Chapter 21
There are five figures who look like adult human males. They have the appearance of bandits, but their true identity is unknown.
One of them shoots an arrow toward a girl.
Yuurai instantly deflects the arrow with her Blade of Darkness.
At that moment, the five notice Yuurai's approach.
"Huh? What's this thing?"
"That skin color... is it a monster?"
"I don't sense any magic power at all. Just a weakling, right?"
"Looks even weaker than a goblin, doesn't it?"
"Let's catch this one too and make it a target. Hope it screams nice and loud!"
Yuurai clenches her fist. She grips it so hard that blood seeps out.
(Ah... damn it. I want to kill these guys. I don't even fully know what happened here, but these are the kind of people who deserve to die.)
Yuurai feels herself nearly consumed by dark, seething emotions.
(Calm down... calm down... calm down... Didn't Claire tell me not to lose myself? No, I haven't lost myself at all. I'm thinking perfectly calmly, and I want to kill these guys. Didn't Claire say it too? That bandits have no right to live...)
"Capture it! Hang it up!"
The five figures close in on her.
Yuurai, feeling as if she's burning with fever, glares at the five.
"Marionette."
The movements of the five come to a halt. Normally, this skill only stops physical movement, but Yuurai didn't even want to hear their voices, so this time she silenced them as well.
"Now, now, calm down, me. Killing these guys isn't the priority here. Saving those two comes first, right?"
The two who are hanging are still alive. She can hear faint groans, so that much is certain.
"We need to help them quickly."
Yuurai rushes to the girls, cuts the ropes one by one with magic, catches the two as they fall, and gently lays them on the ground.
Up close, their condition is horrific. They've been pierced by arrows in multiple places, and there are signs of bruising as well.
Fortunately, if one can call it that, there's no indication they've been violated as women.
(Not that it makes this forgivable, though.)
Yuurai takes out a healing potion from the pouch at her waist and administers it to the two. They still seem conscious enough to drink it properly.
"...First, let's restore their weakened stamina. But to close the wounds, I need to pull out the arrows. If only I had some anesthesia... Oh, right, there's Perception Disruption."
It's typically used to make others unable to recognize her presence, but it should also be possible to make someone unable to perceive pain.
Yuurai applies Perception Disruption to the two, numbing their pain. Their expressions relax slightly.
Though they likely feel no pain now, Yuurai still carefully removes the arrows, taking care not to cause further harm to their bodies.
"...It must have hurt a lot. I'm sorry I couldn't help sooner."
After pulling out all the arrows, she gives them more healing potion and applies it directly to their wounds. Drinking the potion heals the entire body, but applying it to specific areas speeds up recovery there.
"...With this, at least they won't die. I'm glad they're safe."
She doesn't want to call it fortunate, but it's a relief that the five didn't prioritize killing Ragvela and the others. Their goal must have been to torment them for a long time, as there are no wounds in vital areas.
Perhaps due to exhaustion, the two lose consciousness as their injuries heal to some extent. They're not dead. They're still breathing.
"...Alright, that's done. Now, what should I do about those guys?"
Yuurai walks toward the five, who can neither move nor speak.
As she stands in front of them, their faces show irritation and panic.
(I want to kill them right now. But should I at least hear their reasons...?)
"...Hey, you lot. Why did you do something like that? Mind telling me a little about it?"
She allows just one of them to speak.
"W-Who the hell are you!?"
"Won't you answer my question?"
Yuurai grabs the man's throat with her right hand. She barely restrains herself from crushing it completely.
At the point where the man is just barely alive, Yuurai releases her grip.
"So, why did you do it?"
The man coughs for a while before answering.
"W-Why, you ask!? They're subhumans! Neither human nor monster, just creepy freaks! What's wrong with tormenting them!?"
"...They're not freaks. Those girls are perfectly normal. ...But whatever, I'm done. Shut up. Talking to someone I'll never understand is a waste of time."
There's no room for leniency. The possibility that Ragvela and the others might have provoked them had crossed her mind, but there's not even a shred of evidence for that.
Using Marionette magic, she silences the man again.
"Ahh... I want to kill them. But killing isn't right... It's not right... Life is precious..."
Saying that life is precious feels incredibly hollow.
There's a clear distinction between lives that matter and lives that don't.
"Oh, right. How about you help me with a little experiment? There's something I've been wanting to try."
One of several spells she thought she'd never have the chance to use.
"Let's try Soul Extraction, shall we?"