Chapter 203 – Gaiden – Part 0, Episode 1
“…I took the measures as you said, are you okay? It seems that your impression has suddenly changed… There is no problem, right?”
“Yes, there’s nothing special about it. And… It’s what I suggested, but I can definitely feel it. I’m sure this won’t be a problem?”
“That’s a relief. Oh, that’s right. Your role is…”
“…The sole heir of a fallen family and a young aristocrat specializing in dark magic. Right?”
“Yes, yes.”
To introduce myself, I am @#$. I was originally one of the most ordinary people who lived on Earth, but one day I happened to be asked by this self-proclaimed goddess, Luminus. That’s because I was in a hurry to find someone to play the role of a villain in my own world for personal reasons, so I randomly picked someone from the Earth who was said to be the quickest to adapt to this world. To ask you to do There is no room for rebirth, so one day you will be truly educated by the main character and become a villain who will bring catharsis to readers and audiences!
“Yes, yes… Oh, and the script is here… You can follow it!”
Seeing the goddess shouting brightly, I felt miserable on the contrary.
“It’s magic…”
I sighed as I received the script given to me by the goddess Luminus. Magic, yes magic… Magic good. But when it comes to magic, formulas that are several times more difficult than math that I gave up about halfway through high school appear, but can I use them properly? Although I was able to rule out ‘the case of making a mistake by useless hesitation at an important moment’ thanks to controlling my feelings of guilt and fear, I’m worried that my brain will be able to catch up to the level of magic here…
“Well then, since we’re running out of time, I’ll send you to the surface right away!”
“Yes? No, wait a minute. No matter how far ahead you are, you’ll have to go through a few rehearsals…”
“Actually, the play is already in progress! Time is really running out? I’ll tell you the next story separately later, so… Please take good care of me!”
“No, so wait a minute…”
But before I could finish my words, my eyes flashed, and the scenery around me changed. Shit, is this already a start? I wasn’t even ready yet… But I was already lying alone on a bed in an old inn.
The play had already begun, and it was time for me to immerse myself in the role. The script she handed over had already infiltrated me, and a translucent hologram window appeared before my eyes, like a status window in a game novel. And in that window, all the information I needed was filled in, such as the current progress of the play, what I had to do first, the nature of my role and my relationship with my surroundings. Through the script, I looked at the situation I was in and what I had to do.
Where, the current situation… The Armageddon family, to which I belong, has already lost its honor, talent, and territories due to the shunning of the Hermon family and the pincer attack of the two dukes, who are meritorious subjects of two other countries. In the end, when there was no one left to inherit the family except for my role, myself (Ragna Armageddon), before returning to my homeland, I visited the evil beings remaining in the legend of the kingdom of Elheim, where I was currently staying, and obtained everything stolen through a deal. You must have the strength to recover.
And the evil being in the legend of Elheim Wak Palace was beaten by the strongest warrior chosen by the goddess a long time ago and sealed in the underground temple.
“Okay then, let’s get started.”
*
Usually, when you think of magic, you will first think of all sorts of complex formulas and formulas and magic circles whose meanings are difficult to understand. Fortunately for me, however, the magic here was similar to the magic I knew, but slightly different. The result of the magic was not very different from what I knew, but the process of bringing out the magic was completely different.
“Let’s see… So, magic is contact with ‘mysteries’ across ‘boundaries’ and through a process called trading, bringing some of their powers into this physical plane where I am… Damn, if I’m dyslexic. I’m really glad it’s not.”
My role was ‘the head of a black magician from a fallen noble family’, and I read the script about magic that would become my main focus. However, the contents were quite shocking.
The magic I knew was that magic circles and spells were tools, and magic was used to activate them. To put it more simply, mana is the bullet, and spells and magic circles are the gun. However, the magic of this world was completely different from what I knew. Borrowing power from a higher being with magical power… In that you borrow power from a higher being rather than using it yourself, it felt closer to an elementalist than a wizard in terms of gamers’ common sense.
However, the context was similar to that of the Elementalist, and if you look closely, there were many other things. Magical power is a price paid instead of money when dealing with higher beings, and chanting and magic circles are tools that greatly reduce the consumption of magical power, which is the rental cost of power, by controlling the direction of the force to be used in a limited way, and with the same magical power, the same chanting and Even if you use a magic circle, the power you can borrow varies slightly depending on the person, etc…
As a result, the existence of ‘wizards’ in this world was so variable and incomplete.
It was not at all strange that the number of people specializing in this was so small because it was an extremely unstable and uncertain power whose results were not fixed and continued to change depending on the person who used it and the situation in which it was used. In the meantime, a black magician who sacrificed his life force to compensate for the lack of mana appeared, but like magic that eats away at my flesh, in the end, that lifeline has been cut off…
Therefore, Ragnar Armageddon uses the ominous power he received from the immortal dragon as black magic. Anyway, it was cut off a long time ago, so even if someone impersonates it, you won’t be able to recognize it.
And today is the day to make a deal with the immortal dragon.
I went down the stairs of the underground temple and glanced at the party.
Serberk, a soldier with a vengeful spirit who lost his family in the war; Sillip, a scholar who was ridiculed as a lunatic at the academic society;
Since Violence is a member of the royal family, she has the right to enter and exit the underground temple, and Serberk steps in when her strength is needed. It is said that the interpretation of the ancient language, which is difficult to recognize, is now banished from the academic world, but Sillip, who was a scholar, interpreted it… Then what am I supposed to do? He is in charge of the water supply on behalf of the royal family who have the authority but no money to spend, soldiers who have lost everything, and scholars who have lost their jobs. He robbed all of his possessions and obtained the necessary supplies.
Anyway, this Suicide Squad finally reached the last floor of the underground temple. And there, we met.
The ceiling is so high that it’s hard to believe that it’s underground, the sophisticated and clean stone floor that makes it hard to believe that it’s an ancient technology, and the huge purple barrier that occupies an entire wall… Through the narrow gap in the center of the barrier, it sharply overlooks us. Bright yellow eyes looking and observing.
[Oh… I never thought there would be humans who came to me at just the right time…]
An eerie murmur that makes the listener goosebumps all over. A low, disparate voice, as if it had crawled out of the bottom of an abyss. The soldier who lost his reason in anger, and I, who with God’s help restrained the feeling of fear, were fine, but the princess, who is accustomed to ignoring and ridiculing but has no tolerance for this kind of horror, and the scholar who knows a lot, so he can only feel greater fear. ‘S face turned pale.
[It just went well. Humans, the fact that you came to see me must mean that you have something you want from me. All right, humans. Do you want to make a deal with me…]
Drurrrr…!
The barrier that sealed the evil ancient evil had fine cracks everywhere as if it would collapse at any moment, and among them, a box covered in ominous darkness crossed the barrier and came over here through the lowest gap we could come into contact with.
[It contains what you guys want. In exchange for doing my favor, I will present you with what you want one by one.]
The opponent was born with the fate of never dying unless he was chosen by the gods, and he became the master of all monsters and magic. There was no way he would lie to a mere human, so the princess, the scholar, overwhelmed by his intimidation, and the soldier blinded by vengeance, passing by me watching the situation, strode first to the ominous treasure chest. As if waiting before the soldier touched the lid of the box, the box opened by itself, and an indescribable pitch-like darkness spewed out with a grotesque scream.
“I… Wish…”
Blinded by revenge and rage, the soldier boldly plunged his right arm into the darkness in the box and grabbed something. It seemed to be a structure in which only the person standing in front of the box could see the contents.
“It is a strong power that will take everything away from the abominable bastards who are leading a shameless life after taking precious things from me!!”
[Then, soldier obsessed with hatred, I will present you with the power of destruction to shatter anything that stands in your way.]
The soldier took out a fragment from the box. The dark red magic that flowed through the red fragments wrapped around the body of the soldier, and he, who was only a mere soldier, in an instant gained terrifying power to destroy a kingdom single-handedly in an instant.
Seeing that figure, the scholar, whose desire outweighed his fear, approached the box next to the soldier.
“All I want… Is the power to make those who mocked me laugh at me and regret it!”
[Then, Exiled Scholar, I will present you with the gift of disturbing and changing the order and truth of the world at will.]
The dark indigo that flowed from the dark blue fragments that the scholar took out gave Magi the power to distort the truth and the truth so that the obvious could not be taken for granted.
Following the scholar who burst into madness with joy, the princess, who had no presence at all, gathered up the courage and approached the box.
“All I want is… The power to put everyone at my feet.”
[Then, unrecognized princess, I will present you with the power to force others to bow their heads and kiss your feet.]
The dark yellow shards the princess took out wrapped her body in a mixture of black and gold magic. Soon after, she opened her eyes again, her golden eyes flashing, and a satisfied smile. It was the moment when the power to give up one’s own life without the slightest refusal permeated the denied royal family the moment they forcibly pledged allegiance to others and ordered their death.
[Now, finally… You foreign nobleman who lost everything, what do you want from me?]
Finally it’s my turn… I approach the box. Then, in the endless darkness, the things I wished for began to bubble up one by one.
The charm that attracts countless women, the power to conquer and take away countless lands, and so on…
I couldn’t give up on anything, so I smiled and reached out my hand.
And then, a puzzled voice returned from the immortal dragon.
[You bastard… What the hell are you doing now…!!]
The evil magic dragon would have been taken aback. I lifted the box itself while others reached into the darkness inside and sought what they wanted within.
“Anyway, the first three people took everything, but I’ll just take everything that’s left.”
[What is that…!]
“Take what you want? This is the answer.”
The dragon said he would give him whatever he wanted. And in the box, there were things that person might want, and the way to get one by choosing one of them. However, unable to give up anything, I demanded the box itself, containing the unchosen forces.
[Cunning numbers… Ha. You know how to use your brain quite a bit on the human subject. Yes, that’s good You can’t take back the words once spoken… A nobleman who has lost a lot, you will get more than what you lost according to your desire that is difficult to handle. However, your destiny will be a precarious precipice that will make you fall down the cliff the moment you take even one wrong step.]
The box I lifted eventually turned into the same fragments as the previous three people had taken. The only difference is that the black shard I had was the same size as the shards of the previous three people. This is as per the script.
According to the original script, in this transaction, each of the four people gets what they want one by one, and then fulfills the contract with the demon dragon and gets their own nickname. Serberk smashes everything with terrifying power and is a ‘destroyer’; ‘Tyrant’, and Ragnar Armageddon burn countless lands with an endless army and ‘black army’.
The power that Rag or Armageddon should have originally acquired was a powerful necromantic technique that resurrects the dead and uses them as soldiers, but I took all kinds of powers, including that. Why?
Because I didn’t have the confidence to be able to meet the specs written in the script with just one necromancer.
I know very well who I am I don’t have any special talent, but I don’t have strong tenacity either. Since I have no confidence in myself, I prepare more thoroughly to avoid making mistakes. Receiving the box itself instead of the contents inside was one of those contrasts. He didn’t have the confidence to satisfy enough specs with just one necromancer, so he deliberately got greedy and got more initial specs.
Of course, this choice may lead to regret later, but for now, achieving the problem at hand was the first priority. What if this is a change… There won’t be a big problem, right?
*
Returning to the estate of Hermon Kingdom, safely carrying out the first task of my role, I began what would be expected of ‘the last heir of a fallen noble family who has contracted with an evil entity to recover all that was lost’.
The two dukes who destroyed House Armageddon sent the lower nobles belonging to their factions and the privates they brought with them. The beginning was to kill all the vulgar and greedy beasts wearing human masks who came in the name of Yeongjijeon to rob all of the last remaining mansions. I wondered what to do if I hesitated at the moment of harming a person’s life, but I had no hesitation or regret when I took their lives, perhaps because the actions of the goddess Luminous were very good.
I didn’t treat them as non-human beings, and even though I was aware that they were people who spoke and thought like me, I didn’t feel any discomfort at putting an end to their lives. Because of the cast, I’m going to be the villain, and they were the enemies I had to deal with in the process. I left no survivors, lest rumors of my powers spread, lest the two duchies, who wanted the complete downfall of House Armageddon, become wary.
A total of 300 soldiers from neighboring territories died in the end before the advance of the immortal army, which revived even after killing them, and those who died in that way also joined my army. In the midst of such a very quiet and secret expansion of power… I met.
“Everything is the work of that woman alone! We really have nothing to do with each other! I will sacrifice her, so please be merciful and ensure our safety…!”
A red-haired female warrior who was caught and dragged before me because of the betrayal of those she wanted to protect after stepping out with good intentions for those who had nothing to give to her just because she was a weakling.
Guardian Mars. According to the script, it was quite shocking to see one of the hero’s fellow candidates, one of the heroes who would later come to defeat me along with the hero… Sitting on his knees in front of me with all weapons taken and tied up with ropes. No, why are you doing that there?
“Sup… Ha.”
Until yesterday, the resistance of the girl I met in the Battle of the Territory was so strong that I was contemplating whether I should just give up on this village and change the invasion route to another place… Tossing the shield at the enemy, begging him to give it to you so that he could save his own life. If I had just followed her words, this village would not have been burned down, and no matter how much the country did not harm the civilians who did not resist, I would let them live a new life in my territory if I wanted to…
It was truly servile and disgusting to see the villagers betraying those who protect them only with good intentions, for the sake of my own comfort, so I sighed and ordered the undead troops to advance into the village.
