252

Chapter 252 — Would It Mean Anything? (6)

[Enough. Shall we get back to the point? For all these reasons, you don’t really have any way to conceal Demonic Energy. And you can’t undo the Concealment of Ignorance anymore.]

I must have spent quite a while fuming internally.

Apparently noticing that I’d calmed down—though I had no idea how; I thought I hadn’t shown it at all?—Yukgwi changed the subject.

It was exactly the kind of assistance I needed when I had so little time. I really didn’t have time to waste like this. If not for Yukgwi, I might have screwed myself.

“Then….”

Separately, I did feel a little disappointed that I had lost such a useful card as the Concealment of Ignorance.

But that didn’t mean I regretted the decision I’d made earlier—to listen.

No matter how much of a shitshow the situation became, if I properly understood what was happening, I could at least prepare accordingly. Even if I had to work myself to the bone, being swept along while knowing what was happening was a hundred times better than being swept along in ignorance.

No. A thousand times. Ten thousand times better!

“Is it impossible for me to convert Demonic Energy into Mana the way the Mountain Lord does?”

And so, rather than clinging to the card I’d lost, I looked for another option.

[That’s even more impossible.]

Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t going to be that easy.

[I just told you that your body has become closer to a demon than to a human. That doesn’t simply mean the demon’s influence has grown stronger.]

“……?”

[What I mean is… the substance that makes up your body is no longer Mana, but Demonic Energy. Yet what you’re asking to do now is remove every last bit of Demonic Energy from it. Do you really think that can work?]

“…You mean it would cause problems.”

[I don’t think this is light enough to be summed up with a sentence like, “It would cause problems,” but yes. If you insist on putting it that way, that’s what it would be.]

Yukgwi gave me an example.

What I was suggesting, apparently, was like trying to make bread—the body—by replacing the flour—Demonic Energy—with coal—Mana.

[And for the record, you and that one are in completely different situations. Those bizarre things that one does are possible precisely because of an innate special trait. It has nothing to do with talent or effort. That body itself possesses a property that allows it to pass between Demonic Energy and Mana without collapsing. That’s why it can do such things.]

Before I could even expand the range of my thoughts, Yukgwi cut me off at the pass.

It wasn’t unnecessary. That was a question I would have reached easily enough if I’d thought about it for even a little while.

[Your body, on the other hand, has none of those characteristics. So the moment your Demonic Energy gets replaced with Mana, the appropriate side effects will follow. At the mild end, you’ll suffer the pain of your muscles and bones twisting. At the severe end, your body could become deformed, among other things.]

Yukgwi didn’t even stop there.

It was as though Yukgwi intended to shut down every possibility I might think of before I could even raise it.

[And think about creatures made of Demonic Energy. You think their lives are only moderately tenacious?]

“…I’m not sure.”

Were they…?

Most of them died in one hit, so I had no idea.

If I counted myself as a creature made of Demonic Energy, then I supposed I could call myself reasonably hard to kill.

[You may not know it, but they’re incredibly tenacious. Anything containing Demonic Energy has powerful regenerative ability. And by the same token, your body will probably keep trying to restore itself too. It isn’t as though Demonic Energy is merely pooled in one part of your body, either. There’s a core inside you endlessly producing more, so it’ll be even worse.]

“Then….”

[Of course, if you had enough overwhelming power to crush that core down and restrict the production of Demonic Energy, then sure, you could remake your body or do whatever else you wanted… but like I said from the beginning, if you could do that, do you think you’d have ended up like this?]

Did that mean there really was no way?

Really?

…Did I truly have no choice but to run around like a criminal from now on?

“Then in the end, sealing is my only option.”

I tried not to let my dejection show as I once again felt my way along the shape of my future.

Throughout my entire stay here, I had groped for it with my hands and shone light over it, but I still couldn’t see the road I was supposed to take.

My breath caught in my throat.

[Looks that way.]

And yet I still had to keep moving forward.

I briefly closed my eyes while grinding my teeth without letting it show.

Suddenly, I remembered the real Legend of Heroes.

“…Thank you for confirming it.”

The Demon Knight had two advancement routes there as well.

The Ruin route: a twisted avenger blinded by vengeance who joined hands with a demon.

And the Vanquisher route: a living sacrifice who sealed away the demon in exchange for his own life.

The real Demon Knight had already walked the path of Ruin.

Whether it had been coincidence or fate, he had at least lived while being called by that name.

Then was Vanquisher the route left for me?

Was the future I was supposed to arrive at the one where I sealed myself away from the world, completely succeeded in suppressing the demon, and lost all five senses as a side effect?

Existing in the world yet not existing, and therefore easily forgotten.

Unable even to die of old age because the passage of years itself could no longer find him.

Forced to exist eternally as nothing more than a wedge.

Was that the future waiting for me?

Something that slowly perished beneath the name of overcoming?

I pursed my lips as I looked at a memory that might very well be the answer sheet I’d been given.

I….

I just want to go home.

That single desire was quietly painted over the answer sheet.

A layer thick enough to completely obscure the answer already written there.

Read only on MUGEX

[…Are you leaving?]

Yukgwi asked after watching me move.

I didn’t bother answering.

An hour of questions and answers had already dragged on long enough.

Shrrng.

Instead, I picked up the Zweihander I hadn’t yet gathered and gave it a turn.

Holding the ricasso rather than the hilt gave me enough reach to slide it into place on my back.

The long greatsword hung there.

[Going outside isn’t going to make an answer that doesn’t exist suddenly appear.]

“But someone may know one, may they not?”

[Who knows? Would there even be anyone who knows? And even if there is, I doubt they’d tell you. You’ll probably end up being hunted for nothing.]

“I am already prepared for that.”

[You are also taking into account that you’ve become far closer to a demon than you were before coming here, right?]

“I am fully aware.”

Now then.

Was there anything else I needed to take?

I’d organized my inventory. I’d gotten my body back into good condition by resting properly.

Was there anything else?

[…I’ll say this just in case, but the Demonic Energy you give off can be purified even by someone on the level of that scatterbrain over there. In other words, you can search for a solution within this forest without worrying about being discovered.]

Nothing.

At least, there was truly nothing else I could obtain under the present circumstances.

The information had been handled through the questions I’d just asked, while food, drinking water, medicine, and clothing would all have to be dealt with outside.

I already felt guilty enough for imposing on them. I couldn’t steal from them too.

And if I asked openly, they’d grab onto my trouser legs and refuse to let me go.

“One person going to the gallows is enough.”

Then this really was the end.

After reaching that conclusion, I began walking away.

Where should I go from here?

Where could I stop without being discovered and continue thinking?

Unanswerable questions lodged themselves in one corner of my mind and tormented me.

[Listen to the way this brat talks.]

And when I had taken two steps, Yukgwi shouted.

[Hey, descendant!!! That bastard’s running away!!!]

“……!?”

[Mmph… hm? Y-yes? What?]

It was a betrayal beyond anything I could have imagined.

* * *

[Hehe.]

In the end, I got caught.

[Hehehehe.]

Of course, I hadn’t given up on escaping the moment the Mountain Lord woke up.

In fact, the instant I started running, I decided that if I truly committed to it, I probably could get away.

“…Stop laughing.”

But my fatal mistake came when the Mountain Lord stopped chasing me, stood still, and began shedding huge tears.

And if I had to add another mistake, it was hearing the Mountain Lord cry, “If you wanted to leave that badly, you could’ve just said so. Did you hate us that much?”

So I’d gone back, thinking I would at least clear up that misunderstanding before leaving….

[But if I don’t do this, you’re gonna leave, aren’t ya?]

…And now this had happened.

I looked at the Mountain Lord wrapped tightly around my entire body and felt a headache beginning to throb.

How long had this creature even known me to like me this much?

What had I ever done to deserve being liked this much?

[Or did you really hate me that much……?]

“…If you keep doing this, I might.”

[Bullshit. You’re just trying to move somewhere else because you’re worried we’ll get branded as demons too.]

“…….”

[Huh? Is that true?]

[Yeah.]

It was true, but why was the one person who knew that taking the Mountain Lord’s side?

And why say it here?

If Yukgwi already knew, shouldn’t the proper thing have been to keep quiet and let me go?

[Kid, just admit it. You need help right now, and you aren’t in a position where you can afford to worry about everyone else.]

“…I have already been considering only myself enough—”

[If you’re about to say, “I escaped the gallows, so I’m already acting selfishly,” spare me. That isn’t selfish. That’s simply natural.]

Every argument I’d intended to make was blocked before it could even leave my mouth.

Yukgwi, who had been clinging to the end of the Mountain Lord’s tail, slowly crawled up and reached the side of my head.

[You’re still young, so maybe you don’t understand yet, but the only being in this world who can put you above everyone else is you. This forest that seems to be on your side right now, even me—we could all turn on you overnight and try to take everything from you.]

Tap.

A turtle’s head touched my forehead.

The lukewarm warmth made me feel inexplicably miserable.

[There’s a perfect example right here, isn’t there? Someone who cherished another more than themselves, cared for them more than themselves, and got betrayal in return. So there’s no guarantee the same thing won’t happen to you. You truly never know what this world will do.]

“…Are you ultimately telling me not to trust anyone?”

[No. I’m telling you to use what you can while you can. Put another way, don’t save something so carefully that it rots before you ever use it. You’re in a position where you have to do that if you want to survive.]

I felt so miserable that I bit the corner of my lip.

“I don’t want to cause trouble for people after receiving their help.”

Even so, I couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

“You were the only ones who welcomed me. I don’t want to watch you suffer because of me.”

It had always been like this.

“I don’t want to know how you would look at me afterward, once you had suffered because of me.”

Kind people always bound me to a miserable life.

“I… that’s why….”

“Then we simply need to hide the connection between us, so that the debt we owe you does not bring us harm.”

“……!”

And waited until that misery had been washed away.

“Isn’t that right?”

A boy whose clothes were disheveled, as though he had come running in a hurry, smiled brightly.

“There’s no way that could….”

“There is. We simply have to eliminate any evidence they could use to question us.”

“…Do you honestly believe every priest of the swamp will keep silent?”

“Hmm. I trust them, but… I suppose I cannot be certain. There are some who do not think kindly of me, and, forgive me for saying so, there are also those who are wary of the Black Thunder Serpent.”

Of course, the only reason they are wary of the Black Thunder Serpent is that someone in a human body is being compared to the Mountain Lord.

The boy added that last part as though trying to prevent any possible misunderstanding.

“But if every last one of them believes the Thunder Serpent has left, would that not solve the problem?”

“……?”

“There are regions even within this Great Forest that people rarely visit. Benefactor, you can move your residence there, while we tell everyone that you departed.”

“…It would still cause problems.”

“I’m not so sure. As for the fact that you stayed here before, we need only say, ‘We didn’t know what kind of circumstances he was in. We accepted him because he was our benefactor.’ After all, we truly have never received any information about what situation the Black Thunder Serpent is in or why you are being pursued. Other than what you told us yourself, Benefactor.”

“So—”

The Grand Chieftain chimed in.

“If they have any sense, they will stop there. Suspecting us beyond that point would be no different from picking a fight with us. If necessary, we can even threaten to cut off all dealings with them.”

That sounded… fairly… plausible… maybe?

I wasn’t sure.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times before finally poking at the one hole that came to mind.

“…What if they discover that I’m hiding in one of those deserted regions?”

“Then we simply insist that we didn’t know about that either. It would not even be an unreasonable excuse. It isn’t as though we know every corner of this enormous forest ourselves. If we say we did not know something because we genuinely did not know it, and they demand to know why we did not know, would that not ultimately be them picking a fight as well…?”

Amazingly, the Grand Chieftain had already thought of that too.

“So please put your mind at ease and remain here longer. If you have business elsewhere, that is another matter, but there is no need for you to leave for the sake of this forest’s safety.”

The Mountain Lord, who had listened to everything, squealed in delight and thumped the floor with the tail.

Yukgwi nodded in satisfaction.

“You have already saved this forest. Now it is simply our turn to become your home.”

Apparently, I had lost.