Chapter 256 - What If (4)

"Ha."

The instant the blade plunged into the knight's chest, Mephistopheles let out a sharp laugh. His white hair swayed with it, looking all the more colorless against his pitch-black clothes.

"You dare threaten me with your life?"

He clenched his molars as he watched the red liquid fall from the sky and begin to rise.

"You dare threaten me?"

Once it filled this place, this body would die. Die and crumble away.

And then his soul, bound by the contract, would suffer much the same fate, left gasping for ages. Broken and shattered, he would crawl miserably along the ground until those cracks healed.

"You fucking little bastard..."

He would not have that. Anything but that. Mephistopheles recalled the helplessness of having his body stolen. Having his soul smashed apart would be a comparable shock, and he never wanted to experience anything like it again.

His hand tugged once more at the sleeve that covered him with obsessive thoroughness.

BANG!

At the same time, his foot slammed into the ground of the mental realm. The liquid beginning to pool below rose into the air and started returning whence it came.

Death would never sink its teeth into this body.

「It's pointless.」

Then the one occupying a corner of the mental realm spoke. The soul, shriveled over the years, could barely produce a worn, weary voice that belied its appearance.

"Who decides that?"

But that was none of his concern. Mephistopheles offered irritation instead of sympathy, anger instead of agreement. The truth was, those words were right. At this rate, he would lose. But he hid that feeling completely, allowing not a trace to show.

Deceit and lies. Those were the first accolades he had seized.

「... You've lost.」

"Again, who decides that?"

At the same time, he unearthed a hidden truth in the other's subtly hesitant speech.

The fool. Not even certain of victory. That was rather good news for Mephistopheles.

Good. If he played this right, he might avoid both dying helplessly and a fate in which that damned Gretchen exploited his weakness time and again.

A choking chuckle echoed through the empty world, a laugh that seemed to swallow sound rather than release it. The other flinched, giving him yet another opening.

"Child, surely you don't think this is the end? That he'll die and return where he belongs?"

「... You can't save him.」

"Oh, do you really think so?"

He only needed to push a little harder. Certain of that, Mephistopheles casually conjured a chair.

A throne that endlessly collapsed and regenerated soon appeared.

"Really?"

「... Yes.」

"Liar."

He settled gracefully onto the chair. His long robe, which had trailed like a cloak, folded and pulled up to his knees, revealing slender ankles covered by his trouser legs.

Not a scrap of bare skin showed, but the idle rocking of his foot made it impossible to tell whether his ease was feigned or genuine. Unable to read Mephisto's hand, the other stiffened again.

If this fight continued, he would lose before long, yet the fool sat there fretting without realizing it. How stupid.

Mephisto laughed inwardly at the sight.

"You already know. Gretchen has learned too much."

「...」

But it was precisely because his opponent was so stupid that he could pull off this con.

"Just because I can't win... doesn't mean I lose. Does it?"

「...!」

Things might be different if he could wield all his power, but most of it was now bound by the contract. His opponent had no idea that, far from closing the hole in the heart, he was barely managing to replenish the lost blood and insufficient oxygen.

No idea that even in the Great Forest, he would have failed to save this body without the follow-up care from the humans nearby.

No idea that although the lessening of Concealment Through Ignorance gave him more room to intervene, it merely let him last an hour instead of thirty minutes!

That was why he could deceive the fool like this.

Mephisto leaned back in the chair and let out another swallowed chuckle.

"Now, let's speak frankly. Who will win this endless battle of spear and shield? That fellow, who must stab his own heart until he dies? Or me, who must restore that heart until he gives up?"

「... You bastard.」

"Which of us will find it harder to endure?"

「...!」

Now, then. Time to make a meal of this ignorant fool. With that thought, Mephisto whispered in a singsong voice.

"Of course, you still think this: Even if it takes a little longer, he'll be better off as long as he dies. He'd rather suffer briefly and go home... But would he really? Is there any guarantee that someone who has stabbed his own heart over and over can return to a normal life?"

「... Guh!」

"Ah, poor, pitiable Gretchen. How did he fall into the hands of someone so cruel and coldhearted?"

「... Shut up.」

"How... was he driven to a point where not a soul will stop him or help him even if he hangs himself?"

「Shut up!」

"Haha, child. You mustn't take your self-loathing out on others... This was entirely your own choice, you know?"

Really, it was almost boring how the fool leaped at the slightest provocation.

"So, come now... Make your decision. Will you gamble by leaving him be, or ease his suffering...?"

This was the trouble with the young and inexperienced. Mephistopheles smoothly curved his lips upward and awaited an answer. The red water lapped at his ankles now, despite his struggles to hold it back without his opponent noticing.

「... I have a condition.」

"... My. I never knew you held Gretchen in such low regard."

「Don't accept it, then. We can see who tires first.」

"..."

But in another thirty or forty minutes, even this water would rise noticeably. Before then, he had to coax the damned brat into granting him the right to use his power.

Maintaining his faint smile, Mephistopheles pretended to indulge the demand.

「Give it back. The power that should rightfully have been Yukkwi's.」

Or he would have, had the fucking brat not made a demand that crossed the line. Veins stood out on his gloved hands.

「I won't give you permission otherwise.」

Had he been found out? Had the brat seen through him? Mephistopheles stared hard into those wavering eyes. No, the brat wasn't certain either. Not certain, but...

"You've lost all sense of fear."

「I told you. Refuse if you don't like it.」

His opponent had simply weighed Gretchen's plight—potentially having to harm himself for dozens of days—against what Mephistopheles might later do with Yukkwi's power, and taken a wild gamble.

Yes. That was all.

"Agreed."

「Good.」

Flames began dripping from the edges of Mephistopheles's robes.

* * *

Yukkwi quietly watched the man who had stabbed his own chest with a calm expression.

It was hardly because he wanted to watch. He simply remained silent because he had no power, because there was nothing he could do but watch.

["... Should I call him, even now?"]

No. In truth, he did have one option. After all, just because he lacked the ability didn't mean everyone else did.

And he could tell the Mountain Lord what was happening right this instant. He only had to will it. If he brought the Mountain Lord to mind and called his name, delivering a message would take less than a second.

In short, if Yukkwi truly wanted to intervene in this madness, he could.

["Must I really spend my twilight years watching this sort of thing...?"]

At the same time, he could not. Sadly, Yukkwi had no power to truly save the knight. He had no means of persuading him that he need not tumble off the cliff, no means of resolving the contradiction that forced him to choose death in order to live.

How, then, could he stop him? Saying, "That isn't right," without offering any alternative or solution was merely another form of harm. He had no right to stop the knight's gamble.

["... Mountain Lord."]

["Yes?"]

["When you come later... don't come empty-handed. Bring some more food. Something good for restoring strength."]

["Oh. Will do."]

Nor did he want his descendant to witness this madness. Yukkwi lowered his head, wondering whether he had truly made the right choice.

["Inquisitor Daniel, living in Dorfmain, was it...?"]

Meanwhile, he also tried to remember the knight's request. It would be a relief if this attempt went as the knight hoped, but there was a chance it would not. He had no choice.

If he failed to fulfill even this request, he would never be able to hold his head up until the day he died.

["Dorfmain... Inquisitor Daniel... Dorf... Ugh, why do humans use such tongue-twisting sounds?"]

But... as he repeated the words to keep from forgetting, a small question occurred to him.

From the context, Dorfmain must be a city, and Daniel seemed to be a person's name... What relationship did they have, for the knight to ask that his corpse be delivered there? Was this person perhaps a friend or relative of the body's original owner? But an Inquisitor would belong to the Temple. Even if they were close, would someone from the Temple treat a corpse steeped in demonic energy with respect?

["... Good grief."]

He didn't know. If the knight wanted it sent there, he would send it. Besides, he wasn't dead yet.

Muttering to himself, Yukkwi huddled a little deeper in despondency. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Time ticked by to the sound of dripping water.

["Ha."]

Then, exactly twenty minutes after the knight's heart had been wounded, the wound healed in an instant, and the knight opened his eyes.

Before he collapsed, those eyes had held a little gloom, a sliver of hope, and resignation. Now they were slowly heating with rage.

["A mere human."]

This was not simply anger at having been forced to go this far. It was wrath whose very spark had a different origin. A vicious flame that wanted to burn the entire world.

["Dares to humiliate me...?"]

["... Shit."]

Those damned flames he had seen in the human city.

["I'll kill you. I swear I'll kill you."]

Yet they were imprisoned. Though surely no chains capable of holding fire could exist in this world, those flames were bound and suppressed by chains.

That was Yukkwi's only hope.

["... Wh-what are you on about? Why'd you suddenly wake up and start raising hell?"]

Yukkwi braced his neck and legs despite the subtle pressure of the disparity in their power. After all, the years etched into his soul would not permit him to cower even before a shackled beast.

It went still.

The left eye, now tinged a grayish red, stared straight at him.

["Let us strike a bargain upon our names, you musty beast."]

["... What the hell is this crazy demon bastard talking about, popping out of nowhere?"]

Had the knight stabbed his own heart knowing this would happen? But if he'd known, shouldn't that have been all the more reason not to do it? No matter how tightly it was constrained, unleashing a demon in this forest was repaying kindness with betrayal!

["You won't lose by it."]

While Yukkwi howled amid all manner of speculation, the awakened demon snapped its fingers. At that signal, the Zweihander carefully propped nearby melted like slime.

Then the white shadow pooled on the ground opened its mouth wide.

["That's..."]

Something that had been reduced again and again at the boundary between dimensions until only pure power remained emerged from the white shadow's maw.

Yukkwi's eyes widened. That was his power.

["Your task is simple. Keep silent about what happened after this human fell asleep, and when this human says something, agree with it."]

Meanwhile, the demon spoke quietly as it put away the dagger and removed the gauntlet. Its irritable tone made clear just how little it liked doing this.

["... Those terms are so good that I find them harder to trust."]

But how could he believe it? Yukkwi kept his guard up and glared at the demon. A gaze of faded grayish red, like a crushed lotus or washed-out pink cloth, stared back at him.

Black flames dripped from the hems of its clothes.

["Do you think your trust matters?"]

That bastard had gone mad. Faced with the demon's growl, Yukkwi instinctively shut his mouth.

As though it had expected as much, the demon gathered flames at its fingertips. Soon, a contract materialized.

["What matters isn't mutual trust. It's what each of us stands to gain from this bargain."]

A contract governed by ancient magic could be read by the illiterate and seen by the blind. Thanks to that property, Yukkwi could examine the contents of the offered document.

What the demon had said earlier was set out in far more precise detail, leaving no loopholes to exploit.

There were no particular poison clauses.

["... Why?"]

["Accept or refuse. Those are your only choices."]

Every last one of the bastards in that body had no manners. Yukkwi narrowed his eyes at the demon's words.

["Choose."]

The orb of power that had once been his, then been stolen, rolled in the demon's hand.

["... I accept."]

He didn't know what this bargain meant, but he was certain that this pitiable man would lose yet another clue.

But what could he do? He had told the knight plainly. The only person who could remain your eternal ally was yourself. Even those who seemed to be on your side now might betray you at any time.

["Good."]

["..."]

And so Yukkwi... chose what benefited himself more than the knight. It did not feel good.

The orb dropped in front of him, and the demon collapsed like a marionette with severed strings.

["... Dealing with demon bastards never leaves anything but a bad taste. Honestly."]

Yukkwi took the power that had once been his in his mouth and carried it inside his shell. Consuming it with his diminished vessel would surely make his body burst, so he intended to absorb it slowly over time.

["Ugh."]

Of course, the knight would weigh on his mind the entire time. Damn it.

["Blame me..."]

But... but...

With a sigh of lament, Yukkwi gave up even muttering excuses to himself. Instead, he waited for the knight to wake.

Much later, eyes that had regained their gray color peeked out from between his eyelids.

"... When did I collapse?"

The question he asked was one Yukkwi could not bring himself to answer. Neither the contract nor his present feelings would allow it.

["You..."]

"Ah... I'm sorry. I made a mistake."

But the knight did not dwell on having fainted.

... What? That was when Yukkwi, opening and closing his mouth without a word, sensed something strange.

"I'm sorry. I'm still inexperienced."

But the knight did not even give him time to think.

"I won't make a mistake now."

He raised his right hand, which the demon had left without its gauntlet, to eye level. Between the loosened bandages, the exposed black skin was brimming with demonic energy.

"How is it? Is the demonic energy concealed?"

No, it had been brimming.

Until it turned pale like the skin on the rest of his body.

"Did I succeed?"

Yukkwi could no longer say a word.

Is It a Problem If the Protagonist Is a Role-Playing Fanatic? (Serial)

Author │ Hae Inseol

Publisher │ Kim Juhyeong

Published by │ Jple Media Co., Ltd.

Marketing │ Han Jaehyeok

Address │ Room 1101, 11th Floor, Ace Techno Tower 8, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)

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ⓒ Hae Inseol 2022

※ This work is published by Jple Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder. No part of its contents may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and the author. Violations may result in criminal and civil liability.