Awakening
"You want us to switch districts?"
Aria's reply to Bren's proposal was perfectly calm.
"That's right. Our district is stable and well-organized. A mage like you, Miss Aria, would be treated exceptionally well."
Bren produced a sheet of paper that looked like parchment from somewhere on his person.
"This is the contract. Swear on it, and you can transfer immediately."
"It's simple. Just hold the contract and say you'll abide by the terms."
Bren and Eden handed a copy to each of the three of us.
I took mine and started reading it carefully.
"Ah, there's nothing much to it. Just the usual basics about a district transfer. Even if you look closely, I doubt you'll make much sense of it."
Bren said it quickly. Eden piled on right after him.
"He's right. This is a genuinely excellent opportunity for all of you. We're making the offer together because we saw Miss Aria's potential!"
I kept reading anyway. Bren cut in again.
"And Miss Aria would absolutely be able to serve as a combatant. As for the other two, we'll give you every chance to distinguish yourselves in support roles."
"What exactly is a support role?"
"Well... assisting the combatants. Hauling supplies, setting up camp, cleanup after missions, that sort of thing..."
So they just want to work us like errand boys...?
I tuned out the rest of their pitch and went over the contract more carefully. Around the middle, a few sentences stood out as wrong.
Through this contract, the affiliated district shall be incorporated under the administration of the higher district...
All authority of the district shall be delegated to the higher district...
Directives from the higher district must always be given priority.
It was dressed up to sound reasonable. Read it closely, though, and the meaning was obvious.
"This is a slave contract. You're trying to put a whole district under your thumb."
Bren and Eden's faces stiffened.
"W-what are you talking about? It's all just a cooperative arrangement!"
"That's right! Do you have any idea how hard we worked to get this contract? We did it to help Miss Aria and the rest of you! Accusing us like that is really uncalled for."
I was already sure. These bastards wanted to work us like slaves. Kindness without a reason never exists.
"I'm sorry, but we'll have to decline."
"Mr. Minwoo, wait. Think about this one more time. You cannot survive with that skill of yours. Miss this chance and you will regret it."
Eden tried to sound like he was talking sense into me. It only made him look shadier. If this opportunity was so precious and so hard to come by, why were they clinging to us like this?
"Even so, I don't think we should sign a contract that subordinates us like this."
I glanced at Kiki.
"And Kiki's got a brave streak. I don't see him being happy with that so-called support role."
"Keruk! Keruk!"
Was that agreement? Close enough.
Bren and Eden turned to Aria.
"What about you, Miss Aria?"
"I..."
Aria couldn't seem to decide. Her eyes rolled from one of us to the other. Watching her, you could tell she'd never held a real job in her life. Trusting people just because they smiled at her was already a fatal mistake.
"I-I'll discuss it a little more with everyone and decide later..."
"Ha... Miss Aria, are you accusing us of lying too?"
"No! That's not it... I just want to stay with my companions..."
"Miss Aria, don't think with your feelings. Look at this realistically."
Bren sounded like a man running out of patience.
"People died in that tutorial, and it was supposed to be easy. Stay with a team this incompetent and you have no future. You have talent!"
Eden piled on.
"We only need you, Miss Aria. Those two can't do a thing without you anyway. They'll come crawling after on their own."
"Still... I want to think about it a little more..."
"There is no later! Do you understand how hard this contract was to get? This is not the kind of chance that comes around whenever you feel like it!!!!"
What the hell is wrong with these guys?
Why are they this desperate?
Does that contract have an expiration date or something?
"Even so... I'm sorry... I don't think I can decide right now..."
In that instant, Bren and Eden's faces went cold.
"These maggot pieces of shit don't understand words, do they?"
"You retarded fucks. Would've been nicer if we'd done this the easy way, yeah? Why don't you powerless little shits just listen?"
"Wh... what did you just say??"
Aria's expression darkened all at once. I actually laughed.
"There it is. The real you. And this is how you make a 'generous offer'?"
Eden sneered at me.
"Yeah. We should've done it this way from the start with retards like you."
He raised his hand.
A wet, ripping sound tore through the air. Black roots burst from the ground and coiled around me, Kiki, and Aria in a single heartbeat.
"Kh—!"
"Mr. Eden! What do you think you're doing!!"
Aria's voice cracked as she shouted.
A sharp crack split the air.
Bren's palm smashed across Aria's cheek.
"Look at this cunt putting on airs. You should've done as you were told when we gave you the chance!"
"Well, maybe this is better. We can take our time playing with her while we get the contract signed. We've got plenty of time."
"Oh, hell yes. I've been hard as a rock since the first time I saw this bitch."
Bren caught Aria's chin and forced her face up.
"It'll be hard to do it in this position... but we can at least strip her and feel her up."
"Yeah. She's a girl the boss has to taste first anyway. We'll settle for that much. As for the contract... we can torture it out of her after."
Bren and Eden wore the same filthy grin.
"You sons of bitches!!!!!!"
I roared and threw everything I had against the bindings. They didn't give. No matter how hard I strained, I couldn't tear them. Raw strength wasn't going to cut it.
"Aigoo, you retard... My Binding never breaks without mana. This bitch already burned through hers, and you and the kobold are trash with none at all."
"So sit still. We'll have a taste of Aria first. After that, we'll either kill you or work you as slaves."
"Please don't do this... Why are you doing this? Mr. Bren, Mr. Eden, you aren't this kind of people!"
Aria begged them. They laughed in her face and put their hands on her.
This fucking shit!
There was nothing I could do. Kiki was thrashing just as hard, and it was just as useless.
Aria, you stupid bitch!
I told you I had a bad feeling about this!!!
Goddammit, people who've never even held a real job always have to be so fucking stubborn!!!
"Please stop... I've never even been with a man. Please..."
"Oh! Hearing that just makes me harder. Miss Aria really knows a man's buttons, doesn't she? That's talent too!"
"Heheh. If her tits were a little bigger it would've been perfect. Should've drunk more milk when you were little."
Shame put tears in Aria's eyes.
"Please... hic... please stop..."
Is there really no way?
Do we just have to take this?
Even if Aria made a stupid choice, does she have to go through that?
My teeth ground together until they hurt.
A piece-of-shit skill, and now it couldn't do a damn thing for me even in a crisis like this.
"Fuck!!! Fuck!!!!!"
These motherfuckers!!!!
I will never, ever give up!
Crawling up out of a hopeless hole is my specialty, you sons of bitches!!!!
"UAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! I'll fucking kill every last one of you!!!!!!"
I put so much force into it that the black branches biting into me started to sink into my flesh.
A chime rang through my skull.
Primordial Power responds to your emotions.
The rage was going to tear my mind apart. It felt like my brain was melting. Fog poured into my skull, and thought itself started to seize up.
"UAAAAAA!!! FUCK!!!! UAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
They dare put their hands on Aria?
I haven't even touched her yet.
She can be an idiot, but she's mine.
They dare try to touch Aria before I do?
Primordial Power responds to your desires.
Huh? What?
Why am I thinking something that insane?
I never had those kinds of feelings for Aria...
Fuck it. I don't care.
What does it matter!
Everything is mine!
Aria is mine. Her virginity is mine. And those fuckers' lives are mine too!
Kill them all.
"UAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!"
A dry crackle ran across my skin.
"Ah, he's so fucking loud! Eden, can't you gag that bastard too?"
"That'd take a higher proficiency in Binding..."
Eden flicked a glance toward Minwoo, and the blood drained from his face.
"Huh? Huh...? Bren! That guy!"
Crackling burst through the air, then again, louder.
"What the hell is that yellow lightning on him!!!!"
"What? Yellow mana? That doesn't exist."
A series of sharp snaps followed. With every step Minwoo took, the branches holding him fell away like dead twigs.
Yellow lightning coiled around his body. He bent, picked up the sword he had dropped when the bindings first hit, and rose with it in his hand.
"What the hell is that guy? Bind him again!"
"It isn't working!"
Eden's composure shattered. He kept throwing his hands up, casting Binding over and over, but the instant the black branches touched Minwoo they vanished as if they had been thrown on a fire.
"This fucking... Binding! Take hold! Come on...!!!!"
The skill was supposed to be Primordial Power. So why is there mana...?
And what the hell is that yellow lightning?
"Bren, Bren!!! UAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
Minwoo hoisted the sword high and charged Eden. His eyes had no focus in them, the empty stare of a man who had left his mind behind.
"E-Eden!!"
Bren jolted and ripped his own sword free. He was already too late.
A single wet stroke cut the air.
Eden's body split from crown to crotch, opened cleanly down the middle.
"Wh-what?"
A person splitting like that... how much strength does he have? I couldn't even cut a goblin that cleanly...
"You son of a bitch!"
Bren snapped back to himself and swung at Minwoo. Steel rang on steel.
"You think you can take me with a sword when you don't even have Swordsmanship?!"
Bren was sure of himself. The Swordsmanship skill turned even a man who had never held a blade into a master; the system corrected every motion at the moment it was needed. Sword to sword against someone without it, he would not lose. He was certain of that.
Then Minwoo spoke.
"You're so weak. Guess that's what I should expect from a scrawny little sardine..."
Minwoo leaned into the locked blades. A brutal rebound slammed through Bren's hands.
The sword snapped as if it had been made of glass.
"Th-this is..."
Bren drew another. He had packed a spare in the Subspace Bag at his waist, and for a heartbeat he was grateful for that scrap of foresight.
That was when the light started coming back into Minwoo's eyes. Bren saw it and decided.
This bastard... he's coming back to himself! This is my chance!
He started the swing. A smile touched Minwoo's mouth. Something cold crawled up Bren's spine, and he hesitated for a fraction of a second.
"Keruk!"
"Huh...?"
A heavy crunch ended the thought.
Freed the instant Eden died, Kiki smashed his tower shield into Bren's skull. Bren went down like a sack of meat and did not get up.