Ch.3The Worst First Meeting (3)

“Hold it right there!”

“Huh!”

Irefi was about to enter the Great Cavern. I had only urgently called out to stop her, but her reaction was remarkable.

Like a cat that had heard a predator’s roar, she jumped up and assumed a defensive stance.

Her hand hovered near her scabbard, ready to draw her sword at any moment, and she spread her senses in all directions. She displayed every bit the demeanor of a supreme warrior.

The woman before me now showed not a trace of her previous awkwardness, fully embodying the dignity of a knight commander.

‘I suppose I can notice these things because I’m in Nepy’s body?’

I knew she harbored suspicions, but if she was this blatant about it, I needed to reconsider my approach.

“Don’t move. Speak from where you are.”

“W-well…”

Even as I hesitated, dozens of decisions and reversals flashed through my mind. The tension from my survival instinct actually decreased my mental efficiency, making it difficult to find an answer.

‘Should I fight? With Nepy’s power, maybe I could…’

But I quickly concluded that would be the worst course of action.

‘There’s no way I could win. Irefi’s power is absolutely unfair. Besides, I don’t even fully understand Nepy’s capabilities.’

I strongly sensed that if combat began, I’d end up dismembered and resealed—an ending I couldn’t avoid.

I proposed another route to myself.

‘…Should I run?’

This body is immortal. If I abandoned combat entirely and managed to evacuate even a few pieces of my body, I might regenerate given enough time.

‘But is that possible? I could certainly regenerate from dismemberment, but logically, could fragments of flesh really reconstruct into a complete body?’

This too was too risky a gamble without knowing Nepy’s exact capabilities.

‘Damn it!’

No matter how many moves ahead I tried to think, I couldn’t escape this swamp of multiple bad endings. I’d like to keep deliberating, but time was mercilessly slipping away.

Finally, I was forced to answer.

“Well… you see, nice to meet you. Actually, I’m Nepy?”

I forced a bright smile. I needed to lower her guard even a little—

“Guh…!”

But I couldn’t continue speaking. The moment I admitted my identity, Irefi’s aura transformed instantly.

It felt like my entire body had been thrown into a sea of sword energy, and my consciousness seemed about to float away. It took everything I had just to squeeze out enough strength to keep my legs from giving out.

This was transcendent killing intent.

‘I was planning to negotiate first, then run if that failed, and fight as a last resort… but I made a mistake!’

Run? What a luxurious thought. How could I, barely able to stand under this killing intent?

My body might be Nepy’s, but my soul was just an ordinary gamer from a peaceful world. I had forgotten such an obvious fact.

During my time trapped in the Great Cavern, the boundary between myself and Nepy had blurred, making me unwittingly arrogant.

Even the idea of escaping as body fragments seemed absurd upon reflection.

‘Me, who goes into shock from a paper cut, enduring sword strikes until I’m in pieces? Would I even retain my sanity afterward?’

I might go insane. No, I definitely would.

Even now, as I agonized over my options, Irefi’s killing intent was actively constricting my soul.

“Ugh… wait… Irefi, please wait. I can… I can explain everything…!”

“If you’re trying to bewitch me with your wicked words, it won’t work. Mental attacks used against me once will never work again.”

‘When did I ever use a mental attack on her?’

Irefi’s hand was inching closer to her sword hilt. The reason she hadn’t struck me down immediately after I revealed my identity must be because she truly believed I was a Founding Noble.

She would exercise extreme caution to prepare for any potential backlash. In games, David might not defeat Goliath, but in reality, such upsets do happen.

Irefi clearly understood this.

“Irefi Justitia, Commander of the Nelfrugia Knights. By imperial decree, I shall eliminate this evil.”

As Irefi lowered her stance, she emanated a presence like a majestic boulder. Her lower body was firmly rooted to the ground like an ancient tree that had lived a thousand years.

Our eyes met.

SWOOSH!

A sharp sound cut through the air.

I didn’t even realize what had happened. Before I could comprehend that Irefi had drawn her sword, I lost my balance, tilted to one side, and collapsed with a thud.

Plop.

My severed left arm and leg entered my field of vision. Immediately, pain beyond comprehension overwhelmed me.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

My leg! My arm!

The cut was so clean it was almost perfectly flat.

‘Ugh… urk… gah… this is…!’

Even while experiencing pain that could drive me insane, I recognized what this was.

‘One of Irefi’s patterns—the Formless Sword.’

Everything from the sound to the result was familiar. What made it even more despairing was knowing this was merely a warning strike.

In gaming terms, this was just Irefi’s basic attack.

“Founding Noble Nepy. Have you weakened during your imprisonment?”

“Weakened or not…!”

Irefi muttered as she watched me crawling on the floor. She probably meant to speak quietly to herself, but in the Great Cavern, even such whispers resonated and amplified.

“But it seems your immortality remains intact.”

A strange light flickered in her eyes. My leg and arm were naturally reattached as if they had never been severed. The pain subsided instantly, allowing me to quickly regain my senses.

‘Now I understand. Counterattacking is absolutely out of the question. Once I become hostile, there’s no turning back!’

My gaze instinctively turned to where my limbs had fallen.

‘They’re still there! So Nepy’s immortality is indeed regeneration-based.’

With my recovered senses, I quickly tried to devise a way out of this situation.

‘Could I abandon this body and regenerate from those severed limbs?’

Without even a tutorial on how to use Nepy’s abilities, there was no way to know. Besides, this wasn’t the time to leisurely test my powers.

At that moment.

SWOOSH!

The familiar sound again. Yet I couldn’t even react before taking the hit.

A red line slowly formed across my waist. What would happen next was obvious.

“GAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

My upper and lower body split in two, spraying a fountain of blood. This pain was entirely different from when my left limbs were severed.

It was my first time seeing my own body split in half and collapse lifelessly to the ground.

From my own perspective, no less.

“Kuhak!”

I quickly regenerated and faced Irefi. Looking behind me, I could see my severed upper body lying there, eyes still open.

It was then that I first saw Nepy’s face.

I already knew he had black hair. However, the combination of ominously red eyes and sickly pale skin made even me think he looked villainous.

“I’m surprised you’re not counterattacking at all… but your ability is quite disturbing.”

Irefi’s gaze was fixed on what had been my upper body. I deliberately attempted regeneration from the lower half. Apparently, there were no restrictions on which part could initiate regeneration.

As a result, her frowning eyes looked at me as if I were a disgusting insect.

“Wait, Irefi. I have no intention of being your enemy!”

“Whether you’re hostile or not is irrelevant to me. This is simply an imperial decree, and I am executing it as a knight of the empire.”

“The empire?”

At that moment, my eyes lit up. It was as if I’d found enlightenment.

‘That’s right, from the beginning Irefi said she was executing an imperial decree…!’

There might be room for negotiation. If she came here not for personal reasons but for official ones—by the Emperor’s order!

“Unfortunately, resealing you seems impossible now, but if I cut you into enough pieces, even your regeneration must have a limit…”

I interrupted her as she casually spoke these ominous words.

“Wait, Irefi. As a Founding Noble, I request this. Take me… take me to the Emperor!”

To this, Irefi responded with an expression of disbelief.

“Have you suddenly gone mad? To suggest I bring a walking disaster to His Majesty…”

I cut off Irefi’s words and spoke with near certainty.

“No, you will gladly bring this disaster. Because that will be your imperial decree.”

“The imperial decree I received was to eliminate you.”

“That’s the current decree.”

I was confident I could flip the imperial decree like turning over my palm. With the shell of a Founding Noble and the knowledge of a player, it would be more than enough.

“Did you bring a communication device? Tell the Emperor I’ll spill everything I know as a Founding Noble, with my life as collateral!”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“Whether to believe it or not is for the Emperor to decide, isn’t it? I know all the imperial secrets that even the Emperor doesn’t know, the hidden weaknesses, everything concealed about the Eld Empire.”

Seeing Irefi hesitate, I smiled triumphantly.

“Isn’t this too big for a mere knight commander to handle independently? I’m certain the Emperor will need my information.”

“Hmm.”

“I’ve said multiple times that I have no intention of being hostile. Even as a Founding Noble, I endured the humiliation of being cut in half without retaliating once.”

The more I thought about it, the more frightening and infuriating the experience was. As if responding to my boiling emotions, the Great Cavern trembled.

…The Great Cavern is trembling?

Rumble…

‘What’s this? It’s scary. Is it the aftermath of Irefi’s Formless Sword?’

Frightened, I continued speaking rapidly without pause.

“My madness subsided a hundred years ago, and my resentment has faded. If I can just live outside, I don’t need the status of a Founding Noble, money, or anything else. So… please convey my sincerity exactly as I’ve expressed it.”

I bowed my head deeply and closed my eyes. I had said everything I needed to say, and now only Irefi’s decision remained.

Even if she dismissed my proposal, as long as she kept quiet, no one would know about my offer.

In the suffocating tension, Irefi stood motionless for a long while, deliberating, until finally she sighed and reached into her garment.

What she pulled out was a communication stone. Though it was likely a common item that even commoners could afford, Irefi’s communication stone somehow looked more elegant.

The changes in Irefi’s expression as she activated the stone and explained the situation were remarkably dynamic.

“Nepy is a dangerous individual…”

“But Your Majesty…!”

“I… I understand.”

I didn’t need to listen closely to know the result. Irefi’s tightly pressed, displeased expression said it all.

She soon put the communication stone back in her garment and turned her head sharply to look at me.

Unable to meet her intense gaze, I averted my eyes. It must have looked quite pathetic.

“…Founding Noble Nepy, heed the Emperor’s command.”

“…”

“…”

A heavy silence fell. Irefi stopped speaking and just stared at me.

Intimidated by her oppressive gaze, I instinctively knelt. Only then did Irefi speak again.

‘This is the right answer?’

I later learned this was the proper etiquette for receiving an imperial decree.

“…Therefore, Founding Noble Nepy shall have an audience with the Emperor under the supervision of Irefi Justitia.”

“I will gladly obey.”

“Does His Majesty have any sense of danger at all?! As the one responsible for security, I should at least…!”

Irefi still seemed to express with her entire body that she couldn’t accept this. As a petty revenge, I raised my middle finger at her back.

…It was truly a pathetic form of revenge.

With this, the first crisis I had faced since coming to this world was seemingly resolved.

Yes, that’s what this foolish man believed.