Chapter 114
#Chapter 114: Demonic Sword Forte (16) - Puppet Show
“D-Demonic Sword, a strange quest has appeared!”
In a voice tinged with anxiety and nervousness, Pina proceeded to explain everything written in the quest she had seen.
The Hero’s Path. Temporary Storage. Subjugation. This time.
After hearing the contents, which openly reeked of ominousness and danger, Forte fell silent for a moment.
The quest itself had plenty of problems, but something equally shocking had happened.
‘…The connection to the main body has been severed.’
Crown Prince Alond.
He could no longer sense the other self that had always existed while connected to Forte.
It was as though a TRPG character had been separated from the player, or an actor from the role they played in a film.
Forte was briefly confused by a situation that seemed to throw his very identity into disarray, but he soon regained his composure.
The Crown Prince had learned from the destruction of his role as the adventurer Bern, and had made a certain distinction between the main body and the clone by restricting some of the clone’s memories.
After establishing his identity as the Demonic Sword Forte, he quietly examined the current situation.
‘The laws of Sky Academy have grown stronger. If Sky Academy’s domain was originally open, it has now become closed.’
An open elevator and a closed elevator. Online and offline. Any metaphor would do.
What mattered was that, in the current situation, the connection to the Crown Prince could not be restored.
Then what penalty would follow?
‘The longer time passes, the more this version of me will collapse.’
Though he was not being supplied with mana separately, the connection to the main body itself had served to stabilize Forte, the clone.
Now that it was gone, Forte would grow weaker as time passed, eventually reaching the point of disappearing altogether.
《For now, it would be best to join Kylen on the floor below. There is a way through any situation. So remain calm.》
Without telling Pina that, Forte continued giving instructions in an even tone.
He had judged that telling Pina about his crisis in their current state would only cause further confusion.
“Yes!”
Perhaps Forte’s firm voice had reassured her.
The calm returned to Pina’s anxious face, and she dashed down the stairs.
Fortunately, Kylen was more or less unharmed.
“M-Miss Pina, what happened? And the demon?”
“I defeated it! By the way, haven’t you received a strange quest?”
“A quest? Do you mean this one, called The Attendant’s Path?”
【Quest: The Attendant’s Path】
【Clear condition: Complete the hero’s quest】
【Time limit: Unlimited】
【Reward: Survival】
【Special Note 1: As the hero’s attendant, you have been exempted from the role of Temporary Storage.】
【Special Note 2: Serve the hero devotedly and assist in completing the quest.】
【Special Note 3: If you refuse the hero’s orders, your qualification as an attendant will be revoked.】
If Forte had been human, he would have frowned.
According to the quest Kylen had shown them, the situation had become even more blatant.
He had been exempted from Temporary Storage as the hero’s attendant.
In other words, if he had not been an attendant, he would have been assigned the role of Temporary Storage.
Pina seemed to realize the same thing, as her eyes trembled.
“Demonic Sword, this thing called Temporary Storage….”
《It must refer to the other students. Perhaps even all the graduates.》
“That’s impossible!”
Pina’s scream was entirely justified.
Subjugate Temporary Storage and recover its resources.
Considering that the ‘subjugation’ designated by ordinary quests was another word for killing, it effectively meant killing more than half the students and recovering their resources.
Forte thought for a moment, then spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.
《Divana. Come out. The system has already detected you too, anyway.》
“…Tsk.”
With the sound of a tongue clicking, the female demon emerged from Kylen’s accessory.
She looked displeased, as though she disliked the situation, but perhaps because the memory of being beaten by Forte was still vivid, she spoke with a strangely deferential attitude.
“Did you have something you wished to ask of me?”
《Check the situation outside the tower. It would be a considerable waste of time for us to descend all the way to the first floor ourselves.》
“Understood.”
Without a single question or complaint, Divana vanished as though melting into the shadows.
And some time later.
“It’s a total wipeout.”
With those few words, Divana summarized the situation outside.
“Whether on the streets or inside the buildings, everyone in the academy has collapsed unconscious. Even the faculty are the same.”
“No, how…? There are several sixth-tier powerhouses among the professors! And there must be many incredibly strong upperclassmen too, right?”
Kylen muttered as though he could not believe it.
As he said, Sky Academy’s faculty belonged to a group whose level was bizarrely high.
The academy possessed numerous sixth-tier individuals, a level that even mid-sized countries might not have a single one of, and among the students were many who had deliberately delayed graduation to focus on growing, people who could have headed a faction if they were outside the academy.
That was why Sky Academy could negotiate with the various nations of the central region on an equal footing, and if it had not possessed that level of military force, the demons would never have been able to hide here and scheme as they had.
Yet it was impossible not to be incredulous upon hearing that so many powerful people had been subdued in an instant.
But Forte found it only natural.
《If they had gained their strength purely through their own efforts, they would not have been so easily neutralized. But the people here received their power from the system in the first place. Even the professors are no exception. Only graduates of this place can become professors. Fundamentally, they are all students.》
In other words, the students of Sky Academy had received enormous assistance in their growth, but in exchange, the academy itself had a leash around their necks.
Normally, no one had been there to pull that leash, so there had been nothing but benefits. But now, for some reason, the system was running amok.
“Wait. What about the people in the dungeon? What if they lost consciousness in the middle of battle?”
At Pina’s words, Divana shook her head.
“That’s fine. The monsters have stopped moving too.”
《Judging by the quest’s contents, what this academy wants is for you to kill the other students and recover their resources from them. It would not let those resources be wasted on mere monsters.》
Pina’s expression became complicated.
It was good that people were not immediately being killed by monsters, but the intention behind it was anything but good.
《Contractor, I must ask first: do you intend to carry out the quest?》
“Absolutely not!”
Pina denied it with a decisiveness unimaginable from her usual hesitant way of speaking.
She acted as though it was not even worth considering.
《Then we have no choice but to negotiate with the academy.》
“Negotiate? With whom? Everyone is asleep.”
《There is someone to negotiate with. Given that it issues quests like this, it would be stranger if the system itself lacked self-awareness. Contractor, you are probably what the other party values most, so try making a demand.》
Pina looked somewhat flustered, but soon nodded and shouted with all her might.
“System! I can’t carry out a quest like this! Please cancel it!”
The reply came immediately.
【If the subjugation of ‘Temporary Storage’ reaches 50%, Hero Pina Valestia will reach the peak of the sixth tier.】
【This is a realm far above Pina Valestia’s original specifications of lower fourth tier, and even above the lower-middle sixth tier resulting from the enhancement of her currently held special equipment. If Pina Valestia were to grow normally, it would be a realm difficult for her to reach even over the course of her entire life.】
“I don’t need anything like that!”
【Negative. Pina Valestia must reach the specified tier and complete the linked quest.】
“I don’t want to!”
【Negative. Pina Valestia must reach the specified tier and complete the linked quest.】
“I said I don’t want to!?”
【Negative. Pina Valestia must reach the specified tier and complete the linked quest.】
Faced with a response that felt like arguing with a wall, even Pina, who was fundamentally timid, seemed to feel her blood pressure rise, and her voice grew louder and louder.
She questioned it as though demanding an explanation.
“What is a linked quest even supposed to be in the first place? Why do I have to kill people? How is that supposed to make me a hero?”
Perhaps that question had struck at the heart of the matter.
【Insufficient understanding of the current situation has been confirmed for Pina Valestia.】
【A simulation will commence to improve her understanding.】
─The world turned upside down.
***
Once upon a time, long, long ago.
Two countries were waging a fierce war.
The cause of the war was trivial.
If the people who had started the initial fight had been ordinary men from the neighborhood, it would have ended after they raised their voices and threw a few punches.
But they were lofty personages who ruled countries, and so their quarrel grew into a war that brought suffering to countless commoners.
It was an extremely unfortunate thing, but it was still a tragedy they could somehow endure.
That is, until the country that had begun losing the war committed the foolish act of sacrificing its own people to summon a ‘Demon King.’
The Demon King’s power was truly immense.
Like pressing down on one side of a tilted scale and flipping it in the opposite direction, the Demon King overturned the course of the war with astonishing ease.
The country that had believed victory was within reach collapsed before the Demon King’s overwhelming power and cruelty, while the country that had summoned him seized victory.
But they had no chance to revel in the aftertaste of victory.
The Demon King who had led them to victory turned his blade around and stabbed the people who had summoned him.
The two countries that had been fighting each other were destroyed side by side, and the Demon King, now free, was released in the center of the continent.
Blood formed rivers.
Tears formed lakes.
Corpses piled up like mountains.
Wailing filled the sky.
Many people suffered, raged, and harbored fear and despair.
And then, a hero raised a sword.
Born in the first country to be destroyed by the Demon King, he threw himself into battle and fought against the Demon King’s army without sparing his own life.
The hero’s valor was dazzling, but the enemies were far too powerful.
Feeling the limits of fighting alone, the hero decided to seek out a sage said to be living in seclusion in the forest.
At the sage’s house, the hero shouted.
“Excuse me!
there
Is anyone… huh?”
Pina blinked.
She was trying to understand what the scene that had unfolded before her moments ago was, and what the words that had just escaped her own mouth without permission meant.
But before she could understand the situation, someone burst out of the cabin in front of her.
Bang!
“What is it? Who are you, making such a racket outside someone else’s house?!”
He was a man with an extremely irritable air about him.
His appearance and clothing seemed to bring the image of ‘a crotchety wizard living alone in the forest’ to life.
When Pina met his glaring eyes and froze, unable to get a word out, the man furrowed his brows deeply and said,
“If you have no business here, get lost!!”
Bang!!
The sound of the door slamming shut rang loudly through the surroundings.
The scene felt as though it were stabbing at a timid person’s vulnerability with a knife, and Pina felt an instinctive fear as her legs trembled.
And a moment later, the scenery warped.
Feeling the limits of fighting alone, the hero decided to seek out a sage said to be living in seclusion in the forest.
At the sage’s house, the hero shouted.
“Excuse me!
there
Is anyone… no, no!”
As the situation repeated itself, Pina quickly clapped a hand over her own mouth.
But as though that did not matter, the door creaked open again, and the irritable-looking man sprang out and snapped,
“What is it? Who are you, making such a racket outside someone else’s house?!”
“Uh, no, it’s just….”
“If you have business, speak up! Don’t hem and haw!!”
“I-I mean….”
Unlike Pina, whose eyes were slowly filling with tears, Forte was gradually figuring out what this situation was.
He had many things to say, but first, one thing.
《Contractor. The thing before you is a puppet. The real body is elsewhere.》