Chapter 253 - What If (1)

Unable to resist the Great Chief's persuasion, I agreed to stay until I found a way out of my predicament. Following his scheme, I pretended to leave and settled in an uninhabited area.

“We have prepared some things you might find useful during your stay. If you need anything else or find anything uncomfortable, please do not hesitate to tell us.”

But... are you kidding me? Hey, you said we wouldn't leave any evidence!

“This was not our agreement.”

“Do not worry. We diverted these supplies discreetly, and no one will ever discover it. Please feel free to use them.”

What were they talking about? How could nobody notice things missing from where they belonged? No matter how carefully they covered it up, the moment they took something, there was always a chance of getting caught.

“I won't accept them. Take them back.”

Sure, only the most trusted of the Great Chief's confidants knew I was here, but still. Weren't they being a little too bold? Didn't they realize my staying here was already a gamble?

Wondering whether I was the only one worrying this much, I exercised my veto, practically sick with frustration.

“But...”

“Do this again, and I will leave.”

“... Understood.”

Fortunately, perhaps, the visitor readily yielded to my growl. Eight pupilless eyes narrowed.

“But might you accept at least a few things, if not all of them? Both the Mountain Lord and the Great Chief would be heartbroken to hear you refused everything.”

No, wait. Was that really yielding? Had they been aiming for this reaction from the start?

I considered whether to reject even this, or accept that much since I could already picture the Mountain Lord coming to whine at me. There was only one answer.

“... Only food and remedies.”

I might as well take those. Having the Mountain Lord come complain about why I hadn't accepted anything would be too much trouble.

“I don't need healing medicine.”

“... Then.”

“... This will do.”

Besides, my acceptance came with the sly calculation that consumables like food and remedies would be easier to account for when they went missing.

And though I hadn't said so, those two things were what I needed most right now. Damn it, never mind my pathetic fire-starting skills—this forest had far too many bugs.

“Of course.”

Watching the visitor suddenly beam, I couldn't hide my suspicion. 'I think I've been played...'

But I couldn't take back my agreement now, so I simply accepted each item they handed over. My empty inventory filled up again.

“If any problems arise, please call for us anytime.”

“Don't come again.”

I wouldn't call. Absolutely not.

Would I have to be crazy to call them?

Grumbling to myself, I turned away. Just in case, I'd chosen a meeting spot some distance from my campsite.

For the record, our method of meeting involved one party leaving a note with a date, and the other reading it and showing up that day. In other words, if you missed your chance to check, you couldn't meet. Just as I intended to do from now on.

CRUNCH.

Anyway.

The bark I stepped on instead of soil crumbled slightly. Not because I'd stepped particularly hard, but because the trees around here were so old. Their roots alone were over two meters across. That said it all.

The problem was that, growing every which way, they had tangled together into winding ridges as tall as I was. Add the spring water and waterfalls running between the trees and the slippery moss, and it was easy to see why so few people came this way.

The terrain really was fucking brutal. This wasn't somewhere you ventured just to gather herbs or mushrooms.

“Whew.”

Of course, that was also what made it a place I could take refuge.

Grateful for the rugged terrain, I stopped before a rotting tree. Twenty adults over 180 centimeters tall might just have been able to encircle this giant, whose trunk had snapped for some reason and was now decaying.

But this rotten tree's real value wasn't its majestic appearance. It was its usefulness: slip into the peculiarly shaped gap inside, and it led to a spacious cave.

“... How did the Mountain Lord even find this place?”

Praising the Mountain Lord for finding this spot for me, I slipped inside the tree. Every time I braced a hand against the wall, I felt soft moss and little curtains of water trickling between it.

“Finally home...”

Before long, the dark passage became bathed in blue light.

I relaxed. The area covered by glowing moss and luminous mushrooms coincided exactly with the cave's boundaries. In other words, I'd finally reached my hideout.

“Ugh, I haven't even done anything, and I'm exhausted.”

Out of habit, I uttered the words that had been my constant refrain when deadlines were crushing me. Amusingly, my feet were already carrying me steadily toward the bed I'd set up in one corner.

Well, I called it a bed, but it was really just moss and leaves with a hide laid over them... Still, in these circumstances, even that much was a luxury.

I was glad I'd swallowed my shame and accepted the bundles of supplies the priestesses had packed when I left—when I pretended to leave.

SKITTER, SKITTER.

“... Ah.”

And I was glad I'd accepted the insect repellent today, too.

Hauling my tired body up, I reached into my inventory. Never mind stinkbugs, weevils, earwigs, or cockroaches: the botflies, ticks, ants, and sand fleas were making life unbearable.

I shouldn't have celebrated this world having no mosquitoes.

“Die, you children of Satan.”

I stuffed insect-repelling herbs into a small fire, which had taken... a while to get going.

Please, bugs, give up on living with me. Smoke began curling upward as if to attest to my wish.

“Cough, pfft.”

Ugh, I'd braced myself, but this was pretty acrid.

Instead of forcing myself to hold it in to stay in character, I coughed freely and waved my hands. Despite the cave's many airholes—naturally, since it was a cave formed by tree roots rather than rock—the acrid fumes wouldn't clear.

I wasn't going to suffocate, was I? With reflexive tears beading in my eyes, I forced the fingers about to scratch my leg to curl shut.

Experience had taught me that the swelling and itching disappeared within an hour as long as I left the bites alone.

For the record, that was possible because I healed well, not because this world's bugs were weak. The Inquisitor and Deathbringer had suffered plenty even when we'd traveled along proper roads.

Right. One had no skills for keeping bugs away, while the other lacked the power to heal bites instantly, so every day was a battle. Eventually, they got so sick of it that they compromised and agreed to help each other...

“Hmm.”

I swallowed a low murmur at the memories surfacing for the first time in a while. For things I'd completely forgotten in my scramble to deal with my own situation, they weighed awfully heavily now.

“... I wonder if they're doing all right.”

I lay back down on the bed and lost myself in thought.

Things like what the four of them might be doing now. Whether learning I'd left had shocked them badly. Whether they'd decided to pursue me. And, if so, what feelings had driven that decision... Thoughts like that.

“Now that I'm gone, I hope they're eating some meat.”

I worried a little, too.

Who would stop the Inquisitor and Deathbringer if they fought again? Who would do the damage in the upcoming raids? Would Berserker and the Weapon Master's damage be enough to cover it? Or would they recruit Meister to somehow make up for what they lacked?

Those sorts of worries.

“Oh, right. The Great Sage and Meister.”

In the process, things I'd forgotten occasionally came back to me. Blue Coral and Meister were prime examples.

“I hope neither of them suffered much for it...”

It was true they had helped me, directly and indirectly, but I still hoped they hadn't come to harm. Especially Meister.

He had helped me, yes, but whether that had contributed to my escape was very debatable.

“... What am I talking about? I've already been plenty selfish.”

But even if they were suffering, there was nothing I could do. And my past self would have made the same choice even knowing they would pay for it.

Just as they would ultimately put the greater good before me, whatever they thought of me. Yes. Just like someone who had no choice but to put the greater good first.

At the very end, I was someone who couldn't help putting myself first, too.

“...”

That realization didn't fill me with fresh self-loathing. Nor did I feel resentful or hurt about the reverse.

Of course not. Even spouses, even parents and children, agonized over choosing between their life's purpose and each other. Who was I, who were they, to put someone else above that? It wasn't as though there was anything between us, either.

“Ah.”

But.

But...

“Maybe I should have at least said I was sorry.”

I did feel a regret of sorts: surely we hadn't been so distant that I should have left coldly without a word.

Not regret over giving them a lower priority, or leaving without a moment's hesitation. Really, it was nothing more than, 'I should have left them a few words.'

Even though those few words wouldn't have explained my actions or eased my guilt.

“...”

Damn it. I didn't know.

Thinking about it wouldn't turn back time anyway.

After chewing on my lip for a long while, I let all the tension drain from my body. My stomach growled. Having been so well fed over the past few weeks, it announced itself right on schedule. My gloom immediately gave way to disbelief.

“Even at a time like this, I'm hungry... Well, I was hungry when my leg got crushed, too...”

But I didn't particularly want to eat. Even knowing that when you didn't feel like eating was precisely when you most needed to feed yourself properly, I felt that way. I really didn't want to eat.

I simply closed my eyes.

Maybe it was because there was no heater, but I felt a little cold.

* * *

“Inquisitor.”

In the Archmage's opinion, hierarchy mattered quite a bit when living as a group. Whether that group had a rigid chain of command or a more egalitarian atmosphere made no difference.

At the very least, the person with the final say had to possess the authority befitting the top of that hierarchy. Otherwise, the group would not last. It was a lesson her long experience had taught her.

“He did make his request on those terms... What do you think, Inquisitor?”

For that reason, the Archmage cautiously questioned the young woman who had only just secured some time to rest. She knew this question would disturb that rest, but she had no choice.

Certainly, she was respected as an elder and afforded the right to advise as a Sage, but how could that also give her the right to overstep her authority?

Choosing their members was solely the leader's responsibility, and the Hero alone was the center of this party. The Archmage could offer counsel, but she could not captain their journey. How could she decide such a thing on her own?

“Will you grant his request?”

And so, faced with the Inquisitor's gaunt cheeks, she forced herself to demand an answer.

“Please, give me a moment to think.”

The woman with downcast green eyes asked for a little time.

Though the Archmage had summarized as much as possible, the account had still been rather long. It seemed it was still troubling her. Naturally, it could hardly have done otherwise.

“... God delivered a divine oracle to me recently.”

“... Pardon?”

But this was truly unexpected.

The Archmage faltered, and the Inquisitor lowered her eyes. Something about the dazed motion made the Archmage's voice, which had been about to rise, drop again.

“May I ask... what the oracle said?”

“I was told to go north and seek the answer.”

“North...”

“And lastly, to send the lost one... hmm. Back... I suppose. Though I'm not certain I can interpret it that way.”

If she had received a divine oracle, she ought to inform the Temple. Yet at the Inquisitor's next words, someone instinctively came to the Archmage's mind.

“Kill... Save... In a sense, its meaning could be translated as either of those, too.”

Was this... an oracle concerning someone they knew? Of course, not a single word explicitly referred to him, and it was more likely that it did not. Even so.

“... It has been a long time since God gave us ambiguous words.”

Quite apart from that, this was the first oracle to require several different words. The Archmage paid considerable attention to that fact as well.

“Ordinarily, whatever words one used to express an oracle, it came down to a single meaning...”

After all, while divine oracles were exceedingly rare, most of them left no room for interpretation. That had been true when God announced the demonic invasion, when the nine commandments became ten, and even when choosing the Hero.

The god of this world did not enjoy having their will interpreted in different ways.

“The ‘lost one’ mentioned earlier is vague, too. Being described as lost leaves far too much room for interpretation...”

Both in splitting into three expressions with entirely different meanings and in failing to identify its subject immediately, this oracle was most unusual.

Considering that, the Archmage cupped her chin. A protruding nail she had forgotten to trim pressed into her cheek.

“Do you really think so? The moment I heard what you told me, Archmage, I instinctively knew who it meant.”

Her nail scratched the skin beneath her fur, and tiny beads of blood slowly seeped out.

“... Inquisitor.”

“Once things here are settled, I will go north. As for Inquisitor Daniel joining us... I have no objection. But tell him that ensuring there are no problems with his Temple is his own responsibility.”

“...”

Hearing the Inquisitor's dry voice, the Archmage touched her cheek, which had begun to sting. Could this be undone?

“I will report the oracle to the Temple myself. Until then, please act as though you know nothing. Once they hear, they are certain to press us to leave at once.”

Could this get better?

“... Understood.”

... Was she going to fail yet again?

In the end, the Archmage left without being able to say anything more.

Is It a Problem If the Protagonist Is a Roleplay Fanatic? (Serial)

Author │ Hae Inseol

Publisher │ Kim Juhyeong

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