Dungeon Defense (WN)

“……Your head.”

I choked on my words.

It wasn’t the words of an actor who had ten different roles on a stage and was calculating everything. My emotions were swelling up.

“Raise your head.”

She did as I told her. Pure black eyes stared back at me.

“I ask you this. Why do you wish to make yourself an eternal piece of trash?”

“O Great Being, that is because I cherish myself to an insane degree.”

Her lips curved slightly.

“I cherish myself so much that I cannot lie to myself. I may one day think to myself like this: forcing Luke to die is a sin, but ‘it could not be helped’ for the sake of the village. I did nothing wrong.”

“No, it could have been helped. I could die for Luke’s sake; however, I will not. This is my choice. I chose Luke’s death. I did not want to hide this truth from myself.”

“…….”

“Therefore, I will personally kill my brother. I will dye my soul with his red blood. I will live eternally as a piece of trash. O Great Being, I believe that you will generously tolerate this request of mine.”

Because you are the same as me.

Daisy’s eyes were whispering that to me.

Why have you acknowledged slash-and-burn villagers and someone like myself as humans? Why have you done something so pointless? I know the reason. I am the only one here who knows……. You intended to shoulder the deaths of all these villagers by yourself.

Is that not so? You did not try to avoid it. You told us the irrational and selfish reason why you were going to kill us.

You are someone who cannot control how much you cherish yourself.

I know this.

Because I am just like you.

“…….”

“…….”

According to a myth that had been passed down for generations in this world, people’s souls were a bit wider a very long time ago. They were wide enough that you could live without having to sacrifice other people. People were complete. It was enough to love yourself.

The Gods started to become afraid once they realized how excessively perfect people were.

The Gods forcefully tore their souls apart. Some people were torn into two, three, or four pieces. People’s souls become small and they could no longer endure without sacrificing others. Now people wander eternally trying to find their lost half.

“You are, incredibly dangerous.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

The girl nodded as if she had heard something obvious.

“If I were to kill Luke……then you would try to avenge him till your last breath.”

“That is correct, O Great Being.”

The girl didn’t deny it this time as well.

“Even if my life were to come to an end, I would leave this fate to another and it will continue to be passed down until the day of Your Honor’s demise eventually arrives.”

Daisy’s parents trembled greatly, but I didn’t care.

“I am afraid of you.”

“Yes.”

The girl smiled.

“I am also afraid of Your Honor.”

“Then what must be done? Do I have to kill you?”

I wasn’t threatening her. I asked her this sincerely with terror and fear.

Daisy responded.

“Your Honor would have to slaughter every last human here including me. Someone may one day try to get revenge on Your Honor, after all.”

“……What will you do if I say that I was going to do just that?”

“That would truly be a wise decision. However, please allow us to end our lives on our own.”

Several villagers let out a gasp.

The girl and I continued to stare at each other, paying absolutely no mind to the reaction of the others around us.

“We would be ending our own lives. Your Honor would have no other choice but to allow this.”

You are not that much a great man to be able to deny us of this, this was what she was saying.

“Dozens of humans would be committing suicide because of Your Honor. The men would cry as they stab their own necks angrily. Mothers would cry as they kill their babies and stab their own necks with the same blades they had used to kill their children. This may take many hours.”

You, as someone who has acknowledged us as humans, cannot interfere during this process.

“This may take an entire night or multiple days. Several days may pass and people may die of thirst.”

However, you still cannot interfere.

I would not be able to do anything.

Ever.

Because of the creed that you willingly decided to carry on your own.

“O Great Being, would you be able to shoulder this scene for the rest of your life?”

There was a smirk on Daisy’s lips.

“…….”

My golems and fairies who were linked with me emotionally became restless.

The golems started to groan with a low voice while the fairies started to panic and dart around the air frantically. The villagers who were near the monsters let out short cries once the monsters started to move.

“That is my problem. Girl, that is not something for you to be worried about.”

The girl didn’t respond. She simply bowed her head respectfully. The choice is yours, that was how I interpreted her gesture.

I stayed silent for a while.

I contemplated and contemplated.

“…….”

A needless part of my emotions, huh?

You fool. Think about the time with Jack Aland. This could be a repeat of what happened back then. But, despite that…….

I glanced down. Daisy and Luke’s parents were still prostrated before me. The father was heavily injured because he had fought a golem. His arm and leg were bent badly.

I let out a sigh. It seems that I was fated to die as a fool. I was going to have to take a gamble again.

“Jeremi, heal this man.”

I ordered while pointing at Luke’s father. Jeremi didn’t say anything back as she took out a potion.

She soaked a washcloth with the potion and used it to wipe the injured areas on the man’s body. She had to twist his limbs occasionally so that his bones would heal properly. The man groaned.

“Heal the other injured people as well.”

“Understood.”

Jeremi went around and healed the villagers. The villagers seemed to have no idea what was going on, but their faces lightened up once they realized that they were going to live. However, my face was utterly frigid.

“Girl, do you understand why I am healing them?”

“I assume that it is to obtain my favor.”

“That is so, you damned brat.”

I growled.

“You succeeded in dragging out my goodwill. In other words, you made it so that I no longer wish to kill you. You did quite a splendid job gambling with your life and the lives of the villagers!”

“You flatter me.”

The girl responded without batting a single eye. There’s really nothing this 10-year-old girl can’t say.

I got annoyed.

“I will make a wager with you. I will do whatever it takes to win Luke over. If Luke genuinely swears his loyalty to me, you damned brat, not only will I spare Luke’s life, but I will spare you, your parents, and the rest of this village.”

However, I continued.

“If, despite my best efforts, Luke refuses to swear his loyalty to me……then I vow to every Goddess that Luke, you, your parents, and everyone here will be turned into cold corpses.”

I explained the rules of the game to Daisy.

“Your brother is a big risk. A normal oath of fealty will not be enough. I cannot acknowledge him without a magical slave contract that devotes his entire body and soul to me. Furthermore, you cannot tell your brother about my goal or intentions.”

“…….”

Daisy stared at me seriously.

“For this sake, you must become my slave temporarily.”

“Your slave?”

“That is correct. By engraving a slave seal on you, it will prevent you from doing anything that goes against my will. You will be unable to do things that I forbid. If you cannot agree to this, then I will kill all of you here and now.”

This was quite literally the bare minimum safety measure that I could take.

Could she tell that I was being serious? Daisy gave an immediate response.

“Understood. O Great Being, I will become your slave.”

“Even if Luke does swear his loyalty to me and you win this wager, I do not intend to rid you of your slave seal. You are that terrifying of a human, after all.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Daisy nodded her head.

What an impudent brat.

* * *

I had to tear two mid-rank teleportation scrolls. This was for the sake of sending the villagers back to my castle with my golems. I ended up using hundreds of gold coins in an instant.

The villagers were going to live under Parsi and his village. However, I kept Luke and Daisy’s family behind for a moment.

I then planned out a theatrical stage play thoroughly.

I first set the slash-and-burn village on fire. I made the fire large enough that you could see the smoke from anywhere. Sure enough, a boy started to run toward the village desperately once he saw the smoke. I stayed hidden as I watched him.

The boy shouted.

“Dad! Mom! Daisy!”

Once he did, as we decided beforehand, Luke’s father shouted back at him.

“No!”

That one word was enough to make the boy stop running and jump back. In truth, we had actually prepared more lines besides a simple ‘no’, but that one line was enough to make the boy understand the situation. As expected of the boy fated to become the hero.

The boy ran almost insanely. Despite being a child, he ran through the forest like a wolf. If I hadn’t placed my assassins behind him, I would have probably lost him.

The boy eventually slowed down and I appeared near him wearing a disguise as a soldier. It wasn’t hard to disguise myself since I was wearing armor underneath my priest clothes. I proceeded to shout while looking around to make it seem as much of a coincidence as possible.

“I’m a patrol officer! Are there any survivors!? I’m a patrol officer! Damn it. Survivors, are there any survivors!?”

The boy jumped out from a bush.

“I-I’m here! Mr. Soldier! I’m here!”

He took the bait.

I smiled widely.

“Oh, my word! Dear Lord, you’re really here!”

“A monster, a monster attacked…….”

The boy was treating me like his savior as he told me about what had happened without any hesitation. He was practically shouting at me to save his family.

“The village is on fire! My mom and dad!”

“All right. You are a brave child. Calm yourself, calm down.”

I lowered my back and patted the boy’s cheek.

Luke, the boy who will become the hero.

I gently stroke the cheek of the boy who was one of the candidates to cut out my heart.

“A punitive force has just now entered the village. I was ordered to go around and look for potential survivors.”

“A punitive force? Really?”

Luke jumped up and down.

“Are my mom and dad really going to survive? My little sister too? Also the village people?”

“Of course. I promise you. You’ll be together with all of the village people soon.”

My consolation must have helped him relax as the boy started to cry. He had thought that his family had died, but he was just told that they were still alive. Of course he would be happy.

“Oh dear. It seems your tension has finally left you. All right, come here.”

I picked the boy up.

“Your little sister’s name is Daisy, right?”

“Hkk…… Mister, you know Daisy?”

“Yes, I do. And your name is Luke.”

“Yeah.”

I grinned.

“I know your village inside out. I heard a lot about it! I even know about the girl next door whom you confessed to when you were 7⎯⎯⎯.”

“Eh? Aah! Aaah! How do you know about that!?”

Because I’m your sworn enemy, hero.

I walked through the forest with Luke in my arms. He was heavy. His weight wasn’t the only thing that was making him heavy. The weight of my life was also there. That was how it felt.

The performance was beginning once again.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder how many people are going to complain about Dantalian’s decision. I can definitely see it coming. Welp, I have nothing else to announce. Just patiently waiting for the job to get back to me. I think they’re trying to also hire an editor, so I’m not sure.

I’ll see you guys whenever the next release is done.

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