Otherworld TRPG Game Master - Chapter 274



Chapter 274 – The Wrong Path -2

Yes. Thanks to that, I easily gathered the pieces of the ‘Snare.’

I don’t know what kind of accident occurred, but now that the ‘Corpse Flower’ has gone into hiding, we are the only two black magicians looking at the same horizon.

Isn’t this situation ridiculous? I thought it was just a loose collaboration, and while I considered each other as mere pieces on a board, I never thought of us as comrades.

They say that when there’s an external threat, the internal bonds strengthen, but I never expected a madman to truly make us ‘cooperate’ in this world.

When asked what I would use the pieces for, it’s a dagger.

Yes. I will carefully assemble these pieces to create a clone. And I will have it target the original. Only a genius can strike down another genius.

‘Let’s infuse it with malice and turn it into an evil being──’ No, I’m against that plan.

It won’t be so easily manipulated.

He is a monster.

………..

Do you know about loneliness?

It’s like putting all kinds of poison into a jar and forcing them to fight until only one survives amidst the chaos. I see potential in this method.

If it cannot be carved down because it is too solid, let it wear itself away.

—

Constructing an arena with illusion magic, and pitting pieces against each other in combat.

Constantly instilling the suggestion that if they do not fight and win, they could lose their family, their loved ones, everything.

Of course, he will perceive it even as a piece. Some pieces will harbor doubts, while others will realize that this is an illusion. The clever pieces that understand this is all the dark sorcerer’s intent…

will devise their own strategies.

But can every piece truly do that?

Yes. We will seek out the weakest piece.

A capricious, sensitive, and anxious piece, one that is easily shaken, and we will ensure its survival.

In an arena where countless versions of oneself must be sacrificed to survive,

instilling a sense of loathing for the very existence of the same self, and whipping it into a frenzy of pain.

We will obtain a ‘pawn’ that believes it is real,

constantly striving to prove its existence by killing the real one.

—

Thus.

Countless moments flowed within the recurring nightmare.

One day, when the small piece of the mad sorcerer awoke from an unsettling dream.

“…I’m real. I’m real, don’t abandon me. Trust me, I’m real…!”

It had become a trembling, frightened monster in the darkness of the wardrobe’s crevice.

—

Analyst C of the Imperial Defense Agency politely knocked on the door of the office.

A weary voice, burdened by fatigue, came from beyond the door. With the holy city turned upside down, he had been waging a war against paperwork.

The process of restructuring the goddess faith, led by the reformists, was something that the former city girl Tara could not handle alone.

The expertise of a specialist in handling affairs was needed.

Their interests aligned in that this was an opportunity to diminish the influence of the goddess faith and shift it towards imperial favor.

“…Huh.”

Normalizing a city shouldn’t take this long.

But there were several variables.

First, the old men of the cardinal faction were not dead; they had merely been exiled. Some of them had crash-landed near the city and began raising their political voices, which needed to be kept in check.

The old man who fell into a secluded area had even dispatched an extermination squad to deal with them discreetly.

He also had to manage the anxiety surrounding the goddess’s rampage, and deal with the lunatics who would proclaim, “The goddess has declared the empire’s divine mandate is over!” by giving their heads a good thump.

There was much more to do.

Thus, unless it was a matter of considerable importance, the office door would not be knocked upon. For this reason, Irid let out a deep sigh. It meant something had gone awry.

“You may come in.”

“Excuse me. The identifier ‘Mad Sorcerer’ has requested a visit…”

“…I can’t help but worry about what kind of trouble he’s caused this time.”

“However, it’s a bit… strange.”

Strange, indeed.

That fellow was inherently odd. But Analyst C was not one to repeat the obvious. Had he sensed some kind of danger?

—

“…First, I will have a conversation and think it over. But be prepared for emergency contact.”

“Yes.”

“When I signal, move according to the signal.”

Iride stood up and descended the stairs. Even as a prince, it was not his nature to call upon his subordinates; he preferred to act directly.

Simply put, he just didn’t want anyone else entering the room filled with memories of Centra.

Iride reached the reception room. Inside, the mad wizard and his… companions were seated, waiting. The purple mage and Glass Lanster were nowhere to be seen.

The mad wizard traced a line with his dull red eyes. As always, he greeted Iride with a calm yet rude demeanor, but…

“You’ve come.”

“Yeah. What’s the matter this time?”

“I need to ask for your help. A small magical accident occurred, and a sort of evil doppelgänger has appeared… and it has run away.”

Once again, it was a troublesome matter. Iride pressed his temples.

“…So, what do you want me to do?”

“We need to track it down and kill it. I hesitate to say this, but it’s a dangerous creature. It infiltrated the mage tower and stole some documents before escaping.”

“…”

Iride slowly blinked his blue eyes.

In truth, he didn’t know the mad wizard that well. He could count on one hand the number of times they had faced each other, and he still didn’t understand why the man acted so oddly friendly.

But he remembered that feeling. The man before him felt a bit different.

As he chased away the sense of discomfort, he realized what that sensation stemmed from.

There were no jokes.

Even just before the goddess’s rampage sent the holy city flying, he would chatter on about saints and whatnot. To put it negatively, it was frivolous; to put it positively… he never lost his smile, even in dire situations.

He seemed the type who would keep his tongue afloat even if he drowned, and he didn’t mind that at all. He had a knack for making people quite cheerful.

Whether he was simply serious because the situation was dire, or if there was more to it… he wouldn’t know until he checked.

So, Iride covered his face with both hands.

“…Your Highness?”

“I cannot hide my expression from you. It would be impossible for anyone. So, I will proceed with the conversation without looking. I don’t know if this will have any meaning.”

“…”

“I am suspicious of you, and to resolve that, I will ask you one question. Answer it carefully.”

Iride didn’t know which question could discern truth from falsehood. Whether he could resolve this suspicion, avoid having his intentions seen through, or conversely, whether he could peer into the wizard’s heart.

Everything became ambiguous when dealing with this crow-like wizard.

Thus, this was… a gamble, caught in a moment of sudden inspiration.

“I’ve heard there’s a disease that makes you forget names. But they say there are certain names that can be remembered under special conditions. I know that it’s not a disease, but rather some kind of global phenomenon.”

“…Right. You knew. Is it because of the royal family…? But?”

“If you’re real, then repeat the name I say. Kargan.”

“…………”

The fake mad wizard was at a loss for words for a long while.

I don’t know. With the fragments of memory left, I should not know. Kargan from ‘Bankruptcy’ was a mercenary who played the role of a land cushion in the holy city, and he had never participated in a session. In this case, the correct answer was ‘I don’t know.’

But.

Did the second prince bring up this name for no reason? Perhaps at some moment I can’t remember, Mima had come to remember Kargan. Whether it was a session, a simulation, or something else.

It’s a 50/50. One is the truth, and the other is a lie.

If it were the original, even a name that brushed past would have been obsessively repainted until it was unrecognizable. But it was not so for the doppelgänger. It rang out so clearly.

After a long silence, he finally opened his mouth to respond.

“…Kargan?”

“…All agents, assume a state of alert! Mad wizard, stay here until the verification is complete—”

“Fuck, why does it always have to be… ‘The Silence of Gold.’”

Tick.

As the sound of fingers snapping echoed, Irid’s voice vanished from the air as if muted. Now he no longer hid his expression.

Beneath his black hair, his red eyes, filled with venom, gleamed fiercely.

“Name, name… Yes, I shouldn’t remember names. Ka-something. Is that enough, Irid? Are you satisfied now?”

“…………”

“Why is that? Why does everyone, Yuna too, Irid too, treat me like a fake? I don’t understand. ‘Marionette.’”

Kiiing──!

As the magic glowed a chilling purple, various defensive artifacts on the second prince Irid activated and began to resist. Irid shouted something in the silence, but—

“From now on, buy artifacts that connect organically. ‘Magic Disturbance.’ Now, this will cause compatibility errors and render them useless, you know?”

The doppelgänger easily dismantled it.

Threads of magic burrowed into Irid’s mind. In an instant, his pupils dilated, and he became a living doll.

In the brief moment he subdued Irid, the demon god had already put all the defense agency agents surrounding them to sleep.

The doppelgänger slouched on the sofa, manipulating the creaking Irid to fan himself.

“…Why is that?”

Why, why at all.

Why does everyone act as if I cannot be real?

The doppelgänger stared blankly at the ceiling, suddenly tearing at his hair, then collapsing like a person drained of energy, repeating the cycle. And at the end of such turmoil.

“I see.”

He acknowledged it.

“I’m different from the fake and ‘something’ else. Right?”

It was a logically flawed statement. Yet, he grasped the essence. There was ‘something’ that was different enough to provoke sudden doubt among those who knew the mad wizard. There was an element he was missing.

“Akshin-chan, do you know what’s different?”

“…Well, I don’t know.”

“Yeah, you probably do. But you won’t tell me, will you? Sorry, Akshin-chan, for being so pathetic. You must hate this kind of thing…”

If it’s because he’s different.

If that ‘something’ is different, then Yuna abandoned him, and even Irid is acting this way.

“I’ll act it out.”

“Act?”

“I’ll try to act out ‘something.’”

Wasn’t the mad wizard originally a master of acting? Wearing a mask, crafting a script, creating characters to perform—it was as simple as breathing. So.

This time, he would merely act as the ‘mad wizard.’ If he continued this method acting, perhaps they would look back at him. Perhaps they would recognize him as the real one instead of that fake.

“Alright, let’s do our best. Let’s work hard until I reclaim my place!”

“…You.”

Akshin-chan, who had been watching this scene, opened his mouth to say something with a rather bitter expression. But he soon stopped. What was trapped and trembling on his tongue was sympathy and compassion.

Yet, he didn’t know what to say or why he felt such emotions, so he fell silent. Because.

He was ‘Akshin,’ wasn’t he?

A being that roams the world and commits evil. So there was no reason to care.

—

“Alright, gather around! We will now begin the first emergency response committee meeting for doppelgängers. The third-ranked of the Four Heavenly Kings, ‘Yuri Frostlover,’ please sound the drum to commence the meeting.”

“Yes, ‘Corrupted Magic Demon King Lucifer Zekniel.’”

“Do I have to say something like ‘the existence of infinite emptiness’…?”

“…Am I the only one who doesn’t understand right now?”

Bang, bang, bang.

Yuri adjusted her glasses and opened the meeting. The participants were as follows: a mad wizard who was 30% sick in body and mind, me.

The purple tower master and first-ranked consort, Malang Yuna.

The predator Yuri, who fluctuated between ranks 0 and 2 depending on her mood.

If we break it down strictly, Selbier, my childhood friend, and I are still nothing to each other.

And then there are the members of the Purple Mage Tower.

A splendid nameplate engraved with our names was laid out in front of the table, and the curtains were meticulously drawn over the windows. Only a single light, casting a cool atmosphere, illuminated the room.

I tapped the desk rhythmically and spoke.

“This b*stard shouldn’t be given any time. Now, here’s my plan: first, Yuna will lay down the barrier to block teleportation, and then Yuri and I will hold hands and go in together to smash his head with a hammer.”

“…Do you even know where he is?”

“Even if I can’t track the fragments, I can track the Demon God, you know? I may have lost all control over ‘Gingoa,’ but it’s not completely gone, so if I play my cards right…”

“Thinking of facing Mima as an enemy makes my vision a bit dark. It’s annoying, strong, and just plain irritating.”

That’s right.

This b*stard has too many tricks up his sleeve. If given time, I’m honestly afraid of how far he could prepare. We need to strike quickly and decisively.

But even that insane wizard had a weakness.

“What if we simultaneously douse him with the Flame Angel and the Main Binding? Wouldn’t that be fatal?”

“…How can you say something so obvious with such audacity?”

The point is, if we get hit, we die.

We have the numbers on our side. We need to seize the moment and strike swiftly. While we were discussing how to neatly and effectively hit the doppelgänger’s head…

Bang! The scarred senior burst into the meeting room, looking pale.

“Junior! Our Mage Tower has been marked as a public enemy! What have you done?! Right now, before they take your heads, they’re going to ruin the budget first with an official document!”

From noble mtl dot com

What the hell?

In a panic, I checked the document, and it was an imperial public declaration stamped with Irid’s name. This b*stard has roasted Irid alive!

At this shocking news, the wizards of the Mage Tower began tearing their hair out in a frenzy.

“What?! I’ll give my neck, but not the budget!”

“My research! My research!”

“Kyaaah—!!”

Ruining the budget, that heartless b*stard…!

“Pack your things. They can’t have gone far from the capital, so let’s go and smash things up to escape this dreadful reality!”

“I-I’ll go grab the information bombs I’ve been saving! I’ve prepared some things just in case we got marked as public enemies…”

“Then in the meantime, um. How about we wash up together, Mima?”

“W-Wash up together? What are you talking about, brother? Did we ever wash together?!”

I acted immediately. I’m going to the capital right now to take him down!