Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy
Iris
Within the grand arena, there was a residential area designated for dignitaries.
Reiji-san and I were currently seated in one of the small salons allocated to us, the Nordglacier delegates. Confidential discussions about national secret might take place in one such salon.
“It’s turned into quite a mess, hasn’t it…?”
“Yeah… can’t even enjoy a day of tourism without getting in trouble.”
I shared the tales I’d heard from Master Nephilim, while Reiji-san recounted the earlier events of the day, as we exchanged information.
Though the tales did bring up some interesting points, the incident Reiji-san encountered was simply much more urgent, so naturally, it was the focus of the discussion.
According to Reiji-san’s account, several Great Martial Arts Festival participants from Nordglacier had been attacked, all with unclear motives. Apparently, word had reached His Majesty’s ears due to the severity of the matter.
While all the victims had been tended to by healers at the Church’s infirmary and were out of immediate danger, the lingering effects of the poison used made participating in the tournament hopeless.
I offered to provide treatment, but was politely declined. They were wary that my interference might reflect poorly on the Church.
And so, amidst heightened security compared to the daytime, Reiji-san and I found ourselves lounging in the salon, idle.
“…Nii-sama’s late.”
In order to meet with Kirsche-san, Ouka-san and Master Nephilim tomorrow, Nii-sama had gone to negotiate with His Majesty and Leonhardt-sama, seeking their permission.
An hour had passed since then.
“I guess getting permission won’t be that easy now… Worst case, I’ll go alone…”
“It’s regrettable, given the promise we made… but I suppose there’s no helping it.”
As Reiji-san sighed and reached for the empty cup to refill it with tea… the door clicked open.
“I’m back. Sorry for the wait.”
Entering the room was…
“Nii-sama! Did you get the permission to go out…?”
“It was a struggle, but I did. However…”
Nii-sama settled at the table, took the cup I offered him, moistened his lips with tea, then opened his mouth with a bitter expression.
“…Long story short, tomorrow will likely be the last day we can go out. By tomorrow evening, His Majesty Alfgard’s consort… the Queen, and their son, the Crown Prince, are scheduled to arrive.”
“After such incidents, they probably don’t want to spread the guards as much as possible… is that it?”
“Yeah. I managed to persuade them with insistence on important matters, but tomorrow, Reiji and… also Miriam, will have to accompany us as guards.”
“W-Well… I suppose there’s no other way around it…”
It was frightening to imagine what might happen when Master Nephilim and Milly-san joined forces, but given the circumstances, it couldn’t be helped.
Considering the risks of going out amidst the ongoing incidents, we needed to act with utmost caution, which I reminded myself of.
At that moment, a discreet knock sounded.
“…Apologies for interrupting your conversation. Is Reiji-sama present here?”
I heard a reserved female voice… if I recalled correctly, she’s one of His Majesty’s attendants.
“That would be me. What’s the matter?”
“One of the guards have something to report, and he requires your presence.”
“The guards…?”
Reiji-san glanced back at us briefly.
It must be a very urgent situation for the guards to be brought in during the private time between me and Nii-sama, two members of the royal family.
However, since Reiji-san was here as our escort, he couldn’t open the door without our permission, nor could we allow the guard in.
So, we exchanged glances with Reiji-san, silently acknowledging the need for him to leave.
“Gotcha, I’ll be out for a bit.”
It was most likely related to the incident Reiji-san encountered, just as we were discussing about it earlier.
With Reiji-san conversing outside, Nii-sama and I strained our ears to listen…
“…What did you say?”
Reiji-san’s shocked voice echoed clearly.
“…Those two we caught earlier… were poisoned to death in their cells…?!”
Seiten
Adjacent to the main island of Ares Isle, on a remote islet with few inhabitants.
In a deserted pathway where the only source of light seemed to be the moonlight streaming from above, a lone man walked.
His name was Seiten.
He had appeared suddenly a couple months ago, and swiftly conquered several regularly held tournaments, emerging as a rising star with high expectations.
He appeared to be just out of his teenage years, yet his battles were filled with such youthful vigor, strength, and purity.
Regardless of his opponents, he faced them head-on and decisively overcame them with a dignified and imposing fighting style, swiftly becoming a hero of the arena.
Moreover, not only was he strong, but he also seemed to possess a sense of showmanship, learned from somewhere… how to entertain the audience, never forgetting to please the spectators.
His flashy and powerful techniques unleashed at crucial moments captivated the spectators, and his fan base grew rapidly.
On the other hand, in situations unrelated to combat, he displayed a youthful innocence befitting his appearance, often seen blushing and scrambling amidst female spectators, which added to his charm.
In any case… in this year’s Great Martial Arts Festival, he was undeniably the top contender for victory in the freshman division, with an outstanding record that made it clear he would win if things proceeded as expected.
…It was evident that he would become an obstacle to their plans. Furthermore, today, due to his involvement, they were forced to dispose of two of their members.
…At this point, calling him an obstacle wasn’t enough. Before he became a nuisance, he had to be eliminated without fail… such was the order that had just been issued from the higher-ups.
They already knew that the blond man was camping in an area outside the city where no one ventured.
Given the substantial amount of prize money he had surely earned, it wasn’t that he lacked funds for accommodation. Rather, it seemed as if he was waiting to be attacked.
As he left the city and the surroundings became devoid of people… ahead of his gaze, the blond man stopped and turned around.
“…Hey, still there? There’s no one else around, so just come at me already.”
Whether he understood the situation or not, he began stretching casually, as if warming up before a match.
“Hmph, noticing our presence yet still casually strolling all the way to this place alone…”
The assassins who had been lurking around revealed themselves.
…Six of them in total.
They were a different operational unit from the lower-ranking operatives captured during the daytime, each of them seasoned fighters capable of overwhelming tournament participants in one-on-one combat.
Certainly, the man facing them was strong. However, they had deployed sufficient forces considering that.
Yet… the man didn’t seem perturbed by their presence. Whether he underestimated their abilities due to inability to gauge his opponent’s strength, or whether his recent undefeated streak had led him to believe he could handle anything… that was their judgment.
“No need for small talk. You guys are clearly here to kill me, so do it quick before I run out of patience.”
“In that case… come, all of you!”
All six of them readied their weapons.
Upon seeing this, the blond man also took a stance of sorts—just then, a seventh figure emerged from behind him, the dagger in his hand flashing in the darkness of the night—…
The whole ordeal was finished in a matter of seconds.
“…Is that all you’ve got? Pathetic.”
Amidst the chilly night air, a voice tinged with disappointment echoed.
Standing amidst the suffocating scent of blood, the man showed no concern as he stood stoically, drenched in blood himself—blood that was not his own.
Around him laid… seven humanoid shapes.
No… they didn’t even look humanoid anymore.
One lay twisted with limbs bent in unnatural directions, exposing white bones stained crimson throughout his body.
One had chunks of his torsos missing, as if something had exploded, leaving only part of his upper and lower halves behind.
One… seemed to be a mass of flesh with limbs attached, as if they had melded together.
Others had their necks twisted at unnatural angles, or were coughing up large amounts of blood despite no apparent external injuries—all were sprawled in a gruesome state in a sea of blood.
And there they lay, scattered across the barren wilderness like avant-garde sculptures, leaving the earth exposed as if a monster had rampaged through.
Yes… they all used to be assassins from the same organization.
The only one standing, was Seiten, their supposed elimination target.
Actually, there was still another assassin in hiding.
Having witnessed the entire spectacle, he trembled in hiding behind a rock, praying not to be discovered by Seiten in his blood-soaked state.
…In addition to the execution team, there should be an additional operative accompanying them to clean up the mess in case they failed and to conceal the scene in case of any emergency… that’s why the last assassin was here.
But their target, no, that monster.
Despite wreaking havoc, he remained on high alert at all times. There was opening in his stance.
A hero? Ridiculous. That’s nothing more than a superficial facade. No, that man is a beast, or rather, an evil fiend straight from Hell… the assassin thought.
If they couldn’t win, then he must prioritize bringing back information to his comrades. That was the decision—no, it was an excuse he made to himself to get away from this situation, to turn on his heel and—
“…Found… YOU!!”
“…?!”
In that moment of realization, his head was seized from behind, and he was lifted into the air. His futile attempts to escape only kicked at empty space.
“…When did… you… How…?!”
“Oh well, I caught a whiff of quite a bit of blood, you know?”
“Sto…p… plea…se… a…a…ghhhh!”
Amidst intense pain, a sound that should never have reached my brain shattered his skull.
In his increasingly reddened field of vision, his unexpectedly locked eyes with golden eyes gleaming in the darkness.
Those eyes… were filled with madness.
They belonged to an unstoppable “Berserker” that crushes everything standing in his way.
With the assassin’s final thought being the complete failure of his mission… his consciousness faded away.
“…I messed up. I should have extracted information from them.”
I clutched my head in frustration, still caught up in the excitement of what I had done.
Returning to my senses, I realized that the last remaining attacker was no longer in a condition to provide any information.
“Well, so much for the so-called special forces of the west… Turns out, they weren’t all that impressive after all.”
I muttered to himself as I tossed aside the thing I had been holding in my right hand, its contents dripping out and splattering onto the ground.
Considering the palpable killing intents from the attackers, I was somewhat disappointed at how little they put up a fight. As I felt this disappointment, memories of the Sword Saint I encountered during the day resurfaced.
I want to fight him.
While I had acquiesced to the circumstances during the day, the desire still churned within me.
The reason for my fixation on that man was because he was the only player confirmed to possess a unique class similar to my own.
I was intentionally suppressing that for now. This wasn’t a game; if I were to harm the innocent, there would be no going back.
I understood. That’s why, apart from secluded areas like this, my kept his abilities sealed.
But… there were times when I couldn’t help but be tempted by the idea of being released from the shackles of reason, allowing my primal instincts to take over in a fight.
“Then again… that guy isn’t interested in that kind of thing…”
There were countless ways to make that Sword Saint take me seriously. For example, he cherished the girl who always accompanied him dearly. If she were ever in danger…
“Wait, no, no, no!? No, that’s absolutely not happening, right?!”
With a loud cry, I jumped into the dark sea to flee from his thoughts, which were drifting toward an absurd direction.
The warm summer sea, even at night, swiftly washed away the clinging scent of blood.
After diving underwater for a while, swimming wildly to release my impulses… eventually, as exhaustion set in and I let go of the strength in my limbs, I surfaced.
“*pant*… No matter what, if I did that, I’d just be a villain, huh…”
Even though I had become stronger by admiring heroes I saw in anime, straying from that path was out of the question. It would tarnish that admiration.
Moreover… I simply couldn’t do such a thing. I didn’t have a hobby of tormenting the weak, and that was especially true if it was a cute girl. I would hesitate to even leave a scratch on her.
I would hesitate… or so he thought.
“…Damn, guess I must have been really drunk on blood.”
To think that I would consider harming even that girl, who treated me the same as anyone else and whose charm had captivated me, even for a moment… I was truly losing himself in madness.
Muttering in disbelief at his own foolishness, I relaxed his entire body and let myself be carried by the waves. The pleasantly cool water of midsummer seemed to cool down my heated mind.
And above me, a sky filled with stars, a sight I hadn’t seen in my original world, stretched out. Floating in the water like this, I felt like I could quietly contemplate.
What I recalled was the past few months since arriving in this world.
I had conversed with several players in similar situations, and most of them lamented being caught up in such circumstances.
But… I was different. I alone was rejoicing in this situation without any hesitation.
The game called “Worldgate Online” was very realistic in sensation, but pain was much duller compared to reality.
Naturally so, there shouldn’t be a game that causes the same pain as reality. Especially not one where fighting and such were involved.
Therefore, “Worldgate Online” had… no, all Full Dive VR games had measures to mitigate pain. That’s why I had set the pain relief measures to the minimum, but even then, the pain I felt was no more than being lightly tapped, which had always been unsatisfactory.
On the other hand, in this world, being punched hurt, and being cut made blood flow.
In a sudden and jarring encounter with reality that left everyone trembling in fear… I alone had stepped forward joyfully. Was there something wrong with me after all?
Realizing that I was standing in Ares Isle, his hometown and the arena island, I first rushed to the arena. Without showing interest in anything else, I sought his place, the battlefield.
After that, it was just fighting. Fighting, fighting, fighting… before he knew it, I had become quite famous.
And as I settled into his current life and finally began to calm down, a sense of emptiness suddenly came over me.
The people of this world, who had fought and survived in the midst of danger, should have been those who tempered themselves.
On the other hand, I gained strength in a safe sandbox called “Worldgate Online.” And this body was much stronger than my original world’s body.
What’s the difference between that and cheating? Can I be proud of this power?
It was a question that shook the core of my being.
To find my answer… I wanted to fight someone under the same conditions, in the same situation.
Moreover, I wanted to fight someone who had faced this world and made up their mind to become strong.
That way, I felt I could find out if I was truly strong, or if I was actually weak.
That’s why, when he thought about it, the first person who came to mind was that “Sword Saint”.
And when I finally met him again during the day, I was genuinely happy.
I didn’t know what experiences he had been through, but he must have overcome many difficulties and survived to this point. His eyes, unlike those of most players I had met, seemed to be those of someone who had completed their resolve.
However, unlike me, he had probably prepared himself to be hurt and to hurt others, all while firmly disciplining himself. It seemed like he had a clear reason for wielding his power.
And I was certain of it when he looked into the eyes of that delicate girl, who had been known as the “Princess” during the game era, who had joined him later.
I… I envied that.
That’s why I couldn’t help but want to know. How much stronger had he become in this world?
“…If only you could be my opponent, Sword Saint.”
Hoping for an unavoidable event where a fight was inevitable… I closed my eyes and surrendered to the swaying waves, pondering a convenient wish that wouldn’t come true.
APM - Translation 