Chapter 20.

The man stood before the castle with serious eyes filled with conviction, looked up to the sky, took in a long deep breath, then closed his eyes at ease. He held his breath for a few seconds before his eyes suddenly shot wide open, he raised his left clenched hand up and thumped the bottom of his fist against his chest as he shouted out at the top of his lungs with determination, “Long live NPC69!”

Silence followed the man’s bold declaration. A minute passed by and the man suddenly faltered a bit in uncertainty.

“Eh? I said and did it exactly as he told me to. He said the enemy for our quest would show up if I did what he told me to when we got here. Hey, White, what’s going on? Do you think I did anything wrong?”

“How would I know? It’s your stupid quest, I’m just tagging along for the ride as a party member to help you out, idiot.”

“Hahaha. You’re as blunt as ever.”

“Anyway, should I try it again?”

“Sure, there’s nothing to lose in doing it again.”

The hero repeated his previous actions and opened his mouth wide,  “Long live NP-”

“HAHAHAHA! So it wasn’t just a bad dream! You god damn brats! So you punks are with that bastard! And it looks like he isn’t here either. Some weaklings thought they could confront me without that freakshow around? I see, I see, it seems I’m truly being looked down on these days just because I’m a bit too nice.”

An intense oppressive dark aura burst out from the castle in all directions followed by wrathful words of scorn. A sturdy suit of armor hovered above the castle as he radiated immense hatred toward the two heroes in front of his castle. That man was none other than Demon Lord Xander.

Hehehe. It’s been a while since I last saw him, but he looks like he’s still in good health.

Yes, the enemy I sent the heroes after was the first Demon Lord. They just weren’t aware of it.

“Oh, level 190? He should be a good person to test my skills on. Mudkipz, stay out of this, I want to fight him myself. I’ve got to let off some steam. That bastard has really been getting under my skin lately. I haven’t been able to feel fully satisfied with the enemies we’ve fought to get here.”

“But I want to fight as well.”

“You? You’re only level 92, you won’t be able to do anything here. You’d just be like a fly on a windshield. Just step back and let me take care of this.”

The hero, albeit reluctant, retreated as White instructed. You goddamn wimp.

“That hero is seriously such a pushover, if you’re a man then at least put up a fight,” Yin grumbled in disapproval.

“Well, he can’t really help it, retreating and leaving it to her is the smart option. White’s judgment is completely correct, he’ll just be a hindrance in the fight with his lack of experience. He’s mostly been carried and power leveled by her this entire time. She’s like a babysitter I got to work for free and she doesn’t even realize it.” 

“How’d you even get her to willingly take on such a crappy job for free like that?”

“All I had to do was make her hate my guts to the point her desire to kill me outweighed her desire to PK that idiot. Since she doesn’t know how to trigger the main storyline, and she doesn’t want to interact with me in the slightest, her only option is to wait until this idiot hero triggers the main storyline so she can finally get her way and kill me in whatever fashion she pleases. I seldom leave the beginner’s village after all. The only time I did was because of the hero, I coincidentally bumped into her that one time on my way back to the village. Thankfully I got away without having to utilize any of my abilities.”

“That certainly sounds like something you’d do... Well, at least this should be an even match up I guess. Wanna place bets on who will win?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Oh? You really want to make a wager with me when you’ve never won a single one we’ve had?”

“I’ll definitely win this time.”

“Spoken like a true gambling addict.”

“I’m not an addict.”

“Sure you aren’t. So what’ll you wager?”

“How about my body?”

“Sure, why not, you don’t really have anything of value I want either way. What do you want from me?”

“I want you to do one thing I ask of you.”

“Hoh, so you still haven’t given up on trying to find out?”

“Yeah. I still want to know no matter what.”

“Haaaah. You sure are stubborn. Sure, whatever, we both already know you’ll lose anyway.”

She suddenly asked, “Hey, who would you bet on out of the two?” 

“I’d bet on Xander,” I responded indifferently.

“Then I’ll bet on White.”

“You sure about that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, White just can’t beat Xander, it’s impossible for her.”

“Huh? How so?”

“You’ll see soon enough.”

“Wait. I change my mind, I’ll bet on Xander instead.”

“You can’t do that, that’s cheating.”

“I don’t care.”

“Tch. Is that your final answer?”

“Yeah, Xander it is.”

“Hehehe. Good, because in truth, I wanted to bet on White  It’s way too easy to deceive you.”

“You tricked me?”

“Not really, I don’t know who’ll actually win.”

“Wait. Did you just want to bet on her because you find her attractive?”

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me. You did, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t, I swear.”

She wrapped her arms securely around my arm, pressed it up close against her body, and entangled her legs with my own.

“What are you doing? Are you getting jealous or something?”

“Jealous? Is that supposed to be some sort of joke? I’m not. It’s just mildly infuriating that you wanted to pick that woman when you’ve got the woman people often call the number one beauty beside you in this sort of situation.”

“Isn’t that jealousy in a nutshell?”

“It’s not. It’s fury, there’s a difference.”

“Was I supposed to pick you when you’re not even the one there fighting Xander?”

“Shut up. I hope she gets slaughtered by Xander.”

“Ha. Good job raising Xander’s death flag.”

“We’ll see who’s laughing when this is over.”

Xander called out to White, “Arrogant little girl, you think you’re my match alone? Is it foolishness or courage? Oh well, so be it. You’ll regret mentioning that bastard’s name around me. Once I’m finished with you, I’ll get rid of the weakling over there too.”

“Big talk for a dog with no bite. If you’re going to fight then get to it, you oversized tin can.”

Xander’s eyes beneath his helmet glowed a deep red. Rather than unsheathing the sword he lugged around on his back, he extended his hand to his side and reached into a rift in space. He slowly pulled out his signature broadsword from his inventory and attached the sheath to his waist. Its appearance was slightly different than I remembered it. I squinted my eyes a bit to make it out, there were words painted in blood along the side of the sword, ‘coexistence was never an option.’

Eh? Wasn’t that a line on one of his protest signs in the past? Rather than being directed at humans, I was fairly certain that was aimed at me. Man, his hatred toward me had really culminated if he’d lost it to the point of writing that out in blood on his sword.

Xander lost all decorum and immediately vanished from the sky, when he reappeared, he was already directly in front of White swinging his sword horizontally, fully intent on cleaving her in half at waist level.

“Stupid woman, repent for your sins in the afterlife!”

Though, White was no pushover. She raised her dagger up and skillfully deflected Xander’s sword at an upward diagonal as she tilted her body to the side. Xander completed a full swing diagonally upward just barely skimming by the ends of White’s hair fluttering in the wind.

She used the momentum generated by Xander’s swing to spin her body around full circle and slash heavily against the thick armor on his abdomen region. Wasting not even a second, she immediately followed up and jumped then kicked off his knee as he swung his blade back down. His blade for the second time skimmed by her, only this time, the soles of her feet.  She landed a short distance away and immediately threw out her dagger holding onto the lace fabric connected at the bottom of it.

Xander raised his sword up vertically to his front to block the dagger headed directly toward his helmet with the blunt side of his blade. However, White skillfully whipped the lace in her hand to slightly alter the dagger’s trajectory to the side. The dagger narrowly grazed the side of Xander’s helmet and chipped away at his HP. Though this was only the first exchange of many to come, White had undoubtedly come out on top.

“Not bad for a little girl,” Xander groaned out a compliment.