Chapter 73 – Being Gentle

Being Gentle

“…”
I looked at the burning remains of the magic tower. Why? Even though I had escaped from that terrible pain and completed my revenge.
The emotion that filled my heart wasn’t relief or pleasure, but just emptiness.

‘Goddess. Can you hear me?’
[I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry…]
I spoke to the goddess who was continuously apologizing in my mind.

It might have been about a week after I first possessed this body. I don’t remember exactly, but at some point, I started hearing the goddess’s voice.
From what I heard, she only realized the situation this body was in after she had me possess it… she was a goddess showing the epitome of incompetence.

When I first possessed this body, I hated the goddess so much I wanted to kill her, but…
‘Just shut up for a bit. You’re noisy.’
…now I didn’t have the energy left to hate anyone.

Even if I grabbed the goddess by the hair and poured out my resentment, it wouldn’t change what had already happened.
Whoosh.
The magic tower that had held me captive continued to burn as if it would swallow the world, and I just watched the flames without doing anything.

I had long forgotten the goddess’s request to save the continent of Linia.
A feeling as if a large hole had been punched in my chest.
The feeling of despair and emptiness rushing in was, if I had to compare it, like standing in the middle of an endless desert.

On the day when the flames that seemed like they would never go out finally burned out the tower, that night was especially cold.
‘…Let’s die.’
It wasn’t that I wanted to die because I wanted to die. It was just that I couldn’t find a reason to keep living.

Among the vast magic knowledge they forcibly crammed into me, there was also magic that could end my life painlessly.
As I was finishing a short incantation and about to bid farewell to this world,
“Leon, is this where the goddess said?”

“…Yes. She definitely gave us a revelation to help someone named Ariel.”
I heard people’s voices talking behind me as I sat quietly.
“It’s completely turned to ashes. Is this really the place where that pseudo-magic group was gathered?”

“It must be. Although we’re a bit late than planned… it’s already burned down to ashes.”
Three… no, four people.
“…There’s a person over there, should we ask them?”

Their footsteps gradually came closer, and one of them gently spoke to me.
“Excuse me. Do you happen to know what happened here?”
I answered her gentle question with a cracked voice.

“…I know.”
That was my first encounter with my friends.

After that, I became a member of the hero party.
It might seem a bit sudden, but perhaps deep down, the me from that time was secretly hoping for someone to reach out to me.

After that, even the days in the magic tower that seemed like they would never be forgotten gradually disappeared to the back of my memories.
But it seems the veil of oblivion covering those memories was too thin and light. Seeing how they’ve resurfaced just from that guy’s words.

“Sigh.”
I took a short deep breath to calm my excitement. The man in front of me smirked as he watched me.
“It seems you have some recollection. Of the name Erdas.”

“Yeah. Thanks to you.”
Crunch. I gritted my teeth hard. A tangy taste of blood spreads in my mouth.
…I want to embed a fireball in that smug face right now, but I need to stay calm.

Currently, I can’t properly control my magic power due to the strange patterns filling the walls of this space.
To be precise, any magic power I raise gets absorbed by the walls.

There is one method I could try… but it’s a process that requires some time, so I need to distract him.
Swallowing the rising disgust, I spoke to him.

“Are you Erdas’s subordinate? How did a demon like you end up with that guy?”
“Subordinate… is a bit different in nuance. For now, at least. And as for why I came to cooperate with that person…”
His appearance is changing. The sticky demonic energy dispersing in the air is so well hidden until now that it’s surprising.

“…Of course, it’s to take revenge on you guys who killed the Demon Lord.”
Eventually, two horns emitting a clear red light sprouted on his white forehead. At the same time, his face was reshaped as if clay was melting.
That face was somehow familiar.

“What was your name again?”
“As expected, you don’t remember. It’s Helion.”
Right. The Truth Church members outside called him Helion.
When I heard that name, I thought it sounded familiar, but seeing his face, I remembered clearly.

Surely…
“…A dog that abandoned its master and ran away.”
“What did you say?”

It’s working. Seeing how his smirking face quickly soured at my words.
“It’s true, isn’t it? After getting beaten by our party, you ran away with your tail between your legs. Now your pride is hurt?”
“…It seems you don’t want to die peacefully.”

“What? Didn’t you just decide to stop using polite speech? Are you a bit slow?”
“You damn bitch.”
His face turned red and contorted so much that I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a cracking sound.
The veins popping on his forehead clearly showed how agitated he was.

“You, it seems you’re not properly aware of the situation…”
“Kehek…”
His rough hand grabbed my neck. My breath is getting tighter. I feel intense pressure and pain where he’s gripping my nape.

It seems he’s quite angry. His smirking face distorted with anger is quite a ridiculous sight.
“Your lifeline, unable to use magic, is in my hands right now. Yet, you have such an arrogant attitude.”

“Keu… If I just… ask you to spare me… Heu… You won’t do it anyway, right?”
“Still, I could have killed you gently.”
Killing gently, huh. Could there be two more mismatched words?

‘Just a little more…’
It seems like I just need to stall for a little more time, please don’t notice…
“It seems you’ve been trying to use magic for a while now… It’s useless. This barrier was personally taught to me by the previous Demon Lord.”

Bang─!
Helion, who threw me against the wall, seemed to have regained his composure and said with a sly smile.
It’s been a while since I felt physical pain. My frail body that hit the hard wall is screaming. It hurts. Quite a bit, too.

“Heuk…”
“How does it feel? The feeling of crawling like a bug, unable to use the magic you were so proud of.”
“Well… You would know better, wouldn’t you? You’ve been crawling around like a bug until now. Hiding from humans.”

“…Your mouth is still working. Do I need to crush those pretty lips for you to understand the situation?”
Ah. It’s finally done.
“Pfft.”

Seeing me burst into laughter, Helion looks at me as if in disbelief.
‘I can’t help it. I didn’t think this would actually work.’
“You’ve finally lost your mind from the fear of death… What on earth did you…!”

Rumble rumble. As the ground Helion and I were standing on started to shake, Helion asked me in apparent confusion.
“Well. You know what they say. Even a worm will turn if you step on it.”
The patterns on the wall that were originally emitting a faint light started to shine so brightly it hurt the eyes─then lost their light as if a incandescent bulb had reached the end of its life.

What followed was a violent vibration that made it seem like the cavern might collapse. And a rough torrent of mana.
“Thank you. For not killing me right away, I mean. It could have been really dangerous.”
…After the shaking stopped, the unpleasant sensation of magic being absorbed disappeared.

‘Magic power… this should be enough.’
My internal magic power is almost depleted. But even this amount surpasses the level of an average magician, so it was enough to deal with him.
“What a useless struggle…!”

He seemed to have finally grasped the situation and swung his fist at me with ominous demonic energy wrapped around it, but it didn’t reach.
His fist stopped just about a hand’s width away from my face.
Eventually, he was pressed to the ground, unable to overcome the gravity that overwhelmed him.

“Damn it…!”
“How does it feel? Now you’re the one crawling like a bug.”
“…Deliberately feeding magic power into the barrier to overload it. I’m dumbfounded. Both by your idea and your magic power amount.”

“Thanks to you, I experienced the sensation of my magic power hitting rock bottom for the first time in my life.”
To be honest, I wasn’t certain. If the amount of magic power the barrier could absorb exceeded my magic power, it would have just been wasted effort.

‘It was a kind of gamble. What I did.’
I continuously fed magic power into the barrier without him noticing while provoking him at the same time.
The more excited he got, the more his judgment would be clouded, and the higher the chance my attempt wouldn’t be discovered.

…Fortunately, he fell for my provocation nicely and instead of killing me right away, he spent time mocking me, which led to this current situation.
‘He definitely said he would kill me gently.’
Recalling what he just said, I spoke.

“I’ll kill you gently, Helion. If you tell me everything you know about Erdas, that is.”