Chapter 246: Turning Point (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 246: Turning Point (6)
Just what kind of mistake had I made that Missha was acting like this? Thoughts like that didn't even occur to me. That was because Missha had been by my side the longest. A barbarian who read books, a barbarian who knew how to take on the role of a scout, a barbarian who pretended to be ignorant but was actually clever, a barbarian who always knew something others didn't like it was all just obvious to him—there must have been plenty of suspicious things about me. Until now she would have overlooked them, saying that was just the kind of person I was, but the events of that day would have made her fully realize. After all, she knew me best.
"Why should I do what my enemy says?"
I may have avoided answering with barbarian-like reasoning, but that probably would have seemed strange to Missha too. If nothing else, she knew I always had a reason for being stubborn.
"If you don't answer, I'll kill that red cat."
When I heard Baekho say that, I felt a deep sense of despair. Perhaps Missha had sensed, too, that I had been driven into a corner and was desperately holding back an answer.
"...Disappear? What do you mean?" In the middle of the night while everyone else was asleep, Missha came up to me cautiously and voiced her anxiety, and I pretended to have no clue what she was talking about. "Why would I suddenly disappear?"
"W-Well, that's... I had a nightmarrre. Yeah." Missha made up an excuse about a dream. It seemed she believed revealing her hidden fears might make them come true.
"Dream? If you're that scared, you can sleep beside me!"
"I-I'm not that scared! Hmph, fine! If you'rrre just going to make jokes, go to sleep, you boneheaded barrrbarian!" Missha left in a fit of frustration and I let out a sigh in the now-quiet room. My chest felt tight.
Disappear suddenly...
I knew why she had asked that because I snuck into her room yesterday and saw the book on her desk. It was a book I had read at the library before—one that listed some behaviors and habits of evil spirits.
Evil spirits are clever and good at acting. Also, they do not get attached to people. In the event of a crisis in which their identity may be exposed, they choose to sever all ties and hide.
It was a description I could relate to a decent amount. I was destined to die if my identity were exposed, after all. At first, I would try to distance myself from the people around me as much as I could, and if that didn't work, eventually change my identity. If even that option didn't work...
I'd probably go to Noark.
In fact, Noark was a city made up of people like that. Criminals who couldn't remain in Rafdonia any longer and evil spirits alike hid in the sewers, and Noark took them in.
Even Clown is famous for joining Orcules as soon as he was exposed as an evil spirit.
I lay on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. My head was all jumbled up.
If they find out that I'm an evil spirit...
How would the team react? Would they feel betrayed and angered by my deception? Well, I wasn't sure. Missha, at least, seemed more anxious about the idea that I might disappear from her side if I was an evil spirit than the idea of me being an evil spirit in the first place.
Damn you, Baekho.
I admitted it to myself. I was afraid of my true identity being revealed to them. More than the guillotine I might be dragged to, I was afraid of everything I built crumbling down, even if what I built may have just been a sandcastle.
Voom.
I pulled out a magical device from sub-space that allowed the user to have secret conversations with others.
"Fine, if that's what you want, I'll expose you myself. Hans Chrisen is an evil spirit! I have proof of that in my backpack—"
For reference, it came with a recording function. The dwarf I met in Doppelganger Forest had used this to drive Hans G into a corner.
Click.
When I pressed the groove at the bottom of the device, the conversation the two had had back then began to replay in rich detail.
"What is there to think about? They're NPCs anyway."
"But they are comrades who have been with—"
"What a joke. You think those guys will think like that once they find out your identity?"
Hans G couldn't say anything in response to that, because he knew the truth.
"The person your comrades thought of as a friend was the real Hans. And as you know, the real Hans is no longer in this world."
We were evil spirits. No matter what kinds of relationships we built here, they could only be precarious ones built on lies.
"But... I consider them to be my real comrades."
Hans G had replied like that that day, but how had he actually acted when the chips were down?
"Why...?"
"I-I'm sorry."
When the dwarf ended up in hot water and forcibly exposed his identity, Hans G flung flames at his team's warrior and took the dwarf's side. The truth was, he knew that they could no longer go back to their old relationship. The comrades who were once precious to him now considered him the enemy.
Click.
I pressed the button again to turn the sound off. Suddenly, Takelan's words came to mind.
"There will come a day when you feel the same way as I do."
He was wrong. If such a moment of despair were to come to me, it would have a much more terrible and miserable ending.
***
Another two days passed. In the meantime, nothing significant happened. There were no more clues about the large clan that was suspected to be behind the assassination attempt, and the events of that day were obscured and buried in oblivion. There was nothing else to dig into. Thanks to that, though, the number of knights guarding me increased. Once it had been proven that there was a faction with malicious intent toward the palace targeting me, the idea that I needed more protection gained more momentum. A little too much momentum.
Ha, thanks to this, I can't go anywhere.
There were already three bodyguards on me. Of course, that was just inside the house—there were more than thirty knights standing guard outside. If I went out, all those people followed me. They even got someone to taste my food.
"I'll try it first, in case it's poisoned." At each meal, a knight with increased poison tolerance tasted a bite first.
"Th-there's no need! W-Why would I harm Bjorrrn...?"
"It's best to be certain. Mmm, that's delicious. You are a great cook, Lady Karlstein."
"Th-that's no comfort at all!" That did nothing to improve Missha's mood since the tester said that every meal, but still, their inflexibility did make them seem more reliable.
Voom.
I pulled out a magical device from sub-space that allowed the user to have secret conversations with others.
"Fine, if that's what you want, I'll expose you myself. Hans Chrisen is an evil spirit! I have proof of that in my backpack—"
For reference, it came with a recording function. The dwarf I met in Doppelganger Forest had used this to drive Hans G into a corner.
Click.
When I pressed the groove at the bottom of the device, the conversation the two had had back then began to replay in rich detail.
"What is there to think about? They're NPCs anyway."
"But they are comrades who have been with—"
"What a joke. You think those guys will think like that once they find out your identity?"
Hans G couldn't say anything in response to that, because he knew the truth.
"The person your comrades thought of as a friend was the real Hans. And as you know, the real Hans is no longer in this world."
We were evil spirits. No matter what kinds of relationships we built here, they could only be precarious ones built on lies.
"But... I consider them to be my real comrades."
Hans G had replied like that that day, but how had he actually acted when the chips were down?
"Why...?"
"I-I'm sorry."
When the dwarf ended up in hot water and forcibly exposed his identity, Hans G flung flames at his team's warrior and took the dwarf's side. The truth was, he knew that they could no longer go back to their old relationship. The comrades who were once precious to him now considered him the enemy.
Click.
I pressed the button again to turn the sound off. Suddenly, Takelan's words came to mind.
"There will come a day when you feel the same way as I do."
He was wrong. If such a moment of despair were to come to me, it would have a much more terrible and miserable ending.
***
Another two days passed. In the meantime, nothing significant happened. There were no more clues about the large clan that was suspected to be behind the assassination attempt, and the events of that day were obscured and buried in oblivion. There was nothing else to dig into. Thanks to that, though, the number of knights guarding me increased. Once it had been proven that there was a faction with malicious intent toward the palace targeting me, the idea that I needed more protection gained more momentum. A little too much momentum.
Ha, thanks to this, I can't go anywhere.
There were already three bodyguards on me. Of course, that was just inside the house—there were more than thirty knights standing guard outside. If I went out, all those people followed me. They even got someone to taste my food.
"I'll try it first, in case it's poisoned." At each meal, a knight with increased poison tolerance tasted a bite first.
"Th-there's no need! W-Why would I harm Bjorrrn...?"
"It's best to be certain. Mmm, that's delicious. You are a great cook, Lady Karlstein."
"Th-that's no comfort at all!" That did nothing to improve Missha's mood since the tester said that every meal, but still, their inflexibility did make them seem more reliable.
Even if Noark does send an assassin, I won't have to worry about this, at least.
Once breakfast was over, Ainar headed to the holy land, and Erwen left to meet her younger sister. I had similar plans.
"...You're going out?"
"I should start getting work done." Now that I'd rested enough, it was time to start working hard again and do the things I'd been putting off.
"Are you going shopping again?"
"No, this is another business."
"Hmm?"
Normally I spent our time off going shopping, but today's mission was different.
Although I made a lot of money this time, my purchasing power will go up even if I do nothing. There's no need to shop now.
To start, the cost of equipment had already started to plummet as a result of a large chunk of adventurers dying, leading to a decrease in demand. Meanwhile, food prices had risen. Concerns that the supply of mana stones might decrease next month had led to hoarding.
I should try to avoid using cash as much as possible.
The currency here was not a simple piece of paper whose worth was determined by social consensus. It had real value. This world ran on mana stones that could be turned into iron or wheat by the hands of alchemists. Unlike the value of labor, the currency here never depreciated.
I wonder if Hikurod will be okay...?
Suddenly, the dwarf came to mind. It seemed business in his forge was going well these days, but I was sure that at a time like this, it was a ghost town. I felt bad for him. He'd used all his money to open that shop, only for something like this to happen.
I should go see him later when I have time.
I dressed and headed out with Missha. Outside stood a carriage prepared by the knights. I found it completely unnecessary.
"Please get in."
By now, though, I was used to this treatment and got on the wagon. It wasn't like it cost money anyway, and they said it was much easier to guard me like this, so what could I do?
"Where shall I take you?"
"To the Great Temple of Reatlas." As soon as I told the driver my destination, the carriage started off.
"...Reatlas? Why are you going therrre all of a sudden?" Missha gave me a somewhat uneasy look. I could understand her sentiment. The religious factions here were pretty much natural enemies of evil spirits.
Welp, looks like her suspicions haven't completely disappeared yet.
Missha had spent a day or two reading books about evil spirits and saying peculiar things to me, but that had all stopped just a little while later. At first, I thought I had just been overthinking things and that she had concluded I couldn't really be an evil spirit.
At times like these, it's probably best to not press and leave her alone.
And so I continued the conversation casually. "I'm thinking of asking them whether there are any priests available."
"...Available prrriests? A-Are you thinking about l-leaving the team?"
"What are you talking about?"
"But even if there is a prrriest available, there's already five of us—ah! Are you thinking of kicking one of us out...?"
Honestly, what was she saying? I sighed and cut her off. "I am not going to leave the team, nor is anyone else leaving the team."
"Hm? So why a prrriest...?" Missha trailed off, apparently still confused.
I told her my future plans. "Because now we have to prepare to go up to the sixth floor."
"Eh, the sixth floor? Oh, I see. But what does that have to do with this?"
"I'm going to make a clan."
The time had come for our five-person team to graduate. Even if it may have been small, any team with more than five people was classified as a clan. That was because it would have to be divided into two or more teams when traveling into the labyrinth.
"Clan? So from now on, we'll be working with ten people?"
Well, it looked like it would be that way eventually, but not right now.
Since Erwen can serve as a scout, we just need a single priest for now.
From the sixth floor onward, we also needed another adventurer to fill a special position. That made a total of eight for now.
At our level, we'll have no problems getting to the fifth floor even if we split into two groups of four.
Well, I wasn't actually worried about that part. If that didn't work out, meeting up on the second floor and then traveling together was a viable strategy. Of course, depending on our starting location, it would take time to find each other, and we'd also be slowed down on the fourth floor thanks to the maximum member penalty.
But it's not like we're a large clan.
Unless our purpose was to control hunting grounds, a difference of a day or two was not significant to a small clan. Rather, the problem lay elsewhere.
When will the labyrinth return to normal?
If there was no hint of it returning to normal any time soon, I planned to wait a few more months. It would take that much time for me to finish preparing to go to the sixth floor anyway.
"We have arrived." As I was getting my thoughts in order, the carriage stopped in front of the Great Temple. Most of the knights waited by the carriage. I headed inside with just three personal guards and Missha.
"Captain Krovitz is out on business." Another paladin greeted me instead of Paal Krovitz, whom I was acquainted with. His name was Sven Parav, and he was the vice captain of the Second Order of the Paladins of Reatlas. "It is an honor to meet you, Baronet Yandel. On what business did you visit our church today?"
I gave him a brief summary of my plans for the future, that I planned to make a clan and if possible, I wanted to take a priest with me. To be blunt, I was rejected outright.
"Hmm, even for a baronet, that will be difficult."
My recently acquired reputation as the Giant and my noble status of baronet had no pull in the church. Those were the bare minimum. To recruit a priest, certain achievements were required.
Whew, why are they just as inflexible as in the game?
Since I had known this was likely, I asked about the ways to increase my achievements and got a detailed answer.
Except for a few things, everything is like in the game.
In the end, the answer lay in labor. Welp, should have done that in advance.
"Parav, right? Thanks for today. I'll come back soon."
"Yes, we are always waiting for a visit from a hero."
After wrapping up my business here, I said goodbye to Parav and turned around. The moment I was about to exit the chamber, the last vine protecting me from an ill-fated encounter with the Dragon Slayer snapped.
[The activation conditions for Blessing of the Stars have been met.]
God damn it.
The problems just kept coming.
Even if Noark does send an assassin, I won't have to worry about this, at least.
Once breakfast was over, Ainar headed to the holy land, and Erwen left to meet her younger sister. I had similar plans.
"...You're going out?"
"I should start getting work done." Now that I'd rested enough, it was time to start working hard again and do the things I'd been putting off.
"Are you going shopping again?"
"No, this is another business."
"Hmm?"
Normally I spent our time off going shopping, but today's mission was different.
Although I made a lot of money this time, my purchasing power will go up even if I do nothing. There's no need to shop now.
To start, the cost of equipment had already started to plummet as a result of a large chunk of adventurers dying, leading to a decrease in demand. Meanwhile, food prices had risen. Concerns that the supply of mana stones might decrease next month had led to hoarding.
I should try to avoid using cash as much as possible.
The currency here was not a simple piece of paper whose worth was determined by social consensus. It had real value. This world ran on mana stones that could be turned into iron or wheat by the hands of alchemists. Unlike the value of labor, the currency here never depreciated.
I wonder if Hikurod will be okay...?
Suddenly, the dwarf came to mind. It seemed business in his forge was going well these days, but I was sure that at a time like this, it was a ghost town. I felt bad for him. He'd used all his money to open that shop, only for something like this to happen.
I should go see him later when I have time.
I dressed and headed out with Missha. Outside stood a carriage prepared by the knights. I found it completely unnecessary.
"Please get in."
By now, though, I was used to this treatment and got on the wagon. It wasn't like it cost money anyway, and they said it was much easier to guard me like this, so what could I do?
"Where shall I take you?"
"To the Great Temple of Reatlas." As soon as I told the driver my destination, the carriage started off.
"...Reatlas? Why are you going therrre all of a sudden?" Missha gave me a somewhat uneasy look. I could understand her sentiment. The religious factions here were pretty much natural enemies of evil spirits.
Welp, looks like her suspicions haven't completely disappeared yet.
Missha had spent a day or two reading books about evil spirits and saying peculiar things to me, but that had all stopped just a little while later. At first, I thought I had just been overthinking things and that she had concluded I couldn't really be an evil spirit.
At times like these, it's probably best to not press and leave her alone.
And so I continued the conversation casually. "I'm thinking of asking them whether there are any priests available."
"...Available prrriests? A-Are you thinking about l-leaving the team?"
"What are you talking about?"
"But even if there is a prrriest available, there's already five of us—ah! Are you thinking of kicking one of us out...?"
Honestly, what was she saying? I sighed and cut her off. "I am not going to leave the team, nor is anyone else leaving the team."
"Hm? So why a prrriest...?" Missha trailed off, apparently still confused.
I told her my future plans. "Because now we have to prepare to go up to the sixth floor."
"Eh, the sixth floor? Oh, I see. But what does that have to do with this?"
"I'm going to make a clan."
The time had come for our five-person team to graduate. Even if it may have been small, any team with more than five people was classified as a clan. That was because it would have to be divided into two or more teams when traveling into the labyrinth.
"Clan? So from now on, we'll be working with ten people?"
Well, it looked like it would be that way eventually, but not right now.
Since Erwen can serve as a scout, we just need a single priest for now.
From the sixth floor onward, we also needed another adventurer to fill a special position. That made a total of eight for now.
At our level, we'll have no problems getting to the fifth floor even if we split into two groups of four.
Well, I wasn't actually worried about that part. If that didn't work out, meeting up on the second floor and then traveling together was a viable strategy. Of course, depending on our starting location, it would take time to find each other, and we'd also be slowed down on the fourth floor thanks to the maximum member penalty.
But it's not like we're a large clan.
Unless our purpose was to control hunting grounds, a difference of a day or two was not significant to a small clan. Rather, the problem lay elsewhere.
When will the labyrinth return to normal?
If there was no hint of it returning to normal any time soon, I planned to wait a few more months. It would take that much time for me to finish preparing to go to the sixth floor anyway.
"We have arrived." As I was getting my thoughts in order, the carriage stopped in front of the Great Temple. Most of the knights waited by the carriage. I headed inside with just three personal guards and Missha.
"Captain Krovitz is out on business." Another paladin greeted me instead of Paal Krovitz, whom I was acquainted with. His name was Sven Parav, and he was the vice captain of the Second Order of the Paladins of Reatlas. "It is an honor to meet you, Baronet Yandel. On what business did you visit our church today?"
I gave him a brief summary of my plans for the future, that I planned to make a clan and if possible, I wanted to take a priest with me. To be blunt, I was rejected outright.
"Hmm, even for a baronet, that will be difficult."
My recently acquired reputation as the Giant and my noble status of baronet had no pull in the church. Those were the bare minimum. To recruit a priest, certain achievements were required.
Whew, why are they just as inflexible as in the game?
Since I had known this was likely, I asked about the ways to increase my achievements and got a detailed answer.
Except for a few things, everything is like in the game.
In the end, the answer lay in labor. Welp, should have done that in advance.
"Parav, right? Thanks for today. I'll come back soon."
"Yes, we are always waiting for a visit from a hero."
After wrapping up my business here, I said goodbye to Parav and turned around. The moment I was about to exit the chamber, the last vine protecting me from an ill-fated encounter with the Dragon Slayer snapped.
[The activation conditions for Blessing of the Stars have been met.]
God damn it.
The problems just kept coming.