NOVEL NEXT —————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Are you saying you’ll abandon the hostages now?!”
Ruby’s angry explosion was natural.
It sounded like he was saying he would abandon innocent people, not just anyone, but his own compatriots.
In fact, they all felt the same way.
In such a situation, the only one maintaining composure was the small girl sitting next to the commander.
Was she believing in the commander?
Or was she unconditionally following him?
“Ruby, let’s listen to the commander’s words first.”
“But…!!!”
“Teacher must have something in mind.”
If it weren’t for the mediation of Cluna and that small girl, Ruby might have grabbed the commander by the collar.
Clara and Yuren had the same thought, though not as much as her.
A knight is a sword and shield.
That honor is to protect people.
Regardless of race.
Protecting the powerless and innocent would be a knight’s pride.
But Yuren couldn’t strongly pressure him.
Because her position was what it was.
“I’ll explain one by one.”
“…It better be a convincing explanation.”
“First of all, Comprachicos’ ability to control minds. What will happen if you fall under this power is obvious as day.”
Clara and Ruby, who had grown fond of each other despite being enemies as elves and dwarves, had nothing to say.
Yuren was completely broken after seeing her brainwashed comrades and ended up being affected herself.
Bayard was also controlled mentally and still had that trauma remaining.
At my words, Ruby shut her mouth.
Even though she was a low-ranking member, she was also a member of the Royal Knights.
She wasn’t one to not understand the weight of Commander Hans’ words.
Rather, she understood it to the bone.
Compared to the commander, Yuren, and Bayard, they were mere chicks.
Then, could they really resist the mind control ability that even Bayard was helplessly affected by?
She couldn’t say yes even as an empty compliment.
Commander Hans coldly continued.
“Moreover, that guy is obsessed with the stage he creates. He’s a twisted artist you commonly see. In other words, the moment we step on stage, it’s as good as us losing to him.”
“Then is there a way?”
“There is. It’s to burn down the stage itself.”
“That’s…!!!”
“Commander Yuren, is it possible?”
“…It’s possible. But if we do that…”
Commander Hans’ answer was more brutal than expected. But no one could object to it.
Because they had already failed.
Just a single failure.
But that failure remained deep in people’s hearts and was eating away at them.
Is someone like me really allowed to do this?
Is someone like me really allowed to be this happy?
They started thinking like that.
It was the same for them.
Would anything change if they opposed it here?
What if they opposed and failed?
Then it would really be the end.
There was no one left who could bear that weight, at least not right now.
A single failure, the sight of their comrades dying because of it.
They still couldn’t forget it.
“I’ll save the villagers and then signal. Then immediately burn down the village.”
“…Wait a minute, what did you just say?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Don’t tell me, you were going to save all the people too?”
Sacrificing the small for the sake of the big.
Everyone had been accepting it that way until now.
But, was that not the case?
At Yuren’s trembling voice, the commander tilted his head.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
And he actually proved it.
In a very short time, about 5 minutes.
A signal came from him.
Soon, the huge figure of a dragon covered the sky above the village.
The dragon’s breath pouring from the sky burned everything it touched.
There was no hesitation in those flames.
They didn’t think for a moment that Commander Hans would lie.
And he actually kept his promise.
He saved all the villagers.
Escorting the villagers was left to Clara and Ruby.
It must have been the commander’s own consideration.
[I’ll handle Comprachico alone.]
[But Commander, isn’t that too dangerous?]
[It’s not a problem. Mind control doesn’t work on me.]
“…Truly a strong man.”
Yuren, who had been spewing dragon’s breath from the sky, descended back to the ground.
Yes, he was a strong man befitting the name of commander. And when he grabbed her neck with those firm hands, it was really…
…What am I thinking now?
Yuren desperately tried to deny that thought.
However, she couldn’t deny the blush that appeared on her face.
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Comprachicos.
According to Commander Yuren, it meant a person who cripples and deformes children and then sells them in an ancient language.
In fact, Comprachicos was a criminal organization that appeared in the novel The Man Who Laughs.
I difn’t know if such an organization actually existed.
Anyway, this game took a lot of motifs from numerous famous novels.
So it wouldn’t be strange for something like that to appear.
Kwang!!
Comprachico, who had lost his reason due to anger, closed the distance in an instant and swung his fist.
It was a favorable situation where the opponent had lost his reason.
It made it easy to read his movements.
But the problem was, as expected, my skill level.
My skills were only at an ordinary level to begin with.
On top of that, I lost one eye.
Not only my sense of distance but even my blind spot had increased, making it difficult to react.
With the sound of the ground being scraped, my body was pushed back.
According to Commander Yuren’s judgment, Comprachico was close to a blood demon that surpassed a low-level demon in terms of danger.
But his combat ability was on the weak side.
In other words, Comprachicos’ frontal combat ability was at a level that barely qualified for the name of a demon.
However, I was losing in a frontal confrontation even against him.
It was only natural in the first place.
Even monsters were disasters in and of themselves.
Facing a demon above that level was a given.
However, I had no intention of being satisfied with being held back by the obvious.
If you’re a commander, even if rotten, shouldn’t you do something befitting that name?
I got up with my creaking body.
Like a broken wooden puppet, my body creaked and didn’t move properly.
Just a few exchanges and I had already reached my limit.
But I won’t give up.
I have to kill that guy.
Mind control.
What an annoying ability.
It’s an extremely disgusting ability on par with time stop.
I don’t know about other things, but I absolutely can’t forgive that.
I gritted my teeth and said,
“Did you enjoy it?”
“Pardon?”
“Controlling people as you please. Driving them to despair, and giggling while calling it a tragedy, did you enjoy it that much?”
“…If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it. That’s the philosophy of life I’ve realized.”
“Dog shit philosophy.”
I let out a small burst of anger and charged again.
Comprachico also charged at me in response.
Comprachico was holding a flute in his hand.
That must be the medium for his ability.
In fact, Commander Yuren also said she heard the sound of a flute.
I also heard the sound of a flute in the village.
In other words, if you hear the sound of the flute, you become mind-controlled.
It would be fine to see it that way.
But it didn’t seem to be an ordinary flute.
The evidence was that it was easily deflecting my sword imbued with the blessing of the forest.
Even though those grotesque things had their necks easily sliced before.
“…There’s no choice.”
The limit of my skill at the moment was up to here.
At least I could handle it to some extent without time stop.
But that was possible only because the opponent was clumsy in frontal combat among demons.
I was even losing in a frontal confrontation.
And I couldn’t use time stop because I had to save the villagers.
There was no choice, once I decided to do it, I had to do it properly.
Since when was it?
It was probably since the time I gave up one of my eyes to save Yuren.
After giving up my eye at that time, I realized how I could use this power.
I raised my head.
Each and every bit of the ashes floating in the sky was visible.
And underneath, Comprachico was still diligently running towards me.
He was so slow compared to my expectation that I went out to meet him myself.
Running forward and swinging my sword, I cut off Comprachicos’ arm.
Unlike before, the demon’s arm was sliced off like tofu.
I could see Comprachicos’ expression turning to shock.
It was definitely a nice expression to see, but I didn’t have the bad habit of observing it.
So I instantly severed his other limbs.
And…
Time returned to normal.
Comprachicos’ body, with its limbs severed in an instant, fell to the ground.
I felt something bitter rising from my stomach, but I forcibly swallowed it with all my might.
Because I couldn’t show weakness to the enemy.
Comprachico still didn’t know what had been done to him.
Well, of course, this power could still affect the opponent even if my skill level had weakened.
[The first time, I’ll just do it as a service, but next time, it won’t work.]
[I’ll face the price in the same way.]
[The price… Let’s keep it light, like disemboweling you?]
That day, to save Commander Yuren.
The power I newly obtained at the cost of my eye.
Time Acceleration.
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