[Translator: Dawn]
[Proofreader: Karane]
I could not hear the voice of the auction host on the stage, nor the cheers and applause that began to resonate through the solemn atmosphere.
It felt like I put my face underwater.
I stared at him through the disappearing noises. And he was staring at me as well.
Gambler Lairo. I was able to come to the place I was at thanks to his item when I was in the midst of my despair back in Linduroak.
He was looking at me with a smile on his face.
Marie was also staring at him. We got up quietly from our spot and slowly and skillfully walked out to the back without taking our eyes off him.
He also started to walk out to the back as he watched us naturally.
Shadows of other people crept in between us and him while we were moving. However, that never made us lose sight of each other.
As we walked out of the auction house where there was a lot of commotion, we were faced with an unfamiliar silence.
"You've been looking at me quite passionately for a while, it's hard for me to withstand it."
The old man tensed us up with a joke mixed with laughter. His leisurely behavior put us under tremendous pressure.
"Anyways, nice to meet you. My name is Lairo."
He put one arm on his stomach and gave a gentleman's bow. However, his bow appeared quite unappealing with his round belly and ridiculously crossed legs.
I took a step back without noticing myself at his movement.
"Khea, be careful."
"Why, what's wrong?"
This was no time for playing roles anymore.
Khea was not a player. Therefore she doesn't get to claim the advantage of figuring out how strong the opponents were through their levels.
Unlike everyone else, his name was tainted in black. He even had an effect of a thick black tar-like substance dripping under the typography.
But most of all, the reason why I got so tensed up was,
Because he had a three-digit level. Through simple arithmetic, I was able to know that he was 4 times stronger than Black Mountain, and 3 times stronger than awakened Gilutin.
And there was no way that this sloppy old man, who was spraying magic and rare ranked items left and right, wouldn't have any of his own.
I was sure that this man possessed the power that far transcended our own.
"Truly impressive, Mose."
He opened his mouth with a humous smile. Khea's eyes widened up at his words.
"You…! You know him?!"
I was also flabbergasted at what he said to me.
He knew my name, despite all I did was purchase his product just passing by in Linduroak.
I felt like throwing up for a moment.
"I bought something from him back in Linduroak."
"Correct! It was such a fateful encounter!"
Agreeing with what I said, the corners of his mouth, ripped up like a vicious clown. Khea pulled out her rapier from her waist as she shook her head.
"I don't know what you're planning on doing with that music sheet, but this is where it ends. I, the Sworder of Asparagan, Khea! I shall snatch the truth with this blade."
She courageously took steps towards him. Every step made her black hair wave.
However, Lairo refused to even look at her, not giving her any attention at all. His scorching eyes were only headed towards me.
"Lairo! Your arrogance will bring you to your own demise!"
She pulled herself closer to the floor like a tightly pulled bowstring. Her elastic leg muscles seemed to be ready to pierce through him at any moment.
***
Reaper Scans
[Translator – Dawn]
[Proofreader – Karane]
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***
And in an instant,
Lairo's nose was touching mine even though I didn't even blink. Whether he got here through teleportation magic or extremely fast steps, I did not know. It happened in a flash as if taking a photo.
"I simply have a business to talk about with you."
His cold hooked nose touched mine, his deep-set eyes and pale skin, the terrifying corners of his mouth that stretched all the way to his cheekbones, and his eerie breath blew around my neck.
And as soon as he finished speaking, I witnessed Khea's strike miss behind him. And Khea immediately looked behind.
And unfortunately,
She could not find Lairo or me.
She shook her head busily to look around her with a bewildered expression.
"Unfortunately for you, we are not visible to her eyes."
He took his nose off and started walking slowly around me. At some point, even the clue to the sound of the faint wind ceased to be audible.
Except for the complete utter silence that overwhelms me, Khea looking for us right next to me, the auction house behind him, and the gorgeous garden in front were just as they were.
"I would like to have a conversation with you, so please understand."
He opened his mouth, entrusting his heavy body to a rock adorned in the garden. His light gray, thin perm hair was shining.
"Honestly speaking, you took me by surprise."
"What… are you…"
"Mose the Player!"
Suddenly he cut off my words with a loud shout. Then he started laughing maniacally.
"I'm telling you, you truly took me by surprise!"
He tilted his veiny neck back, barely holding back his laughter as if he was excited.
"There are thousands, if not tens of thousands immortals that I have chosen."
Lairo suddenly stopped his laughter and began to chant slowly in a very low voice.
"People were chosen by the prophet, Lairo. Then Lairo began to make a great plan using them."
He opened his arms and began to look up at the sky.
"He gave the 'power that can only be obtained after the conquest' in advance to the immortals destined to conquer this world!"
With an elated expression on his face, he again stared at me blindly and fiercely to the point of piercing through my face.
"Ruins of Lavant, Swamp of Galipeod, Luciote's Coffin, and Tomb of the Langerus Cavalry! Lairo began his search for them. He searched and searched and searched endlessly!"
Lairo put his arms in front of his face with a lot of strength in his fingers and trembled his entire body.
"Huff…, Heh heh. And the immortals started to get stronger just like I intended. They started to use magic, wield swords, and left their traces all over the world just like the people of this world."
Soon he started walking slowly towards me. Slowly, very slowly, in the midst of his steps, his face suddenly began to turn red.
The area around his eyes burned red, and his eyes were bloodshot. And tears began to flow down from his eyes.
"But why!"
All of a sudden, Lairo screamed so loud that my eardrums would've been damaged if I didn't cover my ears with my hands. Then he made a very sad face in a turn of a moment.
"Why do the immortals choose to stay weak! They are too busy selling the powers I have given to them without using them for themselves properly!"
Lairo, who had been screaming his guts out, suddenly,
Stopped crying.
Then he put an uncanny smile on his face like before. It felt like my liver and gall were starting to freeze up.
"But… you… Mose! You are different. You are the only immortal among the ones I've seen that made a different decision."
He then made a bright smile on his face, and said
"That is why I have decided to take my magnificent plan into action just for you."
"What are you even…"
"Mose, think about it! Why do you think you became a Sworder, how come the Sworder that you met was on a mission chasing after me? Was it just a coincidence? Of course not! If I didn't leave the trace of digging up Luciote's Coffin, then that shady Sworder wouldn't have even gone near the city!"
Chills went down my spine. He continued speaking without giving any attention to my current state.
"Things started to get easier after you acquired your fancy set of armor.
But then, after making you into a Sworder, you started getting onto a wrong mission, so I made a correction to my plan. No, I had to! Yes, of course!
That is why I postponed the stage I prepared for. And the moment I confirmed that your mission had ended, I came straight to Bing Caravan."
"To… meet me?"
"Yes, Mose! To meet you. To let you know of my cause!"
Everything was his plan.
A plan made by an NPC in a game. The rare ranked item I purchased from him wasn't just by luck but was an event prepared by him. Then he adjusted the destination of the Sworder that was chasing after him according to my movement. He waited until I received the mission for Bing Caravan after I became a Sworder.
Everything was not luck.
I came all the way here because of the 'plan' which he disguised as 'luck'.
Now that I think about it, I have never had any questions as to why and how I've become this strong even amongst the players this quickly.
I thought it was because I was lucky, and persevered through the hard times.
However, everything was according to his plan.
Why?
Just why?
"Just why?"
I asked the man with sagging shoulders, to Lairo. He began to speak softly in a slightly calmed voice.
"Because I want this world to be conquered by the hands of the immortals. The immortals appeared out of nowhere and started to eliminate monsters, and pursued the endless strength, to conquer this goddamn world."
I got a sudden headache. It felt like my insides were getting twisted. This wasn't just a simple realistic game anymore.
I was facing the extreme limit of a character made in a system of a virtual reality game.
And that was ever more intense than anything I have experienced in the real world.
A cold stream of tears ran down from his eye. It went down his cheek, and to his chin and fell to the ground.
"If that happens, if that ever happens, then I can finally get my revenge for my son, for my wife, and for my daughter. To seek vengeance on those damned imperialists who took my family from me! I've sold my body to those stenching devils of Chrodon! And my soul to those cursed entities in the Swamp of Rotten Wolves! To justify my existence as the monster I've become!"
His lips were shivering.
"Mose, Mose? Everyone with gold on top of their heads, kill them all. Everything near you, kill them! You, you can have it all! This world and every life in this world! Grasp them with those big hands of yours, devour them! Tear the empire apart, and shove them into your mouth! And mock them with your saliva. And overwrite the traces left behind from those cursed things with your own traces. Take everything from this world to your world, and enjoy the wealth, that is all I want. I've chosen you, I've…"
He started to whisper restlessly.
He,
He too,
Was just a human.
Lairo had a resentment to this giant world as a whole that took his family away from him.
And the only beings that could accomplish his vengeance were the immortals, the players.
I swallowed my breath strenuously down my throat. In this world where everything was possible, the word 'vengeance' had made him into a real 'monster'.
I slowly turned my head to look at Khea who was wandering around me.
She too was a person of this game.
However, she felt too real to me that I could feel the bitterness of her past from her breath, emotions, and expressions.
"Lairo, I am not just a mere part of your plan."
I stared at Lairo. And Lairo stared at me in vain.
"I make my own plans. The reason why I came to Bing Caravan was that it was my duty, nothing more and nothing less. The reason why I was able to become a Sworder was that I withstood the harsh, painful training. However…"
Sorrow rushed in like a wave. It was because his emotions felt too real to me.
"I must thank you for the necklace you had planned and given me. Lairo, you have saved me from the despair I was soaked in. You changed me."
Soon, I grabbed the hilt of the greatsword I had by my waist with shaking hands. The hilt was as hot as burning flames.
"So this time, I am going to change you. I will end the pain that is eating you away…!"
I pointed my blade after I pulled it out of my sheath. A window appeared in front of my eyes as I did that.
[ Super (超) Clash Battle Quest ]
Defeat Gambler Lairo
Reward: Hidden trait
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