3/4 Bonus chapter thanks to @ConspiracyPizza on Ko-fi
I opened the door on the floor.
The basement that came into view was quite spacious.
I jumped down.
There was a considerable thud, but it didn’t affect me much.
I looked around the basement.
It seemed it hadn’t been cleaned, as dust rolled around, and a pungent smell stung my nose.
This basement, was it only known to Frondier?
I surveyed the basement thoroughly. Its structure didn’t seem much different from the upper floors.
I picked up a book from a table placed in the left corner.
My hand naturally went to a book that read,
‘Diary – Frondier de Roach’
My heart skipped a beat.
I slowly opened the diary to somewhere in the middle.
May 2
It’s raining, but it’s not cold. Perhaps the cold has completely left.
Elodie boasted that she’s never hot or cold because of her divine power.
It annoyed me a bit.
…….
June 14
It’s hot.
Elodie tempted me to go to the valley.
“You’re not even hot,” I rebuked, and she got massively upset.
She was just pretending to be upset. I know it all.
Stories from their childhood.
It seems like a very old story, so Elodie treats Frondier familiarly.
‘The diary being here, does it mean the old Frondier lived in a cabin?’
Frondier, lacking divine power, might have preferred being here than being noticed at home.
I was flipping through the pages carelessly when I stopped.
A particularly short line.
I stared at that sentence as if it was etched into my eyes.
December 26.
I finished translating the ancient language.
“……?”
Ancient language?
Frondier translated the ancient language?
I reviewed the diary again.
Sure enough, Frondier had periodically made entries about the ancient language.
─The ancient language consists of the same characters, yet the meaning changes. Each meaning is not even slightly similar; it’s completely different. Realizing this, I was very exhausted. I can confidently say this language was not made for communication.
“What is this?”
Frondier was deciphering the ancient language, and he completed the decoding?
Decoding the ancient language meant, in other words, that Frondier found the ancient language somewhere.
Where in the world?
I read the diary again from the beginning.
October 21st
It’s so freaking cold.
Elodie is still walking around outside in light clothing.
I’m starting to get pissed off.
Does Elodie know how I feel?
…….
November 4th
I’m tired of smiling.
I’m tired of saying I’m okay.
I’m tired of this situation where I have to say I’m okay every day.
Goddamn it. F*ck. B*tch.
Please shut up.
I feel an ominous feeling from the diary.
The dates when Elodie is cursed at are becoming more frequent.
In this thick diary, Frondier’s loathing for Elodie is piling up as time goes on.
‘Did Frondier hate Elodie?’
No, this isn’t just a matter of hating.
It’s like hatred.
November 11th
The five gods who love Elodie.
Why Elodie? Why five?
Even just one of them could’ve come to me.
No, it doesn’t even have to be that. I don’t need divine power.
But it’s annoying to have someone like that next to me.
Get lost, Elodie.
Get lost.
Disappear in front of me.
Don’t smile like that in front of me.
“The five gods…….”
Elodie, who is loved by the five gods.
Frondier, who has no divine power or talent.
Frondier’s inferiority complex seemed more serious than I had imagined.
December 2nd
The ancient language will be deciphered soon.
Once that happens, it’ll all be over.
My inferiority complex, this depression.
I won’t be able to see Elodie’s thoughtless smiling face anymore.
Because Elodie will be in the same position as me.
“What?”
Elodie will be in the same position?
What does deciphering the ancient language have to do with Elodie?
Did he find something while deciphering the ancient language?
‘No. If you look at the diary, it seems like he learned to decipher the ancient language because of Elodie.’
My mind was racing.
Even if I didn’t want it to, thoughts kept flowing, progressing my thinking.
Ancient language, deciphering, Elodie, the five gods, the same position.
“Using ancient languages, he attempted something with Elodie’s divine power.”
From the way it’s phrased, it seems like he tried to eliminate Elodie’s divine power.
But it was likely a failure, or perhaps it’s still pending.
Looking at the date of this diary, it’s from three years ago.
Long before he entered Constel.
When I was playing Etius, Elodie was skillfully handling the power of the five gods, and it was Frondier who was invisible.
Whatever he tried to do to Elodie, I can’t tell what it was, but it didn’t go well.
So after that, Frondier became the ‘Human Sloth’ in Constel, just sleeping around?
…Frondier. What on earth were you trying to do?
You could have just been a useless character!
That’s enough to torment me!
“This is just like a villain…”
Thud-
Then, something hit. The sound came from above.
Instinctively, tension ran through my body.
Soon after, a loud voice was heard.
“Ah, ah, hey, young master, are you there?”
A voice amplified with mana, sounding too casual.
Despite using the word ‘young master’, it was utterly disrespectful.
“We know you’re in there, young master.”
‘…Enemies?’
I calmed my pounding heart and caught my breath.
“It would be better for you to come out quietly. If you don’t open this door, we’ll burn this house down.”
…What are these people up to? Do they have a grudge against me?
Everyone thinks so lowly of Frondier, he wouldn’t have done anything to warrant a grudge.
Or is it not me they’re after but the ‘Roach Family’?