Chapter 196: The Mermaid Princess and the Perverted Prince (4)
Chapter 196: The Mermaid Princess and the Perverted Prince (4)
The curse of the Infinite Labyrinth manifests in various ways depending on the individual.
For some, like Astarotte, it results in a change of species. For most adventurers, it simply lowers the hurdles of common sense and reason.
As for Serica?
As you can see, her curse is an impulse.
A murderous impulse.
On the surface, she appears to be a highly capable adventurer, but her long life in the labyrinth has long since eroded her aversion to killing.
"Eek! Spare me!"
[Seeing her like that, I can't help but think she's truly relentless.]
Slash.
Serica cut down the ambushers with even more precision than she had the Angler Sharks.
"Gah! W-Why...?"
"Because you tried to ambush us."
"T-That voice..."
"What? Is it a crime to kill rapists now?"
"You... you..."
They had approached us with sleazy grins, but every single one of them had been hiding a dagger coated in paralytic poison behind their backs.
"W-Wait! Sword Maiden! Let's settle this with a conversation! A conversation!"
"Through the conversation of the sword, then."
Slash.
Another head rolled.
The last remaining man, his skin tanned dark, rushed toward me and prostrated himself on the ground.
"S-Spare me! Please! I won't tell anyone what happened here! I swear!!"
[Is that so?]
"Lewd Man."
Serica, having finished off the other two, licked her lips and pointed at the man kneeling beneath me.
"I believe he's the leader. I know of them. They're a gang that ambushes and rapes groups resting along this coast."
[Then they deserve to die.]
"I'll never do it again! Please! Just spare my life!!"
[Serica.]
I pressed my foot down on the back of the man groveling on the ground.
[Must you cut him down?]
"If he's going to die anyway, I'd prefer to be the one to do it."
[No, no. What I mean is, is there any need to cut him in a way that splatters blood all over yourself?]
Thwack.
I gave the man's rear a heavy kick.
He tumbled forward in the direction I had been walking, his face slamming into the sand.
Swoosh.
A wave rolled in, brushing against his face before receding.
The man scrambled to lift his head, but I kicked him in the back again.
[Let's finish him here, without the mess.]
"Hmm..."
[Ah, fine. If you really want to cut him, go ahead. But are you absolutely sure they're the ones who've been raping and killing?]
"Of course. I'd bet my virginity on it."
[.......]
You don't have any left, though.
[Ah.]
Hearing Serica stick to her "concept" even now, I realized the true intent behind her words.
She wasn't talking to me.
She was talking to the man—the rapist.
"S-Spare me! I know I did wrong, but I don't deserve to die like this! I don't!!"
"The women you preyed upon didn't deserve to die like that either."
"T-That's!! Those... those women tried to backstab us first! Don't be fooled! Those bitches were total sluts!!!"
"Are you saying the testimony of the woman who survived and came to the Adventurer's Guild in tears was a lie?"
"Yes! She was faking it to scam us! We were just having a quiet drink in the labyrinth and were going to ask if they wanted to have sex!! That's all!!"
There is no evidence in the Infinite Labyrinth.
Unless you carry an Image Magic Stone like a black box and manage to bring it out of the labyrinth safely, no one knows what truly happens.
Whether a group of men raped and murdered women.
Whether women tied up men and stripped them of their gear.
Or whether the survivors of a bloody free-for-all looted the corpses.
In this cursed, lawless zone, what protects a person is neither law nor authority, but only 'power.'
"Please! You, the guy in the armor! Believe me! I'm being framed!!"
"Lewd Man. He's lying. Even if what he says were true, he deserves death simply for making passes at me and Laura."
[Hmm.]
I turned my head toward Laura.
[What is the Captain's opinion?]
"Well, normally I'd weigh the options and agonize over it, but..."
Laura shook her head firmly.
"Even at a second glance, he's trash beyond redemption. I'm sorry. I hope you're born as something more useful to society in your next life."
[There you have it. Serica.]
"Hoo."
With a light smile, Serica unleashed a slash from where she stood.
Slash.
As blood sprayed from the man's shoulder down to his abdomen, a massive Angler Shark rose from behind him, jaws agape, and clamped down.
"Aaargh! Gaaaah!!!"
The man was instantly dragged into the depths.
Whether it was my imagination or not, the mermaid faces dangling from the Angler Sharks seemed to wear savage grins.
It probably wasn't my imagination.
If my guess was correct, those Angler Sharks were...
"Lewd Man. Shall we look for mermaids at a different point? Or should we just head back?"
Laura grabbed my wrist and asked cautiously.
Since it wasn't a pleasant sight, leaving quickly was the right move, and this clearly wasn't the spot where we'd find what we were looking for.
[Let's move. But first, let me finish this.]
I grabbed the legs of the men Serica had cut down.
"A-Aaargh!!"
One of them, who had been playing dead and trying to crawl away, began to scream and struggle.
"Let go! Let go of me!!"
[Sure, I'll let go.]
I gripped his legs, swung him with full force, and hurled him into the sea.
Splash.
"Aaaaaagh!!"
The Angler Sharks swarmed him.
As they pressed their glowing lures—the mermaid faces—against his chin, the man's eyes rolled back, and he began to sink.
[Karma.]
"...Karma, indeed."
Her excitement having cooled, Serica bit her lip with a slightly bitter expression as she watched the men being devoured one by one.
"If the day ever comes where I end up like that, I will consider it the karma of today."
[Even though you killed those who intended to kill?]
"Killing is killing, regardless."
It was a bit stiff, but she wasn't wrong.
[Don't worry, Serica. There's a way to settle all karma.]
I patted Serica lightly on the shoulder.
[You just have to give birth as much as you've killed.]
"...Pardon?"
[The people you consider your karma. Just give birth to as many lives as you've taken. If you take a life and then bring one into the world, it's plus-minus zero, isn't it?]
"......."
Serica stared at me blankly, looking momentarily shell-shocked.
"That is... an interesting perspective."
And then.
"...Then, will you help me settle my karma?"
[Of course.]
I pointed toward the ceiling.
"Helping people have children is the duty of a Fermaton, after all."
* * *
After searching a few more points.
I returned to the Count's castle with Laura and Serica.
A total bust.
We didn't find a single Mermaid.
All we found were Angler Sharks, and by the end, Serica had killed so many of them that she went from being satisfied to being bored of cutting off their lures.
The search was a failure.
The first attempt ended in disappointment.
The reports of mermaid sightings turned out to be nothing more than the lures of Angler Sharks, but I intended to continue the search.
Was I chasing a fantasy?
No.
Mermaids exist.
Because I had actually seen them.
'In the game.'
In-game.
They are one of the demonkind species that appear in this Coastal Zone, attacking players in the form of 'Sirens.'
This is a world where Succubi exist.
There's no reason Mermaids wouldn't.
And one more thing.
Among the Gacha Pickup Characters, there is one who, like Astarotte, suffers from a curse of 'Mermaidization.'
She wasn't my type, nor my style, and above all, her stats were so bad I couldn't really call her useful.
But thanks to her, I knew for certain that there were demonkind in the sea who possessed human forms.
'If I can just find where they appear, I can definitely open a path.'
If it's a place where Mermaids or Sirens appear rather than Angler Sharks, I can settle things through dialogue.
Through rational negotiation, I can build a water park and have them manage it.
There is a way.
To execute that plan, I needed a few pieces of equipment, and I was currently in the middle of crafting them.
"Um, Young Lord."
Nero brought me a cup of warm milk tea.
"May I ask what kind of work you are doing?"
"Of course. You can ask anything. You are my exclusive maid, after all."
After Amy, who was practically my dedicated maid, was promoted to a position akin to Zenith's exclusive assistant, Nero took over as my primary maid.
I didn't task her with cleaning the Sex Rooms like the other maids; instead, I instructed her to assist me specifically with my 'duties' as the Young Lord. She was supporting me almost entirely in non-sexual matters.
I was doing this on purpose.
I knew better than anyone that Nero didn't particularly enjoy sex—or more accurately, she wasn't fond of lewdness.
"The business I'm planning right now might be a bit lewd, though. Is that okay?"
"Yes. I've slowly started to build up a tolerance for lewd things."
"...I'm not sure if I should be relieved or not. Fine. I'll show you."
I pointed to a Bitch Collar sitting next to my proposal.
"I'm planning to turn this into a capture tool."
"A capture tool...?"
"Yes. The moment it's placed on an arm or a leg, it becomes a bracelet or an anklet—a magical band designed to make the person climax instantly and knock them unconscious."
Click.
When I pressed a button, the clasp of the Bitch Collar released, transforming its appearance into something like a handcuff.
"Once this is on, they won't be able to move a muscle. Yes, if I had to give it a name..."
A tool for capturing Mermaids.
No, more accurately, a tool for capturing 'Adventurers.'
"The Gacha Ring."
By capturing all the gacha characters, I will become the Heroine Master.