The Unforgivable Weak
“You rotten little brat. How dare you raise your fist against Master?”
“Sorry, Senior Brother. I have no excuse.”
The moment we finally found Iris, Gerard was furiously scolding her. He had witnessed her throwing a punch at me the instant our eyes met. So it was only natural that he would lash out at the now-conscious Iris.
“I know you’re always begging Master for sparring matches! But you’ve been missing for over two months now. Master even left his residence to search for you!”
“Wait, Senior Brother. Two whole months? That can’t be right. That’s…”
“It’s true, Senior Iris. Even if we ignore everything else, you’ve been wandering around in here for a full month.”
Iris quietly stepped forward to back Gerard up. Iris tilted her head, then stared directly at her.
“Huh? Aren’t you that little kid? What are you doing here?”
“I’m not a little kid. I’m now a proper disciple of Master.”
“Disciple? Wait. So you’re the youngest now?”
“That’s right, Iris. This girl is the youngest. It’s been a little over a year since I took her in as my disciple.”
“Wasn’t Ester supposed to be the last one? I thought for sure it would stay that way. She threw such a tantrum about never giving up the youngest spot. That girl who never shows any emotion was sobbing and wailing about it.”
“…She did. Now that you mention it, she really did.”
The seventh disciple, Ester Marigold. She was so passive she bordered on gloomy. The only thing she ever acted aggressively about was her position as the youngest. She was so timid she could barely ask for anything, yet one day she had outright begged me not to take any more disciples.
Her sudden change had been both strange and surprising. So, in a moment of mischief, I had carelessly said something.
I couldn’t promise anything. If I discovered someone bearing the fate of a Hero, I would have no choice but to take them in as a new disciple.
The response to my words had not been Ester’s usual blank expression. It was a cry she had never once shown while under my wing. She had unleashed that intense emotion with all her might.
I still remembered how flustered I had been that day.
In the game’s setting, the Poison Hero Ester Marigold barely expressed any emotion at all. Even her title, Dark Shadow, symbolized darkness and shadow. It meant she was that gloomy, dull, and devoid of personal color.
And just as the setting described, Ester had never laughed or cried once while staying by my side. She never even frowned or offered the faintest smile.
Yet that same girl had burst into great sobs the moment she heard there might be a new disciple. The moment she realized her position as the youngest could be taken away.
“I’m sorry to say this to you, Master, but I’m a little worried.”
“Thanks so much for deliberately reminding me of something I’d forgotten, Iris.”
By now, the news that I had returned should have reached Ester as well. Like the other disciples, she would surely come to see me. I was worried about what might happen when she met Iris.
…
The silver lining was that this would be the first time for me. But for Iris, it was definitely not her first time.
When I looked at Iris, it was as if she sensed my gaze.
“Heh.”
Iris looked at me and broke into a wide smile. It wasn’t her usual goofy grin, but a reassuring one that said not to worry. She already seemed to know exactly what I was concerned about.
Even if she was my idiot disciple, a regressor was still a regressor, I suppose. I hoped she would handle it well.
“Iris.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Explain the situation. How on earth did you end up here? When I came in, there weren’t any traces of monsters or demonic creatures at all. How did you get this deep, and what happened before that?”
“Well… um…”
Iris scratched her head roughly, her face twisted with irritation. It looked like she had fallen for something similar to what had happened with Garam.
People who claimed to be followers of the Heroes but were actually nothing more than lackeys of those disgusting bastards.
“Looks like you got properly tricked.”
“I have nothing to say for myself. I received a tip from a local resident and moved out.”
“They said Demon God worshippers had slipped underground and were preparing some kind of ritual?”
“What? How did you know? You’re exactly right?!”
“It’s obvious. There’s no way you’d come this deep underground otherwise.”
How had those Demon God worshippers even found the traps of this ancient kingdom? When I thought about it, the answer came surprisingly easily and quickly.
They must have scoured every corner looking for a place to secretly gather. And by chance, they had discovered this enormous cavern at the western edge.
However, this place was far too dangerous to use as a secret meeting ground. It was a location that even Iris, me, and my master had barely managed to escape from. There was no way the worshippers would have been any different.
The ones who had entered were probably still wandering inside, never to come out again.
It seemed they had tried to take advantage of the fact that the investigation team never returned. Perhaps they had even planned to turn this entire underground area into a giant trap exclusively for Heroes. Their true intention might have been to bury the Heroes and their followers all at once.
In reality, their plan had nearly succeeded. No, they probably already had a record of success once before.
Because of their trap, not only Iris but me and my master as well had all been removed from the fighting force. Because of that, the other disciples must have suffered greatly for a while in that future.
Knowing that, Iris must have dismantled it so quickly.
“You really took a solid hit from the Demon God worshippers.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just really slow when it comes to this kind of thing.”
Iris only knew how to charge straight ahead. The other disciples would have suspected a trap and sent a vanguard first, but from Iris’s perspective, she probably thought she could just smash through any trap that came her way.
With any other trap, that might have worked. The problem was that this place wasn’t just a simple trap. It was a massive ‘prison’ built by an ancient kingdom. It wasn’t something that could be overcome with brute force.
“It’s fine. I didn’t notice it at all either, and this was truly an unexpected problem.”
This was exactly why the ancient kingdom was such a headache. In the game, its extreme difficulty swings had earned it mountains of curses from players. And even here, it was a dangerous place that not even the Heroes or the Heavenly Demon could easily escape.
Fortunately, once you experienced it once, you could deal with it more proactively next time. If I considered it a valuable learning experience, it was something I could cover to some extent.
“But Master.”
Suddenly, Iris spoke up cautiously.
“This place is pretty amazing and mysterious, right?”
“…It is, if you ignore that unpleasant fog.”
“Then if we go deeper inside, don’t you think there might be something incredible?”
The ancient kingdom functioned like a dungeon that dropped mysterious items. The problem was that most of those items were complete duds, so the efficiency was terrible. It was often better to spend that time crafting proper items instead.
But in this world, crafting equipment or using mana stones for enhancement wasn’t as easy as it had been in the game. That was exactly why I had gone out of my way to find the Secret Merchant.
Garam’s sword, Jenia’s spear, Daisy’s staff, Gerard’s shield. Iris’s wrist guards, Lily’s necklace, and even Ester’s dagger. Every single one of them was an ancient kingdom relic I had carefully selected.
Picking them out had nearly made my eyes fall out of my head, and I wasn’t exaggerating. The Secret Merchants, those goblins, didn’t always bring only good things. On the contrary, ninety-nine out of a hundred were complete garbage, so it was only natural.
“From what I heard, it’s definitely like that, Master.”
“You want to go deeper? I don’t sense any particularly strong energy, though.”
Gerard was in favor while Iris seemed rather unenthusiastic. My master had little interest in such matters, so I set that aside. In the end, it seemed the decision once again fell to me.
“Let’s go. Since we’ve already come this far, we might as well see it through to the end.”
We had come all the way to this hot place, suffered through that damned trap, and if we went back up empty-handed, the time we had spent would feel far too wasted.
Besides, the Fragment of the Demon God had appeared much faster than expected. While items weren’t an absolute factor, having something was still far better than fighting bare-handed.
After making the decision, we moved forward with our now doubled group.
“Master. I sense more presences up ahead.”
“…My disciple.”
“I felt them too. It seems they are the ones who entered here first.”
“What should we do, Master?”
“What should we do? They dared to drag you into this place, so I ought to greet them personally.”
The moment I gave permission, Iris flashed a chilling smile. The Fighter Hero lightly clenched and unclenched her fists. A spine-chilling crack echoed from her hands.
“Iris.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Kill them, spare them, or cripple them—do whatever you want.”
“But?”
“Just don’t let their insides spill out. I’m here, and so is your Grandmaster.”
“I’d like to, but if they’re this weak, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Didn’t I teach you something for times like this?”
“…You want me to use Master’s technique on these pathetic ants?”
Iris’s face twisted sharply. The technique that gathered all her energy at once and churned the opponent’s insides. It was a slight modification of the striking palm my master had taught her. I had specially devised it for Iris, yet asking her to use it drew exactly this reaction.
But she must have decided there was no other way. Iris nodded as if she understood and slowly approached the Demon God worshippers.
“Ugh… Th-this place is…”
“Where else? It’s the middle of hell.”
There was no ugly sound like thud, thwack, or crunch. Just the light impact of Iris’s fists sinking into the worshippers’ bodies. Yet the result was neither light nor pleasant.
The Demon God worshippers collapsed one by one with choked screams. They had barely escaped the fog and were about to enjoy ‘life’ again, but they met their end at the hands of the Fighter Hero they had toyed with, the Limitless who had shown an unsightly sight before her master.
“Disgusting weaklings. If you’re weak, you should think about getting stronger. Instead, you use your heads like this.”
“Gack!”
“Be quiet. Be obedient. If you’re weak, then die pathetically like the weak should.”
Perhaps Iris was quite far from the word ‘Hero.’ From her strict binary division between the strong and the weak, to her belief that the weak must pay the price, she was a truly dangerous person.
Yet if someone asked why Iris Freesia was a Hero and not a villain, the answer was simple. It was because, among those who tried to compensate for their weakness in other ways, many became Demon God worshippers.
“Those who don’t even struggle to become stronger, who simply rely on gods, rely on the heavens, and pray for miracles. The weak who don’t make any effort die like this.”
Iris’s fist slowly rose once more.
“To those who shed blood and sweat every day in their pursuit of strength.”