My Demons

Chapter 121

Mow.

I opened my eyes at the cry of Lump.

Get up. I have to go to work.

Mumbling dozens of times, I finally rose from my seat.

My smartphone rang noisily.

Sender: Yoo Hee-won.

– You’re discharged?

Her usual bright voice.

It was the same voice when she broke up with me over the phone.

Her clear laughing voice rang out at my roughly cobbled-together words.

– You’re still not talking.

I should have cursed and hung up, but I couldn’t do that.

– What play are you doing this time?

– Hey, if I was the vice president of the club, how could I not know? How can you be so uninterested?

– We’re doing Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. It’s somewhat historical, so the props and costumes are quite intense.

She chatted on about the theater club’s affairs. I sat listening like a dummy.

– You haven’t returned to school, so you’ll have plenty of time. Come and help out.

So that’s what this was about.

But, as always, I couldn’t refuse. Hee-won’s words – I could never quite refuse them.

– Is your studio apartment still in the same place?

– Oh, next to that? Oh, I know, I know. I’ll drop by sometimes.

She laughed broadly and hung up the phone.

Oh, I should wake up soon.

Meow.

“Foolish kid.”

A boy stroking a cat.

A flickering golden crown, a robe of a divine being with stars shining in the seven colors, blue pupils and wavy golden hair……

A beautiful, somehow familiar face.

“……Trickster, old man?”

“Stop with that ‘old man’ talk. By appearance, I’m about your nephew’s age, and by age, I’m more than double your great-grandfather’s age. How long are you going to keep calling me ‘old man’?”

I’ve promised myself hundreds of times that if I met this boy, I’d curse him out and grab his collar. But now, I’m frozen like a mouse in front of a cat.

The boy sighed.

“No, I’m not in a position to scold you.”

“What, what do you mean.”

“Is your new life bearable?”

I gritted my teeth.

“No, it’s like shit.”

“……I see. That’s the kind of world it is. Do you want to go back?”

“Of course,”

Suddenly, Ellen’s face flashes.

“You’re confused. Anyway, you can’t go back.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ve been invited. You can’t just go back as you please.”

A flame rising from my chest.

“Invited? Did you just say invited?”

“……I know you’re angry. But the conditions were met.”

“You motherfucking con artist.”

Suddenly a loud noise erupts and the surroundings twist.

The boy levitates.

“Advice: don’t obsess over your old life. Focus on your current life.”

“Say something I can actually understand!”

The boy hands me Lump.

“Kim Seung-soo is dead.”

“……What? What the fuck-“

The world shatters with a clang.

“Ha, heu, haa!”

As I suddenly raise my upper body, Lump clinging to my side cries out, “Quack!”

“What, what, fuck……What was it? What was that? What kind of dream was that?”

As I breathe roughly and fidget, the scared Lump curls its tail. I unconsciously hugged Lump and soothed it gently.

In the nearly 4 months since I fell into this world, I’ve never had a dream.

To be precise, it’s not that I didn’t dream. If that thing of a character sheet floating in an empty space and distributing bonuses is a dream, then it would be a dream.

But today, for the first time, I had a proper dream.

“…… Why Trickster,”

Trickster.

The guy I met in the Dark World just before falling into this world. The one who used a core to kill ‘Pique Application Note‘ and babbled about invitation letters and such.

But why did Trickster appear in my dream? And,

“……I died?”

My head heats up thinking about the incomprehensible nonsense. As I gently stroke the quietly subdued Lump’s fur, my mind calms down a bit.

I was restless last night because of Atalante. Maybe that’s why I had this crazy dream. Ah, I’d rather have had a sexy dream.

Grumbling internally, I got up. Ellen was still sleeping soundly across from me.

I moved silently, trying to leave the room. As I was about to step out, I suddenly turned my gaze towards where I had taken off my armor, and froze.

“……Oh,”

There was an item that shouldn’t exist, placed right there.

A luxurious belt with smooth black scales.

The equipment used by the 95-level Blood Knight ‘Pique Application Note‘, one of the ‘King’ set items.

“……King’s Scale Belt”

I broke out in goosebumps and silently screamed.

Increase all stats by 1, provide strong resistance to poison, provide resistance to penetration, increase the power of blood fighting techniques, slightly increase blood energy.

These are the specs of the ‘King’s Scale Belt’ remaining in my head. The level restriction seemed quite high, but wearing it in reality didn’t feel particularly strange.

“So.”

Ellen, who had been fiddling with fritters mixed with green beans and potatoes, suddenly spoke up.

“Where did such an item suddenly come from?”

“Oh, that.”

I took a swig of bland beer and shrugged my shoulders.

“Well, I went out for a quick walk at dawn.”

“……Again?”

“What do you mean, again? I took Lump out and bought it from some merchant.”

“A merchant?”

Ellen made a slightly ambiguous expression.

“What kind of merchant would sell something like this?”

“I’m not sure either. Oh, I think he was going to Remeric. Is that area calm these days? The Lidvern area had quite a few bandits, right?”

At my rambling, Ellen mumbled silently and then nodded.

“If you say so, then that’s how it is.”

Hmm, that’s quite a guilt-inducing statement.

Utequais, who was ravenously eating a roasted horn chicken stuffed with night herbs, onions, and mushrooms, spoke up.

“The important thing is not the belt. We must chase the trolls quickly.”

“……Well, do we really need to push ourselves?”

“What are you talking about, Phoenix? Your name is on the board, so we can’t let our guard down.”

At Utequais’s response, I recalled the board status I checked right after returning yesterday.

Atilia’s faction is essentially powerless, so the points won’t increase further. Randall or Norman’s factions won’t accumulate points as quickly as ours.

In other words, if we catch monsters on the scale of the Modor group we captured yesterday, we can become number one in one fell swoop.

I shrugged at Utequais.

“It’s good to catch trolls and get 150 points. But if we go deep and encounter large-scale enemies two or three times, someone will definitely die. Either kill or be killed.”

From yesterday’s battle, Steedman’s hand was almost shattered, and the rest of the mercenaries were injured large and small.

My shoulder, injured by Modor, was worsened during the battle with Atalante, to the point where I could barely move my arm.

As a result, I had to pay forty silver coins for treatment at the church. They didn’t even give a discount, saying it wasn’t wartime.

“Ugh.”

Utequais was well aware of these circumstances. So he just emptied his beer mug with a dissatisfied expression without insisting further.

As we finished our meal, we received an unexpected visit.

“Atal, no, Atalante?” 

The one who came to the Golden Knife Inn was none other than the Phantom Hunter Atalante. Leading two Nude warriors, she smiled and waved.

“Hi, Nix. Can I sit for a moment?”

“Oh, um.”

“Thanks.”

Like when we met at the mountain lodge, Atalante sat down and pulled up a chair before I could even respond.

The one difference was that she sat next to me instead of across from me. More precisely, between me and Ellen.

Ellen was not one to quietly watch this.

“……What are you doing?”

“Huh? What?”

“Who said you could sit next to me? Move away.”

When Ellen frowned, Atalante clicked her tongue sympathetically.

“Tsk, it’s unsightly.”

“……What?”

“People with too much jealousy aren’t attractive. Why not at least try to hide it?”

As Ellen’s lips moved silently, blocked from speaking, Atalante turned her head and smirked.

“I came because I have a proposal.”

“A proposal? Before that, why are you here? What if you get caught by the lord?”

Atalante shrugged at my question.

“I’ll act like nothing happened. Isn’t a group of mercenaries disappearing common in this town?”

“……You’ve got quite the nerve.”

“We’re in a hurry too.”

Atalante was dressed lightly, wearing only a chain mail arm guard on her left arm.

‘Reflection’s Arm Guard’. As a rare defensive gear, it was quite useful, and at a glance, it clearly radiated an aura of a precious item.

However, what caught my eyes more than the arm guard was her smooth abs, cute navel, and firm thighs……

Oh, no. When having a conversation, you should look at the other person’s eyes!

“As you know, we experienced a setback yesterday.”

“Yes, what happened yesterday is regrettable.”

“……Well, I’m thinking it’s fortunate that at least some survived.”

Atalante continued, pushing back the shadows on her face.

“Anyway, I have a proposal.”

“What is it?”

“I want to buy points.”

“……Points?”

What nonsense is she talking about? Points from the hunting festival can’t be traded?

“You look like you don’t understand. Well, to be precise. Yes, I want to buy achievements.”

“Oh, so…… You want to buy ears?”

“Exactly. I’ll give three silver coins per point.”

“Three silver coins per point.”

Well, the price isn’t bad.

“But we also need to earn some points.”

“I’ve heard about it. You’re being pressured by the lord?”

“…Where did you hear that?”

“We have many of our clan people nearby. We have relatively fast information networks.”

Come to think of it, there seemed to be one or two Nude tribe members in every corner near the wooden fence and residential areas.

People selling labor for farm work, those selling miscellaneous items, even those selling things they shouldn’t sell – they were quite diverse.

“Well, if possible, could you say it was a request rather than a threat?”

“I’ll do it however you prefer. Anyway, your goal isn’t the territory, right?”

Her light brown eyes sparkled brightly.

“For now. Is your goal the territory?”

“Well…”

As Atalante slightly tilted her head towards me, her gray hair brushed my cheek, and a sensual jasmine fragrance wafted……

“Everyone knows that our clan needs a settlement. And Longville is a very livable land.”

“……If everyone knows, why are you discussing this so secretly?”

As I unknowingly whispered my response, Atalante let out a small, satisfied laugh.

“Hey, Mage behind me. What expression are you making?”

“……It looks like you’re about to shoot fire from your eyes.”

“Good.”

The woman, satisfied with her smile, straightened her back. Then she continued the conversation playfully.

“So, I’m not going to buy all the points. Just let me buy enough achievements to maintain our first place after hunting and returning to Longville.”

“Sounds like you’re carefully securing your gains.”

“If you’re not satisfied, shall we make it so I definitely buy half the points?”

“Hmm, well?”

As I scratched my eyebrows with an ambiguous expression, Atalante subtly pressed me.

“As I said, I’ll give three times the bounty the steward pays. Plus, Agos, Vittorio, and I will help with hunting.” 

The two Nude warriors who came with her exchanged glances.

“You’ll help with the hunt?”

“Yes. Not just me, but Agos and Vittorio are the best warriors of our clan. Moreover, we know this area’s geography very well.”

“Oh, I see”

“And we won’t receive a share. Just give us the right to purchase the obtained spoils.”

“You won’t receive a share?”

“That’s right. What we need is a territory, and to obtain a territory, we need points.”

At that moment, Ellen, who had been quietly muttering behind them, spoke up.

“What a big dream. Unless Baron Malory is crazy, he won’t adopt the Nude tribe into his clan. Especially after what happened yesterday,”

“We’ll take care of that ourselves. It’s none of your business.”

Unlike Atalante, who had a smile, Ellen’s face was slightly reddened. Ellen, about to raise her voice, glanced at me and lowered her voice.

“…What exactly are you believing in to be so arrogant and rude?”

“Arrogant and rude. Do I need to be polite to you? Who are you?”

Ellen, unable to reveal her identity, fell silent for a moment.

“…Even so, Phoenix is clearly a land-owning knight. A nobleman.”

“Oh, really? But when you first greeted me, you just said Nix. If you’re close enough to share a nickname, isn’t it okay to be a bit rude?”

Ellen trembled her fists for a moment, then suddenly turned to me.

“I’m telling you in advance, I’m against this.”

She quickly added, “It’s not because she’s from the Nude tribe. I mean there’s no reason to get involved in complicated matters.”

Atalante quickly countered, “There’s nothing complicated about it. Just sell points, and when it seems problematic, we’ll separate.”

“Hmm.”

I scratched my eyebrow and looked at Utequais. Utequais, with arms crossed, spoke up.

“You said you know the local geography?”

Receiving the gaze, Atalante quickly nodded.

“Of course. I told you, we have fast information.”

“Do you know where the trolls are?”

“Trolls? I can roughly guess. We’ve found traces below the highest peak in the Graduel area.”

Utequais slapped his knee and answered cheerfully.

“Phoenix, I agree! This woman knows the way, brought two warriors. We can catch the trolls.”

“These stupid barbarians.”

With Utequais’s agreement and Ellen’s muttering, Atalante showed a deep smile.

“It’s one to one? Then, what about the mercenaries here?”

Receiving Atalante’s gaze, the Amias group was about to speak-

“Don’t you dare! We’ll follow our decision!”

-but was silenced by Utequais’s threat, looking dejected. Then they looked at me.

The gazes of six mercenaries, a magician, a barbarian, and a female warrior converged on me.

“…Ugh.”

In the end, it’s come to this.