《Illegal Immigrant in Another World (Dark Fantasy + Isekai + GameLit)》 Chapter 1 To be honest, my life is already over. And I¡¯m not being nihilistic or pessimistic or whatever it¡¯s called. It¡¯s genuinely over. Take a look around you, this world is soaked in tragedy. The carbon dioxide exhaust rate won¡¯t go down, Russia will conquer the world, Kanye West will receive a Nobel Prize in literature¡­ and in a hundred years you¡¯ll be dead, I¡¯ll be dead, we¡¯ll all be dead. Oh, and that adorable pet of yours will get hit by the front wheels of an eight wheeler truck and die. I''m sorry to tell you the news, but what can you do? This is the truth. I wasn¡¯t like this from the beginning, believe me. Back in the day, I used to be starry-eyed and the righteousness in my chest flopped around like a mackerel fresh out of water. To be specific, I was like this until a month ago. However, after my favorite game Saint Society got shut down, I politely recycled my hopes and dreams into the trash. It¡­ it meant alot to me, okay? I¡¯m not overreacting. So like many wise individuals have said, if you¡¯re done being sad then drink a beer. That''s why, right now, I¡¯m standing in a convenience store with sixty cans of beer. ¡°T-That¡¯ll be forty-two dollars and ten cents sir¡­¡± The part-timer at the register gives me a look as if asking, ¡®Excuse me, it¡¯s not of my concern but is your life okay like this?¡¯. Balancing the cans carefully, I coolly swipe my card and walk towards the door. So what. I¡¯m rich. If you have a problem, come at me. Beep! ¡°Sir, your card was declined¡­?¡± I lower my head and hasten my pace. ¡°S-Sir! You need to pay!¡± ¡°Fuck this.¡± I break into a sprint and run out the store, dropping a few cans in the process. Adieu. MMMMM ¡°This is the life¡­¡± After making my way home, I was silently moved to tears. Trash is littered on all four sides of me, and the desk with my monitor on top was especially impressive. The Empire of Empty Cup Ramens and the Republic of Empty Beer Cans were conquering the desk¨Ccontinent, and having their own world war while drawing all kinds of geometrical nation borders. In this world, I¡¯m what you would call an absolute god. If it¡¯s unfavorable for the Empire then I¡¯d add an empty cup of ramen. If it¡¯s unfavorable for the Republic then I¡¯d add a beer can. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that thanks to me, the balance is kept on this continent¡­ At that moment, a notification appeared on the side of my monitor. Ding! An email arrived. Moving my mouse, I clicked to open it. [Thank you for enjoying Saint Society. We are doing a survey in order to gauge interest for a potential sequel. Participants will be able to gain a chance to become a beta tester for the next installment!] My heart almost stopped as my eyes scanned the words. A dark fantasy RPG game, Saint Society. Become a fantasy hero and subjugate the demon lords. It¡¯s a piece of media that I would say is a core part of who I am. The difficulty was a bit strange, so it was incredibly challenging. In the first playthrough, I could barely defeat the mid-boss. Second run, third run, sixteenth run, I was narrowly able to reach the final stage. But every single run after that, from the one hundredth to even the one thousandth, I was unable to defeat the final boss. I religiously grinded the game, starting from middle school until one month ago, when it was unceremoniously shut down and removed from all platforms. It would be an understatement to say that I cried tears of pure agony and despair. Ten years of my life was practically deleted, but now that a potential sequel is on the table, I forgive the developers of Saint Society. Mostly. click I try to calm my breathing as I accept the survey with a click of my mouse. It¡¯ll probably ask me questions like; was the difficulty reasonable (NO!), were the NPC¡¯s memorable (YES!), was the story good (YES!), do you forgive the developers for shutting the game down (HELL NO!). You know, stuff like that. A new page opened up on my monitor screen as I started the survey. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. [1. In the end, I prefer ass!] [2. In the end, I prefer breasts!] ¡°...¡± A completely unpredictable Mr. Question has appeared. I grasped onto my mind that went blank for a moment. What is this, a joke? Are proper questions going to come out after this? After thinking for a moment, I chose the first option. If you are someone with common sense, then it¡¯s only reasonable to select number one. Now that I think about it, if you are someone who chooses number two, then you are nothing more than an unrefined monkey who has zero elegance. On the white screen, the second question appeared after I clicked on the first option. [1. In the end, I get excited when I hit someone¡­!] [2. In the end, I get excited when I get hit by someone¡­!] ¡°Oh come on, man.¡± I tear my headphones off my head and rub the bridge of my nose. What kind of survey is this, really. The periods combined with the exclamation mark at the end of the sentence makes it feel uncomfortably vivid. It''s as if you''re confessing your secret sexual desires, doesn¡¯t it¡­! Anyways, I glare at the monitor with a disgusted look. For now, I selected the first option. To be hit or to hit. If I had to choose between the two, then I could only choose the latter. I¡¯ve heard that there are groups of people in this world who feel pleasure from pain, but thankfully I¡¯m not a pervert. [1. I prefer a high difficulty.] [2. I prefer a low difficulty.] After that, I got normal quality questions. They most likely placed the weird questions in the front to capture the users¡¯ attention. Should I compliment them for being smart, or complain about it being¡­ weird? [1. I solve my problems with knowledge.] [2. I solve my problems with strength.] Without any hesitation, I chose number one. I stopped trying to solve my problems through force since the time I got beat up by the girl sitting next to me in kindergarten. People called humans like me a ¡®refined pacifist¡¯. [1. I utilize other people¡¯s secrets.] [2. I keep other people¡¯s secrets.] Once again, with no hesitation, I chose number one. During kindergarten, once I obtained the information that the girl sitting next to me wet her bed every morning, I took advantage of it as much as possible. After having done so, I learned the greatness of information. Diplomatic studies call this kind of politics ¡®armed neutrality¡¯. [1. Friendship means to use the other as a stepping stone.] [2. Friendship means to go forward together towards the same goal.] I don¡¯t know who it was, but they need to give a round of applause to the staff who made option number one. Now that I think about it, I¡¯ve been only choosing the first option. It must mean that number 1 points to normal, and everyone who chooses number 2 is abnormal. After about thirty questions had passed, a question with a different format was displayed for the first time. [Humanity has fallen.] [Yes] [No] I stopped my mouse. ¡­It was a question purposely made abstract. Actually, can it even be called a question? It¡¯s a statement. Anyways, it was a sentence that only players who very faithfully played the game could understand. Saint Society. The Hero goes on a grand quest to slay the Demon King. A simple and cliche structure. However¡­ in the end, the world probably arrives at total destruction. The reason why the word ¡®probably¡¯ was included was simple. Nobody has reached the ending of Saint Society, myself included. So this is merely the conclusion I came to on my own while going through the campaign. In Saint Society, the seven Demon Lords, servants of the Demon King, are owners of magical energy. They are filled to the brim with condensed magical energy, so when they are killed off¡­ The magical energy will overflow. Think of multiple dams collapsing at the same time and causing a flood. A pessimistic world outlook¡­ it suited my taste. I mouthed the word ¡®yes¡¯ and clicked my mouse. As if the survey was calculating something, it took a couple of seconds before the next question appeared. The sentence that appeared on the screen was abstract again. [If it were you, could you find the ending?] [Yes] [No] I raise a finger to my jaw, a wistful smile on my face. I wonder. Across my countless playthroughs, I¡¯ve found that playing selfishly always leads to an early bad ending. The key it¡¯s to unite all the races against the Dmon Lords and the King. To protect everyone, not just the elves, dwarves, beastfolk¡­ but the monsters and demons too. To find unity¡­ Heh. According to the setting, the ¡®good¡¯ races and ¡®evil¡¯ races have been going at each other for nearly 3,000 years. It¡¯d probably be easier to make the leader of Islamic extremists shake hands with the president of the United States. Is it even possible¡­? I started thinking. Then I thought some more. And¡­ [Yes] The sound of a click rang, and at the same time. ¡°¡­!¡± A bright white light shined from my monitor screen. This was the last thing I could remember. A bell chimed somewhere. No, it could have been the sound of an explosion. The feeling of the world around me being flipped¡ª as if my brain was being expanded on all four sides. My hearing went numb and everything felt distant. My vision kept blinking. I couldn¡¯t move my eyelids on my own accord. As if someone else was opening and closing my eyes for me. My conscience stopped. Then. And then¡­! [The tutorial shall now begin.] [Best of luck, Hero!] And then the strangest and longest dream began. Chapter 2 For a moment, I think I saw something. You know, like in the flashback scenes in those B rate movies. Well, all I know is that it was something I couldn¡¯t comprehend.
The ceiling broke and fell. A large rock landed right in front of my face. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± I quickly gained my senses. Instinctively, I took a step back as I opened my eyes. However, with a thud, my back bumped against something. It was a wall. Tilting my head and carefully looking around myself, I realized I was in a pitch black cavern. A long time ago, I went to see a stalactite cave during a school trip. From what I could see, the ceiling now was 2-3 times higher than that cave. It was so high up that I could just barely see the top. ¡°Hoo¡­¡± I killed my breath. Why was I here? How did I get here? My conscience instantly went cold. A loud siren rang in my head, even louder than the ambulances you usually hear in the streets. Have I been kidnapped? It must be. ¡°...I was sitting in my room just a moment ago¡­ and using the computer. It was seven. Drank 2 cans of beer. For dinner I had cup ramen¡­¡± Little by little, my breathing became calmer. There was no problem with my memory. ¡°Okay. Next¡­¡± I checked my senses. In order; vision, scent, hearing, taste, and touch. Without rushing, I had to make sure my senses were working properly. ¡°The location appears to be a cave. Definitely a cave. It¡¯s very dark. Doesn¡¯t seem like my vision got worse. Rock, paper, scissors¡­¡­¡± I moved my fingers to make the shapes. I could see the forms properly. Good. My vision was fine. The problem was scent. ¡°...!¡± A foul nauseating smell, the smell of blood, is everywhere. I wonder if it was because of the shock, but I didn¡¯t realize how disgusting it smelt until now. But now that I¡¯ve realized, the smell is so intense that it¡¯s shaking my very brain. ¡°This is¡­¡± A familiar scent. A scent which I never wanted to smell again. Corpses were spread throughout the cave. There were human corpses that were swollen as if they were drowned, bodies with slit throats, and even bodies with limbs bent in the wrong direction. ¡°Ugh¡­what the hell¡­¡± If this cave was one of those art exhibitions, then the curator would undoubtedly be an absurdly perverted sadist. As if triumphantly displaying that humans could die in this many ways. The fact that the cave was pitched in darkness was my only solace since the corpses were comparatively hard to see. ¡°Is this supposed to be the mystery of the human body¡­? Damn it.¡± I had to get out of here quickly. Something was terribly wrong. Shifting my body, I put my right foot forward¨C and fell, just like that. My ankle was broken, it seemed. I lift my leg slightly, only to find the foot hanging limply. The entire bone is shattered, not something like an adorable sprain. ¡°Shit.¡± I unintentionally let out a curse. I had to conclude that I couldn¡¯t run or walk. The pain wasn¡¯t ordinary. If the kidnapper approached now, then it was impossible to escape. Perhaps they broke my ankle on purpose. Keeping safety measures. This was probably why they didn¡¯t use drugs. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Haa.¡± Sliding downwards, I dragged my back against the wall, sitting down in defeat. Just like that, my fleeting dreams of escape were crushed. I guess I just wasn¡¯t cut out to be an escape artist. But why was I brought here? Well, there are plenty of people across the world who probably want revenge against me. To be honest, it¡¯s more than plenty. ¡°Hooo¡­¡­¡± I could only sigh and think about who the culprit was. I guess she was right, I should''ve washed my hands of everything sooner rather than later. It was at that moment that I heard a scratchy voice from the opposite side of the cavern. ¡°I found him!¡± ¡°The Demon Lord is here!¡± Demon Lord. It was a name that had absolutely no connections with me. But for some reason, the voice was directed towards where I was. I¡¯m confused. I had been called a devil a considerable amount of times in my life, but this was the first time I had been called a Demon Lord. Must be some sort of secret code. Kind of silly if you ask me, but whatever. ¡°Stay right there!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll kill you if you move!¡± Around ten men came in like starving wolves. They seemed to be holding weapons in their hands, though I can¡¯t tell exactly what they are because of the dark. Immediately, I shoot my hands into the air, a grim expression settling onto my face. ¡°Hey, I surrender!¡± ¡°Get down you bastard!¡± Without warning, one of the men grabbed my head and slammed it onto the ground. They¡¯re being violent with me even though I surrendered. Not cool. ¡°Ack¡­¡± A rock that was lying on the ground sharply stabbed my cheek. ¡°Keep your damn face down! Stay like that till we say otherwise!¡± I bit back a shout of pain, barely holding it back. Loud noises irritated kidnappers, so even if you''re in pain, you must not scream. So it¡¯s best to be silent and polite. Might seem stupid, but hey, what can you do? ¡°I caught him! Riff of Jalsen, has captured a Demon Lord!¡± ¡°Ooh. Our great and handsome captain, Riff. You aren¡¯t planning to take all the bounty on your own, are you?¡± The men started chatting in excitement, so I held my breath and listened in on their conversation. ¡°Of course not. I¡¯ll share with everyone equally. Hehe.¡± ¡°Heh, this Demon Lord looks just like a caterpillar.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just kill him already.¡± ¡°What do you mean, kill him? There are things we still haven¡¯t asked him yet.¡± Someone kicked my side. It wasn¡¯t a genuine hit, but more done jokingly. But regardless, that alone was pretty painful. ¡°¡ªbut just in case, we should break him.¡± ¡°Friends! Let us beat the Demon Lord into a reasonably sized pulp.¡± Merciless violence showered down upon me. Twenty people kicked me alot for five minutes. ¡­I¡¯ll spare you the details. ¡°Good good. That¡¯s enough.¡± ¡°Guys. Our handsome boss said to stop.¡± ¡°Hehe.¡± The violence finally stopped. While I was breathing roughly, one of the men spoke to me as a representative. ¡°Well now, honorable Demon Lord. There¡¯s one thing that we wish to ask you. Where¡¯s all the money in this castle? To tell you the truth, us village folk are in real need of money.¡± As expected, I was kidnapped for money. Wait, but they¡¯ve been using words that I¡¯m not familiar with. This was something that I had to confirm. There was a chance that they were mistaking me for someone else. ¡°What do you mean by ¡®Demon Lord¡¯¡­?¡± When I opened my mouth, I let out a groan. My lips were torn and bloodied. They really got at my face, huh? ¡°Good. Very good.¡± The man insinuated. ¡°Despite being hit so much, you¡¯re still able to display such a nature. An excellent stance. Hehe. I don¡¯t hate that kind of thing, your honorable Demon Lord.¡± With a rough hand, the man grabbed my hair. ¡°Ack¡­¡± I was forced to raise my face. I made eye contact with the man in front of me. The man had bent his body forward and was looking down at me. His entire face was covered in a brown beard, reminding me of a darkish mushroom that grew in a public bathroom that hadn¡¯t been cleaned for over 5 years. In simpler words, frighteningly dirty. ¡°But my friends here don¡¯t have as much patience as me.¡± ¡°...what can I help you with?¡± ¡°Your honor. We don¡¯t desire to use pointless violence.¡± Uh huh. I''m glad we¡¯re past that stage. ¡°Instead of wasting each other¡¯s energy, let us trade. Tell us where the treasury is and we will not kill your honor immediately. We won¡¯t cut your arms or legs off. And, of course, we won¡¯t cut your precious horn off, either. Think carefully. In truth, we¡¯re the ones at a loss in this trade.¡± ¡°Yeah, at a great loss!¡± The kidnappers broke out into laughter. I waited for the mood to settle before speaking again. Always courteously. Making sure to not irritate their mood. Opening my lips again, I asked a question. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but what do you mean by horn?¡± ¡°Aah? What are you asking.¡± The man placed his hand on the back of my head. ¡°This. I¡¯m talking about this.¡± The man had grabbed something on my head. My head that should only have hair. There, something long was attached all the way to my skull. I felt the back of my head. There was certainly something hard there. The shape was, as the man had said, in the shape of a horn. ¡°...¡± This. Uh¡­ What could this thing be¡­? I gazed forward with blank eyes. Don¡¯t tell me. Before I was kidnapped, no, before I lost conscience. I was responding to the Saint Society survey on my computer. When I opened my eyes in this cavern, I heard a faint voice ¡­ I¡¯m certain it whispered ¡®The tutorial shall now begin¡¯. I ignored it because I thought I was hallucinating again. The man had called me Demon Lord. There was something like a horn actually attached to the back of my head¡­ Game. Tutorial. Demon Lord. These three words pointed at one possibility. Fortunately or unfortunately, my mind quickly came to a conclusion. ¡°Now. Your honor, Demon Lord Mammon. We¡¯ll ask you only one more time.¡± I couldn¡¯t accept the answer. The common sense, experience, and knowledge I had gained throughout my entire life completely denied the conclusion. However, as if laughing at my escape from reality, an alarm rang. Ding! White words appeared in mid-air. [1. Accept adventurer captain Riff¡¯s offer.] [2. Decline adventurer captain Riff¡¯s offer.] Chapter 3 [1. Accept adventurer captain Riff¡¯s offer.] [2. Decline adventurer captain Riff¡¯s offer.] ¡°...¡± I was at a loss for words. Undeniable proof had presented itself right before me. ¡°Will you accept our offer? Or will you just die here. Wow. You can¡¯t get choices as clean as this. Hurry and pick, oh honorable Demon Lord.¡± The man gave an ill-tempered laugh. It was certain that the man couldn¡¯t see the floating words. Is it like that Is it like that ¡­ is it like that. My monologue continued and echoed in my drifting away conscience, like an actor who forgot his lines on stage and kept repeating his last spoken line. I bit my lips. The taste of blood spread throughout my mouth. The vividly raw taste brought my conscience back to reality. In front of me was a barbaric man with a broad grin on his face. Willing or not¡ª I¡¯m a Demon Lord in the world of Saint Society. My head went cold. As if time was flowing slowly. ¡°Mr. Demon Lord¡¯s response is a bit slow.¡± I gazed at the man who had just spoken. It wasn¡¯t only this man who had skipped shaving. The other people around us also had beards. It might be normal for these men to not shave. And their outfits are old. Way too old. To be precise, I¡¯d say about 400 years old. Around the time Henry the IV of France fought lively against the Roman Catholics, perhaps. The clothes looked similar to the one¡¯s worn by the people during the French Wars of Religion. They were outfits that should have been displayed at a museum, but no matter how you looked at these men, they didn¡¯t look like museum workers/ ¡°Are you really planning to not answer?¡± ¡°Oi, your honor Mammon.¡± Demon Lord Mammon. These people have been calling me Mammon. That was the name of the Demon Lord who showed up in Saint Society. There are a total of seven Demon Lords who serve the Demon King, each corresponding to a respective sin. Amongst them, Mammon was indisputably the weakest. He was just a simple tutorial boss that was created to ease players into the game. Even a caveman playing computer games for the first time could beat him on the first run. If I had to compare it with another game, then he was like a slime in the beginner field. As long as you knew how to click your mouse then you could defeat the slime. Mammon was the same. And I should also add. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. After the first run, Mammon doesn¡¯t appear at all in the game. He was removed in case the players got annoyed. Imagine telling a level 20 warrior to ¡®Go back to the beginner field and hunt a slime¡¯. It¡¯d be boring. Mammon was a slime that you didn¡¯t feel like fighting again. And if I¡¯m correct, I¡¯m currently possessing that Mammon. ¡°¡­¡± There was a bitter taste in my mouth. How should I get out of the evil hands of these adventurers? I¡¯m currently captured by humans. If this goes on, I¡¯ll probably get my head cut off or be taken to the city and executed. No matter how much I strained my brain, there''s only one possible outcome I can envision, a BAD ENDING. Even if I proclaimed ¡®I¡¯m not Mammon!¡¯, I¡¯d be grateful if I even got a sneer in response. I couldn¡¯t rely on Demon Lord Mammon¡¯s ability. ¡°If you¡¯re testing my patience right now¡­¡± ¡°The treasury is in Novgorod.¡± Fine, I¡¯ll play it my way.
ADVENTURER, COWARDLY LOOTER, RIFF HOFFMAN Looter Riff. That was my nickname. Despite being an adventurer, I don¡¯t hunt demons and monsters, but instead, loot other adventurers. That¡¯s how I got the nickname. Well, let them call me whatever they want. The people who honestly hunt demons are the fools, aren¡¯t they? The ones who live skillfully in the world are the ones who deserve to reap benefits. Using common sense, people who fight monsters like orcs and goblins are idiots. I¡¯m saying this very seriously and sincerely. I''m a very serious and sincere guy. I hope Sincere and Serious Riff can become my nickname one day. To live a not sincere life and become a corpse, or to live a sincere life and become a cowardly looter. If I had to choose between the two, then of course I¡¯d choose the latter. Will I still choose the latter if I die and become reincarnated? I won¡¯t ever die. Hehe. Regardless, light was finally shining down on my looter career. Half a month ago, I obtained the map of Demon Lord Mammon¡¯s Castle. I was lucky. There was a girl too pretty to be rotting away in some lowly village. I was going to assault her a little bit, but, while presenting me this map, she pleaded, ¡°I¡¯ll give you this, so please spare me.¡± Hm? Of course assaulting a virgin is wrong. But I really like doing bad things. I told you already. I¡¯m a looter. I¡¯m Looter Riff. I don¡¯t only loot the pockets of dead adventurers, but the virginity of all the young women in the world as well. I hope that I can one day be called ¡®Virginity Looter¡¯. Something like ¡®The Looter of Virginities¡¯ sounds like a cool title. It¡¯s good because it sounds romantic. Thanks to this map, I was able to gather a bunch of random adventurers. I heard the Demon Lord of Greed is the weakest Demon Lord. As long as we knew where to find him, then it¡¯d be easy to capture him. We used an artifact that detected magical energy to search inside of the cavern. We wandered the dark cave for about four hours, but our efforts weren¡¯t in vain. We were able to capture the Demon Lord Mammon. Amazing! The map was real! ¡°Look at this. This Demon Lord looks just like a caterpillar.¡± My comrades were chuckling while holding the Demon Lord down. ¡°Looks good with his head on the ground. Let¡¯s kill him already.¡± ¡°What do you mean, kill him!?¡± I gave the person who spoke a vulgar look. You could gain a higher reward if you captured the Demon Lord alive. Also, there was something we still hadn¡¯t asked him yet. Where the treasure was. Gain whatever information we could get. That was common sense. First things first, we beat the Demon Lord up and then asked him where the treasury was. But this Demon Lord, his reaction was strange. He¡¯d suddenly stare at an empty space and he¡¯d narrow his brows and lower his chin as if he was in deep thought. What is this? Is he an idiot? I vaguely remember Demon Lords being ghastly tyrants, but what is this small fry. Well, since he was a small fry, someone like me could capture him. I have no complaints. I love small fries. I¡¯d gladly decline Demon Lords like Aeshma or Abbadon. ¡°Mr. Demon Lord¡¯s response is a bit slow. Are you really planning to not answer?¡± I snickered and tapped the Demon Lord¡¯s cheek. ¡°Oi, your honor Dantalian.¡± It was then. ¡°¡­¡± It was for a mere moment, but the Demon Lord had a dreadfully spine chilling gaze. I blinked a couple of times and after doing so, the same minor small fry-looking Demon Lord was in front of me again. Huh? The atmosphere changed for a brief moment. ¡­ was I seeing things? Oh well. Treasure. Treasure was more important. Let¡¯s keep pressing this Demon Lord. From today on, I¡¯m Treasure Looter Riff. Chapter 4 ¡°The treasury is in Novgorod.¡± The group of kidnappers furrowed their eyebrows. ¡°Nuvgrod¡­ what?¡± ¡°Novgorod. It¡¯s at the Novgorod.¡± I told them the location of the treasury for the second time. Honestly, I just said the name of a random Russian city that came to mind. How was I supposed to know where the treasury of the Demon Lord¡¯s castle was? And if I sincerely answered, ¡®I don¡¯t know where it is¡¯, I¡¯d probably get butchered and then executed. For now, I had to say whatever I could in order to gain their interest. I had to carefully pay attention to the men¡¯s reactions. ¡°Novgod, Noovoroud¡­ the damn pronunciation is strange!¡± ¡°Do you not know of it? Here, I¡¯ll write it down.¡± Offering to write it down, I lowered my body and wrote on the cavern floor. I didn¡¯t have any writing utensils, but I did shed a lot of blood. Dipping my finger in my own blood, I smoothly wrote the word. Novgorod §¯§à§Ó§Ô§à§â§à§Õ First line in English. Second line in Russian. I slightly turned my line of sight to see their reaction. ¡°Hey, bring the torch closer.¡± ¡°I have no idea¡­¡­ were there letters like this?¡± They faced each other and started talking. ¡°None of us here even know how to read.¡± ¡°Yeah, but the shape is completely different.¡± Okay. I generally understood the principle of the language. I currently heard everything they said in English. However, when I wrote the words, they couldn¡¯t understand. In conclusion, just because I heard everything in English didn¡¯t mean they also heard in English as well. There were two possibilities. One, the pronunciation was the same but the letters were different. Or two, both the pronunciation and letters were different but for some reason only I perceived everything in English. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Which one was the answer? I decided to test it immediately. ¡°It¡¯s natural for this to be unfamiliar to you gentlemen. This is ancient demon language. In order to fully secure the treasury, I had specifically used ancient demon language to magically seal the treasure.¡± ¡°Magic?¡± ¡°Yes. The vault will not open to those who do not understand the language.¡± The kidnappers made a commotion. The answer was revealed by that conversation. We were currently talking in a language completely different from English, in terms of both pronunciation and letters. How do I know this? Because I had spoken in foreign languages just now. First sentence in English, second sentence in German, third sentence in Chinese, and fourth sentence in French. And yet, these men understood me fully. I don¡¯t know by what principle, but the conversation was automatically being translated. ¡°Mr. Demon Lord. Do we, uh, need to understand that ancient demon language thing to open the vault?¡± ¡°Yes. Of course.¡± ¡°Hmmm.¡± The man narrowed his brows. ¡ª Right now this person was trying to kill me. He promised to spare my life if I told him the location of the secret vault, but that was a terribly obvious lie. You could tell when someone was lying shamelessly by their facial expression. So accordingly, I had to give them a reason to keep me alive. ¡°Alright, honorable Demon Lord. I like this fair trade.¡± The man fell for my lie nicely. ¡°I think we can be good friends. So, where¡¯s this Nouvogorud, exactly? ¡°There¡¯s a secret passage where I was originally at.¡± ¡°The Demon Lord¡¯s quarters? There was nothing there when we checked.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not so. In my quarters, it will only recognize me and open¡­ There¡¯s a secret passage that only opens when I place my hand on it.¡± ¡°A magical device. Okay.¡± The man grabbed my arm and forced me up. A horrible pain spread from my right ankle. I couldn¡¯t hold back my scream this time. ¡°Aaack!¡± ¡°Oh. Your leg is messed up.¡± The man clicked his tongue. ¡°New guy! You support his honor, Mammon.¡± ¡°Roger that, captain.¡± A young man, who I assumed to be the new guy, came over to support me. He had a dagger attached to his belt. The adventurer group captain then shouted. ¡°Let¡¯s get moving boys!¡± The group of ten adventurers moved forward through the cave. These men seemed to know where the Demon Lord¡¯s quarter was. I was lucky since I had no idea where it could possibly be. If they had told me to lead them to my quarters, I¡¯d probably have died on the spot. Ding! [1. Accept adventurer captain Riff¡¯s offer.] [2. Decline adventurer captain Riff¡¯s offer.] The first choice shined brightly and then new words rose up. The choice wasn¡¯t selected because I thought of selecting it, but rather, it was selected by my actual actions. [You overcame the crisis with cunning eloquence!] [Warning! Actions taken during the tutorial will henceforth affect your stats!] I got past the crisis. In other words, it meant that if I didn¡¯t lie to them, then I really would have been in a fatal situation. The unnecessary remark sent a chill down my spine. These people were not joking around. To live or to die. That was the question. I barely got past the first obstacle. By any means, I had to stay alive.