Chapter 115
#Chapter 115: Demonic Sword Forte (17) - Encounter Play
“A puppet?”
At Pina’s question, the eccentric wizard standing before her suddenly froze.
But that lasted only a moment.
“What nonsense are you spouting? I don’t know what country you’re some loafer from, but get out of here!”
Saying that, the wizard tried to slam the door shut, but Forte spoke first.
《If you let it close, it’ll reset again. Stop it.》
Pina reacted immediately.
With lightning-fast movements, she thrust out a leg and wedged her shoe between the door and its frame, making the closing door jerk to a stop.
“What do you think you’re doing? Get that foot out of there!”
Forte briefly considered answering through his own mouth, but soon decided against it.
If they assumed this situation was a kind of play, there would be no benefit in making his presence too conspicuous.
At least for now.
《As much as possible, act as though you can’t hear my voice—as though you’re making your own judgments and thoughts. If you fail, everything will simply reset and you can try again, so don’t be afraid to go for it.》
Pina looked at a loss for what to say for a moment, but perhaps encouraged by the fact that she could try again, she soon opened her mouth.
“I-It is a puppet! I already figured it out, so confess!”
“What nonsense are you talking about?! Do you have any evidence?”
“Evidence or no evidence, anyone can tell it’s a puppet just by looking!”
Of course, Pina had no idea why the wizard in front of her was a puppet.
But she trusted Forte.
If Forte had declared that it was a puppet, there had to be a reason.
The wizard’s face contorted at Pina’s utterly resolute attitude.
“That’s ridiculous! You’re calling a perfectly normal person a puppet? On what grounds?”
“I-I said it looked like a puppet because it looks like one, but asking me why is putting me in a difficult spot!”
“I’ve never seen such unreasonable behavior…!”
The wizard tilted his head back and lamented, then soon grumbled.
“Ah, fine. All right. I’ll hear you out, so come in. But enough with the puppet nonsense.”
At the wizard’s proposal, Pina rolled her eyes.
Forte offered his advice.
《You can accept. It seems the Sage of the Sky wants to hide his identity.》
‘I see. …Huh? What? The Sage of the Sky?’
《Look at his face. Isn’t it identical to that statue?》
As Pina stared in shock, Forte continued explaining calmly.
《Of course, if that body really is a puppet as I think, then it probably isn’t his true form. But at least the ‘Sage of the Sky’ known to the public must be the being before us.》
《And considering the narration earlier, your role, Pina, is probably that of the hero Fernando Valestia. In other words, this is the scene where the hero first meets the Sage of the Sky.》
《The system of Sky Academy wants something from you, Contractor. But since you don’t seem likely to carry out the quest according to its wishes, it created this stage to persuade you. Do you understand so far?》
‘Hmm, yes. Probably.’
It was not a particularly confident answer, but Forte did not mind.
He already knew that Pina was not unintelligent; she was merely clumsy in social situations and lacking in confidence.
《The experience you are about to undergo will probably be the journey of the hero Fernando and his companions. The system believes that, once you have gone through this, you will move according to its wishes.》
‘Then what should I do?’
《We need information, if only to oppose the system. Play along for now, while maintaining the mindset that you will turn everything upside down when the opportunity arises.》
Facing Pina, who stood frozen in the doorway, the wizard—or rather, the Sage of the Sky—shouted irritably.
“What are you doing? Get inside!”
“Ah, yes!”
Scurry.
The Sage watched Pina charge inside with oddly small-animal-like movements, looking displeased, then snapped his fingers.
Roots extending from the ground instantly formed a table and chairs.
The Sage plopped down carelessly in a makeshift chair and asked,
“So, what brings you here?”
“Hmm.”
Pina fell into thought for a moment.
As a descendant of the Valestia family, she knew the life story of the hero Fernando in fairly meticulous detail.
Naturally, since she had been exposed to plays, novels, and other related works of culture every day since childhood.
‘The first meeting between the hero and the Sage definitely went….’
At the hero’s call, the wise Sage appeared.
The Sage asked,
“For what purpose have you come to seek me?”
The hero answered,
“I wish to receive your aid in defeating the Demon King.”
The Sage shook his head.
“How could a trifling wizard living in the forest be of any help?”
The hero said,
“Everyone in the vicinity knows of your wisdom. Please do not be modest and lend us your aid.”
The Sage asked,
“Why do you seek to defeat the Demon King?”
The hero answered,
“Simply to help people.”
The Sage marveled.
“Ah! Having witnessed such noble intentions, how could I refuse? I shall join you on your journey, inadequate though I may be.”
Thus, the hero and the Sage set out together.
Pina cleared her throat before speaking.
“Ahem, I want to defeat the Demon King for the sake of the suffering people. I need your help to do so.”
The Sage answered,
“Why me?”
“?”
“Why should I care if a bunch of idiots live or die?”
Pina’s mouth fell open.
Where had the cautious and composed Sage gone—the one who worried about the world’s calamities and worked to set things right? This was nothing but a contrary, eccentric old man.
The Sage’s words—or rather, his complaints—continued.
“The idiot who started a war because he couldn’t marry the woman he wanted. The idiot who suddenly summoned a Demon King when it looked like he was going to lose the war. The idiots who schemed behind the scenes, hoping the two countries would destroy each other. This is what the world has become because of idiots who only cared about their own greed. Why should I clean up after those bastards?”
The Sage of the Sky stared at Pina with the look of someone watching a fool struggle pointlessly with a stupid task.
“The countries suffering now all brought it upon themselves. They’re merely paying for what they did. Even if the problem gets solved, they’re the ones who should do it. So stop trying to play hero alone and just lie low somewhere else.”
“I don’t want to.”
“What?”
Pina snapped back, a little riled up.
“Do you have to be directly involved in something to try to solve it? Is it all right for people who did wrong to suffer any fate at all? No, in the first place, can that even be called wrongdoing?”
There must have been people who started the war.
There must have been people who summoned something that should never have been called forth for the sake of victory.
There must have been people who provoked the war to intensify for their own interests and greed.
But were all the people harmed by the Demon King such people?
“A farmer who simply plowed his fields day after day, an innkeeper who worked hard baking bread, children who played in the alleys. Are people like that responsible for this situation? Is it their own fault that they suffered at the Demon King’s hands?”
“Yeah, maybe not. But is that a reason to help them?”
“Then don’t help them. I will.”
“…?”
Pina glared at the Sage.
“It’s not my business. It’s not my responsibility. It’s not my fault. I don’t gain anything from it, so why should I do it? But perhaps the ‘people who only cared about their own greed’ you mentioned would have acted exactly the same way.”
“How dare you compare me to those bastards!?”
The Sage kicked back his chair and stood.
At the same time, the surrounding scenery began to shake unsteadily.
It was proof that the current development was proceeding differently from what the system had prepared.
The way the hero Fernando had persuaded the Sage probably had not gone like this.
Sensing the system preparing another ‘reset,’ Forte released his power and resisted it.
If one summoned a living actor into a puppet show, one naturally had to be prepared for the plot to deviate somewhat.
Unaware of the struggle taking place behind the stage, Pina and the Sage onstage glared at each other.
Then Pina abruptly turned around.
The Sage watched Pina’s back as she turned away and left, his expression complicated. He soon clicked his tongue and spoke.
“You—why did you call me a puppet earlier?”
“Because that’s just how you look….”
“Hmph. So you won’t explain properly, is that it? Then will you tell me if I cooperate in subjugating the Demon King?”
Pina hesitated for a moment.
In the first place, she had merely trusted Forte’s words, and she still did not understand what Forte meant by saying that the Sage was a ‘puppet.’
“It’s something like an instinct, so it’s hard to put into words.”
“Fine. Then I can simply observe you from nearby.”
Her vision suddenly warped.
The system seemed dissatisfied with the altered details and made a creaking sound, but apparently judged them to still be within the margin of error. In the end, it raised the curtain on the next page.
The hero, having welcomed the Sage as a companion, traveled across the continent and fought against the Demon King’s invasion.
He slew a monster that could turn anyone it faced to stone, protected the people abandoned by their lord, and stormed a Demon King army stronghold to kill one of its commanders.
Then, one day.
A strange tale reached the ears of the two companions.
It was a rumor about a saintess who traveled throughout the continent, ravaged by the horrors of war, healing people.
Judging that she might be able to help with their journey to defeat the Demon King, the hero went in search of the saintess.
A woman with beautiful silver hair and blue eyes was healing people with the blessings of God.
Moved by her devotion, the hero’s party invited her to become their companion.
“Huh, what a shame. Hey, Hero. That woman’s a lost cause. No good.”
“What? Why?”
“You said you were from the Valt Kingdom, right? The first nation destroyed by the Demon King.”
“I… suppose so? For the time being.”
“That woman’s father was the one who summoned that Demon King.”
At the Sage’s mocking remark, the beautiful woman’s face turned pale.
That’s right.
The saintess was the princess of the country that had summoned the Demon King.