Lawful Good (Forced)

From behind a ruined wall, a figure burst out in a blur.

Shhk!

"Keh... ghk!?"

The goblin warrior nearest him was split clean in two the instant the figure flashed past — dead before it hit the ground.

Only after that filthy carcass slapped onto the dirt did the other goblins realize two of their own had been slaughtered in the blink of an eye.

And then, eyes blazing with bloodlust, they locked onto the culprit.

"Grrrrrr...!"

"Kkhekek...!!"

Weapons raised, they leveled threatening cries at the sudden uninvited ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠guest.

The stranger looked no different from any other survivor — save for clothes a touch cleaner than most, and a kitchen knife gripped in each hand.

"..."

And save for the way he dropped into a practiced low stance and charged straight at the remaining goblins.

"Kyaaaaak!"

The goblin warrior closest to him was nothing like the two that had died from carelessness.

It swung its blade head-on at the survivor charging straight at it. What a stupid human.

Did he really think he could rush ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in at that speed and not get stopped? That a goblin warrior wouldn't even be able to land a swing? Underestimating us that badly, human!

But calling the human stupid was the goblin's fatal mistake.

Clang!

"Ki... hyaak!?"

In a flash, the blade was sheared clean in two and sent spinning into the air.

And so was the goblin's arm.

Shhk — blood erupted skyward.

The goblin watched its own blood — a nauseating blackish-purple sludge by human standards — fountain into the air like a geyser.

And it also saw the edge of a kitchen knife flying straight for its eye.

Thuk!

In an instant, three of the six goblins that had been surrounding the humans were dead. All of it had happened within a minute of the stranger's appearance.

"Ki, kyaaak...!"

"Kirrrk, kirk!"

The remaining three had enough sense to read the room. They instantly grasped that the survivor before them was on a completely different level from the usual trash.

So they hesitated, backing away. No — they bolted, scrambling to get the hell out of there.

For now, they just had to run. Running was fine.

That survivor was an idiot. They could track the scent of their own blood — and the stench of human women's piss — from a long way off. If they made it back to the cave where their kin were waiting and brought reinforcements...

That was as far as the overconfident goblin warrior's dying fantasy got.

"You're not going anywhere."

"Ki, kyaaaaaaak!"

The goblin warrior that had fled the fastest let out a scream of pure terror as the human survivor suddenly appeared right beside it.

The scream cut off just as fast. Its head had already left its body and gone sailing into the air.

"Ki, kiiiiik!?"

Hearing that agony-soaked shriek, the last two goblins made a catastrophic mistake. They stopped dead in their tracks and looked back.

They should never have stopped. Kin or no kin, they should have run for their lives without looking back.

And they never should have fled together.

"Kihiiiiik!"

"Kuheeeek!"

With ear-splitting screams, the last two goblins lost their heads as well.

"...Hoo."

About three minutes. It had taken three minutes. And the reward for wiping out every last goblin in three minutes came flooding in as text only he could see.

No — why keep narrating this in third person? The one who'd just annihilated six goblins in the blink of an eye was none other than me.

The reward for killing them appeared as text only I could see.

.

.

Six Goblin Warriors. One hundred fifty experience each. Nine hundred total.

A zombie — a dead human turned — only gave fifty, so roughly three times that, but still...

These things are pretty damn strong.

If I'd faced all six head-on, I never would have dropped them this easily. The ambush and quick decisions that let me take out the first, then the second, then the third had been huge. After that, the remaining three saw they had no chance and chose to run.

The fact that they'd split up — one alone, two together — had also contributed to this fantastic result. If all three had desperately piled on at once, I might actually have been in danger. With a goblin's dirty cunning and pack cohesion, you never know.

Of course, for someone like me — nothing like ordinary survivors — even three rushing me would have just meant one swing of the arm and they'd all be carved apart.

"Th-thank you so much..."

Among the survivors, the one wearing glasses staggered over and offered her thanks.

I slowly turned my gaze toward her. As expected, her complexion was poor and her clothes were ragged. A glance at the others told the same story. They were treating their wounds and... weeping as they gathered the bodies of the comrades who'd died first.

No — she and the other two women would have survived. But living like that might have felt worse than dying.

"Um..."

Ah. I'd gotten lost in thought and ended up ignoring the woman right in front of me.

Even so, I kept my silence. Or rather, I fought to maintain my taciturn act. My lips twitched, and something in my chest was screaming at me to throw passionate words her way, but...

I clenched down hard and forced out just one phrase.

"...That way."

I pointed with a finger. Toward the place I'd stopped by briefly before coming here.

"Uh, sorry?"

"Convenience store. Supplies."

Finding them had been pure coincidence.

I'd been scouting convenience stores and big-box markets for supplies like usual when I heard the screaming and saw the desperate struggle, so I'd crashed the party.

Six Goblin Warriors cornering six humans might look almost comical to someone who didn't know better... but anyone who understood reality wouldn't laugh.

A Goblin Warrior's average level was 10. The experience was three times a zombie's at 150, and they were far stronger than a level-1 zombie, the weakest of the weak. These people lasting even a few minutes deserved genuine praise.

Considering that even zombies could overwhelm survivors if they attacked in a pack... simply being alive was a miracle.

And looking at the state of them... it was obvious they hadn't leveled up properly either.

...Ah, no! Th-the passion in my chest... my buried values are...!

They're boiling over!

"I have already cleared the interior, so you may go and take whatever supplies you need."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"S-sorry?"

She looked bewildered by my sudden shift into a raised, formal tone, but my lips wouldn't stop. I was even using archaic polite speech — the bespectacled woman must have been utterly dumbfounded.

"I would like to commend you and your companions for surviving even in circumstances such as these... but venturing out onto streets crawling with monsters and zombies, no matter how desperate the need for survival, was a reckless act. If at all possible, I would recommend luring zombies in, killing them, and accumulating experience before attempting any further excursions outside."

Going from total silence to machine-gunning words at her like this, the woman must have been more than a little rattled. The way her eyes shifted to the look you give a weirdo told me everything.

...Fuck! I don't want to be doing this either!

Shit! I can't even swear out loud! God-fucking-dammit!

"Ah... right... it's just, we ran out of food and water, so..."

"Take as much as you wish from that convenience store. I have already secured enough for my own survival. There is no need to feel burdened. No — take this as well."

I shrugged off the bag on my back and thrust it out. The bespectacled woman took it on pure reflex.

"A fine bag. I happened to acquire it not long ago."

"A bag like this... ah! This is..."

Right. She was a survivor. Of course she'd recognize what it was.

Saying I'd "happened to acquire it" wasn't a lie. It was a drop item. Every once in a while — a very rare once in a while — monsters and zombies dropped items when you killed them. This was one of those.

And it was even a high-grade item. Name: Massive Bag. About the size of something you'd sling on your back, but it could hold dozens of times that volume and weighed almost nothing. An absurdly good item.

And I'd just handed it to the first woman I'd met. Given it away. Just like that.

"S-something this incredible... thank you so much! But... is it really okay for me to take this?"

Even as she thanked me for the absurd generosity, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fear was written all over her face.

I understood. In times like these, if someone showed kindness this ridiculous, the obvious next step was that they'd demand something equal in return. Like a woman's body at night, for example.

Yeah. If I'd been my usual self, I probably would have made a move. No — I definitely would have. Take off the glasses and the woman in front of me had looks rare enough for this era. She was a bit thin and filthy from not being able to wash, but nothing a good scrub and some proper meals wouldn't fix.

...But!

"Should you wish to take another stroll outside, I hope you will at least devise a proper strategy and level up sufficiently beforehand. Well then... I shall take my leave!"

"Ah, w-wait a second!"

I peeled away from them like I was running for my life. Not just the bespectacled woman but the others tried to stop me too, but I was faster at putting distance between us than they were at grabbing me.

I kept myself well hidden among the ruins so I wouldn't run into any monsters, putting them farther and farther behind me.

Where I was headed was obvious. My nest. A five-story villa that still hadn't collapsed even after the world had more or less gone to hell.

My personal stronghold, reinforced to withstand assaults from zombies and monsters.

Five minutes after leaving the survivors I'd saved, I arrived home.

Haengbok Villa, Building A, Unit 303. XX-ro, XX-gu, XX City, Gyeonggi-do.

Instead of the barricaded entrance, I jumped in through the low second-floor window of Unit 203. The window was already broken open, and 203 was empty.

I left 203 and climbed to the third floor. Threw open the door to 303. Stepped inside and locked it behind me.

Not a trace of anyone else inside. I checked thoroughly just in case, but as expected, no one. There was barely even reason to search a room this cramped to begin with.

The windows were shut tight. Ever since I'd spotted flying-type monsters, I'd kept the curtains drawn for a long time now.

And the moment I confirmed I was truly alone...

Thud!

I dropped to my knees and prostrated myself against the floor like I was bowing. No — I just slammed my forehead straight into the ground.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

As if possessed by King Injo of Joseon performing the triple kowtow, I smashed my head against the floor and the wall and bowed over and over with no one watching — like I was desperate to apologize to someone.

But in truth, the whole performance was nothing more than a way to vent my own rage.

"Lawful Good, Lawful Good! Lawful Goooooooood!"

I ground my teeth and spat out that cursed phrase.

What I actually wanted to say was this:

This fucking Lawful Good! This piece-of-shit Lawful Good! This Lawful Good that deserves to be torn apart and killed!

But in reality, the swearing got filtered out, and only that specific phrase kept tumbling from my mouth on repeat.

And the filtering was internal. I myself was unwillingly scrubbing the curses and only letting wholesome words out.

Why was a man who'd just butchered six Goblin Warriors in seconds doing something this ridiculous? Had he caught some terrible disease!?

The answer was simple.

"...System On!"

I spoke the words that opened my personal system window. That, at least, came out with zero filtering.

With a soft pop, a system window only I could see appeared before my eyes.

Ever since the Incident on April 1st... any human survivor still walking the earth could call up a system window.

But between theirs and mine... there was a vast, unbridgeable difference.

The day before April 1st — March 31st.

I had received a privilege different from everyone else's.

Brave Saga Online. The game from which survivors had been granted classes and stats by beings they called "Administrators."

I had never played that game, so at first I'd been crushed with despair.

But despair soon turned to hope.

Right before April 1st hit, on the brink of annihilation, I was granted a system different from the one everyone else received.

Dragon Gate RPG — a masterpiece RPG I'd loved since childhood, built on TRPG rulebooks.

Right after receiving the starting character stats from that nostalgic game, I'd simply been overjoyed.

I'd cheered when I realized my power far outstripped other survivors, and I'd gotten drunk on swelling fantasies.

What the hell, look at these starting stats! I'm way stronger than the other survivors!

Alright! I'll level up fast with this power, drive out the monsters, save the survivors, and then...

Yeah — save some beautiful women and build my own harem!

In a world like this, a guy's gotta walk around with a few beauties on each arm, right?

What? Ethics? Morality? The world's already turned into a lawless zone. In a place like this, the law is what? Strength! Strength! Once I'm strong enough, who's gonna stop me? Hahahahaha!

But... my joy didn't last long.

The fantasy of trampling ethics and morality and panting in bed with countless women crumbled into dust.

...All because of one single thing.

One single line of text. That one line!

Lawful Good!

That goddamn Lawful Good!

That cursed Lawful! Good!

At first, I'd just ignored the text written under Alignment.

Even in the game, it only slightly changed dialogue options and lines — it never made any major difference to the actual story.

It didn't take long to regret that.

Because I personally experienced my own actions and speech patterns gradually being influenced by the alignment.

Panicked, I'd tried to fix it, but it wouldn't go my way. Even when I tried to correct myself, the moment I let my focus slip even a little, my speech shifted to match the disposition and my body moved on its own.

Only after getting thoroughly wrecked by it did I understand. No — only then did I despair.

That the vulgar future I'd dreamed of — a harem of beauties and all the rest — was absolutely impossible for me now...!

Ha, I'm going insane...!

Why... why the hell did I...!

Back then, what was I thinking...!

Setting my character's alignment like that!

The classes... the classes...! I'd been so clever setting up a triple multiclass...

So why, why did it have to be...!

Why did I shove my own feet onto the path of being a total sucker!

Fuck, fuck...!

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

"Truly a lamentable reality, indeed."

.

.

.

...Can I not get this fucking speech pattern back to normal already!? Fuuuuuuuck!