Chapter 58
I pulled the trigger faster than Ethel could lunge at me.
Thanks to that, I ended up with holes in both cheeks—just about big enough for a finger to fit through.
I had always wanted to try this at least once.
Since I usually fought with blades, even if I cut someone’s face, it would just get shredded rather than leaving a neat, humorous hole.
"I do like women, but I’m not really into being forced like this."
Hmm, it didn’t hurt as much as I expected.
It felt more like getting a piercing.
Or maybe I was just too exhilarated to fully register the pain.
"I don’t care about your kinks—just get treated already!
We need to find a priest…!"
Kinks?
I was a perfectly normal person with a girlfriend.
And besides, I hated priests.
There was no existence more useless and vile than those who blindly believed in gods.
At least among humans, that is.
Demons weren’t human, after all. That’s right.
"…If I get treated, will you tell me?"
If she looked away now, that meant she knew.
How predictable. Cute, even. My clumsy little friend.
"What does it matter? Handing over a few filthy demons won’t cause any real trouble."
"…They’re practically my family.
Hand them over? What the hell are you even talking about!?"
"And what if they suddenly turn on you and tear you apart?
They’re not even people—they’re beasts.
No one raises stray dogs or pigs in a home where they plan to have children.
For the sake of the future, it’s better to cull them now."
"Beasts? What are you even saying?"
"Ethel, where were you that night?"
"…At home."
"Far away from the main streets and the noble districts, I assume."
Ethel nodded.
"I watched my little sister get eaten alive.
I watched my mother and father burn to death.
And they laughed. They laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world."
There were humans among them, but those were just lunatics who thought they were demons themselves.
Luckily, even though there were laws here, they bent according to the whims of the elite—so no one was spared just because they were deemed insane.
They all danced in the air with their legs kicking, just the same.
The slums became noticeably quieter after that, except for the back alleys.
"…But not all of them are like that."
"No exceptions. They’re all filthy, disgusting scum.
That’s what I’ve decided, and that’s not going to change.
So just tell me, Ethel."
She looked a little scared.
I suppose it did look a bit grotesque—me talking so casually while my body was a mangled mess.
My left arm was shredded, and my thigh had a hole in it, but Ethel was close enough that I could overpower her in an instant.
I wrapped my legs around her neck and used my weight to pin her down, flipping our positions.
"Otherwise, I’ll have to get a little more forceful. You okay with that?"
"…Y-You really think I’d talk just because of this!?
You even said before that I was beautiful!
Madam Hanton—Madam Hanton said she’d give you an apple—KYAAAAH!!"
Bang.
I twisted Ethel’s finger, forcing her to pull the trigger.
It wasn’t my heart—just somewhere around my chest.
It didn’t even make breathing particularly difficult, so it probably hadn’t hit my lungs.
Ethel stared at her own finger, bent at an impossible angle, then at my bullet-ridden body—her pupils widening in shock.
"…Ethel, I know you don’t like me, but shooting me is a bit much, don’t you think?"
"N-No, I didn’t—I wasn’t the one who—don’t! Stop it!"
This time, I forced her middle finger back onto the trigger guard, nudging it ever so slightly—just enough to hint that I might snap it.
What if she actually shot me in the head?
Well, if I died in front of Ethel, at least it would leave an impression.
She’d remember me forever.
And Alicia’s name would be etched into her memory, too.
Because Alicia was the only reason I was doing this.
"Ethel, you’re the reason I’m dying.
If you had just talked, none of this would’ve happened.
Hurry up and tell me.
What will you do if your dearest friend dies because of you? Huh? What then?"
"…Ah, ah. Stop, hic, stop, Ellen, this isn’t—AAAAAAGHHHH!!"
This was one of the conversational tactics my parents had praised.
I had thought people were just too stupid to realize how simple it was—but in reality, humans simply lacked imagination.
It felt a bit odd being on the receiving end, though.
Anyway, since a bullet was lodged in the center of my chest, blood was gushing from my mouth in thick spurts.
A small hole like that could spray blood like a water gun, drenching Ethel’s face.
"Ugh, urgh, Ethel, you’re seriously, reeaaally mean…
…If you don’t hurry up and talk, I might really die, you knooow? Uueegh."
"E-Eugh, uh, Mom, Dad, ah, ah…."
"You just need to tell me where the demons are, uugh! That’s all…"
I slipped Ethel’s trembling ring finger onto the trigger guard.
Her hands were shaking badly, but they were stiff enough that it wasn’t difficult to guide them into place.
Normally, people would struggle desperately in a situation like this—unless they were in shock.
This worked particularly well on lovers, parents and children, or married couples.
For nobles, it was even more effective to bring in their children or lovers instead of their spouses.
"I-I’ll talk! I’ll talk, so stop!!"
She sounded a bit dazed, but she had definitely agreed.
I loosened my legs from around her throat and staggered to my feet.
Then, I walked over to the drawer, pulled out a potion, and left the room.
I kept coughing up blood. It was getting hard to breathe.
I’d have to clean the blood off the walls later.
I followed the sound of screaming—loud enough to pierce through the room’s soundproofing—and knocked on the door.
The door opened, revealing something still writhing, showing off its insides while still alive.
"What happened, my lady!? It doesn’t look like we were attacked, but why are you so injured?"
"J-Just working. Bullet. Uuuegh. Get it out."
Marco dumped a half-bottle of potion over the still-conscious long-lived demon, then carried me over to a bed.
He dug out the bullets lodged in my body one by one and poured potion over the wounds.
I vomited up the pooled blood inside me, then tried to stand—but I had lost too much blood and collapsed.
Of all places, I had to land face-first into a puddle of demon blood. Disgusting.
"So, who was it that made you go this far?"
"My friend."
"…The first girl you befriended at the academy?"
"Yeah. You saw her, too."
—"Let me go! No, just kill me instead!!"
"Our guest is asking to be put out of her misery."
"As you just saw, I was having a rather intense conversation.
She doesn’t seem to know much, but at least I managed to get a rough idea of what’s going on in that underground village beneath the waterway."
"I should be able to find out where a bunch of demons are hiding soon, too."
"That’s good news."
"Anyway, thanks for pulling the bullets out."
"Think nothing of it."
Most bullets get pushed out naturally as new flesh regenerates, but every now and then, if luck isn’t on my side, they stay lodged inside, sealed over by skin.
In that case, I’d have to cut them out with a knife, which was a pain.
And it stung a little, too.
When I stepped back into the room where Ethel was confined, I saw her sitting on the blood-soaked bed, gnawing at her fingernails, trembling uncontrollably.
"Why are you acting so pathetic?
If it’s the mess that’s bothering you, I’ll call someone in later to clean it up."
"…You don’t even feel pain?"
Ah, so that’s what she meant.
Now that I thought about it, I had left her fingers broken like that.
My bad.
I checked the drawer—only two bottles of potion left.
I’d have to tell the servants to restock when they came to clean.
I opened one and poured it generously over Ethel’s mangled hand, watching as her twisted fingers snapped back into place.
"It hurts. It hurt a lot.
And the one who did this to me was you, Ethel."
"That’s because you—!"
"Anyway, you said you’d talk. If you don’t, I’ll have to pull this again."
I pressed the barrel of my gun against her temple.
I didn’t know what I was hoping to gain from this, but my body moved on its own.
"…There’s a cave under Sorghum Farm.
And beneath the cathedral in the territory, there’s a large underground crypt…."
"And if they’re not there?"
"How would I know?!"
I shrugged casually and spoke as if it was no big deal.
"Well, this was a pretty mild approach.
Still, I’m sorry, Ethel.
If they’re not there, I’ll just hunt down your brother and parents and kill them all instead."
"…What?"
"There’s probably something there. No need to worry too much. Haha."
"W-Wait…"
"Unless you’re holding out on me? Is there another place?"
"T-There’s… an empty space inside the mansion… Ah, ugh, AAAAAAGH!!"
I drew my knife and plunged it into Ethel’s right arm, the same one she had just used to grab my sleeve.
"And what else?"
"It hurts! It hurts! Take it out, take it out!!"
"And? Anything else?"
I carried multiple daggers, so using one like this wasn’t a big deal.
Besides, people were surprisingly resilient—as long as I didn’t pull the blade out, even a critical wound wouldn’t kill her immediately.
"Ethel, we’re not really friends, are we?"
I brushed aside her flailing left hand and drove another blade into her stomach.
What a shame. Poor baby’s first time getting stabbed wasn’t by some handsome man, but by cold steel.
"Th-There’s nothing else!! AAAAAAGHH!! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!!"
"You know what happens to liars, don’t you? People like that deserve to die…."
Ethel could do nothing but sob.
I yanked the knives out and poured potion over the wounds.
"Hrk, hic, ugh…"
That should be everything she had to say.
If not, I’d just deal with it when the time came.
With that thought, I patted and stroked Ethel’s head as she cried.