Chapter 36 - It’s Been a Long Time, but the Real World Is Still Cruel

 

With his back turned to the location of the floating portal, Jae took off towards the direction of the screams.

“Gyaaaah...!!”

This way.

Following the harrowed howls that reverberated throughout the trees, the gradual darkening of the sky above only made the situation feel even more distressing; but Jae didn’t let it overwhelm him.

“Ahh...! No--”

Within a few minutes that felt many times longer, he arrived at the site of trouble.

Crunch-!

That’s...

“Kuaghk! Shit...! A-ahh! Hey! Hey, you! Gotta... Cough, help, please...!”

A man lying in a bloody mess called out. He appeared to be missing half of one of his legs, and by turning one’s head just slightly to the left, it wasn’t hard to figure out the cause.

Crunch, crack-!

An oversized lizard chewed on the bones of whoever had been most recently eaten. Staring at the rather familiar creature, Jae muttered. “A baby drake, huh...”

However, something was strange―drakes weren’t creatures one would typically find inhabiting a forest, and Jae knew this fact well because he had dealt with countless drakes and other lizard-type species in the Pride Dungeon.

How did it wind up in such an odd place... No, did it leak through the portal too...?

He came up with such a theory, but in the end, it didn’t matter. What mattered, was to eliminate the threat in front of him.

It doesn’t seem big enough to be an adult, so it shouldn’t be much stronger than Level 40.

Activating Envy, he immediately found himself to be correct. Then, having more or less gauged the abilities of the monster, he reached his hand to the back of his neck.

“!?”

The one-legged man flinched as the weapon Jae pulled from his back was unlike anything he had ever seen―a white ‘sword’, roughly two-and-a-half metres in length, and in the shape of a pointy tooth.

Alright, then...

“Crunch, gulp-! Graooouhh...!”

Facing the young drake, which let out a prehistoric cry, Jae simply pointed the weapon forth.

Let’s try this thing out.

There was no need to activate any buff skills like Power Burst, and thanks to all the meditation training with Aphy, Fighting Spirit was now a more or less controllable force. All he needed was the weapon in his hands―one he hadn’t even much time to practise with―and a well-placed stab.

Briefly smirking at the weighty feeling of the inhuman object he held, Jae promptly jumped forward.

“Graaao--”

Thud.

Before the lizard even had time to finish its intimidating cry, it was over; the fang harvested a very long time ago from the carcass of a baby dragon was much too sharp and tough for the body of the drake to bear.

As was stated, just one well-placed stab was enough.

Perfect, Jae thought. He had only modified the tooth to have a handle and saw no need to sharpen it as a blade, and thankfully, this ‘battle’ had proven him to be correct.

I’ll have to train my skills to raise the level of Greatsword Mastery, but that will come naturally. Like Aphy said, I shouldn’t focus so much on the tree that I lose sight of the forest.

But that wasn’t the end, as alongside the death of the monster came a slew of notifications.

Notifications Jae didn’t expect to see at all.

Huh...?

Seeing these, he recalled the Level Limit Block from before.

Max Level? Is this what Aphy put that there for? What’s this all about...

He read on.

‘Level Up process’...? What the-- Oh, does this mean I get to finally level up one of my Unique Skills to Level 5? I thought that was only from clearing the Dungeons...

Until now, the three Sin-series skills were stuck at Level 4, and no matter how much Jae had grown since entering the Pride Dungeon, that situation never improved. But, was it finally time for that to change?

Hm, I wonder which one I should pick...

Just as he began to contemplate the matter, a shout was heard.

[Me! Pick me, you bastard!]

“Woah!? Damn, that surprised me...”

[Hey, it’s been a hell of a long time, but don’t tell me you forgot, you son of a bitch! Cause I sure didn’t!]

For the first time in a long, long while, Wrath was here. And of course, he didn’t come alone.

[What’s this? Oh, you finally got out of that place, huh. Well, doesn’t this area seem awfully familiar? Why is there another forest?]

Envy was also here. Grimacing, Jae grabbed his head.

“...I can’t believe I ever felt lonely without you guys, even for a second.“

It was a long time ago, but he remembered it distinctly; now with disdain. Forgetting what it was like to be hounded by irritable disembodied voices 24/7, Jae loathed the thought that he would have to get used to dealing with it again.

Ugh, whatever. At least it’s only the two of them...

Still, trying his best to move on, the situation regarding the survivors of the drake attack was yet to be resolved. Pushing the matter with the skill Level Up aside for now, he closed the notification windows and turned around, cleaning the fang of blood with magic before sheathing it on his back.

“Hey. That was the only one, right?” Jae called the one-legged man. He seemed a bit rough, but not at all like a threat. Unfortunately, one thing he didn’t learn was how to use healing magic the way a dragon does, so there was no helping that.

“Yeah... That’s right...”

The man seemed quite dazed, perhaps because of his injuries but also since his focus was wholly placed on the unbelievable weapon adorning Jae’s back. Meanwhile, Jae scanned the area and felt something was wrong.

There are a lot of bodies... If we include the guy who was eaten just before I got here, it seems like there were at least eight of them. There are two more drake carcasses over there that look like the parents, so maybe that’s why, but considering this guy’s Level, how were they almost entirely wiped out?

With Envy, it was no trouble at all to see that the man was a decent Level. If all eight of them were of similar skill, then even if the enemy consisted of two adult drakes, it was hard to imagine being completely wiped out.

Well, maybe they aren’t all equal. Some of these guys’s Levels are only in their teens and twenties.

Looking at the Soul State of some of the unconscious people lying around, he could piece things together like so, at least.

Huh... No, but wait, if they weren’t capable of taking care of these fellas, then why’d they even fight them? Surely, they would know if they were able to do something like that or not, but they stuck around anyway? Why?

Putting his thinking power on full force, he still couldn’t come up with a good reason for why they wouldn’t just run away. It wasn’t like drakes were particularly fast, after all, and the group even seemed to have a carriage on the side prepared, though the horses appeared to have either fled or been eaten by the monsters.

Well... I guess it doesn’t matter. Anyway, there’s nothing else I can do for these guys, but I’m sure Aphy put me here for a reason. Is there something else around here I haven’t seen yet?

From Jae’s perspective, Aphy was the one who connected one side of the portal to the other, and so assumed that she must have had him go here for some kind of purpose―Why else would she have asked him to sort something out for her?

Hmm...

There was a small carriage on one side covered with a sheet of leather, presumably to shield it from the rain, but it seemed inconspicuous enough that he took no notice of it. Other than that, there wasn’t really anything noteworthy around here, at least from what Jae could see.

Well. Guess I’ll take a look.

Not thinking much of it, he took a few steps forward.

“O-oi! Where d’ya think you’re goin’!?”

Suddenly, the man broke free of his stupor and yelled. Taken aback, Jae paused for a moment.

“Huh? Hey, I saved your lives, didn’t I? Don’t tell me I can’t take one small peek.”

“Don’t!”

Isn’t that just more suspicious? Idiot.

Ignoring the man’s cries, Jae knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything in his current state anyway, and if he had some method of healing himself, he would have used it a long time ago.

“Then, let’s see...”

Activating mana detection at the same time as he slid the leather cover to the side, Jae uncovered the contents of the wooden carriage.

Immediately, he froze.

“......”

“A-ah, d’ya happen to see...? Well, it ain’t what it looks like. Let me explain...”

The man raised his voice and began to speak at a much quicker pace than before, perhaps intuitively sensing that the time he had remaining was slim.

“......”

However, none of his words entered Jae’s ears.

“...This...”

He turned to face the man for the final time.

“Did you do this?”

And with the coldest tone he had ever mustered, asked a single question.

“U-uhh...”

Flinching, the nameless man faltered, but that small hesitation was enough.

“No, wait a sec--”

Woosh~!

Thud.

“......”

Following a gust of wind that blew through the surrounding area, a chilling silence dawned.

[Ooh. How cold. You know, I never expected to see such a side of you, you brat.]

[Likewise. Although, it’s certainly been a long time, has it not? People, humans especially, are bound to change across a span of years.]

[‘Course, I know all that. It’s not like I dislike this kind of change either, bahaha!]

Letting the words of Wrath and Envy disturb the quiet, as well as muddle the compounding thoughts and emotions swarming his mind and body, Jae turned his attention to the notification that appeared just a few seconds before.

“...Experience points for killing somebody... How brutal.”

Logically, he thought there must be some kind of limitation on it or else criminality would run rampant throughout the world, but if he were honest, Jae didn’t want to think about things like that right now.

“By the way; let’s level up Envy.”

Moving on to another subject promptly, Jae aimed to take his mind off of the fact he just committed murder for the first time in his life. He could self-justify it by repeating to himself that it was deserved and morally righteous, but only by living it out over time would he cement that feeling fully.

[What!? What about me!? You little fu--]

“Because, you are an asshole. Got it?”

[Bah! So what? Do you even know how much my Malignant Flame has served you these past years? Ungrateful brat!]

“You’re right. And maybe, if you weren’t such an annoying bitch, you would get the level up. But, seeing as you seem to want it so badly, I think I’ll be delaying that as much as possible.”

[Whaaat?! This is absurd...!]

“You get what you deserve.”

Just like these disgusting pigs.

[Kuhahaha. I’m the representative of Envy, but aren’t you acting even more jealous than me? Maybe you should start playing a bit nicer.]

[You shut your mouth, lucky bastard! I...]

Oh, Jesus, here they go again.

Trying his best to ignore them, Jae opened the System window.

[No!]

“Yes.”

[Nooo...!!]

“Nice.”

[Kuahahahat...!]

That was easy.

Jae’s reasoning behind choosing Envy was simple. First off, Wrath had already been excluded for his personality, and Gluttony was also written off as a no-go for now. Why? Because, as Jae puts it...

I get that it’s probably the best choice for long-term growth, but I’m way too fucking tired of picking and choosing what to eat to deal with more nonsense.

That was all there was to it, and since Envy was the only one remaining, that was what he chose.

“Oh, sweet. I almost forgot about that...”

Knowing there was something of much greater urgency to focus his attention on, Jae decided to try the new ability out later. Facing the carriage, he tore off the leather covering to reveal the contents that lay within.

“......”

Looking at the sight once again, he clenched his fists.

Maybe I let them off too easy...

He thought nothing less than death would be a fitting punishment for the ones responsible for what he saw, but perhaps he acted a little too hastily.

...No, it doesn’t matter. It’s over now, anyway. All that matters―

Reaching into the rather claustrophobic space of the carriage, Jae pulled out a young girl.

―Is that I can make up for the damage caused.

The unconscious girl, who didn’t appear any older than four, or maybe five years old, was covered in old rags and cuffed with some sort of black metal that reminded him of the palace’s suspicious door from wayback when.

But neither of those were what grabbed Jae’s attention the most.

She’s not human...

White hair, as pure as fresh snow on a winter’s eve, and two smooth, black horns that protruded from her forehead like onyx gemstones―with but a glance, it would be obvious to anyone what she was.

“...A Demon.”

Even Jae, who had only heard the term through Aphy, knew. Though the girl’s appearance was undoubtedly startling at first, he had long gotten accustomed to Aphy’s many inhuman features; seeing abnormal-coloured hair, or even horns like this didn’t feel particularly strange at this point.

Moreover, he had noticed it just before, but the girl’s mana capacity seemed to far outweigh that of all the men from earlier combined―at least, of those who were alive. In fact, wasn’t it a bit too much magic energy for a kid...?

In any case, there was no need to wonder why this girl was here―Jae’s previous experience reading about various fantasy worlds was more than enough to let his imagination run wild.

“Fuck...”

...I guess her value as a Demon was high enough that it was worth these bastards to put their lives on the line against those drakes?

If that were the case, then although it might sound insane, perhaps it turned out in a best-case scenario.

Because, if nothing else, it was fortunate that she seemed to be treated with as much care as one could expect of a high-value “product”―the girl didn’t appear harmed or ‘damaged’ in any way.

It’s been a long time, but the real world is still cruel... Damn it.

Grabbing the chains that bound her hands and feet, Jae crushed them in his grip and made sure to gently remove the bindings so as to not leave too bad a mark. Finally, he unwound the fur blanket and wrapped it around her body. The sun was soon to set, and the atmospheric temperature was steadily decreasing.

I can use magic to maintain a healthy level of warmth, but what she needs is shelter... Oh, shit, and food.

Water wasn’t a problem because he could simply generate it through magic, but the same wasn’t true for food. Jae only thought to bring a small bit of food with him since he thought he could just hunt something if he was hungry, and he never thought he would be gone for that long in the first place. But, he didn’t want to have to feed this girl in that way.

I’d rather offer up my own flesh than feed someone else something like goblin meat; no one should go through something like that.

Well, he had enough for the meantime, so he would figure something out. Before that, though, he was curious about something.

Envy.

 

“Woah.” Jae quietly exclaimed. He had a feeling there was something different, but he didn’t expect there to be so much strange stuff.

As I thought, this girl must be what Aphy was talking about...

Going through it all in order, he unpacked it slowly.

First of all, the Race―A Spirit-Demon mix? That must be the source of her magic energy.

“Hm? But I thought Aphy said Spirits couldn’t reproduce with physical races because of their inherent magical biology... Well, clearly it must be possible somehow, right?”

In any case, that explained one thing.

“Next is... Her name.”

Rena.

However, her surname was blocked out for whatever reason.

“Hmm... Aphy did say that Spirits are most involved with the soul, and what Envy’s showing me now is called the Soul State, right? So, could it be that?”

[Indeed, it is likely the case of spiritual interference. Boy, did you know? Spirits are the only ones to deal with the matter of souls, and anyone who pretends to have an original ability related to the soul only stole it from them. The same goes for this power of mine, kahaha.]

“I see...”

It wasn’t surprising to hear that Envy was the one to steal something, but it was certainly interesting to hear that all soul-related abilities originated from Spirits.

Okay, moving on. Her Level is 1, but that’s probably normal for a five-year-old little kid. A limit of 600 seems absolutely wild, though―even the Goblin Lord was only barely above level 100. I can’t imagine someone being able to live long enough to reach that high unless she’s immortal.

“Speaking of which...”

Health.

815.

It seemed absurd for a child, but Jae thought of it differently.

“Compared to HP, Health has always seemed strange. Like, whenever I fought goblins all the way back then, didn’t my HP far outclass their Health? But, some of them were still quite tanky. They have to be values with different meanings behind them.”

He didn’t know what it was, but he knew it had to bear a different meaning than HP.

Maybe it's a predicted lifespan or something? I’ve got no clue.

Anyway, regarding the topic of Health, there was something else odd about the girl.

“This... ‘[SR=N*F]’. What the hell is this? Do any of you guys know?”

[You think I’d tell you even if I knew!? Little shi--]

“Okay, okay. Anyone else?”

[I’m afraid the answer is ‘no’.]

[Saaame~ Buut~ Do you think you can do me a favouuur~? Try eating that food over thereee~]

“Tsk, of course... What, you mean the drakes? I’ll get to that later.”

[Mmmm, that toooo~ But I meant the other scraps lying arounnnd~]

“...Huh?”

Turning his head, Jae glanced around, but he didn’t see anything new. There were only the same surrounding trees, the carriage, the drake carcasses, and the criminals’ corpses... Wait.

Jae’s brows furrowed. “You’re not... Seriously telling me to eat a human corpse, are you? Screw off.”

[Whaaaa~? Whyyyy~? Who knows what surprises you might get~?]

“Shut up, and don’t mention it again. This is the last time we’re talking about this.”

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with this guy? This is insane... No, I have to remember they’re not human. This kind of shit is typical for them. Ugh. Anyway...

If he were honest, Jae didn’t want to spend too much time thinking about things he knew he wouldn’t get an answer for, like whatever that weird status condition meant. At best, he could guess that it had something to do with the girl being part Spirit, but that was all.

“Haa. Okay. Her Magic Energy is insane, just like I expected, but there’s not much to say about it. Then... Karma? That’s high. Wow. Isn’t this the highest value I’ve ever seen? The Goblin Lord... I don’t remember what his Karma was, but it can’t have been this much.”

Just like with Health, Jae had no idea what Karma meant exactly, but it was probably a positive thing.

“Next-- Oh, this is new? ‘Condition’... Is it because Envy levelled up? Wow...”

From the looks of things, it seemed to be that the Soul State now listed the target’s mental and physical condition. It looked like something that would be more useful for confirming his suspicions than anything―that, or semi-functional mind reading.

[That’s right. Isn’t it useful? Much better than that brute who only knows destruction.]

[What’d you say!?]

“Hah... Well, you have a point. Though, it seems more supplementary than standalone useful. I’m sure it’ll come in handy at some point.”

Even now, it was nice to know that the girl was ‘slowly calming’, most likely because her restraints had been removed and she was wrapped in such a fluffy blanket. Despite the rest of her Condition being undeniably terrible, she would recover soon enough.

By the time she wakes up, hopefully it’ll improve to a healthy degree... Oh, wait, is she gonna think that I’m part of that kidnapper group?

He paused for a moment and looked at the girl, not knowing what he would do if that turned out to be the case.

“...Well. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Surely. Right?

“......”

Staring silently at the little one’s face, recent memories of what Aphy asked him to do couldn’t help but resurface.

“’Just as I have done for you, take good care of those you meet’... Hah. Alright, then...”

Jae wondered if the girl was perhaps related to the acquaintance in distress that Aphy mentioned, but either way, it didn’t change what he had to do. Expanding the range of mana detection to its fullest extent, he found a rather sizable group of people not that far of a distance away.

There’s a lot of them; is it a village? Then, is it where this girl was taken from?

Whether it was or wasn’t the case, there was nothing to lose by giving it a shot. After taking a quick bite out of the three dead drakes, Jae lifted up the sleeping girl encased within the blanket. Carrying her in his arms, he headed in the direction of the village. And, for the first time in a long while.

He felt a great purpose in his actions.