Chapter 597: RPG (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 597: RPG (5)
To be honest, I never expected this. I had no idea that the knight proclaiming the emperor's message in front of this crowd of people was the village chief.
I was wondering why it seemed impossible for me to escape.
Thinking about it now, it wasn't a difficult chapter, but a chapter in which I needed to wait for an ally to rescue me.
Slash!
After taking off his helmet, the village chief swung his sword to cut the rope, and as he did, I heard cries of anger from below.
"Sir Saintred! Why are you betraying us?!"
I shot the village chief a look. "Sir?"
"When I awoke, I was already the knight of a noble house. I'll tell you the details later." He then looked away from me and back at the city square.
Shine!
The magic circle encompassing the square grew brighter and brighter as time passed, and the chaos among the thousands of people here grew in kind.
"Ack!"
"Get out of my way!"
"D-don't push! Ack!"
Hell was unleashed as thousands of people all tried to escape the confined city square at the same time.
The village chief spoke as he watched the scene unfold. "Isn't it quite entertaining to see them struggle to survive?"
If you looked up a textbook on psychopaths, what he just said would be in there.
However, what he said next confused me a little.
"It's not even a spell to kill them."
Slowly, I asked, "It's not attack magic?"
"From what I heard from Sir Versilus, if a massacre were to happen here, the aftermath would be difficult for us to handle. However, that didn't mean I would be able to take the two of you by myself and break through the crowd to escape. So this is the spell that will solve that. It took quite a bit of effort to set everything up."
"So...what is this spell?"
The village chief gave me a natural smile. "You'll see soon enough."
I sighed. This guy never told me anything straight.
"By the way," he asked, "how is that body of yours?"
"Don't worry. I won't drag you down if a fight happens."
"That is a relief to hear...but we won't be fighting anything here."
"We won't...?"
"Oh, looks like it's complete." The village chief didn't say anymore and looked away from me again.
A bright light flashed, covering the entire city in rays so bright that my eyes hurt even though they were closed.
As the light slowly faded and my vision returned, I came to realize the true nature of the spell.
"What are you doing? Let's move. Everyone is waiting for you."
The city square of struggling citizens was completely emptied.
***
It was Teleport. Well, I supposed it was more accurate to call it Mass Teleport?
Hmm, but that wasn't enough to explain it. Even Mass Teleport could only teleport twenty people at a time. It was impossible to teleport thousands of people like that at once.
Something similar did happen before, though.
It had happened in the underground city of Noark. An unknown man who was suspected to be Auril Gavis took over ten thousand people and escaped the palace's encirclement. I had only heard about it and never seen it myself, but it had occurred in front of me, wouldn't it look something like this?
"Go in."
And so, after following the village chief, we arrived at a residence on the outskirts of the city.
Boom!
Once inside the empty house, we took a hidden staircase down into the underground, and only then could we remove the robes that hid our faces.
"Didn't you say everyone was waiting for us?"
"Seems they haven't gotten here yet," the village chief noted. "They'll be here soon, so just sit and wait."
Turning to Erwen, I ushered her over to a chair and asked, "Erwen, are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine."
After confirming that she was alright, I refocused my attention back on speaking with the village chief. I was going to lose it with some of the questions that sprang to my mind earlier.
"Why did you use Teleport on our enemies? Wouldn't it be more effective to use it on us?"
To be honest, I was more curious about how he was able to even cast a Mass Teleport of that scale, but the village chief answered me as if it wasn't a big deal.
"It seems that you still don't know? Magic doesn't work on the witch. Just taking you alone would've been possible, but this was the only way for the two of you to escape together."
Hmm, so that was how it was. I hadn't known that magic didn't work on her.
He continued on to say, "Is there information you need to relay to only me before the other two arrive?"
"Not particularly."
"Then wait for a moment. We can continue this conversation after they arrive."
Since I also didn't like repeating myself, I agreed with the village chief and waited for the others.
"My apologies. It felt as if someone was following me, so I circled the area a few times before coming here."
Sometime later, one of the members of our rift adventuring group, Gahuin Versilus, finally arrived. He glanced at me and Erwen a little before carefully saying, "But more importantly...would you happen to be His Lordship, the Lord Baron?"
"What an odd question."
"Haha, so you are the real baron. I'm quite relieved to hear it."
That ticked me off a little. "The real baron?"
"Ah, until not long ago, you were acting like a completely different person. You didn't even know that we were inside a rift—"
Someone interrupted with a laugh. "It seems everyone is already here."
The final member of the rift had arrived—the archbishop of the Reatlas Church, Eden Hesteia.
"Apologies for being late," the archbishop said. "The place wasn't hard to infiltrate, but due to how heavy the equipment was, packing it all posed more of a challenge than I expected." He then took the sub-space bag from his back and held it upside down with a shake. Items clattered onto the ground like a waterfall, I noticed that they were pieces of my equipment.
Wow. I was honestly worried about how I would go and take back all my gear, but I never thought these guys would be on that already.
"I checked countless times, so there shouldn't be anything missing...but do check it once more just in case, Lord Baron."
Something similar did happen before, though.
It had happened in the underground city of Noark. An unknown man who was suspected to be Auril Gavis took over ten thousand people and escaped the palace's encirclement. I had only heard about it and never seen it myself, but it had occurred in front of me, wouldn't it look something like this?
"Go in."
And so, after following the village chief, we arrived at a residence on the outskirts of the city.
Boom!
Once inside the empty house, we took a hidden staircase down into the underground, and only then could we remove the robes that hid our faces.
"Didn't you say everyone was waiting for us?"
"Seems they haven't gotten here yet," the village chief noted. "They'll be here soon, so just sit and wait."
Turning to Erwen, I ushered her over to a chair and asked, "Erwen, are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine."
After confirming that she was alright, I refocused my attention back on speaking with the village chief. I was going to lose it with some of the questions that sprang to my mind earlier.
"Why did you use Teleport on our enemies? Wouldn't it be more effective to use it on us?"
To be honest, I was more curious about how he was able to even cast a Mass Teleport of that scale, but the village chief answered me as if it wasn't a big deal.
"It seems that you still don't know? Magic doesn't work on the witch. Just taking you alone would've been possible, but this was the only way for the two of you to escape together."
Hmm, so that was how it was. I hadn't known that magic didn't work on her.
He continued on to say, "Is there information you need to relay to only me before the other two arrive?"
"Not particularly."
"Then wait for a moment. We can continue this conversation after they arrive."
Since I also didn't like repeating myself, I agreed with the village chief and waited for the others.
"My apologies. It felt as if someone was following me, so I circled the area a few times before coming here."
Sometime later, one of the members of our rift adventuring group, Gahuin Versilus, finally arrived. He glanced at me and Erwen a little before carefully saying, "But more importantly...would you happen to be His Lordship, the Lord Baron?"
"What an odd question."
"Haha, so you are the real baron. I'm quite relieved to hear it."
That ticked me off a little. "The real baron?"
"Ah, until not long ago, you were acting like a completely different person. You didn't even know that we were inside a rift—"
Someone interrupted with a laugh. "It seems everyone is already here."
The final member of the rift had arrived—the archbishop of the Reatlas Church, Eden Hesteia.
"Apologies for being late," the archbishop said. "The place wasn't hard to infiltrate, but due to how heavy the equipment was, packing it all posed more of a challenge than I expected." He then took the sub-space bag from his back and held it upside down with a shake. Items clattered onto the ground like a waterfall, I noticed that they were pieces of my equipment.
Wow. I was honestly worried about how I would go and take back all my gear, but I never thought these guys would be on that already.
"I checked countless times, so there shouldn't be anything missing...but do check it once more just in case, Lord Baron."
I quickly ran over and put on all the necessary gear, then stored all the items left for later. Fortunately, everything was here.
Although I was a barbarian who followed the ancestral gods, I couldn't not say this at least this one time. "May the blessing of the twilight star be with us..."
"Haha, it brings a smile to my face to see you so happy, Lord Baron."
"Then since everyone is here, let's get to the main topic."
The village chief quickly reined in the atmosphere and began to talk. "So, what happened with you? Tell me everything from start to finish."
The things that happened to me and Erwen in chapter one and chapter two.
I gave a summary up to the point of me opening my eyes and noticing I was on the gallows, and after me, the other three also told me everything they experienced.
The start point of chapter one was different for everyone. First off, for the old wizard Gahuin Versilus...
"When I awoke, I was in a magic education facility. I had a few encounters, but the conclusion was that I defeated the monsters on the day of the practical exam, and received a medal from the imperial palace. On the afternoon of that day, I received a letter from my hometown that the imperials had attacked the village, and that my sister had gone missing because of it. The one who sent the message...was someone who said they were my friend, but I didn't know them."
In any case, reading that letter ended Gahuin's first chapter.
"After that, I was in an expansive desert with sand blowing every which way. There, us three met each other."
After going over to chapter two, Gahuin met up with the village chief and the archbishop.
"To explain this part, I guess I should explain our situation first."
The story of the village chief and the archbishop were both simple. The village chief was the knight of a noble house, the archbishop was a priest of a temple, and each experienced their own scenarios.
"Finally, we received a letter in the name of Sir Versilus. It was a letter requesting that we help him because his sister was in dire straits. The story seemed to suggest that the three of us were all close friends."
When they read that letter, their first chapter ended, and the three of them getting together marked the beginning of their second chapter.
The main event of chapter two was to deal with a group of people tracking them down.
"It wasn't too difficult to defeat them...but no matter how long we waited at the destination written in the letter delivered to sir Vesilus, you two never appeared."
And so, after they waited in the desert city, which should have been our rendezvous point, the imperials eventually came to find them.
"They told Sir Versilus that his sister was a being who would end the world, and that we should help them if we wanted to stop her."
Naturally, they didn't get a chance to refuse, and with that, chapter four began for them.
After that, the mission of the chapters became clear. All they needed to do was carry out the orders given to them by the empire.
Chapter five, chapter six, chapter seven... They participated in the war against the monsters and gained achievements. However, they weren't able to capture and reunite with us until the very end.
"Every time we thought that we were nearly there and that we could finally be able to talk with you two, something odd always happened to twist the story in a way that made it impossible for us to contact you."
I quickly ran over and put on all the necessary gear, then stored all the items left for later. Fortunately, everything was here.
Although I was a barbarian who followed the ancestral gods, I couldn't not say this at least this one time. "May the blessing of the twilight star be with us..."
"Haha, it brings a smile to my face to see you so happy, Lord Baron."
"Then since everyone is here, let's get to the main topic."
The village chief quickly reined in the atmosphere and began to talk. "So, what happened with you? Tell me everything from start to finish."
The things that happened to me and Erwen in chapter one and chapter two.
I gave a summary up to the point of me opening my eyes and noticing I was on the gallows, and after me, the other three also told me everything they experienced.
The start point of chapter one was different for everyone. First off, for the old wizard Gahuin Versilus...
"When I awoke, I was in a magic education facility. I had a few encounters, but the conclusion was that I defeated the monsters on the day of the practical exam, and received a medal from the imperial palace. On the afternoon of that day, I received a letter from my hometown that the imperials had attacked the village, and that my sister had gone missing because of it. The one who sent the message...was someone who said they were my friend, but I didn't know them."
In any case, reading that letter ended Gahuin's first chapter.
"After that, I was in an expansive desert with sand blowing every which way. There, us three met each other."
After going over to chapter two, Gahuin met up with the village chief and the archbishop.
"To explain this part, I guess I should explain our situation first."
The story of the village chief and the archbishop were both simple. The village chief was the knight of a noble house, the archbishop was a priest of a temple, and each experienced their own scenarios.
"Finally, we received a letter in the name of Sir Versilus. It was a letter requesting that we help him because his sister was in dire straits. The story seemed to suggest that the three of us were all close friends."
When they read that letter, their first chapter ended, and the three of them getting together marked the beginning of their second chapter.
The main event of chapter two was to deal with a group of people tracking them down.
"It wasn't too difficult to defeat them...but no matter how long we waited at the destination written in the letter delivered to sir Vesilus, you two never appeared."
And so, after they waited in the desert city, which should have been our rendezvous point, the imperials eventually came to find them.
"They told Sir Versilus that his sister was a being who would end the world, and that we should help them if we wanted to stop her."
Naturally, they didn't get a chance to refuse, and with that, chapter four began for them.
After that, the mission of the chapters became clear. All they needed to do was carry out the orders given to them by the empire.
Chapter five, chapter six, chapter seven... They participated in the war against the monsters and gained achievements. However, they weren't able to capture and reunite with us until the very end.
"Every time we thought that we were nearly there and that we could finally be able to talk with you two, something odd always happened to twist the story in a way that made it impossible for us to contact you."
With that, the chapters continued on to the next ones, and time continued to pass as they updated their information.
The younger sister was being called a witch, and I had become a follower of the witch.
It happened when they arrived at chapter eleven.
"We awoke in this city. Countless soldiers surrounded us. We only learned what had happened after we escaped their encirclement."
The witch and her followers had been captured. That was why the empire tried to kill the three of them since they no longer had any use.
"It became clear to us what the challenge this time would be."
The three of them infiltrated the prison to meet with us. Rescuing us didn't seem to be their original plan, and they just wanted to relay the situation to us.
"But as I said before, the people we met there weren't you two. We ended up only telling you that we planned on saving you on the day of your execution and left the prison."
And the situation that followed was what I experienced not long ago.
The long-awaited day of our execution had come, and we, having only experienced two chapters, woke up again after eleven chapters had passed and were able to reunite with these three.
That was the story of everything that had happened up until this point.
"Thankfully, though, it sounds like you weren't stuck here for over ten years," I mused under my breath.
"Baroooon!" Gahuin Versilus snapped in rage.
I flinched. "Huh?"
"How dare you say that? Even if it wasn't ten years, we've been here for at least half a year!"
"What? Half a year?"
If his ensuing rant was anything to go by, it seemed that chapter eleven had taken them over a month by itself.
I couldn't fight the chill that raced down my spine.
Even the allocation of time is all over the place in this rift...
Years wouldn't have passed in the present time when we exited this rift, right?
Damn it, I hoped this wasn't another one of those cases. Falling out of time once was more than enough.
"Sir Versilus, calm down," the village chief coaxed, easing the tension in the room. "There are still more things that need to be discussed."
"...I overreacted. My apologies."
The village chief led the conversation forward. "Your Lordship, this rift is different from any ordinary rift. We each have our own special abilities. Before I ask yours, we will explain ours first."
"Ah, I'll say my ability first."
Archbishop Hesteia went first.
"Although the strength of my divine spells is the same, my divine power reserves are near infinite. I am blessed with an ever-flowing fountain of grace no matter what sort of miracle I enact."
Put simply, infinite divine power. Well, there was a drawback as well.
"However, I cannot target myself with any miracles."
A priest who could only use divine power for others.
"Then what about the count?" I prompted.
"Mine is much simpler than the other two. I have become around twice as strong in all aspects, and I haven't found any weaknesses yet."
Hmm, a 200 percent increase in stats with no penalties associated with it. It was a cheat-level buff, sure, but it only served to worry me a little.
Won't something happen in the future if he's being buffed this much right now?
I was already worried about the difficulty of the final boss. As long as this place was a rift, it would also have its own Guardian.
"Anyway, then what about you, Gahuin?"
"With every trial I overcome, I can use new magic. It's not something like me obtaining new knowledge and understanding...but something closer to a commoner who can use spells by ripping spell scrolls."
"New magic?"
"Magic so ancient that even I cannot see into the functionality and foundation of that which perished so long ago."
Now I could understand.
I was wondering who could use a Mass Teleport that could teleport thousands of people like that. It was an ability he had obtained after coming into the rift.
"Ah," the village chief added, "and there is one more ability on top of that."
"What is it?"
"Every time we are transported to a new trial, I can instinctively understand what we need to do."
"That's— How do I put it...? That's quite a good ability."
I gave him words of congratulations while sighing on the inside.
I wasn't lying when I said it was a good ability. In fact, it was anything but a lie.
This unfriendly game was giving something useful like a navigation ability for free... Just what was going to be ahead of us?
"Then it's our turn now."
After that, I also explained the abilities we obtained, and that concluded our long session of information sharing.
"By the way...why has Ms. Tersia stayed silent the entire time?" the archbishop asked politely.
"That's...none of your business."
"...Hah, it seems I overstepped. My apologies."
I wondered whether she needed to shut down the kindly archbishop, but I didn't dwell on it.
Now that I think about it, it's a little odd...
During the boss run before and when she entered the rift as well, Erwen was a little different from usual. She did kindly answer all the questions that were asked of her, but I supposed the number of words she spoke decreased significantly from the norm?
"There's still time before nightfall, so go and rest."
Hmm, she wasn't usually this quiet.
***
[Gahuin Versilus's assigned role is Wizard. Ancient magic is now available for use.]
[Jerome Saintred's assigned role is Knight. All stats increased to 200%.]
[Eden Hesteia's assigned role is Priest. Divine power is no longer consumed. Divine spells can no longer be self-directed. All mental resistances are set to 0.]
With that, the chapters continued on to the next ones, and time continued to pass as they updated their information.
The younger sister was being called a witch, and I had become a follower of the witch.
It happened when they arrived at chapter eleven.
"We awoke in this city. Countless soldiers surrounded us. We only learned what had happened after we escaped their encirclement."
The witch and her followers had been captured. That was why the empire tried to kill the three of them since they no longer had any use.
"It became clear to us what the challenge this time would be."
The three of them infiltrated the prison to meet with us. Rescuing us didn't seem to be their original plan, and they just wanted to relay the situation to us.
"But as I said before, the people we met there weren't you two. We ended up only telling you that we planned on saving you on the day of your execution and left the prison."
And the situation that followed was what I experienced not long ago.
The long-awaited day of our execution had come, and we, having only experienced two chapters, woke up again after eleven chapters had passed and were able to reunite with these three.
That was the story of everything that had happened up until this point.
"Thankfully, though, it sounds like you weren't stuck here for over ten years," I mused under my breath.
"Baroooon!" Gahuin Versilus snapped in rage.
I flinched. "Huh?"
"How dare you say that? Even if it wasn't ten years, we've been here for at least half a year!"
"What? Half a year?"
If his ensuing rant was anything to go by, it seemed that chapter eleven had taken them over a month by itself.
I couldn't fight the chill that raced down my spine.
Even the allocation of time is all over the place in this rift...
Years wouldn't have passed in the present time when we exited this rift, right?
Damn it, I hoped this wasn't another one of those cases. Falling out of time once was more than enough.
"Sir Versilus, calm down," the village chief coaxed, easing the tension in the room. "There are still more things that need to be discussed."
"...I overreacted. My apologies."
The village chief led the conversation forward. "Your Lordship, this rift is different from any ordinary rift. We each have our own special abilities. Before I ask yours, we will explain ours first."
"Ah, I'll say my ability first."
Archbishop Hesteia went first.
"Although the strength of my divine spells is the same, my divine power reserves are near infinite. I am blessed with an ever-flowing fountain of grace no matter what sort of miracle I enact."
Put simply, infinite divine power. Well, there was a drawback as well.
"However, I cannot target myself with any miracles."
A priest who could only use divine power for others.
"Then what about the count?" I prompted.
"Mine is much simpler than the other two. I have become around twice as strong in all aspects, and I haven't found any weaknesses yet."
Hmm, a 200 percent increase in stats with no penalties associated with it. It was a cheat-level buff, sure, but it only served to worry me a little.
Won't something happen in the future if he's being buffed this much right now?
I was already worried about the difficulty of the final boss. As long as this place was a rift, it would also have its own Guardian.
"Anyway, then what about you, Gahuin?"
"With every trial I overcome, I can use new magic. It's not something like me obtaining new knowledge and understanding...but something closer to a commoner who can use spells by ripping spell scrolls."
"New magic?"
"Magic so ancient that even I cannot see into the functionality and foundation of that which perished so long ago."
Now I could understand.
I was wondering who could use a Mass Teleport that could teleport thousands of people like that. It was an ability he had obtained after coming into the rift.
"Ah," the village chief added, "and there is one more ability on top of that."
"What is it?"
"Every time we are transported to a new trial, I can instinctively understand what we need to do."
"That's— How do I put it...? That's quite a good ability."
I gave him words of congratulations while sighing on the inside.
I wasn't lying when I said it was a good ability. In fact, it was anything but a lie.
This unfriendly game was giving something useful like a navigation ability for free... Just what was going to be ahead of us?
"Then it's our turn now."
After that, I also explained the abilities we obtained, and that concluded our long session of information sharing.
"By the way...why has Ms. Tersia stayed silent the entire time?" the archbishop asked politely.
"That's...none of your business."
"...Hah, it seems I overstepped. My apologies."
I wondered whether she needed to shut down the kindly archbishop, but I didn't dwell on it.
Now that I think about it, it's a little odd...
During the boss run before and when she entered the rift as well, Erwen was a little different from usual. She did kindly answer all the questions that were asked of her, but I supposed the number of words she spoke decreased significantly from the norm?
"There's still time before nightfall, so go and rest."
Hmm, she wasn't usually this quiet.
***
[Gahuin Versilus's assigned role is Wizard. Ancient magic is now available for use.]
[Jerome Saintred's assigned role is Knight. All stats increased to 200%.]
[Eden Hesteia's assigned role is Priest. Divine power is no longer consumed. Divine spells can no longer be self-directed. All mental resistances are set to 0.]