I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods – Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The Knight Commanders’ faces drained of blood in an instant, their bodies trembling. Eyes filled with shock were fixated on me.

Such a reaction was well within my expectations. It was enough that they didn’t try to kill me on the spot for lying to the Emperor, for daring to even suggest such a thing.

“New recruit, you are truly…”

“Ah, don’t misunderstand, Iris. I don’t have any other feelings towards Her Majesty. This was the only way to get rid of him without any repercussions.”

Still not fully recovered from the shock, Iris remained silent. However, her eyes conveyed a silent message, a willingness to listen to my reasoning, so I continued.

“As you all know, he’s of imperial blood. Of course, he’s not someone who would even glance towards the throne, but even if he’s far from the throne, the mere fact that he has royal blood flowing through his veins grants him authority surpassing that of most nobles. You can’t get rid of someone like that easily, can you? That’s why I dealt with him in a not-so-easy way.”

“…”

They would know better than anyone that the former lord wasn’t someone who would go down without a fight. He had caused such a commotion even while being exiled that the knights from the Imperial Palace had to be dragged all the way to this remote territory.

They would have also guessed that an extreme method had to be used to deal with such a person smoothly. It’s just that the method I used was far more extreme than they had anticipated.

I made him interested in demons, stripped him of all his rights, and then made the Emperor deal with him directly. Could you have ever imagined such a method?

“I didn’t even tell a particularly dangerous lie. That I approached the lord to discuss how to handle a book I found by chance, that’s the only lie in the story Aurora explained.”

“The severity of the lie is not important. The fact that you lied to Her Majesty is what matters. And what if the truth is revealed? What if the truth that you brought in a demon from the beginning with the intention of harming a member of the imperial family is revealed?”

“No. Even if it’s revealed, it won’t be a problem.”

Aurora, who had been observing the situation, suddenly intervened. Iris looked at Aurora with an expression that said, “You’re saying it’s not a problem?”.

“The current Emperor, my aunt, didn’t like that pig bastard either. She just left him alone because the more trouble he caused, the more secure her position would become. Since that man has been dealt with without any repercussions, and the noble factions who were close to him now have a reason to pressure him because of this incident, there’s a high chance she’ll just let it slide.”

‘Were there such circumstances behind the scenes?’

I just thought she had roughly wrapped things up on her own because she didn’t want to complicate the situation, and since the lord was an incompetent fool anyway, there was nothing to be gained from digging deeper.

I never imagined the Emperor would dislike him too.

Of course, the lord here had a much more messed up personality than in the game, so it was uncertain whether she would have thought the same way in the original Brightest Darkness 4. He had some common sense there.

“So, Knight Commanders, you don’t have to worry. We’ve dealt with a pest that was eroding society, cleaned up the mess he left behind, and restored things that were twisted out of shape to how they should have been. It’s just that a slightly negative method was employed in the process.”

When the person who could call the Emperor “aunt” assured them that they didn’t have to worry, the color returned to the Knight Commanders’ faces.

I remained calm because I knew how the story was supposed to unfold from the beginning.

“But still… lying to Her Majesty…”

“You don’t have to open your mouths yourselves, Knight Commanders. That’s something Aurora and the new recruit sitting there should do. You just need to play the role of having rushed here after receiving an urgent request for support and continuously preventing the demon from rising.”

“…Preventing the demon from rising, you say?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, we don’t have a way to deal with the demon.”

As she said that, Aurora glanced at me. I met her gaze head-on. For a brief moment, a look of disbelief crossed her eyes.

“Don’t overthink it. It’ll definitely be beneficial for you guys too, right?”

I jumped up from the sofa. It was time to move.

“You have to repay everything you’ve received so far, with interest.”

I led the Knight Commanders and Aurora down to the basement where the lord was writhing, on the verge of death. The four of them instinctively reached for their weapons as soon as they saw the half-human, half-demon lord.

“…He looks truly hideous.”

Rize muttered.

“Just writhing on the floor is all he’s doing, but even that is utterly disgusting. If a half-human, half-demon in a near-death state is like this, I can’t even imagine how immense the power a real demon would display.”

Near-death state. Well, it wasn’t wrong. I had deliberately brought a blessed dagger and whittled down the lord’s HP until he was just barely alive. Of course, there was a reason for this.

Even though he hadn’t even fully recovered his strength, perhaps because his essence was still that of a demon, leaving the lord as a half-human, half-demon would gradually contaminate the surrounding environment.

To prevent that, we had to keep beating him until the Emperor arrived and purified it. So that he would keep using his remaining strength to recover his HP instead of contaminating the surroundings.

‘It’s perfect to leave it to the Knight Commanders. They’ve been tormented by him all this time, so they can take revenge as well.’

However, I didn’t know how long it would take for the Knight Commanders to arrive and for us to finish explaining, so I had to take measures to prevent him from contaminating the surroundings in the meantime.

That’s why I brought the blessed dagger.

“…So, you’re telling us to stop this guy from recovering his strength?”

Claudia rested her greatsword, which was as long as her height, on her shoulder. Seeing the faint smile on her face, it seemed like she had guessed what I was going to ask.

“Didn’t I tell you? You have to repay everything you’ve received so far, with interest. Just beat him to your heart’s content. Of course, you’ll have to control your strength so that the basement doesn’t collapse.”

Actually, it wasn’t a necessary process. I had already reduced his HP with the blessed dagger, so even if we left him alone, the surroundings wouldn’t be contaminated.

But, hadn’t the Knight Commanders been terribly tormented by that lord for the past few years? Of course, they needed to repay what they had received.

Even if they kill him, they should kill him after taking revenge.

“Is that so? Then I won’t hold back.”

The first to step forward at my words was Claudia. She gripped her greatsword as if it were a golf club and swung it with all her might, using the flat side of the blade to strike the lord’s body.

With a resounding thud, the scale-covered body soared through the air. The lord flew a considerable distance before crashing into the opposite wall. It was a powerful attack that shook the basement walls.

Iris and Erika seemed startled by the sudden action. On the other hand, Rize thought for a moment before drawing a dagger from her waist, coating the blade with ice, and smiling broadly.

“So, if we don’t beat this pig, the demon might revive, is that it? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that never happens.”

With a brief “Thank you, new recruit!” Rize dashed towards the lord, leaving a trail of frost in her wake. Claudia watched her retreating figure with a satisfied expression.

“Don’t think too much, Iris. This is a chance that will never come again once he’s dead. Just don’t think about anything and enjoy it until the end.”

“…Are you serious, Claudia?”

“I’m serious. And you’re thinking the same thing as me, aren’t you? If you were really going to object, you would have taken your hand off your weapon, wouldn’t you?”

Claudia pointed at Iris’s hand. That hand had been fiddling with the sword at her waist for a while now.

It was a posture that suggested she would draw her sword and join in at any moment if given the chance and if she could convince herself. As if embarrassed by having her true feelings revealed, Iris’s cheeks flushed red.

“I would have objected if I had heard about such a plan from the beginning. But the new recruit has already done it, and it’s an irreversible situation, so what can we do? We have to trust him. He’s already proven that he keeps his word. So, Iris, just accept it roughly. Let’s join in and beat him up together.”

A chilling cold surged from the other side of the basement. I couldn’t see the situation clearly because of the ice, but it seemed like Rize was having a good time.

As the air rapidly cooled, Aurora shivered. Then, she subtly moved closer to me and linked her arm with mine. Wondering what she was doing, I turned my head. A shameless look that asked, “What’s up?” met my gaze.

“Erika, let’s go.”

“Huh, me?”

“Then who else is here besides you, Erika? You’re surprisingly similar to Rize, so I can see what you’re thinking, so stop pretending to hesitate and just follow me.”

Erika grumbled for a moment about being compared to her older sister, but she quietly followed Claudia, perhaps because it wasn’t entirely untrue. Flames flickered from the weapon in her hand.

Iris, left alone beside us, stared blankly at the other three who had started beating the lord together, then sighed and looked at me.

“New recruit.”

“I’m listening.”

“It’s just as Claudia said. If you had tried to ask for permission beforehand, I would have vehemently opposed it. Lying to Her Majesty, it’s something I could never allow in my right mind.”

However.

Iris’s demeanor, which had initially seemed reproachful, changed at that word. The corners of her mouth defied gravity and turned upwards, her eyes softening as they curved slightly.

“I believe you have something in mind this time as well. When you went to subjugate that monster, I didn’t trust you until the very moment you returned… But this time is different. With the actions you’ve shown so far, it’s enough to trust you once, even with the most absurd plan. I’ll leave this matter entirely to you.”

After saying that, Iris was about to head towards the other Knight Commanders, her weapon imbued with wind, but she paused and turned her head halfway.

“And, I should also thank you for providing this opportunity.”

“You’re welcome.”

On the other side of the basement, something akin to a storm was already raging. The basement flickered with light. Aurora and I watched the scene for a moment before heading outside.

The moon in the sky was slowly sinking beyond the mountains.

“You said you haven’t been a member of the Silver Dawn Knights for long, right?”

“I don’t know the exact date, but it’s probably been about two weeks now.”

“And yet you’ve gained that much trust? You’re quite skilled.”

I responded with a smile.

I was just trying to progress the story as it did in the game, but from other people’s perspectives, it was perceived as an unbelievable achievement. By my standards, this was normal.

Besides, the scale of the enemies appearing would continue to grow in the future.

If I followed Brightest Darkness 4’s storyline exactly, I would have to single-handedly defeat monsters capable of easily destroying cities.

The recommended level range for clearing the game on the first playthrough was around 100, so it was a bonus to kill thousands and tens of thousands of lesser monsters to level up along the way.

Subjugating dozens of city-destroying monsters and thousands and tens of thousands of ordinary monsters, even the Emperor probably couldn’t do that.

All of that was the achievement of a single player.

‘That’s how game protagonists are.’

That’s why they’re the protagonist.

We sat in a corner of the garden, chatting about trivial things, waiting for the Emperor, who would arrive by morning at the latest. Aurora was quite a good conversationalist.

Even when the sun was about to rise, the Knight Commanders didn’t show themselves. I could understand it, considering the emotions that had piled up until now. They could probably go on all day.

“So, we’ll have to completely replace the servants laterㅡ Ah.”

We were in the middle of discussing how to replace the servants, maids, and butlers. A magic circle appeared in the garden right next to us. The magic circle, which appeared while crushing and burning the grass, shot a blue pillar of light into the sky.

Teleportation magic. I recognized it immediately because it was the same as in the game. We stepped back and prepared to greet the Emperor.

Blue particles gathered within the pillar of light shot up by the magic circle, forming a human shape. Arms and legs, head and body appeared, and clothes were put on the body.

The halo of light, transformed into a perfect human form, slowly walked out of the pillar.

“…?”

It was a woman who looked exactly like Aurora.