A Proper Lesson
You have warped into another novel.
Magic use is restricted for 24 hours.
The message rang out the moment I dropped into a strange novel, but I didn't panic. I took stock of my situation first.
I tried casting magic, only to find my mana itself sealed off, completely unusable. Fine. I still had a sword.
I moved my arm to test it.
Whoosh.
The clean sound of air being cut told me my combat ability was still intact.
I scanned the surroundings for Choi Yebin. She hadn't warped with me, though — there was no sign of her. Instead, some strange man came strolling toward me and shouted.
"The hell is this bastard? Don't you know this is our turf?"
Judging by his appearance, he looked like a vagrant or a beggar. He was already spewing curses at a complete stranger. I kept my cool and assessed the situation. Kill him? Or let it go?
Killing someone before I'd even found Choi Yebin carried real risk. I was angry, but ignoring him and moving on was the smarter play. I turned to leave the alley. But then—
"Hey. Hold up. You, stop right there."
The man who looked like a bum narrowed his eyes and started jabbing at my shoulder.
"I told you to get lost, and you're just casually walking off? Look at this disrespectful little shit."
He started insulting me with the flimsiest excuses. I didn't take the bait. Finding Choi Yebin came first.
"Sorry. I'll be on my way."
"What? 'Sorry, I'll be on my way'? Is this bastard actually insane? Hey, you lost your mind?"
He yanked a club from his waist and swung it at me without mercy. I caught it cleanly and flung him straight to the ground.
"Guh!"
He hit the dirt with a hideous scream.
"You son of a bitch... got lucky shoving me off, is that it?"
He pulled a carefully honed knife from somewhere on his person. The second I saw it, I knew. This guy wasn't some vagrant — he was almost certainly someone's organization thug.
His clothes looked like a beggar's, but the blade was razor-sharp. That discrepancy meant someone was supplying him with weapons.
This could get annoying.
I had no idea what kind of outfit he belonged to. Magic was currently restricted, so mass-slaughter spells were off the table. What now?
"I'll kill you, you fucking bastard."
I was still weighing how to spare him when the man kept testing my patience. In the end, I snapped and made a mess of it.
BAM!
I dodged the charging man's blade, seized his head, and slammed it into the wall. Then I smashed his skull against the brick again and again in a frenzy.
He started coughing up blood. I watched without a flicker of emotion and whispered,
"I'm trying to let you live clean. Why are you thrashing around like you want to die so badly?"
"I-I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
A few more impacts, and something white flew from his mouth. I didn't need to look to know what it was — his speech had already gone wrong.
"I-I apowogize... pwease... spare me..."
"Spare you? You're dying."
I was about to drive my sword into his throat when—
What?
A powerful vibration started ringing through my skull.
Warp target is located nearby.
Warp target is located nearby.
The message repeated. Warp target meant love peace. I frantically checked my appearance.
I look like a complete psychopath.
The man in front of me was a wreck — teeth hanging loose, body a mass of blood. If love peace saw me like this, my first impression would be utterly ruined. That was the last thing I wanted.
"Hey. Get up."
I hauled him to his feet and tore a strip from my robe to wipe the blood off his face. Unfortunately, I couldn't fix how swollen it had become.
"You got a potion or anything?"
He patted himself down and handed me a low-grade potion. I immediately poured it over his face. The swelling went down, and his features returned to normal.
Warp target is in extremely close proximity.
As the system's voice blared again, I ordered the man,
"Hit me."
"I-I couldn't possibly..."
"If you don't want to die, pretend to hit me."
"Hiiiek... Y-yes, sir."
His face went pale blue as he started swinging at me. There was no force behind the blows, of course. After getting beaten half to death, there was no way he'd put his heart into thrashing me just because I told him to.
"Aaaagh!"
I screamed wildly, putting on a show of agony. And sure enough, the performance paid off almost immediately.
"Stop that!"
A girl in clothes that looked expensive even at a glance shouted out.
The moment I saw her, I almost cried out myself — because floating above her head were the words love peace.
So she really was nearby.
More importantly — love peace. She was a girl.
Behind her, Choi Yebin was approaching with a dagger from god-knows-where, ready to rush me. I raised a hand and stopped her. She gave me a questioning look, then lowered her blade and stepped back to watch.
"Stop that! Why are you bullying an innocent person!"
love peace shouted as the thug kept hitting me. The poor bastard shot me a look of pure injustice, but that wasn't my problem.
As if venting his rage, the thug screamed at love peace.
"Bullying? What bullying, you bitch!"
He lunged at the girl, but her reaction was faster.
"Aqua!"
The instant she chanted, a water spell blasted into the man. He face-planted into the ground. Teeth clattered from his mouth; all he had left were maybe a few molars.
"Are you all right?"
love peace asked. I shook my head.
"I think my bones are broken."
The lie was simple. True to her name, love peace had built a concept around loving peace. I'd always been curious what she was really like underneath.
The easiest way to see someone's true nature is to pose as the weak. People always show their real selves to those they consider beneath them.
"Wh-what should I do... M-maybe I should take you to a hospital?"
"I don't have any money."
love peace fell into thought for a moment. I clutched my body and put on a show of agony.
"Come to my house. I'll treat you myself."
I didn't refuse her kindness. It was a chance to learn more about her.
I came here to find her anyway.
As I followed love peace, Choi Yebin gestured at me from behind.
Reading her lips: Want me to kill him?
She was looking at the thug who'd just been thrashing me. I had no intention of letting him live. The mess was already made — better to erase the evidence.
Kill him.
I mouthed it so love peace, who was supporting me, couldn't see. Choi Yebin slipped quietly into the alley.
About five seconds later, she came back out. Not a single scream, but the bright red blood on her dagger made it visually clear the man was dead.
So Choi Yebin doesn't have the penalty.
For whatever reason, it seemed to apply only to me. Not that it mattered much — only magic was restricted, and I could still use swordsmanship just fine.
Why the penalties differed, and why we'd warped to separate locations, I didn't know. But that wasn't what mattered right now.
Follow me quietly from behind.
I mouthed the order, and she expertly used cover as she trailed after me. The reason was simple: I still couldn't tell whether love peace was a good person or a bad one.
My physical strength wasn't restricted. If a fight broke out, having me take the front line while Choi Yebin supported from the rear was the better formation, so I kept it that way.
"What happened with that man?"
For a second I flinched, thinking she meant Choi Yebin — then the rest of love peace's words put me at ease.
"That thuggish man... what kind of grudge did he have to beat you like that...?"
"I don't know... I just took a wrong turn, and he started thrashing me for no reason."
"What a terrible person. Hang on a little longer — my house is right nearby."
love peace looked at me with pity, and a question suddenly occurred to me.
"Why are you helping me?"
She tilted her head and asked right back,
"Does helping someone in need require a reason?"
I let out a short laugh. It had been a very long time since I'd heard anyone say something like that. Helping someone in need doesn't need a reason? On the contrary — needing a rational reason to help someone is the most natural thing in the world.
Killing someone doesn't require a reason. Saving someone always does. The former ends once you stick a blade in and clean up the corpse. The latter means enduring all sorts of inconvenience for someone else's sake.
love peace was a perfect example. If she'd just looked the other way and walked past, she wouldn't have wasted magic on a thug's attack, gotten blood on her fine clothes, or had to drag some nameless man home out of sheer nuisance.
"Why are you laughing?"
love peace asked, puzzled. I answered,
"Hearing that answer makes me think you're a good person."
Her face went bright red, and she gave me a light shove.
"Wh-why would you say something so embarrassing so casually!"
love peace bounced in place with flaming cheeks. Watching her reaction carefully, it seemed she had no idea I was an administrator. For now, I'd keep quiet. Apparently I was the only one who could see the usernames floating above people's heads.
I was checking my surroundings when love peace spoke up.
"We're here."
A massive gate stood before the house — a mansion of staggering scale. love peace channeled mana into the gate, and it creaked open with a groan.
As we entered, servants began greeting her one after another. But they eyed me with open suspicion. Then a middle-aged woman laden with every kind of gaudy ornament came walking toward us.
"Riena, the Academy exam is coming up. Where on earth have you been wandering off to?"
"I'm sorry, Mother. I just wanted to clear my head, so I went for a walk..."
"A walk, is it... And what is that thing you've dragged along beside you?"
The middle-aged woman pointed at me with a grimace she made no effort to hide.
"He looked hurt outside, so I wanted to treat him."
"You? Why him? Is he someone you know?"
"..."
"If he's not someone you know, go throw him out. Bringing something like that into the house will only dirty the place."
Riena fell silent for a moment, then spoke quietly.
"H-he helped me once, a long time ago."
A lie. love peace and I had only just met. The middle-aged woman stared me down and said,
"Why bring home some lowborn with not a shred of mana aura about him."
She looked down at me and added,
"Know your place, cower quietly, and get out. If you try anything stupid, you won't leave in one piece."
I swallowed a laugh that almost slipped out and asked the middle-aged woman,
"Are you saying you'll kill me? We've only just met."
I rested my hand on the scabbard at my waist, ready to draw at any moment. But love peace hurriedly intervened.
"Mother, please don't... He's the first person I've ever brought home... So please... just for today..."
The woman glared into my eyes with clear irritation and answered,
"You're lucky, boy. I'm busy today, so I'll be going."
I could only sneer.
The lucky one wasn't me — it was her. If she hadn't been love peace's mother, she'd already be dead by my hand. I spoke just loud enough for only the middle-aged woman to hear.
"You'd do well not to go around casually looking down on people."
Hearing me, she turned back to look at me.