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

Deathbringer successfully trailed someone across the plain, which many would consider the most difficult task imaginable.

However, the Demon Knight didn’t stop walking, so he had to cross through the forest as well. His fast pace didn’t make keeping up with him any easier, either.

Where was he going?

He hesitated slightly, wondering whether he should turn back, but decided to continue following for now.

After observing with various items, he could tell this man was undoubtedly the Demon Knight.

The problem was that he couldn’t figure out why he was going into the forest alone.

“This place…”

Fortunately, the Demon Knight reached his destination before the sun set. The remains of burned trees were scattered everywhere, and the ground was pitch-black. Deathbringer knew this place very well.

“Could he be hunting that Demon?”

After all, this was where a new Great Demon—the Inquisitor had told them it was probably a Great Demon—had appeared during their battle with the Skyflow Tiger.

Considering the Demon Knight’s burning hatred for Demons, it wasn’t strange to think he had come here to track it down.

“Mister, please…”

It might not be strange, but seriously, couldn’t he just take better care of his body? It had only been a few hours since the Archmage had advised him to rest!

He slapped his face and hid behind something resembling a black pillar. Ash clung to his clothes and face, but if he cared about that stuff, he would be the one to lose.

Deathbringer’s eyes followed the Demon Knight’s back relentlessly. He maintained as much distance as possible for fear of getting caught, but that made it much harder to see his subtler movements.

“…?”

However, he could clearly see the Demon Knight wandering about in odd directions.

He first went left, then right, then some distance straight ahead, only to come back and walk in the other direction for a while. Deathbringer had no idea what the meaning behind these actions was. ꞦаꞐȰʙЁS̩

Now, he was just circling the place. It was to the point that Deathbringer had to quickly run deeper into the forest to avoid getting noticed.

Where the Demon Knight had passed, marks that looked to have been etched into the ground with a sword were left behind.

Could this be for some spell? No, as far as he knew, the Demon Knight wasn’t proficient in the Arcane arts.

Moreover, the lines he had drawn were slightly crooked—not erratic or frenzied, but straight, with little care for precision.

The Archmage had once said that spells were all about precision and consistency, so it probably wasn’t a spell.

Then what the hell was it?

Deathbringer tilted his head, unable to determine the Demon Knight’s intentions.

When the Demon Knight finally proceeded to stand in the center of the scorched ground after some time, a thought crossed his mind: “Oh, was he perhaps trying to estimate the center?”

But if that was the case, the question remained: why?

If his goal had been to track the Demon, there would be no point in finding the center of this burned area.

“I don’t know… He isn’t the type of person to act without a reason…”

With that thought in mind, he continued watching the Demon Knight.

“Whoa, he turned around.”

But before he could ascertain the Demon Knight’s intentions, the man turned around. He appeared to be heading back to the city.

Deathbringer hurriedly retreated.

His legs were exhausted, he had skipped dinner, and at the end of the day, he had gotten nothing out of it.

His biggest challenge now was returning to the city, even though the sun was about to set.

* * *

“You’re late.”

By the time I returned to the dorm, the sun had already set. I didn’t really mean to be so late, but it just somehow ended up that way.

The place I went to after leaving the Information Guild was further away than I had anticipated. It didn’t feel that far the last time I went there.

“Would you mind staying here with me for a bit?”

More importantly. Archmage, why haven't you gone to sleep yet? Was she waiting for me?

Sure, I hadn’t notified them that I would be late, but… was going this far really necessary?

I wasn’t so incapable of taking care of myself as to warrant a guardian’s intervention, and frankly, it was pretty unlikely some extremely powerful opponent would just pop out of nowhere and attack me.

Creak.

Although I was thinking, “Was this really necessary?” she did wait a long time for me.

I sat on a nearby chair, trying to gauge how long this conversation might last. A few lit candles were placed on the table near us, softly illuminating the surroundings.

“Here, have some.”

Ah, tea.

I accepted the teacup with a somewhat complicated look in my eyes. Judging by its aroma, it seemed to be the same one I always liked to drink…

I parted my lips slightly before quickly closing them again. The hot steam of the tea rose upward, tinted by the crimson candlelight.

“It feels like it’s been a long while since we last sat down and talked like this, doesn’t it?”

Well… when you put it that way, I guess it had been a while. Considering how rare an occasion it was for just the two of us to drink tea without anyone else joining.

“I suppose you won’t tell me what you’ve been up to?”

Rather, why was she beating around the bush like this? I wasn’t really in the mood to sit here for too long.

“What do you want?”

I placed my hand on the teacup. The smooth, handleless cup felt lukewarm. It was at the stage where its heat was just starting to spread to the surrounding chill.

“…Did you know? At times like these, you seem more like a wizard than I do.”

I had been wondering about this, but what exactly were wizards supposed to be like? I mean, sure, I deliberately acted as if I had zero social skills to uphold my character, but the wizards she seemed to be referring to reminded me of…

“Sigh.”

Anyway, the Archmage didn’t give in so easily. It was somewhat funny and pretty sad how accustomed she seemed to have become to my rude behavior over the past few months.

Still, the responsibility for all this was only 50 percent mine and 50 percent hers—for forcing me to act out my character like this—so if she was going to glare at someone, she should start with herself.

“What’s the problem?”

Also, I really wished she wouldn’t ask me such vague and oddly pointed questions. They were too difficult for me to answer.

“Please tell me. What’s the problem?”

I absentmindedly tightened my grip on my teacup, hearing this sudden question, my mind a mess. Crunch. A dangerous sound came from the trembling cup.

“I know if I ask this, you’ll probably just tell me to mind my own business. But, Demon Knight… How could you act like that? Lately, you’ve really…”

“Why do you insist on asking me even though you’ve already predicted how I’d react? Is it to prove your stupidity? Or is it for your petty self-satisfaction?”

Ah, that was a mistake. That wasn’t what I meant to say.

“Remember your place, wizard.”

But words weren’t something you could just take back.

Just as releasing my grip wouldn’t restore the cracked teacup, and as the spilled droplets wouldn’t return to the cup, I couldn’t undo what I had just said.

“If not for my goal of killing all Demons along with their King, you and I would never have shared the same space to begin with.”

I let the rest of the tea pour onto the table without hesitation.

If I couldn’t take back these emotions and words that had already spilled out, I might as well make use of them.

“Also, what I need is not your pathetic sympathy or understanding, but absolute and merciless judgment.”

I had been thinking for a while now that it was time to draw a line between us anyway.

“Remember, your only job is to kill Demons, and mine is to do the same. That is the sole value we share.”

The warm tea spreading across the table gave off a faint aroma. The aroma was of the dried remains of plants that had the life squeezed out of them.

The reddish glow of the candlelight reflected off the quickly cooling liquid, making it resemble molten lava.

***

Clack.

The Archmage looked at the table, now soaked in tea, and then the door the Demon Knight had just shut.

Seriously, that dirty temper of his was something else.

“So what he wanted to say was that we should keep our distance.”

Shaking her head, she jokingly muttered to herself that with how roundabout he was with his words, he would be a failure of a wizard. However, even she didn’t find the joke funny.

“…Merciless judgment.”

He always seemed like someone who never even envisioned much of a future for himself. However… the things he had just said were much more blatant than before.

It was as if he had discarded even the smallest shred of hope.

“Just what…?”

What could have made him like this? Just what had changed in him since the battle with Moby Dick…?

Creak.

At that moment, the door to the dorm opened. A young man entered, his pale complexion visible even in this dim lighting. His green ears were drooped, and his lips were trembling uncontrollably.

“…Did you hear?”

“…”

He didn’t respond, but the Archmage, assuming he had already heard everything, took his silence as an answer.

“Can you drink?”

“…Yes.”

“Good. Then sit down. It’s going to be a long night.”

She exhaled softly, pulling out a bottle of alcohol she had prepared just in case. There were no snacks to go with it, but that wouldn’t be a big problem. The sadness that seemed to have come with the night was already within their chests.

* * *

Ah… This is so annoying. Was the erosion too much? I can’t even withstand filtered Divine Power anymore without that orb. I thought the wizard filtered it pretty well, but it seems they didn’t, huh?

「What… have you done…?!」

I like seeing you mad, but isn’t this a bit unfair? This really isn’t my fault. You know as well as I do, right? The more aware he becomes, the more dangerous it gets… Isn’t that why you ignored his desperate pleas to begin with?

「…」

Ah, that expression is nice. It’s the best I’ve seen on you in a while.

「…Shut up.」

Are you being rude because you don’t have anything else to say? Young brats are just so… Ah, but we should probably wake him up soon, right? If this keeps up, he’ll die.

「…Why should I care?」

…Ah, right. It would be more beneficial for you if he died. But not for me…

‘If you don’t plan on dying like this, you have to get up, you know?’

* * *

Flash.

My eyelids shot open, and my instincts immediately told me I had to go out.

Rustle.

But as I tried to sit up, something fell on my pillow. It was blood.

I hurriedly wiped over my face. Sticky blood came off my upper lip. Judging by the blood stuck to my cheeks, it seemed like this wasn’t all of it.

Even my pillow had discolored stains on it, the color of blood left to sit for quite some time.

“Demon Knight, you’re up—”

“Oh, buddy. How about sparring today… The smell of blood?”

I hastily got dressed and stepped out into the hallway, covering my nose and mouth with a handkerchief.

Thinking about it, I should have just followed my gut instinct and gone outside yesterday when I was feeling off. I didn’t realize the impact of losing a seal would be this strong.

I felt a little regret.

“Huh? What do you mean by the smell of blood?”

“Buddy, you…”

“Ah, wait. You two, come here for a second.”

“Huh? But…”

Fortunately, that regret quickly faded. I could see the results of yesterday’s conversation—the Archmage making those around me keep their distance without me having to do it.

Looking back, I might have reacted a bit more harshly than necessary, for which I felt a bit guilty, but there was nothing I could do about it anymore.

At least I got them to keep their distance like I wanted. That was enough.

This amount of distance was just right.

Ah, but that didn’t mean I was planning to leave the party, of course.

I had some doubts about this journey of ours, but rashly leaving the party would only cause me more trouble than it was worth.

From the short-term need to remain with the Hero’s party to reach the ending—if such a thing even existed—to the long-term concern of handling any emergencies that might crop up, I…

…Well, that was the problem.

I felt a bit sorry for using the party like that, but I didn’t really have the leeway to be considerate.

So just this much distance between us, neither more nor less, was precisely the amount to keep our relationship from growing any worse than it already was.

That way, we might eventually be able to cooperate without caring about each other’s circumstances.

“Phew.”

Not long after I left the Temple, my nosebleed subsided, so I soaked my handkerchief in water and wiped my nose and mouth.

At moments like these, I was glad I had stored some clean water in my Inventory. The remaining bloodstains on me were cleanly wiped away.

Well, at the price of the handkerchief becoming too dirty to use anymore.

I put the red-stained handkerchief in my Inventory. Grrr. My stomach, which I hadn’t been able to fill because I rushed out after getting dressed, started to growl.

I should probably find a restaurant first.

And since I no longer had a handkerchief, I should probably buy a new one.

And…

Where should I go next after that? Should I get another seal? No, that would be a bit much after what I said.

Or should I ask the young lord when the work would be done? I could also just sleep outside until everything got resolved.

Ah, right. I broke my longsword, so I also needed to buy a new one.

I started organizing my schedule while I looked for a decent restaurant.

I had more to do than I had thought. I decided to postpone seeing the young lord for now. I wondered if I could finish everything by noon.

Then what should I do in the afternoon? If these were modern times, I would have just sat in a cafe or library, sipping coffee while reading a book.

But there were no cafes or tea houses around here.

There was a square but no park, so taking a walk was off the table. And given the high illiteracy rate, libraries were a pretty foreign concept to these people… It wasn’t like I could just wander into the Temple or the lord’s manor to read books, either.

So, if there were any place I could read freely, it would be a bookstore, but…

I wondered whether this city even had a bookstore. I should just look for one for now.

“Hear, hear, fruit so fresh, it’s still covered in dew! You won’t get them cheaper than here!”

“The play that even brought the City of Knights, Munmund, to tears is about to start!”

“That bastard, I knew he was nothing but trouble. Beating up any green-haired person he came across… Hah, seriously. A rebellion? He should have known better!”

“When’s the execution going to happen?”

I wandered through the busy streets, looking at the various stalls and shops. It felt a bit different from what I was familiar with, but there were also many similarities, so it was rather fun to window shop.

The restaurant I stumbled across had pretty decent food as well. While I couldn't find a blacksmith, I did manage to purchase a nice handkerchief.

There were no signs of a bookstore, though.

Since books were fairly expensive, I figured I could find a vendor selling them in a higher-end shopping street.

Was this just wasted effort? Should I give up?

“I’m late, I’m late!”

Just as I was about to give up on finding a bookstore, I saw a young man running across the street, carrying a bunch of papers.

His destination was a rather fancy-looking restaurant. The papers he was carrying appeared to be their menus.

“I’m sorry for being late!”

“Seriously! You’re only coming now? If you were even ten minutes later, I would’ve really lost my temper!”

“I’m very sorry!”

“Take it!”

I wasn’t sure whether it was my bias toward people wearing glasses or the smell of ink I instinctively picked up on.

“Phew… Glad I wasn’t late.”

I approached the young man.

The young Shaggi, who resembled a leopard, looked relieved as he pushed back his wavy wheat-colored hair.

“Hey.”

“Huh?”

“Are you a scribe?”

I took note of his simple but neat attire and the ink stains visible through the fur on his hands.

Given both the menu papers the restaurant seemed to have commissioned and the ink marks, I was pretty sure he at least worked with someone who used ink. At the same time, I hypothesized that if anyone knew of a bookstore’s whereabouts, it would be someone like him.

“Ah, yes, yes! That’s correct! Do you have a commission for me…?”

“I’m looking for a bookstore.”

So what else could I do? I just had to ask him.

Running around the city with sweat dripping down my back was all well and good, but I would much prefer to find a bookstore sooner rather than later and enjoy reading some books.

“A bookstore?”

The young man adjusted his glasses again and smiled brightly at my question.

“You must be from a big city. Not many shops only sell books here in Ednium. It’s pretty difficult to make a living from just buying and selling books.”

So there really weren’t any bookstores?

However, going off what he said, while there weren’t any places that only sold books, there might be places that sold them alongside other goods and services. Otherwise, that young man wouldn't have confirmed that he was a scribe.

“Of course, there are places that handle books while also taking scribe commissions! Would you like me to guide you to the store?”

See?

“What kind of books do you handle?”

Modern bookstores dealt with all kinds of books, but based on my experience, this world was quite different. Some places only handled very expensive books, while others only had poorly bound books.

And I usually sought out the latter. The former demanded a fortune just to view the wares, and if I left even a scratch on any of them, the amount I would have to pay would be terrifyingly high.

“We handle pretty much anything. Of course, you shouldn’t expect scriptures or proper Arcane tomes.”

“I’m not interested in those.”

I could find scriptures in the Temple, and as for Arcane tomes, I could just go to a Magic Tower. Besides, I didn’t have that much interest in those things in the first place.

Although trivial books might not contain much information I wanted to know, they at least provided some insight into this place’s culture.

“Then let’s go! It’s not far!”

Fortunately, it seemed they had a lot of those.

The young man cheerfully guided me to the store.

____

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