I Got Reincarnated Into a Game I Was a Top-Ranker in and I Became the Leader of a Villain Group That Will Destroy This Shitty Country - 42

Chapter 42: Negotiation

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To put it simply, Rielle’s life could be described with two words. Tragic and tragedy. She was such a pitiful character. Her mother was burned alive in front of her and her father, shocked by the atrocity, fell into a coma for years. Her life was far too cruel for a teenage girl to bear. 

Nonetheless, she gritted her teeth and grew her family’s trading company. She honed her talents, everything for the sake of avenging her mother. To kill the Pope. However, she was once again shoved into the depths of despair. When the Pope knew who she really was, he then began to confine her under his full control. 

Because of the Pope, her trading company became bankrupt early on. With nowhere else to turn, she ended up becoming the Pope’s plaything. Pushed to the brink of desperation, she tried to kill the Pope. However, her attempt was foiled. She eventually suffered the same fate as her mother. Burned at the stake. That was the summary of the quest in the game. 

“Sha-Shadow…? Ahh… Uuu…Hic…”

“Hmm?~ What do we have here…?”

Of course the reason why I knew about that was because I get to witness her story as Kaltz, the character of the game I controlled. According to the game’s storyline, Kaltz was the one that accelerated her downfall. That being said, Rielle’s past was only revealed after her death. When I was witnessing her death, I only thought of her as a pitiful character. However, upon learning her past and everything that had been going on in the empire, I was deeply shocked. Me and my guild members at that time, we sent hundreds of emails, complaining to the developers for the injustice. Thanks to that traumatic incident, Rielle’s past became engraved within part of my memory. 

“Ho-Ho-How come you’re here…?! Shadow… Shadow was supposed to be in the slum!!”

“Ah, well, we just got here today. By the way, you really have to fire your guards, Rielle. As soon as they saw us, they ran away like a scaredy cat. Good riddance, those guys have no loyalty at all.”

“To be fair, that’s yours and Nia’s fault.”

“I’m not at fault. Kai is the one at fault. Always him.”

“Why?! What did I even do?!”

“You kicked the guard that stood in our way and picked a fight with him. You even said ‘Shooooooot!~’ or something.”

Chloe said, seemingly exasperated. 

Well… Yeah, I guess I did all that…

I thought to myself before I returned my gaze to Rielle. Even though she had a strong heart, but she was actually pretty cowardly. She was trembling all over while gripping the dagger in her hand firmly. Despite her threatening stance, her eyes showed nothing but fear. 

Yeah. Couldn’t have a worse first impression than this.

“I couldn’t help it. They wouldn’t let us in if I didn’t.”

“Kai, master of excuses.”

“Huh? Why is no one on my side…..? Anyway, Rielle.”

“Hu-Huh? Wha-What…? Ho-How do you know my name…?!”

“Aaaah~ I will explain it to you later. For now, let’s have a talk first.”

Holding my hand out to her, I flashed a grin.

“I think we could become good comrades.”

And from behind me, the murderous gaze from Nia and Chloe was palpable.

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After we somehow managed to calm Rielle down, who was utterly in panic, we were shown to the mansion’s parlor and sat around a round table. It seemed that all servants, along with the guards, had all fled. The mansion was filled with a desolate atmosphere. 

Good grief. No one in this mansion has any shred of loyalty. 

“So-So… Wha-What do you want to talk about? You are… You’re Shadow, right?”

“….Hey, are we really that famous?”

“Huh?”

“You keep calling us ‘Shadow’ for some reason, but you know, we never once claimed to be Shadow.”

“….Do-Do you really not know?! Or are you testing me now?!”

“We wouldn’t do something so annoying after coming all the way here! I’m genuinely curious! That’s all!”

“Ummm… Uummmm…”

Rielle seemed to hesitate. Not knowing whether to speak or not until eventually, she decided to tell us anyway. 

“The-There’s a prophecy that’s been around this country since long ago. According to the prophecy a demon will appear to consume this world and remake it completely. Because of this, the church has been sparing no effort in searching for the demon in prophecy. Everyone in the empire has been living in fear of demons.”

“….Huh? I didn’t know there’s a prophecy like that in the game…?”

“There is! I don’t know about the ‘game’ you are talking about or whatever, but! Recently… Recently, people have been talking about how Shadow was the cause of the monsters rampaging in the slum. Shadow also built an underground laboratory to conduct black magic experiments. Anyway, Shadow is definitely the bad guy here-…. Ah.”

“Oh, no,no. We’re not going to kill you. We won’t do anything to you. Honest. Come on, continue on.”

“Ah… Umm…”

“Rielle-san,you can continue talking. This guy may be a playboy, but he’s a man who keeps his word.”

“Which part of me is a playboy?! I’m not!”

“….Ugh.”

Encouraged by Chloe’s words, Rielle then continued on.

“A-Anyway… That’s the rumors that have been spreading in the capital. The people’s perception of demons is getting worse and worse because of it, but… I know the truth.”

“Huh?The truth?”

“The truth. The one who built the underground laboratory was Gebels, the empire’s black magician. I’m right, aren’t I?”

I couldn’t stop myself from widening my eyes in shock. After all, it seemed the information spreading in the capital had been carefully fabricated by the empire. The information was manipulated to suit the empire’s agenda, and yet… Rielle knew the truth. This was a surprise.

“De-Despite looking like this, I’m the boss of the Raudi Trading Company! I have a good information network! I know I don’t look the part, but I’m a leader of a company, you know?!”

“Yeah… I know. You’ve really worked hard on your own all this time, Rielle…”

“Fueh..?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Ahem. Anyway, I’m here to negotiate with you.”

I said to her in a more serious tone than before as I leaned forward at the table. As soon as the word ‘negotiate’ escaped my lips, Rielle’s eyes practically sparkled. The vacant expression she had completely disappeared. She really showcased her dignity as the boss of a trading company. Perhaps, she had started to trust me a little since we didn’t immediately try to kill her. Or maybe… The Pope had pushed her into a corner that she didn’t have anything else to cling to.

“….Ne-Negotiation with demons, huh… What do you want me to do?”

“To put it simply, we want your financial power and your voice. As you’ve mentioned before, we’re being treated as literal demons. The prejudice is making it hard for us to bring this country to ruins.”

“Br-Bring this country to ruins?! Bu-But!! With your power, you can easily wage a physical war with the empire, right?!”

“Of course we can, but there are two main reasons why we won’t do that.”

I raised two of my fingers at her. Rielle was still being cautious of us.

“…And what are the reasons?”

“The first reason is my personal attachment to the people.”

Perhaps not expecting the word ‘attachment’ would come out of my mouth, Rielle looked extremely flustered. However, for me, this reason didn’t sound strange in the slightest. 

I loved this game. Or to be precise, I loved the characters of this game. This was a game I had played for more than 10.000 hours. Of course I was personally attached to this game. This was also the reason why I didn’t kill Alywn and Brien back then. Right now, they might be my enemies, but at the same time, they were also the characters I had seen hundreds of times through the monitor screen. I couldn’t possibly harm them that easily, given how I had grown attached to them. 

Moreover, there were heartwarming romantic stories and other touching tales between the mobs and other NPCs that unfolded through doing the side quests. Hence why I didn’t have any plan on turning the whole empire into my enemies. In fact, I believed this personal attachment of mine toward the characters of this game was one of the reasons why Chloe decided to stay by my side now. 

“And the second reason is… Well, I guess I want them to go through the worst possible pain. I don’t want them to go off in the easy way.”

“….Pa-Pain?”

“Yeah. That’s all, really.”

There were too many disgusting bastards in this game. Not just Gebels. The Crown Prince, the nobles, and the Pope too. In fact, Kaltz could be put in the same category as them. After all, Kaltz still decided to turn a blind eye to the dark side of the Empire even after knowing the whole truth. That guy still fixated on defeating the Demon King like an idiot. Since Kaltz was the character that I personally controlled, I actually had mixed feelings toward him. If he repented, I might forgive him, but… The chances of him repenting was close to none. 

In any case….

“An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. You also use that phrase often, right?”

I was determined to return all the pain those disgusting bastards had inflicted on other people. I wanted to do what I couldn’t do as Kaltz in the game. I wanted them to feel the meaning of “what goes around, comes around” in all of its entirety. 

Actually, when I showed Gebels the hallucination of being killed over 5000 times, I felt a bit refreshed. I knew I shouldn’t indulge myself in questionable extreme pleasure like that, but… It felt so satisfying. I was genuinely having fun. After all, I had poured all of my love into this world, only to be met with the game’s shitty storyline. It was only natural for me to have pent up frustration. Of course, I knew I needed to be careful not to go overboard, but still.. I wanted to torment them thoroughly and plunge them into the lowest depths of depravity until I was satisfied. 

“…You’re not… Lying?”

“I’m not. Well, I guess you wouldn’t believe me since I’m a demon.”

“….”

“But let me tell you this. I have no intention to harm you, Rielle. I mean, just look at Chloe. Chloe here used to be part of the Hero’s party, but now she’s joining my cause. That should be good enough to serve as a proof for my sincerity, right? In fact, I’m actually here to help fulfill your wish.”

“My wish…?”

“You want revenge, right?”

“….!!”

Rielle’s eyes widened in shock. Her face seemed to scream,’How did you know?!’. 

Smiling at the reaction I had anticipated, I interlaced my fingers and rested my chin on them. I stared straight into Rielle’s eyes as I spoke in a low voice.

“I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

“…You..”

“I will kill the Pope and in return, I want you to become our supporter, Rielle.”

I knew. Despite her frail and timid demeanor, this girl was extremely talented in business. Moreover, her resilience was not something to be scoffed at. She had endured years of hardship, waiting patiently for a chance to avenge her mother to arise. I knew if it was for the sake of fulfilling her wish, she would be willing to join hands with demons. Demons like me and Nia. 

“…..Fufu…. Fufufufu….”

And then, Rielle suddenly started laughing. She looked like she had gone mad. 

“You’re right. This is definitely an offer I cannot refuse.”

“…Rielle.”

“I know the risk of cooperating with a demon. I know it’s a reckless choice, but… My life has lost its meaning the moment my mother died anyway.”

She reached her fair hand out to me. The timid expression on her face had all but disappeared, replaced by a smile full of madness. The fear that had occupied her body had vanished. All I could see was a clear, resolute determination.

“Take everything. I will even give you my life.”

“Unfortunately….”

I gripped her hand tightly and shook it a few times. Then, with a smirk on my lips, I continued.

“I have no desire for your life. What I want is the Pope’s screams and his head.”

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T/N: I get it though. When you have nothing else to lose, anything is a fair game. The demon, the devil, whatever. In fact, the real demon is the Pope here ୧(๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭