NOVEL WEB Chapter 10
“Oh crap!”
Somehow I dodged it once with luck, but judging by how they’re positioning themselves, it won’t be long before I’m just a hunk of meat.
“No, seriously, just listen to me!”
“I don’t need to listen to a punk who messes with my family!”
“What the hell—”
A dagger sped towards me at a speed I couldn’t even defend against.
Ah, goodbye, alternate world.
Feeling my doom approaching, I closed my eyes.
Ugh, I should’ve just stayed in the Imperial Palace.
No, even better, I should’ve thought of another way to make money instead of this stupid writing gig.
If I had, I might’ve been able to live comfortably by depending on my brother who inherited the barony without any conscience.
Regret kept washing over me.
Maybe it’s because I was on the verge of dying.
…But why is this taking so long?
I cracked my eyes open as it was taking way too long.
“!!”
I witnessed an unbelievable sight.
A huge hand, like a lid of a pot, gripping the wrist of the enemy without allowing a single movement, with arms like tree trunks.
The owner of that arm… was a giant with the same purple hair as mine.
“Damn it, brother! You came to save me!”
My older brother, Zech Hypno.
“No, what are you doing here?”
“Hah… Zech, do you realize you almost just got killed?”
“Damn right! That dagger was literally inches from my face!”
“Huh… alright. You didn’t ask to be kidnapped, so I think I misjudged you.”
He held the enemy’s wrists together in one hand.
“Ugh..! Let go! That bastard is after our Maxson..!”
“Calm down over there. Zech may be crazy, but he’s not a bad guy.”
“Hey, why do I have to be the crazy one?”
Just a regular reincarnated author here.
“First, let’s get outside. The Second Princess and Second Prince are waiting for us.”
“What?!”
Rushing out the door, I saw the Second Princess, Eve, and the Second Prince, Rian, waiting for me in the carriage.
“Uh… uh, esteemed sun of the empire—”
“Cut the formalities, just get in.”
“Right. Sadly, Eve and I are not that strong when it comes to combat.”
“Oh, okay.”
Since they told me to get in, I obeyed their order and hopped into the carriage.
As soon as I got on, the horses started moving on their own even though there was no coachman.
“Did you bring my brother?”
“I called for him. I gave you a magic crystal back at the academy because of something related to you.”
“Wait, you gave a crystal to a baron household like ours?”
“What’s it to you? Back then, if anyone had seen it, they would’ve made a fuss, but now you’re from Check Writer’s family, so it’s not an issue.”
“Uh, okay, let’s just drop it.”
I had nothing to retort with.
“Wow… anyways, thanks to you, I’m still alive. I nearly shattered into thirty pieces before hitting thirty.”
“Hah… even joking, don’t say stuff like that. Do you realize how much I worried when you disappeared? Since the academy, you always… “
As Eve started her nagging, Rian chimed in, so I quickly turned my attention to him.
Eve always nagged too much since the academy.
“Yes, Prince Rian!”
“Sorry to interrupt, but I keep hearing about the academy. What in the world were you up to?”
“Oh, nothing special. I just… wanted to live quietly but couldn’t.”
“Zech, that’s not you. You haven’t been the quiet type since the academy—”
At that moment—
-Bam!
“Ah!”
“Gah!”
The carriage shook violently.
“What the hell?!”
Immediately opening the carriage door to peek out, I saw a shadowy hand squeezing the horses from the front of the carriage.
“Prince and Princess, I think we’re in deep trouble.”
“What’s going on?…”
“Do you know what that shadowy hand the size of a person is?”
“What do you mean…”
“…Isn’t that the ‘Black Grip’ used by mid-level Dark Mages?”
“Oh, we’re in big trouble.”
Then first things first…
“Get down quick! If you don’t want to die!”
After kicking the carriage door open, I jumped out.
“Oh wow~ you guys are royalty?”
A man in a black robe, just like the Dark Mages I saw earlier, eyed the princess and prince with greedy eyes.
“So, two of the weakest royalty? What luck! I wouldn’t dare touch the First Princess or First Prince!”
“…Eve, do you have any way to win?”
“…I can only use up to 4th circle magic.”
“I can’t use magic at all and I’m terrible with swords. I just know how to scribble with a pen.”
“…We’re done for. With Eve, a 4th circle mage, being our top power and me, a total rookie, facing a mid-level Dark Mage.”
Even in a daze, Rian drew his sword from his waist.
“For now, let’s stall until Zech arrives.”
“Got it.”
“Uh… I’ll try something?”
What could I even do?
My coin, the medium for my hypnosis, was confiscated by the enemy so I had nothing on me.
‘Brother, please take down that enemy and hurry up! If possible, bring that so-called hero pigeon girl and my coin too!’
Latte may have a bad memory, but if I recall when she got me out of the Imperial Palace, she’d probably be stronger than my brother.
“Ha! You really wanna fight me? You all look like easy prey to me!”
The mid-level Dark Mage slowly raised both hands and muttered.
“Oh, great one. As the final sacrifice, I offer up these two noble blooded individuals so grant us the hero who’ll correct this twisted history.”
“…That Dark Mage is planning to offer someone up as a sacrifice..!”
Rian gritted his teeth and tightly gripped his sword.
“Consider it an honor to become the sacrifices for summoning the hero!”
-Whoosh!
From behind the Dark Mage, a colossal pair of hands made of shadow rose.
“Become my sacrifice!”
“Eve! It’s coming!”
With a speed like a wild boar, the two hands charged, and Rian swung his sword with all his might.
-Clang!
“Gah!”
But as expected of the notoriously weak Second Prince, just blocking it sent him flying back.
“Ugh.”
This is really bad.
Eve stood in front of me, trying to hold on with her defensive magic.
“Zech..! They’re targeting me and Rian! You need to run away!”
“What? No way, I can’t just leave you—”
“The enemy is stronger than we thought! For some reason Zech is late too! So you need to run!”
“No..”
Should I really leave like this?
My reason tells me running is the right choice, but my conscience screams against it.
But if I stay, I can’t really do anything anyway.
I’m just a writer.
As I anxiously contemplated, something caught my eye.
-Grin.
‘Yes, the gods really are on my side.’
***
Mid-level Dark Mage, Nick, was in a great mood.
“Hah…”
“Cough! Cough!”
It was because he could use the Second Princess and Second Prince as sacrifices, despite their noble bloodline not being matched by much power.
I couldn’t see where that purple-haired brat went, but… there’s no need to care now.
If I sacrifice these two, I can summon the most crucial person for the great one to descend upon this world.
The last hero.
The hero who’s said to have perished alongside the Demon King didn’t actually die with him.
But the empire kept that a secret.
If I can summon the hero who was wrongfully killed at the end, his sword will surely face the empire.
His power is immense, so once the hero is summoned, bringing ‘that one’ to this world will be instantaneous.
“Now, look at this book.”
“Ugh..”
Grabbing the princess’s chin, I made her read about the Betrayer Hero and Support Disbandment, which were famous among Dark Mages.
Not long after, dark energy began to seep out of her.
It was the power of corruption.
Nick chuckled as he absorbed the dark energy with his shadowy hand and let the princess, who had lost her life in the process, drop to the ground.
Then, the same process was performed on the prince.
“Hah… how long have I been waiting for this moment.”
With joy in his heart, Nick ran in one direction.
In the distance, a village lay in ruins, only debris remaining.
“Hah hah hah! Fellow comrades! The time has finally come! We will summon the hero from this village where it once thrived, with the energy of the hero and the dark energy!”
Nick and the other Dark Mages shot their gathered dark energy up into the sky from various locations.
“Oh! Finally!”
As they watched the sky turn red, Nick and the Dark Mages all knelt in reverence.
And then.
-Boom!
The ‘Hero’ clad in black armor descended.
***
From then on, everything went like clockwork.
“Gah!”
The hero’s sword severed the Emperor’s head.
“Hah hah hah! For the great one!”
Feeling ecstatic, he joined in the slaughter, his power ceaselessly surpassing boundaries.
“Hah hah hah! I’ll kill them all!”
Thus, on one fateful day as he continued his usual slaughter.
…
“Huh? What’s wrong with you!”
He encountered a woman with dead eyes.
Nick, as he always did, pierced her abdomen with his shadowy hand.
“What! You’re not dead?!”
For some reason, she was a woman whose life remained intact even after being pierced through the stomach.
“Die! I said die!”
Nick kept stabbing and slashing at her, but she wouldn’t die.
She just kept regenerating.
“What the hell! Why won’t you die?!”
“I don’t… die. Until I feel emotions.”
“…What an unreasonable ability! The great one desires the death of every human!”
…
“Ugh! Fine! If it’s come to this, I’ll take you and conduct all sorts of experiments on you!”
With his shadowy hand gripping her, Nick returned to his lair.
Ignoring the concerned gazes of his comrades, he sat her down in front of him and pondered.
‘To feel emotions, huh…’
Despite all the pain delivered, he couldn’t kill her, so fear might be too difficult.
‘…Then rage?’
No, even rage should’ve surfaced from being mutilated, but seeing her unscathed suggested that was impossible too.
“Aha! Happiness! If you can feel happiness, then I’ll let you die!”
Nick grinned wickedly as he shouted at her.
“…Happiness?”
“Yes! I’ll make you happy! Then I’ll kill you!”
“…Alright.”
Thus, Nick’s bizarre cohabitation with the woman began.
Days turned into weeks, then weeks into months.
“Thanks to you, I was able to experience the feeling of happiness. Thank you, Nick..”
“I too, learned a lot because of you.”
Nick couldn’t bring himself to kill her, Dream.
Unable to slay her due to love, Nick found himself needing to battle countless Dark Mages.
But in the end, he emerged victorious.
“I love you, Nick..”
“I love you too, Dream…”
The couple, who had fallen in love, closed their eyes and shared a kiss.
On top of the many corpses of Dark Mages.
“Did you have a happy dream?”
-Crash!