Ch 9
MHPro
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Episode 09
The joy of victory was short-lived.
My vision blurred, and the world began to spin. Every muscle in my body screamed, and the feeling in my left shoulder had vanished long ago.
A throbbing headache, anemia, and a stomachache.
These were all penalties from the Awakening effect wearing off. It was the second time I’d experienced it, but I still wasn’t used to it.
…Once I have some breathing room, I need to start working out.
It was a problem that could be solved by training my muscles and body, but for now, there was nothing I could do. I just had to endure.
Still, it wasn’t an entirely unpleasant feeling.
This kind of pain, after all, was something you could only feel if you were alive.
Yes, I…
No, we…
“We survived.”
It was Keila who spoke.
“We really survived…! We took down that monster!”
She, too, seemed to be feeling a mix of joy and relief. Though she must have been exhausted, her voice was full of energy.
“Yeah, thanks to you.”
It wasn’t an empty compliment. By the time I returned to the underground prison, the Vassal’s health was almost completely depleted. Just as planned, Keila had landed a direct hit with her modified explosion magic. Thanks to that, I was able to douse him in Holy Water and easily push him into Phase 2. If I’d had to handle everything on my own, it would have been an incredibly difficult fight.
She fully deserved to savor this joy. But she downplayed her own contribution.
“What kind of bullshit is that? You did everything. All I did was buy some time.”
…A little crudely.
“…Hmph.”
A moment of silence.
We met each other’s gaze and then burst out laughing at the same time. Really, what did it matter? We were alive, and that was enough.
“Let’s just get out of here. I feel like I’m going to die of hunger.”
I felt the same. After starving for a week, my stomach felt like it was stuck to my spine.
“Right.”
I gave a slight nod and approached the spot where the body had been. The red-haired man’s corpse had evaporated as if it had never existed in the first place. Only a few items were left on the floor.
It wasn't surprising. A Vassal's dead body is retrieved by their demon as part of the contract. It must have ended up in the hands of Valefor, the Demon of Greed.
Thud.
Paying it no mind, I picked up the items from the floor.
A slightly tarnished silver key.
The key to the underground prison.
“Let’s go.”
Finally, it was time to leave this wretched place.
Dwat, a former third-rate mercenary and the Vice-Captain of the Sector 7 plunderers, opened his eyes, gasping for breath.
“Hah! Wh-what the…!”
Dwat frantically looked down, checking his own body first. He was tied to a large stone pillar that had risen from the ground, his entire body bound tightly with ropes. Looking around, he saw that all the other members of his “family” were in the same predicament.
“Nngh!”
Veins popping on his neck, Dwat struggled with all his might. But the ropes were so tight, he couldn’t budge an inch. As he strained, a hazy memory returned to him.
“How did this…”
It had been a week since they had started searching for the culprit who had killed their leader. Just as they were about to give up, having found no trace, they encountered a mysterious man in their hideout.
In that moment, Dwat knew instinctively.
‘This bastard is the rat we’ve been looking for.’
The instant he came to that conclusion, the man casually touched the ground, and a torrent of water poured down from nowhere. A powerful electric current coursed through the water, electrocuting him and all his men, knocking them unconscious.
And when he came to, it was now.
“Right, that rat…!”
“Ugh…”
At Dwat’s furious shout, one of his men opened his eyes.
“V-Vice-Captain? What’s going on…?”
“What do you mean, what’s going on! That rat we met earlier did this to us!”
“W-What? By himself?”
“Yes! To think he targeted us when we were all exhausted from the search… That cunning bastard! Once I get out of these ropes, I’ll tear him limb from limb!”
“…”
Noticing the strange look his subordinate was giving him, Dwat scowled.
“What are you looking at?”
“N-Nothing, sir.”
“Spit it out, you idiot! Stop being so damn difficult!”
“Well… it’s just that there are over twenty of us, aren’t there…?”
“So what!”
“To be able to take down all of us so quickly… doesn’t that mean he’s an incredibly powerful wizard? How could we possibly…?”
“…Hmph.”
He wasn’t wrong, which made Dwat’s scowl deepen. But Dwat was the current Vice-Captain. And with the leader dead, he was set to become the official new leader. As such, he needed to establish his authority.
Dwat yelled, “So what, you bastard! Are you saying I can’t handle him?”
“No… that’s not what I meant.”
“Just you watch. Soon you’ll see me snap that bastard’s neck! Raaaargh!”
Dwat let out a roar and twisted his body, putting far more strength into it than before. His face turned beet red. Perhaps his reputation as the best of the third-rate mercenaries wasn’t just for show. The strength he displayed was almost monstrous.
Snap, creak!
The ropes began to fray. The subordinate who had been watching silently stared with wide eyes.
“Whoa! As expected of the Vice-Captain!”
“Hahaha, what do you think? I may be getting old, but this strength is second to none…”
Just then.
Rumble…
A strange noise accompanied a tremor in the ground. The men who were still unconscious were jolted awake by the vibration. Everyone turned their heads towards the same spot.
“Wh-What’s that?”
For some reason, the stone wall blocking the entrance to the underground prison was slowly descending into the floor.
Dwat answered in a low voice.
“…It’s him.”
Gulp.
He couldn’t help but swallow nervously. The mysterious man who had invaded their hideout. In this moment, everyone was tense.
Step, step.
Two figures emerged from behind the descending stone wall and slowly walked forward.
Seeing them, Dwat flinched. Not out of fear, but because of their unexpectedly pathetic appearance.
‘That’s the guy who did this to us…?’
Their first encounter had been too sudden for him to get a good look. He had only registered that he was a man with black hair and black eyes. But looking at him now…
‘He’s just a damn beggar.’
From his listless eyes, like those of a dead fish, to his gaunt face, stained clothes, and the scrawny body visible underneath—his appearance was no different from any other beggar in Sector 7. His hair was even standing on end as if he’d been electrocuted.
And what’s more, the man was the better-looking of the two.
Then he saw the woman next to him.
‘Isn’t that the daughter Valen sold off?’
The girl they had locked in the dungeon and forgotten about in the chaos. It was definitely her, but…
‘What the hell happened to her?’
She was always a sorry sight, being a beggar from the start, but this was on another level. Her body was covered in grime, her hair was scorched black, and the dark circles under her eyes reached her cheekbones. She looked like she’d been digging through a garbage dump for a week.
Dwat had no idea what could have made her look like that, but he was inwardly cheering.
‘A light push would probably kill them.’
A pair like that would be much easier to subdue. Unaware of his dark thoughts, the two beggars were chatting casually.
“Why did you block the entrance?”
“I tied them up, but you never know. They might have jumped in and stabbed us in the back while we were fighting.”
“How did you make that stone wall? The last I saw, your earth magic wasn’t at that level.”
“I just… fiddled with it and it worked.”
“…You’re insane.”
Right, just act as relaxed as you want.
Thinking this, Dwat’s eyes sharpened.
‘The ropes are almost broken.’
Thanks to his immense strength, the ropes were on the verge of snapping. A little more force and they would break completely.
“…V-Vice-Captain.”
“Shh, just wait quietly.”
Dwat planned to launch a surprise attack. Since they were so completely off-guard, the chances of success were high.
‘And then my position will be even stronger.’
Everyone in the group was now convinced that the man was powerful, even if the woman wasn't. If Dwat took him down, his own standing would skyrocket. He could confidently seize the position of leader.
As he entertained these hopeful thoughts, a smile crept onto his face. Just then, his eyes met the woman’s.
“Hey, did you do this to them all by yourself?”
“Yeah. They were getting in the way of my search for the Holy Water.”
“…Nice work.”
The woman sighed as if she had nothing more to say, then spoke again.
“So, what are we going to do with them?”
“We’ll have to kill them.”
Flinch.
Everyone trembled at his words. How could he make such a cruel decision without a moment’s hesitation?
“What do you want to do?”
“Me?”
All eyes turned to the woman, filled with a glimmer of hope. But she met their gazes calmly and said:
“What’s there to ask? Of course we have to kill them. Who knows what they’ll do if we let them live.”
“—!!”
It wasn’t even a question. What reason was there for these plunderers, who preyed on beggars, to live?
“So you think so too. Then…”
Thud.
As the man started to step forward, the woman blocked his path.
“Wait, I’ll handle it. It’ll be less unfair for them to die by my hand. Considering what they did to me.”
“…Alright.”
Step, step.
The woman walked toward them. She looked pathetic, but to the captured men, she seemed like the grim reaper itself.
“Ah… is this how we die?”
The men trembled in fear. But the woman just laughed at them contemptuously.
“You lived your lives like this and expected a happy ending?”
“…”
They had nothing to say. They knew. They knew the path they had walked was not a righteous one. But… they still didn’t want to die. They wanted to keep living, even with their vile hearts.
As if their collective wish had been answered, the moment the woman was within arm’s reach…
SNAP!
“Hyaaa!”
Dwat roared as he shot up from his spot. The ropes were broken. In his right hand, he held a sharply honed dagger. The blade shot straight for the woman’s neck.
But.
There was not a hint of panic on her face.
“…Just as I expected from you trash.”
Her expression was merely ice-cold.
KABOOM!
What just happened?
A purple light flared in her eyes, and a massive explosion erupted around her. In the same instant, Dwat—the group’s last hope—was sent flying backward.
CRASH!
He slammed into the stone wall.
“…Uuugh.”
Thud.
With a groan, Dwat collapsed to his knees, his eyes unfocused. The dagger in his hand fell limply to the floor.
Clatter…
The moment they heard that sound, everyone knew. There would be no more miracles. Today was the day their family was erased.
“Die, you scumbag thugs.”
Evening came after dealing with the plunderers.
Under the soft yellow light, Keila, now clean and dressed in new clothes, raised a wine glass.
“Did you see that? Me sending that Vice-Captain flying earlier.”
A small laugh escaped my lips at her triumphant tone.
Clink.
I touched my glass to hers and replied, “I saw. You’ve improved a lot.”
It was no surprise that the Vice-Captain was no match for Keila. Having mastered mana control and fire-attribute spell modification, she was now a proper wizard. But beyond that, her growth was undeniably fast. It had reached the point where, if I wasn’t paying close attention, I would miss the moment she used a modified spell. That’s how accustomed she had become to it.
Scrape, scrape.
Keila sliced a perfectly cooked steak and stuffed a large piece into her mouth. I watched her intently.
I want to take her with me.
Based on the past week, I had made my decision. I could accept her as a companion. It wasn't blind faith yet, but I felt she was unlikely to stab me in the back.
She has a decent Trait, too.
Given her Trait, [Desperate Wish], she wouldn’t be a liability on the journey ahead. But there was still one thing holding me back.
“What are you going to do now?”
“Hmm? About what?”
“Where are you going to go?”
“Oh, that…”
Keila swallowed her steak and continued. “Now that I’ve escaped…”
A small flame flickered to life in her palm.
Fwoosh!
The fire illuminated her somber face.
“I have to go do what I need to do.”
“…I see.”
There was only one thing Keila needed to do: get revenge on the parents who abandoned her. I was disappointed, since I had planned to ask her to join me, but I couldn’t stop her. Everyone has something they absolutely must do in life. For Keila, that was revenge.
“Where will you go?”
“Me…”
My goal has always been the same.
To kill Baal. And to return to my original world. Because of that, my path was already set.
“I’m going to Sector 6.”
My current growth rate was fast, but it wasn’t enough. I had barely managed to kill the red-haired man, who was nothing more than a Vassal, and I had to risk my life to do it. I needed faster growth and more magic. Entering Sector 6 would be the first step toward that.
“Hmm, is that so?”
Keila gave me a meaningful look, then held out her wine glass.
“Then I’ll see you there. I’ll head over once my business is finished.”
At her words, a smile touched my lips. Had she read my mind? Or had my disappointment been that obvious on my face? Whatever the reason, the important thing was that Keila planned to join me too.
Clink.
“Yeah. See you in Sector 6.”
The red liquid in the transparent glass swirled. Watching it, I steeled my resolve.
Starting tomorrow, things are going to get busy.
A break like this was nice, but I couldn’t afford to let my guard down. This cruel world wasn’t lazy enough to just let you relax.
But.
No matter what crisis it threw at me, it would never be able to stop me.
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