Chapter 195 : Chapter 195
Chapter 195 : Great War (5)
Luna poured out tears dripping with sorrow.
In this world, the existence known as a player is often likened to an iron man at a glance, so one often forgets, but players were originally ordinary people who just played games at home.
Rather, except for a few special cases, it meant that there was a high possibility that they were worse than the original inhabitants of this world in terms of mentality.
"I want to see my mom......."
It wasn't the first time Luna cried her eyes out in front of me, but nevertheless, it was equally perplexing.
"Uh, um......."
Didn't we fight quite fiercely just a moment ago?
I wondered what she was doing crying defenselessly like that in front of such an opponent.
"Haa......."
Perhaps, all the things experienced in this world might have been harsh for Luna.
Even if she possessed strong power and a powerful body, the core was still tender.
"Stop."
"Waaaaah......."
It wasn't the first time I've comforted Luna, but it was still not easy.
Thinking that time would be the medicine in times like this, I left Luna alone and looked around.
Whether there was a reward for moving diligently and catching many high-level Demonic persons, the situation of the Imperial Capital, which looked chaotic, seemed to have improved a little.
The Imperial Household would have also felt the seriousness and deployed other Divine Beasts Knights excluding the Griffin Knights, and Bellerophon, having heard the news, would have moved as well.
‘There's no need to step forward unnecessarily.’
If the situation in the Imperial Capital wasn't favorable, I would have left Luna here for a moment and moved, but it seemed there wasn't a need to go that far.
And leaving Luna, who I didn't know what contract she had made with the Hall of Subjugation, alone like this also weighed on my mind.
‘Because it would be troublesome if other Demonic persons came and demanded the fulfillment of the contract.’
I couldn't let such a thing happen after resolving it well with effort, so me remaining here was no longer a choice.
Luna was still pouring out tears loudly, and in the meantime, I gathered a few usable items and Ascension Stone Fragments from the corpses of the Demonic persons.
As I was doing what I had to do, before I knew it, the sound of Luna's crying, who had been crying for a long time, stopped.
"......Is this the time to gather such things?"
Luna, who barely stopped crying, saw my farming scene and spoke as if it was absurd.
"Then when do I gather?"
"Really...... not considerate at all."
"I think expecting such a thing from me is even more amazing."
"......Dummy."
Seeing Luna sticking her tongue out playfully as always, I felt strangely nostalgic.
Although we encountered each other on different paths, we can still share such a conversation.
While feeling strangely relieved by that fact, at the same time, I thought I needed to know about the situation Luna was in.
"Did you make a contract with the Hall of Subjugation?"
"......Yeah. That's right."
"Seeing you answer easily, there must have been no separate condition for confidentiality. That's good."
Luna smiled bitterly.
"With whom did you make the contract?"
"That is......."
"Is it Nero of the Gray Clouds?"
Luna's eyes grew wide.
"......How did you know?"
"As expected, was it so?"
Combining the fact that Gray Clouds was recently rallying the forces of the Hall of Subjugation and the fact that Luna was in this place, it wasn't that difficult a deduction.
Nero of the Gray Clouds.
That person who emerged as the center of new power would be the party Luna made a contract with or the one who instigated it.
"Exactly what contract did you make with Nero?"
Luna seemed to ponder on that for a moment, then soon spoke as if vomiting it out.
"......A contract to send me back home."
"Such content....... Then it must have been a contract to cooperate with the Hall of Subjugation until then. You made a pushover-like contract well. You don't seriously think that is fair, do you?"
"Th, that is!"
"It's done, I didn't say it to hear excuses."
"Uu......."
Currently, the method to return to Earth has not yet been revealed to the world.
Nevertheless, the reason Luna agreed to that nonsensical contract was probably because Luna was driven into a corner that much.
"Can you terminate the contract? If it's an unfair contract of that degree, the termination penalty likely won't be that big."
In this world, the contract of the Golden Rule is the foundation of the world and absolutely cannot be terminated easily.
Unless one pays a price befitting it.
"If I overexert myself a little, I could do it but...... I might have to be prepared for even a level down."
"If it's that much, it's sufficiently bearable. No matter how good the level is, isn't it less than life?"
"Aren't you speaking too recklessly about someone else's level? Do you know how hard it is to raise stats?"
"As you said, because it's not my level."
"......I could die from how annoying you are."
Luna lowered her head for a moment, then closed her eyes as if lost in thought about something.
I was about to say something, but I thought I should give Luna some time to think too, so I waited silently.
And after a time that could be considered long if long and short if short passed, Luna opened her mouth.
"Alright. I'll terminate it."
"You accept it more obediently than I thought."
"......I knew it too, that this contract was a fraudulent contract. But still, I wanted to hold onto it. As I said earlier, I......."
"Want to see your mom?"
"No! Saying! That's like that!"
Luna, whose face flushed red, didn't know what to do and stamped her feet.
Of course, even if she did that, it would only become good material for teasing me.
"So you mean you want to say you want to see your mom. You always pretended to be strong, but you have quite a naive corner."
"Aaak!"
Luna jumped up and down, seeming to agonize for a moment about the ordeal that befell her, then soon spoke as if she had made a decision.
"......I'll die, I'll die from embarrassment."
"To be prepared even to die, that's quite a satisfying thing."
"Please shut that mouth. Don't you see I'm distressed right now?"
"If you wish."
"......Even more annoying."
"Since we are in a relationship where we've seen everything about each other anyway, it's rather amazing that there is something to be ashamed of now."
"Wh, what do you mean, see everything! We are not in such a relationship yet?!"
Luna's face, which was already flushed red from crying until a moment ago, heated up as if it would explode.
Whether she did or not, I slowly got to the main point.
"What is the reason the Gray Clouds attacked the Imperial Capital?"
"......Sorry. I don't know that well either, since I just did what I was told."
"Any guesses?"
Luna seemed lost in thought for a moment, then soon opened her mouth as if something came to mind.
"Come to think of it, I think I overheard Demonic persons talking about that."
"What was the talk?"
"I think they said they had to find someone...... saying that someone is closing the doors."
Even though I only heard that much, finding out what the Demonic persons' purpose was wasn't that difficult.
The Demonic persons were looking for me.
Also, judging by the fact that they attacked the Imperial Capital where I was staying, it seemed they already knew the place where I was.
‘There must be a user of foresight or magic similar to that.’
However, even if the Hall of Subjugation side was looking for me, several questions remained regarding the attack on the Imperial Capital.
"Is that all? I don't think they would have attacked the Imperial Capital just for that."
Attacking the heart of the Empire openly was that grave a matter.
To the extent that no one would act rashly without some purpose.
"I think they said this attack would be the beginning. That if they collapse the center of the Empire including the Imperial Capital, eventually they would be able to get the Empire in their hands."
"Getting the Empire in their hands....... I think I know what dream Nero is dreaming."
Becoming the owner of a nation held truly many meanings in this world.
Especially, considering what the Supreme King did and what he could do, there was a high possibility that Nero was also thinking similarly.
"It seems the Supreme King planted strange dreams in many guys."
The Supreme King showed what was beyond the sky to countless people in this world and showed what things were possible.
It was not an exaggeration to say that a huge crack had already begun to form in this world with just that.
Now the conflict between players and original inhabitants will rush to an unavoidable level.
No, simply calling it a conflict wouldn't do.
"Where is Nero?"
Nero's purpose, which was already revealed, seemed clear.
Until now, I couldn't make a decision on what I should do, but through the meeting with Luna, I finally came to know what I had to do.
Meeting Nero was for that.
"That...... I don't know either, since I haven't met him except when we first made the contract."
"Then in what form do you receive instructions?"
"Wait, even if it's Mr. Vell, meeting Nero directly is danger─"
At that moment.
"There is no need to do that."
A strange voice intervened suddenly.
The place where the voice came from was none other than the corpse of a fallen Demonic person.
"Wh, what?!"
Startled, Luna screamed "Eek!" and backed away.
Creak, creak.......
The corpse of the Demonic person was moving unnaturally and looking at me.
It looked like a scene from a horror movie, but that was nothing more than some magic planted in the dead.
"You made a truly damn contract, the efficiency wouldn't have been that good either."
Magic activated after death has tricky activation methods, but above all, the efficiency is almost close to trash.
Since all one gained compared to the price one had to pay was moving a dead corpse for a moment.
Just seeing that such inefficient magic was planted in a subordinate, I felt like I knew the owner's propensity a little.
"Because sometimes there are things you must do without considering efficiency or such."
The corpse of the Demonic person laughed bizarrely and said.
That corpse was moving by the will of another, not its own will right now.
"To say that is playing with someone else's corpse, that's not a very good hobby."
"It's just an arrangement by necessity. This isn't really my taste either."
"Let's say it is."
"Thanks for understanding. As expected, I knew we could communicate."
The corpse laughed bizarrely.
"Are you Nero?"
"You know me? This is truly an honor."
"What is the purpose of looking for me?"
"Straight to the main point? Hm, well, I don't have time either."
The corpse giggled and added.
"I saw what you did."
There was no way I didn't know what Nero was talking about.
I forcibly closed the first door connecting Earth and this world.
That act must have caused tremendous antipathy to the will imbued in the Ascension Stone Fragment and the Demonic persons following that will.
"Did you come to argue?"
"It's not that I didn't have the mind to do so, but I don't think there's a need to go that far. Somehow I think we'll have a lot to talk about?"
"It's not that we don't."
"It's fortunate that our minds connect. As expected, I knew we could communicate."
Even though we hadn't shared many words, Nero seemed to have a significant 'my pace'.
"Don't interfere with us. You can consider this matter as a warning regarding that."
"Well, in my eyes, it seems you guys are interfering with me though."
"Hm, is that so? It could be seen like that. Anyway, let's not get involved with each other for no reason. My words aren't difficult, right?"
The appearance of the corpse smiling refreshingly was bizarre to anyone's eyes.
No matter if that corpse hadn't been dead for long, a corpse was a corpse.
"That is troublesome, since I am also a person who has a position."
"You are more stubborn than I thought. If you keep doing that, you won't live long."
"Don't you think I've come too far to dream of a long life without illness now?"
"Don't resign already. If you want, you can achieve anything. We can sufficiently do so, right?"
Nero added.
"Is there a need to carry a burden you don't necessarily have to carry?"
Nero's whisper came to my ears like the temptation of a devil.
"Let's go back to our star."