The Ordinary Sorcerer's Fun Otherworld Villain Play - Chapter 8 - The Prestige of Curses

“I wanted to die… I had to die! I had to die for everyone! I couldn’t let this curse spread to the world!”

“I didn’t want to destroy the world… but it will end, I’ll end it. That was the only way, so I accepted it. I was fine with that… ending here while holding the curse, and yet…”

“Fu, he… huh? Huuuh, does this mean I can’t die…? Everyone, the death marks disappeared… fuhe, aah, I’ll starve again, I’ll have to suck again, I’ll have to kill again… getting swallowed by the curse again.”

Rumble, rumble rumble rumble.

Shaking, shaking, the cave was shaking.

Wow, amazing mana.

Normally in isekai stories, if you save girls’ lives, shouldn’t it be more sweet and sour?

Hmm, is this also because I’m a mob?

Harsh world.

“You, you’re the one who did this? Why…”

Incredible bloodlust.

Hmm, if this were mob play, I should be scared here but…

“What I want to do is play the villain.”

I was wearing the old man mask, so no worry about being identified.

Then should I go all out?

Ideal villain play.

“Answer! Traveler!! Why did you let us live!? I’m asking if this is an outrage knowing our resolve!!”

“Fufufu… hey, please, traveler-kun, why, why did you save us? Who asked you to… hey!!”

“Fu, hehe, you, you, it’s your fault, your fault, I, I, again, again… into a monster.”

Trembling mana.

Hair standing on end.

Golden glowing pupils.

The fury of inhuman existences shook the world.

“Don’t care.”

“””…Huh?”””

Aha, I get it. These guys.

From the atmosphere, they were the type who wanted to die.

All three probably each had their circumstances. Don’t know though.

Hmm, in this pattern, what my idea of a villain, especially someone with a profession like sorcerer would say was this.

“Your circumstances don’t matter to me at all. Wanting to die or live—why should I, of all people, listen to the wishes of trash like you?”

Huh?

The villain lines were coming out smoother than I thought.

[Player, the effect of the equipped old man mask is activating. Due to “Old Man’s Curse,” all conversation choices you select will bring discord. Additionally, due to the influence of the “Sorcerer” profession class, friendship checks with others become extremely prone to failure.]

It was a cursed item.

Conversation choices changing… no, Life Field definitely had that kind of minus effect too…

This mask won’t take over my consciousness or anything like that right?

No, that’s also kind of villain-like in a way?

“Wh-what did you just, just say?”

Ah, crap. The white long-haired beauty was making a face beauties shouldn’t make.

Here, let’s keep it peaceful—

“Didn’t you hear? I don’t care about your circumstances. I do as I please because I want to. But if I must answer despite your disgraceful state—it was a coincidence. I tried to kill you, but you revived on your own. That’s all.”

Good good, based on facts while also establishing communication with the other party.

I might actually have high communication skills.

Fufufu. I was actually a guild master in Life Field!

Well, somehow the members disappeared before I knew it.

Where did they go, my guild members?

“Snowman-san” and “Apocalypse King †nana†-san,” “Longomyniad Ishii-san.”

Well whatever.

In times like this, what would it be like in Life Field?

Is it battle time already?

“On, your own…? What do you mean by on your own? What do you think our resolve was—”

“Don’t know, genuinely not interested either. Whether you’re alive or dead doesn’t matter.”

Did I phrase it wrong?

Like, really I was trying to say something more like… you know.

Living or dying is the same, so try living—that’s what I was trying to say.

“…Haha, hahahahahahaha!”

“Ku, kukukukukuku!”

“Fuhe, fuhehehehehehehe!”

The ground shook.

Their white, red, black hair swayed.

“””Mortals.”””

Huh, the atmosphere changed again somehow.

“My name is Domination.”

“My name is War.”

“My name is Famine.”

“””We are those who oversee three of the 7 Apocalyptic Prophecies.”””

I’ve heard this somewhere.

Still, seven.

Life Field’s major updates also had about seven currently, right?

Though over 50 more are scheduled.

“””Mortals, behold our forms, the form of unparalleled calamity.”””

My skin prickled.

Pressure that would make my knees buckle if I let my guard down.

These guys were strong.

—Ah, but not my enemy.

[Record connection, enemy information analysis starting—identified.]

[7 Apocalyptic Prophecies. Domination, War, Famine.]

[Threat assessment “APOCALYPSE rank”]

[…Please be careful with conversation responses, Player. They are dangerous.]

Navi’s voice was trembling, a first.

Swaying hair, erupting mana. Golden shining eyes.

Before I knew it, they were clad in armor.

White armor wearing a crown.

Red armor holding a giant sword.

Black armor holding scales.

—H-hey now.

Transformation-type abilities…?

Isn’t that cheating, you guys?

“Mortal, one who stole death from us.”

“This is our true form, the three ends that need not wait for seven.”

“The apocalyptic servants who will end the world.”

Amazing, wings even sprouted…?

Like ominous angel, no, demon wings.

Hey hey hey, don’t tell me, these guys.

This appearance and abilities.

[Player… the opponent is too bad. Immediate retreat. …I can’t lose you here, Player?]

I tuned out Navi-ko’s voice.

Could these guys be…

The white-armored girl let words slip.

“I didn’t want to show this form… aah, I didn’t want to become like this.”

“I don’t want to end the world… but it will end, I’ll end it.”

“Fu, he… aah, I didn’t want to become something like this.”

Crack, crack.

Wings sprouted breaking through the back of their armor.

Shedding tears of blood, they wailed.

“Curse… great curse of domination covering my body… please, die together with me…”

“Curse, detestable war curse nesting in my soul. You have nothing you should do. I am me…!”

“Curse, greedy famine curse rooted in my heart. Starve… starve, just eat me alone, and end!”

The three suffering while holding their heads.

Seriously? These guys.

Are they doing this for real?

Th-these guys, this, could it be.

What I dreamed of in my daily pre-bed 10-minute villain fantasy roleplay since coming to this world…!

“””I wanted to die! I had to die!!”””

Being manipulated by great power, yet still resisting and suffering!

“””This curse had to end here!!!”””

It’s a fallen villain event!!

Seems like they have tragic pasts too!

High prestige and deep interest!!!!

Ah, good!

These guys are great!

“Kehii.”

Ah, crap.

I got excited and laughed weird.

“””—Did you just laugh?”””

Their burning golden pupils distorted grotesquely.

[Player… run!! Enemy level is LV999…!! The highest point in this world!! An existence that could even reach the divine throne… y-you can’t win!]

Whoosh.

Pressure enough to raise goosebumps.

“Why, why laugh… this soul’s color… a transferee, a transferee… a god’s pawn mocks us?”

The red-haired knight twisted her body and reached out to me.

Shiver, the sensation of my body’s cells shuddering. Amazing.

“Ah, hehe. Returning to samsara again, starving and stealing, killing and being killed and killing again… aah, only death was peace.”

The black-haired knight shed tears of blood and looked at me.

Pupils flickering between burning gold and red… nice, red eyes, that alone is villain-like.

“—Answer, mortal. Why did you save us… why did you steal the opportunity to bury this curse… why, why?”

The white-haired beauty also had dangerously spiraling crazy eyes.

Heh, you got me.

Never expected there’d be experts at villain roleplay boasting completion on my level.

[U-um, are you listening? Player?]

“Kehii, hii—”

“””Again. He laughed…”””

“Ah, sorry sorry. It’s comical. You proclaiming you’ll destroy the world and whatnot with that level of power.”

[Player? Player? No way right? No way right?]

Ignoring Navi’s tearful voice.

Sorry.

“…This, level you say?”

“Yeah, that level of power, that level of karma destroying the world. Moreover, fearing it and choosing death—if you’re serious, there’s no saving you.”

I answered the white-haired knight.

Her hair swayed greatly as if reacting to my words.

“…Mortal, because of you we can no longer even die. We can no longer escape this cursed fate, this life… the world will end because of us.”

“How very merciful. Red-haired knight, but quite arrogant too.”

“I, arrogant…?”

“Yeah, well, not just you. The white knight and black knight are all the same. Ignorant and benighted, the epitome of it, one might say.”

[Um, Player, won’t you really stop? Hey, you can hear me right?]

Navi, watch, just watch.

Dark fallen last boss type of villains that were manipulated and suffering from their own power.

That’s these three.

Wonderful.

Undoubtedly the best three since coming to this world.

So this was respect.

I have to go all out too or it’d be rude!

“Fu, hehe. If I want to die but can’t, whatever, it’s fine right?”

The black knight hung her head limply.

“N-nooo, Famine, no! No! We decided, didn’t we, the three of us! We won’t lose to this kind of fate! We’ll die as humans!”

“…Domination, sorry. My consciousness is fading too… ahaha. —Want to fight… want to kill, want to destroy…”

The red knight also held her own head and looked down.

“Hungry, not enough, want it, more, more.”

“Steal, kill, conquer, fight, aah, further war.”

“Ah, aaah, no, I, I want to stay myself! Want to die, no! To domination, don’t want to become something like that… don’t, dooon’t need it, don’t need don’t need don’t need it even though I don’t!”

Pop, rumble rumble.

Their forms changed.

Knight armor melted into ragged mantles.

Lower bodies transformed like horses.

Skull-like masks attached to their faces.

“Hou, so that’s your true form.”

“I am Domination.”

“I am War.”

“I am Famine.”

The three apocalyptic knights.

“””We are the apocalyptic ones who will end the world.”””

The world always wants to die—

“Rest assured. You will not destroy the world.”

Let’s be a villain.

This time’s theme was villain prestige, aesthetics.

Surpass these guys, high-prestige tragic villains manipulated by power.

How? Simple.

“Spell Deploy.”

Overwhelm them with ability.

[No, Player, impossible, impossible. It’s impossible… eh? What’s this? Your status is changing…]

—For a test run, just right. Hmm. Doesn’t seem to require opening Amano-Iwato.

Huh? My body’s getting warm somehow.

“Ah, aaah, I am, Domination… not, I am—Aha, huh? What was my name? Aha, aha, I forgot, I forg—, ahaha… ah, r-run… traveler-san, this curse, I’ll, here—”

Apparently that white-haired one still has some reason left.

A single tear from the pitch-black skull eye socket.

Nice.

I’ll crush you and your high-prestige tragedy.

“Good. Rampage to your heart’s content. Know. The vastness of the world. And then—”

—Decisive Battle Spell First Gate: Yawata no Yabu Shirazu – Release.

My mouth opened on its own.

My throat trembled, my tongue danced.

“—I’ll educate you on what true curses are.”

[Some status debuffs have been removed.]