Chapter 461: Chapter 461 - Mercy
"I-Is that a...?"
"I-It must be a Unique Monster! W-We...we need to run!" Exclaimed one of the A-Ranked guys, before sending a wave of earth spikes rising up towards me as he began to run away with the other two.
They’ll definitely report me if I let them escape, so I can’t let them leave. That aside, they’re terrible people, so I have no qualms about killing them.
I then spread out my wings and shot forward, zipping up as an earth wall rose up in front of me, before rapidly swooping down towards the Earth Magic user, transforming my right hand before whipping my arm across, slicing through the nape of his neck.
Blood gushed out as he fell forward and skidded across the dirt, before I split my tail in two and rapidly extended it towards the other two, wrapping around their necks and pulling them off their feet, choked gasps ringing as they got lifted off the ground.
"N-No...!" Screamed the woman frantically, before raising her hand towards me as she formed a swirling sphere of dark purple energy, firing it at me.
I swiftly swallowed it up with Magic Eater, her eyes widening in despair, before I blasted her head with blue flames, her arms falling to her sides as her body went limp.
I then tossed her body away, turning my attention to the last guy, the Healer.
"W-Wait, please...," He whimpered pleadingly, tears welling up in his eyes as I began to sharpen and tighten my tail around his neck.
I then stopped as a thought occurred to me, trails of blood trickling down his neck as I turned my attention to the injured woman.
I don’t have the ability to heal others in my new body, and since I went through the trouble of saving this woman, I might as well see it through.
"P-Please, have mercy, I-I beg you. I-I...I’ll do anything, so please-...!"
"Alright, then. Use your Healing Magic on her," I replied, before moving him over towards the woman, whose eyes widened in surprise.
"H-Huh? I-I don’t understand why-...?" The man began in confusion.
"Would you prefer to die instead?"
"No! I-I’ll do it!" He cried, before healing her, her expression easing as her injuries closed up.
Looks like the Healing Magic of this world works more or less the same as in my previous world, her injuries healed pretty fast.
"O-Okay, I did it. N-Now, please, let me go," Whimpered the man.
"Let you go? I never said I’d do that. You asked for mercy, which I’ll oblige...by giving you a quick, painless death."
"N-No, wait-...!" He exclaimed in horror, before he was abruptly cut off as I swung my arm across, decapitating him in the blink of an eye.
I tossed his body away as his head fell off and hit the ground with a thud before rolling away, blood pouring out and seeping into the dirt. I then turned my attention to the woman as she got back onto her feet, backing away warily.
Now that I get a closer look at her, she’s pretty attractive. She had long blonde hair and bright green eyes, a fair complexion, and she was a bit above average height, with an attractive figure and an agile, athletic build.
"I don’t understand...why would a Monster save me? And a Unique Monster, at that?" She frowned suspiciously.
"What, is that so unusual?" I responded with a shrug.
"Your kind is known to be sadistic and violent, thriving in killing for pleasure. So, why save me?"
Hm, the Goddess mentioned that some Unique Monsters are Reincarnators, like me. Makes sense, most good people would probably choose to reincarnate as humans.
"Call it a whim, there’s no real reason beyond that. You’re free to leave now, under one condition. Say nothing about my existence to anyone, got it?"
"You don’t have to worry about that. I have nowhere left to go, so even if I wanted to tell someone, I can’t," She replied, a bitter look appearing on her face.
Guess something must have happened. I’m not particularly interested in her backstory, though. That said, there is one thing I’m curious about...
"Tell me, how was it that an S-Rank was rendered so helpless against three A-Ranks and a B-Rank?"
"What? How do you...?"
"Doesn’t matter. Well, it’s fine if you don’t want to answer," I remarked as I began heading back to my cave, adding, "You can stay in this area for a while if you want, just so long as you keep quiet and don’t bother me."
"Huh? Uh...okay. You sound...different to how you did when you attacked," She responded in bemusement.
"Yeah, I was just playing it up, guess I went too dramatic with it."
"Uh, I see..."
She then followed me as I entered my cave, taking a seat by the wall around the middle of the space as I went to the back and sat down.
Uh, when I said that she could stay here, I meant the forest in general, not my cave. She does look pretty miserable though...fine, I’ll wait to kick her out after she’s in a bit of a better mood. But maybe I could give her a small push...
"I’m surprised that a human is fine with being in my vicinity like this. Wouldn’t most people either attack or run away?"
"Hm? No, I don’t sense any hostility from you, I can tell that you aren’t going to attack me. Not to mention, you saved my life. I suppose I should thank you, Monster."
"Just call me Larrk, ’Monster’ sounds kinda insulting."
"You have a name? Come to think of it, I have heard that some Unique Monsters have names," She mused thoughtfully, before adding, "My name is Celestia Levina. I am-...or rather, was...-an S-Ranked Adventurer of this nation."
Fine, I’ll bite.
"What do you mean ’was’?"
"Long story short, I was framed for a crime I did not commit. The four you killed were involved in framing me...I was called into the Guild, given a drink laced with poison that disrupts the flow of Mana, meaning I couldn’t use my Magic. I was then accused of murdering a Noble, which I denied of course, but those who’d framed me had doctored several pieces of evidence to make it seem like I was the culprit. I was about to be restrained, so I panicked and ran...in hindsight, that was probably a bad move, it likely made me look all the more guilty," She sighed wistfully.
"I wouldn’t say so. If you had no way of proving your innocence, you probably would’ve been executed or something, right?" I pointed out.
Also, if they were going to poison her, why not use a lethal one instead of one that just stops her from using Magic? Maybe they wanted to torture her or something, before killing her.
"Yes, that’s true, I suppose."
"I don’t get why no S-Ranks were sent after you, though."
"Well, fortunately for me, all the other S-Ranks were busy at the time, we’ve had a large number of Dungeons appear lately. I actually just returned from conquering one about an hour before all this happened. Also, that poison doesn’t just disrupt Mana, it weakens the victim physically as well.
So, a few A-Ranks and a B-Rank were more than enough to kill me in that state, which would’ve happened if it wasn’t for you. And now that those four are dead, I’ll look all the more guilty. They’ll be presumed dead before long, and the assumption will be that I killed them. So, yeah, there’s no way I can go back, I’m probably stuck being a wanted criminal for the rest of my life," She sighed wistfully.
"Sounds rough. Does that mean there’s no one who’d vouch for you?" I asked her.
"I doubt it, I don’t really have anyone close in my life. See, I’m a Commoner. Most Adventurers are Nobles, and they tend to use the fact that they’re the ones protecting the people from Monsters to oppress and abuse Commoners. Commoners usually aren’t any stronger than B-Rank, A and S-Ranks are exclusively all Nobles, until I came along. The fact that I have S-Rank abilities likely means that I’m some Noble’s bastard," She laughed bitterly.
Right, I read a bit about that in my System. There aren’t Knights in this nation, only Adventurers, and the Guilds are run by the Royal family, so they control the Adventurers. I guess Commoners who become Adventurers must be given a pretty hard time by the Nobles.
"Huh, too bad I killed all four of them. You could’ve tortured a confession out of them if I hadn’t," I mused thoughtfully.
"Oh...yeah, I didn’t even think of that. But I doubt it would’ve made much difference, all four of them were Nobles. Lower-ranked Nobles, but Nobles nonetheless. And they could easily say that they only confessed to keep me from killing them. The Noble who was murdered, he’d been preaching better treatment towards Commoners, that’s probably why he was killed. If they’re willing to kill a fellow Noble, they wouldn’t think twice about killing a lowly Commoner like me," She sighed wistfully, before adding, "You know, now that I think about it...this might be the longest conversation I’ve ever had with another person. Well, technically speaking, I guess you’re not exactly a person."
I mean, she’s not wrong, but...that felt kinda rude.
