Chapter 118 – Chapter 118 ― The Laboratory Is Closed (5)
Episode 118 ― The laboratory is closed (5)
Roan’s body was embarrassed, but fortunately Roan’s shell faced the Count without moving.
As Roan’s bewilderment grew, his outer appearance generally tended to mask his inner shaking. A convenient function similar to the tone.
“… I’m curious.”
Roan decided to be honest.
Only some.
There is always a possibility that the opponent has a skill similar to ‘seeing through’ like Roan or Aina.
“I took a little look.”
He didn’t say anything significant about getting it out of the sack or blessing it.
There isn’t even an inch of lies.
The Count let out a suspicious snort through his slender eyes.
“Hmm. The magic will run out and you will feel uncomfortable.”
And Roan’s next answer was also honest.
“I am not a wizard. I don’t have much magic power.”
“… Well, the less magic there is, the less risk.”
It seems that the Northern Baekryeongju was already roughly estimating Roan’s power.
Nodding his head, he drew water from a tap placed in the corner of the greenhouse and handed it to the emperor.
“But wouldn’t you say that your clothes get wet in the drizzle? You’d better wipe it off quickly.”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t look uncomfortable even with that stuff on your hands. You are surprisingly dull.”
“Hmm?”
Roan’s eyebrows twitched slightly at the unexpectedly sharp words. But the count said indifferently.
“Aren’t you a noble person? I’m sure you’ve never had dirt on your hands, but if you’re in such a filthy state, the attendants will jump up and down. Aha.”
Roan was surprised for a moment, then swallowed the relief.
The Count had never seen Roan cast ‘Starlight’ or ‘Star’s Blessing’. To him, this powder just looks like dirt.
There was no need to be so nervous.
The moment Roan felt relieved.
“By the way, Your Majesty. What did you do last time?”
“Hmm?”
“Ahaha, the way you destroyed my precious magic tracking camera.”
Roan couldn’t react.
I felt like if I made a sound or moved, I would end up not knowing what to do.
Thankfully, Roan’s shell worked so the Earl didn’t notice his tension.
Apparently, the emperor is just
Silently washed the powder off his hands
He seemed to be looking at the Count with his usual insensitive expression.
The only thing that reflected his hesitation was the slightly delayed reply.
“… Anyway, I was worried that the count would get hurt.”
“It’s embarrassing. Is that Your Majesty’s unique skill?”
The Count grinned.
Ah.
I’ve seen this expression before.
That expression full of incongruity he saw when Erenia secretly recorded the lord’s meeting.
A strange light shone in the count’s eyes.
Live… Closer to madness.
Now Roan could tell when the count made this expression.
When he sees something he can’t understand.
The light shining in his eyes
Curiosity close to madness. Is a thirst for knowledge
“Yes.”
Without lies,
Speak only the truth
Don’t give excuses as much as possible.
For now, I want to avoid the possibility of a political clash with the great lord.
The count is different from the Western Blood Lord and Eastern Hwang Lord, who have already revealed to me that they support me first and gave me room to believe.
You can’t just kill the Count on the spot because you don’t like it or because you have room to threaten me, right?
It is wisest to say less.
“It is one of my own strengths.”
“Is that power? The secret of His Majesty’s recent strength.”
“… Jim doesn’t have to reveal everything.”
“Aha☆ I guess so.”
The Count laughed and scratched his head.
“It is a strange thing. The Majesty I’ve met up close is very different from the people I’ve experienced in the past. Make an effort not to miss training every day. According to Helen, she is a kind person. It is not easy for a person to change overnight.”
The count came too close. Roan was staring down at the count.
“Why have you been like that in the past? He violently unleashed unrefined power. What made Your Majesty change so much and give you greater power?”
His voice was excited with heat.
The count tilted his head slightly and thrust his face in as if observing the emperor closely.
If any other aristocrats saw it, they would call it rude.
However, neither Roan nor the Earl were paying attention to such trivial things.
“Are these two changes related? What’s the context? Otherwise, why did you choose the direction of ineffective benevolence? I’m sorry. Your majesty. But I can’t stand it because I’m curious.”
Roan pondered the Count’s question. In fact, the root cause is that he just took over Roan’s body.
I became stronger not only because I know the elements of the game, but also because I put in so much effort.
The reputation that I have become benevolent is also because I struggled to occupy the body of the (former) demon king and not attract the attention of the hero.
So Roan decided to answer the count’s question without causing much trouble.
Even if he evaded an answer, it was unlikely that the Count would easily back down.
“It may not be the answer you are expecting.”
Seeing Roan unlucky, the Count shut his mouth in anticipation.
“What I try to be strong. What changed my attitude. All because Jim has a different purpose.”
“That is… What is? Your majesty.”
The earl’s excited breathing was heard, and it was very burdensome.
Roan’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Count. If you answer my question, I will answer too.”
Hearing Roan’s words, the Count’s eyes widened for a moment, then widened again.
“Yes. Please ask, Your Majesty.”
“You seem to be more hungry for power than the others.”
“Ahaha☆ Is there a demon that isn’t like that?”
“In the process, you think that those weaker than you are nothing.”
For the first time, the Count
He smiled without replying.
Roan felt a sense of dread at the bizarre glinting eyes between the narrowed eyes.
Roan remembered what the count had said at the lords meeting.
— Why should I give something to the little ones? They’re meat shields that buy me time until I clear the enemy.
To him, neither friendly soldiers nor enemies
Everyone was just a puppet to put them first.
“Why do you treat the weak so cruelly? If you think of them as consumables, they will be worth what they are. But in Jim’s view, the Earl hates the weak. He thinks that others are inferior to your magic chase camera. Jim wants to ask why.”
“…”
The count’s face gradually disappeared as he tried to answer Roan’s question by opening his mouth a few times.
When he finally spoke out, his expression
He had an emotionless face like a still life.
“… I am annoyed.”
“Hmm?”
“It annoys me when worthless people spend their time and abilities without valuing what they have.”
In the Count’s words, not only hatred, but also bitterness and sadness were felt.
It was an unexpected feeling.
As if he had resigned himself as if he could not help it.
The count’s expressionless face seemed to have lost some energy.
“Those who have blown their chances and failed to prove themselves can’t help it even if they die. Isn’t that the world? That is the right of the strong. Your majesty. Isn’t that why His Majesty can enjoy the most?”
Quite different from his usual appearance
Tired voice and expression.
Roan’s eyes narrowed.
The words of the Count, who said, “Those who cannot prove their strength can not be helped even if they die.”
It sounded like the count was talking to himself.
“Your majesty. I am not satisfied with the Countess. I have no heart to miss the opportunity. It will go higher More than the other great lords, if possible, more than Your Majesty, someday.”
“What are you trying to do by being so strong? Do you want the position of emperor?”
“Rather than the seat of the emperor…”
The Count, who continued his words in a slightly elevated state, paused and shut his mouth.
In that short bird, he noticed his excitement.
But in a few words and actions,
Roan’s skill is enough to find out the Count’s feelings.
“If you climb without rest, you will get tired.”
Roan’s voice gently comforted him.
Pity conveyed through ‘appeal’.
Surprise crossed the count’s stiff face.
At last he looked human again.
The first expression that came to his face was a laugh.
Laugh at yourself.
Self-help that he showed emotional fragments to someone because he couldn’t contain himself.
Said the Count bitterly.
“Your majesty. I have work to do. So you need strength.”
“Then Count. Maybe I can’t help Is it something you have to do alone?”
“… Yes?”
Pure bewilderment and surprise flashed across the Count’s face, whose usual smile was removed.
His face even looked rather innocent.
“What… You know what, you want to help me…”
“Your strength was also for a different purpose after all. If I or others can help you achieve that goal, won’t you be freed from that burden quickly?”
Roan shrugged.
“Jim realized that only recently.”
The Count stared at her face in dismay.
“Jim, he wanted to survive. It still is.”
“… Yes?”
The count’s face contorted.
However, the emperor’s words were sincere.
“We demons ignore humans. But human potential is great. Some of them grow up to be able to kill Jim.”
The Count tried to laugh as if it were absurd, but
There seemed to be no laughter.
Because the Earl was directly receiving the earnestness of Roan’s words. Through the ‘appeal’, he was receiving all the emperor’s concerns and fears through his heart.
Feeling Roan’s anxiety as if it were his own, the Count clenched his fists.
“Of course, it is a matter of possibility. But Jim knew it would be done with a high probability. I knew I would bring much of the incident on my own through Jim’s stupidity, and I feared that Jim would be isolated.”
“Your Majesty’s ability is prophecy… , It seems to be the same thing.”
Roan’s eyes widened a little, then he closed them gently.
The Count’s insight was great.
Knowing the future of gaming…
Okay. It’s like a prophecy.
That is also the new power that the emperor, whom the count wants to know about, has gained.
“It sounds similar.”
“So…”
The Count nodded to himself.
A person who has seen the future in which he will die may suddenly change.
“I realized. That force alone cannot be the only solution to the problem. Jim began seeking help from others. And it’s working.”
The power of ‘charisma’ and ‘appeal’
The wall in the Count’s heart was being torn down little by little.
Too small for a male beast.
The Count looked up at Roan blankly as if possessed.
“Jim does not know the background of your feelings toward the weak. However, what others can give is often unrelated to their strength. After all, this world is not a place where you can live alone.”
Roan smiled faintly.
“Sometimes you are threatened by the strong, and sometimes you are helped by the weak. Someone by force… Including you, I hope you don’t judge. Then you’ll get something else.”
The Count, who had been silent for a moment, opened his mouth after a while.
“… There really is something in the world that offers help as a favor.”
I seem to have come back to my senses a bit.
A smile appeared on the Count’s face again.
But his voice was still calm.
“If what I want is Your Majesty’s death, what are you doing?”
Roan laughed and shrugged his shoulders.
Because he saw red concentric circles spreading out from him.
“I’ll have to convince you to find another way.”
The Count lowered his gaze.
“Your majesty. I am the one who has been stained with blood and gained strength. No one believed in me, so I had to stab someone in the back and climb up. And now there’s too much blood on my hands. I know it’s really too late to reach out to anyone.”
The Count sincerely believes in this.
Roan was saddened.
His age is not much different from Roan.
The great lord who is not yet thirty.
An archmage with great power.
But he is an unfortunate man who has never had a chance to earn anyone’s trust.
Thus, the Count constantly craved power.
To survive alone.
Roan suddenly remembered himself in reality.
In a world thrown with nothing,
The only property I had was my body.
A life that was struggling to survive with it.
Roan looked down at his hand.
He also stabbed someone in the back,
He has tried to live by trampling on the weak.
And he got an amazing opportunity
He is getting to know life where he is loved and trusted.
Then,
When the opportunity like this comes now.
Maybe I too can reach out to someone and give them a chance.
After thinking, Roan opened his mouth.
Like reading the count.
Roan’s voice was gentle.
“Count. I will hold your hand.”
The Count contorted his face in disbelief.
Distrust and denial.
But it was the most human expression I had ever seen on him.
“I am strong enough not to stab you in the back.”
And Roan smiled softly.
As if comforting a weary count.
“I am not your emperor.”
The Count quietly lowered his head.
Because it was silent, the mind that could not be understood by any skill,
A single drop of tear told me.
