Chapter 14.

“Ehem.”

Out of nowhere, someone cleared their throat nearby. I hadn’t noticed when they’d arrived and it seemed the two heroes were similarly oblivious to the unexpected guest’s presence. The three of us looked over to where the sound originated and discovered a cloaked individual with an intimidating sword that reeked of danger on their back. What was more surprising to see was the puppy they held by the scruff of its neck.

“Ah! The Cerberus! Wait, aren’t you the masked man that saved us before? So we meet again!” DH1M’s eyes brightened up as he called out to the uninvited third party.

The masked individual shrouded in mystery… who am I kidding here? We all know who this masked retard actually is.

My eyes locked onto her mask and I stared daggers into her, but she immediately averted her gaze to the side. She didn’t say anything either.

DH1M inquired, “What are you doing here, mysterious savior?”

She raised her hand up and pointed directly at me.

“Oh, so you do know him after all. He said he had no idea who you were when we asked him about you.”

She unsheathed her sword and wrote a message in the ground.

Her message read, ‘I was in the nearby vicinity and I was attracted by the commotion this puppy stirred up so I caught it on my way here then followed it’s footsteps back to this village.’

Bullshit, I don’t buy that explanation for a second. The heroes didn’t doubt their mysterious savior’s words at all though. They welcomed her with wide-open arms, completely oblivious to the fact that their greatest adversary casually stood directly before them. Well, make that second greatest. Aren’t I actually doing the exact same thing?

“Defective NPC, what is the meaning of this? You said you didn’t know him, but he seems to know you.”

“I’ve met many people, I may have talked to this weirdo once in passing. It’s not like I’ll remember every random passerby in my life.”

“To think that our savior is actually strong enough to effortlessly catch this beast. Amazing.” DH1M took every chance he got to kiss his savior’s ass.

‘I’ll deal with this puppy, you can leave it to me.’

“Uh… in that case...” DH1M’s discreetly peeked at me from the corner of his eyes, clearly concerned about his quest.

“Sure, whatever. It seems you lucked out and hit the jackpot this time, DH. I’ll give you the reward for the quest this time since it seems your acquaintance took care of this for you.” I tossed the hero a bag filled with ten thousand gold coins. That was the amount that stupid silver cat gave me for the reward.

“So much?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah. That’s what the person who issued the quest was giving out for the reward. I was also skeptical about the reward, but it makes sense why it was so much now. It was all a dastardly ploy by Demon Lord Xander.”

“Could it be we’re about to finally trigger the main storyline?”

“Huh? Nah. I was just teasing you with a bit of information. You’re still too green for fledgling heroes.” Well, in all honesty, I just wanted to frame good old Xander since it’s fun.

Yin who heard me planting the blame on Xander wrote out another message on the ground, ‘Yes, it’s all that evil Demon Lord Xander’s fault.’ 

If I had to name the one thing Yin and I had in common, it was definitely blaming everything on the poor little Demon Lord Xander. I should add, the guy seriously hates our guts but is helpless to do anything about it. He’s petitioned on several occasions for Demon Lord rights in the workplace, but nobody listens to him. He’s even gone on strike a few times in the past, standing outside the GDR’s castle all by himself with a sign in hand demanding change.

If there was an award for the one man in this world who wanted to kill me the most, that award would have undoubtedly gone to the forthright Xander. Every time I think back to the image of him posing outside at Yin’s castle with protest signs in hand I can’t help but get a good laugh.

“Demon Lord Xander, was it? Uh… can we hear more about him in detail? Any time we try to get information about the Demon Lord people just shake their head and spit to the side refusing to say a thing. He must be quite the evil and powerful Demon Lord if he can instill such resentment in the populace.”

“Yes, he is truly the greatest scourge that plagues this region of land, but as I mentioned before, any further details will need to wait for when you trigger the main storyline quest.”

“I… see.”

“Uh… by the way, if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly is your name?” The hero shook it off and immediately redirected his focus on Yin.

Yin wrote a message on the ground in response, ‘Just call me GDR.’ I nearly choked on my own saliva when she gave that for her name. Was she secretly a masochist? Did she actually enjoy being called that?

“GDR? What a strange name.”

“Hey, considering your overwhelming strength, would you be interested in teaming up with us to fight those evil demonic beings that threaten the human race?”

Yin silently nodded her head. Easy! Why the hell are you just going along with it? You are the freaking Greater Demon God, you do know that right! Right!

“Haha. Hahaha. Heroes, if you don’t mind, I need to discuss some important matters with GDR in private.”

“Okay…”

“Ah, right, I almost forgot, as for your next quest, go kill something. You can pick something you want, I don’t really care. Now scram.”

“What the hell do you mean go kill something? What kind of vague quest is that supposed to be? Is there some sort of secret enemy you want us to kill?”

“Secret enemy… hehehe. Actually, yeah. Sure. Let’s go with that then. Go to this castle, here on the map, then yell out my name at the top of your lungs and your enemy will naturally appear. Oh, you’ll get bonus points if you can capture this enemy alive. Though if you find that you can’t capture them alive, just kill them. It’s not a big deal if they die.” A nefarious smile formed on my face as I provided them with further instructions for their quest.

It’s been quite a while since we’ve met. That good old buddy of mine.

“Can you please stop smiling, it’s seriously disgusting,” White interjected.

“Go on little girl, scram, shoo, shoo. Nobody wants you here.”

White rolled her eyes and dragged the hero away pulling on the back of his collar.

“What are you doing, White? I still had questions for GDR.”

“You can ask them when we get back. Those two clearly have something going on. Can you not read the mood at all?”

“Something going on?”

“Yes, we’ll discuss this later. That guide NPC, there's something very strange about him.”

“White, did you go and fall for NPC69 after that kiss or something? You need to be careful, White. I didn’t want to say anything because I was afraid you’d misunderstand my intentions, but he’s actually the instructor for a powerful charm skill. He taught me it as a reward for one of the quests. Remember when he called you over before and asked you to look deep in your eyes? He said his skill failed, but you never know, maybe it did actually have some sort of an effect.”

“HAH! Mudkipz, are you a retard? Me? Fall for that thing? You surely have a death wish to even put together those words in the same sentence.”

“Haha. I’m kidding…”

“You better not make such disgusting jokes again. Me and that NPC? NEVER! I’d rather kill myself than breathe the same air as him. If I could move to the dark side of the moon, I would, just so I could be as far away from that thing as possible. Just knowing that the rays from the same in-game sun are hitting both our bodies is enough for me to feel sick to my stomach. That thing and I can’t even exist under the same sun.”

You know, even if you don’t intentionally say all of that so loud for me to hear it, I can still hear every word the two of you are saying even at this distance. No need to waste so much energy.

It seemed White’s impression of me didn’t know what rock bottom was. Even when you thought her impression of me had long arrived at the bottom, it somehow found a way to dig the hole even deeper. Well, my charm was negative infinity, would a rock bottom even exist?