“B-but it’s night right now……”
“Why don’t you tell that to the victims, huh?”
As I had my back turned towards them, I could neither see the dumpling’s nor the Archmage’s face. However, I could hear the sound of gulping from behind me.
“…I’ll go as well.”
“My, oh, my…… Shame on this old man.”
Hmm. Even if I had to do this on my own I would have been fine though. It seemed like the characters in my party would still follow me. So we needed to go together anyway.
“Miss Hero? Sir Sage……?”
“Hoho, I’m grateful for the Bishop’s consideration, however…… We aren’t ‘irresponsible’ enough to just lay down using fatigue as an excuse when there’s a Demon wreaking havoc in town.”
By the way, the Sage’s way of throwing shade sure wasn’t ordinary. That would hurt their pride quite a lot, as he turned away all the priests who tried to make them stay here.
“That’s……!”
“I shouldn’t drag my feet any longer. Let us go.”
“…Yes!”
The Inquisitor also followed me with a bright expression on her face, seeming like a little kid who had been given candy, at the Archmage’s words. It really was ridiculous, but I let it slide because she was acting cute.
“Well then…… We’ll first have to find that hidden Demon first.”
In the end, the three of us left the Temple and began to search the town.
Since we had no real destination, it felt more like we were aimlessly walking around, but it wasn’t a meaningless act if one thought of it as getting familiar with the map.
“Let’s ask some witnesses for more detai–”
“No need.”
I cut off the Archmage and focused on the smell around me. As far as I could remember, one characteristic of a Drauger was its disgusting stench.
Of course, when I was still playing the game on PC, such sentiments were only expressed through text bubbles reading something like ‘It smells weird.’ or similar. Now that it became a VR game, I actually had to use my nose to detect it myself.
“Hoh, do you have a guess as to what kind of Demon it is?”
His question was rather vague, so I just went ahead and ignored it. Should I share some information with them now that I was their partner? However would the temper of my character allow that?
Rather, wasn’t it a bit weird that a sage had not even a clue as to what type of Demon it was. Well, I could tell just by looking at his expression, that he seemed to know something at least.
Well, since they couldn’t just let players run around without at least that much basic knowledge, they probably encouraged them to figure it out on their own. A game should always be player driven after all.
“How could one call themselves an intelligent being if one doesn’t even know that much.”
So, I decided to answer him with some lines that fit my character setting. The dumpling next to me seemed dumbfounded, but I let it slide because her expression was cute.
“…Can I hear your guess?”
Still, the Inquisitor was a Priest who wasn’t ashamed of her ignorance.
While she hesitated a little, she still asked me in a confident voice. The will to acquire more knowledge burned brightly in her green eyes.
“I can’t believe that you’re a Hero, when you’re like that.”
“I know I’m not really that dependable, but please refrain from such blasphemous remarks.”
Oh, did she mean to tell me that I should at least believe in God’s decision, if I couldn’t believe in her? What an inflexible Priest.
“So what kind of Demon is it?”
Still, she was quite persistent. She turned her head nervously.
“…It’s a Draugr.”
“A Draugr…… I see! Certainly, if it’s a Draugr, that would explain everything.”
She seemed to know what a Draugr was at least. The Inquisitor’s eyes immediately lit up.
“As expected, you are an expert in hunting Demons after all. You found out immediately after you heard the request’s information……”
No, well, judging by the Mage’s smile it seemed like he knew as well. Even though I didn’t do anything, would she actually automatically become my companion NPC?
With that thought in mind, the corner of my mouth twitched a bit. It was quite difficult to hold back my laughter, and it was even harder to not make it obvious either.
I quickly thought of dark and serious thoughts to cope. As such my laughter immediately disappeared.
“We’ll have to find places that smell bad, in that case. Don’t you think so, too?”
It just so happened that there was quite a good topic at hand for that.
“We should probably examine the town’s graveyard, if there is one. I heard that Draugr are born in them.”
“You are well informed Miss Inquisitor.”
“How could I compare to Sir Sage and Sir Demon Knight.”
The Draugr quest, which also appeared in the original, led one to find corruption and Demon worshippers in the parish.
Would it be the same in the remake?
“Ah, it smells strange!”
It seemed like the Priest’s nose was a lot better than mine. To be more exact, my sense of smell was better, but my ability to distinguish different scents was inferior.
“It really doesn’t smell that good.”
As I followed the Priest into an alley, the stench I had been smelling all that time before seemed to have become a dozen times stronger.
I had thought that it just came from the street or something, but it seemed like I had been wrong.
“That’s a Draugr’s……!”
Another thing I realized was that my night vision was a lot better than the Inquisitor’s.
I grabbed the Inquisitor by her armor and pulled her back. I forcibly pulled her behind me, who had an expression similar to a disgruntled cat on her face, and went ahead of her.
“Sir Demon Knight……?”
I reached my hand towards my waist, while I was trying to block out the smell permeating the alley as much as possible. Click. The lantern I had at my waist lit up and brightened the alley which had been engulfed in darkness.
“…Oh my god.”
“We’re too late……”
Inside of it we found a dried up body, completely devoid of moisture. Well, it was better than finding a crushed or half-devoured one, but it was still a disgusting sight to those unfamiliar with these kinds of scenes.
I walked up to the body, leaving those two behind. The stenched that filled the alley was thickest around the corpse.
That was obviously the smell of a Draugr.
The source of the smell, however, was absent. But even the traces it left behind were so strong already. I had a feeling that my nose would suffer quite a bit if I actually encountered it.
Tak.
But that wasn’t important.
I was thinking about what action would fit my character the best and came to a quick decision. As a former victim, it was clear that someone like that would move to prevent the creation of any more victims after seeing someone who couldn’t be saved.
“…I shall avenge you.”
Self-blame that he couldn’t have been faster. Hostility towards all Demons. And the mixture of both these feelings turned into rage.
“So, rest in peace.”
He would feel sadness as he projected his feelings towards his deceased family onto this victim and his desire to let them rest peacefully.
You may call me the genius of interpretation, Haha.
“…I shall pray for them.”
The Inquisitor, who had come to my side, put her hands together. A prayer flowed out of her lips, neither too long nor too short, a divine light accompanying it.
I was an atheist, but that did look pretty nice.
“I called the guards.”
Just when I was wondering what the Archmage was doing, he came back after contacting the guards. That was also a good decision.
To be honest, it had felt a bit strange to just leave a corpse unattended whenever events like that occurred in games. In some games, a guard would get immediately summoned to the corpse’s location.
“Judging by the strong smell, it hasn’t been that long since he was killed. In that case, the Draugr should still be somewhere nearby. Let’s find it quickly before there are any more victims.”
“Are you babbling about these basic things to show off how smart you are? It’s more efficient to talk while we are tracking it down.”
It sure was nice of them to let the player know what would come next, but my character setting didn’t allow me to be appreciative of that. I reacted unnecessarily harshly and crossed over the corpse.
I didn’t mean to insult the deceased or anything, but I couldn’t do anything about it as the stench continued into the alley.
“Haha, yes.”
However, the wise mage just clapped his hands at my obvious sarcasm. Then, the stench we could only smell up until now, became visible as strange fluorescent colors swirling in the air.
“It’s Tracking Magic. It doesn’t last that long.”
I hadn’t even activated tracking skills yet, so I was wondering if I had to continue to rely on my sense of smell to go after it. So that was how they implemented it.
At that convenient spell, I ended up making a rather puzzled face. In that case, wasn’t it pretty much unnecessary for me to activate any tracking skills……? Rather, how would this pan out if one started out as a wizard?
“……”
Anyway, it was a good thing, so I just decided to pursue it.
I took the lead as we advanced into the alleyway. Then, I noticed a white light bursting forth behind me.
“I’ll follow you after purifying the Demonic energy.”
As the divine power gently lit up the dark alley, I could see the fluorescent fog near the Inquisitor dying down.
Was this where the path would become twisted later or something? I hoped that there won’t be any misunderstandings or confusions happening. She was in the rear most row right now, so she wouldn’t be able to follow us without any traces.
Crunch.
In that case I should just run. With that in mind, I put strength to my feet. Rustle. My coat’s collar, which was divided into three parts, spread out like a duck’s tail.
“Ehem, Oh Wind, lighten our steps!”
As I started running, the Archmage quickly chanted a spell. Considering the effect and the words used in the chant, it probably was something like Haste, a buff that raised movement speed.
But why didn’t he cast it on both of us? Was there some restriction?
“A dead end!”
After running a little, the trail of the Draugr that led us into the alleyway went through a wall. Something like that was possible for Draugrs because they were immaterial Demons, so they could walk through objects.
“……”
What should I do now? Should we go back the road we came from? But then we’d lose its trail. That wouldn’t be cool.
Then, should I take advantage of the fact that this was a VR game again?
“Sir Demon Knight?!”
Instead of slowing down, I just turned slightly to the side. Then, just in time, I saw that the densely placed buildings had a lot of protrusions I could grab or step on.
Thud!
After running up a wall for a bit, I put my hands on a window frame and pulled myself up. I had been wondering if something like that would work, but I could actually perform parkour in this game. It was a lot easier than I thought as the body I was using was that of this game character. My performance was better than expected as well.
Climbing up to the roof was only a matter of time as my movements were only limited to my imagination. The roof made out of tree bark slightly crunched under the soles of my shoes.
“You really are one unstoppable man……”
In a lot of games, party members were programmed to teleport next to the player if the distance between them grew too wide, so I didn’t really have to worry about it. Now, where did the smell lead to?
I ran over the building as I looked down on the street. I could see the fluorescent fog appearing on roads before disappearing into buildings again and so on.
Crack. Crunch. Crack.
The dried bark roof crunched under my feet as I lept up. I jumped between buildings, which I had thought to be impossible at first, as it was faster.
But why was it so quiet behind me? Could it be that this game didn’t have that party member teleportation system?
Glance.
I only confirmed it after I saw that no one was behind me.
I became a little anxious because there were some games that would prevent me from advancing if I got too far away from my teammates, but no warning window or similar appeared before me. I mean something like ‘Please immediately regroup with your companions’ or something.
So did that mean that individual actions were supported as well? Or was it a bug? This couldn’t even be called a novel idea or something, so I had to somehow deal with this now. Did they just want the player to keep pace with his party members on his own……?
No way in hell. As a born and raised Korean I hated being slowed down!
“Found it.”
The fluorescent light disappeared maybe because the duration of the spell had ended, but in its stead I saw the source of this stench. It was in a vacant lot between buildings.
Even though its red eyes flashing through the deep, dark fog were changed from 2D to 3D, it still was the same Draugr.
「Draugr│A specter that deceives people’s eyes and devours them. Raising from their tomb, they move through rock like fish swimming in the sea in search for prey.」
「❖ The Evil lurking in the Town
∎ Pursue the Demon hiding in the Town
∎ Draugr eliminated 0 / 1」
Flutter!
Seeing the updated quest, I jumped into an area close to the lot with my back to the moon.
In the process, the hem of my coat spread out, but it didn’t feel too uncomfortable. I was holding onto my Two Hander which had given off clattering sounds from my back.
Wuooooooh—!
The Draugr made some humming noises, as my Two Hander slammed into the place it narrowly escaped from. As soon as I raised it again, I firmly held it in both of my hands and swung at it, but was disappointed to realize that I had missed again.
Actually, even if I hit it properly, I wouldn’t have damaged it as physical attacks were ineffective against it due to its immaterial nature.
“…Glory to the Heavens.”
Whatever, I did say that a true roleplayer perfectly played their character even if no one was around, right?
“I shall avenge the dead.”
I violently pulled out my sword which I had stabbed into the ground and charged at the Draugr again.
A thick black fog began to roll over the lot accompanied by that mind-numbing stench.
Wooooooo.
Rather, according to my memory, attacking the thing in its immaterialized form was pretty much impossible, wasn’t it? Too bad. The easiest way to time attacks in that state was by parrying—
Uuuuoh!
“Just when I was thinking of how to get rid of those heathens…… You’re Gretchen aren’t you?”
─However, a variable appeared.
“The King is looking for you, Gretchen.”
Someone wearing a robe rose from the Draugr’s fog.
They wore sparkling red jewelry on their somber, black robe. Even if I hadn’t played the game I knew what their true identity was.
「Demon Contractor│Those who have sold their soul by contracting a Demon. It is unknown whether they really sold their souls to a Demon or to their own desires.」
They were a demon Contractor.
“B-but it’s night right now……”
“Why don’t you tell that to the victims, huh?”
As I had my back turned towards them, I could neither see the dumpling’s nor the Archmage’s face. However, I could hear the sound of gulping from behind me.
“…I’ll go as well.”
“My, oh, my…… Shame on this old man.”
Hmm. Even if I had to do this on my own I would have been fine though. It seemed like the characters in my party would still follow me. So we needed to go together anyway.
“Miss Hero? Sir Sage……?”
“Hoho, I’m grateful for the Bishop’s consideration, however…… We aren’t ‘irresponsible’ enough to just lay down using fatigue as an excuse when there’s a Demon wreaking havoc in town.”
By the way, the Sage’s way of throwing shade sure wasn’t ordinary. That would hurt their pride quite a lot, as he turned away all the priests who tried to make them stay here.
“That’s……!”
“I shouldn’t drag my feet any longer. Let us go.”
“…Yes!”
The Inquisitor also followed me with a bright expression on her face, seeming like a little kid who had been given candy, at the Archmage’s words. It really was ridiculous, but I let it slide because she was acting cute.
“Well then…… We’ll first have to find that hidden Demon first.”
In the end, the three of us left the Temple and began to search the town.
Since we had no real destination, it felt more like we were aimlessly walking around, but it wasn’t a meaningless act if one thought of it as getting familiar with the map.
“Let’s ask some witnesses for more detai–”
“No need.”
I cut off the Archmage and focused on the smell around me. As far as I could remember, one characteristic of a Drauger was its disgusting stench.
Of course, when I was still playing the game on PC, such sentiments were only expressed through text bubbles reading something like ‘It smells weird.’ or similar. Now that it became a VR game, I actually had to use my nose to detect it myself.
“Hoh, do you have a guess as to what kind of Demon it is?”
His question was rather vague, so I just went ahead and ignored it. Should I share some information with them now that I was their partner? However would the temper of my character allow that?
Rather, wasn’t it a bit weird that a sage had not even a clue as to what type of Demon it was. Well, I could tell just by looking at his expression, that he seemed to know something at least.
Well, since they couldn’t just let players run around without at least that much basic knowledge, they probably encouraged them to figure it out on their own. A game should always be player driven after all.
“How could one call themselves an intelligent being if one doesn’t even know that much.”
So, I decided to answer him with some lines that fit my character setting. The dumpling next to me seemed dumbfounded, but I let it slide because her expression was cute.
“…Can I hear your guess?”
Still, the Inquisitor was a Priest who wasn’t ashamed of her ignorance.
While she hesitated a little, she still asked me in a confident voice. The will to acquire more knowledge burned brightly in her green eyes.
“I can’t believe that you’re a Hero, when you’re like that.”
“I know I’m not really that dependable, but please refrain from such blasphemous remarks.”
Oh, did she mean to tell me that I should at least believe in God’s decision, if I couldn’t believe in her? What an inflexible Priest.
“So what kind of Demon is it?”
Still, she was quite persistent. She turned her head nervously.
“…It’s a Draugr.”
“A Draugr…… I see! Certainly, if it’s a Draugr, that would explain everything.”
She seemed to know what a Draugr was at least. The Inquisitor’s eyes immediately lit up.
“As expected, you are an expert in hunting Demons after all. You found out immediately after you heard the request’s information……”
No, well, judging by the Mage’s smile it seemed like he knew as well. Even though I didn’t do anything, would she actually automatically become my companion NPC?
With that thought in mind, the corner of my mouth twitched a bit. It was quite difficult to hold back my laughter, and it was even harder to not make it obvious either.
I quickly thought of dark and serious thoughts to cope. As such my laughter immediately disappeared.
“We’ll have to find places that smell bad, in that case. Don’t you think so, too?”
It just so happened that there was quite a good topic at hand for that.
“We should probably examine the town’s graveyard, if there is one. I heard that Draugr are born in them.”
“You are well informed Miss Inquisitor.”
“How could I compare to Sir Sage and Sir Demon Knight.”
The Draugr quest, which also appeared in the original, led one to find corruption and Demon worshippers in the parish.
Would it be the same in the remake?
“Ah, it smells strange!”
It seemed like the Priest’s nose was a lot better than mine. To be more exact, my sense of smell was better, but my ability to distinguish different scents was inferior.
“It really doesn’t smell that good.”
As I followed the Priest into an alley, the stench I had been smelling all that time before seemed to have become a dozen times stronger.
I had thought that it just came from the street or something, but it seemed like I had been wrong.
“That’s a Draugr’s……!”
Another thing I realized was that my night vision was a lot better than the Inquisitor’s.
I grabbed the Inquisitor by her armor and pulled her back. I forcibly pulled her behind me, who had an expression similar to a disgruntled cat on her face, and went ahead of her.
“Sir Demon Knight……?”
I reached my hand towards my waist, while I was trying to block out the smell permeating the alley as much as possible. Click. The lantern I had at my waist lit up and brightened the alley which had been engulfed in darkness.
“…Oh my god.”
“We’re too late……”
Inside of it we found a dried up body, completely devoid of moisture. Well, it was better than finding a crushed or half-devoured one, but it was still a disgusting sight to those unfamiliar with these kinds of scenes.
I walked up to the body, leaving those two behind. The stenched that filled the alley was thickest around the corpse.
That was obviously the smell of a Draugr.
The source of the smell, however, was absent. But even the traces it left behind were so strong already. I had a feeling that my nose would suffer quite a bit if I actually encountered it.
Tak.
But that wasn’t important.
I was thinking about what action would fit my character the best and came to a quick decision. As a former victim, it was clear that someone like that would move to prevent the creation of any more victims after seeing someone who couldn’t be saved.
“…I shall avenge you.”
Self-blame that he couldn’t have been faster. Hostility towards all Demons. And the mixture of both these feelings turned into rage.
“So, rest in peace.”
He would feel sadness as he projected his feelings towards his deceased family onto this victim and his desire to let them rest peacefully.
You may call me the genius of interpretation, Haha.
“…I shall pray for them.”
The Inquisitor, who had come to my side, put her hands together. A prayer flowed out of her lips, neither too long nor too short, a divine light accompanying it.
I was an atheist, but that did look pretty nice.
“I called the guards.”
Just when I was wondering what the Archmage was doing, he came back after contacting the guards. That was also a good decision.
To be honest, it had felt a bit strange to just leave a corpse unattended whenever events like that occurred in games. In some games, a guard would get immediately summoned to the corpse’s location.
“Judging by the strong smell, it hasn’t been that long since he was killed. In that case, the Draugr should still be somewhere nearby. Let’s find it quickly before there are any more victims.”
“Are you babbling about these basic things to show off how smart you are? It’s more efficient to talk while we are tracking it down.”
It sure was nice of them to let the player know what would come next, but my character setting didn’t allow me to be appreciative of that. I reacted unnecessarily harshly and crossed over the corpse.
I didn’t mean to insult the deceased or anything, but I couldn’t do anything about it as the stench continued into the alley.
“Haha, yes.”
However, the wise mage just clapped his hands at my obvious sarcasm. Then, the stench we could only smell up until now, became visible as strange fluorescent colors swirling in the air.
“It’s Tracking Magic. It doesn’t last that long.”
I hadn’t even activated tracking skills yet, so I was wondering if I had to continue to rely on my sense of smell to go after it. So that was how they implemented it.
At that convenient spell, I ended up making a rather puzzled face. In that case, wasn’t it pretty much unnecessary for me to activate any tracking skills……? Rather, how would this pan out if one started out as a wizard?
“……”
Anyway, it was a good thing, so I just decided to pursue it.
I took the lead as we advanced into the alleyway. Then, I noticed a white light bursting forth behind me.
“I’ll follow you after purifying the Demonic energy.”
As the divine power gently lit up the dark alley, I could see the fluorescent fog near the Inquisitor dying down.
Was this where the path would become twisted later or something? I hoped that there won’t be any misunderstandings or confusions happening. She was in the rear most row right now, so she wouldn’t be able to follow us without any traces.
Crunch.
In that case I should just run. With that in mind, I put strength to my feet. Rustle. My coat’s collar, which was divided into three parts, spread out like a duck’s tail.
“Ehem, Oh Wind, lighten our steps!”
As I started running, the Archmage quickly chanted a spell. Considering the effect and the words used in the chant, it probably was something like Haste, a buff that raised movement speed.
But why didn’t he cast it on both of us? Was there some restriction?
“A dead end!”
After running a little, the trail of the Draugr that led us into the alleyway went through a wall. Something like that was possible for Draugrs because they were immaterial Demons, so they could walk through objects.
“……”
What should I do now? Should we go back the road we came from? But then we’d lose its trail. That wouldn’t be cool.
Then, should I take advantage of the fact that this was a VR game again?
“Sir Demon Knight?!”
Instead of slowing down, I just turned slightly to the side. Then, just in time, I saw that the densely placed buildings had a lot of protrusions I could grab or step on.
Thud!
After running up a wall for a bit, I put my hands on a window frame and pulled myself up. I had been wondering if something like that would work, but I could actually perform parkour in this game. It was a lot easier than I thought as the body I was using was that of this game character. My performance was better than expected as well.
Climbing up to the roof was only a matter of time as my movements were only limited to my imagination. The roof made out of tree bark slightly crunched under the soles of my shoes.
“You really are one unstoppable man……”
In a lot of games, party members were programmed to teleport next to the player if the distance between them grew too wide, so I didn’t really have to worry about it. Now, where did the smell lead to?
I ran over the building as I looked down on the street. I could see the fluorescent fog appearing on roads before disappearing into buildings again and so on.
Crack. Crunch. Crack.
The dried bark roof crunched under my feet as I lept up. I jumped between buildings, which I had thought to be impossible at first, as it was faster.
But why was it so quiet behind me? Could it be that this game didn’t have that party member teleportation system?
Glance.
I only confirmed it after I saw that no one was behind me.
I became a little anxious because there were some games that would prevent me from advancing if I got too far away from my teammates, but no warning window or similar appeared before me. I mean something like ‘Please immediately regroup with your companions’ or something.
So did that mean that individual actions were supported as well? Or was it a bug? This couldn’t even be called a novel idea or something, so I had to somehow deal with this now. Did they just want the player to keep pace with his party members on his own……?
No way in hell. As a born and raised Korean I hated being slowed down!
“Found it.”
The fluorescent light disappeared maybe because the duration of the spell had ended, but in its stead I saw the source of this stench. It was in a vacant lot between buildings.
Even though its red eyes flashing through the deep, dark fog were changed from 2D to 3D, it still was the same Draugr.
「Draugr│A specter that deceives people’s eyes and devours them. Raising from their tomb, they move through rock like fish swimming in the sea in search for prey.」
「❖ The Evil lurking in the Town
∎ Pursue the Demon hiding in the Town
∎ Draugr eliminated 0 / 1」
Flutter!
Seeing the updated quest, I jumped into an area close to the lot with my back to the moon.
In the process, the hem of my coat spread out, but it didn’t feel too uncomfortable. I was holding onto my Two Hander which had given off clattering sounds from my back.
Wuooooooh—!
The Draugr made some humming noises, as my Two Hander slammed into the place it narrowly escaped from. As soon as I raised it again, I firmly held it in both of my hands and swung at it, but was disappointed to realize that I had missed again.
Actually, even if I hit it properly, I wouldn’t have damaged it as physical attacks were ineffective against it due to its immaterial nature.
“…Glory to the Heavens.”
Whatever, I did say that a true roleplayer perfectly played their character even if no one was around, right?
“I shall avenge the dead.”
I violently pulled out my sword which I had stabbed into the ground and charged at the Draugr again.
A thick black fog began to roll over the lot accompanied by that mind-numbing stench.
Wooooooo.
Rather, according to my memory, attacking the thing in its immaterialized form was pretty much impossible, wasn’t it? Too bad. The easiest way to time attacks in that state was by parrying—
Uuuuoh!
“Just when I was thinking of how to get rid of those heathens…… You’re Gretchen aren’t you?”
─However, a variable appeared.
“The King is looking for you, Gretchen.”
Someone wearing a robe rose from the Draugr’s fog.
They wore sparkling red jewelry on their somber, black robe. Even if I hadn’t played the game I knew what their true identity was.
「Demon Contractor│Those who have sold their soul by contracting a Demon. It is unknown whether they really sold their souls to a Demon or to their own desires.」
They were a demon Contractor.
