31 EP.31 Ogre Subjugation (6)

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Anyone who has ever played a serious game will have experienced trying to find an Easter egg at least once.

I also had that experience.

It was only slightly different.

When you reach the true ending of the game 'The Hero's Party', you will fight against either Gis or Lorian depending on the choices you have made earlier.

When I started fighting these lopsy guys, I was suddenly curious.

The ntr has already been done and the game scenario has reached its climax. What would happen if I defeated them in such a situation?

Will there be any hidden Easter eggs?

Isn't there supposed to be atleast one true happy ending?

So, I executed the level-up maniac strategy to confirm. Reaching the max level, with matching equipment of highest prefixes. The specs of the newly acquired colleagues were also raised to the point where they could no longer be raised.

In that state, I started the challenge in earnest only after fully memorizing Gis' fighting pattern.

While applying excellent buffs to allies, debuffs were poured onto enemies.

Gis's lethal skills faced skills countering them at correct time, meanwhile my strong skills were released at precise timing to reduce the chance of getting successfully blocked.

After trying so many times, I finally knocked down Gis.

And here I thought—I had finally knocked down this twerp for real.

Until, that bastard, Gis suddenly tore off his top and maniacally laughed out loud.

The naked man's body was full of black tattoos.

They were the glyphs he had received from the orcs.

That guy actually apologized for not taking us seriously and for not using his real power, then he said that he was going to start for real and asked us not to die too easily, for it would lessen the fun.

With that farce, Phase 2 began.

Phase 2, which started like that, was literally followed by thrashing.

After using some blah blah blah glyph, my party's buffs disappeared.

That guy didn't even use a debuff, but his strong aura pulled my team into a strong debuff state.

For those who know it, in case of turn-based RPGs, if something goes wrong once, it leads to a snowballing effect and then everything goes to hell.

It means that the characteristic of this genre is that we should pray that the boss monster will not use any skill made by some developer without basic human compassion.

However, Gis used every such skill that fitted the above description.

Faced with such a situation, I was honestly left speechless.

I ended up leaning on cheats…

That too failed.

It was because there was no f**king way one could overcome that f**king glyph skill combo even by raising one's f**king stats to the maximum. I was supposed to be beaten for 10 minutes, but I ended up being beaten for an hour.

At that time, I wondered why the balance was like that—so totally f**ked up, but now that I got the ogre's glyph, I have a different opinion.

'You have face the soul's overtaking.'

Glyphs are created by absorbing souls.

So where do the absorbed souls go?

The answer is, 'It enters the body and settles down in the same place as body's soul.'

It's like having two souls in one bowl.

So, of course, the two are bound to collide constantly, and in reality, the ogre's soul is trying to steal my body in real time and make this body its own.

'It's been a long time since I've felt this way. Last time it was around when Richie tried?'

I was sick for several days and nights back then.

With a grin, I weighed down the capering ogre's soul. It was crushed like a scrapped car and then thrown into a corner.

It won't cause anymore troubles.

But if there's still some follow up trouble… then there's nothing else I can do.

Have to get rid of it.

'By the way, this guy managed to enliven quite a big glyph.'

Is his soul that strong?

If it wasn't for remembering Gis at that time, I would have nearly ignored. Maybe, it had eaten some souls before.

That was when I was just contemplating about it.

"Cloud, are you fine?!"

Frillite ran through the dust. She asked while examining the presence of injuries with her restless eyes.

It was a little too burdensome gaze for me, so I nudged a step away.

"I'm okay. There are no injuries."

"That's good… I'm glad. What happened there? The ogre suddenly fell?"

Frillite turned to the now dead ogre and found the ogre's severed heel tendons. She opened her eyes wide with a look of surprise, with her mouth slightly opened.

…what, it's really that surprising?

"Cloud, this… did you do it?"

"I told you, I'm not that bad myself."

"No, it's not that. I can't believe that you severed the ogre's tendon. This is something that should be only possible for the now reclusive Sword Master."

She said so with a serious face.

…I see.

No wonder Lorian was not aiming for its tendons and was looking all frustrated.

There was such a thing.

I thought this level of show would be acceptable, I even simulated it countless times in my mind, but…

…f**k.

I can't attract attention until I get the big root plant.

Yeah, excuse.

I have to make an excuse! A big, fat lie!

I kept a calm expression and nonchalantly shook my head to Frillite.

"Haha, Frillite that's even too big for me. Cutting the ogre's tendon? How can I do that now, I just used a magic artifact."

"Magic artifact? What kind of magic artifact can sever even an ogre's tendon?"

"I also want to show it to you, but unfortunately it is a consumable item, so…"

"Oh, that's all right. If it's a consumable item, it's definitely worth it. Once used, it loses its effectiveness, but this one-time ability is also great."

Fortunately, Frillite was convinced.

Now there is only one problem left.

"I have a favor ask, is it okay?"

"Favor? It's all right, as long as it's not too much. Do you have anything to ask of me?"

"Let's do it, you alone defeated the ogre."

Frillite frowned at that.

"What do you mean by that? Even though you used a consumable item, it was you who severed the ogre's tendon. I have no intention of usurping other people's merits. Even more so if it's your's."

Agh, stubborn girl.

"Who said you are usurping it? I'm giving it to you because I don't need it. The ogre subjugation's completion is too burdensome for me to handle right now. I need calm and peace for this while."

"Calm and peace… I see. Sorry. I forgot about your situation."

Frillite nodded her head.

Great. With that I have covered up all the worries and now it's time to go find what I need the most!

That was the thing that nowadays occupied my mind.

"…What happened?"

""

The dust scattered and the almost forgotten person appeared.

Eri.

She had an expression, quite difficult to describe.

* * *

When Cloud ran towards the ogre.

Eri thought he was doing something unreasonable.

Maybe… his pressed feelings, his inferiority complex exploded, and he thoughtlessly rushed to the ogre, with a mentality of facing death.

But it wasn't.

Frillite couldn't see properly because of the ogre's legs blocking her view, but Eri could see it clearly.

Cloud evaded the ogre's fist with light footwork.

After that, she couldn't see very well because of the dust, but when she saw the ogre fell down shortly after, she knew, he had done something.

And that was impossible with the common sense that Eri knew.

""

"…What happened?"

As the dust scattered in all directions, only Cloud and Frillite could be seen.

Eri looked at Cloud and asked.

It was a very abstract question.

But, she couldn't help it. Because she couldn't even organize her thoughts by herself.

Cloud is weak. Expectations for growth are not high.

He cannot be strong all his life.

It was the conclusion Eri came to after seeing him grow while traveling together.

But how does it matches with what just happened? What the hell was that skillful movement that easily dodged the violent ogre's attack?

No way…

"Did you deceive us..? D, Did you..deliberately pretended to be weak during the journey?"

It was an absurd assumption.

Very inconvenient and annoying to enact, and there was no reason for him to do so.

If one thinks about it, even with a little bit of rationality, anybody can figure it out.

However, for the current Eri, rationality didn't exist.

Her last few months were too heavy for her mental state.

It was only natural for her to receive all kinds of disregard and contempt, and she couldn't even eat properly. She wasn't even able to properly participate in the monster huntings, much less—dream about changing her equipments.

Maybe it wouldn't have been so painful if she hadn't experienced it.

—happiness.

However, in the past, she had a pleasant experience of traveling with Cloud and his companions, so it was even more painful for her.

The anger that had accumulated for such a long time.

Shredded her heart. Trampled her self-esteem. And, quaked her self-thinking.

Tangled and mingled, it became something black and sticky, messing around in her brain.

"Why did you deceive us? Why did you pretend to be weak so that we misunderstood… so much that it disappointed us?"

Words that were neither in her head nor in her heart poured out of her mouth. If she had been the normal Eri, she would never have said such things to Cloud.

But, as mentioned earlier, Eri was unable to think normally.

"If you hadn't… I… I…"

She wouldn't even have considered making such a foolish choice.

"Answer me!"

The eyes dripping with sullen resentment turned to Cloud. Cloud made a troubled expression and glanced at Frillite. She took a step back.

This was something between Cloud and Eri, so she expressed her understanding to not meddle in his personal affairs.

It was an unwelcomed consideration for Cloud.

He looked back at Eri. Eri's face was filled with various emotions.

Sadness. Resentment. Pain.

It was an expression that was difficult to define with one word of expression.

'What would Cloud have done in such a situation?'

What he needs now is not a veteran swordsman with 10 years of battle experience.

What was needed was a warm-hearted Hero, Cloud.

'I am Cloud. Good Cloud. The idiotic Cloud. I'm a tree that gives generously. A flying bird that raises the cuckoo as if it were its own[1]…'

Cloud made a self-hypnosis to become Cloud. He made suggestions, and his mind felt at ease. He seemed to have become a foolish, but a good person. Yeah, definitely, a good person.

Cloud looked straight at Eri and opened his mouth.

"Eri, I swear, I have never cheated on you or others. I never hid my strength."

"You never cheated? So what was it just now? You mean you got that strong in just a few months? That makes no sense!"

"I was just lucky."

"Lucky?"

""

"I found a dungeon. After clearing it to the end, l was able to obtain the legacy left behind by the owner of the dungeon. It's just that."

"…a dungeon. I-If it was found a little earlier, just a little earlier…!"

"I know. As you said, if I had found the dungeon a little earlier, I wouldn't have disappointed you guys. But you know, Eri…"

Cloud took one step closer to Eri.

"If you had trusted me a bit more… would this have happened?"

"…ugh?"

"After I was selected as a Hero, I never stopped working hard. Both to save people and to not disappoint those who believed in me."

One more step.

"For the first time, I got calluses on my palms. That also peeled off shortly, and bled. Sometimes, my muscles were in pain, like being torn from inside out, and to be honest, when I was fighting monsters, I was really scared."

One more step.

"Still, I didn't stop. Because you guys were there, but you all also gave up on me, you all left for another party. It's okay. I understand. It was a better path for you all. A third-rate person like me must have felt like nothing worthwhile, but a stumbling block holding onto your ankles."

"No, no…"

Eri took one step back. Cloud took one step further.

Now, the gap between him and her was only one step distance.

"But even if I understand it, my heart ached a lot. I cried a lot for a while. Even the sword was thrown away. Still, in the end, I grabbed the sword once again and continued to pour out my efforts. And fortunately, the hard work paid off."

And so he took one last step.

Cloud and Eri's foreheads met.

He made eye contact with her and smiled bitterly.

"So, Eri. Why didn't you believe me?"

"Agh…"

Rattle.

Eri felt her heart tremble. It was then that she realized what she had done.

She rolled her eyes down. She couldn't possibly make eye contact with Cloud, she wasn't confident in doing so.

"I, Cloud. That, that…"

""

She was so confounded that she couldn't even speak properly. Still, it was time to somehow squeeze out her voice and try to apologize.

Frillite pulled Cloud's body back.

She spoke in a slightly blunt voice towards him, who had a puzzled expression on his face.

"…Isn't that too close?"

"Oh, that's right. Eri, I'm sorry. You must have feel bad."

"Uh?! No, no! I, I didn't feel bad. Really!"

"Yes. All right. Ah, Frillite, I have to go now."

"The follow-ups are not over yet. Is it so urgent?"

"Very urgent. Please keep your promise and ask for Eri's participation."

"I got it. More than that, Cloud, the Imperial Social Banquet will be held soon. Don't forget to attend."

"I'll go when the time comes!"

"You must come at correct timing!"

"All right, gotcha! Then I will be going!"

"Hey, Cloud?! Come on, wait. I haven't even apologized properly yet…"

Eri muttered, but Cloud had already left. She stood stunned and looked at the place where Cloud had disappeared.

* * *

"…I never imagined we would suffer this much."

Lorian leered at that.

Princess Lisbet, the sorcerer Glenn Morrill, and Halberd, who had been in charge of vanguard, all died.

In particular, Princess Lisbeth's death will cause a great stir back in the Kingdom of Carta. No matter what happened during the battle, he would not able to avoid responsibility.

"Brother, what are we going to do now?"

"Do what?"

"The number of people who used to be 8 has now become 5. Why don't we recruit party members again?"

"…you can think of it by yourself. I have a lot other things to think about."

"Okay, I got it!"

Lorraine nodded her head with a bright expression on her face. Her companions died, but she didn't care much.

Lisbet and Umbri were rotten bitches who flirted with her brother. She rather like it if they both died together.

It's a bit unfortunate that she wouldn't be able to eat the food that Halberd used to prepare, but…

'That's ok, just need to find another good cook!'

Lorraine, she had no attachments with anyone.

Of course, except for her older brother, Lorian.

'Hehehe, I'm looking forward to Eri's expression of despair~'

A team of 5 people will become a party of 4 people comprising the 1st group, and the last remaining person will be the sole member of the 2nd group for the time being.

And the person who will become that last remaining bone has long been decided.

"Eri, congratulations! Have you ever felt a lot of pain in sharing experience points with others? Now, you don't have to! For a while, the second party is on your own!"

"…"

"Eri? What, what's with the expression on your face? You don't like it? Hey, I told you to look at my face!"

Lorraine bawled wildly, but Eri didn't give her a glance. Because Lorraine's words were like a duck egg in a river that didn't reach her.

Eri sat with her knees folded and just stared blankly at the floor.

– So, Eri. Why didn't you believe me?

Cloud's bitter voice and the bitter smile he had, engulfed her in her mind, didn't disappear.

[1] The common cuckoo is an example of a brood parasite. Such animals trick other animals into raising their young. They sneak their eggs into other parents' nests.

You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.

p(a)treon.com/Daoist02