TEOCH 78

“There he is! Mr. Rohan, Mr. Rohan!”

As I frantically ran in the direction of my companions, Damian, who was clinging to Rikiel, spotted me and shouted. Soon, the other companions also seemed to have found me and cheered. Fortunately, they looked unharmed, with only Tristan having bandages wrapped here and there on his body. Seeing that made my chest ache a little. Still, it was a relief that he didn’t seem to be seriously injured…

Rikiel, who was flying while holding the three of them securely, immediately lowered his altitude and started to approach me. Normally, he would have been flying unsteadily, unable to properly support the weight of three people, but perhaps thanks to the ‘Battle Ready’ magic strengthening his muscles, his movements were not particularly unstable. Rather, he was flying while holding his companions as effortlessly as if he were flying alone.

However, as soon as my companions landed on the ground, I immediately checked Rikiel’s condition first. If I had my way, I would have checked on Tristan first, but surprisingly, it was Rikiel who was in an unstable condition right now.

The other companions were all excited and shouting various things, but seeing him being the only one quiet, it was clear that something was wrong with his condition. He did react when I got closer, but his eyes were already half-glazed and his expression was slightly dazed. I had an idea of what state he was in.

“Are you alright?! Take off your armor!”

“Th-that is what I should be asking you. Are you hurt anywhere…”

“Stop talking nonsense and just do as I say, please!”

Seeing the surprised looks of my companions staring at me, I wondered if I had shouted unnecessarily, but right now, checking this person’s condition was more urgent. Rikiel also seemed flustered, but he took off his armor anyway, and I had to suppress the curse that rose in my throat upon seeing the large egg sacs clinging under his wings.

‘Of course, there’s no way the parasite wouldn’t go wild when he was flying at a speed that could outrun a harpy while carrying three people!’

The parasite’s rampage was probably accelerated by inhaling the toxic miasma of the demon world. This was quite a serious condition, but it seemed he himself wasn’t aware of it due to the anesthetic effect of Damian’s magic. Just how frantically had he been searching for me to have pushed himself to the point of having egg sacs dangling all over him? The more I thought about it, the stranger I felt for some reason.

“Isn’t-isn’t that too harsh! I was worried about you, so…!”

“Who is worried about whom right now? I’m going to remove the egg sacs, so stay still!”

I infused the other companions with the energy of purification to undo the poisoning and then immediately started to deal with the egg sacs. If I had joined up with these people later, Rikiel might have died from becoming a parasite nest before he could be poisoned by the miasma. This is why the ‘Battle Ready’ magic is so dangerous. The magic increases muscle strength and numbs the pain, so he must have used the parasite recklessly.

‘Or maybe, he was so genuinely worried about me that he didn’t even have the mind to care about such things.’

Thinking that, I started to feel angry for some reason. Did I ask anyone to save me in the first place? I clearly told Damian to wait on the island, so why didn’t they listen to me? If these people had just stayed quietly on the island, I would have managed somehow, and even if I died, I could have died cleanly alone and reset. What were they thinking, taking such a risk to come to a place like this!

Who on earth instigated this ridiculous act? Who insisted on coming to save me? It must have been Rikiel…

“Don’t blame this person, Rohan. It was I who suggested we come to save you.”

“Your Majesty.”

I let out a deep sigh and removed the egg sacs from Rikiel’s back. Only after seeing the egg sacs that had fallen off his own back did Rikiel make an embarrassed expression. Instead of nagging him, I silently moved my hands. What this person needed right now was not nagging, but sufficient food and stability.

Of course, that would be quite difficult with the harpies watching us side by side.

—I was wondering how a mere human had wings, but it was a parasite? How pathetic…

The golden-winged harpy, Lethe, who had flown in from the south chasing Rikiel, clicked her tongue as if she found it absurd. She looked like she wanted to attack us right away, but was waiting patiently because of Charon’s orders. Seeing the scorched marks here and there on her body and the wound on her left arm healing very slowly, it seemed she had had a skirmish with my companions.

I kept glancing at the harpies the whole time I was treating Rikiel. Hezel, who had been guarding Charon’s side until just a moment ago, had flown off somewhere after being ordered to bring Scathach and Irene, and now Lethe and Charon were standing side by side, watching what we were doing.

Lethe had a clearly annoyed expression, and Charon just showed a smile that made it impossible to know what he was thinking, but in any case, it was certain that they both thought of us as a spectacle. The other companions also had rather sour expressions, as if they had noticed their gazes.

“That monster looks like he’s about to pounce any second now. My legs are trembling from fear.”

“I know, right. I wonder if we can get out of this safely…”

“And the very people who are so anxious just tagged along with His Majesty without even trying to stop him? Especially you, Damian, I’m sure I told you to wait on the island?”

“Uh, did you say that? I don’t remember. Do you remember, Mr. Rehas?”

“No, unfortunately, I don’t remember either. I think we must have misheard because the situation was so urgent?”

“I’ve said something pointless. Damian, let me see your right arm too. It looks unsettling.”

“Ah, I took mine off myself, so I’m fine!”

“If an egg sac formed, you should have said so!”

This half-crazy person, I muttered as I hurriedly rolled up Damian’s sleeve, and I heard Charon’s laughter from behind me. Hoping he wouldn’t say anything unnecessary, I removed the egg sac that had grown back on Damian’s right arm.

It seemed he had roughly burned it off with something like fire, but because he had carelessly irritated it without cleaning it properly with the energy of purification, even more egg sacs had clung to that spot. Still, they weren’t as large as Rikiel’s…

Fortunately, while I was removing Damian’s egg sacs, the harpies did not try to attack us. I couldn’t tell if they were waiting for us to be ready to fight, or if they were waiting for all their sisters to gather, but either way, it was a relief for us. If possible, I’d like to feed Rikiel and Damian something, give them a proper rest, and wait until the parasite stabilized, but hoping for that much would probably be asking too much.

These people really shouldn’t have come here. Maybe even this situation was part of an event, maybe these people were fated to come here no matter how much I warned them not to, but still…

“Anyway, once we get out of here, I’m going to scold you all severely. That goes for you too, Your Majesty. When someone speaks, you should learn to listen. For you to act so willfully, even as His Majesty, I really don’t know what you think of my words…”

As I grumbled like that while diligently removing Damian’s egg sacs, I felt a sharp gaze from my side. Wondering if it was Rikiel, I raised my head, but surprisingly, the person sending the gaze was Rehas. As I met his eyes in my bewilderment, Rehas spoke quietly.

“Then I’m going to get angry at you too.”

“…Pardon?”

“You didn’t even listen to everything I said and got caught in a trap of your own accord, and when we came all this way to save you, you just keep grumbling and getting angry? Once we get back, I’m going to get angry at you too. Hero or not, I’m going to give you a serious telling-off.”

“Ah, th-that, Rehas.”

“Do I look like I’m joking right now?”

Rehas had a rarely seen serious look in his eyes. I felt so ashamed that I couldn’t look him in the face and slowly averted my gaze. Come to think of it, I had no justification to nag those people. This all happened because of me in the first place, so it wouldn’t be enough even if they were the ones nagging me…

As I was thinking that and hanging my head, something warm was suddenly placed on my back with a pat. Startled, I lifted my head, and Tristan, who had come up beside me at some point, was patting my back. My heart sank. For various reasons.

“There’s no need to be down right now, Rohan. Instead, I’ll give you a huge earful when we get back.”

“Your Majesty.”

“Do you know how worried everyone was about you? We all stayed up all night, wondering if you would never wake up, if you were going to die. And yet you just scold us without a single word of thanks.”

“I’m sorry. Th-that, I really…”

“But still.”

“…?”

“Still, I’m glad that you’re alive, Rohan.”

My body froze for a moment at the body heat that embraced me. After a light hug, Tristan smiled gently and patted my back. As I fidgeted, unable to hide my face turning bright red, Rehas, who seemed to have calmed down, looked at me with a wry smile.

“Well, alright. Anyway, since you’re alive, I’ll let it slide just this once. For now, let’s just deal with the matter at hand. Because they are coming.”

They? Who on earth…? My thoughts went that far, and I hurriedly raised my head, discovering three silhouettes flying towards us from beyond the northern sky. It was Hezel, Scathach, and Irene.

As my body unknowingly tensed up from the strain, this time Rehas came over and gently patted my back, and thanks to him, I was barely able to catch my breath and calm my heart.

‘First, let’s calm down.’

I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but surely they won’t just start a battle out of the blue. If they really intended to kill us, they wouldn’t have just watched us when we couldn’t even fight properly because of the parasite egg sacs. There should at least be a chance to talk with them, so if I use that chance well, maybe I can get through the immediate crisis?

—You’ve waited a long time, haven’t you? We’re all finally gathered. Since we’re all here, why don’t we all have a little talk?

When all the harpies finally stood before us, Charon spoke to everyone with a faint smile. I steeled my heart and looked at the harpies. I didn’t know what effect the events to come would have on us, but one thing was for sure: I had to be on high alert.

—What are we going to talk about with these humans, Charon unnie?

Scathach, the harpy who had joined late, had a rather displeased expression. He didn’t have as aggressive a temperament as Lethe or Hezel, but he still seemed to have no intention of showing goodwill to humans he didn’t know.

—Now that we’ve caught the humans, isn’t it just a matter of killing them? Then the island won’t collapse anymore…

Irene, standing behind, also just hesitated, as if she was quite bewildered by her older brother’s suggestion. Irene showed the most timid attitude among the five harpies present, but I did not let my guard down. The joint magic she and Charon used was tremendously powerful, so no matter how gentle her personality appeared on the surface, she couldn’t be taken lightly.

‘By the way, looking at the situation now… do the other sisters besides Charon not have their memories of the past?’

I carefully observed the reactions of the other sisters. I didn’t realize it at first because I was in a state of confusion, but upon close observation, everyone except Charon seemed no different from the first playthrough. In fact, the other sisters seemed bewildered by the very fact that Charon was trying to have a conversation with me. It was proof that communication between the sisters was strangely misaligned.

‘Well, it would be a problem in its own right if all the monsters regained their memories.’

Does this mean that if I just kill Charon, I can fight under the same conditions as in the first playthrough? Thinking that, I shook my head lightly. Anyway, in this situation, there was no way to defeat the harpies no matter what I did. Instead of killing Charon, I had to take maximum advantage of the fact that he was favorable towards us to escape this situation.

How should I start talking to get out of here? As I was pondering that, it was Rikiel who suddenly shouted first.

“How many times do I have to say it for you to understand? We did not collapse the island!”

—How are we supposed to believe that? The island started collapsing after you all came, didn’t it?

“What benefit could we possibly gain from doing such a thing? We can’t escape the collapsing island either!”

—You have wings. If you escape with those meager wings, there shouldn’t be a problem. Am I wrong?

“So you do admit these wings are meager. Then let me ask you. Do you seriously think I can travel between islands with wings this meager? Are you not just trying to pin the blame on us for the island collapsing for some unknown reason?!”

“Sir Rikiel! Please stop!”

Hezel and Lethe, who were thoroughly enraged, rushed forward as if to attack us. What is this person thinking, starting a fight now! Of course, I had openly picked a fight with them earlier too, so I had no room to talk, but I still had to stop Rikiel in this situation. I tried my best to calm Rikiel down, but the problem was that stopping just this one person wouldn’t resolve the conflict.

—Are you taking us for fools?! Do you think we don’t know that you all were going around the island collecting things like amplifiers to kill us?!

Scathach, who had been watching from behind, shot at us sharply, and Rikiel flinched and shut his mouth in surprise. I had hoped Charon might take our side, but he just wore a beaming smile.

Dammit, well, it’s ridiculous to expect him to help us in the first place. It was true that we had schemed to kill the harpies using the quest items, and Charon knew that fact too.

Since Scathach’s point wasn’t entirely wrong, I was 고민ing over how to persuade them, but fortunately, Rehas interjected from the side at that moment.

“Th-those were collected to stop the island’s collapse! You’ve misunderstood!”

—Stop the collapse?

“Y-yes! Th-that’s right! Our-our meager power was not enough to stop the collapse, so… we borrowed them for a moment! It’s true! We only used each of them once! Isn’t that right, Rohan?!”

Scathach’s expression was clearly flustered. Rehas immediately gave me a look, and realizing the meaning of his gaze, I immediately poured out the quest items I had been carrying on my back onto the ground.

Wait. Don’t tell me the sentence written in the item description had this meaning? The one that said, ‘You will face trouble if you use it rashly’?

Irene, who had been watching from behind, swung her wings with a skeptical expression. The items lying on the ground were wrapped in strands of magic power emanating from the tips of Irene’s wings and floated up into the air. After examining the items for a moment, Irene cautiously nodded her head.

—It’s true that they’ve only been used once each.

—Irene, that alone cannot prove their innocence.

—But it can prove that the humans aren’t fools, and thus wouldn’t have collapsed the island on purpose, can’t it, Scathach? Those humans could have taken the items without collapsing the island. So why would they use the spoils they obtained to collapse the island and then stop the collapse again?

Hearing Charon’s words, the harpies looked at each other in confusion. It seemed Charon had no intention of openly helping us, but he was prepared to accept our excuses if we made them actively. Of course, for me, that was more than enough. I had never even thought he would become our ally just because he regained his memories.

I just need to earn a justification to escape. Just that much help is enough. As I was thinking that.

—In any case, then it should be fine for us to take them now, right?

Suddenly, the quest items that had been floating in the air were swiftly pulled towards the harpies. It was Charon’s doing.

“What…?!”

—Now that you’re done using them, it’s fine for us to take them, right? These are originally our belongings, so it’s only natural to return them after use, isn’t it?

“W-wait a minute. That’s a bit.”

—What’s wrong? Surely you all don’t still need these items?

Charon smiled sweetly, and Rehas looked at me, pale as a sheet. Only then did I realize Charon’s aim, and my face contorted.

‘Dammit, I’ve been had!’

By trying to get out of the immediate crisis with a shallow trick, I’m about to lose all the items I’ve gathered so painstakingly! Of course, if Rehas hadn’t acted on his feet just now, a fight might have broken out right then and there, but still, this…!

—If you’re not going to fight us, you don’t need these items. Am I wrong?

“W-well, that’s true, but.”

—If any other islands collapse, we’ll take care of it. That’s our role as guardians, after all. Thank you for stopping the islands from collapsing until now. To think we misunderstood your intentions?

“…!”

—I saw you all diligently collecting these items and thought you were trying to fight us. But I’m relieved. If you all aren’t going to fight us, that is. Right?

I gritted my teeth and glared at Charon. Seeing him act like this even though he knew we couldn’t block their attacks without the items, it seemed he had pretended to defend us with the intention of backstabbing us from the very beginning.

The other harpies accepted the quest items with relieved expressions. Now that it had come to this, it would not be easy to take the items back from them. And of course, an all-out battle would be even more difficult.

What now? As I was fidgeting, unable to hide my bewilderment, I felt someone poking me from behind. It was Tristan. When I turned my head, he carefully whispered into my ear. The content of his words…

“Wait, Your Majesty? What do you mean by that?”

“Is it possible?”

“There’s no way. In the first place, if that had been possible, there would have been no reason for us to go through all that trouble from the start…”

“But that’s the only way to get out of the current situation, isn’t it?”

I was taken aback by the completely unexpected suggestion. There was no way such a thing was possible. Wasn’t it a suggestion so naive that only a child would make it? Of course, it was the only way to escape the current situation, but still… this wasn’t it. Tristan was being too optimistic.

“Do you think they will accept such an absurd proposal? What do they have to lose?”

“You don’t know until you try. According to what you’ve said so far, didn’t you say we have no chance of winning unless we collect all twelve magical tools?”

“W-well, that’s true, but…”

“We haven’t even collected all of them yet, so we have zero chance of winning if we fight them now anyway. Which is better, somehow taking back those items and proceeding with a battle against the harpies, or doing as I propose? The probability of failure is high either way, isn’t it?”

I had to admit that Tristan’s words were rational. Still, a strong sense of emotional rejection washed over me at the thought of following his suggestion. It’s impossible. If ‘that’ is possible, then what on earth have I been suffering for all this time? What have I been fighting for? When there was such an easy way!

Something like that can’t be allowed. This is, to the very end, a world inside a game, a place where the game’s own rules exist. Tristan’s proposal is tantamount to a ‘loophole’ that doesn’t follow those rules. Therefore, such a thing, in the first place…

‘Wait, in the first place, isn’t this current situation no different from a loophole?’

Glaring at Charon, who was looking at me with amusement, I quietly gritted my teeth. Come to think of it, it was they who broke the ‘rules of the game’ from the beginning. A boss who remembers past playthroughs, that’s something whose very existence is not tolerated in a normal game.

Besides, the other harpies might not, but from Charon’s perspective, Tristan’s proposal might be quite attractive. After all, he knows that everything will start over from the beginning if I die, so he might think it’s more beneficial to accept my proposal…

Right. Since things have come to this anyway, I have nothing to lose. Having made up my mind, I gave Tristan a slight nod and turned my body. Charon looked at me with amusement and said.

—You seem to have something to say, Rohan?

“Yes, it’s true that we don’t need those items. We have no intention of fighting you. But if you’re going to take those items, we’d like you to grant us a request as well.”

—But these are originally our belongings? Why should we grant your request when we’re just taking back what was borrowed?

“If we hadn’t stopped the island’s collapse with those items, more monsters would have died, wouldn’t they? Since we risked our lives to stop it, we should be allowed to make at least one request. Am I wrong?”

—Are you in your right mind, human? There’s a limit to being shameless…!

The other harpies got angry as if it were only natural, but Charon just kept smiling cheerfully. As if he was expecting a certain answer from me.

I took a slow, deep breath and chose my words. I don’t know if such a request will be accepted. It might just provoke their anger, but still, I wanted to believe in the possibility Tristan had presented.

Yes, maybe it’s possible. If the difficulty level rises to the point where it can’t be broken through by normal methods, it might mean there’s a path other than the normal method. So, so…

“Use your magic power to send us to the next area. That is my only request.”

For now, I have no choice but to bet on a gamble.