Ch.4Toward the System (1)

She asked bluntly.

“What are you going to do now?”

I retorted as if wondering why she was asking something so obvious.

“Aren’t we going to the Imperial Palace? After you just delivered the imperial order on their behalf.”

“I asked because I didn’t want to believe it. If you say you’re going to kill me, I’ll fight you right here.”

Even as I watched Irefi sigh openly to my face, I couldn’t say anything. It was instinct following the ruthless law of survival of the fittest.

‘I really want to smack the back of her head just once.’

Setting aside Irefi’s annoying attitude, until just moments ago, she was the executioner who had been dismembering my arms, legs, and torso.

Even now, whenever I recall that pain, I get goosebumps and feel phantom pains.

‘It’s unfair. So unfair…’

The Founding Noble Netionpis is undoubtedly a villain who deserves death, but that’s not me. I’m just an innocent ordinary person who was unfairly dragged into this world.

At least I have no reason to be brutally tortured by her, nor to be treated so harshly. If the raids in the game hurt, then I’m sorry about that.

While I was fantasizing about revenge, she spoke to me, making me flinch.

“If you want to go to the Imperial Palace, do something about that Malice first. Just being near an ordinary person would make them bleed.”

“Malice? Me? I don’t have such a thing.”

The idea of evil energy coming from someone as virtuous as me.

As I shook my head, I suddenly recalled an obvious fact.

‘Oh right, this is Netionpis’s body, so that could be possible.’

Unable to withstand her cold gaze, I cleared my throat and mumbled.

“…That was a joke. Being locked up alone for so long, I forgot how to contain my energy.”

“What nonsense… No, if you’ve been alone for hundreds of years, I suppose that could happen.”

Though it was a hastily made excuse, Irefi seemed to accept it in her own way. She approached me and formed a seal with her index and middle fingers, then touched my forehead.

“Argh!”

With my trauma resurfacing, I fell back on my behind in panic. Irefi glared at me in irritation.

“What’s wrong? Looking at me like I’m a monster! You’re the real monster here.”

‘Real monster? Ha, stop exaggerating and look at yourself objectively!’

My inner scream would never escape, only be suppressed.

“…Your hand was so cold, I was just joking.”

“Stop being dramatic and come here.”

At her words, my body moved automatically toward her. When Irefi’s fingers touched my forehead, a cool blue energy surrounded my outer layer before disappearing.

“You can’t control the Malice, but I’ve contained it on the surface, so there shouldn’t be any problems when you interact with ordinary people.”

“Mmm, okay.”

I know this technique.

It was “Holy Memory,” one of Irefi’s guardian abilities. This was why siege weapons like the improved battering ram were needed to defeat her.

I expressed my admiration discreetly.

‘It sounds simple, but she just completely compressed Netionpis’s energy into a protective barrier.’

I might not understand this body’s specs properly and lack Netionpis’s experience, but Founding Nobles were truly extraordinary beings.

According to the diary I had, the original protagonist and heroine of Eldchain fought for nine days before barely managing to seal him, which gives an idea of his status.

‘The flaw is that sealing was the second-best option because they couldn’t kill him.’

With me possessing the body of such a being, yet she easily suppressed my Malice…

“Let’s go now. If I see any suspicious signs, I’ll pulverize you into sand particles at the cost of my life, so behave yourself.”

“Ha, as if I have a choice.”

I was trying to maintain a facade of bravado so as not to seem weak.

◇

“Wow, this is amazing!”

I kept exclaiming in admiration while looking around. Everything in sight made my heart race.

That’s because the scenery from the game I loved so much was unfolding before my eyes in reality. It would be unreasonable to ask me not to be excited.

“I know this place. It’s Citris Village.”

“You’re pretending to know something that’s clearly written right there.”

I asked her a question despite her lukewarm response.

“Then do you know why the village is called Citris?”

Surprised by the unexpected question, her pupils trembled, and her face turned red.

“I don’t… need to know such things.”

“Even if you don’t know, the answer lies in defeat.”

I grumbled quietly. Fortunately, her hearing seemed to be at a human level, so she didn’t seem to hear me well.

“Pardon?”

“Nothing… I misspoke.”

We were having a simple meal at a small tavern. I didn’t need to eat or drink, but she did.

Though she was more of a monster than me, she was a biological human who needed to eat, sleep, and eliminate waste.

“I feel like I’ve become the subject of unpleasant thoughts.”

“Socially, they call that paranoia.”

‘I don’t think there was a pattern where she could read players’ minds?’

I hid my thoughts with an even more brazen expression. Irefi seemed to flare up but then quietly chewed her bread.

Somehow it felt like she was chewing more vigorously than before, but I deliberately ignored it.

“So?”

“What?”

“The village name… why is it called Citris?”

She seemed embarrassed by her inability to contain her curiosity, with a hint of shame lingering in her expression.

“Oh, that? It’s because there are no sheets (sheet-less). The village was so poor they couldn’t afford such things.”

Irefi’s reaction to my casual answer was quite a sight.

“Ha, in this, day and age, making such, unfunny jokes, expecting wisdom from you, was my mistake.”

Irefi’s facial muscles contracted so much that they interfered with her breathing.

To the point where she could barely speak properly.

Just then, an old woman sitting next to us spoke up.

“Hey, pretty miss. The young man is right. This village only had meals in the morning and evening just a hundred years ago. Lunch was only for special occasions.”

“That can’t be. And I didn’t know! I’m sorry…”

Unintentionally, we had stirred up the village’s unfortunate past. Irefi’s face, which had been about to explode, rapidly darkened.

“It’s nothing. The young man is knowledgeable, it’s not your fault, miss. Even some of the old men in the village wouldn’t know this fact, so how did you know, young man?”

“Well, because I’m even older?”

Though it was factually true, I felt a tingling sensation throughout my body.

Irefi’s glaring eyes emitted light. She was effortlessly executing a formidable technique that controlled killing intent to cause internal injuries.

“I’ll apologize on his behalf, elder.”

“Hehe, no need. The knowledgeable young man seems to have a wandering mind.”

The old woman left with those words, shuffling away.

Irefi soon withdrew her killing intent, and we returned to our silent meal time.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

It was the sound of me tapping my foot out of boredom, as I neither ate nor did anything else.

“Irefi.”

“Yes.”

“You actually found it funny, didn’t you?”

Irefi took a moment to understand what I was saying, then stammered.

“N-no, I didn’t?”

“Sure.”

After that final word, for a while, only the surrounding chatter seemed unusually loud. Eventually, I couldn’t hold back and asked a question.

“What if a god gets excited?”

“What are you trying to do?”

“God-excited.”

“…”

When I gave her the answer, Irefi happened to have food in her mouth. Her cheeks twitched as she desperately tried not to spit out the contents.

“Okay, I get it. That’s your taste.”

“What…!”

“What if a king moves left and right?”

“I don’t want to know…”

“King-confusion.”

“Kup!”

“So you like that kind of thing?”

Irefi threw aside her dining etiquette and covered her mouth with both hands.

She would be a dazzling beauty if one just looked at her, but to me now, she was just a scary and pitiful woman.

“Stop it.”

“Mm!”

She seemed to find funny things funny but disliked what she disliked. Faced with her forceful demeanor, my trauma resurfaced, and I shut my mouth.

Just as Irefi was about to reach for her utensils again, she suddenly asked.

“By the way, you weren’t like this at first, but why are you speaking informally to me? As a noble, I’d appreciate it if you showed proper manners.”

“Should I speak formally to someone who cut off the arms, legs, and waist of a non-resisting opponent?”

“How can you say that…!”

Irefi’s eyes narrowed fiercely.

In truth, she had reason to feel wronged. The fact that she forced herself to speak formally to me, the despicable Netionpis, was a testament to her upright character.

But that was one thing, and while I might be Netionpis, I wasn’t the one who had committed those atrocities, so I felt equally wronged. Therefore, my borderline disrespectful informal speech was my small act of revenge.

“If you don’t like it, you can speak informally too.”

Well, with Irefi’s temperament, I didn’t think she could-.

“Ah, fine. Should I just give up on everything?”

“…”

“…”

Perhaps it was because she saw my surprised eyes, wide open as if I’d witnessed the world turning upside down.

Irefi cleared her throat and glanced at me, checking my reaction.

“Let’s not do that.”

“Uh… okay.”

For a moment, I seemed to have glimpsed Irefi’s unrestrained side, her aspect as a DLC boss.

As the price for my provocation, I had to endure an awkward meal time that became several times more uncomfortable.

◇

Even after passing through Citris Village, we walked for several more days. As a bonus, I got new clothes with Irefi’s money to replace those that had been shredded by her sword strikes.

The Great Cavern where I had been sealed was far from the Imperial Palace, so we needed to travel for a long time. Therefore, there were many times when we couldn’t reach a village by sunset, and today was one of those days.

“Let’s prepare for camping.”

“I haven’t prepared anything.”

“Neither have I.”

“Huh?”

My eyes met Irefi’s. Unlike mine, which were probably filled with confusion, Irefi’s gaze was unwavering and calm.

“What about something to cover ourselves with?”

“Is that necessary?”

“No.”

Netionpis’s body had endured hundreds of years in the cold, damp Great Cavern. It had long transcended cold or heat.

“I don’t mind cold or heat either.”

‘Isn’t that unfair? Your very existence.’

It was a moment when Netionpis’s centuries of adaptation was being denied.

“But without any defenses, something bad could happen, right?”

“To whom?”

“…To me.”

I answered painfully as she asked with a genuinely curious expression. It was my mistake for momentarily thinking of Irefi as a woman.

As if dismissing my words as nonsense, Irefi entered the forest without responding.

A moment later, with a “thud!” sound of a tree falling, Irefi appeared.

In the end, all she had prepared was cutting down a tree to make a bonfire. And even that wasn’t to ward off the cold but to secure visibility.

“This type of tree burns well for a long time.”

That was why she hadn’t cut down just any nearby tree but had gone into the forest.

It was somewhat surprising to see her familiar with camping, knowing the practical characteristics of tree types, unlike what one would expect from a noble.

“Ugh…”

We each found our spots and lay down, and I admired the special night sky that I had never seen before in either my previous life or current one.

The twinkling stars that seemed close enough to touch sparkled under the clear sky as if they might pour down.

For me, sleep was merely optional, but I thought I could fall into a deep sleep under such a sky.

That was my feeling until I heard Irefi’s sleep-talking in the late dawn.

“God gets excited… god-excited… king… confusion… hehe…”

‘I’m really going to wake her up.’

As a man, no one could guess that my evaluation of Irefi had been steeply declining since our first encounter.