Volume 2, Chapter 19 – Doubt

Because Paladin Karl and his Holy Hand Knights had not left, the situation had changed.

After leaving the valley, the command of the surviving army, composed of both human and beastman soldiers, had already fallen into the hands of others.

With the Holy Hand Knights no longer present, the ratio between the two factions’ remaining troops shifted dramatically. Previously, the number of beastmen to humans had been roughly one to two, but now, after the Paladins’ withdrawal, the ratio had become one to one.

In other words, the Holy Hand Knights alone had accounted for nearly a third of the entire force.

And now, with the strongest combatant Karl and his Holy Hand Knights gone, it was only natural that command of the army fell to the highest-ranking commander among the Stronghold Faction’s beastmen, Orgum.

After escaping the valley and justifiably assuming full command of the forces, Orgum issued his next order.

That was…

To keep moving forward, break through the defensive line formed by the undead, and march toward the Stronghold Faction’s territory, in the direction of the Great Plains.

Although this decision caused dissatisfaction among the remaining NPC commanders of the Kingdom’s forces, without Karl, who had possessed the power of a Legendary combatant, they ultimately could only voice their discontent verbally.

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Thus, in the end, the direction of the march was decided.

…Of course, this decision was only… temporary.

…

All along the way, Tianyin appeared rather absent-minded.

Because back in the valley, she had begun to feel a certain doubt about this game…

After all, no matter how she looked at it…

She had clearly died in real life. So why had she become a character in this game, living on as an NPC in the eyes of players?

At that time, she hadn’t thought too deeply about it. No, wait.

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A sudden and terrifying realization struck Tianyin.

That was, back then, when facing the Light Orb that called itself the System God, she hadn’t questioned at all the bizarre idea of being reincarnated as an NPC inside a game!

Yes.

Tianyin remembered that at the time, she had calmly accepted the fact that she, a living human, had become an NPC.

Other than joking about her NPC identity being an explosively cute silver-haired loli, she hadn’t expressed a single objection.

That was far too strange…

Tianyin frowned.

It was just… too strange.

Logically, she should have felt at least some shock at that time, maybe even a flood of questions.

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But instead, she hadn’t questioned anything. On the contrary, she’d felt that this sort of thing was completely normal…

As normal as eating or drinking water.

If she had to describe what her mindset was like back then,

After thinking carefully for a moment, Tianyin came to a chilling conclusion.

That was… her thoughts at that time…

Had been influenced by some kind of indescribable, incomprehensible existence.

Though the idea sounded absurd, it was the only explanation Tianyin could come up with for her strange state back then.

She had been a dead human, reincarnated into an NPC.

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Then, she had naturally accepted the identity of an NPC loli.

And after that…

Even her personality and habits seemed to have been gradually altered, subtly and silently transformed.

If all of that was simply the System’s twisted sense of humor, then why…

Why did she have that skill in her skill list called 【Seven Deadly Sins】?

What exactly was it for?

For a while, Tianyin sank into deep thought…