46. A Child Born from the Heart
I had secretly secured the exclusive opportunity for a unique event!
But just when I thought things were going smoothly, the Great Hero, who had barely had any presence until now, suddenly appeared!
Was making characters suddenly appear without any foreshadowing going to become this game's tradition?
Or was even this meant to convey the meaning of, “That's just how the world is.”?
“I never thought I'd end up traveling with the Great Hero.”
Ien looked oddly excited for some reason, and seeing her like that made me feel bitter for no reason.
Why were you the only one getting excited when I was about to die inside?
I understood, though.
The very existence of the Great Hero must have been an object of admiration for Ien, who took pride in being a knight.
Yeah, even though she had been complaining about how wrong this situation was just a moment ago, she could simply laugh it off if it meant traveling together with someone she admired!
“Yeah!”
“That could happen!”
“Ha!”
“You seem to have a lot of complaints.”
Of course I had a lot of complaints.
After hearing about the rewards, I had thought I had successfully slipped the key away and could finally go on an exciting adventure with the others.
Then some old man whose face I didn't even know showed up, laughing “Ho ho ho,” and ruined everything.
I had even been relaxed enough to tell the players who were comforting me after I had somehow been excluded from the rewards that everything was fine.
But damn it...
If this guy continued traveling with us, there was nothing I could do.
Even if I somehow managed to lure him into a trap, it was hard to believe that the Great Hero had come after me without telling anyone.
I could immediately be captured and judged.
Maybe someone was already hiding somewhere, watching me.
And if I did anything suspicious, they could suddenly jump out and go—
Stab!
I could already imagine it.
“Have you already taken care of all the corrupted items?”
“You're fast.”
“Yes.”
“The great Empire gave me nothing but this trash, so I got rid of it quickly.”
“Ho ho.”
“I know you're dissatisfied, but don't make it so obvious.”
“I'm still deciding what to think about you, but most of the nobles believe you should either be expelled immediately or permanently sealed away.”
“Be careful.”
I know.
That's exactly why I'm saying it.
...Fine.
Let's be careful.
There was nothing good about acting too emotionally.
Let's think positively.
Hadn't I already learned that thinking negatively about something until the day I died would only hurt myself?
I learned that in the military.
If I calmly thought about it again, there was no reason to get this angry.
If I could just let something go peacefully, it was better to do so instead of deliberately making trouble.
Of course, I learned that in the military too.
“May I ask what you did with the corrupted items?”
“Why?”
“Are you planning to keep it a secret?”
“If so, would you mind if I told you what I think?”
“I believe you fed them to that slime you're holding so dearly.”
...How did he know?
Why did he know?
What?!
This old man!
“Ha!”
“How could all of that fit inside this little thing?”
“Is that so?”
“I sensed the power of corruption coming from that slime.”
“Perhaps I was mistaken.”
...Could it be?
Was the old man deliberately teasing me because I had kept grumbling?
It was like when a child was genuinely angry and kept throwing a tantrum, while an adult smiled fondly and teased the child even more.
“Tch.”
“Forget it.”
“That's right.”
“You have good eyes.”
“You're impressive yourself.”
“Usually, people would say someone has a good head or good instincts.”
“But you suddenly say I have good eyes.”
“Eek!”
“Why do you keep picking at every little word?”
“Is that how an adult should behave?”
“Ho ho ho.”
“I'll restrain myself.”
“It's been a very long time since I've had this kind of conversation.”
“I seem to have become mischievous without realizing it.”
“If I offended you, I apologize.”
Thanks to that, I couldn't even tell him what I thought about the church!
Damn it!
That was important!
Why was it important?
Surprisingly, this church was important because it meant the boss monster would continue respawning here in the future.
All the golden decorations on the walls and anything else that could be sold for money had already been stripped away, so there was nothing left.
But I had heard that there was a corrupted spring beneath the church.
As time passed, new monsters would be born from it.
It would have been great if it could be purified.
Unfortunately, there was no way to overcome corruption or madness except by overcoming it yourself or possessing resistance to it.
So purification was impossible.
Honestly, when I first heard about it, I thought it was incredibly forced.
At the same time, I thought it was fairly reasonable.
If there was a dungeon where the boss never respawned after a single player cleared it, making the dungeon completely meaningless afterward, that would be an incredibly bad business decision.
This was the deepest part of the Empire's sewers.
It could only be reached through a special route.
It had special background music.
And the boss was special too.
It would be a waste to use all that effort just once and throw it away.
After all, how much money had they spent creating it?
The problem was that if the exact same boss I had fought before respawned, the Indomitable Chains and their fragments could potentially drop for other players too.
If it was a first-clear-only reward, that would be a different story.
But if that wasn't the case, I might have to travel all over the world from now on, collecting my chains that had somehow ended up scattered everywhere.
Sigh.
Should I just enter the Labyrinth Forest?
Ah.
The Empire said they were managing it.
Right.
I'm really hopeless...
“Grandpa, how does the Empire manage the Labyrinth Forest?”
“Uncle!”
“How can you call him Grandpa?”
“This person is Aeaeal Grand Natinal...!”
“Argh!”
“Shut up!”
“I don't want to hear it!”
“I can't memorize it!”
“I won't memorize it!”
“Uncle...!”
Ien tried to say something more, but the village chief stopped her from behind.
The old man didn't seem to care much either and simply answered my question.
“Until twenty years ago, people were allowed to enter freely.”
“But after the Witch of Corruption appeared, access was strictly controlled.”
“Even the guides are selected through systematic testing.”
“Oh.”
So it wouldn't be easy to just walk in.
Still, they couldn't possibly control the entire gigantic forest.
There had to be some loopholes.
“If you are discovered entering without permission, you will immediately be put on a wanted list.”
“And a special task force will be dispatched to pursue you.”
“Ah.”
No good.
What a shame.
Then I would just have to continue with my original plan of making the Empire believe that it was fine for me to enter the Labyrinth Forest.
That whole idea of doing good deeds had somehow turned into a buildup for my future plans.
Maybe I'm more thorough than I thought.
“What do you intend to do after meeting the Witch of Corruption?”
“That...”
“Ask Ien.”
“I told her about it once before.”
“Me?”
“Really?”
“Yes?”
“Ah, yes...”
“I heard about it while we were on our way to Jakun Village.”
While Grandpa was occupied with Ien, I would slowly search through the basement of the church.
If the village chief and I searched separately, it shouldn't take too long to explore such a large place.
“But is there really a keyhole somewhere around here?”
“If there isn't one, we'll have to make one.”
“?!”
I had only casually thrown out that remark, but Malang was taking it incredibly seriously.
Was this what people meant by being pure and untainted?
I was so corrupted by society that simply looking at that innocence made my heart feel crushed.
“There has to be one.”
“They put this much effort into making the place.”
“And they even gave us a single key without any hints.”
“That means there must be something hidden somewhere inside.”
“Ah.”
“I see.”
“You think much deeper than you appear to, In-gwang.”
“That's only possible because I have the leisure to do so.”
“If I didn't, I couldn't.”
Because it's a game.
Because I can't die.
I had experienced pain that felt like it would actually kill me.
I had even experienced that mysterious pit where I had stared death directly in the face and felt chills run down my spine.
But there was nothing like that happening right now!
Besides, I thought the condition for actually feeling pain was probably the existence of some kind of extraordinary power.
So there probably wasn't much to worry about right now.
The pit had even looked like the system itself was breaking down.
And as for Pastien...
There wasn't much else to say.
That guy was simply ridiculously strong.
“Ah.”
“No.”
“I feel like I'm going crazy.”
“There really isn't anything that looks like a keyhole.”
That wasn't the reason.
The more I thought about it, the more this situation felt like one of those game-fantasy novels where the protagonist gets transported to another world.
Wasn't that ridiculous?
If something like that actually happened, I would have no choice but to think that I had gone insane.
I might actually be locked inside some psychiatric hospital somewhere, and everything I was seeing could be completely different from reality.
What if—
What if I were just a brain inside a jar?!
What if everything I was feeling right now was an illusion created by some crazy scientist?!
Ugh.
Terrifying.
For now, let's just quietly focus on the game.
“Normally, things like this are likely to be devices that reveal themselves when they react to something special.”
“Wow!”
“That sounds really convincing!”
“For example, it could be a special word or sentence.”
“Or perhaps something that distinguishes you from others, like a fingerprint or iris...”
“So...”
Shrrrrr.
I pulled out the Indomitable Chains.
Four strands!
They had increased after defeating the boss!
My proficiency had also increased, making the chains stronger!
Haha!
I still had a long way to go, but I was gradually getting closer to the power I had possessed at my peak!
“Malang, you're next after me.”
“...Ah!”
“You mean corruption, right?”
“Yes!”
“I understand!”
I gripped the chains tightly, intending to break everything apart, and swung them toward the wall in front of me.
The wall was made from an incredibly hard material.
It didn't even leave a scratch.
Fine.
Then I would search this entire enormous underground area down to every last pixel.
Grinding to find hidden paths was something I was already used to!
Krrrrrrrkkk!
“That's very strange.”
“You can materialize your mind-force, but you can't draw out the mind-force itself?”
“Huh?”
“What?”
Crack!
“There are stages to using mind-force.”
