Ch.299Following NPC. (2)

“Haa, haa. I’m really screwed.”

In the dark night, I stopped to catch my breath, looking up at the sky as I exhaled roughly.

“Ha, it’s a full moon. Come to think of it, isn’t this the first time I’ve been completely alone since recalling my past life?”

Unable to control the sudden urge to mutter to myself like some old geezer, I feel a chill in my side. Huh? I see, so this is what they call a chill in your side… or am I just cold? Ah, if I combine my past life, I guess I am old enough to be a geezer? Maybe my body gets cold when my mind… no. It’s just that tonight is a bit chilly.

“…It’s been quite a long time since I looked at the sky like this.”

I was always being pushed around by someone, and situations kept forcing me into corners. And while trying to escape from all that, I ended up shouldering everything—my future, Ira’s future, and the futures of the women who somehow attached themselves to me claiming it was for my own good. Anyway, I’ve been carrying so much that I haven’t had time to look up at the sky like this.

Haha, so this is what being pathetically miserable feels like!

“Ah, shit. This isn’t the time to be escaping reality.”

I know why I’m cold right now—it’s dawn and I’m drenched in cold sweat. And the reason for that sweat isn’t because of the unwanted battle I fought today in Ponia’s border city. No, that’s not it. I managed to wrap that up before afternoon. The real problem is…

“Ah, what am I going to do? Fuck, how am I supposed to handle this…”

[Target: Ira – Ottoman Empire.]

[Target: Ray Sol – Ottoman Empire.]

[Target: Ragni Bluemoon – Ottoman Empire.]

[Target: Gor – Ottoman Empire.]

[Detailed Location: Ira, Ray Sol, Gor. Muller Territory, Ottoman Empire.]

[Detailed Location: Ragni Bluemoon. Hurk Territory, Ottoman Empire.]

Not only has my party scattered when I wanted them to stay together, but one person who’s separated from the group just painted the sky with the same pattern she used as a raid boss in the game. This is a serious problem.

If I hadn’t spent half the day fighting the Army of Greed, I could have headed straight to the territory where Ragni is after seeing that Queen Beam just now. Unfortunately, I’m only human—I’m tired and exhausted. Of course, the reason I fought them was because Ponia was being pushed back much faster than I expected.

That’s also a country where three of my women are now, and they’ll definitely end up fighting alongside the Green Stone and the Saint against those enemies—that’s obvious without even watching. Honestly, I’d prefer if they didn’t fight. But with their personalities, they’re not the type to just stand by while people are dying, right? Well, maybe Luxuria is?

Anyway, thanks to all that, I don’t have the energy to rush over there, and if I arrive to find Ragni has become a boss, I don’t have confidence in stopping her when I’m not at full strength. Haha. Ragni, why did you do this? You’re making this really hard for me.

“…I’ll kill you. But that’s not even an option anymore given our relationship, and if you’re doing this, it’s really tough on me.”

With her blue hair and sparkling intelligence in those red eyes that were so charming—and by the time we parted briefly in Natie, she had even developed a figure like the Queen of the Game after turning twenty. Now she might have awakened as a boss.

For me, the current situation is nothing short of the greatest injustice of my life. Wow, just thinking about it makes my hands sweat again.

“…Queen Beam. The fact that she can use that means her bullets aren’t just magic bullets anymore but artillery. And she can also mimic my movements, Gor’s movements, Ray’s movements. If she can also copy the movements of beastfolk like Miho… wow. What am I going to do about her?”

The fact that she launched that attack from a marquis territory in the Empire means she’s definitely created a significant number of subordinates with the skill [One Who Stands Above] and boosted her stats. Didn’t the Queen of the Game claim that all 1 million citizens in the capital belonged to her? How many people live in a marquis territory? Besides, when I faced the Queen who had received stats from 1 million citizens in the game, she wasn’t that strong. How strong would the real Ragni be? I think she’d be considerably stronger even with just over 100 people, not 1 million.

“…Haah, please be only as strong as when we first met, when I could stop you by grabbing both your arms.”

I can’t imagine hitting her face or breaking any part of her. This is really bad—I’m seriously afflicted.

“No, if necessary, I’ll have to hit her.”

She’s a masochist at heart anyway. If she’s awakened as a boss and is crushing the Empire and threatening to kill her parents, I’ll have to catch her somehow and spank her until she cries and begs for forgiveness, promising never to do it again. Right, she’s wearing a slave collar anyway! I’m sure I can catch her!!

Hmm, wait. But I already once got drunk and… no, this time I’m sober, and it’s for a completely different reason, so it’s fine…!! Right?

“For now, it seems she doesn’t plan to fire another beam. I should rest too.”

After easily admitting that I was watching the sky not because I wanted to look at the night sky or feel sorry for myself, but because I was afraid Ragni might use that raid boss technique again, I closed my eyes while sitting in a tree. Ira, your big brother really wanted to come straight to you, but it seems the woman who’s going to be your big sister has entered a late puberty. Please understand if I’m a little late.

Making excuses that couldn’t possibly be heard, I firmly decided to head to Ragni first.

*

“Hey. Pride.”

“Hmm? This is unexpected. You, who normally doesn’t come even after being called three times, have moved yourself to visit my domain.”

On a desolate wasteland—a red earth too barren to even be called that—sat one of the Seven Deadly Sins demons, Superbia (Pride), swirling a cup in his hand at an incongruously luxurious chair and table. The one addressing him was a tiny female demon floating lazily in the sky with half-closed eyes—Pigritia (Sloth), another of the Seven Deadly Sins.

“Pigritia. Would you like some too? The sacrifice from the Church is quite fresh.”

“…Don’t need it. You already know why I’m here. Answer me.”

Sloth irritably questioned Pride, who was known to be the oldest and strongest of all demons, as if even speaking was too troublesome. Despite her attitude, Pride quietly tilted his cup and smiled slightly.

“So things have progressed to the point where even you have been moved to action. I see, so his words were true.”

“…His?”

When Sloth frowned slightly at Pride’s incomprehensible words, he put down his cup and created a chair on the opposite side of the table, gesturing for her to take a seat. But she, too lazy to move and only wanting to hear what she came for, merely flicked her hand as if telling him to get on with it.

“Really, Pigritia, you should be more proactive…”

“If I came all the way here, don’t you think I’ve already acted according to my desires?”

She spoke unusually long for her normal self. And as if giving a final warning, Sloth began to emit pitch-black demonic energy, but Pride chuckled at her display, completely unfazed.

“Yes, are you displeased enough with the current situation to want to attack me?”

“…I can understand why that idiot Wrath only knows how to lash out. I can even understand why Greed turned away since she can only fulfill her desires in the human realm. But Lust and Envy are different matters.”

-Crackle!!

As the black demonic energy she emitted began to touch the reddish ground, it started to leap up like lightning. Moreover, her sleepy eyes now revealed killing intent as if she would attack Pride at any moment, causing him to put a finger to his chin and tilt his head in surprise.

“I didn’t know you were fond of Luxuria and Invidia?”

“I don’t remember liking that ass-obsessed freak or that perverted virgin. If I had time for that, I would have slept even one second more. Haah, this is my final warning. Tell me why you killed Envy and betrayed Lust, trying to kill her too. Speak. It’s too troublesome to say more.”

Pigritia of Sloth. She is lazier than anyone. If she has something to do today, she will definitely postpone it until tomorrow, and if she wants to do something, she will also postpone that. However, if asked whether she never does the postponed tasks, that’s not the case.

To be slothful, one must have things to do, and if one doesn’t postpone them as naturally as breathing, it’s not sloth. Doing nothing isn’t sloth—it’s incompetence.

That’s why she simply doesn’t put her all into anything. She just loves the act of ‘postponing.’ That’s why she moved.

Even when she learned that Luxuria of Lust and Invidia of Envy had fallen into ‘Pride’s trap’ and were in danger of death, she requested one more nap in her domain. And now that they have been killed and betrayed, isolated in the human realm, she is moving. To handle what she needs to do now, and to create the next task to fall into sloth.

“I see. Since when did you know?”

“……”

“You’re not answering. Very well, the fact that you, who is always slothful, came looking for me like this is reason enough to tell you.”

As Sloth’s demonic energy began to wrap around the composed Pride, the table, cup, and its contents gradually turned to smoke and disappeared. Sloth’s power causes everything touched by her demonic energy to fall into ‘sloth.’ And it doesn’t discriminate between objects and living beings.

Objects that don’t think abandon their role of existing in place and evaporate, while living beings choose death by giving up even life activities, not even returning to the cycle of life as fertilizer.

Despite being the laziest of all demons, she grants the quickest death. With this power already about to strangle him, Pride merely smiles pleasantly at Sloth and opens his mouth.

“From the beginning. Since this cycle, no. Since this ‘world returned once more,’ I planned to kill all of you.”

Even at the revelation that Pride, the strongest of the Seven Deadly Sins who uniquely survived when all previous generations of the Seven Deadly Sins died, had planned to kill them, Sloth didn’t flinch and continued to activate her power.

The reason she came here personally was to kill him regardless of whether his explanation satisfied her or not. And so, at the moment her power completely enveloped Pride…

[But, Sloth. I will not kill you.]

“?!”

A sound that demons shouldn’t be able to make. No, as Sloth saw the activation of a power, she widened her eyes for the first time and barely managed to move her hand, but it was too late when she noticed.

[If I kill you too, ‘we too’ would become slothful.]

At the voice that easily suppressed her power and the ‘holy light,’ Pigritia screamed for the first time in her life.