Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer?

Episode 374: Knowing each step (8)

“Why on earth…!!”

Why did you come here? How did you get here? Why did you come at this time?

Question after question coiled around my brain like an Ouroboros snake. The scales of emotion that eat my body and fall as it grows are so distorted that their color tone is difficult to recognize.

“Why now…!”

I wish you hadn’t come. If only the girl hadn’t shown up right now, I wouldn’t have had to give up.

If she hadn’t come at this moment, I would have…

“…Great warrior.”

I am…

“…Pipe player.”

I wouldn’t have done anything.

Because I just didn’t want to choose anymore, so I decided to wait for someone else’s choice. Truly cowardly and weak.

“Ah… he is the real Great Warrior…”

But in the end, she had to make her own decision. Instead of protecting the remains of the family he desperately wanted, he decided to capture a girl he had only just met.

It was such a strange thing. A meeting that took place less than two weeks couldn’t have been more burdensome than something I’ve been waiting for for nearly 30 years. The existence that proves her life itself is not lightness due to a passing relationship.

“…why.”

Why is she here?

“Why did you come to see me like this…”

Part of me wants to go back to the coffin containing my sisters right now. I want to stop the Deathbringer from heading there. I would rather close my eyes than see something taken away from my flesh and blood even in death.

“Why do you all throw away your lives so easily?”

But every time that desire tried to take over my head, the life in my arms flinched and showed off its presence. Cracked breath, a wide smile, and trembling. With just that kind of signal, her body is completely captured.

“why…!”

Berserk held his breath tightly, not knowing whether he wanted to cry or get angry. Then, a chill that gave me goosebumps came. It was a chill that was so disgusting that it was extremely similar to the last time she hugged her older sister.

“…Daejeon History.”

Even the breath you exhale is entangled with frost. Like a snow fairy who assimilates into the snowy field and disappears.

“You said it.”

do not do that. don’t go.

Berserk tightened his grip on the voice that seemed to melt at any moment. The breathing of the girl trapped in Berserk’s large hand and arms became a little louder.

“I thought I could go anywhere… I could become anything…”

And a wide smile appeared in that breath. It was the smile of a person who smiled without knowing what his situation was or how big of a deal the girl had just committed.

“Then Daejeonsa… can’t I be the reason you live?”

Ah, why is the world so terrible and cruel?

Berserk’s face darkened.

* * *

Deathbringer approached the coffin after confirming that Berserk was running towards the girl. The platinum-haired person with a flower in his ear is surprisingly calm despite all the commotion. Well, it’s natural since he’s dead.

“…May the deceased rest in peace.”

He sometimes spoke the words adventurers used to say about dead people. There wasn’t much of a reason. Adventurers are people who seem to have mastered etiquette and manners, even if they sometimes go against the rules of this place. I felt like I could express enough respect and admiration for this person if he said what he said.

“And… I’m sorry.”

Of course, under normal circumstances, I would have just said ‘I’m sorry’ and passed it on. Just like we did before when we cut up the corpse and sold it.

But if this person is truly Berserk’s family, he should never be like that.

He lifted up the dead man’s body as politely as possible. Since what was needed was the vertebrae, it was inevitable that it would turn over. The bodies belonging to the girl and the woman whirled around.

“Okay.”

Next, cut the clothes. If my hands were healthy, I would have tried my best to prevent them from being damaged by removing them, but now that my arms were shredded, I had no choice.

He cut out only the necessary area along the vertebrae so that the clothes would look intact when turned over.

“Ugh.”

However, the leather used for the clothes was thick and strong, and to make matters worse, the frostbitten toes became numb and the lines became slightly crooked. Cutting off just the clothes left some scars on the outer surface of my skin, which made me break into a cold sweat.

“If only my hands were intact….”

No, in fact, I was capable of cutting cleanly with my toes. It would have been the same if it hadn’t been so cold here. At least it might have been possible if I hadn’t suffered frostbite.

“after.”

But if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Deathbringer acknowledged that if he were to cut out the vertebrae with his toes, the cross section would come out very messy. It was time to change the way vertebrae were cut out.

Shock.

He first stabbed the heel of the other foot with a dagger. There was less blood compared to the size of the wound, possibly due to poor blood circulation, but it was not a major problem.

He put down the dagger for a moment and spread the blood on his big toe. Now this will be your brush to draw a line along the vertebrae line.

“Ah, what if the blood freezes…”

Still, even though there were some difficulties, we succeeded in drawing a rough guideline.

He picked up the knife again. The part you pick up with your toes this time is not the hilt of the sword. He held the back of the dagger, being careful not to cut his toes. It was all to bite the sword.

Sigh.

The empty hilt of the dagger was held firmly between the teeth.

“Phew.”

He took his stance while checking the guide lines he had drawn in advance. He was in a posture where he was bent at the waist, with his thighs touching the side panel of the coffin, and was supported only by his legs and waist.

Deep.

It would have been great if I could have put my hands on the ground… No, I wouldn’t have done this if my hands had been fine in the first place.

With that thought in mind, he plunged the dagger he was holding into his back. Because the guide lines were drawn in advance, there was no confusion about the positions of the vertebrae due to distance.

He broke his teeth and dug into the frozen flesh with a dagger. It was still less clean than if it had been done by hand, but the cut on the back was more clean than expected, showing off the vertebrae.

“Big.”

Now all I have to do is take this out… How do I take it out? To pull it out with your teeth, your head wouldn’t be able to penetrate the frozen flesh in the first place. So should I take it out with my feet? Or using a sword as a lever?

But when he encountered such a practical problem, someone reached out.

“…Can I just take this out?”

The voice that had become hoarse after endless screams and sighs took out the vertebrae on behalf of the handless man. It was a vertebra that was not just studded with bronze, but made of bronze itself.

“…Nari the fighter.”

“Where can I put this?”

“I just need to roll it down into the dug-out area over there… is that okay?”

In response to his question, the person holding the girl smiled brightly with a clouded expression. Tears or despair or resignation. It was a place of arsenic where so many things were mixed that the source could not be identified.

“Little hunter, you know how to heal people.”

“No, even if it is treatment, it is only an emergency measure…”

“Please take care of the young piper.”

The person who did not pay any attention to the Deathbringer’s protests put the girl down. It was a girl wrapped in clothes from Berserk.

“Uh…”

A faint breath is escaping from the tip of his nose, but honestly, he doesn’t look much different from a dead person. I guess it wouldn’t be surprising if I stopped breathing right away.

Even he has no hands to heal. Even if you had hands, you would have been in a situation where both arms were shattered, so there was nothing you could do.

However, Deathbringer could not bear to point it out. Not only did Berserk leave immediately after leaving the girl alone, but her expression was also truly sad.

Everyone doesn’t want to lose someone they care about. Deathbringer’s head began to spin.

* * *

Berserk approached the dragon holding the sister’s vertebrae.

Is this right? well. As I keep asking myself as I go, my heart no longer ripples. It was the same as when the sea turns over and you can’t even see the waves.

The pain had become so intense that my heart, which had become pale, moved forward one step at a time.

“ha.”

And when you finally reach the dragon’s chest. She lifted the vertebrae and looked at them. The vertebrae, frozen with blood and flesh stuck together, look like a statue of something because their color is bronze.

If you were to ask what the statue represents, the only answers you would get would be something like a spear or a centipede.

“…ah.”

Still, I don’t want to send it away. This is also my sister’s, so I don’t want to let her go just for that reason.

She shed tears as she held the bone in her hand. Breaking up was something that hurt so much no matter how many times it was repeated.

“You have to keep breathing.”

“Huh…”

“Nari, please tell me there’s something helpful inside… tell me you put warm water or something like that…”

But now I have to let it go. Because it’s too late to go back anymore.

“Alsvidr….”

Oh dear sister. You are saving someone till the end.

Berserk threw Vidr’s bones into the hole in the flesh with the feeling of tearing out his own heart. Sigh. The bone fragment slipped inside and touched the restored heart.

3/5. The size of the heart, which was exactly half, increased at once and began to emit tremendous radiance.

Rumbling!

The eyeballs, which were pale and open as if dead, became clear and the dragon’s head lifted up again.

Wow! A much clearer and clearer cry, qualitatively different from the roar that the Deathbringer had experienced, came from its throat and into the air.

Whoa!

At the same time, the spiderweb-like threads connecting the dragon’s milky-white body and the cave began to glow with small rays of light. It was as if something was flowing in and something was flowing out through him.

Twinkles went back and forth in both directions, brightening up the cave.

“This is…”

There is a halo of light everywhere, but it is not blinding. It was as soft as if a candle had been lit during the day. It’s definitely there, but the presence isn’t strong.

Berserk instinctively reached out to the soft light.

[then no.]

“…!”

However, her actions were blocked by a familiar yet unfamiliar voice.

It was a voice I had definitely heard sometime ago but could not remember.

“…bi dr?”

Who on earth is the owner of this voice? Who is stopping her now? Before she could even figure it out, she instinctively called out a name.

It was a name engraved in her blood and soul.

[…I’ve been asleep for too long. Bagur has come to this world.]

But instead of answering her call, the owner of the voice uttered another sound. It seemed like he was avoiding it. Desperation and impatience began to build up in Berserk’s heart.

“Answer me! Bidr Bidr is that you?!”

[Ah… Was there someone who did my work for me? Endless glory and gratitude to you.]

“Alsvidr—!”

She saw the dragon not answering her and tried to approach him. “Cough.” However, a girl’s cough was heard from behind. Berserk’s feet hesitated for a split second.

[Also, bird of noble flame, there is no way for me to resolve the situation right now. I want to callously demand your death.]

However, while she hesitated, the dragon bent its neck and head. The light from his body spreads strongly along threads like a spider’s web, coloring the world milky white.

[Ah, it is time for the eternal sun to rise.]

The midnight sun has come to the frozen land.

It was the arrival of a sun that would not set for three years.