chapter 11
11 – Episode 11. If you don’t answer, you’ll do it?
This is a story that many people overlook, but in a prosperous city, not only the wealthy gather.
Rather, the less wealthy people are, the more they feel envious of wealthy places and strive to establish themselves there.
This was a fact that could be seen just by looking at the overflowing demand even in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, where I lived, even in cramped rooms such as attics and closets that were difficult to enter alone.
No matter how little you have, as long as you stay there, you can enjoy the benefits of the place’s infrastructure, market, and jobs without having to spend a lot of money.
And the slum area located on the outskirts of the empire was a place where the rats that had gathered for that reason became infested.
As it is a place where such people gather, discipline and morals are bound to fade, and as management is not easy, troops to protect public order such as guards are not deployed.
In other words, this place is no different from a lawless area with only traces of civilization remaining.
In a way, it can be said to be a place more infested with evil than the land of demons occupied by the demon king’s army.
“It’s raining.”
Is this a warning that Vivian should not be taken to such a place?
Even though it was broad daylight, the dark clouds were hanging down, and the cold rain pouring down from them began to wet the hood wrapped around my body.
It is fortunate that I prepared it with durable and waterproof material for a long trip, but I am the only one who can benefit from it.
Vivien, who had been urged to leave her residence in a hurry, came out wearing only the pajamas she always wore at home.
“Are you okay?”
“Uh, yes. Are you okay.”
Nevertheless, Vivian pretends nothing is wrong and embraces my body.
The clothes were wet and stuck to the skin, causing coldness, but the shaking of the body probably could not be attributed to the cold.
“Because the housekeeper said that if she wanted to see her mother again, she could endure this much, and if she wanted to see her mother again, she had to be like this…” ….”
Mother.
I don’t know for what reason, but she started her research with the support of the Magic Tower.
The reason I brought her here was to help her get back what she values so much.
If I hadn’t given her an answer that would satisfy her at that time, her life might have been lost on the spot.
“Here, wear this.”
But apart from that, I didn’t want to leave this dangerous-looking woman alone.
Even more so because I succeeded in suppressing the madness that could have devastated this city by remembering my existence.
“… “Gwae, are you okay?”
“Yes, I have one more in reserve.”
She gave up her hood and wrapped the cloak from her carrying kit around her body.
There is no waterproofing here, so your clothes will get very wet, but it is better than nothing.
“hehehe, hehehe. Ta, it’s warm.”
She tried so hard to pretend that she was okay and wrapped the cloth around her body, and she smiled as she wrapped the hood around her body which she held in her hand.
She even brought her face to its surface, as if feeling its texture.
“Well, I can feel the warmth of the head of the household.”
“Is that so?”
“Ugh. “I like it because it’s warm.”
Have I felt better after enjoying that warmth?
I felt a little uneasy about feeling the warmth from this side without hesitation, but I should consider it fortunate that I felt better.
“… “It will arrive soon, so please get ready.”
I walked ahead, trying hard to hide those feelings, and ended up in a shabby alley.
The huge building that stands out beyond that is probably where the criminal organization we were targeting is located.
There was no need to make a rumor.
This slum is a place where even the empire has given up on management, so even the largest criminal organizations can operate without any problems.
“Is this where the criminal is?”
“Yes, this is where the Blood River is.”
The key is whether the person behind me can handle such an organization.
No matter how much she is a scholar and a member of the Magic Tower where the best magicians in the empire gather, her opponent is a criminal group that even the empire has completely given up on controlling.
I don’t know how strong it is, but just considering the number of members, if you combine it all the way down, it would be comparable to a decent army.
“Yes, Mr. Vivian.”
And I was incapable of bragging, even if it was a lie.
I have seen so many people who have committed unbearable acts and walked into a river that cannot be undone since I came to this world.
“As it happens, I don’t have any talent for fighting. The most I can do is give directions…….”
“Okay, it’s okay.”
Despite showing such self-reproach, she did not mind
He hugged the hood I gave him to his body and spoke as if admonishing him.
“As for the housekeeper, ah, it’s okay if you don’t do anything, so you just have to choose one.”
It’s a trembling voice, but
Nevertheless, it reveals a sense of disparity that does not cause any hesitation.
“… “What?”
“Who should I deal with?”
Yes.
The fact that there are no lines regarding ethics is probably the same for her as a member of the Magic Tower.
“…Boo, can I ask you a favor?”
Vivian looks up at me with a dangerous gaze full of anxiety.
On the other hand, as I faced those eyes that felt pitiful, I began to feel a little harsh.
Maybe it’s because of my abilities, but even though she’s fallen into madness, she still shows dependence on me.
Maybe if I use this power of hers, I can help her with her weakened heart……. She is none other than someone strong enough to belong to the Magic Tower, and I may be able to wield it with my own hands.
With just a few lies, sugarcoating, and comfort.
“… Yes. Please leave it to me.”
As soon as she could give her answer, that awareness was suppressed, and a sense of self-blame began to creep into her.
She decided to rely on me to share her sincere heart, but I was thinking of taking advantage of it.
Is that because I am a greedy person? Or is it because I was pushed to that extent after coming to this world?
“What, who is here?”
In the midst of the conflict, I heard a voice and hurriedly hid Vivian’s body behind me, paying attention to the signs of her popularity.
A man with a grim look wandering around the rainy streets as if patrolling.
The fact that people were carrying daggers or pieces of wood with nails attached to them even in the middle of the road was clear evidence that this was a lawless area.
But what made me feel even more wary was the pattern symbolizing the river of blood on their chest.
“What are you guys? “Did you come here knowing whose area this was?”
“If you come here, you have to pay the toll tax. Hey, take everything you have and get rid of it……. “No, wait.”
Blood River.
The lower-level members of that organization soon noticed Vivian hiding behind me, clutching the hem of her clothes, and began to smile evilly.
“hehehehe, is there a woman over there?”
“I don’t think I’m a prostitute walking around somewhere… , hehehehe, well, once you take it off, you can see whether you can have fun or not.”
That kind of reaction was already expected.
For villains lacking ethics, powerless women are nothing more than playthings.
“Go, Mr. Housekeeper.”
But the only thing that is fragile is the external appearance.
I know that she belongs to her magic tower, and I experienced her power indirectly in her basement.
She has a power so powerful that she can crush those around her with just the turbulence of her emotions.
“Can I kill these guys?”
So I could tell.
The words whispering behind me right now are neither bluff nor lies.
“Ooh, you’re disturbing us. Huh? “It’s annoying, can I kill you?”
She wanted to leave her goodness to me, so she put more strength into her hand holding the hem of my clothes.
The moment when her shoulders sank down with just the weight of her and her tension overtook her. I held my breath and thought about what answer I should give now.
After coming to this world, I have long since stopped considering things that fall under the category of morality, except for what my heart tells me to do.
So, the first thing I should prioritize will always be whether or not harm will come to me.
In this situation, the next thing she has to consider is whether, as she relies on me, her purpose will be hindered by dealing with these people.
“… Yes.”
It didn’t take long to come up with an answer.
“It’s no problem to deal with them.”
In the first place, they destroyed their humanity to adapt to a failing world.
Even if I die here, there is no way I would feel guilty, and if it can be easily sorted out, it would be better to sort it out and move on.
“… hehehehe.”
At my judgment, she smiled and reached out her hand from over my shoulder.
“Okay, then I’ll start right away.”
I don’t know what they’re trying to do, but they’re going to die soon.
Unlike me, who was breaking out in a cold sweat as I anticipated this, they just trudged towards us in triumph.
“Giggles, what are they saying?”
“Hey, that’s enough, Mr. Saenim, hand over that girl right now and go away. Otherwise… ….”
-Sharp.
The man’s mouth, which had been talking for a long time, was closed when he heard the sound of the man following him collapsing.
The moment my steps stopped due to a cold feeling.
After that, he felt a doubt and glanced behind him, and immediately his eyes widened.
He opened his eyes wide as if he couldn’t understand what was happening.
“Uh…… ?”
Yes, I probably have the same expression as him.
Even though I expected to die, what I feel now is not fear, but something closer to doubt.
That’s because the head of the person she aimed her finger at disappeared on the spot.
It wasn’t cut or burned.
In that split-second moment when rain water got into her eyes and she blinked, her head disappeared and her body sank down.
-Phew!
Following that, the fountain of blood soars as if to replace the missing head.
But it was also very natural.
This is simply a phenomenon where the part that had been blocked all along suddenly disappeared, and things that needed to find the empty space, even if belated, were pushed out.
-Sharp.
As the head, which had lost its strength, fell to the floor and convulsed, fear appeared on the face of one of the guys who belatedly realized what was going on.
“What, what! What on earth… ….”
-Pukwaak!
The head disappearing again.
And the soaring blood fountain.
-Sharp.
At the end, the body that fell to the floor began to flop around like a slug that had been stepped on by a person’s foot.
It’s as if he wasn’t even aware that he was dead, and his nerves and heart were jumping around as much as they could, as if to prove that he was still alive…….
“Heh.”
She was watching her like that from behind me.
“hehehe, I killed it.”
The wizard who killed two people with just a single point of his finger began to laugh while putting his mouth next to my ear.
No, what was that just now?
When it comes to magic, phenomena such as light distortion or noise must occur before casting……. Was it really magic before?
Is she really a wizard in the first place?
“Now that there are no more people in the way, can we move forward?”
She grabs my body from behind and whispers into my ear.
“Go, Mr. Housekeeper. Please answer me. “You can move forward, right?”
Two people in one moment.
The girl who took her life in an incomprehensible phenomenon is whispering to me as if encouraging me.
You have to answer that.
If you don’t go against your will, you might end up like the two people who fell there.
The head disappears at some point, and it’s over…….
If you don’t want to end up in a situation where you’re left with a body still shaking in the rain, it could end like that.
“There was just a commotion here!”
Before I could answer, the screams came out, and the people outside the alley began to flock towards this place.
Probably gang members stationed nearby. They each grabbed a vicious weapon, and soon their expressions began to wrinkle as they looked at the tissue patterns on the two fallen corpses.
“Did you kill them!?”
“Be prepared…” ….”
Bodies that sit down even before the warning comes out.
The heads of the people next to me disappeared before my eyes, and as I saw blood gushing out from there, blank expressions began to appear on their faces again.
Because I couldn’t understand the phenomenon of a person’s head disappearing on the spot without any warning.
“It’s annoying, ah.”
But she did not give them time to understand.
“It’s a hassle dealing with you.”
It’s just annoying.
For the fact that it only served my purpose and hindered my path to return.
-Taak.
When they snapped their fingers as if to express that emotion, their gazes all lowered on the spot.
I didn’t bend my legs. I didn’t even lower my head.
The ground where they were standing disappeared.
The bridge that stood on top of it and was stepping on the ground.
“aaah!”
The moment when legs disappear all at once, blood gushes from the empty space, and screams of pain echo through the rain.
“Ah, ah! What, what! Where are my legs…….”
“It’s noisy.”
-Taaak!
The fingers snapped again and the scream disappeared.
It’s like cutting out and removing a grain of sunlight with a sickle.
The heads of all those people who raised their heads and complained of pain at the place where the floor disappeared disappeared starting from a single line.
-Pukak, pushuk!
Blood rushing to the place where the scream disappeared.
All of that seemed to be washed down by rainwater pouring down from the sky, and began to stain the soil on the floor.
The moment when corpses with their heads and legs missing begin to shiver from post-mortem convulsions in a puddle full of mud filled with blood and water.
“Hey, hey, Mr. Housekeeper.”
She didn’t bother to pay attention to the scene, which seemed to be overrun with maggots.
The gaze has already been taken away from them and towards the huge building that exists beyond…….
It was originally headed to the headquarters of the criminal organization it was targeting.
“I-I don’t think it’s a good idea to take any more time than this… Can I do it?”
When she realized it, she heard a low voice.
But things happened so quickly that she couldn’t even understand what he was saying.
You can do it. What?
She can’t understand what she’s done so far, but what on earth is she planning to do this time?
“Answer, if you don’t. Do…… ?”
As if she accepted the silence resulting from such confusion as an affirmation, her fingers snapped ahead.
Yes, that is enough.
People and buildings that exist at the location she aimed at.
For everything that exists to be erased from this world without a trace.