Chapter 62: The Beginning of Punishment – 2
Ito Hiroshi clutched his severed arm, screaming in agony. I spoke to him calmly.
"No one's coming to save you just because you scream. And it'll only make me feel worse."
Was I some thug in a past life? The threat slipped out so naturally. But this wasn't a threat—it was sincere. I was confident I could dismantle him piece by piece.
Heal.
"Hup!"
I cast Heal on his severed arm. Was I being too merciful? Absolutely not. The point was to ensure it could never be reattached. It would heal just like that. Or not—who cared?
"What the hell is this?"
"Why are you so upset about losing one arm when you sold out your friend?"
"……."
Ito clamped his mouth shut.
"From now on, you answer my questions properly. Otherwise, you'll lose your body parts one by one without ever dying. I'll keep you alive with Heal."
Someone might call it cruel. It was cruel. But that's exactly what I'd do. There was no need to hold back against those who'd abandoned their humanity.
"Si-woo…."
Seon-woo tried to intervene instead. He must have never seen his friend like this before. But I had no intention of stopping. I wanted to chew this bastard up.
Then—
Thwack!
Nyang!
"Huh?"
Hoya smacked the back of my head. Suddenly, my mind cleared.
"What… Why was I…."
Was this really me? No. Had I been best friends with Hakashi? Of course not—we'd never even met in person. Sure, there was some kinship. I understood his willingness to give up his life for his pet. For Leo, then? I wanted revenge for Leo's sake, but was this revenge for him? No.
Then it had to be the gate's influence. Just like how I'd been selling off gate items left and right.
"Damn gate."
A rage I couldn't suppress even with Calmness surged up. This was my pure fury. I'd brushed it off before when I suspected the gate was manipulating me, thinking it was just part of being a gate owner. But not this. It was forcing me to kill.
"Seon-woo, hold this guy for a sec. Something's off here."
"Got it."
Seon-woo moved quickly to bind him. His technique was no amateur's. Come to think of it, he might be used to this kind of thing. But that wasn't important right now.
If you keep interfering like this, I won't enter the gate again. If you want something from me, say it clearly. Try controlling me again, and I'll die before I let you.
I focused my will to the utmost and sent it toward the gate. After a long moment—
Calmness (Passive) skill has evolved.
You have acquired Clear Mind (Passive, Active) MAX.
"What the hell is this?"
Evolving my Calmness skill out of nowhere? Was the system messing with me? Just in case, I used Observation on the new Clear Mind skill.
Clear Mind (Passive, Active) MAX
Maintains Calmness at all times. No external influence can affect the skill owner's mind.
When used as an active skill, protects the target's mind.
So, by giving me Clear Mind, it was promising never to invade my mind again. Unable to send a direct message, it resorted to this method. I thought it over and nodded. The system had acknowledged its mistake. For now, I'd let it slide.
"Ito Hiroshi, listen up. Hakashi is dead, and his gate authority has transferred to me. And as you can see, that gate is somewhere you lot can never find. So, now that I've inherited it from Hakashi, what should I do as payment?"
Ito scowled.
"Ease up on the face. Even if you don't talk, there'll be plenty in the Self-Defense Forces who will. Right? And I already know who ordered this—Yamato Third Lieutenant Colonel, wasn't it?"
Ito's expression hardened at my words.
"But it's weird, isn't it? This doesn't look like something a lowly third lieutenant colonel would plan alone. Swallowing a massive treasure like mithril all by himself? Ridiculous. So how high does it go? The prime minister? Or the emperor?"
"……."
"No need to answer. And for the record, I'm someone who could kill all of them. Unsure? Then I'll just kill them anyway. You don't even know who I am, and if someone else climbs the ladder? I'll kill them too. Keep killing until no one wants the top spot."
Of course, it was bluffing. Whether I could pull it off was another question. It didn't seem impossible if I set my mind to it, but hiding all traces in the modern world? No confidence there. That was the problem. Killing was feasible, but concealing my identity completely? Doubtful. Honestly, I didn't even know why I was thinking like this. But it wasn't the gate's manipulation anymore.
"And I'll send your family along with you."
"You bastard, what the—!"
"You sold out your friend, but your family is precious? Isn't that too selfish?"
I had no idea if he even had family or who they were. But guys like this needed to be threatened the same way. And he'd believe it was true. Why? Because he'd do it. So he'd assume I would too. The best way to deal with villains was with a villain's methods.
"Alright, shall we talk?"
Having lopped off his arm first, he wouldn't be thinking straight.
"So…."
Ito Hiroshi spilled everything. And as we listened, our anger only grew.
The reason Hakashi's body wasn't here? They'd taken him, stuck him in some capsule, and experimented on him. Injecting drugs while keeping him alive on life support. They'd already tested it on laborers who weren't even gate owners. Finally, they applied it to Hakashi.
But the gate seemed to have let Hakashi die. He probably wanted to go. Otherwise, the gate would have protected him. Thinking about it, the experimenters probably weren't part of Hakashi's gate. If they were, they couldn't have harmed him. They must have realized that—or assumed it. Sneaky Japan might already know a lot about gates.
"One last thing. Why betray Hakashi? He let you into his gate because he thought you were a friend."
"Kuh… He shouldn't have had something like that in the first place."
"I see. Trash like you doesn't need a reason."
I sliced off Ito Hiroshi's neck. I'd killed a man. Directly, with my own hands. But thanks to Clear Mind, I felt nothing. It was like tossing rotten food scraps into the bin. That's exactly the kind of human Ito Hiroshi was.
"Oppa…."
"Si-woo."
"What?"
The two hesitated, exchanging glances, until Si-yeon finally spoke.
"Do you know the way?"
"Huh?"
"The way to the Self-Defense Forces base."
"No."
"Then why kill him already!"
Ah, that was the point. But not entirely—their worried expressions gave it away.
"Japanese guy's smartphone here."
"Oh, right? Then no worries…."
Ding-ding.
The screen went black. No charge, obviously. Their faces stiffened. And so did mine.
Finding the way to the Self-Defense Forces base wasn't hard. The goblin lord candidate knew it.
"Hey."
Kiruk.
"Let's think about something. You're going back to our territory to become the goblin chieftain. But we can't accept your kind as residents. You need to provide experience points and maintain the forest ecosystem."
Kirruk!
It nodded. What was amazing was that it understood me.
"We'll keep hunting goblins. Other forest monsters will hunt you too. Got it?"
Kiruk.
"Still wanna be goblin lord? Of course, I'll allow you to forge your own destiny. If you carve out a different fate for goblins, you can break free then too. Deal?"
This might sound brutally cruel. But cows, pigs, chickens faced similar fates. The only difference was killing for food or levels.
The goblin lord candidate pondered long, then nodded. It spoke.
Kiruruk karuk katulruk.
"We won't wipe you out. Promise."
With that, it would class-change into goblin lord.
"From now on, you're Goblang."
Kiruk!
"Isn't that a lazy name?"
"Even I think oppa's naming sense is…."
"Then you name it."
"Gobgob?"
"Gobling?"
I stared at them in disbelief. They were identical.
"Whatever, Goblang."
Kiruk!
"Take your goblins and start the attack. You can use those mithril weapons we picked up."
Kki, kikirik.
"Fine, I won't take them back."
Who'd believe it tried to pocket them for itself?
"Begin."
There were easily tens of thousands of goblins. And they all followed Goblang's orders. No idea why, but the system marked it as goblin lord candidate.
Goblang and the goblins launched their assault on the Self-Defense Forces base near Fukushima.
Yamato Third Lieutenant Colonel. He'd devoted himself to the Self-Defense Forces early on. He believed his future lay there, that reviving the glory of the old Greater Japanese Empire was his reason for living—a hardcore right-wing soldier.
One day, I'll elevate the Self-Defense Forces to a full Self-Defense Army!
As a defeated nation from World War II, Japan could only maintain the Self-Defense Forces for defense. That was decades ago, though—now internal sentiments had shifted. Movements to amend the constitution for a proper army were underway.
Ito Hiroshi was a fervent supporter of Prime Minister Yaro. His dream was rebuilding the Japanese Empire.
Then gates appeared in the world. And one formed near his Fukushima base, which no one paid attention to. A gate of unimaginable value, right by the overlooked Fukushima garrison.
The real reason he'd been posted here? Too radical. The gate's existence thrilled him—it would make his dreams come true. He had no doubt.
Until he saw this man.
"You're Yamato Third Lieutenant Colonel? Name checks out, at least."