Soul-Bound

As the battle ended, my head gradually began to clear. The boiling rage and madness that had consumed me until moments ago slowly receded.

Hah... what the hell was that?

That sensation of yellow lightning wrapping around my entire body. And those thoughts I'd never normally have — the kind of shit a psychopathic sex offender would think. Everything felt like I'd just woken from a dream.

Alright. First things first.

I looked down at Bren, collapsed on the floor. Still out cold.

"Kiki, wake that bastard up."

"Keruk!"

Kiki lifted his spear and drove it hard into Bren's shoulder.

"GYAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Bren's eyes flew open as he screamed. The spear had punched clean through his shoulder and buried itself in the ground.

That's a kobold-style wake-up call...?

If we ever ended up sleeping in the same place, I was never, under any circumstances, asking Kiki to wake me up.

Anyway.

"AAAAAAAGH!!"

Bren thrashed around, blood pouring from the wound, but the spear was planted so firmly in the ground that he couldn't move. I'd already kicked his sword far out of reach.

"Alright, Bren. Shut your mouth. Unless you want to die."

"Urgh... nngh..."

"I've got some questions, so answer them properly. Do that and I'll let you live. Not like I need to kill both of you anyway, right?"

"Yes! Yes! I'll tell you anything! Please, just spare me!"

Terror-stricken, Bren was blubbering and begging, tears streaming down his face. All that swagger from earlier had vanished completely. He looked utterly pathetic.

"Why'd you pull this shit? Tell me everything, from start to finish. Don't leave anything out."

Bren started spilling his guts through the tears.

The short version: these bastards really had been trying to turn our district into a slave territory under theirs. The plan was to designate us as a slave district, keep dumping low-rank missions on us, and bleed us dry of every Point we earned.

They'd paid a Participant with an alchemy skill to alter the contract. It was a standard transfer agreement with a subordination clause slipped in on the sly. The modification would revert over time, which was why they'd been in such a rush.

I hadn't been part of the original plan, of course — but they'd prepared a spare contract just in case, so my showing up hadn't thrown anything off.

And this was just a guess, but that whole week of playing nice with Aria, building up her trust? That had to have been part of the plan too.

"I'm so sorry! But our district leader ordered me to do it — I had no choice! It's the truth! Please believe me!"

"That so? You sure looked like you were having a blast when you were threatening us."

"Th-that was... just acting... I didn't mean it..."

Bren's face went pale.

"Whatever. Forget that for now. By the way, where'd that sword come from? A brand-new one just popped out of nowhere."

"Ah, that's a Subspace Bag! I'm wearing it on my waist!"

I looked at Bren's waist. A small bag was hanging there, with the look of a leather waist pouch.

"Subspace Bag? What's that?"

"It's a magical tool for storing items!"

From his explanation, the interior of the Subspace Bag was roughly the size of a room in a villa. It didn't have any of those broken features you see in novels — no temperature control, no time stop, nothing like that. Even so, it was still insanely useful. From an Earthling's perspective, this was some serious over-technology.

"Hand that over and I might feel a little more motivated to let you live..."

"This... this was loaned to me by our leader. That's why I couldn't even bind it to myself. If I give this to you, he'll kill me. Please, just let me keep this one thing..."

"Yeah? But maybe your leader won't kill you. If you don't give it to me, I will definitely kill you. That's a guarantee."

"Hhk...!"

With trembling hands, Bren unfastened the bag and handed it over.

"Much appreciated! So what's this 'binding' thing?"

"Ah, that is..."

According to him, once you obtained an item, you could bind it to your soul. After that, there was no risk of losing it or having it stolen. Bren hadn't been able to bind it because he'd borrowed it from his leader.

The moment I took the Subspace Bag from Bren, a chime rang out and a message appeared.

Huh... so that's how it works.

"Bind it."

"That's more like it! See how nice it is when you cooperate? Right, Bren?"

"H-haha... yes!"

"Who said you could show your teeth?"

"Hhk! I'm sorry."

"Anyway, why'd you bring up the contract out here instead of at the Gathering Hall?"

"The Gathering Hall... if Participants attack each other there, you take a heavy penalty."

For minor disputes, the penalty was just having your Points confiscated. But if you caused a serious problem — like murder — the system could expel you outright. Nobody knew exactly what happened if you got expelled. Based on the circumstances, people just assumed you died.

I looked at Aria and asked.

"You. Did you know any of this stuff Bren just told us?"

"I... I'm hearing all of this for the first time too..."

Aria's expression darkened. They'd clearly been hiding anything that might've gotten in the way of their plan.

"Alright. That's all I wanted to know."

"Th-then... you're going to let me live?"

Hope flickered across Bren's face.

"Hmm... Aria, what do you think we should do?"

"A-Aria! Please, forgive me...!"

Bren clung to her desperately.

"Everything I did to help you this past week was genuine! Our leader forced me into this, I had no choice, but... I really did want to help you, Aria!"

"......What did you say when I begged you to stop?"

"Th-that was..."

"How could you do that to me? I actually trusted you..."

"I'm... I'm so sorry..."

Aria thought for a long moment before she spoke.

"There were still a lot of things I was grateful for, so... from now on... please don't do this again..."

"Th-thank you! Thank you so much, Aria! I'll never forget this kindness. Thank you."

That so?

If that's how Aria felt, well, not much I could do about it.

"Kiki."

"Keruk?"

"What?! Minwoo?!"

"What?! N-no!!!"

Aria and Bren screamed at the same time, but Kiki didn't hesitate. He yanked the spear free and drove it straight through Bren's skull.

"Ghk...!"

Bren's body went limp.

"M-Minwoo..."

"Hah... Aria."

"I... I..."

"Aria!"

"I still... wanted to forgive..."

"Aria!! Snap out of it!"

SMACK—!

Aria still wasn't getting it, so I gave her ass a hard slap with my palm.

"KYAAAH!!! What? What?!"

Aria, who'd been standing there in a daze, snapped back to her senses.

"Get your head on straight and listen. As far as I can tell, in this place, nobody except the three of us can be trusted. Am I wrong?"

"......"

"And you both heard it earlier — my skill is complete garbage. Something unknown came out of me just now, but I have no idea if I'll be able to use it again."

Aria and Kiki looked at me.

"If you two want to transfer to another district, I'll accept that. But then we won't be people who can trust each other anymore. We'll be enemies, if anything."

"Keruk! Keruk!"

Kiki pressed himself right up against my side. I could feel it — he wanted to stay with me.

"I... I want to keep staying with you and Kiki too, Minwoo..."

"Yeah? But once this mission's over, I'll probably go back to my original world again. What are you going to do if something like this happens while I'm gone?"

"I'll be more careful from now on..."

"Careful? You just tried to let that bastard live because you bought his bullshit."

"......"

"He sincerely wanted to help you for a week? Did you miss the part where he brought a slave contract prepared in advance?"

"I heard it..."

"And he had no choice because his leader forced him? When he was sexually harassing you, that bastard looked like he was having the time of his life."

"......"

Aria kept her head bowed, unable to say a word.

"From now on, until I come back, don't even talk to other people if you can help it. Don't go to the Gathering Hall unless you absolutely have to."

"I understand..."

After getting Aria's promise, we talked about a few more things. Then we finished off the remaining two goblins and completed the mission.

E-Rank being dangerous, my ass.

The goblins were basically scarecrows. Aria said they were nowhere near as strong as the ones we'd faced in the tutorial. Well, at least it gave me a chance to practice swordsmanship without any real pressure. That was something, I guess.

A chime rang out.

When the time was almost up, I stuffed the sword into the Subspace Bag and headed back.

"Hah..."

I opened my eyes. I was sitting on my bed in the exact same position I'd been waiting in. I'd been through way too much this time. My head was throbbing.

"Ugh, what the hell?"

The sensation of those branches burrowing into my body was still there. I checked my arm — the wound was still there, exactly as it had been.

"Wait, so it doesn't heal anymore?"

Apparently full physical restoration only happened during the tutorial. Yeah, that would explain ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠why there was a treatment clinic at the Gathering Hall...

But what the hell was that feeling earlier...

When the rage built up, something like yellow lightning had appeared, and my body had felt several times stronger. That sensation of being able to do anything. I'd never felt anything like it in my life.

Primordial Power is the weakest skill, they said...?

The Primordial Power I'd experienced firsthand this time was anything but weak. Judging by how I'd completely overpowered Bren and Eden — both of whom had combat-related skills — it didn't seem like something that deserved to be dismissed. Why did everyone say Primordial Power was useless?

Don't tell me... other people have never even been able to use Primordial Power?

That might be it. Even now, I had no idea what Primordial Power actually did. The status window tooltip was painfully half-assed, and of course there was nobody around to explain the skill's true nature.

If those Bren and Eden bastards hadn't shown up, I might've gone my whole life without ever knowing. The situation I'd just been through definitely wasn't a normal one. Whether that was lucky or unlucky, I couldn't say.

But why did I think those things...?

That Aria was mine. That I was going to take her virginity. Hell, even slapping her ass because she wasn't snapping out of it was weird. I'm not the kind of guy who walks around thinking sexual thoughts all the time.

Ever since that bitch of an ex hit me with the "marriage is about being realistic" line and walked out, I hadn't felt a thing looking at women. I'd been living a life of actively keeping my distance from them. I could've sworn I was the poster child for keeping women at arm's length.

No matter how I look at it, Primordial Power is the culprit here...

Was Primordial Power a skill ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that turned you into a sex offender? Come to think of it, that thing down there had gotten huge too, hadn't it? Suspicion was steadily hardening into certainty.

Oh, right! It definitely said Primordial Power had blossomed, didn't it?

I pulled up my status window.

Huh?

I have mana now? I'm pretty sure my mana used to say None.

Is this Primordial Power's doing too...?

I stared at Primordial Power.

......

The tooltip had changed. But I still had no idea what the hell it was supposed to mean. A completely contradictory explanation. My head was spinning.

"Ah, whatever. Figures. I'm taking a shower!"

I got up and started taking off my clothes — and that's when I found something ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I hadn't been wearing.

"Huh? Why is this here?"

The Subspace Bag was strapped to my waist.