The Distinguished Mr. Rose Chapter 102: Chapter 101: Orlando Innamorato

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Chapter 101: Orlando Innamorato Oh dear, now this was very strange. Lucius had witnessed many curious fates that resulted from his flowers’ bloom. Some rejected their inner filth, others resolved to change themselves, and in rare cases they accepted what hid within and chose to persevere nonetheless. Roland, however… He was stuck, incomplete. The once mighty Peer before him now groaned and thrashed about, pushing aside the table as he clutched his head and muttered dark mumblings under his breath. His voice shook; his legs trembled. But most disturbingly of all, the right side of his body began to change. Little stems grew out, bursting through bloody. bubbling pockets of flesh, with hideous appendages of lips and sneering smiles attached at the end. Each one warbled a foul cry. Tens, hundreds, even more—It did not take long before they covered Roland entirely. The transformation was similar to Maugris’s own descent to madness; and yet, there was a clear difference between the two. Maugris succumbed willingly. His fall came about due to his refusal, his inability to accept the truth. But Roland did accept it. He looked inwards and found a monster that wore his face. Everything he buried, the doubt, guilt, such misery he wrought, was exposed in all its wretched reality, and he professed his sins with not a trace of denial. Yet, unlike Ruggiero or Renaud, the weight of it all was simply too much. He had enacted countless atrocities. His history was one mired in unforgivable horror. Where was he to go from here, now? Roland did not know. He could not move on, nor did he wish to. The noble, heroic spirit that once shone bright within him wouldn’t allow it. It recognized that he was an evil that must be slayed. The right from wrong, the pure enactment of justice and the selfish desire to live: Roland could not decide which one to follow. And thus, he was stuck in a state between—a purgatory of ceaseless inner conflict. >[Warning! Warning! The quest’s contents have changed]< Tragedy has struck your once united party, o’ heroes. You have succeeded in slaying the Lips of Refusal, and the traitor Sir Ferragut has breathed his last. Before he did, however, the Saracen man in one final act of resistance had infected Roland with the Demon King’s Fragment. Your ally is not who he once was; evil threatens to corrupt his heart. Your mission cannot be completed unless he is stopped, whether alive or dead. Reward: 3000 Cosmic Coins, a Skill Rank-Up Card, an Armor Enhancement Card, and decreased reputation with the Arabian Emirate. Failure: Death. “Lucius…” the man muttered, his appearance growing increasingly more deranged. “You must run away. No, you must stay. I cannot control it, this creeping urge of madness. Do not blame me for your death. It’s not my fault, not my fault. Get away, now!” As one never to refuse a fellow’s passionate plea, Lucius tipped his top hat and bid the man a jolly farewell, before swiftly turning around and prancing off toward the distance. Not a second later, Roland immediately gave chase, closing in on him from behind as the two trekked through the demolished ruins of what once was the pyramid. Lucius, for his part, quite enjoyed their little jaunt. Good things had to end eventually, however, and soon the gentleman came across his charming trio of friends. They had not the time to express their relief before they too, without a word, joined him in running away. “What the heck is that? What the heck is THAT!?” Mili shouted, stumbling over her steps before inevitably having Marco pick her up. “Is that Roland? Holy crap, what happened to him?” Harper summoned her fire hydrant and tried to blast Roland away, but the half-demonic man took up his blade and cleaved through the water as if it were paper. “Godamn. Yeah, I don’t think we’re winning this one, guys,” she said. “You want to give it a try, Mili?” The musician nodded and strummed her guitar, concentrating her electric force into one deadly blow. Before she could