Chapter 8: I Didn’t Know That (1)

It took more than ten hours of subjective time riding in the carriage to reach the Northwestern Forest.

It was pretty much hell. Not only was the ride itself awful, but the game company hadn’t even bothered to include a skip function.

What’s more, for the sake of maintaining that damned cool image, I had kept my arms crossed, my legs crossed, and even my eyes closed, all while maintaining an uncomfortable posture.

I had assumed we would arrive soon enough, so without thinking much of it, I ended up maintaining the same position for hours.

Thanks to that, I honestly wondered if I had somehow entered the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

Now that we had finally arrived, the sun was already setting, so in reality, it had obviously taken around two or three hours. But subjectively? Forget ten hours. You could add another n hours onto that, and I would have believed it.

That should give you a rough idea.

Still, I endured those horrible conditions all the way to the end—to a degree that even surprised me.

Of course, it was probably less a victory of patience and more a matter of sheer stubbornness. After enduring what felt like an hour, it seemed too wasteful to give up after already suffering through that hour. After two hours, those two hours felt too precious to throw away.

Anyway, getting out of the carriage was much the same.

After enduring all that time, I couldn’t exactly show even the slightest sign of discomfort.

As a result, I received looks bordering on reverence.

That was, at least, some consolation.

Only some consolation.

Deep Pearl, you piece of—

***

With a thoroughly rotten expression, I checked the quest window.

「Ticone Village」

「※ Danger Lurking in the Northwestern Forest

■ Travel to the Northwestern Forest

■ Search for the Demon Hidden in the Northwestern Forest」

There was nothing particularly noteworthy about it, but my entire body hurt as if I had been beaten all over, so even this text somehow managed to irritate me.

Damn it. I take back what I said about the game not becoming a Failed Game no matter how shitty the travel system was.

The travel time being N hours was one problem, but the ride was this bad?

If they don’t patch this, the game is absolutely going to fail. Even I, a longtime fan, felt like quitting the game, so the newbies would probably rage-quit in droves!

“E-Excuse me, my lord…”

In the end, I pretended to rest my sword on my shoulder—though it was so long that I had to take it out of its scabbard whenever I sat down—and straightened my back a little.

I had gritted my teeth and pretended to be perfectly fine because it felt wasteful to give up after enduring so much, but this was my limit.

Crack.

I heard the sound of my back nearly giving out.

“Was the journey… peaceful…? Hehe.”

My face twisted even further at the sound, and I glanced to the side.

The coachman was rubbing his hands together while looking at me.

It was obvious at a glance that he wanted a tip.

“What kind of answer are you expecting?”

Why me, of all people?

There was no need to ask.

Before leaving, I had given the boy who found me the coachman a rather generous tip.

So it wasn’t strange at all for the coachman, who had witnessed that, to expect something from me.

Well, it was strange, but still.

“I have already paid for the service you provided. Perhaps even more than it was worth.”

Was he even human, trying to ask for a tip after providing a ride like that?

No. He was a thief.

I hadn’t planned on giving him anything to begin with, but after enduring that ordeal, there was even less chance I would pay anything extra.

My expression hardened.

“If you have no other business, get lost.”

Just in case, I also clenched my hand.

The moment my left hand let out a loud crack, the coachman squeaked and ran away.

Serves him right.

I snorted softly and turned around.

The moment I took a step forward, the people around me gradually began backing away.

Considering the timing, it didn’t seem like a coincidence…

Apparently, intimidating the coachman had been a little too effective.

Maybe the fact that I had actually meant it had something to do with it.

“Hmph.”

Still, even if it hadn’t been intentional, it wasn’t a scene that went against my Character Concept.

Within the minimum limits that would allow me to maintain my dignity, I cracked my neck and moved forward.

My destination was the forest visible beyond the village.

“Th-There isn’t an inn that way…!”

Around then, someone brave enough shouted after me.

It wasn’t advice I had asked for, but I appreciated the thought behind it.

“There really isn’t…”

But it was practically an unwritten rule that playable characters could function perfectly fine without sleeping.

That was separate from whether or not a sleeping function existed.

So there was no reason for me to stop at an inn and sleep.

If I became tired, I could simply switch to sleep mode, but why bother when I could still keep going?

If I was going to sleep properly every night, why would I even use Full Dive?

The mental energy I had worn down while enduring the carriage ride would recover once I did something like hunting anyway.

I was exhausted because I had been bored, not because I was actually fatigued.

“If you intend to enter the forest, stop.”

Seriously, though.

The people here were too kind.

They were complete strangers, yet they still went out of their way to worry about me.

“A Demon has appeared there.”

But?

I wasn’t some prickly city man right now.

I was a cold-blooded asshole.

Without even giving him a glance, I walked past him.

The man immediately became agitated, the veins in his neck bulging.

“I said a Demon has appeared! Are you planning to enter a forest like that at night instead of during the day?!”

That made me slow my steps ever so slightly.

“Day or night, what difference does it make?”

Generally speaking, monsters were stronger at night than during the day.

Games sometimes balanced things that way by increasing their HP or raising their attack power.

But even so, that was all.

In games primarily focused on hunting, the difference in difficulty between day and night usually wasn’t that drastic.

Besides, with the weapon attack power of the weapon I had received through my pre-order, it should be enough to handle at least monsters from the middle stages of the game.

Would I really be unable to kill even a single early-game nighttime monster with this?

That was the conclusion I reached through my long gaming career.

And so, I stepped toward the darkening forest.

A dense woodland so thick that it seemed to swallow even light itself devoured my body.

***

“To be honest, when I first heard that there was a bounty of seven hundred thousand Gal on the Demon’s head, I thought the amount was greatly exaggerated.”

A woman brought her mace down upon the body of a Goblin blocking her path.

Her red hair, loosely tied and draped over one side of her front, was so vividly crimson that it was impossible to tell whether blood had splattered onto it or not.

“It is understandable that you would think so. The number of visible victims is not particularly high.”

A well-built old woman followed along the path the woman had cleared.

Beneath her snow-white hair was not the face of an ordinary human, but one resembling that of a lion.

Soft white fur gave her an elegant and dignified appearance.

“Even so… I believe my thoughts were too shallow. Even if one does not suffer directly, having the place where one lives taken away can also lead to death.”

“Simply realizing that is enough. You have only recently left the Temple and begun to learn about the world.”

At the old woman’s words, the woman lightly furrowed her brows.

It was dissatisfaction directed at herself, along with a trace of anger toward the current situation, which showed no signs of improving.

“For the sake of the innocent lambs, we must quickly root out the evil lurking in the shadows, yet it refuses to show itself.”

“That is precisely why the bounty has grown so large. Do not be impatient. When the heart grows impatient, even things that should go well often fail.”

“I know. But…”

She ultimately let out a sigh at the Demon’s continued absence despite wandering around for days.

That was how frustrating the situation was.

When she had received her revelation at the Temple and set out into the world, she had never imagined things would turn out this way.

The outside world, which she was experiencing for the first time, was so complicated and difficult.

There were no fixed tasks.

No predetermined answers.

She had to judge, decide, and move forward entirely on her own.

“Whew. As the Archmage said, becoming agitated like this will not make the evil reveal itself. I will compose myself and search the forest once more.”

“A wise decision.”

The woman crushed another Goblin that leaped out at her with her mace and steeled herself.

“…This dense Demonic Energy!”

As if responding to her determination, an intense malice unlike anything she had sensed while wandering through the forest until now reached her senses.

“Archmage!”

“Yes. I sensed it as well. Go on ahead, Inquisitor.”

“Excuse me!”

Leaving the old woman behind as she gathered her staff, the woman rushed toward the source of the Demonic Energy.

“I found you, Demon!”

At the end of her pursuit stood a man.

A Lantern hung from his waist, while a massive sword rested upon his shoulder.

Thick Demonic Energy flowed from his right hand, which appeared to be covered by a Gauntlet.

“To become human and yet dare betray God!”

That made her unable to tolerate it any longer.

A human carrying Demonic Energy within his body.

Unless he had made a contract with a Demon, such a thing should have been impossible.

It meant that he had turned his back on God and betrayed humanity.

“In the name of God, I shall destroy you!”

She would never allow such a traitor, deserving of execution, to escape alive.

The woman gripped her shield tightly and infused her mace with holy power.

“……?”

Then—

The moment the gloomy eye not covered by the Eyepatch met hers—

Clang!

The sword and mace collided.

***

「Detection | Identifying enemies is the foundation of combat. Allows you to sense hostile intent.

Effect: When a hostile target comes within 10m, provides a target mark on the nearest one.」

Since it was nighttime and the Demon was difficult to see, I had just invested a point into Detection, one of the life-category skills.

I had trusted the description that said it would mark hostile targets within a 10-meter radius.

「A target harboring hostile intent exists within a 10m radius.」

“………?”

And yet, I ended up using the Detection skill immediately after acquiring it.

“Dare you betray God after becoming human!”

What was worse, the target wasn’t even the Demon I had been looking for.

It was a person.

“In the name of God, I shall destroy you!”

Barely suppressing my confusion, I swung the Zweihänder.

I knew perfectly well that blocking a mace with a sword was a good way to ruin the Blade, but at the moment, I had no other choice.

Clang!

Judging by the sound, at least a Perfect Deflect had activated.

Unlike the normal Deflect, which reduced damage by 90% when timed correctly, this was a Defense Skill that completely negated 100% of the damage.

Thanks to that, I was able to hide my bewilderment and quickly assume my next stance.

It was preparation to ensure I could respond no matter when the next attack came.

“A religious order, huh?”

At the same time, my mind was working furiously.

The opponent who had appeared…

Judging from her shouting about God and the white light lingering around the head of her mace, she looked like some sort of Priest class.

And considering that she was wearing plate armor and carrying a shield without moving around like a snail, her level seemed fairly high as well.

“Yes. I came to destroy you.”

But after figuring out what she was, I became even more bewildered.

Why was a Priest… attacking me?

There was no new quest or update notification, so it didn’t seem to be an event or part of the story.

Then was she a field boss?

But for a field boss, her design didn’t fit the map at all.

Was there really some setting where a Priest guarded a forest?

That would be rather strange.

And there didn’t seem to be any related backstory either.

Then was it really a story event?

There hadn’t been anything like this in the original, but who knew about the Remake version?

I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

“My understanding of religious orders was that they were those who performed good deeds and showed mercy in the name of God. Yet seeing you today, perhaps that is not always the case, considering how readily you resort to violence.”

Hmm.

Well, since she had appeared anyway, should I just enjoy it?

It wasn’t as if I had become a Roleplayer just to spend my life avoiding everything.

“How dare a Demon speak of violence!”

Separately from that, judging by her dialogue, it was clear that we were completely talking past each other.

Why was she calling a perfectly normal human being a Demon?

Had she mistaken me for one?

But based on what?

What did I even have to do with Demons…

I wasn’t even carrying any cursed equipment…

…Wait.

Uh…

Could it be my right arm?

“……!”

The realization came in an instant.

And the reason my expression immediately turned cold was the instinct of a Roleplayer.

Of course, the setting was that I wore the Gauntlet because I didn’t want to see the arm inhabited by a Demon.

I hated Demons, yet whenever I looked at the Demon residing in my arm, I agonized over whether I was still human.

That was the setting.

And someone like that gets called a Demon by a Priest?

Hey, wasn’t that basically a button designed specifically to trigger him?!

Of course I would lose my mind!

“Do not call me a Demon, you fanatic!”

There was absolutely no way I could let that slide.

I had to shout at the top of my lungs with the veins in my neck bulging!

How was someone with a self-esteem level of Min, constantly wandering because he wasn’t even sure whether he was human, supposed to let this pass?!

“How dare a traitor who has fallen into evil say such a thing!”

The fact that the enemy was a higher-level Priest who also had the class advantage over me?

I didn’t care.

Games of this type didn’t always determine victory or defeat solely by level, and even if I died, I could just try again.

For a Roleplayer, even dying was content.

Either way, it was fun.

“Submit yourself and receive judgment!”

Suppressing the corners of my mouth, which were trying to curl upward in excitement, I dodged the Priest’s mace.

Then I held my sword upright, its point aimed toward the sky, and performed the ritual I had promised.

“Victory to my sword, glory to the heavens…!”

“Pretending to be a Knight, are you?!”

Yeah.

Pretending to be a Knight.

But I wasn’t a real Knight who had received a formal knighthood, so I had no intention of fighting honorably either.

I switched off the Lantern hanging from my waist and melted into the darkness.

Her entire body was glowing due to her buff skill, while I was not.

Turning off the Lantern would narrow my own field of vision, but unlike her, I could still locate my opponent.

“You cowardly…!”

As expected, she immediately lost sight of her target.

On the surface, the situation seemed to favor me.

“I will cut out that tongue and offer it to God…!”

Well then, should I teach this ambusher a painful lesson?

Though I wasn’t sure whether my attack would actually land.

“Breaker…!”

「Breaker | Surround your weapon with magical power and unleash a powerful Demonic Energy-infused downward strike over a wide area in front of you.

Effect: Consumes 10 magical power. Attacks enemies within the frontal area for 540% damage.」

Breaker, the Attack Skill I had acquired before Detection, added a black effect to my Zweihänder as it tore through the night air.