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

Chapter 17: The Price of Ignorance (3)

I was tempted to blink rapidly, confronted with this unexpected development.

I mean, I knew the Draugr case was somewhat connected to a Demon Contractor or worshipper in the original, and I didn’t actually hate these types of events. Rather, I found them really interesting.

Why Gretchen all of a sudden, though? I didn't name anything Gretchen.

“If you're being held hostage by those heathens, I'll help you out. Let us both drown in the pleasures of slaughter."

The event itself wasn't that surprising. Most games had similar events in their early stages, after all.

But 'Gretchen' was a bit too much. I had no idea why they had to choose the name Gretchen. It was not very cool.

“Gretchen?”

Still, it wasn’t me who decided on the name but the game company, so it would be better to put my personal opinion aside. Maybe there was some meaning behind it.

Anyway, there were a few noteworthy points in what the Demon Contractor said. There was no way that an NPC mentioning the name of the Demon in my right arm would appear for no reason.

In that case, this was most likely a character event exclusive to Demon Knights, right? Oh, if I accepted their offer, would I be able to betray humanity and stand on the side of the Demons?

“Your mouth is fluttering so much that it’ll soon rip apart.”

I did wonder what would happen if I accepted their offer. However, considering my character setting, that would be stretching things, wouldn’t it?

Anyway, it didn’t really matter that I wouldn’t be exploring that story branch right now, since I planned to play this game multiple times. The grip on my Zweihänder tightened.

“…I made a mistake. My apologies. There’s no way someone as great as Gretchen would get captured by some mere heathens.”

My inner thoughts aside, the other party immediately calmed down upon seeing my blood vessels protruding and my eyes opening wide. My character was showing extreme anger toward that person, but they didn’t seem to particularly notice.

“But… Gretchen. That person isn’t just a regular heathen, but an extremely dangerous existence called a Hero. Stop with your games and slit its throat. If you bring their head along, the king will be positively pleased.”

Well, fine. I guess I’d heard enough.

If I were roleplaying as a more rational person, I would have tried to extract more information from them by pretending to be on their side, but that was practically impossible with my current character settings.

I would have captured and tortured them if I could, but I couldn’t act so shrewdly according to my setting.

“I can help yo—?”

“[Breaker].”

So the only thing I could do as one might expect was beating the crap out of them first.

Baam!

“Gretchen?!”

Damn it. Words wouldn’t help here.

They didn’t help back when the Inquisitor misunderstood and attacked me, either. However, she was a priest, the antithesis of all Demons. I had now been mistaken for a ‘fellow Demon’ by a ‘Demon Contractor,’ so why wouldn’t I just talk it out?

It was rather unlikely that my words would have gotten through to them even without this misunderstanding. It would be lucky if they didn’t aim their sword at me as soon as they could, after all.

“Wh-what…?”

So unlike that time with the Inquisitor, I sent that bastard flying and would continue to beat them even if they asked for forgiveness or something. They just had to stay still.

“Eeek!”

Perhaps because I put too much force into it, the skill I was using failed to hit. However, the Draugr, who moved in front of the robed person to protect them, got hit properly this time.

Wuooooooh.

The fog split apart, revealing the specter which let out a grotesque sound similar to a cry.

“I-I was wrong. Please forgive me!”

The robed person looked contemplatively at the crying Draugr—I noticed even through the hood covering their face—before prostrating themself on the ground.

Their reaction was a bit bizarre.

“Forgive?”

Now that I thought of it, the Draugr never really attacked me, despite having had the opportunity to do so twice already.

Was it because this was just an event? Considering what happened with the Inquisitor, that shouldn't be the case. The game wasn't so easy as to do something like that just because it was an event.

“Even death will not save you."

It was quite the mystery, but I just glossed over it for now.

I looked at the Draugr, who was the most threatening to me here. Frankly, I should probably get rid of the support first, the Demon Contractor, but it didn't seem like I could get past that Draugr so easily.

“I-I didn't mean to touch the Mabel Company! I would have never done something like that if I knew that you had your eyes on them, Gretchen!"

What were they talking about? Why did they suddenly mention the Mabel Company?

I furrowed my eyebrows as I used my skill to strike the Draugr. That sudden mention of the Mabel Company was interesting.

Baam!

“P-please forgive me!"

I lowered my head and tilted it.

Why would they mention that company out of all the ones in the city? It was the name of the group I had received three Quests from.

While I had already expected something like that, this was the guy behind it, huh?

“Draugr!"

The Draugr crawled out once more and the Demon Contractor used it like a shield. The fog condensed to form limbs, swords, and shields.

The Demon Contractor seemed to have reinforced the Draugr, its eyes flashing even brighter than before as its body started to glow red.

“How insignificant….!"

However, that wasn't enough to best me. I didn't know its exact level, but there was no way I would be defeated here as long as I was of the recommended level for the Quest!

Kaang!

[Breaker]. The sword I had swung down diagonally was parried by one of the Draugr’s shields. Thanks to that, rather than merely touching the ground, it actually scratched over it. I turned the hand holding the Ricasso of the blade.

My blade deflected the Draugr’s swords, no matter whether they stabbed or slashed. Shit! I felt my feet pushing away as if I had stepped on one of its shields.

“…Huu."

I slowly exhaled during the small rest I got there. I recalled the skill effect applied to my sword right now.

It wasn't that strange that it was wrapped in black energy, as [Breaker] would activate if I slashed down diagonally.

What was strange was that it would still be wrapped in it when I cut upwards after the attack. That was when I got the idea to try something new.

Wuuuuh.

My body moved forward faithfully as I attacked. I swung my sword once more, changing my hands freely.

Since it was mostly immaterial, I slashed my blade wrapped in black energy at the target mark that was only floating before its head.

Baam!

KIAaAArg!

The Draugr's body, cut in twain, retreated backward before reforming again. That was the tricky thing about immaterial enemies.

“N-no. {Recovery}.”

“The pathetic writhing of a worm…!”

I couldn’t let them recover. I pulled back the hand holding my sword and reached toward my chest area. A dagger kept within my coat was caught between my fingers.

Stab

“Uwarg!”

Daggers were quite useful weapons if one knew how to aim well. After confirming it had stabbed into the robed person's shoulder, very close to their chest, I grabbed my sword again.

While my aim wasn’t bad, it wasn’t enough to land headshots or anything, so I was satisfied with that outcome.

Whuuooo!

And then there was the Draugr who attacked me right away when I focused on the Demon Contractor.

I raised the Zweihänder, using it like a shield, and avoided the fog that rushed toward my ankles. Of course, as I only held its hilt, it would definitely get knocked aside, so I made sure to also grab the bladed part with my gauntlet-clad hand.

Kaang!

The Draugr’s blade was blocked by my own, enabling me to push it back. Even if it was an immaterial being, it would still materialize when attacking.

Stab!

The moment I managed to put some distance between myself and the Draugr, which I had pushed back, I wanted to test something I’d thought of not too long ago.

Seeing how the effect around my blade lasted for a few seconds after I slashed down, would it still last even while I performed quick successive movements? Would the skill effect last so long as it was wrapped in that energy?

No, just how much would be considered a downward slash to begin with?

Up to this point, I had only used [Breaker] by putting all of my strength in a single slash. However, I’d done so because I thought of it as simply using a skill.

However, when hitting the Draugr’s shield caused my downward slash to fail before completing, the skill effect lasted a long time after.

Didn’t that mean I didn’t actually have to cut down in a single slash with all of my power behind it?

Trying to confirm that theory, I lowered the amount of strength in my attack and slashed down. It wasn’t too difficult. With my right hand holding onto the sword’s body instead of the handle, I couldn’t hit the ground even if I exerted more strength than this.

Baaam!

As such, my blade cut into the Draugr, and the skill’s effect remained even after that.

Kiiiek. This was despite me actually thrusting my blade forward, taking back my hand, and grabbing the thing with my gauntlet to prevent it from disturbing this process.

Stab!nove(l)bi(n.)com

Kiaaaaaaarg!!!

「❖ The Evil Lurking in the Town

∎ Draugr eliminated: 1 / 1

∎ Demon Contractor captured: 0 / 1」

* * *

* * *

After I penetrated the target mark in the Draugr’s center, it scattered like melting snow. The fog covering this whole place noticeably lessened.

My experiment had been a great success, as not only did the color effect of the skill last, but its damaging effects remained as well.

“What!”

Just at that moment, the Demon Contractor raised their voice. Had they assisted the Draugr by shooting at me with attack magic, it wouldn’t have been pushed back like that. I wonder why they didn’t do that.

“Sigh.”

They probably had some kind of plan, or it was because this game didn’t allow them to.

I continued to think as I fixed my posture. Tak, tak, tak. I could hear footsteps from a distance, accompanied by heavy breathing.

“…!”

Did someone come here after hearing this commotion? I glanced over at the Demon Contractor whose head was turned, clutching their bleeding chest.

“Sir Demon Knight!”

“…Damn, the heathens!”

Ah, right, there were those two.

“…! A Demonic person who sold their body and soul to the Demons! I shall join you, Sir Demon Knight!”

“Oh my, you were already fighting.”

The Inquisitor, whose eyes were focused on the Demon Contractor, raised her shield and mace, while the Archmage raised his cane.

All of a sudden, the Demon Contractor was surrounded, with me in the back and those two in the front.

“Damn it, how dare you betray us, Gretchen?!”

“…!”

In the end, the Demon Contractor just shouted in a resigned manner. Judging by her expression, I thought the Inquisitor would misunderstand again.

“Why—!”

“How dare you speak of betrayal when you turned your back on the world?!”

Fortunately, she didn’t. She didn’t point her weapon at me, nor did she become hostile toward me.

“Why?”

Anyway, just standing around and listening to that person talk didn’t fit my character setting at all, so I wrinkled my nose and swung my sword. Of course, I didn’t think that they would die or anything from that.

“How dare you ask me for a reason, you worm!”

Anyway, a new objective to capture that person had appeared, so there was no way the Quest’s target would die. Instead, they would probably only let me capture them after first draining them of all their HP.

Ah, of course, this game didn’t have a single cutscene except at the beginning, so I had no idea what would happen after.

Baam!

However, my attack missed as a flying magic bullet hit my sword, successfully redirecting my attack.

For that reason, my blade struck the ground right next to the Demon Contractor. The ground splintered as the Demon Contractor screamed.

“Why are you interfering…?!”

I didn’t know the reason for his interference, but for now, I should just get angry.

Tsk, I heard all kinds of disgusting things from that damn Demon (Contractor) bastard and was even accused of betrayal, so how couldn’t I get angry and irritated. Even my attempt to vent my anger had been blocked.

“Calm down. We get more out of capturing that person than from killing them.”

“I can’t just let that Demon bastard live!”

“There might be other Demon Contractors besides them in this town!”

The Archmage struck the end of his cane against the ground, casting {Binding}. Both my arm and the Demon Contractor were tied by it.

“Draugrs aren’t ordinary Demons. They are even harder to summon in a town like this alone. There is a high possibility that there are more of them.”

It wasn’t that hard for me to break through these {Binding} chains. However, the Archmage just wanted to buy a little bit of time to talk.

“So, please, calm down and be a bit patient. If you kill that person now, you may relieve your anger momentarily, but you won’t be able to save the victims who might appear as a consequence. Don’t get blinded by your anger.”

“…”

No, I mean, I knew that. I was also trying to subdue that guy. I really didn’t mean to completely kill them…

Was I not supposed to drain all of their HP to clear this capture Quest?

「Capture │ One can only attempt to capture a target after some of their stamina has been reduced.

If the target dies in the process, you will fail to capture them.」

“…Damn it!”

Kick!

“Urgh!”

How about letting me know these things in advance, Mr. Game System?

I kicked the Demon Contractor and sheathed my Zweihänder. Fortunately, no one stopped me from kicking that guy, at least.

“…They mentioned the Mabel Company.”

“Hm?”

Ah, right. I had to tell them about this as well. I wasn’t sure if they would react to my words or if it would affect the story, but I sure was curious.

“That… That’s very important information.”

As I thought, this divine game was very different from anything I knew. Of course, I had no idea if my words really changed the plot somehow, but I at least got a response.

“I shall arrest you.”

The Inquisitor, whose eyes had been trembling quite rapidly until now, bound the Demon Contractor once more with her Divine Magic.

It was time to return to the Temple once more.