I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods – Chapter 32

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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At this fleeting, short encounter, the player was able to fully taste a fragment of what kind of personality the Empress of the Empire, an NPC, possessed.

She greatly disliked bothersome matters, extremely loathed monsters and demons that threatened humans, and was a being with the strongest military power in the Empire.

And one last thing.

“I was sincerely impressed by your actions just now. I will personally commend you.”

She was also a person who could commit any cruelty without batting an eye if it was to satisfy her curiosity and prove her thoughts.

That was the Empress of the Empire.

‘That was close.’

I rubbed my sweaty palms on my pants. My hands were still trembling slightly. Seeing the deep gash on the sheath, the fact that I had nearly died just now felt half real.

Honestly, for the remaining half, I was still dumbfounded and thinking it must have been because of that.

Through the black uniform, I could see Aurora, her mouth agape, with a shocked expression, standing stiffly like a statue. The look of confusion she had shown while being questioned by Cecilia along with me was nowhere to be seen.

Unlike Aurora, who had turned to stone, and me, whose knees had half buckled, Cecilia, the very person who had done this, looked completely unfazed.

Rather, she even seemed slightly pleased.

“That was an attack that even the Imperial Palace knights would have had to be fully prepared to react to, yet you blocked it in a situation where you had no preparation at all. I have never seen someone like you before.”

The Empress, who had turned the sword of light she held in her hand back into light, glared at me with her characteristic sharp and chilling smile.

Despite having no preparation at all, I had blocked it.

It was an incorrect statement, as I had been on edge from the moment she approached me and spoke. I couldn’t afford to neglect my guard even for a moment in a situation where it was clear what she was going to do.

The reason the Empress made all the bosses in Brightest Darkness 4 notoriously difficult was precisely because of those attacks that were almost devoid of any prior or subsequent delay.

Among the users, they were commonly referred to as “patterns that test the limits of human reaction speed.”

There was no prior or subsequent delay, and even the motion was terribly small with almost no preliminary movements. Such attacks were randomly mixed into the patterns.

If you couldn’t defend against it? You would get hit and die from consecutive attacks. If you couldn’t deflect it? The combat fatigue would burst and you would die. If you stayed far away? Due to the Empress’s unique healing field, the boss battle would turn into an extremely long fight.

The easiest way to deal with it was to equip a large shield or a tower shield, cast a reinforcement spell on the shield, and raise your guard whenever you felt something coming. That was all there was to it.

‘Damn, if I have to face something like that as a boss here… Just imagining it is terrifying.’

The reason why the Empress suddenly did this to me was also absurd.

She wanted to see with her own two eyes how outstanding the skills of a knight were who had single-handedly defeated a monster strong enough to drop a demon-related item.

‘Besides, if I don’t block it, I’ll die.’

In vanilla, even if you couldn’t react to that attack and got hit, your health would remain at exactly 1 and you would survive. According to the setting, the Empress carefully controlled the distance the sword penetrated to avoid killing the protagonist.

However, in the Darkest Light Mod, you would simply die. It was either gritting your teeth and reacting, or just dying and ending the event. Those were the only two options.

“Aunt, what on earth was that just now…?”

Aurora’s voice was trembling slightly.

“I heard he had single-handedly defeated a monster that dropped a book inhabited by a demon, so I tested his skills. If he couldn’t block it, my suspicion would have deepened, but it seems he is indeed a person with genuine skills, so I will let it slide. What are you doing? Go and help him up.”

Cecilia gestured to Aurora. Aurora hurriedly approached me.

“Hey, are you okay? Are you hurt or cut anywhere?”

“…No, I’m fine. My arms and legs are still shaking a bit, but… if I had been hit by that, I wouldn’t have been hurt or cut, I would have died.”

“How did you even block it? I only saw a flash, then Aunt holding a sword, and you being thrown all the way over here.”

“I don’t know either, so don’t ask me.”

I made a gesture indicating I was fine to Aurora, who was trying to support my body by putting her arm around my waist. I stood up on my own. The grip on my arm tightened.

As we returned to our original positions together, Cecilia stared at me with an expression that had the corners of her mouth very slightly raised.

“You have talent. If you polish that talent, you will become a great knight. I will look forward to your growth.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Although it seemed like a light remark at a glance, the weight of the hidden meaning behind it was by no means light. Just seeing Aurora, who was slightly supporting me from the side, flinch in surprise was enough to guess.

The words “you have talent” and “I will look forward to your growth” had come out of the mouth of a being who had reached the pinnacle of the Empire’s military power. It was definitely not something that could be taken lightly.

It was also an accurate assessment considering the future achievements the player would accomplish.

“Aurora.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“It is time. Guide me.”

“Understood.”

It was a command that had cut off both the beginning and the end, but it was obvious where she meant to guide her to. Aurora bowed her head slightly and released my hand.

“You follow as well.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Cecilia said that without even looking back at me.

There was no right to refuse.

“The pent-up resentment must be overflowing. I can fully understand.”

“No, that’s…”

Iris stammered with a seriously flustered expression, sweating profusely. Behind her stood Lizé, Erica, and Claudia, likewise assuming a rigid posture.

All four of them had unusually flustered expressions, which was a rare sight. It was understandable, as they had been caught by the Empress while treating the lord as a sandbag.

The knight commanders had been vigorously beating up the lord until just before the Empress arrived in the basement. In the midst of that, the basement hadn’t collapsed and remained intact, so they must have had enough sanity left to control their strength to a minimum.

The problem was that the Empress had fully witnessed the lord being hit in all sorts of ways.

‘Considering the Empress’s personality, those words about fully understanding are probably not sarcasm but genuinely understanding.’

Iris, Lizé, Erica, and Claudia seemed unable to accept it that way.

In fact, it was only natural. It was something the Empress had said. How many people could take those words at face value? They would naturally assume there was some hidden meaning behind it.

“…”

Despite being beaten by four skilled individuals, who were at the level of knight commanders, for hours, the lord’s appearance, writhing weakly on the floor, didn’t seem much different from when I had stabbed him with the blessed dagger and left him there.

Although he was trying to distance himself from Cecilia by wriggling his arms and legs, instinctively sensing the divine power emanating from the holy sword.

“So, is that the demon who was once my older brother?”

“Yes! That’s right! Your Majesty!”

Iris answered in a brisk voice, standing at attention. Cecilia walked slowly towards the demon, passing by the knights standing rigidly on either side.

‘Tsk, the expression and the atmosphere don’t match at all.’

Based on her expression alone, it should have been a brutal and cold atmosphere, but due to her attire, it didn’t feel that way at all. To begin with, the knights standing rigidly on either side were wearing white sleeveless tops and dolphin shorts.

Moreover, the Empress’s uniform top exposed her cleavage and lingerie underwear, and the skirt was short enough to barely reveal the underside of her buttocks. She even wore garter belts on her thighs.

If an ordinary person saw her, they would believe she was a cosplayer with an empress concept rather than the actual Empress of the Empire.

Above all, just like the other female NPCs, her buttocks wrapped in a tight-fitting uniform skirt were lewdly wiggling with each step she took, as if showing it off.

Wasn’t there any way to fix that damn motion?

“…”

Regardless of my thoughts, Cecilia, who had approached right in front of the lord, was silently staring at it with an expressionless face.

Soon, a very small murmur was heard.

“So it has come to this.”

‘…What?’

As it was something that had never been shown in the game, I couldn’t understand the true meaning behind those words either.

At this point, it was useless to compare this event with the game, as the intermediate process had been twisted too much. The only thing I could do was assume that the overall flow would remain the same until the end.

The Empress’s personality itself had also changed too much from the original NPC, just like all four of the knight commanders.

“It’s time to end this. You miserable being.”

Light gathered in Cecilia’s right hand and soon transformed into the shape of a holy sword. As the divine power that could rival the sun appeared right next to it, the creature desperately struggled and tried to retreat.

Of course, it was a futile act. The holy sword easily penetrated the lord’s body, and the demon let out a gradually diminishing scream of “Kiiiiiii…” before lifelessly ceasing its movements.

Compared to the acts it had committed until now, it was a rather anticlimactic end.

Cecilia left the holy sword embedded in the body and took out a blue bottle from her waist, pouring it over the corpse. The blue liquid that flowed onto the floor gathered on its own and drew a magic circle.

The completed magic circle shot a small pillar of light towards the ceiling, and the lord’s body began to be transported somewhere. The spot where the pillar of light had faded was empty.

Cecilia, who had been watching that sight indifferently, opened her mouth.

“Where is the book it used?”

“It is being strictly stored in a temporary warehouse we built.”

“I will retrieve it, so prepare it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Aurora slightly bowed her head and went up the stairs first.

“And before leaving, there is something I need to do. Knight Commander Iris.”

“Yes! Your Majesty!”

“You stay here alone, and the rest of you leave.”

At those words, Iris’ body trembled.

The others had puzzled expressions on their faces. However, they couldn’t disobey the Empress’s order. We went up the stairs, leaving Iris and Cecilia in the basement.

This development was also something I had never seen in the game.

In the basement where the two were left alone, Cecilia’s characteristic emotionless and chilling golden eyes stared at Iris. Iris was still standing rigidly at attention.

Her expression had stiffened.

A silence that seemed to heavily press down on the heart settled all around. It was as if the air itself filling the void had gained weight. Iris forcibly straightened her shoulders that kept trying to sink towards the floor.

“I will give you an order.”

“Please command me to do anything!”

Cecilia, who had been tapping her forearm with her fingers for a moment, opened her mouth, her golden pupils shining.

“Tell me everything you know about that new knight.”

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