Chapter 116
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: Soul Promotion Battle
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"Serka!! If you can't save her, then do what that bastard says, you useless bitch!!!"
Roel's shout, which pierced through their friendship like a knife, fit perfectly with the hellish chaos of the scene.
The proud mage didn't even feel ashamed as she tried to sell her friend's mother.
"R-Roel. I-I..."
Serka looked at me with eyes that seemed about to shatter.
Her training robes were also stained with blood.
"Hurry up!!! Do it somehow!!!!"
...These idiots are really making fools of themselves.
If you want to live, show the grit to sell even your own mother. That's what being an adventurer means. These greenhorns had lived thinking the world was a joke. Seeing this friendship-destroying spectacle made my anger surge again.
"Speak! About your mother!"
I shouted loudly at Serka like that.
In this otherworld, a mother's chastity is utterly worthless anyway.
Only true cold-blooded human scum who know how to sell their parents can survive with their lives intact! Now that they've already stained their hands with human blood, what does respect for parents matter?! You can't survive here without abandoning humanity! This is a ruthless, savage, barren otherworld!
That's what I thought, and that's how I decided to live—as an adventurer myself!
Don't underestimate the grit I've got from killing people just to survive, you dogshit troll bastards! I didn't come to this otherworld because I wanted to!
—The true troll!
Me!
Right here!
"I'll show you!"
I shouted sharply again. Even the monsters, who had been unleashing primal malice toward humanity, stopped kicking and looked up at me.
"If you're an adventurer living off the edge of a blade, show your grit! Show your resolve to survive! Oh, wait, you eat with your fists, so it's fist rice. Anyway! If you want to live, speak! And beg me!"
—Say it! Roel echoed me from her frenzy.
Custo had buried his face in the ground, trembling and calling out to his god. The rosary in his hand looked utterly pathetic. Sorry about that. I'd unintentionally shoved his harem into the trash bin of ruin.
But what can I do? I've already been through it myself.
Unfortunately, I'm not kind enough to consider others' circumstances when I'm pissed.
Yeah, Custo's definitely a good guy.
And it was me who dragged him into this fucked-up situation.
But.
But...
BUT!!!!!!!!
Those two bitches!!!!!!!!
Ruined!!!!!!!!
My promotion battle!!!!!!!!
Completely to shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"I said speak about your mother!"
I absolutely won't forgive them.
I pointed at Serka like a divine hero. The charging monsters, her fallen friends bleeding out. The barbarian yelling at her, and her friend screaming along! With all that on her face, she opened her mouth while shedding tears.
"...I."
"Louder!"
"...My mother, Serka's mother...!"
"Mother is!"
Suddenly, like a dam bursting, tears poured down.
Her mental state was already shattered by her friend's betrayal.
"A filthy whore selling her body in back alleys!"
"Good! Perfect! I'm starting to like you, Serka!"
She too dove into madness, reciting my words in a tone like Roel's. I kindly filled in the parts where her tear-mixed memories got stuck, making her confess to the end.
She answered diligently, and my satisfaction grew with each word.
And finally.
—"I love that mother of mine so much!"
Her passionate confession came to an end.
—Clap clap clap clap!
I applauded like praising the finest actor. Then I immediately drew my sword and descended to the ground. Jumping from the rock to the earth—it was truly a god's descent.
"Good, Serka. From now on, your mother is a whore. Got it?"
"...Hic, y-yes, I got it...!"
"Then I'll save you–"
The desert runners hesitated at the ominous atmosphere.
I gripped my sword and lowered my stance. The weak fear the strong, and the strong despise the weak! Against the weak, I'm the enemy of ten thousand, unstoppable by a million! Against foes weaker than me, I'm stronger than anyone—that's Kim Katt!
I absolutely won't lose to dickheads!
—"You pathetic whore's spawn."
And I charged like a beast.
"I have no idea why I have to do this filthy work."
My sword, picking up speed, wasn't something those pathetic weakling monsters could block.
—Slash!
The first strike felled one runner. Then slash, slash, slash, slash again!
"Strike evil on sight!"
In an instant, desert runner corpses piled up. In less than five minutes, five turned into fresh processed goods. The survivors wailed to their god and fled. No need to chase—they were faster than me anyway.
Left in the arena were half-dead Katt and his cheerful friends.
"Hey, Serka. Go take care of your friends."
Serka just stared blankly at me. Even among E-ranks, I'm an E-rank equivalent to D. That's the skill gap. With swordsmanship learned from Karin, enabling proper 'slashes,' their necks were just bundles of straw to me.
"...Yes."
Snapping to at my words, Serka helped Custo up. Roel, barely alive, let out a low whimper before standing on her own.
"K-Katt... Y-You..."
The risen Custo looked at my face like I was some demon. Nothing much to say to him. Then he shuddered and began chanting a spell.
—Whoosh!
He cast self-heal, slowly mending his wounds with green light. Each glow stanched bleeding and grew new flesh. The process dragged on slowly.
"Hic... Hic... Let's go back now. Custo, let's go home. Okay?"
Roel approached Custo, sobbing and pleading. What? After I saved them, now they want to quit the quest? I flipped out completely.
"F-Fuck. Who said you can go back? You think you're Jennifer?"
—Thwack!
I kicked a severed desert runner head. It flew up then thudded back down. Roel and Serka flinched at the sound.
"We finish the quest. Got it?"
But no one answered.
"I said got it, fuck!!! Why ignore me when I'm talking!! Is it still 'cause I'm a barbarian? Is that the problemmmmmmm!!!!!!"
Sadness welled up, and I roared.
How deep a world of discrimination have I walked? Everyone I met just threw stones at me. A few kind souls kept me alive, but the discrimination lingers.
Look—even after saving their lives, they ignored me.
At this point, it's all or nothing. I raised my sword high.
To slice away this gray world of nothing but sorrow—with this blade.
"N-No. Stop! Please stop... Please stop...!"
"Hm? Serka?"
Serka approached and grabbed my pant leg.
"Q-Quest... Hic, we'll do the quest... So please stop...!"
"Hey, why the sudden formal talk between us? Don't be awkward like that."
She looked so pitiful, trembling and crying, so I threw an arm around her to comfort her. The formal speech showed major mental shock.
"We're not like that. Don't draw lines like that. I don't like it."
"Th-Then...?"
"Be casual. Casual. Okay?"
"..."
To reassure her, I gave a fatherly smile and leaned in close.
"Hey, no answer?"
"...Yes."
"Yes? Yessss? I said! Don't! Draw lines!!"
"Kyaaaaah!!!"
"Joking, bitch. Let's go."
That did it—the situation bent to my taste. Terrified Roel and Serka obeyed, and even Custo, looking at me like a monster, followed my lead.
"Move out, move out!"
To deal with crazies, act crazy yourself.
See? A little berserk, and they turn into lambs.
"Let's go! Hurry! Faster! Move!"
Fun promotion battle life starts now.
Feeling good, I grinned and strode forward.
"Don't make me wait!"
Of course, to avoid backstabs, I took rear guard. I yelled at Roel to guide the way.
"Oh, right. Roel. Got nothing to say to Serka?"
But as things normalized, gut-wrenching rage surged again. What to nitpick now? Suddenly, Roel shattering her friendship with Serka came to mind.
"...W-What?"
Roel turned back.
Her trembling face showed fear of me. Good or bad? Better keep mages on delicate terms... Or if fear keeps her from badmouthing me, even better.
"Nah, think about what you said to Serka earlier. Is that how you talk to a friend?"
"What I said to Serka...?"
Roel had echoed me to sell her friend's mom.
That clueless face? They're not really close—Serka's just accommodating Roel.
"Hey, Serka. She acts like she doesn't know? She screamed at you to say 'Serka's mom is a whore' with your own mouth."
"...Doesn't matter. No, it doesn't."
"Really? You two aren't friends?"
"Right, so... no more..."
"But she doesn't see you as a friend. That pisses me off, for real. Isn't that crazy? How do you say that to a friend?"
Feeding logs to the dying fire, Custo turned to me with a trembling voice.
"K-Katt... sir... F-Forget the past... and the quest ahead..."
"No, Mr. Custo. Their friendship is on the brink of total fuck-shattering, and you wanna just pass by? As a democratic citizen, I can't. I bear some responsibility too. Gotta reconcile them."
I called Roel to stop, grabbed Serka's hand, and pulled her in front of Roel. Victim vs. perpetrator faced off in the spot I made.
"Now, apologize and make up."
I grabbed both their hands and forced a handshake.
"Y-You're insane... This is insane! You're not right in the head!"
"What?"
"Insane, totally insane...! Hic, hic...! I can't anymore! What did I do wrong?! What the hell did I do wrong to deserve this!!"
After I forced the handshake, Roel burst into tears and collapsed. Darkness boiled in my heart again. My heart chilled, hot blood surged reverse. My body temperature fluctuated wildly.
As I reached out feeling abyssal darkness—
—Slap!
"Ro... el...!"
Suddenly, Custo unleashed his inner true violence.
"No way!"
"S-Snap out of it! Snap out! Stand up...! Stand and apologize... to Ser, Serka...!"
"...Custo?"
He'd slapped Roel's cheek hard. This guy's got some serious hand-tremors? He makes women listen by beating them?
Hearing Custo's shout, Roel truly bawled and clung to Serka, apologizing. Her sincerity seemed pure as any innocent girl.
"See? You can make up, right?"
Watching, I rubbed under my nose with a finger.
Truly heartwarming.
"Great~! Friendship restored, party reformed! Off to the Confeito hunt! Adventure starts nowww!!"