Ch.175Running Through Time as an NPC (2)

They were all so moved by my eloquent speech that they unanimously chose option 2, making the great decision to end their long isolation and venture outside to find the Green Stone.

…Yeah, right. If only the world would flow so easily according to my wishes. Would the world end if it did?

“D-don’t make me laugh!! W-w-we already heard that the Green Stone Elder brought you here!!”

“Th-that’s right!! We won’t yield to human threats!!”

“You’re just spouting sophistry!! They say the devil’s words are always sweet!!”

“As expected, this human is a follower of demons!!!”

Heh, hehehe, hehehehehehe!

If I don’t teach these old brats what real threats are like, I’ll never complete the awareness improvement request I received from Green Stone.

Wait, some of them said my words were sweet? Then why not just swallow them? Human psychology typically wants to swallow sweet things and spit out bitter ones. If it’s sweet, just eat it up?

But whether they understood my troubled thoughts or not, these Ganf bastards began raising their weapons with serious expressions, as if they had made some resolute determination.

Fine, fuck it. What am I doing trying to talk? Dialogue is Attorney Ju’s job, not mine. There was no way the words of a retired forest keeper turned adventurer (at risk of cancellation), who isn’t even the protagonist, could move their hearts.

Ha, Green Stone. When you wake up, the world will be different. I really tried, you know? I tried hard enough to deserve at least a Nobel Peace Prize.

Well. If I fail to control my strength, the Ganf population might decrease a bit, but let’s blame that on the Grand Elder.

After making my own resolute determination, I loosened my shoulders and approached these idiots…

“I-I’ll go!!”

“M-me too!!”

“I… I want to go… too.”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, female voices shouted from behind the Ganfs, making me pause involuntarily. The Ganfs who had been making a fuss in front of me all turned their heads in surprise.

The Ganfs at the front began parting to the left and right, as if to say “it wasn’t me,” starting from the front row.

At the very back, there was one elf raising her hand low, and beside her stood two female elves and others without weapons.

Wait, those elves at the front look familiar…

“Those ones… they went with the vice-captain…”

“Aren’t they from the 2nd unit?”

“…Did they just volunteer to go?”

Hearing the elves muttering, I remembered. Those are the elves I threatened to give to monsters as breeding stock and kept captive at Chikuyo’s house!

Not understanding why they were here, I tilted my head in confusion as they slowly approached me.

“Ahem, my name is Ver San. I’m a knight from the 2nd unit of the Forest Knights.”

“Uh, yeah. I’m Jack.”

“…Yes. I know.”

The female elf at the front who suddenly turned this into introduction time then—

*Clink!*

“Huh?”

“W-what are you doing, Ver San?!!”

She knelt on one knee and bowed her head to me, and the other elves who followed her did the same.

Wait? I’ve seen this before. Could it be…

“Thanks to you stepping forward to stop the Grand Elder… no, the demon who had taken the souls of elves, our people’s sacrifices could end with minimal losses. Moreover, we were watching from afar as you rescued Elder Green Stone. I apologize for not being able to help you then. And as a knight protecting this forest, Siltra, I sincerely express my gratitude to you.”

“Thank you!!”

Ignoring their captain’s shouting nearby, the woman loudly directed her words to me and bowed deeply. Meanwhile, I was thinking:

‘…This is similar to the scene where the protagonist defeats the Grand Elder and the Demon of Wrath…’

Of course, those hypocritical Ganf bastards don’t appear in that scene, but honestly, there were fewer casualties in this reality than in the game.

Moreover, I didn’t even get to show them much of the elders or Grand Elder going “GUEEEK” while using demonic energy and going berserk, and most of those who should have died are probably still alive.

In other words, this resistance is somewhat expected, and their actions are also…

“V-Ver San!!! Who gave you permission to thank a demon’s underling…!!!”

“Captain, no, Knight Captain. We were watching earlier. You were screaming like a little girl when demon blood splattered on you. Did you not notice that it was the beast warriors and us who retrieved you when you fell into panic?”

“Gasp!!”

What? Really? That big guy screamed like a little girl?!

“No, it wasn’t just screaming, he was crying.”

“It was really unbearable to watch… yes.”

“So embarrassing.”

Among the elves kneeling before me in gratitude, TMI about their captain began to overflow, and I looked at him in disbelief.

…Aren’t you embarrassed?

“D-don’t be ridiculous!! A-anyone would be startled if they thought they were being infected by a demon…!!!”

“You say that, yet you were just insulting and condemning Elder Green Stone who fought for us while being infected by a demon?”

“Weren’t you always sticking close to the Grand Elder, claiming to be his bodyguard?”

“The human right in front of us killed a demon without fearing infection, yet you call him a demon’s underling—aren’t you the ones who should be suspected of being demon underlings?!!”

Oh, my Ganf-hatred graph is bending slightly downward. The urge to punch him in the face with an educational fist is being healed by the appearance of these “elves”…

“He may be excessively violent, but he’s a benefactor of Siltra!!”

“Th-that’s right…! Y-yes… He, he did threaten to throw us to monsters as breeding stock, but, but he really showed that he fights for everyone!! …Yes!!”

“I don’t know much about this human, but the claim that beast people colluded with demons is clearly fabricated no matter how you look at it! Just listen to Elder Green Stone and Salt Non who are being treated here—it’s obvious what’s right and wrong!! He’s just an unusually strong human who swears a lot!!”

…I was feeling healed, but are they actually insulting me in a roundabout way? My intelligence increased by 1, you know? This is definitely backhanded praise, right?

Looking at the women who proudly faced me and the Ganfs with their distinctive golden eyes, as if they had done a good job defending me, I decided to let it go.

They probably didn’t have bad intentions. Yeah, no bad intentions…

“M-monster breeding stock? I-isn’t this human supposed to easily lust after elves? M-making such threats when angry, not even rape…?”

“W-well, he does curse a lot and has incredible skills, but he seems to get along well with the beast people…”

“…Honestly, I would have died when the Grand Elder threw that flesh mass if not for the beast people. Is this human really just violent and nothing more?”

…The conversation is strange, but at least the Ganf bastards are finally starting to question their stupid beliefs. I just rubbed my face.

Yes, slowly accept the reality you’ve seen…

“No!! Don’t be fooled!! Th-these ones have also been infected by the demon…!!!”

“Ah. I really can’t fucking take this anymore.”

*WHAM!!!*

When that captain bastard tried to start inciting again, my hand moved before I knew it.

Covering his mouth that was spewing fabrications and incitement, I quietly looked into his eyes and spoke.

“Listen. If I’m a demon’s underling, and Green Stone who was infected is a demon’s underling, and the beast people who rescued your elves and the elves who came to their senses are also demon’s underlings, then why are you still alive? Huh?!”

“Let’s be reasonable, for God’s sake. I’m confident I could turn all of you into meatballs faster than a 3-minute recipe even if you all came at me. Yet I’m being patient and talking to you, and you keep trying to incite? You bastard. You call yourself a knight captain, but aren’t you just a politician?!”

Really getting angry, I was considering whether I should just crush this guy’s head when…

“*Cough! Cough!* …Jack. The knight captain is also truly being infected.”

“Huh? G-Green Stone?! Are you already well enough to be up?!”

Green Stone, whose skin was already porcelain-like even normally as an elf.

With his transformation magic dispelled, he showed me his golden hair and golden eyes for the first time as he leaned on Chikuyo’s shoulder and continued speaking.

“…I can sense the same demonic energy that entered my body, albeit very faintly, in several of those elves over there.”

“Oh, really?!”

“W-what?!!”

“W-wait!! N-not me!!!”

The Ganfs that Green Stone pointed at began looking at their neighbors as if they were rabid dogs, and the captain I was holding had pupils that began trembling as if there was an earthquake.

Fuck. So I could have killed them all?! Should I just kill them all?!!

I was about to swing my fist at the captain’s face to release my pent-up stress…

“As you said, this can be resolved if there’s a priest. The Grand Elder is dead so the infection has stopped. Don’t kill them… *Cough! Cough!!*”

“…Not even one?”

“No. You patiently tried to resolve this through dialogue. Please be patient until the end, so I can thank you with a willing heart… *Cough!!*”

Sigh, damn it. I should have just killed them after hearing the first part. I released the captain who didn’t even know he was infected, and beast people quickly formed a perimeter around the elves.

“Hoho, could the demonic energy be so faint that even I couldn’t sense it?”

“…I think I can sense it like a host because my infection progressed the furthest. Not all of them, but many elves have definitely been infected by demon blood.”

“…So that’s why they suddenly came running, blaming the human while they were being treated.”

Perna, Green Stone, and even the female elf who had defended me.

As they seemed to reach some understanding among themselves, I felt like I was the only one left looking stupid as I turned around…

“D-don’t be ridiculous!!! I-I haven’t been infected…!!!”

“It’s a lie!! That demon’s underling is lying!!”

“I-I didn’t even touch the blood, let alone the flesh…!!!”

“…Half?”

“…Half, yes. Half, h-half. *Cough!* …Just half.”

With permission to do half of what I wanted, I turned around and kicked the captain who had shouted first right in the groin with full force, sending him flying into the air. The mouths of the elves who had been shouting that they weren’t infected suddenly shut.

Hahah! Damn, nothing beats violence for mental education after all!