Forcefully Occupying the Body
Xu Jun saw Daeniste"s expression and thought, these wounds on my elbow you"re looking at are nothing. Yours Truly has suffered injuries on every part of his body–he could only say that Gale dad was a real deviant. The games they released were all too realistic and so players had already been abused to the point of becoming used to it. If one didn"t feel pain or frustration while playing a game, then one would feel embarra.s.sed to call themselves a video game nerd1.
In Xu Jun"s generation, technology had greatly advanced and civilization had matured. There were no wars and there were fewer violent, low-level crimes. Instead, video games were the closest people could get to experiencing war and suffering.
It could only be said that m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.ts were everywhere and that Xu Jun was one of the strongest among them.
The Demon King Rozenke was rendered speechless.
As someone who fought Xu Jun until storm clouds had gathered, until their clothes had become tattered–the Demon King"s armor had been fine as it was quite luxurious, however, Xu Jun had truly been wearing tattered rags– he also saw this brave"s scar-covered body. Many of said scars had even been given by him.
This opponent, at least, was someone worthy of respect.
His feelings turbulent and his mind unable to follow its own train of thought, he finally let out a quiet sigh.
Xu Jun didn"t care much about the condition of his body. After all, he wasn"t dead and whether he suffered an injury in-game or in reality, he had received the corresponding consequences for each of them.
"It"s fine, Daeni, don"t feel bad," looking at the tears falling from the delicate and pure as a little girl Daeniste, Xu Jun was feeling fl.u.s.tered. "It"s just a part of the trade! I help others kill monsters and they give me money in return–!"
–This really was a realistic game. When Xu Jun had just left the beginner"s village and helped a village chief in taking down two boars, his rear had been poked twice by the boars" fangs. Since help didn"t arrive fast enough, the wounds left behind scars. Then, when he was level five, he had entered a human city for the first time. After he was ridiculed by some lowly gangster for being a brave, Xu Jun thought, how the h.e.l.l am I supposed to endure this, and began fighting with the gangster. What he didn"t realize was that the gangster was the leader of a small, nearby gang and so Xu Jun took a beating from the group. What was even more unbelievable for him was that the big city"s gangs were completely different from those in the villages: some of the gangsters were actually of a higher level than him. That experience left a small, now unnoticeable, nick on the corner of Xu Jun"s forehead. At the time, however, Xu Jun"s head had been covered in blood.
Every scar and every mark upon his body had their origins. The game"s biggest pitfall was that if one got injured and was unable continuously cough up medicine until they were fully healed, there was a one hundred percent chance that a scar would form. Whether it would be a large or small scar was all down to luck. It was said that there was an unlucky child whose character, after playing, had become completely disfigured. While looking for young women to marry in the game, the young women were scared to tears. Afterwards, the player themself was traumatized and had sued Gale dad.
It was also said…Gale dad didn"t want to make things difficult…and paid a few hundred yuan.
Xu Jun himself was quite enraptured by such games. He spent way too much time playing games and was a true video game geek. To him, a beautiful and realistic game was like living a new life. Now, while looking at Daeniste, he asked himself honestly about his current situation and felt that it really wasn"t that bad.
After all, he was the one who chose the "death with no regrets" level of difficulty_(:зゝ∠)_
What he wanted to say was, you don"t have to pretend to be strong with me, but then he remembered that even when he was young, Xu Jun had always had this same, dead look.
Xu Jun was extremely confused and thought, wait a second buddy, why are you looking at me so sadly?
Nar, standing guard at the door, swept his eyes by Daeniste before stopping his gaze on Xu Jun.
In the hearts of the radiant and magnanimous sacred knights, the braves were a mixed bunch containing both good and bad. Originally, it was because the Bright G.o.d Church"s prophet elder had foretold of a brave who would save the world that the term "braves" was coined2. They were people raised as warriors who would fight against the demonic forces, yet lived like adventurers and mercenaries. "Braves" were mostly humans of the lowest cla.s.s, with many of them being orphans. No aristocrat or anyone slightly well off would send their children off to be raised as a "brave."
This world needed heroes, but no one wanted their loved ones to be those heroes.
After a group of braves grew up, not all of them necessarily became model braves. Their education was quite different from the norm and some factions even raised braves as robbers. There was a reputation that surrounded braves: braves could talk big, but they couldn"t cut down a small boar in reality. Nar had seen too many of such people. As a sacred knight who had received the best education, he felt an obvious sense of superiority. However now, he felt that his sense of superiority was laughable.
Brave Xu Jun, he was the kind of person that Nar would meet in his everyday life. Extremely ordinary, perhaps even mediocre, he was the typical adventurer who would squat down beside the road to take large gulps of water and let sunlight splash against his collar.
But once he rose up, patting the dust off his body and leisurely walking off on the dirt road towards a new journey, he became the sort of person that one would have never met before in their life.
Xu Jun thus received the gaze of two sparkling eyes.
Super-confused-face.jpg
Demon King Rozenke, from within Xu Jun"s body, could directly feel the change in att.i.tude of the little children from the Bright G.o.d Church. Giving a cold snort, he commented, "Young people these days."
–However, it must be said that they were much better than those old foxes he had met back in the day.
"Are we going to the Holy Light Elves" Dreamland now?" As the conversation came to an end, Xu Jun excitedly changed the topic. "Daeniste, your ident.i.ty is sensitive so what name are you planning to go by?"
His Highness the Holy Son Daeniste hesitated. Before he had been happily thinking about wanting to go on an impromptu trip with his childhood friend — although there was an extra Nar…but he had only ever been to the Holy Light Elves" Dreamland once. Furthermore, he had been travelling with the archbishop and the trip happened five to six years ago. He remembered that he had been really young back them, being only twelve to thirteen years old. The Pope had adopted him only a few years ago and he was in a state of fear and trepidation. With the qualifications that Daeniste had possessed at the time, it should have been impossible for him to have gone on the mission to the Holy Light Elves, but…the Elves were a race with a strange taste in aesthetics. They loved beautiful things. The previous, ugly emissaries that had been sent had all come back with blood-covered faces. Daeniste was the only one in the Bright G.o.d Church of prior that met the beauty standard held by the Holy Light Elves.
The entire situation had been so strange that Daeniste still remembered it, even to this day. He recalled how moving and beautiful the Holy Light Elves had appeared when they came to greet them. However, the words they spoke were harsh and vile. Their first sentence was, "The humans this time finally don"t look like monkeys?"
They then took one look at the archbishop who had brought along Daeniste and said, "Unfortunately, there"s still one monkey."
The archbishop: "…"
Daeniste spent an entire three days without saying anything. He really wanted to put grace upon his face and advertise, "humans aren"t barbaric monkeys," but it was a tough life that he led.
Therefore, when he heard Xu Jun ask him such, he immediately remembered the painful experience he had in the past… "How about, we use our personal names?"
However, if we"re using our personal names, Daeniste pondered, how can we pa.s.s through the many layers of the Holy Light Elves" customs and enter the Elven Dreamland?
Xu Jun chuckled and replied, "Don"t worry, I know some people there."
–After all, this baby had completed the questline of Her Highness, the princess of the Holy Light Elves!
The Demon King who remained within Xu Jun"s body coldly looked on as this brave and the two little children from the Bright G.o.d Church engaged in vast amounts of pointless chatter. What was this about everyone in the world being a part of baby"s friends or family? He could not help but wonder, did the brave truly and firmly make the Demon King his target? Oh, saying it like that seems slightly ambiguous. In other words, had the brave"s goal always been to kill the Demon King?
Shouldn"t one, after making their life goal to be saving the world by killing the Demon King, head straight for that goal and fight towards said goal with all their effort?! Shouldn"t they make a direct beeline for the Demon King?!
So why, Xu Jun, does it seem like you"ve been wasting away your life on teasing girls and making friends?! It couldn"t be that you had finished all the tasks in the world that a brave could complete and so decided to kill the Demon King because you had nothing better to do, right?!
In view of the fact that the answer to the question above would probably damage his self-esteem, Demon King Rozenke rationally decided to not think about it too much. After all, it wasn"t important that this brave may not have seen him as an important person before. From henceforth, he will occupy the number one spot in this brave"s heart.
Already he did not wish to use ordinary means to take possession of Xu Jun"s body. In other words, simply occupying this brave"s body was no longer enough to satisfy him.
He wanted Xu Jun to swear fealty to him.
Thinking up to here, Demon King Rozenke seemed to feel some sort of signal. He felt his spirit being probed by a frigid aura. The aura was subtle yet familiar, just like the person he had dreamed of before. This was the Ice Lord"s aura and, although it was just a moment, one could feel an indifference colder than ice or snow from it.
Shortly after his death, Demon King Rozenke had thought about when his other three lords would find out that he was "dead," and how he, as the Demon King, would respond to their discovery of this fact.
At first, his thoughts were as follows: Being the Demon King, he was the most important existence of the Demon race and the four lords, so the disappearance of his aura would be quickly discovered. This, was unquestionable. Then, he would need to prepare his att.i.tude. The grand and wise Demon King had actually been killed by a human! Such news must never be leaked out! Therefore, it was best if the Ice Lord came to find him, because the Ice Lord had always been the most loyal one. He would likely a.s.sist His Majesty, the Demon King Rozenke, in taking possession of the Brave Xu Jun"s body and would not mention it afterwards. If it was the lazy Fear Lord, that was alright too, but the Abyss Lord must never learn of the situation!
However now, he wasn"t very certain… if the Ice Lord found Xu Jun, he would definitely try his utmost to destroy this brave"s spirit.
Although Xu Jun, this fellow, managed to defeat even His Highness the Demon King, that was because the Demon King"s attributes had been restricted for some reason. If he meets the Ice Lord who would wordlessly freezes a person"s soul, even Xu Jun would kneel.
As for Demon King Rozenke…he no longer wished to destroy Xu Jun"s soul, nor forcefully occupy his body.
Only G.o.d knows what he had experienced during this time._(:зゝ∠)_
The Ice Lord once again probed Demon King Rozenke"s spirit. This time, it was more intense and it affected Xu Jun"s soul.
Xu Jun shivered from the cold: "—Achoo!"
Demon King Rozenke, filled with an impending sense of doom, heaved with rage, "Idiot! Don"t you know how to add a layer of protection around your soul?!"
If you don"t, then you really will die without knowing how!
The author has something to say:
In this chapter, His Highness the Demon King is…all sorts of ambiguous!
Well, our Demon King Zeze is still pure. Unfortunately for upright boy like him, pure or not pure is all up to whether he wants it or doesn"t want it…
Once again, light candles for Brave Xu Jun.
Translator"s Niche:
[1] The term is a bit more specific and refers to people who basically sit in their house all day looking at their computers/electronics and are lacking in social interaction. Basically me outside of school. ⏎
[2] If you hadn"t noticed yet, I"ve changed "hero" to "brave" in this chapter, mainly because this sentence made more sense that way, and "brave" would be a more literal translation of "勇者" (yong zhe). Also the author uses the word "英雄"(ying xiong) as well, which is kind of a better fit for being translated as "hero ‘.
Will be going back and changing all the stuff from previous chapters as well. Also, the t.i.tle of the story, Never Thought You"d be This Kind of Hero, also uses "勇者" in its t.i.tle, but I"ll just leave it be. ⏎