Parmas's Greed Sparks the Incident #1
Parmas was, without a doubt, a man of unimpeachable honor.
He never lost his composure, no matter the storm that raged around him.
Yet in the nearly seventy years he had lived, there was no feeling he had ever hated more than the bitter aftertaste of the poison he had just swallowed.
His belly churned as if boiling over. His intestines felt as though they were being torn apart. Sweat beaded on his back. Beneath his skin, everything itched. His forehead throbbed with pain.
[Warning: Extreme physical distress. Life expectancy reduced by 10 years due to mental stress. Recommend immediate rest and purification ritual.]
Hyde, you bastard! How dare you humiliate me like this!?
Parmas was old.
He was still vigorous enough to fight on the front lines, but old was old. And he had no great ambitions left.
As a man sworn to purity, he had no family and barely any relatives left alive.
The fire of youth and passion that once burned so bright was now unnecessary.
I only need to close my eyes peacefully and wait for the day I enter heaven. If I drift off like this, the people will praise me for generations! They will sing my name in song, and I will die content!
For an old man like Parmas, honor and reputation were all that mattered now.
People live on through their names after death.
Parmas wanted to leave a name behind. He had every intention of doing so—until the humiliation from this Hyde boy.
This Hyde bastard! This worthless cur! This accursed wretch!
The wise knight Parmas.
If word spread that he, a man of such stature, had been brought to his knees by a green youth, it would stain his twilight years with a permanent blot.
If Parmas died like this, the people would remember him as the knight defeated by an upstart!
Ugh… ahhh!
Parmas could bear it no longer.
At last, the fury he could no longer contain erupted. Blood gushed from his mouth. His mind went black.
His lifespan had just been shaved ten full years by nothing more than a mental attack.
You… Hyde youuuu!
When he awoke from the nightmare, Parmas found himself lying alone in a dark room.
His stomach burned. His head pounded.
Hyde, from this day forward, I shall never forgive you!
With a flick of his wrist, Parmas rose from his seat.
At some point, he had slipped something small and hidden into his trousers pocket.
It was a tiny coin purse.
Inside lay not coins, but a single small, orange bead.
If I swallow this, there is no turning back.
Parmas stared at the bead in his palm for a long moment, torn.
An old age without greed had come.
He had never expected the fire of his twilight years to be rekindled by such a being.
Great Sin of Greed. Show me your power.
Parmas swallowed the bead he had obtained by toppling the Great Sin Seat of Greed into his stomach.
The treasure that had turned blind mole-rats into Great Sin Seats.
He had not reported it to the Barakan or returned it because he believed it was far too dangerous and magnificent to be known to the world.
A dangerous item.
But if a man as wise and clever as himself used it correctly—
◈ Effects: Grants physical rejuvenation equivalent to several decades. Enhances strength, agility, and vitality. Unpredictable side effects include insatiable greed and potential loss of reason.
Revenge will come.
I sat in the bedroom, lost in thought.
It was Parmas—how he had suddenly gone into overdrive, beaten himself bloody, and collapsed unconscious.
In this matter, my fault was, without question, zero.
No, I was entirely innocent.
But men like Parmas always blamed others for their own mistakes. He was surely furious with me.
They even accuse others of their own sins?
Truly foolish humans.
So he would try to harm me now.
Since that was the case, the answer was simple: I would send Parmas away from this Agirpe fiefdom at once.
Psyche, when do you think the envoy from the Great Sin Seat of Sloth will arrive at the Agirpe fiefdom to escort him to the Holy City of Barakan?
I asked this while lying face-down on the bed in front of Psyche, who was buried deep in her book The Backstreet Nymph’s Village.
“Psyche?”
“Huh? Hyde, what did you just say? Your book is so interesting I couldn’t even hear you! And besides, it’s so warm and heartwarming. It’s so lively and bustling with all the nymphs—how wonderful!”
Yes.
Volumes four and five of The Backstreet Nymph’s Village were filled with nymphs, turning the story into a heartwarming tale of comradeship in a harsh world.
It was about how, even in difficult times, people with the same ideals could band together and live beautifully.
Of course, Psyche would understand such deep meaning.
I wish I had even one pure and adorable nymph friend of my own. How wonderful it would be to chat away the days together!
Nymph friends? I already have one right here.
Psyche, the one sitting beside you is that nymph’s model.
Thump.
Psyche closed her book and gave a long, drawn-out yawn.
I told her.
Psyche, Parmas is probably going to try to kill me soon.
At my words, Psyche nearly jumped out of her skin.
“What? Kill me? What are you talking about—!?”
Parmas is not a man who forgets humiliation. Even if he receives one unit of harm, he acts like he received ten. And if someone harms him a hundred times, he will return it in kind.
I knew the hearts of petty men better than anyone.
Parmas was the type who would fly into a rage even if someone gave him the slightest scratch.
He would definitely go on a rampage claiming revenge.
With his terrible memory, he would forget every good thing anyone had ever done for him and remember every wrong until the day he died.
I knew such men better than anyone.
Because I was the man who understood the petty heart better than anyone!
Still, I didn’t think Parmas would actually try to kill you in this Agirpe fiefdom…
Psyche, when have you ever seen me lie? Haven’t I already captured the Citadel of Sloth within two weeks and brought Agiles back as well? I always speak the truth.
I never lie.
I am the most trustworthy man in the world.
And Psyche accepted my words.
“Then I will protect you, Hyde!”
Indeed, she was offering to guard me.
But I wasn’t at ease.
Parmas had knowledge.
He could poison me or stage an accident so that Psyche had no time to react.
So what could I do to stop it?
The answer was simple.
I would strike first.
One of the Seven Knights—Parmas.
I had to remove this inspiration from my sight.
Forever.
I already had two methods in mind.
Time passed in that manner.
The next day.
In the morning, I discovered a strange sight in the garden.
“Hah! Hah! Haaah!”
Someone was swinging a sword at the scarecrow set up in the corner of the garden.
His shirt was half-open. Muscles bulged and rippled with power.
A man like this in the fiefdom?
A newly hired knight of the Agirpe family?
Doban, the count who had been on morning patrol, was startled.
“…Impossible! Sir Parmas!? Are you really Sir Parmas!?”
The man stopped his sword swings.
He flashed a grin.
The wrinkles that had once lined his face were gone, making him look no older than forty.
Had he achieved some kind of rejuvenation?
Even the white hair that had once speckled his head now shone a healthy, fiery red.
Could a person change this much in a single night?
“You… are you him? What has happened here? Is this a miracle!?”
Doban looked at the suddenly young Parmas in utter disbelief.
But I wasn’t surprised.
It was perfectly possible.
A man struck by lightning in the house, flung into a strange world, and regressed five years by grasping the Holy Grail—it was a miracle, yes.
People becoming young? That was nothing unusual.
But miracles came to faithful men like me.
Parmas’s case was not a miracle. It was an evil trick.
“Sir Parmas, did you perhaps eat something you should not have? If so, you should vomit it up immediately. If a sparrow tries to copy a heron’s greed, its intestines will tear apart.”
“What? I don’t understand what you’re saying. More importantly, this morning feels wonderfully refreshing. I feel as though I’ve aged thirty years! I can do anything! Anything! This world was always this clear?”
Thump.
Parmas clenched his fist and showed it off.
“Miracle… a miracle.”
“How can a person become this young?”
“Did Hyde strike you with a whip?”
While everyone else was marveling and gasping—
I snorted.
He had clearly swallowed the Gourd of Greed hidden in his pocket.
The oldest of the Seven Knights, setting a bad example by falling to the ranks of sin through base greed.
Truly unthinkable for a devout man like me.
Parmas.
Day by day, he grew younger.
Two days after his astonishing rejuvenation, his face—once forty—had grown even more youthful, looking like a man in his early thirties.
His eyes were sharp as a snake’s.
His hair burned with fiery crimson.
His gait carried the proud confidence of a knight in his prime. He exuded confidence in everything he did.
“The weather is perfect! We contemporaries love days like this!”
His speech, once that of a crotchety old man, had become that of a young person.
Did human mental age simply follow the body?
Every day he trained alone, devouring an entire ox to the bone and guzzling an entire barrel of wine.
“Hah! Haaah! Hah!”
Parmas’s daily routine was sword practice in the training ground. His swordsmanship was razor-sharp and his strength overflowing.
It was as though he was testing how far his newly young body could go.
“Practicing against scarecrows is boring. Lady Psyche, would you be my opponent? With my current strength, I could easily instruct you.”
“No. I’m fine.”
Psyche politely refused.
But I saw an opportunity.
Psyche, let’s spar.
I wanted to gauge Parmas’s current strength.
At my words, Psyche immediately drew the great sword belonging to the Agirpe family.
“Then I will learn a technique from Sir Parmas.”
Clang! Clang—!
Sparks flew as the duel between the great sword of Psyche and the rejuvenated Parmas began.
Watching them, Milione clicked her tongue.
“What on earth is going on? How can a person change this much in just a few days? I heard rumors about some ‘Half Rot Recovery’ from the Onan region. Is that it? Hyde, what do you think?”
Instead of answering Milione, I simply fell into thought.
“Hyde, what do you think!”
“I think it’s adultery.”
“What adultery? What are you saying all of a sudden?”
The two men and woman, faces flushed red, gripped their rods and vigorously thrust and pulled, sparks flying.
This definitely looked like adultery.
Time to stop them!
Psyche, that’s enough!
Parmas’s skill was more than sufficient to match her.
It was as though he had recovered the strength of his youth.
Milione said,
“Honestly, I’m not impressed. Since Parmas the old geezer suddenly became like this, his gaze has become blatantly lewd. He stares right through my legs and chest. Well, I suppose any man would be unable to resist my charm.”
While Milione chattered on, I watched Parmas.
His eyes swept over the panting Psyche who had just been swinging her sword.
You filthy bastard!
I’m fine with you staring at Milione!
But I will not allow you to look at my wife, Psyche, like that!
Restriction was necessary.
I told Parmas.
Sir Parmas, your blood is boiling.
“Is it not the Grace of the Divine? You granted me a miracle so that I could use my powers in greater places.”
Grace of the Divine? I like it—
This old man shamelessly lies?
One of the people I hate most is a liar.
I said casually,
“Then how about we go hunting together tomorrow?”
Parmas looked at me.
His rejuvenated eyes were sharp as a snake’s.
“That sounds good.”
Good.
You are already caught in my trap.