Ch.27Raid Boss NPC Who Gets Unfairly Blamed (3)

“Jack.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know what a mountain keeper should be most careful of?”

“Father told me. First are the monsters in the mountains. No matter how weak a monster seems, never let your guard down, never underestimate them. Since you don’t know what special powers they might have, kill them before doing anything else. If they look stronger than you, run away immediately.”

“That’s right. And next?”

“Next are natural disasters. You said that when it rains heavily, or when the weather becomes too dry and hot, I should patrol at least three times more than usual. Heavy rain can cause landslides. No rain and extremely dry ground can cause forest fires. And when drought becomes severe, beasts and monsters in the mountains become hungrier and more dangerous, so I need to identify threats before they become dangers.”

How long did it take for my slow-witted self to learn all of father’s teachings? I’m not sure.

Even now, I don’t really understand the difference between a threat and a danger.

What’s certain is that I was older than Ira’s current age when I somehow managed to memorize and understand this, and now Ira answers these questions well.

However, I haven’t yet shared or told Ira about the questions that follow.

“Good. You remember well now? Then, let me tell you about something more dangerous than those two in certain situations.”

“More dangerous?”

If it’s more dangerous, isn’t it much more important?

That’s what I thought back then. But I only recently realized—with my past life’s memories returning—that this was father’s consideration for my younger self.

“The natural enemy of a mountain keeper. That would be humans, like bandits and thieves.”

“…Huh? No, Father.”

At that time, I couldn’t understand father’s words. Because…

“These people are extremely weak. They all collapsed with one hit, didn’t they?”

The first humans I met in the mountains—beasts wearing human skin filled with killing intent and carrying weapons—were all fragile.

Come to think of it, I could have easily torn apart the villagers, so I don’t know why I endured so much abuse for the sake of wealth and glory.

It’s all because of my intelligence.

“Yes. That’s fortunate at least. But Jack, look behind you.”

Fleeing bandits. I could see humans running away, abandoning their fallen leader and several others who had been struck down by me.

Father told me that killing beasts isn’t the only answer. Instill fear of humans in them. Make them understand they can’t win against humans, and don’t kill them when they run away.

Then, even when they have offspring, they’ll educate and teach them that attacking humans is dangerous. This way, fewer beasts will come down from the mountains.

Of course, he didn’t say to let them all go, but when I said I wasn’t sure, father simply told me to kill two out of every three I encountered and let one escape.

So, having taken down 7 out of 10 bandits, I let 3 escape.

I thought humans were just like beasts. But…

“Can you see their eyes?”

“…Yes.”

“How do they look?”

“Resentful… and angry, I think.”

“That’s right. Jack, humans are…”

-Thwack.

Looking back now, my father was truly incredibly strong.

If he hadn’t died from illness, if he were still alive today, I wouldn’t be rubbing my head against the ground like this, at the very least.

The sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing echoed. Screams for mercy and death throes rang out simultaneously, and the scene became even bloodier than when father hunted mountain beasts.

And to my young eyes, that situation was a terrifying horror.

I still remember how much more sickening it was to see creatures like me, resembling me, die.

-Thud.

“A fallen human cannot be picked up and used again. Moreover, beings that don’t repent for their wrongdoings return as even greater calamities and dangers. And that danger will threaten not only you but also those you want to protect—Ira, for example. Do you understand?”

I’m not sure if I answered father’s words after that. What’s certain is…

“…Huh? Jack? Jack?!”

I fainted pathetically the moment I saw a person die before my eyes.

*

I had a dream where someone shouted, “Idiot!! I knelt down to gain momentum!!!”

Can I do it? Can I rush in like this and rip out their heart and tear off their head in one go?

Would that take away 210,000 HP in one hit?

I don’t know. I’ve never experimented, and I’m not sure if it would work. I can’t exactly rip off my own head to test it, can I?

But before that.

‘Can I kill a person?’

I’ve never killed anyone, neither in my past life nor, remarkably, in this one.

The fear of killing humans that was imprinted on me as a child still remains in my body. However…

‘…If I have to, I must.’

Unless there’s a microwave and a banana somewhere, there’s no way to go to another world.

Still, it’s fortunate. This is probably the first time I’ve thought it fortunate that memories of my past life have surfaced, in this way.

Was my past self a sociopath? The moment I decided to kill this woman, my tension disappeared. However…

‘…It has to be one hit, or we’re all truly dead.’

[Skill: Heaven-Sent Talent.]

[Heaven-Sent Talent Effect: Mimics actions and stats seen once. The talent bestowed by the world is at a level unreachable through effort alone.]

[Skill: Imperial Quality.]

[Imperial Quality Effect: Turns defeated enemies into your subordinates. The affected targets become ‘subjugated’ regardless of their own will. (You can give three absolute commands to subjugated targets.)]

[Skill: One Who Stands Above.]

[One Who Stands Above Effect: One born to stand above cannot be less capable than those below. Steals the stats of humans subjugated to you. (Takes 50 percent of the subjugated target’s stats.)]

Atrocious. Beyond atrocious, it’s disgusting.

There’s a reason she’s a raid boss. The appropriate raid size for this woman is 8 people.

More precisely, 16 people including each party’s NPCs.

And the method to weaken this woman’s skills and stats in that raid is simple.

When her skill activates, have the weakest player or NPC in the party hit her with an attack skill, making her mimic that.

This creates a 3-minute cooldown, during which you deal maximum damage.

But in the game, she’s a raid boss. Moreover, she’s the Empress of the Empire.

During the raid, human-type mobs and champions that have been subjugated are summoned, so honestly, unless you go in over-leveled and push through quickly, you’ll truly struggle at the appropriate level.

Plus…

‘…She’s already seen my movements once.’

If she knows about [Heaven-Sent Talent], she must be confident she can mimic my movements.

That’s why she’s approaching me so defenseless.

If I fail to finish her in one strike and we enter combat, it’ll become a real slugfest.

If those assassins from earlier were actually actors in her play, then even if she doesn’t know about her skill yet, she could still avoid my attack…

“…Excuse me. How long are you going to keep your head bowed?”

“…I apologize. But really, isn’t there any other way?”

“No. If you keep your head down this long without saying anything, even an idiot would know, right? Aren’t you thinking of something else?”

“……”

Was I? Isn’t it standard procedure to spend about 1-10 seconds lost in thought? How long have I been like this…

“…Do you really hate it that much? Even with a worldwide bounty on the line, you’d rather keep your head pressed to the ground for 20 minutes without saying a word?”

“I apologize.”

20 minutes?! I was stuck like that for 20 minutes?! Damn, my intelligence is really 3…!!! No, 6!!! There’s no blockhead like this blockhead.

The queen pokes my head with her finger as I try not to show my flustered expression.

“It’s not such a bad deal, is it? I’m planning to pay you properly, and you must have something in mind since you’re talking with me, right?”

“…What thoughts could my humble mind have? I only seek Your Majesty’s mercy.”

Truly humble indeed.

To think my thought process took 20 minutes—I should stop using my head from now on. Let’s just leave it to Gor.

When my sister grows up, I might just live as a doll that doesn’t think and only follows Ira’s words.

“…Mercy. I see. And you’re misunderstanding something—I’m the crown princess, not the queen yet.”

“I apologize. That was a slip of the tongue.”

“And could you please raise your head now? I may have sounded threatening, but you saved me. I’m not so inconsiderate as to keep my benefactor’s head pressed to the ground.”

“……”

She seems pretty inconsiderate to me, I thought, but suppressed the rising voice and raised my head. The queen—no, the princess—brushed off the dirt on my forehead.

“Listen. I’m quite a merciful person. You’re acting this way because you’ve heard rumors about me, but those exist because I haven’t had my own people until now. I’m not really an emotionless monster. So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t look like you’re about to die. It hurts my feelings too, you know?”

“…What do you mean by not having your own people…”

“Huh? What? You don’t know? I thought you knew about me? From your behavior, it seemed like you knew about my skills and the rumors?”

“Ah, no. I only know the basics. Just the rumors and such…”

Skills? She knows?! She knows what skills she has?!!

It’s truly shocking that someone knows about skills in this world where the story hasn’t progressed yet.

In the game, skill-checking magical devices developed in the Magitech City of Aiti were distributed after Ponia’s destruction, raising humanity’s overall power. So why does this woman already know about them?!

Wait, rumors? Is this common knowledge among people in the Empire?!

“Sigh, fine. Since I’m in a position to hire you, let me explain a bit. Even if my choices seem cruel, I’ve always chosen for the sake of our country. And my skills [Wisdom of the Blue Ruler] and [Ruler’s Aura] aren’t even combat-related. The rumor that I massacred all the humans who attacked me is just false information spread by my father.”

“…What?”

“Besides, I don’t even make these choices because I want to. My father, His Majesty, gives the orders, and I just follow them. But when I tell people these choices are for the country’s sake, they call me a monster for making inhuman, inhumane decisions every time. Isn’t being a ruler about being forced to make choices that ordinary people can’t make? Yet he can’t even do that himself… and ends up trying to kill me…”

After saying that much, she seems to choke up before continuing.

Huh? Was she always this talkative?

“In the first place! If your daughter goes out without guards!! Shouldn’t you assign guards to her?! How could you send assassins?! And your daughter!! Your virgin daughter, how could you have someone rape her!! Isn’t the one making such choices more of a monster?! What do you think?!”

“Ah, yes. That is monstrous.”

“Right?!! And this situation too!! If I talk about Ponia, they’ll surely call me a monster again, so I deliberately came out alone, and now he’s clearly abandoned me! He asks me for my opinion because he can’t decide, and then he blames me!! What did I do wrong?!! I just said what would benefit the country!!!”

She’s genuinely angry. She’s completely furious and almost crying. Wait, this isn’t what I expected?

“Look, I really, really feel sorry. But I have no choice, right? I need someone if I’m going to return to the palace now. You’re strong. So please help me. Please stay by my side. I just want to be protected by someone stronger than me, just one person! I’m sick and tired of dealing with assassination attempts!! Paralyzing drugs and poisons are manageable because they’re substances, but now they’re just sending people after me—what am I supposed to do?!! I haven’t even committed any crime!!!”

“……”

Wait, could she possibly…

I move slowly. Her grumbling and what she’s saying don’t make immediate sense to me.

Originally, this woman is supposed to kill her father, the current king, with her own hands and take the throne. But her current appearance seems like just… a somewhat intelligent woman…

“Huh? What are you doing? Wait, why are you—? Uh?”

I grab one of her arms with one hand, lift it up, and then grab her other arm with my other hand.

There’s no resistance. No, there is resistance, but it’s too feeble. Could it be, really?

As I hold both her slender arms with one hand, she just looks at me with her red eyes. No, this is…

“…What? Did you change your mind after hearing me out? I talked to you because I thought you were trustworthy, was that a mistake too? Considering what you’ve done so far, I didn’t think you were the type to do this.”

“……”

She truly isn’t resisting. There are even tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Huh? Really? Wait.

“Ugh… Fine. Maybe it’s for the best. Kill me here. No, don’t just kill me—rape me first, then kill me. You’re quite handsome. They say sex feels good, so I’d like to know before I die. Go ahead.”

“……”

The princess closes her eyes and gives up, as if this is truly her end. I hold down her arms and blankly try to think.

Yes, I worked this stupid intelligence of 6 hard. I probably pondered for another 30 minutes. And then…

‘…The queen, kuk, kill her?’

That was the only conclusion my rock-hard head could come up with.