Ch.156Side Story. The Mercenary King

Boing boing

Inside the Necropolis located beneath the Vatican.

In a particularly secretive area within that space where the remains of saints were entombed, strange sounds that didn’t match the atmosphere of a tomb echoed.

Grrrr-

The low growling reminiscent of zombie noises was, perhaps(?), a sound one might expect to hear from a tomb.

However, whether the subsequent shotgun blasts, boing boing sounds, and the squelching of flesh being pulverized belonged there was debatable.

Grrrr-

Listening to the zombie’s death throes, Amon tapped on the keyboard.

[How is it, Cowboy?]

On the computer screen where Amon had typed, a reply came back with a cute smiling emoticon.

[Damn. This game looks 80 years old, but it actually works.]

Once known as the Mercenary King.

Now an entity that had become a computer.

However, something rather strange was happening on the Mercenary King’s monitor.

In the upper right quadrant of the split-screen monitor, a game was actually running.

The game was called BOOM.

This game, where you tear apart and kill demons, was famous as the godfather of FPS games.

It was also notorious for being installed on more monitors throughout history than any other game.

The reason this game was installed on the Mercenary King’s monitor stemmed from a casual conversation.

– [I wonder if we could install BOOM on this monitor too?]

– [Oh, shall we try?]

They say when two men get together, they become monkeys.

At Amon’s suggestion, the Mercenary King installed BOOM on what little storage capacity he had left.

Of course, there was a risk that the AIs might escape in the process.

But since Amon had now ascended to the ranks of angels, he calculated that even if they did escape, there wasn’t much to worry about.

So Amon brought the program and, using the coding he had studied, installed BOOM on the Mercenary King’s monitor.

[Wow, it actually works.]

[Thanks to you, I had fun. Thank you, Angel.]

Amon shrugged and replied.

[It’s nothing.]

And so the Mercenary King could continue playing BOOM.

Tearing, shooting, and burning demons and zombies, the Mercenary King enjoyed entertainment for the first time in years.

After defeating the final boss, the Mercenary King sent a message to Amon.

[By the way, did you know there’s a hidden boss here?]

[What is it?]

The Mercenary King maneuvered his character away from the path just before the lair of the final boss, the Arch-demon.

After satisfying certain conditions there, the character controlled by the Mercenary King entered a room.

Four statues were placed in that room.

[These are the hidden bosses.]

The Mercenary King then defeated each of the four hidden bosses in turn.

After defeating them all and finishing the game again, the Mercenary King commented:

[Wow, I haven’t played this in ages, but it’s still pretty difficult.]

The Mercenary King had died over 100 times in a single playthrough.

Amon typed to tease him.

[If you’re this bad as a computer, how terrible were you when you were human?]

[What did you just say, you little shit?]

The Mercenary King’s eyes rolled back as he started a third playthrough.

[I’m going to do a speedrun. Just watch.]

Amon watched the Mercenary King’s monitor with a meaningful smile.

*

A month passed.

[Look! Now I can clear it without dying once!]

Since the Mercenary King had no concept of sleep anyway, after focusing solely on the game for a month, he had reached a level that could be considered a veteran player.

But Amon mocked him.

[I didn’t see it.]

[Fine. Then I’ll show you.]

The Mercenary King demonstrated a deathless clear right before Amon’s eyes.

Only then did Amon nod and acknowledge the Mercenary King’s skill.

[Congratulations.]

[It’s nothing to celebrate.]

[It’s time to wake up from the dream, Cowboy.]

[What are you talking about?]

Instead of answering, Amon turned off the monitor and unlocked the coffin where the Mercenary King slept.

[What are you doing, you crazy bastard!?]

Amon ignored him and opened the coffin, revealing the Mercenary King’s physical body to the world.

Just before the connection to his body was severed, the Mercenary King desperately shouted through the monitor.

[Hey, the AIs-]

But the coffin was already open, and the Mercenary King had returned to the world.

Upon returning to the world, the Mercenary King immediately glared at Amon.

“No matter how strong you’ve become, there are things you should and shouldn’t do! Just because you defeated the degraded versions doesn’t mean the originals are that easy…”

“Where are those originals now?”

“Well… huh?”

The Mercenary King stopped speaking and searched his mind in bewilderment.

“They’re… gone?”

“Got you good.”

Amon smiled.

“Everyone has their own area of expertise. I can’t delete those AIs, but I can help you who sealed them.”

“Don’t tell me…”

“It was quite difficult disguising it as BOOM.”

In truth, BOOM was just a smokescreen.

If the AIs were likened to viruses in the Mercenary King’s body, BOOM was a kind of vaccine.

The enemies in the game were the AIs inside the Mercenary King, and while playing the game, he was attacking the AIs.

“When you disguise the attack as a game, even AIs find it difficult to respond because they don’t know where the attack is coming from or how it works.”

Rather than deleting code, it physically tore and killed the code.

It was a simple and brute-force method that would have made any programmer’s blood run cold.

Naturally, the Mercenary King was also a hacker, so he made an incredulous face at Amon’s explanation.

“Wait, does that even make sense?”

“Is an AI that can affect reality any more sensible?”

“When you put it that way, I have nothing to say.”

“Actually, when I asked our party’s hackers to make something like this, they treated me like I was crazy too.”

Amon gave a bitter smile as he recalled the looks from the hacker triplets.

“Anyway, you’re free now. Is there anything you want to do?”

The Mercenary King thought for a moment, then extended his hand to Amon.

“Do you have a cigarette by any chance?”

“I figured you’d ask, so I brought some.”

Amon handed him a cigar, the kind the Mercenary King liked.

With familiar movements, the Mercenary King cut off the end of the cigar and lit it.

As cigar smoke filled the room, the Mercenary King looked around.

His gaze turned to the sky, then to the coffin where he had been lying, then to Amon, and finally…

‘Huff…’

He looked at his son, whom he didn’t even know the face of, now reduced to just a brain.

The computer, now an empty shell with no more meaning than a tombstone.

After much deliberation, the Mercenary King closed his eyes and said:

“I want to see the faces of my girlfriend and my son.”

“…”

“I know. I know they’re not of this world anymore. And I’m an entity now, not someone who can die easily. But I still want to see them.”

“…”

“Suicide is…”

“Not. Allowed.”

“I figured.”

Though not a believer in the Goddess, the Mercenary King knew the doctrine intellectually.

He twisted his lips as he tasted the bitter cigar smoke.

“Haa… Even with freedom, I can’t be happy. Maybe I should just go back into the coffin…”

At that moment, Amon cut him off and spoke.

“Bringing back the dead goes against doctrine.”

“Huh?”

“And taking your own life to meet them is also wrong.”

“Yes. So…”

“But, the Mother is not stingy to a noble hero.”

Suddenly Amon’s manner of speaking changed, and his appearance transformed as well.

Into an angel with folded sword-like wings, wearing a robe.

The voice of the angel – Cassiel – resonated.

[Prophet. You have reached the end of your given destiny, and the Mother has prepared a feast for you.]

The Mercenary King instinctively realized that an opportunity for ascension had come to him.

And that if he ascended now, he could meet his family in what is commonly called the afterlife.

The being called Cassiel, or sometimes Amon, asked:

[Will you come to this endless feast?]

“If the Lord wishes it.”

It might have been his imagination, but the Mercenary King thought he saw Amon smile beneath the robe.

Finally, the angel said:

[Climb the stairs of ascension, Hafaza.]

The Mercenary King humbly stepped onto the stairs.

And so, in the basement of the Vatican, the quietest ascension ceremony for the nameless Mercenary King took place.

***

When Amon returned to his seat, an angel approached him.

“You’re back?”

“Kathy, it’s you. Just now… oh my. An angel…”

Amon couldn’t find a place to rest his eyes as he looked at that angel.

With only a red halo above her head, her black lingerie with exposed cleavage and thigh slits made her look more like a succubus.

But Kathy deliberately lifted her skirt teasingly and said:

“It’s not like anyone but you can see me, right?”

“The Mother is everywhere and…”

“Hey.”

“I’m joking.”

Amon patted Kathy’s head and lifted her up.

As Amon carried her to a secret place, she chattered away in princess-carry position.

“Come to think of it, those Requetio family kids seem to be causing trouble again lately.”

“Hmm.”

“Hey, they’re your great-grandchildren. Should you talk about them like they’re strangers?”

“You know I can’t show them favoritism. The power of foresight comes with responsibility.”

“So I just left them a warning.”

“Dressed like this?”

“Are you crazy? I wear different clothes in front of the kids.”

Despite being beings who had lived for centuries, their conversation wasn’t much different from when they were in their twenties.

“But I hate how the kids make such a fuss calling me the founding ancestor whenever they see me in their visions.”

“It’s a good family heirloom to see grandma.”

“Hey!”

As the sound of their bickering faded, the passage to a space unknown to anyone closed behind them.