The Berserker’s Second Playthrough in the Game - Chapter 91



Only Krnovel

Episode 91. The Sharp Knife (1)

A morning filled with bright sunlight like shining fabric.

Ilenia, sitting at the desk in the academic room, spoke in a pretended cheerful tone.

“Thank you for helping me organize the warehouse, mercenary! Oh my, I couldn’t have done it alone, but thanks to you, I was able to finish it quickly. Oh, and your research on the ruins of the priestesses in the wilderness was also very helpful! If you find out anything new in the future, please come back and tell me!”

Kadim stared at her with a stern expression.

Ilenia was smiling, her eyes sparkling like well-crafted jewels. She has such a calm demeanor that it feels as if everything she did was just a dream.

But the sunlight, the gaze of the sun shining unusually brightly beyond the window, proved that all these things were not an illusion.

“… … .”

Soon, Kadim noticed without difficulty that Ilenia’s breathing was strangely irregular, and cold sweat was running down her forehead. She had definitely suffered a great blow, whether physically or mentally. It was not an exaggeration to say that she had to hide the truth for her own safety.

That woman’s attitude now is probably an act to deceive ‘Elgar’, even if it is belated. Kadim eventually swallowed the questions stuck in her throat and put them together as she thought.

“… … No, there’s no need to thank me. It wasn’t something I did for free.”

Kadim looks at the ‘return gift’ in his hand. Ilenia slowly smiled with relief.

Duncan gave the two a puzzled look.

“Eh, will I get better? Are you here to clean out the warehouse? You could have left those chores to me… … .”

“… … It wasn’t something you could do because the burden was heavy. “Anyway, we’ve finished our business, so let’s go, archaeologist.”

“Oh, dear. Are you leaving already? I feel bad for sending you on a mission of asking you to do only annoying things. How about having a cup of tea before you go?”

“No need. Rather, I will leave these to you.”

Scream –

A pile of silver coins from a ruined country was piled on the desk. Ilenia opened her eyes wide.

“It’s something I don’t need anyway. Even if I took it, I would just be pointlessly targeted by other guys. “I will only take two pieces as souvenirs, and you may use the rest for ‘academic purposes.’”

“… … .”

She looked at Kadim blankly, then slowly raised the corners of her mouth and nodded vigorously.

It’s time to leave. Kadim picked up the guard captain, who was still unconscious, with a ‘return gift’ and kicked him out. Duncan followed suit and grabbed his bag.

Ilenia stood up shakily and saw them off.

“It was nice to see you again after a long time, mercenary. Next time I see you… … I hope we can talk more leisurely. Please, may Remillion’s golden blessings be upon the mercenary’s journey.”

“Yes, I hope Atala’s fighting spirit will be with you too. Oh, and.”

“… … ?”

“In my opinion, it seems much better to be straightforward and honest than to try to act so cheerful.”

“… … .”

With those words, the barbarian and the peddler left the academic room.

Even after the unexpected guests had completely disappeared, Ilenia couldn’t take her eyes off the door for a while.

My heart was beating strangely. It was not because of the pain of heavenly punishment that chewed on the organs. She was so used to pain that she could endure any pain as long as she didn’t die. Some awkward feeling was seeping inside me.

‘It’s better to be honest than to pretend to be cheerful… ‘

I never thought I would hear such words from that blunt warrior. Whether it was entrusting me with the silver coins from the ruined country or saying something like that, it probably means that I have gained a certain level of trust. It was worth risking death to tell the truth.

She stroked her cheek, where her artificial smile had faded. She brushed her long hair, which was wet from cold sweat, and smoothed out the silver coins piled up on the desk. Then she smiled a faint smile.

This time, it was a smile that came from the heart, not from acting.

*

Duncan looked closely at the ‘gift’ Illenia had given him, a black bag made of a strange leather material.

“What is this, Nairi? It just looks like a black bag… … .”

“Inventory.”

“yes?”

“Take out everything you have in your bag and put it inside.”

Duncan looked dumbfounded. The black bag was less than half the size of the bag he was carrying. There was no way everything he had in it could fit in a bag this small… … .

however.

“uh?”

All luggage went in.

Even when I put the entire bag I was carrying, there was still a lot of space left. Duncan, who had been scrambling with his hand in his black bag, shouted in surprise.

“Oh, oh, oh? Sir! This bag is much more spacious on the inside than it looks! It looks like a dwarf’s dung sack on the outside, but inside it’s a whole big warehouse, warehouse!”

“… … .”

‘Inventory’, a bag with a large sub-space implanted inside the bag. It was a kind of relic created by distorting the shell of a fallen country using silver coins.

In the game, it is difficult to feel its value because it is given as a ‘system’ right from the start. However, after playing through the first round, Kadim felt a keen sense of the necessity of this inventory.

The warrior’s group was unable to bring enough food and water because they had to give priority to weapons and relics to fight against the devil. As a result, the experience of suffering terribly from constant hunger and thirst in the Demonic World was clearly engraved within me so that it still pierces my bones.

There was no need to worry about that anymore. When preparing for a journey, all you had to do was make sure to stock up on supplies in this ‘inventory’. In addition, you could store bulky items and equipment almost without any restrictions.

Even the most emotionless of barbarians would feel a sense of accomplishment and joy at having obtained such a fraudulently useful reward.

The shadows on Kadim’s face grew darker.

He raised his eyes. The sun was facing him. The sunlight, which had been indifferent until yesterday, felt like the gaze of a persistent watcher. Fundamental questions about this world and God were endlessly asked.

But it wasn’t a good time to just wallow in thought. There were still real-world issues to deal with.

“… … Ugh, um. Ugh, yeah… … .”

“Oh, your Majesty? The Captain of the Guard has come to his senses!”

When it was placed on the ground, the guard captain, Yulitan, managed to maintain his balance and stand up. Then he asked in a dreamy tone.

“Uh, huh, where am I… … . What happened… … .”

“This is downtown Galentana. You were kidnapped and saved.”

“Me, kidnapped? I was kidnapped? No, more than that… … Where are we going now… … ?”

“I’m going to meet with the council members. I have to testify so that I can receive compensation for the punishment, so from now on, you need to come to your senses.”

Yulitan felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and his dizziness was instantly washed away.

*

Adonis, the lawmaker and head of the Agon faction, pressed his hand to his throbbing temple.

“therefore… … “Damn it, you just trusted a mere promise and released the demon slayer, Perun?”

“That’s right, Councilor Sir.”

“If he doesn’t keep his promise and runs out of the city, what do you plan to do then?”

“That won’t happen.”

“why?”

“Although he may seem cruel, he is not a man ignorant of honor. There is no way he would not keep his promise to a fellow son of the wilderness.”

“… … .”

Adonis let out a sour sigh and waved his hand to tell him to step aside. The one-armed warrior, Perun, simply nodded and stepped aside.

Agonfa lawmakers gathered together again. This time, not in a warehouse of seized goods where the smell stings, but in a luxurious synagogue decorated with red iron and gold.

It was very unusual for them all to come together for two days in a row during this busy time when the main forces in the city were changing. Still, since it was such an important matter, no one complained. Adonis stepped in front of the lawmakers who had serious expressions on their faces.

“Have you heard the warrior’s story? That’s basically what happened in the underworld.”

““… … .””

“Now… … “Let’s discuss what to do.”

No one spoke up right away. The facts that had been revealed overnight and the events that had occurred were too grand in scale to be discussed hastily.

An underworld that suffered devastating damage, circumstances showing that it was hiding a forgotten new sect, suspicions that members of the university faction were in contact with the sect, the death of the head of the sect’s faction, and the disappearance of senior member Vittorio.

Even if you look at them one by one, they are news that would take days to sort out. It was hard to believe that all these things had happened in just one night. Everyone’s head was spinning as they tried to figure out the cause and effect of the incidents and come up with countermeasures.

Fortunately, there was one key figure who could tie all those topics together.

“therefore… … “First of all, isn’t the root of everything, excluding Representative Vittorio’s work, the ‘demon slayer’?”

As soon as someone opened their mouth, the lawmakers began to rush to express their opinions.

“No, the soldier in the disaster unit who was in the mansion testified that he lost consciousness due to some kind of force. Looking at it that way, I think the one who dealt with Senator Vittorio all night might have been a demon slayer… … .”

“Then, didn’t that actually happen because the warriors of that army just let him go? “Shouldn’t he be held accountable for that?”

“Now that I think about it, I think he’s too dangerous to capture… … . “It’s true that the people we killed were robbers, but if you think about it, aren’t they ‘human massacres’ who killed dozens of people in one night without even blinking?”

The synagogue was in an uproar of shock and horror. The council members’ opinions were mostly in the direction of subduing the demon slayer as quickly as possible. The shock of the previous day’s events was too great to continue to hold the opinion of subduing him as they had yesterday.

The flow of opinion was reversed with a statement from a certain member of parliament.

“But if you think about it, isn’t it a good thing?”

““… … ?””

The lawmakers opened their eyes wide as if asking what that meant. The congressman who spoke loudly cleared his throat and continued.

“No, think about it. Wasn’t the underworld a force that had colluded with the University faction from the beginning? The Forgotten God Church is a dangerous force that could give the Empire a justification for invasion the moment it is caught, and there were circumstances in which it had contact with the University faction. Moreover, the missing Congressman Vittorio was the most senior and key figure in the university faction.”

““… … .””

“I’ll be honest. “Anyway, we have no choice but to root them out if we want to seize the hegemony of Galentana, but isn’t it true that thanks to the demon slayer, we’ve been able to blow our noses without even putting in effort?”

““… … !””

Now that I think about it, it was like that.

Indeed, in one night, their greatest enemies were cut off from limbs to heads. Things were happening to their advantage, so much so that they wondered if someone had instigated the demon slayer.

If he killed dozens of innocent people, he is a murderer. However, if he killed dozens of difficult enemies, he is a hero. Even with the exception of Senator Vittorio, the rest were socially harmful, so it was easy to package them. The opinions of the Senators were immediately inclined to reward him and recruit him.

Some lawmakers were lukewarm about the handling of the matter, saying it was too aggressive and might be uncontrollable. But even those minority opinions were quickly taken into consideration with Adonis’s addition.

“I also agree with the idea of ​​recruiting the Demon Slayer. And I find it hard to agree with the idea that he would be uncontrollable. Judging from the fact that he only touches our enemies, he seems to be a reasonable man, even if he is violent.

“… … .”

“First of all, what kind of forces do we have under us? And who leads those forces?”

Three hundred Atalain warriors. And the champion of the great arena, ‘Agon’s Angry Horn’.

The demon slayer is undoubtedly an excellent mercenary. However, he could not possibly handle the power of the army with his own strength. In addition, the leader of the army, Agon’s angry horn, was a hero who had defeated the central demon. In times of emergency, it seemed possible to force him into submission.

The council members agreed with Adonis’s words and decided to recruit the demon slayer. Then, the only problem left was to somehow find the demon slayer that Perun had released and bring him here… … .

As if heaven helped, even that problem was soon resolved.

“Members of parliament! Ah, the demon slayer is here! “I am accompanying the Golden Road guard captain and requesting a meeting with the members of the National Assembly!”

““… … !””

Everyone in the synagogue thought the same thing. The pumpkins came rolling in on vines.

“You are a precious guest, so please welcome me here as politely as possible.”

Adonis and the council members leisurely waited for the demon slayer. Holding the hilt of that sharp sword in my hand, I look forward to the future when they will wield it as they wish.

*

And soon after, the expectations of the Agonists were dashed.

“Are you planning to go to Agon? That’s good timing. It’s our home ground, so we can help you with anything. What is your purpose?”

“I’m going to kill Agon’s angry horn.”

“… … .”

““… … .””

The air was frozen.

Adonis and the Agonists all looked at Khadim with soul-deprived expressions.