Ch.84Return to the Beginning (9)

I heard something that made me doubt my own ears.

But it seems I wasn’t the only one who heard it.

Adelheid was staring at me with wide eyes.

“Did you hear that?”

“I did.”

“What should we do?”

I thought for a moment. What should we really do?

That guy is a mid-boss who appears as an enemy in the story.

He’s a villain who died at Alreina’s hands and was resurrected at the southern subway station.

And there he killed innocent adventurers.

He’s not worth keeping alive. But I can’t kill him.

At least not right now.

I have so many questions to ask him—why he came here, what happened there, how he survived, and so on.

“Let’s go down. Leave the guards here. They won’t be much help anyway. It’ll only be dangerous for them.”

Only Adelheid, Miyumi, and I crossed the gate to approach him.

As we got closer, the unpleasant smell of burnt flesh made it difficult to breathe.

The man kneeling had apparently reached his physical limit, as he was now hunched forward.

“Genevieve. Right?”

“You know my name.”

The mid-boss Genevieve answered in a hoarse voice.

“Do you want to live?”

“I want to live…”

“Then promise me. No tricks. For example, using something like Veil Whirlwind.”

When I mentioned the skill name, his eyes wavered as he looked up at me.

“How do you know that…? Who exactly are you…?”

“A potion shop owner.”

I pulled out a small healing potion from my waist.

This is a basic potion with 80 recovery power for beginners.

For a mid-boss like him, it would provide only minimal healing, just enough to keep him alive.

“Drink this and I’ll ask questions. Depending on your answers, I’ll give you a large-capacity potion.”

“Understood…”

He gulped down the basic healing potion I gave him.

“Good. Now for my questions. First, how did you survive? You must have been killed by the silver-haired warrior.”

“The silver-haired warrior. You know about that too…”

Genevieve slowly began to speak.

“As you know, I was killed by that woman. I don’t know how I survived. When I opened my eyes, I was in a strange underground place.”

As I expected, the south is an expansion pack, and the mid-boss who died there has reappeared.

“Alright. Next. Why did you kill the adventurers?”

“Adventurers…?”

“About a hundred people who entered the underground where you were. I heard you killed them.”

Genevieve thought for a moment, then raised the corner of his mouth.

“What’s wrong with killing those who came to die?”

I see. Even after being reborn, his nature remains the same.

He really can’t be allowed to live.

“I understand. Then why didn’t you stay there and came here instead?”

“That’s…”

He was about to say something when his body trembled.

“Will you really keep your promise to spare me?”

“Of course. If I wasn’t going to, I would have killed you already.”

After keeping his mouth shut for a while, he finally spoke.

“She came…”

“She?”

“The silver-haired warrior…”

“The silver-haired warrior? Are you talking about Alreina?”

“Alreina? Is that the warrior’s name?”

“The one who killed you.”

“Yes. That’s right. The warrior who killed me.”

What is he talking about? Alreina came to the southern subway station?

That’s impossible.

After defeating the demon army, Alreina should be somewhere in the north.

It would take months just to get from there to here, and who knows how long from here to the south.

He must be lying.

Wait a minute.

But it’s not entirely impossible.

If Alreina ignored my warning and went to The Doomsday Site, and if she took the subway operating there, getting to the south wouldn’t be that difficult.

Besides, this Genevieve is a powerful mid-boss who couldn’t even be scratched by anyone less than Alreina’s caliber when he was in good condition.

So that silver-haired warrior must indeed be Alreina.

But why?

Why would Alreina, who firmly believes in my strategy guide, go to The Doomsday Site?

I emphasized so many times never, ever to go there.

Though I don’t understand the reason, there’s no other explanation besides Alreina.

“So, that warrior came and attacked you? Why?”

“She said it was revenge.”

“Revenge?”

“Yes. That warrior told me this: revenge for killing her uncle.”

I immediately realized what had happened.

The doppelganger must have died.

Currently, some of the adventurers are presumed to be at The Doomsday Site, the northern subway station.

If Alreina also went to The Doomsday Site, they would have met each other there.

She would have learned that they were adventurers who started from the starting city, and that half of them died at the southern subway station at the hands of Genevieve, while the lucky ones survived by being swept into the subway.

Alreina would have first asked about my well-being, and would have heard that the doppelganger who transformed into me had died.

The doppelganger’s tattoo is shape-memory magic. Even if the body dies, the magic remains, so the form doesn’t revert.

Alreina, mistakenly thinking I was killed by Genevieve, became enraged and took the incoming subway to the southern subway station.

There she encountered Genevieve and tried to kill him but failed.

That’s my guess, and it’s probably correct.

So will Alreina follow Genevieve here?

She might, or she might not.

Alreina is the only playable character in this world.

While Genevieve and the adventurers who went down south and came back up all move according to the game’s predetermined patterns, Alreina moves according to the player’s will as a separate entity.

So Alreina might not be able to leave the officially unlocked southern region due to player rules.

Either way, it seems I’ll have to go to that southern subway station…

Now that I’ve gathered all the information I need, let’s kill this guy.

“Kill him, Liberone.”

Without hesitation, Liberone brought her great sword down from above.

Genevieve, with his eyes wide open and just about to shout, was split in half.

In truth, the potion I gave him wasn’t a healing potion but a paralysis potion.

It would have gradually spread through his body during our Q&A, leaving him frozen in his kneeling position.

No matter how strong someone is, their basic physical structure is similar.

When injected directly into the body, even the strongest will succumb.

It’s just impossible to make them drink it.

But this time, I did.

After staring at the body split in half for a moment, I turned and headed back to the city.

There’s a lot to do now.

It seems Alreina might fall into corruption.

* * * * *

“What?! You’re going to the south?!”

Bellamy slammed her desk with unusual force and shouted.

“How on earth do you plan to enter a place that even professional adventurers can’t return from?!”

“I have to go. Someone has already gone there.”

“No! Absolutely not! The moment you cross the southern gate, I’ll have you arrested! And the guard captain will be disciplined for negligence and disobedience! Do you understand?!”

Even Adelheid flinched at Bellamy’s fierce declaration.

“Absolutely not! You cannot take a single step outside the city, Jack!”

I didn’t realize she could be this scary…

“Answer me!”

“I understand…”

After being completely shut down by Bellamy, Adelheid asked me on our way back to the shop.

“Jack. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I never imagined the mayor would come on so strongly.”

“It’s because of that girl Alreina, right? Something happened to her in the south.”

“Yes. Alreina probably thinks I’m dead.”

“That’s a big misunderstanding, but it’s not a reason for you to risk going all the way to the south.”

“No, it is a reason. If Alreina can’t hold on mentally, she’ll fall into corruption. If she becomes corrupted, the world will end.”

Adelheid stopped walking at my words.

“The world will end?”

“Yes. It’s true. That’s why I’m willing to risk my life to go south. If she knows I’m alive, none of that will happen.”

“Do you mean that much to Alreina?”

“Well, that’s what I believe.”

From all the letters I’ve received from various Alreinas, she seems to believe in me almost like a prophet who can foresee the future.

And the fact that she went south, deviating from the strategy guide to avenge my death, proves it.

I need to let Alreina know that I’m alive.

I, an NPC, must go. If the south hasn’t been officially unlocked yet, Alreina, classified as a player, will remain trapped in the south until the next subway arrives.

No one knows what will happen if Alreina, who is vulnerable to mental attacks, becomes corrupted while trapped there.

Even if the subway comes and takes Alreina to another station, the problem gets worse.

If she goes north while corrupted, she’ll be too far away, and in the worst case, she might go to a completely different subway station I don’t know about.

I need to resolve this while she’s within my awareness range, before it becomes irreversible.

And that’s something only I can do in this world.

“I understand, Jack. I’ll help you get to the south.”

Adelheid spoke up.