Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer?

Chapter 32: The Consequences of One’s Choices (7)

It was quite the godsend that I had a map and even marked directions on it.

With the assistance of the Archmage’s {Haste}—it was my first time receiving a buff!—I managed to get out of the underground cave while limping but still rather quickly.

It would have been seriously annoying if more Demons had appeared, but it appeared that the dungeon hadn’t reset yet, so I couldn’t see any more mobs.

Unlike before, when I had to search around and somehow find my destination, all I had to do now was rush toward an already designated goal. That meant as long as I had this map, I could take the shortest route available.

As such, I got outside faster than I had expected. No sooner than I set foot outside could I see smoke rising into the sky from one side of the city.

I only ever saw smoke that thick when a building was burning. Still, it was rather strange for a fire to suddenly break out at this time.

Moreover, if it were just smoke from a normal fire, red and green wouldn’t have been mixed into it. That definitely had something to do with the Quest.

“That’s…”

“Oh, it’s Sir Wizard!”

“And next to him is…”

If I wanted to go there, I would first have to get over these riverbanks.

While limping a little, I made my way toward the slope. It was around then that those who had formed a barricade around the riverbanks noticed us and came down.

“Thank you. Please help him before me.”

“Not necessary.”

My HP was almost full.

For some reason, my recovery rate significantly slowed after reaching 70%… Well, 70% was enough.

The problem was the penalties I received due to fatigue and my injuries.

“Those wounds…!”

“We’ll help you immediately!”

“I should have said that I don’t require any.”

In fact, I required it, and very badly at that, but I had to maintain my character.

I mean, if anyone here thought the Demon had devoured me, I wouldn’t even be able to resist right now.

For that reason, I stubbornly marched ahead, tears in my eyes. The blood that hadn’t even dried yet left marks on the ground.

“Don’t be stubborn. You surely overexerted yourself just coming here with that body of yours. Even your internal organs have been gnawed at.”

“Whaaat?!”

However, the Archmage—fortunately—called out to me. An ursine Shaggi adventurer lifted me with his giant hands.

“…! Don’t touch my body…!”

“Look, I know that you’re strong, but please let us save your life.”

Usually, I could have easily shaken him off, but with my body in that state, I found it rather difficult to resist. The Archmage probably made the others do this precisely because he knew what state I was in.

“I don’t care ab—!”

“There’s still a battle left for you to fight.”

“…!”

Was I hallucinating, or did I see the Archmage grab the back of his neck? Of course, I couldn’t actually have seen it, as I had no eyes on the back of my head.

Didn’t he know that if he put it like that, I would have to give up on any rest I might have been able to get and rush ahead?

Thanks to him, I really couldn’t rest now. Aaargh.

I glared at the Shaggi, who had one eye covered with a bandage, and let out a sigh.

Still, I felt rather comfortable. I was draped over his wide shoulder like a sack of potatoes, so I didn’t look all that cool here.

“Cough.”

“…!”

It was a bit problematic that I continued coughing up blood as if my wounds had opened up again. My HP started to drop again, as well.

“Are you really an adventurer?! How could you act so ignorantly?!”

Someone—probably a healer, as they were wearing a red cross badge—rushed toward us from behind the barricade and nagged the adventurer holding me.

That had been rather unnecessary as I already received all the help I could before coming up the riverbank.

“I’ll treat you right awa—”

“That smoke.”

I barely managed to lift myself without falling to the ground. Actually, it probably wasn’t due to my own merit but the Shaggi adventurer who held me changing his way of support. Anyway.

“What is it?”

“We don’t know, either.”

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“I can’t see the Inquisitor with you. Did she perhaps head to that place?”

“Ah, yes, Sir Wizard. She called it suspicious and immediately headed there. She probably took some people with her, though. We stayed behind just in case.”

I spat out the last blood clot stuck in my throat. Blood, along with various pieces of organs, scattered over the ground.

“Wait, there’s so much blood…! Let’s transport him to a hospital first—”

What?! The hospital? I stood up using the sword I had been holding onto so stubbornly as a walking stick.

I no longer knew whether I was still playing a game or actually performing. I was worn out and exhausted, but I couldn’t stop here.

Roleplaying was one thing, but if I thought about this matter a bit further, there was no way a Quest could proceed completely without the involvement of the player…!

Of course, there were some games where certain tasks could be completed through just the NPCs, but… there was this general rule applicable to all games: when NPCs worked on the player’s behalf, the results were almost always subpar.

“I’ll go. You rest here.”

“Even sages know how to speak nonsense, huh?”

“What are you even going to do with that body?!”

No. My HP was still around 70%. If I wanted to fight, I could. I was pretty much used to that dizzying feeling now. Probably?

“There’s nothing you can do there.”

「❖ The Truth Behind the Curtain

∎ Thwart the Demon Worshipers’ plans

∎ Optional: Demons eliminated 221 / ??」

They probably wrote that into the Quest because it had to be me who did it. As such, I had to go.

“Hey.”

However, I suddenly heard a voice call out from behind me, followed by a dull pain around my neck.

“That man, serious…ly…?”

It didn’t exactly hurt, but it wasn’t a pleasant feeling either.

I slowly lifted my head, which was hanging forward a little, and slowly turned my head.

“Urgh…”

Did that guy just hit me?

“…”

“…”

I glared at that adventurer of the same race as Deb, a Curety. I didn’t even have to roleplay for that; I felt veins protruding from my neck. The guy who met my gaze seemed shocked and immediately tried averting his eyes to the side.

“He’s right.”

The Archmage didn’t even try to take my side and only sat there saying things like that. His next actions were actually similar to those of the Curety adventurer just now.

Claaatter!

“Get some rest.”

…Didn’t he know I had been bound by chains not too long ago, which led me to be in this situation?! How could he tie me up with magic chains again!!

“How dare you hinder me…!”

“This is for your own good.”

If you were going to do something like that, make me faint properly, you damn NPC…!

“That’s not up to you!”

I had already learned the trick to use skills with just my body. Crack! I destroyed the bindings around my itching right arm, which somehow made it feel more comfortable.

“…! You, just now—!”

At that moment, I got angry again. Did he think I was doing this because I wanted to? Did he think I went in there because I wanted to?!

No, it wasn’t just because of my character settings. It had always been that kind of game, I guess, but I couldn’t hold it in anymore…!

Clatter!

Was it because of his AI or something? He really didn’t seem to learn.

I immediately split the chain that rose from the ground with my right arm. Suddenly, black traces appeared in the air before disappearing again.

‘Should I kill him?’

This was really annoying.

Baaam!

I slammed the Longsword I was holding to the ground. If I kept holding it up, I felt like I would end up throwing it, even if I didn’t swing it.

He would definitely get bruised if hit by a 2kg rebar.

“Wizard! Don’t test me any further…! I’m not sure I can control myself any more than this…!

My character setting aside, I was completely sincere here.

These people were seriously too much. The kimchi dumpling, who randomly punched me in the stomach, and now this guy, who put chains on someone who had just been completely chained up to their neck. It was a bit much to ask NPCs for delicacy, but still!

“…!”

Damn it. I felt like shit. Of course, the source of my severe irritation wasn’t the binding but my extreme fatigue, but that didn’t change how I currently felt about anything.

This was a complete mess. If I had been less tired, I would have come up with a different way, but I wasn’t in a position to do that right now.

“…Out of the way.”

There was no other way to solve this. I had to finish this Quest quickly and get some sleep.

I looked at those terrified faces around me as they slowly moved away and headed toward where the smoke seemed to originate.

When would I reach that place? It seemed there was a long way ahead of me.

* * *

* * *

Deathbringer kneeled before the pile of corpses. In front of him was a person with a knife stuck in his neck.

“…Those Demon Worshipers aren’t a big deal.”

Who would have guessed that the suspicious people he had been following were Demon Worshipers?

Moreover, through a combination of happenstance and luck, he even managed to follow them to their hideout disguised as a merchant company.

That included watching them set up the ritual, setting fire to everything around because he couldn’t bear to watch it anymore, and even completely ruining their ritual by touching the magic circle and sacrifices.

They didn’t summon any Demons separately, either!

Thanks to that, he could kill them all one by one by slitting their throats and thrusting his knife into their hearts. Killing people was his specialty, so as long as there weren’t any Demons, he had nothing to worry about.

“I never thought those guys had anything to do with this.”

He scratched his head as he stood over the person he had just killed.

He never had such a direct confrontation with those guys before—back in Somon, he only protected the wizard in the rear, which didn’t count—so he’d vaguely believed he wouldn’t be able to deal with them.

However, he was quite surprised that wasn’t the case.

“They might have made contracts with Demons, but they are still people, after all…”

Of course, things didn’t necessarily turn out this way because he was insanely skilled. He was more than sure of that. All of this involved a lot of luck and happenstance.

However, were his achievements any less just because he had been a little lucky?

At least he had learned from this incident that he could kill those Demon Contractors in the right circumstances. That meant his vague fear of being unable to do it turned to concrete evidence that he could.

And there was a huge difference between those two things, after all.

He could do it, as well. He wasn’t merely a hindrance. With just a bit of effort and attention, he could do it just like he did now.

“Rather, what should I do about all this?”

The only problem left was dealing with the aftermath.

He scratched his cheek while looking at the burning pile of corpses, the broken magic circle, and all those people who had lost their lives to him.

“They’ll come on their own as long as I give them a signal, I guess.”

All he had to do was grab the people’s attention. One of them would definitely be involved with the city lord or a member of some religious organization who’ll come to investigate this place. If that were the case, those guys would deal with the aftermath automatically.

So Deathbringer just left the building and jumped up, squatting on the rooftop right behind the sign saying “Paint Store.”

In his hand was some dye powder he had been carrying in small quantities for a long time now. It was an item that would change the color of smoke when thrown into a fire.

Hisssssss.

As expensive as it was, its effects were outstanding. The smoke rising from the massive bonfire quickly changed its hue.

Just in case, he mixed two colors and threw them in the flames to make sure people would notice.

“Good."

Now, all he had to do was hide. Even though he didn't do anything wrong, he still decided to do that.

There was no guarantee that the first person to see the signal was an ally.

“…Wow, it's as if they've been waiting for it."

He saw some suspicious people running straight for this place.

“Who are they?"

On the surface, they didn't seem any different from typical civilians. However, with the trained eyes of an experienced thief, he could see various flaws: the shoes were far too clean, their worn-out clothes looked to have been borrowed from several other people, and their skin was as white as if it had never been scorched by the sun before.

He could already glean so much information from their appearance while hiding in a far-off place. He could tell even more than that from them. No matter how he looked at them, they were suspicious.

“Did they catch on?"

“Damn it, there was only a little bit left…"

Even more so, after hearing those remarks without any tension in their voice.

Deathbringer threw away all the excitement and confidence he had just felt about his success and tried to think as calmly as possible.

It would be easier to follow them than kill them, but would he gain anything from that?

That massacre just now was only possible because numerous variables happened to overlap.

He needed a more reliable force than himself. An unstoppable force that could completely ignore and wipe out anything those Demon Contractors threw at them, like that damn priest or the Demon Knight.

“Shit, that was our golden opportunity to be rid of that Hero."

“What's done is done. It seems like the underground cave has already been completely destroyed."

The problem was that, because he was alone, he couldn't both give chase and inform the others.

“Let's retreat. We have to get out of this city for now."

“Right."

Ah, he really didn't want to use that method.

He swallowed his slight displeasure and held his breath. Rip. Then, the sound of something tearing sounded out.

“Let's flee before others arrive!"

A new shadow joined the ones of those fleeing men.

“Please guide me."

[Shadow Mark]. It was a skill only a few Information Guild members could learn.

It was also the most formidable tracking skill out there. One could locate their enemies by tearing off one’s shadow and attaching it to theirs.

“Now, to the Temple…"

Ah, he had forgotten something.

“There's no way those damn bastards would listen to me."

Even when he told the priests he was there to watch the horses, they told him to leave as they couldn’t confirm whether he truly was there on behalf of the owner. So he had to sit on the wall and watch them in secret.

So would those priests believe him now? Nope, never! Not in a trillion years!

“I guess the Adventurers’ Guild would work."

Of course, the only ones there seemed seriously injured, so would they even be enough?

Still, it would be better than him pursuing them on his own. Since they already knew him, he could at least communicate with them.

“Uuugh."

How did he even get caught up in all this?

Deathbringer groaned in frustration as he started moving his feet. Since the situation was urgent, he had to rush.

“You!"

“Hey, if it isn't Miss Self-Righteous."

Then he came across someone he hadn't expected. Maybe it was fate.

"You came at just the right time. Hey, Iron Wall, I came across some people who seem to be Demon Contractors. Come with me, will you?"

“…Are you completely sure?"

“Ah, whatever, then don't come."

“No, I'll come along! Guide me!"

It probably wasn't just him who noticed they’d kind of gotten closer.

* * *

“Hey, what happened here?"

“Huh? Who're you—"

“Ah, aren't you the wizard who came along with the priest?! And… you're also alive? You actually came out of the sewers alive?"

“He's very tired, so it's best if you don't talk to him. Rather, could you please step aside for a moment?"

“Ah. Yes, of course. Feel free to pass."

“…”

“The priest said there were some traces to be found here… Does this place look any different in your eyes, Sir Wizard?"

“…This."

“Is there any problem?"

“It definitely looks like the Inquisitor has been here. Do you know where she went?"

“Pardon? The priest? She took some people with her to investigate West Street. We stayed here to guard the evidence."

“West Street. Understood. Demon Knight! Let us go!"

“Wh-what is going on?"

“We must catch the Demon Worshipers before they can escape the city or begin another ritual!"