Chapter 78

Chapter 78

Otherworld Cheat Harem.

Episode 78: Betrayal (2)

“…So, you went ahead and did something like that again without consulting me, and now you want me to help clean up the mess?”

“Sorry.”

The next day, I bowed my head to Deokgu. Since he was the one handling the inclusion of various messages in the newspaper, I had to seek his help in the end.

Deokgu erupted in anger. It was justified anger. I had no choice but to accept it…

“Isn’t this too much?”

“But… you can’t act, can you?”

“No, have you ever seen it?! Have you ever actually seen me act?!”

“I haven’t seen it even once; that’s why.”

“That’s true.”

Unless one learned to act professionally, anyone’s acting skills were bound to follow their social skills.

And to be honest, Deokgu’s social skills weren’t particularly good. Since he hadn’t learned acting, naturally, his acting skills weren’t likely to be particularly good either.

“Still, this is too much… Seriously, you keep causing problems, and I clean up all the messes. It’s like I’m your mom, your mom.”

“Whine, clean up the mess, Mom Deokgu.”

“Disgusting, stop it.”

Deokgu squeezed his head, pondering how to structure the newspaper layout. We had already accepted advertisements from numerous merchant groups and organizations, so there was no room to fill the pages with irrelevant articles.

Given that the elves might make some absurd demands, we had to reserve a significant portion of the pages.

“What are we going to do about this?”

“Reduce some ads.”

“What about the money?”

“Pay the penalty. Just hunt a bit more.”

“Is that okay?”

“Sure.”

“But… you said you can’t go above the 30th floor.”

“Oh.”

That’s right. We couldn’t reach the 30th floor where the ruler was waiting. The income from below the 30th floor barely covered the rent and newspaper publication costs.

If we had to pay a penalty on top of that, we might really go bankrupt and end up in debt.

“…Should we just catch the ruler now?”

“Do you think that’s possible?”

In the end, we decided to leave it to luck. Hopefully, the elves wouldn’t request anything until their advertisement space was available…

‘I need to get stronger.’

Strength was necessary. For a very short time, they might be able to deceive the eyes of the Elven Kingdom, but it was only a temporary measure.

It was not a fundamental solution. A fundamental solution meant being free from all threats.

Like Buddhist philosophy, he wished that no one could threaten him. He didn’t want to live quietly, holding his breath…

Fortunately, in this world, even without wealth or power, one could become a superhuman—an individual who surpassed entire organizations through sheer strength alone.

‘It’s very difficult… but isn’t everything else the same?’

Whether it was earning money to stand above others or seizing power to become a king, it all required risking one’s life. That was what strength was.

‘I can’t aim for financial power or authority.’

Even though they had modern knowledge and cheat abilities to apply it, it wasn’t perfect. In fact, there was a high chance they’d just end up having their knowledge taken away while dabbling with vague knowledge. The same went for authority.

‘The only thing I can aim for is force.’

To cultivate force, Dojin entered the dungeon today as well. However, it wasn’t to ascend the dungeon.

“…You want me to attack you?”

“Yeah.”

Seoyoon looked at Dojin with surprise upon hearing his words. On the first floor of the dungeon, in the vast plaza created under his authority, he told her to unleash her abilities on him.

“It could be dangerous.”

“It’s okay.”

“…You were the one who told me to do it, right?”

And then, Seoyoon spread her arms wide. Large ice wings formed behind her.

Creak, the air froze, and the prelude of numerous ice spears flying in was heard.

Dojin simply closed his eyes in silence. He had lifted the blackout for Seoyoon’s sake for now, but the upper floors were shrouded in darkness, and his enemies would strike from within the shadows.

Thus, he also had to get used to the dark. Specifically, he had to learn to sense and evade incoming dangers from all directions with his eyes closed.

Swish! The sound of ice spears slicing through the air was heard. Reacting by sound alone would be too late. Sound travels at just 340 meters per second, but her ice spears surpassed the speed of sound.

By the time he heard the sound, the spears were already scattered everywhere.

“…Do it again.”

“Okay.”

Seoyoon withdrew her abilities. Then, she aimed at Dojin once more. Watching her, he eventually opened his eyes.

‘I guess I need to get used to it visually first…’

Seoyoon’s ability was excessively fast, so dodging her abilities with closed eyes was impossible.

First, he had to get accustomed to that ability, especially to its speed.

“Are you ready?”

“…Yeah.”

“I won’t kill you, so don’t worry.”

Seoyoon grinned as she looked at Dojin. Though he always tried to show a strong front, he didn’t have good compatibility with her.

Her ability to instantly freeze all living beings in close proximity was particularly threatening to swordsmen who valued close combat.

Seeing Dojin struggling helplessly, she offered a suggestion with a sly smile. It was more of an imposition than a suggestion.

“Let’s do it this way.”

“…What is it?”

“Every time you lose, once.”

There was no need to explain what ‘once’ meant. A glance at her eyes gave a rough idea. Dojin glared at her with wide eyes.

She would likely do her utmost to make him surrender. It could even be considered a good thing. Half-hearted training was meaningless, after all.

However…

‘Could this… end up killing me?’

Dojin shuddered as he recalled Seoyoon, who would continue to move her hips tirelessly even after an entire day of training.

To avoid that, he raised his sword.

Swish!

Countless small and thin ice blades, designed to be difficult to slash, flew at him.

Even if he managed to cut them down, any slight opening would be quickly filled with ice.

“Once.”

“…Again.”

Seeing Seoyoon’s smile, Dojin swung his sword continuously.

The sword was completed. Upon hearing the news, I headed straight to Rustina’s workshop.

Surprisingly, she was standing at the counter. As soon as she saw me, she smiled lightly and then tried to compose her expression.

“Welcome.”

“Where’s the weapon?”

“Impatient, aren’t you? Here it is.”

Rustina said, pulling out the sword hidden behind the counter. As I had requested, it was a very short saber compared to a longsword.

“This is…”

“It’s the Demon-Slaying Sword. It’s specialized for slaying demons.”

“…Can it cut through magic?”

“It’s a sword that can cut through monsters with mana stones in their bodies and even magic itself.”

I looked at her intently. Magic is the domain of intelligent beings. To cut through magic meant that this sword was crafted to slay humans.

“How did you know how to make something like this?”

“Hmph, if you’re as skilled as I am, you can discern the intention just by looking at the blueprint. That sword is designed to slay humans, right?”

“Well, swords are generally like that.”

“No, this one seems specifically designed to only cut humans… but it has nothing to do with me.”

She instructed me to test the sword. I raised both the Crow and the Demon-Slaying Sword from my waist.

The first thing that came to mind was dual-wielding, two-sword style. The stance of Niten Ichi-ryu, said to be used by the Japanese swordmaster Miyamoto Musashi.

Niten Ichi-ryu uses a long katana and a short wakizashi. Conveniently, the lengths of the swords differed. A long longsword and a short saber.

On Earth, if I used them like this, my arm strength would fall short, making it difficult to swing properly, let alone wield them, but not now.

‘It’s light.’

The weight of the swords was excessively light. It felt like I was holding clouds.

“Is the test over?”

“Yeah. It’s incredibly light… just the feeling I wanted.”

“Then that’s settled… follow me.”

She gestured for me to follow her inside. I followed her in, and there was armor fitted on a human mannequin.

Leather armor made from the hide of a beast, reinforced with iron in parts, a light armor.

“The armor is already…”

“Try it on.”

“Here?”

“Yes, if it doesn’t fit, I need to adjust it immediately.”

As soon as I heard those words, I immediately stripped off my clothes. I was a man, after all, and I wasn’t so starved that I’d feel aroused just from standing in front of some equipment.

She seemed to feel the same; although her gaze roved over my body with a fiery look, there was no sense of lust.

It wasn’t sexual desire but passion. The kind that an artisan might have when wanting to perfect their equipment.

Fully suited in armor, I moved my body, checking for any snags or discomfort.

“Fits perfectly.”

“Try swinging the sword.”

“I said it fits, didn’t I?”

“It might feel different when you’re actually fighting.”

She wasn’t wrong, so I immediately drew the sword and swung it around. With a sword akin to those seen in Joseon and proper armor on, it felt as though I had become a warrior.

A novel sensation. My heart started to race.

“Hmm, it fits perfectly.”

“I’ve been saying that from the start…”

“Now, take it off.”

“I’d like to go back like this.”

“Then how do you plan to transport that doll? There’s a professional delivery service, so just take it off without fuss.”

As I took off the armor, I could feel myself being freed from the slight pressure that had been pressing on my body. It was a pleasant pressure, so I was rather disappointed.

With my body thus freed, as I slowly tried to gather my clothes, Rustina seemed to drop some sharp equipment onto them as if by mistake.

The clothes, sliced by the blades, were in no condition to be worn.

“Oops, my mistake…”

“No, you…”

“Sorry. I’ll have them bring clothes along with the delivery, so could you wait a moment?”

It was blatant. However, there was no way to stop someone who acted with such a brazen face. I sat on the sofa with my upper body bare, waiting for Rustina to return.

After a moment, she returned after calling the delivery person and naturally sat beside me.

“…What are you doing?”

“Hmm? Oh, this was my seat originally.”

As she subtly leaned closer, I could easily see through her intentions. Dwarves were said to fall easily for someone and become possessive.

Indeed, it seemed that saying wasn’t wrong. For some reason, it felt like I was already loved.

Since I couldn’t just push her away, I decided to take this opportunity to ask something I was curious about.

“Hey, Rustina.”

“Why?”

“I have something I’m curious about.”

“Go ahead and ask.”

“Why do you talk like that?”

“I picked up my father’s way of speaking. He taught me to hammer rather than to talk.”

“What does he do now?”

“He’s passed away.”

“Oh… sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?”

As someone who held Korean Confucian values, I quickly apologized, but she, as a different race, tilted her head as if wondering why I would apologize for such a thing.

Watching her, I realized once again that she wasn’t human but a dwarf, a special race that only exists in this world.

‘Even if she looks like this, she might actually be over fifty years old…’

And in such a long span of time, I was curious about how she met Orion.

Since I couldn’t stand being curious, I boldly asked her.

“How did you meet Orion?”

“Hmm? Oh, didn’t that pointy-eared woman tell you?”

“No.”

“That pointy-eared woman is the main reason I was able to move to this city.”

“Really?”

Hearing that, I understood it as helping her move her belongings or escorting her to the city.

“What did you help with?”

“She completely destroyed the workshop back in my hometown.”

“…What?”

I was at a loss for words. While she just smiled silently, the sound of hooves came from outside the building.