Why Does This Count as a Capture Event?!
Marquis Catel's wife let out an endless stream of screams. It would have been wonderful if I could have given her anesthesia, but unfortunately this wasn't the kind of pain that anesthesia could numb. The Fragment of Corruption didn't just invade the body. It devoured the soul as well. Since the process involved removing parts connected directly to the soul, it wasn't pain that could be suppressed with any drug.
“Aaaaagh!! Aaaaaagh!! It hurts!!! It hurts so much!!!!!!”
Marquis Catel's wife shrieked in a twisted, beast-like voice. No one hearing it would have thought the sound came from a human. Her eyes, dyed pitch-black like a ghost's, radiated a chilling killing intent as she hurled every curse and obscenity she could at me.
“I'll kill you!! I'll definitely kill you!!! I'll rip you apart and feed you to the beasts!! I swear I'll make it happen!!!!!”
But I didn't answer her curses. This was the Fragment of Corruption thrashing in its death throes. I knew these weren't her true feelings.
To heal a quasi-demon, the skill of the person removing the fragment mattered, but what mattered even more was the victim's own will to recover. Even while corrupted, she had apparently shown moments of lucidity—stroking Rachel's hair and similar acts. From that, it seemed one of the reasons her soul still held on was her maternal love.
I intended to stimulate exactly that.
“Think of Rachel! Marquis Catel's wife!! Your daughter is waiting for you!”
“Aaaaagh!!! Don't say that!! Don't you dare say it!!!”
“You'll never see Rachel again!! Madam!! Is that what you want?! Do you want to end your life as a raving lunatic, your whole body turned to iron by divine artifacts, unable to even recognize your own daughter?!”
My repeated shouts only made the agonized screams grow louder. It was the kind of sound that wouldn't come from someone being tortured.
“Help!! Someone!! This man is trying to kill me!! Save me!!”
The Fragment of Corruption was cunning. Even while spewing every evil it could, it sometimes cried out with heartbreaking desperation.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the massive iron door whose chains she had shattered at the start of the fight remained firmly sealed.
“Marquis Catel's wife!!! Don't fall to corruption and die!! Think of your family and the people who love you!! Think of Rachel!!!”
“Kyaaaak!!! No!! I don't want this!! I don't want it!!!!!!!!!!”
Slowly, the black energy began to drain from her eyes. The tears of Pelokis, the powerful restorative properties of the high-grade holy water, its black mana suppression effect, the quasi-demon's own will to recover, and the powerful extraction force of my Contractor of Divine Artifacts all combined. I could feel the Fragment of Corruption embedded deep in her right arm slowly being pulled free.
“I don't want to!!! I don't want to come out!! Help!! Help me!!!!!!”
“It's almost over!! Madam!! Just hold on a little longer!!!!”
I poured every ounce of mana I had into forcing out the Fragment of Corruption that thrashed and resisted with all its might. I could feel it gradually sliding out of her arm.
I was smiling brightly, focused on extracting the fragment, when—
BOOM!!
With a tremendous explosion, the massive iron door sealing the underground plaza began to move. I reflexively looked over and witnessed a horrifying sight.
“M.........Mom!!!”
It was Rachel. She had lifted the so-called door—a rectangular iron slab that had to weigh over ten tons—with one hand and was stepping inside. Could a human being actually lift something like that? I was stunned by whatever monstrous strength she possessed.
“Madam!!!”
While she held the door aloft, the knights and Marquis Catel rushed into the underground plaza. Once everyone was inside, she set the iron slab down and sprinted straight toward me.
The instant he saw that, a voice burst from Marquis Catel's wife's throat—not the distorted growl from before, but a heartbreakingly soft, feminine cry.
“Help me!! This man is trying to kill me!!!!!”
Tears poured down her face as she—the Fragment of Corruption—began to act. Her performance was so pitiable it made me doubt whether this was the same woman who had screamed like a monster in that twisted voice moments ago.
“Help me!!! I-I'm going to die!! Rachel!! Help your mother!! Darling, please!!!!!!”
“That's not true!! This isn't your wife!! She's turning into a demon!! I'm trying to save her!!”
I shouted back at full volume. Marquis Catel's eyes widened. His expression seemed to ask how I could possibly know about the demon when they had kept it so thoroughly hidden.
“You can remove the Fragment of Corruption?”
“I can!! So please wait!!”
It was nearly done. Just don't interfere.
The Marquis already knew about the fragment, so this explanation alone should keep him from getting in the way. The real problem was Rachel. Her intelligence was somewhat lacking, but her strength was absurdly high. She was a woman who moved on instinct more than reason—like a beast—so there was no telling how she might react.
“Rachel! Stay back!!”
The Marquis seemed to share my concern and tried to stop her, but Rachel stared at her mother pinned beneath the greatsword with a look of utter confusion.
“You said she was your friend. You said she was your first friend. You said you'd make Mom better.”
She looked at me with trembling lips.
“Mom is hurting.”
“I'm making her better!! Rachel!! This is treatment!!”
At my words, the Marquis's wife screamed at once. Tears streaming, emotions exploding, the thing gave the performance of a lifetime.
“Rachel!! Rachel!! It's Mom!! It hurts so much!! Save me!! Rachel!! Stop this man!! Rachel!!”
Her—the Fragment of Corruption's—acting was flawless. To anyone who didn't know the truth, it would look like I was the villain who deserved to die.
“It hurts so much!! Mom feels like she's dying!! Rachel!! Help me!!”
“No!! Rachel!!! That's not your mother!!”
“Aaaaagh!! It hurts!!!!! It hurts!!!!!!! Rachel!!! Rachel, help me!!!!”
The Marquis seemed to realize his words would have no effect, so the Fragment of Corruption focused its attack entirely on Rachel. Anxious, the Marquis tried to grab her hand and pull her back.
“Rachel! Listen carefully!! That is not your mother! I know it's confusing, but listen to me!! Just step back for now!!”
Rachel looked back and forth between her mother and father. She let out a pained groan, clearly overwhelmed.
“Rachel!! Please!!!!!!!! Mom is dying!!! You might never see me again!!!!!!”
The Fragment of Corruption delivered its most passionate performance yet, as if coughing up blood. At those words, Rachel squeezed her eyes shut. Everyone watched her anxiously—including me.
She seemed to wrestle with her thoughts for a moment, then opened her eyes with firm resolve.
“You. You're not my mom.”
“No! Rachel!! Please!!!”
“Mom doesn't call me Rachel.”
After firing off that single line, she looked at me.
“Make her better.”
Then, as if she couldn't bear to hear her mother's screams any longer, she covered both ears and buried herself in her father's embrace.
Marquis Catel held Rachel tightly and looked at me.
“Heal her.”
“Leave it to me!”
For whatever reason, Rachel had chosen to believe my words were true.
I poured every last drop of mana into forcing out the rampaging, resisting Fragment of Corruption. Under the overwhelming control of my Contractor of Divine Artifacts, it finally couldn't hold on any longer and began to emerge.
“No!! No!!! After all the effort I put into corrupting this bitch!! I can't leave like this!! No!!!!!!!!!!”
Realizing its act had failed, its voice instantly distorted. But it was already too late.
“It's over.”
With a wet squelch of tearing flesh, the Fragment of Corruption slid free from her right arm. I controlled it and pulled it out.
Pitch black. A piece of iron the length and thickness of a finger—so black it seemed impossible for anything to be that dark—floated in the air before flying into my hand.
With a tired expression, I dismissed the Iron Lion's Greatsword and checked on the collapsed Marquis Catel's wife.
“Cough!!......Cough!!!”
Blood gushed from the wound where the fragment had been extracted, but the high-grade holy water and Pelokis's tears were working perfectly. The injury smoked as it healed at a visible rate. The blackness had drained from her eyes, and the madness and rage that had filled them were fading as focus returned.
“D.........darling?”
The moment she stammered those words, the Marquis rushed to her side.
“Amelia!! Amelia!! How do you feel?”
“I'm tired. So incredibly tired. But.......I'm all right.”
“Thank goodness. Thank goodness!!!”
The Marquis held his wife tightly, repeating how relieved he was. She hugged him back and gave a small, relieved smile.
Then she immediately looked at Rachel.
“Mom?”
When Rachel asked in a trembling voice, the Marquis's wife, overcome with emotion, looked at her daughter with tear-filled eyes and opened her arms.
“Come here, my little furball.”
At the nickname “little furball,” Rachel finally burst into tears and ran to her. The family of three held one another tightly and cried for a long time.
“I'm sorry. I........ I was trapped inside my own body and couldn't come out. I'm so sorry.”
Marquis Catel's wife cried and cried. The knights quietly surrounded them, forming a protective screen.
Watching the family, I felt a strange emotion stir inside me. As I'd said before, I was a player who had only focused on stat grinding. I had never cared about heroine-rescue events or anything of the sort.
But now I could somewhat understand why other players loved those events so much. Seeing Rachel cry happy tears while wrapped in her mother's arms, I didn't feel bad at all.
Well. Saving her was one thing, but I still needed to collect my proper compensation, didn't I?
Strong enemy defeated!
402,412 experience points acquired!
Successfully gained the Catel Marquisate's trust!
You may now claim one reward from the Marquis!
Heroine Rachel's affinity has skyrocketed!
Peach Blossom trait activated—affinity increase doubled!
Affinity has exceeded maximum level!
You are now an irreplaceably special existence to heroine Rachel!
Affinity has exceeded maximum value.
Special status Obsession has been activated!
Heroine Rachel will no longer become angry even if you build a harem!!
“What the hell is this bullshit?”
In the middle of this touching family drama, I could only stand there alone, mouth agape in utter disbelief.