Ch.161The NPC Who Found Out. (4)

-Ta-ta-tat!! Pat!!-

I dash quickly through the dense trees of the mountain, pushing branches aside with ease.

Despite rushing out immediately after hearing the guard captain’s story, I haven’t encountered the Holy Maiden and the Great Demon anywhere on the mountainside.

I definitely heard the sounds of battle on my way up, but where could they have gone? Surely not…

‘No, not yet. The trail continues. No one has died!!’

Please, please. I pray to some unknown god that neither the Holy Maiden nor the demon has died. As I follow the traces again and again, a strange feeling begins to creep in.

While the initial signs indicated a fierce battle had taken place, at some point, the trail changed to suggest that the two of them(?) had quietly ascended the mountain together.

And then.

“My house?”

The place I’ve hurriedly tracked them to is a small hut with two graves nearby. It’s the home where Miho and I live together.

If those two had fought, this insignificant hut should have been obliterated without a trace. Yet it stands there quietly.

Why on earth would those two come to this house, and why aren’t they fighting? As the increasingly incomprehensible situation gives me a slight headache, I slowly approach the house…

“Heeh~ I see~♡ So you like the prince-on-a-white-horse type~?”

“W-well, I just…”

“Come on. Any woman, or rather, any female would like that type~! Nothing to be embarrassed about~”

“B-but, as you can see, I’m a large-framed nun who swings this heavy hammer…”

“Huh? You’re big? Where?! Your chest is large and your thighs look healthy, but aren’t you smaller than me?”

“Oh. W-well, among the Holy Maiden candidates of the Great Holy Nation, I was the largest…”

“Ahahaha! That’s not being large, that’s having the best figure~ Hehe, how cute~ You’re smaller than me but thought you were big? Didn’t you just hear Johnson say that most men prefer women about a head shorter than themselves?”

“Oh, I-is that so? Certainly, compared to Johnson, I am about a head shorter…”

“And this!”

“Kyaah?!! W-what are you doing?!”

“Hehe. They might be smaller than mine, but these breasts that can’t even be fully hidden by your loose nun’s habit!! This, this is quite the package~♥”

“Ugh, uwah!! D-don’t touch me?! You pervert!!!”

“Hehe, I am a pervert~ After all, I’m the demon of lust~♡ Hey, Ira. Would you consider marrying the same man as me? Despite appearances, I have quite a good eye for men and high standar…”

…What in the world am I hearing from inside my house? This requires immediate investigation.

Having finished that thought, I immediately opened the door to our house and entered.

“Oh? It’s wild Jack~! Darling♥!! Long time no see~”

“Ah. Huh? J-Johnson?”

“What are you two doing in my house… No. My name is Jack.”

The demon of lust was just removing her hands from the other’s chest and stepping back. A woman with unfamiliar red hair and beautiful violet eyes that reminded me of the bright night sky quickly turned to look at me. Feeling some inexplicable disappointment, I was about to ask them what exactly was going on…

“Hey!!!”

-Pat!!!

“Oh? Clean-cut darling?”

“Uh, um. J-Johnson? W-what’s this?! You two look exactly…!!”

Suddenly, a man with the same face as mine burst out from our old room. Jack, who claimed to be from another world, looked at me with a fierce expression I’d never seen before and strode directly toward me.

Why was he in there?!

“You, what are you doing!! Why are you treating our house as if—”

-Kwak!!

“…Kuk?!!”

“Shit!! You, what is this?! Did you write this?!!”

“You crazy bastard! What are you doing?! Let go!!”

“W-why are you suddenly like this?! Darlings, what’s happening?!”

“W-what’s going on here?! The person who looks exactly like Johnson is the mountain keeper Jack?! N-no, more importantly! Why are you grabbing his collar?! Y-you shouldn’t fight!!!”

Despite this being a situation where I should be the angry one, he seemed not to care at all as he gripped my collar even more tightly. I too was getting irritated and grabbed his arm with enough force to break it. However.

‘Ugh?! This guy’s strength?!!’

“Answer me. I’m asking if you wrote this!!!”

“That’s not what’s important here?! Why, why are you treating our house as if—!!”

“I said answer me!!!”

His orange eyes, identical to mine, glared at me with what almost felt like killing intent. His voice was genuinely filled with shock and rage.

If this continues, it seems like the second round from this morning could start at any moment. I should back down first since I have no idea what’s going on. That’s what I thought, and.

“Damn it!! No!! I didn’t write it!! It’s an ancient text that’s been passed down in our house for generations…!!”

“…Damn, shit. Then, what the hell.”

-Pak!

As soon as he heard my words, I felt the strength leave his arms and pushed him away. As if his previous anger had been a lie, he was easily shoved back.

No, more than just pushed back.

-Thud.

“D-darling? A-are you okay? Are you hurt somewhere?”

“Luxuria. Please don’t call both of them darling; use their names. Johnson, are you alright? What’s… Ah. Hello, Jack? I’m Ira, a battle maiden from the Great Holy Nation…”

He collapsed to the ground and stared at the floor, not responding to the voices of the demon and the Holy Maiden calling out to him. What kind of mess is this?

Shouldn’t I be the one getting annoyed and angry here?

They say when you’re too angry, you move beyond rage to just feeling dumbfounded—that’s exactly how I feel right now…

“Then, what. What is this? Who. Who would create such a…”

“…Huh? What? A book?”

“A book? Oh. The one Johnson is holding… Oh, this book?”

“Huh? What? What is it? Ira, do you know what this is?”

“Ah. Yes, this is…”

“You know about this?”

Suddenly, light returned to his previously dead-fish eyes, and he turned his head toward the red-haired woman as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.

But what’s going on? That should just be an ancient text that has been passed down through generations of mountain keepers. Could it be that he didn’t inherit it?

And the Holy Maiden immediately opened her mouth as if to answer his question.

“Yes. This book, or more precisely, the characters written in it, are high-level script that the Creator of this world uses to deliver the most important revelations to us.”

“Bullshit.”

“What?”

And at her words, he and I spat out the same response simultaneously.

*

[(!)Quest: This is the final stage of the trial. Understand the ‘cycle’ and achieve your goal.]

[Reward: Your survival rate will significantly increase.]

One old book. Looking at the status window that appeared, I understood. That book is probably the key to ending this maddening trial.

To avoid being disturbed by the two people outside who had now started an incomprehensible girl talk, I closed the door and approached the book.

I immediately waited for the status window’s translation.

“A letter to you who will come someday…”

…Huh?

For a moment, I feel a sense of confusion. This is clearly just a small notebook-sized book, but right now, I’m reading the text myself, not through the status window’s language translation.

It’s not like I’ve studied reading in the meantime. On the contrary, I’ve been avoiding it, using my supposed stupidity as an excuse.

Yes, the only writing I can read is…

“Why is this in Korean?”

…the language from my previous life.

…What is this? Could it be that special privilege for Korean reincarnators, or maybe Korean is supposedly the most superior language among all worlds?

I hope they’re not going to use the excuse that they wrote like this because the Korean language system is better. What would they have done if I wasn’t a reincarnator who knew Korean?

“Korean writing system is pretty good, but isn’t English the pinnacle? Of course! If they’d given this to me in English, I’d have been screwed with my grade 5 English!”

Memories of isekai stories from my previous life suddenly flood back, making me chuckle involuntarily.

Those stories where reincarnators invade cultures claiming, “The food and writing system of my world are superior!” because the system of the reincarnated world is supposedly terrible.

I may have reincarnated into the online game [Eight], and while I thought our sibling fate was crappy, I never thought this world itself was inferior to my previous one.

So I open the book and read.

[I knew you would come someday.]

[First, let me explain why this is written in the language you knew in your previous life, as you’re probably wondering.]

[You probably didn’t learn to read in this world either, claiming you were stupid or making various excuses about being busy.]

[So I thought I’d learn and write in a language you know.]

[What do you think, did I show proper consideration for you?]

…Wow. Mind reading? They’ve completely read my thoughts. Could it really be that someone who knows me left this writing as a special privilege for reincarnators? This is actually amazing to experience firsthand!

I read the text slowly once more for the trial objective, then turn to the next page.

[I’m sure you’re smirking right now as you read what I’m writing.]

[Though I can no longer see you, just imagining that expression makes me smile too.]

[Even if I wrote my name now, you probably wouldn’t be able to see it. That’s our ‘contract’ after all.]

[But I believe you will find me.]

Hmm, is this one of those isekai reincarnation + reincarnation stories? This kind of thing is a bit cliché these days. Seems like they’re just throwing things at the wall now that they’ve run out of ways to subvert tropes. With that feeling, I turn to the next page.

[Because you always found the answers.]

[And because you always handled things wisely.]

“…Oh. That’s not me though?”

Looks like this letter was written for someone else?

…Did the quest glitch out?