Ch.302The Outcome of Training

“You’re quite the busybody, aren’t you?”

When I confronted Demian about Millia, it wasn’t him who answered but Hersella.

And she was smirking as if I was doing something unnecessary.

“Interfering in others’ romantic affairs rarely ends well.”

Well… that’s certainly the conventional wisdom, but the world doesn’t always follow conventional wisdom.

Besides, I’d prefer if a virgin girl with zero dating experience wouldn’t try to lecture me on such matters.

…Not that my own experiences have ended particularly well either.

‘Didn’t you see Millia’s state earlier? She needs intervention. One wrong move and we’ll be cleaning up multiple corpses.’

A Millia consumed by jealousy is dangerous. Didn’t I just experience that firsthand?

That extreme personality change was unbelievable. She became so gloomy and intense that even I was taken aback and intimidated.

Moreover… while in reality, a crime of passion might end with just some knife violence and a disturbance, things are a bit different here.

—-

Just as unwavering faith is rewarded with miracles, extreme emotions that transcend reason can also reach the gods.

Whether they answer that voice depends on the god’s will, and whether a person can accept that answer is another matter… but the connection is made nonetheless.

And.

The god who governs jealousy and obsession is not one of the Eleven Gods, but an evil god.

An evil god who has lost even its name. Invidius.

That’s why I was wary of Millia’s corruption.

Millia, driven mad by jealousy and self-loathing… could become Invidius’s apostle, just like Isabella was Lilith’s apostle.

Yes. She had the talent to become an apostle of an evil god!

…As long as her mental state is properly managed, it should never manifest. And it must never manifest.

So, somehow I need to help these childhood friends achieve their romance… easier said than done.

First, I need to understand why Demian is playing the role of the dense male protagonist.

Surely he doesn’t have some fetish for watching his girlfriend fall into depravity and then comforting himself with tears.

“Don’t you think? I’d like to hear a satisfactory answer, Demian.”

“…It’s better this way.”

Great. Half a point earned.

I’m not sure you want to know what happens when two points are accumulated.

—-

“What’s that supposed to mean? Stop cutting your sentences short and speak properly. You caused that whole scene earlier by being cryptic too.”

Just thinking about what he said earlier makes me want to twist my head 180 degrees. Vertically, that is.

“I’m well aware that Millia expects romantic love from me. But… Haschal, you know now too, don’t you? That it’s impossible for me. I could lie, I suppose, but whispering false words of love to deceive someone I’ve known since childhood… that wouldn’t be right.”

He actually had a somewhat reasonable explanation. Indeed, that would be deception. And a particularly nasty kind at that.

But still.

“Then why not just reject her outright? Instead of keeping her on the hook with ambiguity.”

Of course, doing that might actually cause serious problems.

I can’t even guess whether a rejected Millia would give up her unrequited love and find someone new, or go berserk saying “if I can’t have you, I’ll destroy everything.”

“I’ve considered that too, but I’m not sure if that’s the right thing to do. Since Millia’s motivation to become stronger stems from her admiration and affection for me, if I reject her completely, she might lose that motivation. With her personality, she needs to be strong to live well. Unless she quits being a knight altogether… isn’t the current situation the best option?”

…For someone who claims not to understand emotions, he seems to have a decent grasp of Millia.

Though I don’t particularly like his reasoning. Since he doesn’t understand emotions, it can’t be helped, but his excessively cold calculation makes me frown a bit.

“One thing’s for sure. You’re a bastard, man.”

So you’re basically saying you’ll string Millia along for her own good?

That’s one point accumulated, you jerk. Still only one and a half, so I won’t rip you apart yet.

“Even if you say that…”

After mocking Demian as he muttered with a tone suggesting he had no alternatives, I put out my burnt cigarette and stood up.

I’ve rested enough during all this chatter, so I should get back to what I was planning to do.

“Are you going back now?”

Demian asked, tilting his head.

Going back? No, I’m thinking of making you half-dead.

“No. Seeing how smoothly you’re talking, I think you’ve rested enough. Shouldn’t we resume training?”

“……”

“I understand why you can’t reach Master level. But that doesn’t mean I can just say ‘Oh, I see’ and let it go. At least not for me.”

In fact, it’s not just my problem. It’s the whole world’s problem.

“You’re strangely concerned about this boy. Could it be, as that friendless woman said, that this type of man is truly your preference? Well, his face is decent enough, but his age and personality…”

More nonsense. What are you, a mother-in-law at a family meeting?

‘It’s not like that. I just think his talent is being wasted. It’s frustrating to see someone who could become as strong as me floundering around.’

“Hmm… I suppose that’s true. You’ve always chosen friends with the potential to become strong. What a calculating approach to friendship.”

…When you put it that way, it makes me sound like some petty person who categorizes people and only befriends those of a certain caliber.

I just happened to become close with the main characters, that’s all.

Isn’t that the same thing?

…I don’t know. I should just focus on the task at hand.

I nudged Demian with my toe as he still sat there looking at me blankly.

“You said you act like a good knight because you don’t want to die, right? Great. With that same mindset, try becoming a good Master too. If you don’t want to die by my hand.”

Surely he wouldn’t choose becoming a corpse over becoming a Master when faced with that choice.

I’ve thought about a method, roughly. Whether it will work or not, I’m not sure.

“No, but. That doesn’t seem so easy…”

“You won’t know until you try. Stand up straight, and don’t hold any weapons.”

“What are you planning to…?”

Demian stood up hesitantly, trailing off with obvious suspicion.

“Well, to put it in one phrase, it’s a ‘dilemma’ of sorts?”

Let’s assume that Demian definitely feels fear toward me sometimes.

I don’t understand how someone without emotions can feel fear, but the fact that he feels something at all is encouraging news. It means there’s room to exploit that aspect.

Seeing how the emotions that helped me and others reach Master level were all different, it seems that as long as you experience some kind of intense emotion and desperation, it should work, right?

So, I’ll use fear.

If he has both fear and survival instinct, I should try to utilize those two somehow.

“…A what?”

Demian still looked confused.

“Rather than explaining with words, it’s better to show you directly. I need to prepare some things too.”

Leaving the puzzled Demian behind, I headed toward the wall where weapons were hanging.

Being training swords, the blades themselves were blunt, but the tips were quite pointed. Sharp enough to tear flesh and penetrate if pressed hard.

Good, this should work.

I pulled out a bunch of swords and stabbed them into the wall. The handle parts, not the blade tips.

Since I wasn’t using the blade parts, it was more like breaking the wall and wedging them into the cracks rather than stabbing.

After embedding about ten swords, the once-clean wall was cracked all over, with sharp sword tips pointing toward me.

It was like setting up a spike trap horizontally.

If someone were pushed into this, they’d become a taxidermy specimen with ten holes throughout their body.

“Uh…”

Perhaps guessing what these strange spikes meant, Demian let out a sound like a groan. Quick-witted.

“Now, come here and stand. With your back facing the wall.”

“…Couldn’t we just spar instead?”

No. That won’t work.

You seem to need some extreme measures.

Without bothering to answer, I just wiggled my index finger. With an expression that said, “What are you waiting for? Stand there now.”

Sighing, Demian walked over to the blade wall like livestock to slaughter.

“So… what are you going to do now? Push me?”

No, that would just be an elaborate execution.

I’m not doing this just to kill you, you know?

“Of course not. I have no intention of pushing you, Demian. Though that might end up happening.”

“End up…?”

“Yes. From now on, I’m going to approach you one step at a time, threatening you with the maximum killing intent I can manifest. That’s all. If you get stabbed by the swords… that will be because you retreated. Understand?”

The technique that Hersella had given the grandiose and strange name “Heaven Demon Army Forest.”

If I concentrate it on one person, wouldn’t it give enough fear and pressure even to a knight, not just a conscript?

Terrifying fear approaches from the front, but if you retreat, ten sword blades await your back. Truly a dilemma.

If you want to live, you must either stand firm or even move toward me.

“This seems like a troublesome and dangerous method. Wouldn’t it be better to just beat him up?”

‘If I beat him up, he’d be in the infirmary for a while. With Werebeasts potentially attacking at any time, it would be problematic to damage such an important asset that way.’

So, physical correction should be left as a last resort.

“No, there’s no way such a forceful method would work…”

“You won’t know until you try. That’s how life is, isn’t it?”

I awakened the power of Murder Karma that I had been suppressing by cracking my neck.

Perhaps thanks to resting in the hot spring all morning, my energy had recovered to about 80%. This should be enough.

A reddish haze began to rise and envelop my entire body.

I forcibly awaken anger and killing intent to add to the power of Murder Karma.

The aura I emit becomes increasingly ominous.

“By the way, if you try to dodge sideways, you’ll be eating porridge for the rest of your life. Got it? I’m starting!”

“Wait…!”

Before Demian could say anything, killing intent concentrated to the extreme was directed at him alone.

The boy’s body stiffened and his pupils dilated to the point of tearing.

Now, let’s see if you can endure—

– Thud!

Before I could even take one step forward, Demian lost consciousness and collapsed limply to the floor.

“Haah…”

Sighing, I withdrew my Murder Karma and approached Demian.

Oh, this useless bastard. How could he not even last ten seconds…

…Huh?

Wait, what? Huh?

What’s this? Hold on.

This bastard’s heart isn’t beating…?

“I knew this would happen…!”

Hersella shouted in disbelief.

I immediately picked up Demian and rushed toward Florence’s room.

Thanks to literally “miraculous” life-saving measures, Demian didn’t end up departing for the next world.

But training with me was prohibited.

Moreover, I was caught by a thoroughly angry Florence and had to endure a two-hour lecture.

She said there’s a limit to harsh training, and who would push someone until their heart actually stops?

Well. I didn’t expect things to go this wrong either…

—-

Oh, and.

The bastard who spread rumors about a sudden death was hung on the city gate with Frider’s permission.

After spending about two days like that, he’ll probably never spread false rumors again.