familiar… ah! I remembered. Adventurers who’d been with us until the main force and the detached unit split. How they’d ended up here I didn’t know, but I was oddly glad to see them.

“Haven’t seen you in a while — finally showing your face!”

“Where are you headed — ah. Going outside?”

They, on the other hand, clearly had no idea what I’d done or why I’d been out of circulation. Leaving the chattering adventurers, I moved closer to the gate. The piled weapons were over there; I didn’t have much choice.

“You there — halt!”

And I was stopped. Temple people. One of them looked like he knew me, his face a mix of hostility and fear; the other seemed to have only heard the stories, and pure hostility was all that showed.

“You’re not going out!”

No, I wasn’t trying to go out — I was trying to take a weapon.

“I have no intention of leaving, so please step aside from the weapons. We only wanted some of the surplus—”

“Weapons? Then even less reason to give you any!”

Hm. Not happening…

“Wait — he’s already got a weapon on his back!”

“Who the hell issued him—!”

Even with Dev stepping in to mediate, they wouldn’t drop their hostility toward me. I understood, so I didn’t feel particularly anything about it, but the disappointment was hard to avoid. I’d thought I was about to get a free weapon.

“Demon bastard…”

Someone muttered that in my direction. Given that my setting included a demon sealed in my right arm, it wasn’t strictly wrong.

“……”

Not wrong — but not something I could just leave un-roleplayed either! Haha!

I gently took hold of my right arm and squeezed. Deathbringer, who’d been trying to mediate between the temple and me, looked completely lost as to what to do.

“Ou-outside! A demon horde!”

“What?!”

“Ready arrows!”

“Wh-what is it!”

But even that bit of acting had to cut short the next moment. Lookouts on the wall who’d been watching outside screamed in panic.

“……!”

At the same time, my own senses caught the presence beyond the wall. Fast. And sharp. Whatever it was, it was charging the gate in a straight line right now.

“Get back!”

“My lord?!”

Words would be too late.

Certain of that, I lunged forward. The temple people had their spears leveled, so I took a few scrapes, but nothing serious.

“Demons — what on earth—”

“Block it, you idiot!”

“Demons are coming!”

“Loose!”

I hurled the ones clinging right in front of the gate backward. At the same instant the gate shattered to pieces and something charged through.

A violent impact slammed into a body already wrapped in mana.

“Kh—!”

A groan slipped between my teeth. But if I gave ground now, throwing those people back would have been pointless. I drove my sliding feet into the earth and drew mana up into my hands. Mana I’d pulled without even realizing it twisted into a spiral and finally burst from my palm with a heavy shove.

KWAANG!

Something left me — a feeling half empty, half exhilarating. From the hand that had poured out the palm blast, a massive black current of energy tore free, and I watched it sweep everything ahead of me clean.

The demon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that had slammed into me now had a hole roughly a meter across through it; most of its body had simply ceased to exist.

“…That’s insane.”

Yeah. That really was insane.

I stared at the demon and the space beyond it, punched open as if I’d fired a beam, then snapped myself back to the present. It wasn’t over. The one I’d just killed had only been the vanguard meant to break the gate. The real force was still behind it.

“Don’t follow me.”

“…I know my place, my lord.”

My chest ached as if a rib were cracked, but not enough that I couldn’t move. So I didn’t show it, and drew the sword from my back.

In that moment the long-running quest updated, quietly announcing that we were entering its final stretch. The region’s final boss was already down; this would be the last main quest available in this territory.

Boss before city restoration — the order of operations felt a little off, but anyway.

“Instead, my lord — just answer me one thing.”

Listening to Dev, I settled my grip on the sword properly. For reasons I didn’t fully understand, the inflated mana was settling cleanly along the two-hander. Maybe it was the new Mana Control skill; handling mana felt easier somehow.

“Do I need to go fetch the Archmage?”

“No need.”

A narrower, finer slash cut the world crooked.

“Clearing the road to the next city can wait until ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tomorrow.”