Chapter 4 : Sacrifice

After waiting for some time, someone called the Hunter Association President arrived.

I bowed my head deeply in greeting.

He was a very elderly man.
One should show proper respect.

“…My name. Agathe. Nice to meet you.”

Hmm.
Was that not right?

Korean is still difficult because of the honorifics.
In the Land of Prosperity, my status was high, so I mostly spoke down to others.

As I searched through hazy memories, choosing my words, the Association President waved his hand and chuckled.

“I have no desire to be addressed formally. Heh. I’m not that rigid.”

“Okay.”

“…”

“……”

A brief silence ensued.
Their daily communication consisted solely of one-sided commands, reports from subordinates, and simple information transmission.

Only when the secretary beside the Association President interjected did the silence finally recede.

“Good day. I am Bari, the President’s secretary and an A-rank Hunter. Ms. Agathe… is it alright if I call you that? Or, perhaps, your previous name?”

I shook my head.
I had no desire to hear my male name.

My identity had long since been defined as female.
Specifically, from the moment I held a man.

“Agathe. That’s fine.”

“Yes. Understood. Agathe. I’ll get straight to the point. Have you considered taking the citizenship?”

“…I thought I was already a citizen. Hmm. That’s what I heard.”

I tilted my head and looked at Han Sol.
Seeing her avoid my gaze, she probably didn’t know the detailed procedures.

“Of course. You can become one whenever you wish, but I want to ask about your intentions. Whether you have the will to belong to the nation… that is.

We don’t know what you’ve been through, so we ask that you answer in as much detail as possible.”

Right.

If I don’t speak, no one will know.

What pain I suffered, what thoughts I have.
No one knows.

No matter how much it hurts, if you don’t express it, no one will recognize that pain.

It’s a sorrowful thing.

“Hmm. Then, is there some national defense duty or Something like that?”

Seeing a civil servant even catching monsters makes it seem like they run things a bit tightly.
Well, without that, the country probably wouldn’t function properly.

“…It’s not compulsory. Furthermore, we don’t force those who have just returned to go to the front lines.”

“It’s fine. You can work me a bit. Before that, there’s just one thing I want to ask.”

A very.
Important matter.

The reason I had prolonged this wretched life until now.

“Yes. Please speak.”

“Are there devils in this world too? I need you to find a devil named Zamiel.”

At those words, the secretary, who had maintained a calm demeanor until now, showed confusion for the first time.

Seeing that reaction, I was certain.

I knew it.
He’s here.

“Heh. As expected. If he didn’t turn up even after searching the entire Land of Prosperity, I figured he’d be in another world. Ah. Haha! Ahahahaha!”

Laughter erupted.

A thrill I hadn’t felt in a very long time pierced my entire being.
The corners of my mouth stretched wide, as if they would tear.
My languidly relaxed posture began emanating immense killing intent.

Zamiel, the damn devil bastard who took my sister’s soul.

Finally.

Finally, I found you.

***

There was a time when I deluded myself into thinking I had changed the world.

Using the knowledge of another world, obtained through luck, allowed me to do many things.
So I believed I had changed the future, that the future henceforth would be happy.

After peacefully resolving the grudge with the Silver Knight Order, which was the cause of Enhen’s death in the game, I truly worried about nothing.

To the point of indulging in trivial love affairs.

Those were good times.

After reincarnating, it felt as if the genre of my life had changed.

Things you’d only see in romance fantasy novels happened daily.
Fighting with my sister over Caspar, the prince intervening to woo my sister.
Later, even a dragon hiding its identity joined in.

It seemed quite serious back then.
Now, it’s just surprising that the biggest worry in my life was the next day’s date.

Is that why I received such punishment?
Perhaps I mistakenly believed that after the story ended, only a happy ending awaited.

After the curtain call ends, another play is bound to begin.

Still, isn’t this a bit too much?

I didn’t know.
Such is the setting.

The blessing of life bestowed upon the royal family, reversing to become the worst curse.
How could I have known that?

I only knew the world was ruined, how could I know how it was ruined?
I was dragged here after playing the game for barely a day.

“…”

I thought of a man who bore the moniker ‘Prince of Steel’.
Though not quite like Caspar, he was also a decent person.

I remember his decaying face.
I remember his end, hiding his face with an iron mask, engulfed in madness, indiscriminately killing maids and nobles.

And.

I also remember.
That he was a person who showed kindness even to commoners and mere wild animals.

It was a common occurrence in our land, which had ceased to prosper.

It’s just that he was slightly closer to me, and had a better relationship with Enhen, so the grief was greater.

Yes.
If it had only been that much, it would have been alright.

“…Enhen.”

Enhen was different.

Enhen’s death was more miserable than anyone else’s.

My beloved younger sister.
The person who gave me hope, who became the driving force of my life.

She was dragged away by the devil in my place.
Atoning for the price of the soul I should have paid.

My soul, which I sold to protect Enhen.

Because it was a contract made in childhood, the contract was absolute, and it remained valid even after my power surpassed the devil’s.

I.
Had my own thoughts too.

My plan was to temporarily give Enhen’s soul, then kill the devil and reclaim it.
It was a possible method because Enhen was included in the contract’s terms.

I persuaded my sister that way.
Asking her to help her older sister just once.
Since I sold my soul to protect you, please help me just this once.

Terribly afraid of the eternal torment after death, I ended up saying those words to my sister.

It was a stupid thought.

I shouldn’t have used my dumb head that couldn’t even roll properly.

The devil, Zamiel, who took Enhen’s soul instead, fled to another dimension immediately upon receiving it.

Enhen.
While I live this comfortable and cozy life, she must be constantly tortured by the devil, suffering endlessly.

Resenting her older sister for deceiving her.

No, maybe she doesn’t resent me.
She was a kind child.
Still.
I wish she would endure while resenting me instead.

It’s my fault.

It’s because of me.
I, I should have died.

To shift the burden I should have carried onto my sister, could there be a more terrible older sister than me?

There was no way the kind Enhen could refuse.
Even if the plan seemed somewhat unstable, even if she thought it was too dangerous.

To find out that her older sister, who seemed fine until now, had actually booked eternal torment after death.

Moreover, realizing it was to protect her younger self, there was no way Enhen could refuse my request.

It was coercion.

I forced Enhen to sacrifice herself.

When my thoughts reached that point, I awoke from sleep, feeling terrible, intense pain.

***

–Beep. –Beep.

White tiles. White gowns.

In a stark laboratory covered entirely in white, enough to drive one mad, Agathe was inside a bubbling tank.

“—-!”

“…President. The patient’s condition is unstable.”

The gauge connected to the tank emitted a red light, vibrating frantically as if possessed, then abruptly stopped working with a snap.

At that moment.
The clear tank was instantly filled with darkness as thick as ink.

“Right. Add another 30 liters of Holy Water.”

An aged voice echoed in the laboratory.
The Association President narrowed his eyes, observing Agathe inside the tank.

She seemed distant from being called human.

A spirit? An ethereal body?
He didn’t know what to call it.
But what was certain was that she was a being semi-transcendent of physical interference.

“This is quite troublesome. The Salsali Flower and Sumsali Flower don’t work, and we don’t have the Honsali Flower right now.”
*(TL Note: These are likely specific magical flowers from Seocheon Flower Garden with calming or purifying properties.)*

At this rate, bringing the flowers from Seocheon Flower Garden was pointless.

Clicking his tongue, the President continued to watch the woman before him.
Endlessly crying out in pain, yet immersing her body in Holy Water to purify herself.

It was obvious that the aura emanating from Agathe would contaminate the environment if left alone, and they had to bring her to the laboratory beneath the Hunter Association headquarters to wash away the curses and plagues teeming in her body.

This was only possible because she became strangely obedient after hearing about the devil.
Honestly, on the surface, wasn’t this similar to human experimentation?

“Heh. Giving a bath is this difficult, what a troublesome lass.”

“Ah, haha. Yes, indeed.”

A bath?
Well, it shares the similarity of being like a radiation bath.

The researcher thought this inwardly but naturally didn’t voice it.

Awkwardly agreeing with the President, the researcher refocused on monitoring Agathe’s condition, while the President fell into thought.

Actually.
There was an appropriate way to describe her condition.

Devilish.

The enemies of humanity that crawled out of the first S-rank Gate, ‘Hell’.
Her current state was remarkably similar to those called devils.

The fact that she ignored most physical attacks.
The fact that she possessed unique and absolute abilities.
And above all, the fact that she emanated a wicked aura.

However…

As someone who held the mission of protecting humanity, he didn’t want to call her by such a name.

A devil?
It was preposterous to attach such a label to someone so good-natured as to endure such pain for others.

Wasn’t preventing such things the reason he took on the ill-fitting job of Association President?

Just then.
Agathe, who had kept her eyes closed in deep sleep until now, woke up.

“Ah…..”

With an expression somehow more hollow, more strange.

Perhaps because she was wet.
She looked exactly as if she were crying.

That’s what the Association President thought.