Chapter 120 : Slave - 4
Chapter 120: Slave - 4
Kaid answered coolly.
“‘I didn’t intend to interfere in the next quest specifically. But I did make a deal with Lady Magireta—if a quest suitable for disposing of you all appeared, she would let me participate in that quest with you.’”
What?
I gaped.
Berseum asked.
“‘Why are you so surprised?’”
“‘He made a deal to choose in advance which team to run a quest with.’”
“‘That shouldn’t be so surprising. You also requested a reshuffle during the Hide-and-Seek Quest, didn’t you? To make us do the quest together.’”
“‘Yes. And I paid with my memories.’”
At my answer, Berseum’s expression blurred.
I jerked my chin at Kaid.
“‘To make such a deal—to be assigned together for a quest beforehand—he must have paid quite a price.’”
“…….”
“‘But he looks perfectly fine on the surface. This bastard.’”
“‘Maybe he paid with his intelligence?’”
“‘No way…… maybe.’”
He did look a little dumb.
Let me ask.
“‘What did you give as the price?’”
“‘Each of my limbs.’”
“‘……Your limbs are perfectly fine.’”
“‘My Master fixed them.’”
Master?
“‘Don’t tell me your targeting us was also on your Master’s orders?’”
“‘Yes. Ngh!’”
His brows tightened.
Benjamin flusteredly twitched his fingers.
“‘It almost unraveled. As expected, this is no ordinary human brain.’”
“‘Yes. We shouldn’t ask anything too sensitive.’”
I carefully chose my next question and spoke.
“‘How were you planning to kill us?’”
“‘I would put you to sleep. And make sure you would never wake again.’”
“‘Put us to sleep? Explain more clearly.’”
“‘That is…….’”
Taat.
The needle slipped out right then.
Kaid collapsed onto the floor.
I looked down at him and thought:
‘Never wake again?’
Since this guy’s true nature was a monster, maybe he had some sleep-related ability.
Then Kaid came to himself.
“‘Ugh. What did you do to me!’”
“‘So you really intended to put us to eternal sleep. And not as a metaphor, but in the literal sense.’”
“‘……!’”
“‘Give it up. Monster bastard.’”
Saying so, I slowly pulled out the sack.
Inside was a portion of my blood—stored since I faced Helena.
Much time had passed since then; the blood inside would be enough to fill an ocean.
I toyed with its knot and spoke.
“‘I know you monsters were originally victims of Magireta. So I don’t want to kill you without a special reason.’”
“…….”
“‘But that means the opposite is also true. If there is a special reason, I will kill you. And that reason has just appeared.’”
“‘Uuugh.’”
“‘Let’s start with something simple. In the next quest, don’t put us to sleep.’”
His eyes went wide.
“‘Huh? The next quest is that kind? I didn’t know that.’”
“‘Just answer.’”
“‘Ah, understood. I’ll do that.’”
“‘Really?’”
“‘Hmm……. No, that won’t do. Just kill me.’”
…….
In all my life I had met all kinds of people, but I’d never met someone as infuriating as this bastard.
Different from Edgar—but equally frustrating.
Karin opened her palm upward.
I couldn’t see anything, but she must have summoned a spirit.
She voiced a sentiment similar to mine.
“‘This is the first time in my life I’ve met someone more irritating than Aina.’”
“‘How much have you even seen me…….’”
“‘Hey. If you’re going to interfere, you die here. If you don’t interfere, you live. Stop spewing nonsense and choose one.’”
“‘Can’t I interfere and live?’”
A vein popped on Karin’s forehead.
Grinding her teeth, she said:
“‘I said choose one.’”
“‘Fine. Just kill me. I can’t disobey my Master’s orders.’”
“‘Haah. And who is your Master?’”
He clamped his mouth shut.
I thought for a moment and spoke.
“‘Whatever the case, this guy paid with his limbs, and the fact that they regrew is certain.’”
“‘Yeah. Makes sense.’”
“‘And he said his Master fixed them.’”
If someone could really do that……
“‘His Master might be another MVP. Like Helena.’”
At that, everyone’s expression changed.
That “everyone” included Kaid.
His voice trembled.
“‘Y-you really are as smart as the rumors say.’”
“‘Don’t admit it so easily.’”
“‘Ah.’”
“‘For a subordinate of an MVP—supposedly a great being—you’re way too stupid.’”
“‘Yes. Even if you put it that way, I can’t argue.’”
“‘Not cost-effective either. And it looks like you eat an enormous amount.’”
“‘Food helps me relieve stress. The stress my Master gives me.’”
He spoke with an oddly enlightened look.
Well, even monsters have their circumstances.
None of that mattered at all.
I raised my voice toward the empty air.
“‘Magireta!’”
Then Magireta appeared with a soft swoosh.
She stared quietly at me and said:
“‘Where did you sell your sister off to?’”
“‘Sister.’”
“‘Yes, little brother.’”
“‘You know who this guy is, right?’”
Magireta nodded with a “Hmm…….” expression.
“‘He’s that guy’s deputy. Or should I say slave?’”
“…….”
“‘He’s the one who made a deal with me under his Master’s orders. Paying with a limb each.’”
“‘Hiiik.’”
Kaid shuddered violently.
He clutched his head and muttered.
“‘See? I told you we’d get caught. I said we’d get caught. How do you expect me to fool Lady Magireta’s eyes?’”
“…….”
“‘Ahhh. This isn’t my fault. Don’t blame me, Master.’”
At some point, this monster was starting to seem a little pitiful.
I ignored him and spoke.
“‘Sister. His Master is one of the MVPs, right? Like Helena.’”
“‘Yes.’”
“Please block it.”
“Sorry, but I can’t. You know the reason without me saying it, right?”
So it was because of the hidden rule.
The rule that Magireta could not interfere with the MVP’s actions.
In other words, she also could not block the action of ‘the MVP trying to kill me using Kaid’.
“What’s the name of that MVP?”
“Younger brother…….”
“Yes. I figured you couldn’t. So please do it ‘like last time’.”
Even with Helena, she couldn’t directly reveal the identity of the MVP, so she had only written Helena’s name anywhere she could.
And I learned Helena’s name by peeking.
I could use the same method this time.
Magireta slightly nodded.
I was satisfied.
At the same time, I realized I had no more business with Kaid.
‘This guy was a slave no matter what.’
He couldn’t disobey the command of his master, the MVP.
Nothing I could do about that.
I would take care of it right here.
I grabbed the knot of the sack.
As if he knew exactly what that meant, Kaid’s face turned pale.
“Wait, time. Time!”
“You really had an annoying personality…… but I still sympathized with you for being someone whose very soul was mortgaged to an MVP.”
“…….”
“Seeing that pitiful face, I can’t help but say sorry. I’m sorry.”
“If you’re sorry you shouldn’t kill me!”
“I’m saying sorry because I’m going to kill you.”
“That’s not comforting at all…… argh!”
I loosened the knot slightly, then closed it again immediately.
In that short instant, Kaid became drenched in blood from head to toe.
Unlike Helena, he had no snakes to hold back the blood, and he dissolved in an instant.
Magireta quietly looked down at him, now a puddle of blood, and spoke.
“As expected, my younger brother’s blood seemed to be the opposite of my omnipotence. Don’t splash it on me?”
“I’ll try not to.”
“You should answer with ‘I’ll never splash it.’”
“More importantly, sister.”
I put on a desperate expression and spoke.
“I don’t think that MVP bastard will give up with just this.”
“…….”
“Because of the hidden rule, you can’t block him, but with your authority, couldn’t you at least tell him? To not interfere with me anymore.”
“Well. I wonder if he’ll listen.”
Magireta looked doubtful.
It seemed this MVP also didn’t listen well, just like Helena.
After thinking a bit, she answered.
“Fine. I’ll at least tell him.”
“What?”
Armelia let out a surprised sound.
“Is that true? You’re going to help us?”
“The Princess of the Empire has a strong sense of self. Why would I help you?”
“But just now.”
“I’m helping my younger brother. You’re just extras. Extras.”
She waved her hand and continued.
“Of course, as I said, all I’m doing is saying it. I can’t guarantee he’ll listen.”
“For now, that’s enough.”
“Hehe.”
“Please, I’m counting on you.”
She rose up toward the sky.
Leaving behind one ominous line.
“I’ll try, too.”
Kaid revived.
He didn’t die.
Because he was bound to the third MVP of Hell, his master.
That MVP had the omnipotence to turn countless monsters into slaves.
At the same time, he had the omnipotence to revive the dead monsters.
When he came to his senses, Kaid was standing before his ‘master’.
“M-Master.”
“What happened to you.”
“I met Mason.”
“Oh. So the next quest has already started?”
“No. That is…….”
He gave up and confessed everything honestly.
Soon, the man’s face twisted.
“You got caught by Magireta?”
“Th-that’s why I told you, didn’t I? You can’t fool Magireta.”
“Shut up, you useless fool!”
The man kicked him again and again as he lay face-down on the ground.
Thud. Thud.
Kaid simply curled up like a maggot and silently endured the violence.
‘Damn it. Damn it!’
He really wanted to quit everything.
The beating continued for several more minutes.
It wasn’t because the man had calmed down that the kicking stopped.
“Stop.”
Magireta had appeared.
But the man instantly halted his kicking as if nothing had happened and straightened his clothes.
“M-Magireta. W-what brings you to such a shabby place.”
“We both know the situation, so let’s skip the introductions. Odline Ragna.”
“Yes. Very well.”
“Stop venting your anger on your poor subordinate. He did enough. He even managed to annoy Mason somehow. That’s not easy, you know?”
Hearing Magireta praise his subordinate… jealousy flickered in Odline’s eyes.
“Magireta. Don’t tell me you’re interested in this guy?”
“…….”
“No. No, absolutely not. That wastrel Mason, and this guy too—why do you keep looking at other men?”
“Sigh.”
“The one who suits you is me! I’m the only rightful match for you. I, Odline Ragna!”
Magireta felt a throbbing headache.
Odline was the opposite of Helena.
If Helena was arrogant, this guy adored her excessively.
No—more precisely……
Yes. This legendary fool loved her.
“You were like this even back when you were a ‘Celestial’……. You still haven’t given up?”
“Of course not. Someone like you isn’t someone I could give up on after a mere few hundred thousand years.”
“No, I’d like it if you did give up.”
“That is the one thing I can’t obey. Not even if it’s your order, Magireta.”
“This is why I don’t come here. You know?”
Odline’s shoulders drooped.
Magireta let out a long sigh.
“Sigh. Anyway……. Take your hands off my younger brother Mason.”
“…….!”
“I’m saying this clearly. Unlike Helena descending directly into the world, what you’re doing is still enough to ruin my fun.”
“…….”
“The age of you Celestials is already over. If you want to meddle in the world, then join the Rematch for the Defeated and win.”
Odline bowed his head deeply.
But it wasn’t because he was discouraged.
His tightly clenched fist trembled.
“No.”
“I might get angry, you know?”
“S-still no.”
Magireta sighed.
Sorry. Younger brother.
I tried, but it didn’t work out.