episode_0014

Only darkness enveloped that place.

In a place where only darkness should exist, a creature stood, holding something in a strange pose.

“Is this truly an opponent I must personally move for?”

Someone unfolded a black paper pigeon, a messenger of the Demonic Cult, and asked herself.

One of her eyes was covered by an eyepatch, and a massive scythe was held behind her back.

As she asked herself this question, the eye covered by the eyepatch filled with blue flames.

“Indeed, so it is.”

The person called the Reaper, clearly radiating chuunibyou energy, stepped forward.

With every step, she performed strange antics, and the Demonic Cult guards passing by watched her as if she were an animal in a zoo.

***

-Savior

[#$%$ #$$/#$%]

I threw away Savior’s strange favorability system, composed of chilling language, and moved my steps towards the training ground.

“Ah, look who it is. Isn’t this the exalted prospective disciple of the Demonic Cult?”

As I greeted Astoria this way, her face instantly paled, and she glanced around nervously.

As if no one should hear.

“Just so you know, I’m definitely going to kill you before I leave….”

Astoria quickly looked around, then grabbed my shoulder and said,

“Our side even sent a Reaper to kill you……”

The moment the word ‘Reaper’ came out of her mouth, I instantly got goosebumps.

“Hold on a moment.”

With that proud expression on her face, unaware of the misfortune about to befall her, I stopped Astoria, who was on her way.

“Why, does merely hearing the word ‘Reaper’ scare you? Yes, it must be scary. That being, the Demonic Cult’s Reaper, will kill you.”

‘No, you’ll die too…. With your internal organs all twisted…’

Desperate to avoid hearing those lines, I quickly spoke to her, but she seemed unaware of why I was warning her.

The person known as the Reaper was indeed famous even before I possessed this body.

However, she wasn’t famous for being a high-difficulty opponent or a heroine.

She was a member of the Demonic Cult who had just become an official apostle, a chuunibyou who had arrived a little late.

She was famously known as a person who would randomly appear as an NPC in the Demonic Cult and spout lines that made one’s hands and feet curl up.

“That scared face of yours looks quite good, hm, hm.”

Perhaps the exaggerated sending of a ‘Reaper’ to Astoria was a decision made because that revelation couldn’t be ignored, and sending continuous support like this was troublesome.

There was also the fact that this official apostle, called the Reaper, referred to herself as the Reaper.

While she was an opponent whose combat strength was absolutely nothing to worry about, it felt like my eardrums would take too much damage.

“Haha… The person called the Reaper will arrive soon, so look forward to it.”

Astoria placed her hand on her chest, lifted her head, and spoke proudly.

‘Hmm, it seems I’ll have no choice but to sacrifice my eardrums.’

Having come to that conclusion, I wished Astoria, who would meet the Reaper first, peace.

After Astoria left, I set off for where I was originally supposed to go.

When I opened the training ground door, most of the students had already finished their practical training and were on their way back.

Perhaps because of my and Savior’s case, the medical staff resting in the distance seemed a little tense.

However, the fortunate thing was that no one else was injured except Savior.

“Ray, where have you been?”

From above, Aris, whose name hadn’t been called yet, waved to me in greeting.

I approached her and said,

“Ah, Venus Savior got a little hurt. I went to check on her briefly.”

“Hmm… really? That person seems to dislike you…?”

At her words, I recalled Savior’s contemptuous expression.

“Perhaps not anymore.”

As these words left my mouth, several blue windows suddenly appeared before me.

[The System is furious with you.]

[The System is flustered by the completely unexpected event.]

[The System says she is the main heroine.]

[It tells you to quickly appease her.]

‘Aris is enough, why is it trying to create more connections, honestly…’

I tried to dismiss the blue windows, but something appeared that could curb my slight sadism.

[Urgent Quest]

[Please appease Savior and return her to normal, Player.]

“Do I look like someone who would fall for a quest like this?”

“Friedrich Aris! Adho Genus!”

As the System gave me the quest, Aris’s name was called, and she unwound her arm from mine with a slightly regretful expression, as if she disliked being even a little separated from me.

As her name was called and she released her arm, I, who hadn’t seen the quest’s reward, simply intended to ignore it.

“Ray, I’ll do well, right?”

Before descending into the training ground, Aris asked me in a voice full of worry.

I looked at her and said calmly, with the warm smile I always gave her,

“Someone like Aris can win against anyone. Remember that Heal is an overwhelmingly overpowered skill that allows you to keep fighting.”

“Okay! Got it.”

Hearing my words, she seemed a little relieved and only then began to descend the stairs to listen to the instructor.

Only then did I open my mouth to the System.

“Can I not even progress the story by my own will? This is truly too mu—”

[Reward: Cetus-style Swordsmanship Form 2]

To say that, the reward was far too great.

To be able to obtain Cetus-style Swordsmanship, which required immense effort to acquire, with just a few words—for my situation, there was nothing better.

I suppressed my curiosity and was about to go back to her, but there was a more pressing curiosity I needed to unravel first.

‘Savior, well, I can make her normal later, but why is the System giving me such urgent quests?’

For a moment, I fell into thought, looking at the blue window.

The blue window glittered as if tempting me.

‘Is it acting like this because Savior is absolutely necessary for the main quest….?’

I rested my chin on my staff and tapped it with my finger, deep in thought.

‘The System appoints and helps the player….. Helping doesn’t change…. Wait a minute, where does this System even come from in the first place..? If it’s giving me these quests and rewards because Savior is needed for the main quest, then if I prevent the summoning of this world’s boss itself, instead of fighting it.’

‘What will the System do to me…?’

The doubts in my mind began to grow larger and larger.

Those elusive doubts grew so large that they eventually made me open my mouth.

“System, are you truly helping me?”

[The System says ‘of course’.]

[It says it is responsible for your convenience.]

“‘Responsible’ you say…”

[The System is flustered.]

[It tells you to just quickly proceed with the quest.]

[It says the main quest will begin soon.]

I looked at the blue window, a faint smile on my face, a look of slightly resolved curiosity, and rose from my seat.

And then, I descended the stairs to meet Aris, whose sparring had unexpectedly ended early.

[The System advises that you might get hurt if you try to know too much.]

[It insists that it is doing this because it truly wants to help you.]

“Alright. I get it…”

I swept away the rapidly appearing blue windows and greeted Aris, who was energetically approaching me.

“Aris, how was your sparring?”

When I asked this, she linked her arm with mine again and said in a lively voice,

“When I healed the injuries from hitting and retreating, my opponent just gave up, saying I used an overpowered skill!”

“You can wield a weapon… Aris, you’ve gotten a bit better, haven’t you?”

I patted Aris’s head and said,

Then Aris smiled even brighter and clung closer to me.

[Urgent Quest Achieved!]

[Deepen Relationship with Aris 1/1]

[Reward: Skill Enhancement Ticket X3]

I put all those Skill Enhancement Tickets into Mind Sword, not Cetus-style Swordsmanship.

[Skill]

Mind Sword Lv.5 [Unique]

-The most powerful sword is not one with a physical form, but a sword of the mind. Once that realm is attained, being blind is no great obstacle…

-The number of swords you can create and transform varies by level. You can also store and use #$@.

-Current number of swords that can be created: 5

-Current number of swords that can be transformed: 5

-Stored #$@: 1

Now that I had finally reached a level where I could fight a hundred with the Mind Sword skill, I returned to the dormitory with Aris in even greater joy.

I hadn’t envisioned that a late-stage chuunibyou devotee of the Demonic Cult, with one eye shining and adding strange laughter as interjections, would be following the two of us, me and Aris.