Chapter 72
It was an unpleasant appearance.
To put it bluntly, it was disgusting.
A neck length that made it impossible to tell where it had popped out from.
The face hanging at the end of that abnormally long neck looked completely devoid of moisture.
The cracked face looked like a thickly built wall.
There was a physiological disgust at seeing something that was clearly not Human mimicking a Human.
There was an atmosphere that naturally brought the phrase Uncanny Valley to mind.
For starters, the face itself was the size of a person, and every single facial feature was grotesquely large.
It was incredibly difficult to get a comfortable impression from it.
The Giant with a giraffe’s neck, Giraffe Face, continued to stare at us intently before speaking.
“Mirne, if not, said it’s troublesome.”
It tilted its head as if truly perplexed and continued.
“You are a bug?”
Then, my eyes snapped open at that one word that popped out.
“A bug? Me?”
“Mirne, if not all is a bug.”
Bug.
That wasn’t an expression that would come up in a normal situation.
Usually, when a stranger barged in, they would use a word like intruder.
'Isn’t bug usually a word used for… an unexpected error?'
Bug was generally an expression you’d see in a game.
“A game? No way.”
The elements ranged from Save & Load to Mirne’s system that threw a fit about things changing from the Original Plot Development.
Everything was similar to a game. But 'Jupeobae' wasn’t a game.
“Am I thinking about something wrong?”
There was definitely something I had missed.
But I didn’t know what I had missed.
It would have been nice if I had had a little more time to think.
Unfortunately.
“Bug, erase.”
Giraffe Face didn’t seem to have any intention of giving me any more leeway.
Creeeeak.
The head was blatantly tilting further and further back, and the corners of the mouth tore back to its ears the further back it went.
It was so obvious what that meant that I immediately threw my body forward.
Normally, I would have watched the opponent’s attack until the end, dodged it, and figured out what moves Giraffe Face had.
But it was obviously a construct of the system, so it was clear that anyone other than me would have a hard time dealing with it.
Therefore
'I’ll aim for it before it attacks.'
I immediately drew my sword.
Bang!
Before Giraffe Face’s neck, bent as far back as it could go, could snap forward and strike at the party like a spring, I swung my sword a step faster toward the part of Giraffe Face’s neck that had bent first.
The sword was created to kill a god.
The second sword created by the Crown Prince collided with Giraffe Face’s neck.
“As expected, you are a bug?”
“Hah.”
Even though I had naturally infused Sol Bellos with Divine Power and slashed, Giraffe Face’s neck was perfectly fine.
Rather, it was bending its neck even further, trying to draw out more destructive power when it had been about to stop.
“Bug must be erased.”
Rumbbbble, bang!
Giraffe Face’s neck bounced like a spring and flew toward me.
It was just a simple attack that pulled the neck all the way back and used the repulsive force.
But the destructive power contained within it was on an absurd level.
Screeeech!
Giraffe Face and the blade of the Zweihänder clashed, creating sparks.
“Existence was not allowed.”
“I’m quite curious as to who didn’t allow it.”
To think there was a mechanism ensuring that the covenant itself couldn’t be resolved unless it was Mirne.
I understood even more why the Crown Prince had no choice but to regress so many times.
Did he continue to regress, yet not give up, while going through all of these things?
It was a devotion that made it impossible to even gauge just how much he cherished and loved the Empire.
“Will, eliminate.”
“You will eliminate me?”
Clang!
After gripping the sword with both hands and swinging it to deflect Giraffe Face.
I compressed the flames even more strongly than before and wrapped them around the blade.
And Giraffe Face’s means of attack in response to this was incredibly monotonous.
Everything was just pulling its face back and swinging it, or twisting and striking.
It was using its neck like a whip or a blunt weapon, and its proficiency wasn’t high.
“Is every single attack above a Grand General?”
It was a level of power that perfectly suited the phrase ignorantly strong.
It felt like facing a stupid AI using an infinite attack power cheat.
It was monotonous, but it had a destructive power that made it impossible to guarantee what would happen the moment it landed a direct hit.
A Standoff where neither could inflict a fatal wound on the other.
While an almost boring offense and defense were expected to continue.
“Pavan! Don’t mind me and Search the surroundings! Inheriting the memories is the top priority!”
I ordered the party to continue the Search instead of Combat Support.
“…I will follow your command!”
“Your Highness! This Humble Woman will quickly resolve the Tin Can Covenant and stick by Your Highness’s side!”
“Moving immediately!”
Pavan, Arveda, and Luminix, who were quick to grasp the situation, immediately scattered.
Hoping for Combat Support right now was the worst move.
Giraffe Face seemed like an arrangement meant for Mirne.
It was obvious that the Executioners wouldn’t be able to face it anyway.
'I’ll hold out while the Executioners find clues about the covenant.'
Actually, the phrase hold out was funny too.
'I’m underestimating myself.'
The Crown Prince, who had gone through countless regressions, couldn’t defeat a mere Giraffe Face like this?
That was nonsense.
The Crown Prince must have already experienced this guy.
If so, he would have been fully prepared for it.
'I’ll crush it with Overwhelming Firepower.'
If the opponent pushed ignorantly, I just had to respond with the same firepower.
I hadn’t been able to use my proper strength until now because the Executioners were nearby.
But not anymore.
Ssssss.
The blade, compressed to its limit, burned white.
“Mirne, if not, bug.”
“The Executioners are designed for Mirne, but the covenant is an arrangement for the Empire…”
Even while leaving a deep line on Giraffe Face’s face with the white-dyed sword.
I continued to chew over its words.
“If the Executioners were designed as an arrangement for Mirne from the beginning, did the Prophet intervene after that?”
The time when the Great Prophet made the covenant with the Executioners was during the Early Empire Founding.
It would have been before the Empire was even called an Empire.
Did the Great Prophet know from back then that the Executioners would fall into Mirne’s hands, and that he would bind them with a covenant in advance?
He read this future from thousands of years ago?
“He isn”t called the Great Prophet for nothing.'
There were too many parts lacking explanation to just dismiss it as his doing because the Prophet was great.
Slash!
Even while I continued my thoughts, Giraffe Face was steadily taking damage.
The white-burning God-Slaying Sword and the Empire’s Divine Power.
These two were definitely powers that could inflict meaningful damage on the system.
“Why take damage? Not Mirne, either?”
“I like the things you say, unlike your appearance.”
Every single word it casually spat out was precious information.
If I had my way, I’d want to lock it up and dig for information, but given how it acted, that seemed difficult.
Rumbbbbble!
“I need to cut its neck, but it”s so fast that it’s hard to cut the same spot.'
But where exactly is the main body of this long neck coming from?
Even as I muttered that, I continued my thoughts about the Prophet.
“I don”t know what the order is.'
Whether the Prophet, who knew the future, knew in advance that the Executioners would become Mirne’s and made the covenant.
Or whether the system intervened belatedly even though the Prophet had made a covenant with the Executioners.
I couldn’t clearly tell which came first.
Amidst this flow
“Why do you keep interfering with Mirne?”
Giraffe Face suddenly stopped its actions, making it blatantly obvious that it was displeased.
I didn’t miss that opening and immediately used Magic to change my position.
I moved to the back of its head and immediately aimed for the back of its neck.
Slash!
A single white line was drawn across Giraffe Face’s neck.
Thud!
Giraffe Face, which had been attached to the end of the long neck, dropped to the floor with a thud.
It was a result created by instinctive movement.
As if I had been waiting for it to stop at that very moment.
As soon as Giraffe Face’s body stopped, I cut off its neck in an instant.
It was as if to say it would be troublesome if this dragged on any longer.
“…I thought there would be something gross, but the cross-section is just clean.”
Was it because its skin was made of stacked bricks?
Giraffe Face’s cross-section was just the cut surface of a crude brick itself.
“At the end, it definitely said I kept interfering with Mirne.”
Even this left a lot of room for interpretation.
Whether it was talking about me at this current stage, or the Crown Prince who had repeated multiple regressions.
It didn’t matter if it referred to both, but in the latter case, a different interpretation was possible.
“Can the system also remember the regressions? Mirne… shouldn”t be able to remember.'
I came to resolve one covenant, but seriously, just how many questions this was raising.
I already had a lot to think about, but the things giving me a headache kept increasing endlessly.
“I should at least follow this neck for now.”
The Executioners would be continuing to look for clues even at that moment, so I didn’t have time to rest just because I caught one giraffe.
How far had I moved following Giraffe Face’s neck like that?
As soon as I witnessed what was at the end of it, a hollow laugh naturally escaped me.
Why on earth was the system’s arrangement for Mirne in the Empire’s underground?
And why was it guarding Pavan’s Covenant, something related to the Giants, of all things, among them?
“There was a reason for all of it.”
Because an element that warranted it existed.
[ Discovered the Hidden Male Lead 'Roomta'. ]
[ Revealing Roomta’s attributes: #Giant #Reliable #Steadfast #Large_Dog #Bodyguard ]
“Of all things, they have even hidden a Male Lead under the Empire now.”
What on earth was a Hidden Male Lead anyway?
I thought she had already called 3 Male Leads in advance, saying it didn’t match the Original Plot Development.
There are more besides them?
'Aren’t there too many Male Leads?'
Whether it’s a harem or a Reverse Harem.
The moment the Protagonist’s partners exceed a certain number, it would be impossible to stop the Characters from turning into trophies.
Roughly speaking, the Male Leads by Mirne’s side already exceed six right now.
But if there were even Hidden Male Leads like this, there would be over ten.
“There are too many.”
This was a number you’d only see in a male-oriented fantasy after it reached Long-term Serialization.
If I knew this would happen, I should have at least checked how many chapters 'Jupeobae' had been serialized.
It was a regret that I couldn’t remember how long it had been in Long-term Serialization because it was a novel I had only skimmed through.
“But even taking that into account, it”s a lot.'
Therefore, I focused on the setting of him being hidden.
Why was he hidden, when the other Male Leads could just be pulled out so easily?
Why was the Male Lead named 'Roomta' hiding? And why was the system guarding him?
“Bug… It said bug; it said my appearance was a bug.”
A bug and a Hidden Male Lead.
When I combined these two things, there was only one thing that came up within the bounds of my common sense.
“Hidden Piece.”
This was an element that a Protagonist rightfully ought to obtain.
However, Mirne’s Hidden Pieces were incredibly numerous besides this.
It meant there was no reason to specially dress it up by going as far as hiding a Male Lead.
“I don”t know what the original work Mirne read is.'
But seeing as she read it, Mirne’s original work must definitely be novel-based.
But what if it wasn’t just a simple novel?
“…Save & Load, bug, hidden.”
These were terms that didn’t often appear in a general fantasy novel, even though I had arbitrarily named things like Save & Load.
Bug and hidden were names clearly presented by the system.
The system was like that in the first place.
The messages that appeared right on cue as if waiting whenever a specific situation occurred.
These were attributes you’d usually see in a game.
If so, could it be?
“…Does that mean the original work Mirne read wasn’t just a simple novel.”
What if the original work Mirne read wasn’t just a novel, but a novel with other elements mixed in?
A novel that wasn’t a simple novel but took on the characteristics of a game. There was only one such thing.
“Visual Novel.”
It was nothing more than a hypothesis, just at the level of fitting it to the results.
Assuming it was a Visual Novel, Mirne’s actions gradually became understandable.
“Humans wouldn”t seem like humans, since they wouldn’t even be novel Characters… but NPCs.'
Why did the original work have to be maintained? It was because bugs could occur.
Clues were still lacking.
Right now, it is nothing more than fitting things to the results.
It was the moment I tried to examine the Male Lead in front of me with those thoughts.
“Your Highness! Pavan! Pavan is acting strange!”
Arveda called out for help in a loud voice.
I immediately threw my body in that direction.
If the Executioners were prepared as an arrangement for Mirne.
“I will take all of that through the covenant.”
Just as the Great Prophet had arranged, I had no intention of handing anything over to Mirne.