Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Vengeful Spirit and Beastification
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It's quiet. Silent.
No one opened their mouth.
Some had expected my overwhelming defeat, while others anticipated a drawn-out brawl.
From the moment I staked the penalty that I could kill Yulis but she couldn't kill me, I was the absolute underdog. The victim. The reckless fool. That's how they must have seen it.
And then, in less than ten seconds... no, subtracting the time she gave me to attack, it took Yulis about three seconds to fall.
In reality, the victor was decided in just one second, but that wasn't the point.
What mattered was that I had won. That this wretched bitch was the loser.
"Wh-what...?"
"Huaaaah... amazing..."
Some were bewildered, others in awe.
It was Repelt and the dizzy glasses girl.
The spectators' reactions were ones of utter confusion, not grasping what had just happened.
Honestly, it felt anticlimactic.
I hadn't imagined it ending in a single second either.
It wasn't a matter of skill.
I simply hadn't anticipated Yulis's attitude.
Even without her ice working, even with her sword shattered, even if her body were sliced apart, I thought this woman would keep fighting.
She had stood her ground against the female-form slime to the end, and with her hatred for me—an Outsider—I figured she'd battle on.
But no.
What the hell had this woman wanted to do?
Yulis clutched her wrist, unable to even think of moving.
"Ugh... uuuugh..."
Was this duel just so she could kneel from that minor injury and whimper pathetically?
Had she not even considered the possibility of this happening to her?
Mocking her would have been easy.
But instead of ridicule, I asked.
"Yulis."
"Kuh... grr... ugh!"
Terror filled her eyes.
Of course. I had the right to kill her right now.
Just a whim, and I could sever this bitch's neck.
But I wouldn't.
At least not right this instant. Not for the next few minutes, anyway.
"Why did you do it?"
"Wh-what?"
I spoke clearly, enunciating every syllable so she'd hear me well.
"I showed you all the utmost courtesy and kept my word. I admit I acted like a bystander at times, but in the end, I helped you."
"......"
"Why did you hand me over to the monster? No, I'll forcibly justify that as protecting your master."
"......"
"I'll concede a hundred—no, a thousand, ten thousand steps—and say sacrificing unfamiliar eyesores was a ruthless but efficient call since you couldn't doom your comrades or fellow adventurers. But..."
I stared straight into Yulis's eyes. She glared back without flinching.
"Why frame me even after that?"
"......"
Yulis bit her lip.
"Even as a person, if you felt any remorse, even if you hid your ugly deeds, shouldn't you have formed a search party for me or at least told everyone I saved you? What kept you from that basic human decency? Why paint me as the world's scum instead?"
My calm words spread through the silent street.
Yulis ground her teeth as her misdeeds were laid bare for all to see, glaring at me with venomous eyes.
Then her mouth opened.
"What's wrong with treating scum like the trash they are!"
"......"
"All Outsiders are trash! They start with those innocent faces, acting all moral and conscientious, playing the fun-loving adventurer like they're saints full of wit!"
Yulis began ranting nonstop.
The black emotions she'd harbored—hatred and rage—poured out into the world as words.
I listened silently.
Outsiders turn greedy once they gain a bit of power after some time, reaching for things they shouldn't touch.
Those who scolded others while pretending to have a conscience had done the same in secret, on a larger scale, countless times. She claimed she could prove it.
Adventurers who lured people to dangerous spots under the guise of fun would sell out their comrades when privileges failed against a tough foe, prolonging their own lives. This had happened endlessly too.
"They strut around acting superior!! But scare them a little and they turn cowardly, lashing out and souring the mood! They're trash!"
"So?"
"What?!"
"That's not it, is it?"
"......!"
Yeah, that wasn't it.
All those examples were just fuel for why Yulis should hate Outsiders even more.
Deep inside her burned something more primal, personal.
"Tell me. What did the Outsiders do wrong?"
"Why should I... have to tell you..." Yulis muttered, then suddenly gritted her teeth in fury, her face overcome with emotion.
"Those bastards...! They're trash!!"
Yulis shrieked. Her explanation was long-winded, but boiled down, it was this:
There was once an Outsider.
Yulis's parents, minor nobles, showed him kindness when he first arrived in the country and cared for him diligently.
It was pure goodwill, devoid of any calculation, she said.
The Outsider treated Yulis well. She followed him like an older brother.
He was kind and knowledgeable.
Outsiders grow strong quickly.
Soon, he no longer needed the family's support.
The once-polite man grew arrogant in speech.
He began disrespecting her parents.
He stopped being kind to Yulis.
That was fine. Since they'd treated him like family, she thought he'd opened up.
The problem was his privilege.
And what he did later.
Among his privileges was a hypnosis skill.
He used it to hypnotize Yulis's mother.
To seize the household. And to claim her mother as his own.
Under hypnosis, her mother secretly transferred household authority to him, unknown to her husband or daughter.
This plundering continued irreversibly until the house was nearly his.
Then he tried to take her mother.
But while the family wealth was one thing, her mother deeply loved her family and resisted the hypnosis.
If that had led to a happy ending, with the villain punished, it would have been fine.
But the Outsider used violence to rape her mother by force.
One day, Yulis as a girl heard strange noises from her mother's bedroom. And witnessed the revolting scene.
He brazenly said, without a hint of remorse:
"I'll make you feel good too, Yulis."
She survived unscathed thanks to her mother's desperate resistance.
Yulis was terrified. The Outsider, revealing his true colors, continued raping her mother.
Yulis faced danger multiple times, but her mother protected her.
Yet a long tail gets stepped on eventually.
Her father finally discovered the vile acts, the evil.
The Outsider mocked him shamelessly: "What can a worm like you do?" and tried hypnosis.
But her father was meticulous and had already summoned people, hidden in secret.
They witnessed his atrocities and charged into battle without hesitation.
Her father even passed the Outsider's hard-won privilege to his talented daughter Yulis.
Trembling in despair, Yulis turned it into hatred and became a warrior.
The Outsider was butchered.
By the hired hands, by Yulis.
His hypnosis didn't work on skilled fighters.
Yulis stabbed, tore, and shredded him with ice spikes.
The Outsider said to her:
Absurdly enough.
"After all I've done for you!" Those were his words! From that damned mouth!!
"......"
"I was so grateful! It fueled my hatred even more! No hesitation. The bastard who first vowed to kill you all later begged for his life, admitted his wrongs! The pity is I misjudged the intensity—he died too quick! I should've tortured him forever!"
"That's..."
It was an understandable emotion.
I stayed silent.
"So what do you think happened to my mother and father? Father treated Mother like a whore, and she shut herself away in deep grief... And I grew stronger. To save others who suffer the same! Do you know what the world was like?"
Yulis laughed maniacally.
"That scum Outsider wasn't one or two! What was God thinking, letting such filth be born into this world...! Do you know how many victims there were?!"
The surroundings were silent.
It was certainly a horrific tale.
No wonder if it left trauma.
Some looked at her with pity.
Most women seemed to empathize with her story, and even men were starting to show sympathy.
Of course, I felt it too.
Empathy.
The urge to kill and torture those she hated.
"So that's what happened. That's why you hated Outsiders so much."
"Yes! Exactly! You're the same anyway! That look when we first met... Just like the repulsive Outsiders I sliced apart countless times! Eyes full of arrogance, like this world is your playground! Same when you snatched my sword and charged the female slime!"
Yeah, I really had thought this world was a game.
That's why I'd been arrogant, feeling like the protagonist.
"Game?! Playground?! What do you call reality?!"
"......"
Yulis had her own convictions.
As she said, I might have worn the same arrogant expression as those scum.
"Yuli..."
"......"
"Lady Yuli..."
From their expressions, Blan and Gold seemed to be hearing this story for the first time.
Repelt, the shield-bearing knight, trembled with sorrow in her voice, while Gold stood arms crossed in thought.
By now, even more knights in gleaming armor had gathered around him.
Probably the true power of the Hart Clan.
Not all of them, but still.
They all pitied their comrade Yulis.
Some murmured it was too harsh on an unrelated person, but they understood her feelings anyway.
"Yulis."
"......"
At my call, Yulis still glared venomously, grinding her teeth like she wanted to devour me.
I lowered my head cautiously. How could I fully grasp her emotions, her pain, her suffering?
"You must have... been through a lot."
I reached out and patted her shoulder.
"Don't pity me...! You trash Outsider...!"
"Hey, Yuli! Enough! We get it now...!"
A man in bizarre armor—magician-like robes over knight gear, sword at his hip—shouted.
He seemed like a knight captain too, like Yulis or Repelt.
"Yuli! Apologize. You're entirely in the wrong this time, right?"
At Repelt's words, Yuli grit her teeth, unwilling to accept, and bowed her head.
Tears fell from her face in drops.
I knew.
That human frailty where even knowing you're wrong, you can't accept it—emotions overriding reason.
"Yuli... I never knew your circumstances. As your lord, failing to notice your pain is my failing. But a crime is a crime. Prepare for judgment."
"...I'll accept it."
Gold did.
The Hart Clan's direct retainers did.
Blan did.
The guild folks did.
And the onlookers.
Everyone thought it was over.
But nothing was over for me.
"Yulis."
I moved the hand patting her shoulder to her face, wiping the tears with my knuckles... then jammed my fingers into her eye, as she stared in disbelief.
I'd worried a fantasy knight's eye socket might be too tough, but it went in easier than expected.
"Uh..."
Splurt!
A spray of blood. A blood fountain.
Blood gushed from her face skyward.
"Gahk! Ugh! Kiiiiiaaaaaaah!!!"
Yulis clawed at her eye, rolling on the ground.
The crowd froze, unable to believe the brutality before them.
I held up the optic nerve and eyeball in my hand for all to see.
Squish. It crumpled all too easily.
Ahh. Nice texture.
A smile crept onto my lips unbidden.
I twisted my face to feign rage instead of ecstasy.
The stunned world regained life.
Yulis's comrade bellowed.
"Wh-what did you do?!"
"It's a duel to the death, isn't it?"
I answered the magician-knight.
"It only ends when one dies."
"N-no...!"
"And I haven't killed her yet."
I grabbed the groaning Yulis by the hair, yanking her up. This pain must be intense too, but the eye agony seemed to overshadow it.
"Yulis."
"Agh... ugh...!!"
"So, what do you want me to do?"
"Ugh... eek... Wh-what?!"
"I get why you were disappointed in Outsiders, but why should I get framed for it? Why should I stop?"
"......"
Yulis stared in shock at my words.
"Whether your mom got raped by some pathetic otaku Outsider scum or not, you weren't directly harmed by one, right?"
"D-don't make me laugh! Because of that bastard, my life—!"
"Aren't you living well, fat and happy in the Hart Clan? Fine, I'll concede a hundred million steps and say you were hurt by an Outsider."
Heh, a grin spread across my face involuntarily.
Yulis gaped at the sight, unable to close her mouth.
"What does that bastard hurting you have to do with me just existing here? You judged me on your own whim, didn't you?"
"......"
"Should I empathize with you?"
Slap!
"Kyaaak!"
I backhanded her cheek, sending her sprawling pathetically.
Oh shit.
I couldn't stop.
All the irrationality, fear I'd endured since coming to this world—dark hatred turning to ecstasy, bursting out.
Every hit on this bitch converted hate to pleasure.
No, all excuses.
This, this sweet revenge—it'd been so long since then.
That's why it felt so good.
Yulis froze at my smile, then glared and squeezed out words.
"Y-you bastard...!"
"Ahaha, that's more like it. Surrendering after one eyeball would've been boring. Right, Yulis?"
Seeing my expression, Yulis blanked out, then shifted from rage to fear.
Not good enough.
She couldn't break this soon. I wanted screams.
At least one more arm, so she could never wield a sword again.
As I raised my sword, Yulis gaped and let out a pathetic groan.
"Ah, aaaaaaah!"
Swoosh. As I swung down, someone intervened. My sword bounced off heavy metal, and I spun with the recoil, slashing.
Slash. Thud!
"...Huh?!"
The intervener—Repelt—voiced shock.
Her massive shield lay bisected, rolling on the ground.
"M-my god! Repelt's shield cut in one strike...!"
"It blocks Ogre Hero blows, but he pierced her defense in one go?!"
Astonishment spread among the Hart Clan knights.
I spoke to Repelt as she grunted and readjusted her grip.
"Step aside."
"Th-that's enough now, right?"
"Enough? You want me to stop?"
I wanted to cleave Repelt too.
Feeling my killing intent, she stepped back, raising her severed shield.
"Someone has to learn. That worms writhe when stepped on. That bugs crushed thoughtlessly can threaten your life. That evil must be repaid with evil."
I had to show these fools who swing power recklessly, trusting in absolute strength.
The fear you can be hurt too. Precedent. Awareness!
Repelt gulped.
No one dared charge me.
Hoo. I exhaled, scanning the crowd.
...Whatever.
I'll just go all out.
"I don't care if you intervene, Repelt. Anyone at all."
"Wh-what?"
"Even if the Hart Clan breaks its promise to save its retainer. But to achieve my goal, I'll cut until my last breath. Even if it's your lord."
I added softly, eyeing the brilliantly armored knights.
"Even if it turns the Hart Clan against me."
Repelt seemed speechless.
Then a shout rang out.
"Stand down, Repelt! A promise is a promise!"
At Gold's cry, Repelt looked at him desperately.
"Lord Gold... B-but..."
But under Gold's stern gaze, Repelt had no choice but to retreat.
Yulis grabbed Repelt's foot.
"Re-Repelt... D-don't go..."
"Y-Yuli..."
I shoved the lingering Repelt aside and seized Yulis by the collar.
"Eek...!"
...Weak.
This woman's essence was weakness itself.
A woman who needed to hate Outsiders to hold herself together.
Who could only feel strong by putting down Outsiders.
This... this kind of bitch...
Because of her... I...
Lost all the good memories from those long years, forced to face filthy reality again.
A hollow laugh escaped me.
I tossed my sword aside carelessly. The metallic clangs felt good.
I clenched my fist.
"W-wait... Gahk!"
Thwack! Thud! Crack! Splurt!
Hollow impacts echoed.
Nose bone shatters. Teeth fly. Face mashes.
I ignored what sounded like pleas for mercy midway.
Just kept slamming my fist down. The hatred wouldn't fade easily. No, it showed no sign of fading.
"Why! Why! Why! Why! Why!"
"Guhk. Eek... uh... s-s... sa... ve... gahk!"
"Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why me! Why! Why! Why! I! How much! I hoped! Already! Already!!"
I saw the crowd pale blue. Ahh, just cleared the misunderstanding, now my rep's in the gutter again.
But it felt good.
I could die happy like this. Just... this revenge was so sweet.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Skill: Vengeful Spirit...] Fuck off.
Don't interrupt my revenge, you bastard.
I lashed out with an indescribable, unknown energy inside me—probably Prynar—wrapping the intrusive string-like force and smashing it down.
💥 SYSTEM ERROR 💥 [To you... KZZZZT...]
The alert warped comically and vanished.
Ahh. Quiet now.
Again, again. I kept pounding my fist.
Just keep slamming until she dies...
Then someone clung to my fist.
"...?"
I raised my other fist to beat the fool too, but couldn't swing.
It was Blan.
"Bro, please... please... forgive her. Please... It's all our fault... Please forgive Lady Yuli. I'll take the hits instead..."
"......"
Gold stepped forward. To pull Blan off? Or attack me now?
Neither.
He wasn't pushing Blan away or attacking me.
He knelt and slammed his forehead to the ground. Thud!
"Lord Gold!"
His retainers gasped. But Gold shouted.
"Stand down! No one intervenes. Interfere, and I'll disown you forever!"
As retainers retreated, Gold headbutted the ground once, twice, three times. Repeatedly.
Blood welled up.
His blood stained the earth.
"...Stop."
I finally said, unable to watch. Gold halted, looking up at me with a bloodied face.
No hatred in his eyes.
Only apology and desperation.
"I'm truly sorry for going back on my word... But, please, I beg you."
Thud!
A pool of blood formed beneath Gold's battered head.
"Spare Yuli... Please..."
His voice cracked with sobs.
Why?
That voice, the emotion cherishing Yulis—it brought that person to mind, and strength drained from my body.
Live a good life...
Damn it.
What bullshit.
I released Yulis's collar. Her completely mangled face hit the ground, groaning.
"Eek. Hic... huuuh..."
And I muttered, like drawing a period.
"I forgive you all."
My revenge was over.