Chapter 24: Irrevocable (3)

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

Chapter 24 Irrevocable (3)

The Inquisition trial went on until midnight.

Not everyone belonging to the Temple could wield Divine Power, so the second half of the trial was rather slow.

It couldn't be helped. If someone in a position only wielders of Divine Power could achieve was unable to use it anymore, there would be a need to investigate them; according to this world's setting, God can take away one's Divine Power if they did something wrong. However, you couldn't just call someone a sinner because they couldn't wield Divine Power to begin with.

In the end, there was no other choice but to interrogate them in detail and get to the bottom of the matter.

Couldn't it have been short, easy, and fun? Moreover, I lacked any relevant abilities, so I had to stand back.

If it weren't for the logout issue, I would have been bored out of my mind. Right, if it weren't for the logout issue.

"..."

It was morning in the game. Since I had no other Quests and my help wasn't needed, I had enough time to think.

I came up with two theories: either I miscalculated the time, or I hadn't accounted for a time skip function the game had, like sleep.

The latter wasn't just my wishful thinking, as many games made time pass faster by sleeping. Its effect was similar to contracting time, or at least it seemed that way.

Right. If that was the case, it was obvious that the end of the Full Dive had been delayed by the amount of time I had slept. Technically speaking, it wasn't really delayed. I just bought some more time by skipping.

"I kept you waiting."

I felt a little more at ease after coming to that conclusion. That was the moment the Inquisitor returned.

"The remainder of the trials will be held by others. Until the inquisitors of the Great Temple arrive, the town will be responsible for holding them."

Oh. I thought the trial would continue for a few more days. It was great that she managed to hand the case over to others.

It was fun seeing the inquisitors, bishops, and great priests get interrogated, but it got pretty boring after moving to the lower-ranking members who were asked questions and nothing more.

Even if I wasn't in much of a mood to enjoy all this, boring things were still boring.

"Everyone, thank you for your hard work."

Tada dada!

With the Inquisitor's words, the Quest Completion BGM sounded in my ear.

「LEVEL UP!」

Additionally, I also leveled up.

"Is that really okay?"

However, while I was busy checking my level, the Thief—I didn't know why he hadn't left—asked a question. It was understandable.

The perpetrators were being judged by the very organization they belonged to, so it wasn't unusual that some might react like that. The terms favoritism and bias existed for a reason, after all.

"They are all ordinary people, even if they are part of the Temple. They aren't on a level that a trained soldier couldn't suppress them. The judges sent by the Great Temple will also arrive in a week. It isn't likely that there'll be any problems."

"Do you think that was what I meant when I asked?"

"Then what did you mean?"

The Archmage and I both understood what the Thief wanted to say, but unfortunately, that was still a bit too much for our iron wall.

When he asked if it was possible to monitor the proceedings with the town guards, she seemed to understand.

"Well. If that's what you mean, then that probably wouldn't work. I also want to take full responsibility for this until the end, but..."

The Inquisitor hesitated for a moment before saying the last sentence with conviction.

"I have a mission that takes priority."

It was only natural for the Thief to be dumbfounded by this. He looked back at me and pointed his finger at the Inquisitor. I didn't know what he was thinking, but I kind of got it.

"...Those who come here won't be traitorous bastards again, right?"

"If that's what you're wondering about, you don't have to worry, Sir Demon Knight. This incident will lead to a large-scale investigation of the entire Temple."

"Hah. Sure. Who knows? They might even protect those traitors because they're from the same organization or something, right?"

"...I will not allow any more of your shameless words, criminal!"

It sure was funny how different the Inquisitor's attitude was toward me and the Thief.

"Ehem. Rather than that, there was something I wanted to ask since a while ago... How did you manage to catch these fugitives?"

The Archmage asked a question to quickly change the subject. The Thief shrugged.

"I've already heard that there were traitors in the Temple, so I had an inkling... From my observations, it seemed your search for those guys was going too slowly, so as soon as I arrived at the back alleys, I took the guys and waited around the Temple. That's when I caught those guys one after the other."

I had thought this was just part of the snowball effect, but he even gave a backstory to his actions that really fit the character.

If not for these bugs, it really would be a divine game. Ah, that goddamn logout bug.

"Ah, but I didn't do that to reconcile with you or anything, so don't get it wrong. I just wanted to repay the Knight for his favor."

"..."

I couldn't judge from his words whether the Thief was actually afraid of her. If he was, he wouldn't say things that would lead to fights.

"...I would still like to thank you for what you did, albeit belatedly. I still can't tolerate criminals like you... However, it is true that you've helped us a lot this time around."

Still, the Inquisitor was an NPC who knew how to be grateful.

"Thank you. Thanks to your help, I was able to eradicate those seeds of evil that had been parasitizing the Temple."

"...Stop thanking me already. It doesn't suit you. Didn't I say I didn't do it for you but to repay Mister Knight over there?"

Thanks to that, I could see the Thief turn his head in embarrassment. His expression seemed like he had just seen a ghost, though I could only see his ears and the lower part of his face.

"However, feeling gratitude and condoning crime are two separate matters. If it were just stealing that Demon Contractor and—"

"Damn it, of course, there's no way you'd just thank me, Miss Hero."

"I already thanked you with all my sincerity!"

"Yeah, yeah."

The Thief answered her roughly as he picked his ear. The Inquisitor's fingers twitched in response as if she wanted to grab her mace, but she eventually let it go and simply formed a fist.

How unexpected. I thought she would pull it out. I had no intention of stopping her, though.

"I didn't steal them, so there's no need to get so worked up. I brought the body with me just in case."

Still, seeing the Inquisitor losing patience, he gave her a satisfactory answer. The Thief snapped his fingers. It was at that time that a certain sound reached my ear.

"Did you call, Deathbringer?"

Wow, I didn't notice them because [Detection] didn't alert me of anything... Urgh!

"As you may have already heard, this priest here has to collect the body."

The reason I could remember the Thief's advanced classes reared its head again.

Deathbringer... Every class's advancements had pretty cool names, but the Thief's were so incredibly cheesy that no one could forget them.

It was probably because the word 'Death' just didn't fit the aesthetic sense of Koreans... As such, it became the class name people remembered the most accurately despite being the number one class nobody wanted to play.

For your information, the class that got misspelled the most was the Inquisitor. When one went to the Board (Community bulletin board) one could see various alternate spellings like Inkwisitor or Inqisiter.

* * *

* * *

"...I'm sure."

While I was thinking about something completely different, the Thief... hmm, if I kept calling him Thief, I might confuse him with others, so I should instead call him by his mentioned title. However, I wasn't confident I could keep saying Deathbringer with a straight face, so I shortened it to Deb.

Anyway, Deb examined the Demon Contractor's corpse along with another thief.

I noticed something sticking out of the sack they brought along. When they opened it, it revealed a brutally mutilated corpse. Considering that the thief NPC's eyes were still burning with hatred, it seemed he was the perpetrator.

"...Rather, there's something I want to ask you as well?"

"What do you want to know? If it's something I can answer, then I will."

"Well, the thing about being a Hero..."

However, Deb just brought up something rather random.

"Is it true?"

"...Ah, I see. You heard."

The Archmage fell silent for some time as if deliberating his words. Then he blinked his tired eyes and nodded weakly. His eyes looked like iron that had frozen over.

"Correct. The Inquisitor is God's chosen Hero."

...Hey, was the Archmage alright? His fatigue seemed to be at the max.

Well, I'd noticed that his physical strength and agility had gone down a bit, but since he could still cast spells, I thought he hadn't maxed it out yet. Was he able to hold on because he was of the Shaggi race, known for their high base strength?

"...Really?"

"It's the truth."

"No way..."

Deb's jaw dropped. He couldn't seem to believe that the Inquisitor was a Hero. The Inquisitor, who thought herself undeserving of the title, might have agreed with his opinion but glared at him with resentment as though harboring a grudge.

Those two NPCs would make an interesting combination if put together in a party.

Raise.

Well, I didn't want to watch their antics anymore than this for today, though. I straightened my body along a wall and took a step forward.

I should be done with that Quest now. I learned how the traitors would be dealt with and confirmed that the person Deb took with him had been taken care of.

So, considering the nature of both my character and myself as a player, I had no reason to stay here any longer.

"Wh-where are you going?"

I didn't want to spend the night in the Temple, so I was just planning on finding a random inn to get some sleep. This damn game. Why did they have to implement fatigue and sleepiness?

I hadn't felt it because of the tension I was under, but now that the anxiety of being unable to log out had been relieved, I felt really tired. I just wanted to rest.

"Are you going back to Tatara?"

But how did she end up misunderstanding me like that?

"Tatara... Isn't that the town we were in before?"

"...It's also where the Mabel Merchant Company is."

Ah. Right.

"...! The Mabel Company..."

"One of the Demon Contractors mentioned them, so something probably happened over there..."

I was just going to wait for the results of the interrogation and go back afterward. I actually kind of forgot about that matter. The problem with the Mabel Merchant Company was still unresolved.

"I was thinking about resting a little. I really can't keep up with your sense of responsibility."

...Although I had almost forgotten about this matter, I had no intention of clearing up this misunderstanding. Without stopping my feet, I went to look for a place where I could get a means of transportation.

I would have logged out while heading to Tatara, but this wasn't too bad, either. If I could just log out, wouldn't that be the best?

"However, I believe leaving straight away would be a bad call. We would just run out of stamina."

Right... That was also true.

"So, you're saying we should give those guys even more time to do whatever they're planning?"

However, that kind of logic didn't work on my character when it came to Demons!

"It's a matter of efficiency. You're right that if we were to leave now, we would get there faster. However, if we arrive at Tatara after whipping ourselves like that, would we still have the strength to deal with them?"

"Don't judge me based on your standards."

"I admit that, unlike me, you might still have some surplus strength. However, is that really the case? Can you truly draw the strength to travel all the way back to Tatara with that already overworked body, knowing that you would have to sleep outside a few times?"

I should... be...? I mean, my fatigue was pretty high, but that was just a number that would go down after some sleep.

Besides, there was no difference between sleeping outside and in an inn except the rate at which fatigue would drop. Considering that the game would shut down soon enough, I didn't need to take care of that to begin with.

"Look. It is indolence to not help others even when one has the power to. However, if you overwork yourself to the point of abuse to help others, can you really call that sincerity?"

But for some reason, what I got back was this wise saying I should reflect on after logging out.

"The world exists because I exist, so I have the responsibility to build myself up first before I can support others."

I mean, I would wholeheartedly agree with every word he said if it applied to real life. However, this was a game...

"So, are you lecturing me right now?"

I wouldn't listen to any of these words right now, either as a player or as my character.

"I'm not lecturing you..."

"If that's how you want to live, then do that, sage. Act according to the truth of the world you found, and breathe in the way you think is right."

My character was designed to put his well-being as the lowest priority when a Demon appeared before him. That was how much he hated them. In short, I had to prioritize hunting Demons before my own comfort no matter what.

Would such a character ignore a Demon he'd gained information on just because he was a little tired?

"I will do so as well."

Absolutely not! If I were to sleep now, I would break character. That was simply unacceptable.

「❖ The Truth Behind the Curtain

∎ Move to Tatara」

And with my words, a new Quest appeared.

"If you continue living like that, you'll end up collapsing."

"That's none of your business."

There was nothing he had to worry about. As I was a player, I would never end up collapsing. Anyway, where would I get a horse? Should I just buy one at the trading post? I probably couldn't afford one with my current funds, though.

Hmm. Posting a request at the Adventurers' Guild... wouldn't work, right? Wow, what should I do now? I acted all cool already. That was why cool guys absolutely needed to have a lot of money.

"...I..."

Then Deb raised his hand.

"I can arrange for the fastest horse you can find in town. It'll be way better than any of the horses raised in the Temple."

...Damn, I liked this bastard! But I didn't have that much money...! What should I do if I didn't have enough money for it?! Urgh. I should have gotten that 500,000 Gal for catching the Draugr! Or at least have gotten the reward for solving the request!

"But it'll take at least one or two hours. Depending on the horse's condition, it might take even longer. Erm, are you fine with that?"

"..."

It would take time. However, I had no other way to find other horses by myself, and he even promised to get me the fastest one, so these conditions were acceptable.

"The price?"

What was important was the price...!

"...The price, well. I'll do something about it."

I almost burst into tears. Was he an angel?

"Instead... Let me ask you something."

"Go on."

"...Why are you so dedicated to this even though you certainly won't get anything out of it?"

So long as I could answer it in one sentence, I would readily do that. However, after I patiently waited for his question, he ended up asking me something rather strange.

"You'll get neither wealth nor fame out of it, so why...?"

Was my use of the system combined with my roleplaying seen as dedication in the eyes of that NPC...? I wasn't really aiming for that, though.

In my mind, the motive behind my actions was self-abuse stemming from self-loathing. Not something as sublime as dedication and self-sacrifice.

"Do I need a reason for crushing some bugs?"

Well, there was no need to give him a detailed explanation, so I just brushed the question off like that.

"I just cannot tolerate those pests eating away at the world."

By the way, I also grabbed my right arm when I said that. Wahaha.

I couldn't resist the opportunity to act out that kind of scene!