I'm Sorry For Being Born In This World! Chapter 18-28

Chapter 18. Useless Saint

The saint's HP displayed on the status screen was 19,500.

She's only good for tanking…

"Should we just ask each other questions about each other?"

The saint retorted in an annoyed tone at Necro's suggestion.

"Should we hold another vote? Like a proper democracy?"

"Who should I be angry at, then? Ah! I suppose we can hold a vote to choose that as well?"

Girl really had a temper.

"Now, now. You can put off the lover's quarrel for later."

The two immediately shouted back at me.

"Lovers my a.s.s!"
"Who said we're lovers?!"

So shy, they are.

"The conversation isn't getting anywhere."

I said this, and immediately threw a question.

"First off, your t.i.tles. It's not important, but… Why do you have two t.i.tles of a saint? It's quite strange, don't you think? Does the system just award t.i.tles to people who gets called by said t.i.tle a lot?"

The saint stiffened a little.
But before anything got weirder, Necro shook away the question as if it was nothing.

"Don't worry about it, don't worry about it! It's just a t.i.tle."

I could tell how shaken he was.

"Like you said, it just sticks when people call you by a certain t.i.tle. That's how it is."

"No, no! I'm not hiding anything! It's not like you get stats when you get a t.i.tle anyway, so why are you so interested in it? Move on, move on!"

I asked my next question with a suspicious feeling.

"Then tell me next about why you have -30 stats to your health regen…"
"That's!"

Again, Necro paled when I asked this question. The question was directed at the saint though…
Was he supposed to be her manager or what?

What was she hiding?

That t.i.tle, and the -30 to the health regen.
I couldn't tell what they were planning.

"It's fine. "

The saint raised her hand, and stopped Necro.

"I'll explain it myself."

She took off the bracelet on her left arm, and put it on the table.
It was shaped in the form of a snake biting its tail.

[Snake of Infinity = Ouroboros] – Rank: D+
– Strengthens the effect of autophagy.

One word in particular struck out to me.

"Autophagy…?"

In layman's terms, it would basically meant the cells would consume themselves.
The saint responded to this casually.

"It's a diet bracelet."
"……."

So that's where the -30 to her health regen came from.

As I thought, lies were mixed into this.

"So, what are the other items, then?"

The saint began to put all her items, except for her dragon boots, on the table.
I'll start off with the strange ring with spikes on it.

[Devourer Ring] – Rank: D+
– Instantly digests all food that is eaten, and allows one to eat up to three times one's own weight.

"A diet bracelet and a ring that lets you eat a lot…"

I'm supposed to make a disappointed face here, right?

I tried thinking about the average person's reaction to such a thing, and imitated it.

"……"

The saint didn't respond.

Wasn't she supposed to tackle me here?

Let's move on.

[Frog Wallet] – Rank: C
– A frog wallet every wizard from the Abyss possesses. Only the owner of the wallet can open it, and the wallet is big enough to contain about 500 liters of water. It is possible to take in objects bigger than the wallet itself.

I've seen it several times before.

Next is…

It was created with a combination of green, blue, and red gems to form a flower.

[Promise of a Fairy King] – Rank: C-
– A ring that allows one to receive help from a fairy. However, it does not grant wishes.

So fairies did exist.

"I've seen enough of the items. Now, what kind of magic can you use?"

The saint grinned, as if she had been waiting for this question, and showed me her list of skills.

[Shining Buster] – The saint's ultimate attack. She gathers holy power in her fist and punches. The afflicted area becomes healed. Be sure to cooly shout the name of the skill upon use.

[Shining Low Kick] – The saint's ultimate attack. She gathers holy power in her legs and kicks. The afflicted area becomes healed. Be sure to cooly shout the name of the skill upon use.

[Shining Dempsey Roll] – The saint's ultimate attack. She gathers holy power in her hips…

I threw the list in front of me to the side.

"Are you stupid?!"

I've never seen someone so useless!

"You just put the word shining in front of everything! And since people get healed when you hit them, your attacks are meaningless!"

She heals by beating on her allies.

The saint puffed up her nonexistent chest.

"Ahem! Just what do you think of me as? I'm a white magician. I don't have any skills that harm. Ah! Of course, it's possible for me to use light and water magic."

I scrolled through the list of skills.

She had no attack skill.

"I'm d.a.m.n good at healing you know. Ah, using them on you should be super painful, though."

That was the problem.

I didn't synergize properly with the saint.

"You should learn an attack skill."

The saint smirked.

"I only need Shining Buster to beat you up."

"Oh dear. You seem to be unaware of what healers do in a party. This is why newbies are…"

The saint crossed her arms and showed me a face full of disappointment.

Was there something that I didn't know as a newbie to this world?

"Just what is the role of the healer…?"

The saint raised her chin after hearing this question.

"The queen."

"Mm…"

She seemed to be deep in thought.
After thinking for a bit, the saint asked a question back at me.

"A person who gets served? Maybe?"

…I give up.
I'll just have to cross her off the list of combat capabilities. She's dumb, too.

"I'm done with the saint. Now, Necro."
"What do you mean, you're done?! I feel hurt?"

Yeah, whatever.

"Eh? What? You're done already?"

Necro stood up when he heard his name being called.

"Ok, just wait a second. Let me put on my equipment."

"I have to wear it later anyway."

I thought what he was fiddling with was a brown belt, but upon closer inspection, I found that it was a human spine.
When it was put it on his back, the spine stuck itself on.

Kigigigi!

Bones resembling centipede legs came out to cover Necro's body.
It was almost like Necro had his ribs growing outside of his body.

[Bone Collector] – Rank: C

– Bone Mountain: Collects bones in an alternate dimension. The collected bones are used to fix the Bone Collector when it gets damaged.

"This is my main armor. My weapon is…"

Necro took out a knife from of his coffin, spun it on his hand once, and put it in his scabbard.
It was the weapon that ate the children.

"Gebesh. Remember it? The knife that eats flesh. Its stats are awesome and all, but there's one problem with it."

"It's cursed. If I just leave it out, a cannibalistic demon gets summoned at night. Quite a troublesome one to boot."

"Yeah, it exists. It doesn't even have skin, and yet it's d.a.m.n hard to kill. Gets pretty annoying. That's why I decided to seal it up while I use it. It's still pretty good, though. Cuts well."

He should probably be able to use that in his necromancy as well.

I summed up my feelings for that weapon in one sentence.

"Looks like it'd appear in a horror movie."

"Of course they'd refuse."

"You can revive with Overdeath whenever you want."

This guy wasn't sane either.
Necro sat down on the sofa.

"Despite being a murderer, you're kind of a coward, aren't you?. Isn't a murderer supposed to be friends with a cannibalistic demon?"

"You are a monster though. Ever seen a corpse talk?"

I want to talk to someone normal.

+0.2 to health regen.

Of course, it wasn't anything compared to the saint's health regen, but…
Suddenly, a question came into my head.

"Do you actually know how to use knives?"
"Do I know how to?"

Necro grinned, took out the knife, and threw it.
The knife managed to slice a centipede on a column perfectly in half.

"Didn't It tell you? If you don't throw away the stereotypical view of a mage in this world, you're going to get killed really fast? You can't think of them as normal scholars. Think of them as demons equipped with guns. That's what a mage is in this world."

I turned to look at the saint.

"A demon, huh…"

The saint, who had been munching on a cream bun on the sofa, hugged her bread as if it was going to get s.n.a.t.c.hed right away from her.
Her puffed up cheeks reminded me of a squirrel.

"Uumph omph mmph omm?"

Omph..?

This d.a.m.n useless saint.

Chapter 19. Two Unique Pa.s.sive Skills

The saint swallowed the bit of bread in her throat, and growled like a mother cat protecting her young.

So this bread addict was the strongest white wizard in the world…

I decided to stop paying attention to this idiot and turned around to Necro.

"The rest?"

"Just look at their stats. Don't touch. They're dangerous."

Necro warned me of this and showed me a skull ring.

[The Hunger of The Sea of Death = Aquinad] – Rank: C
– A ring crafted out of the bones of the demon fish, Aquinad. Those who touch the ring will get his life force absorbed and die. It strengthens the effects of necromancy.

In other words, it absorbs HP and MP.
Those who have low health would probably get sick or die instantly.

"I'm fully armed now, alright? Take a look. No need for blessings, yeah?"

Necro posed like a model with Gebesh in his hand.

I nodded and took a look at his status screen.

His HP seemed pretty low compared to his MP.

He really felt like a dark wizard.

"Right. You should be at least this strong to be the world's strongest."

Necro grinned at my complement.

"Hey, hey, don't get me all excited now."

The saint perked up her ears and made an expectant face, but I ended up ignoring her completely.

Since the saint told me that a bladed weapon was worth about ten points, this was quite large.

The defense stat should rise rapidly as long as he reinforces himself with a bit of mana.
And that 205 for spell power would mean that he would be able to perform 20 times better than he would with a knife using spells.

"What about the spellbooks?"
"Spellbooks?"

Necro made a confused expression at my question.

"Weren't you holding it when we met the first time?"

He had fifty two of them at that.

"….Eh? Uh. Ah~ That~?"

Why was he acting like that?

"I sold it! Yeah. I was low on money. Times are getting hard."

Lies.

Just what was he planning with the spellbooks?

"Ah, hey, let's move on already. Gotta finish this quick."

Necro rushed me, as if he was trying to change the subject away from my suspicions.

…Well, I guess it doesn't matter.
Doesn't really matter as long as I get items and money.

"Now, the spellstones are basically scrolls that can be used multiple times. I guess there's only one thing left then?"

The next thing Necro took out was a black box.
Each corner was decorated with the carving of a screaming man.

[Portable Torture Chamber = Pain Chest] – Rank: C
– A tool of black magic that forcibly awakens someone's power. Transfers the consciousness of those whose blood touched the chest inside to show them unimaginable pain. Most die from the excruciating pain, but those who do survive awakens to their powers.

A tool that awakens powers…

"It's nothing. Just an antique, you know? They used to make soldiers out of these, but the success rate was so low that they just gave up on it?"

"Hero? Ah, that. Uh, coffin, coffin… It's just… You know how we're going to kill the hero by the end, right?"

He was making things up again.

"They need to die, but you know, we still gotta bury them properly. You know how countries honor the deaths of famous people? It's like that. It's not really used for anything other than my storage device right now."

It'd be just a waste of time to dig further.
The man just had too many secrets that I didn't care about.

Those other than me were worthless, after all.

Necro kept talking about his abilities as I thought such things.

"And… As for the magic that I can use… I can use necromancy and earth magic… And fire. Pretty good, don't you think?"

The saint uses light and water. Necro uses earth and fire.
Their elements clearly showcased their personalities.

"I think I explained pretty much everything with this? We can see the rest later in battle. Words have their limits after all."
"That's right! It's your turn now, Mr. Murderer!"

The saint glared at me from the sofa.

"I want to hear about the source of your inhuman strength and your two skills!"

Does she think this is a formal hearing or what?

"I get it."

I was planning on telling her from the start.

"Before that, though. I wanted to ask you something, Necro."

"No, not that. I want to know about the limits of my body. I'm a dead person, remember?"

"I remember you saying that you'd cancel the magic on me if my body was severely destroyed during the royale."

"Does that mean as long as you don't stop feeding me mana, I won't die no matter what happens to this body?"
"No."

The saint was the one to answer.

"If more than 50% of the liquid in your body is lost, you will die. Necro's magic only holds your soul within the liquid of your body… If the link between the liquid and the soul becomes weak, you will die."

I thought of a game character that you would control with a joystick after hearing this explanation.

If the losses become too big, connection would be lost.

As I thought, that's how it worked….

I understood why I 'couldn't feel the realism in life'.

"Alright. I get it. I suppose it's finally my turn, then…"

I suppose I should start off with the story of how I came to be.
After organizing my thoughts, I began to explain my origins to them.

The late 16th century.

This couple, instead of sharing this information with the world, decided to keep it for themselves.

They decided to use the technology for themselves and only themselves.

A hereditary knowledge transfer ability known as Whitehead.

The companies this family created grew day and night.

Later on, Whitehead managed to create an underwater colony for themselves, and created a system where they would be able to live without support from the outer world.

"Colony?"

Necro asked a question.

"Have you never seen an SF movie before? It's an environment that allows humans to live in conditions where they couldn't have lived in before…"

"Cold fusion was already achieved in the 18th century. Making a colony isn't much."

"I believe they focused on creating a thoroughbred after that point. To try to reach outer s.p.a.ce."

Each generation of Whitehead was developed by matching superior genes together.
What was created in the end was a species that could survive even in s.p.a.ce.

"h.o.m.o Sapiens Caelus. I'm the first of its kind. A [designed human] if you will."
"Ah…"

After nodding a few times, Necro opened his mouth.

"Is he a sufferer of Chuuninbyou? It's a little… weird for his age. I thought he was crazy, but…"
"And you think it's ok to say all those weird spells for the sake of black magic?"

Necro shut up at my retort.

We both decided not to talk further about this matter in a silent agreement.

"In any case, you're a modified human? I get where that strength comes from then. It'd be impossible for anyone to be that strong without mana otherwise. Alright."

Necro lowered his posture.

"But you know, I'm only accepting this because I'm a wizard myself? If you tell this to anyone else… They'll think you escaped from a psyche ward? Ah, sorry, sorry. Keep going. Whitehead, was it?"
"I suppose… This would be a unique pa.s.sive skill of sorts."

It was dangerous to reveal one's skills to other people, but the gains I'd get in the future made this risk worth it.

I opened my status screen, and showed its contents to Necro.

[Hereditary Memories = Whitehead] – A unique genetical skill that only exists in the family of Whitehead. Transfers one's knowledge to descendents.

Necro thought for a bit, then threw me a question.

"Transfers knowledge?"
"Think of it as me having a hard drive in my head. The only side effect would be that I'd have to sleep a bit longer?"

The organization of information took quite some time.

"And there was, what was it? Cold something?"

"That should be in your head as well?"

"Oh~ What about your last ability, then?"

I opened up my status screen, and showed the info to Necro again.

[Ultimate = Menticide] – A structure of thought that allows one to find, a.n.a.lyze, and make use of information that would allow one to kill someone efficiently. If 'soul' is a base OS that is installed in the brain, Menticide is an updated OS made to kill others. There is a severe side effect that comes with it, but such things can be overcome with some effort.

Necro read the contents once and let out a complaint.

"Who wrote this d.a.m.n thing? So hard to understand. What does it even do?"

I summarized the ability in one word for him to understand.

"An ability to find out ways to kill people."

Necro's eyes turned serious.

Chapter 20. The Power of Authority

After finishing up my preparations to leave, I followed the Necro and the saint out of the shelter.

They didn't seem that different than modern soldiers.

"These people are the special task force?"

Necro shrugged.

"Pretty small eh?"

There was only about fifty of them.

"I thought there'd be around eight hundred."
"Why so worried? There's you and me."

Necro seemed to trust me a little more than before.
I wonder if I can ask him for some money if I manage to persuade him a little.

"There's me too you know?"

The saint raised her hand and began jumping.

"What? You haven't gone back home yet?"

I chipped in at Necro's joke.

"Just throw her away."

A little boldly.

"Throw me away? What?!"

The saint balled up her fists at me and Necro.

"I think we can just leave her here…"

I was being honest.
The girl was just plain useless.

"Eyy!"

The saint used her tiny fists to beat away at my body.

I could even see the afterimages of her strikes in the air.

"It hurts! It hurts! Stop!"

The saint only stopped after she was beating me up for a while.

"Ah, you two wait here for a moment. I need to deal with something."

Necro walked over to the soldiers after saying this.

When Necro left, the saint began to tug on my clothes.

"…What?"
"Um…"

She took me behind the building.

"What is it?"

"Bathroom fairy?"
"Flower fairy."

Her face got closer to me.

"It's a flower fairy!"

"I don't think you get it, though… I told you, right? I put a magic on you. Be careful to not stray too far away from me. Always stay next to me. Like a slave. Like a dog."

She's really saying whatever she wants.

"I'll get a warning noise in my head before I die, right?"

"……."

"Never thought about doing such a thing. Aren't you a little too lewd? You're just a high schooler."

I got kicked.

"Just wait here quietly! I'll quickly come back!"

The saint hopped into the building like a tiny squirrel.

I took out my e-cigarette from the cartridge.

It allowed the user to increase his physical capabilities for a short amount of time.

Pii-

When I took in a sip, my neck began to burn up as if I was inhaling some fire.

To think pain would be the only thing that makes this world feel a bit more real… How ironic.

When I let out the smoke in my lungs, my body turned cold again.

I'd have to smoke quite a bit to keep my body moving from now on.

The soldiers that weren't involved in the mission were checking on the supplies for the mission.

Our plan was to go over the hill by foot and take the train from Transgression Station.

The place where we were headed was the [Sword Tomb], Volez.

Inside the doc.u.ment Necro gave me, it was said that the Warrior often got his gear checked out in this town.

How unsafe. Or did he really have the strength to protect himself?
But in any case, it was a foolish move to travel alone. The man was practically asking to be attacked.

"Hey!"

To think a brave like him, who's wanted by the government, would have the gall to stay within the country.

All of this was caused by the Warrior's needless confidence in his strength.

"The b.a.s.t.a.r.d's ignoring us, isn't he? Hey, you! Yeah, you! The one smoking over on the wall!"

I turned my head.

He had a military cut along with tanned skin. He seemed pretty muscular.

"d.a.m.n- He's quite strange, isn't he? Looks like a mummy."

The soldier threw the bag in his hand onto the floor.
The bag that seemed to weigh around 10 kg fell down on the floor with a 'thump'.

"What are you doing, you dumba.s.s? Start working. You think you're on a picnic?"

I get it.

I should be closer to a volunteer though…

If I kill him, we'd lose manpower.

But then again, leaving someone this rebellious alive would be annoying when I have to issue commands.

"Hey, take this as well."

The soldiers around threw their bags at me as well.

They were probably thinking that I wouldn't be able to fight back, considering their superior numbers.

"What the h.e.l.l is he? Is he mute?"

"Battle Royale my a.s.s. In the end, he's just a criminal."
"I heard you were with a high schooler. Did you have fun?"

The soldiers didn't approach me.

I could see hostility in their eyes, but I could also see that their bodies were all quite tense.
Of course they would be. They probably heard the rumors.

"The reason why you're picking a fight with me."

The soldiers flinched.

"1. I killed soldiers while trying to escape. 2. Soldiers you know want me to be punished. 3. The top told you not to pick a fight with me. 4. You want me to be punished, but don't know how to get me punished. 5. You think your superior numbers will render me unable to do anything. That's what led you to pick a fight with me."

That was what I could get from their actions.

"Am I right?"
"……"

Looks like I was. I suppose there was no way killing soldiers wouldn't have consequences.

I thought I was done with the major's case…

I bowed towards the soldiers.

"I apologize."

Fake apologies were the best course of action here.

Just taking their bullying wouldn't be very smart either.
If I just act a little apologetic here…

"What the h.e.l.l are you guys doing?!"

Necro managed to appear just at the right time.

This was partly because Necro was their leader, but more so because he was a 'wizard'.

There was no reason why the soldiers wouldn't be afraid.

"Hah~ G.o.d d.a.m.n it."

Necro looked over the soldiers with a surprised face, then turned to me.

"What do you want me to do to them? d.a.m.n it, I'd have never expected anything like this to happen."

Should I… Stop him?
I think it'd be good if I went with the scenario of me being the unexpectedly good guy.

"Stop it. It's all my fault anyway. I need to take my punishment."

No need to find excuses.
Excuses would just make people hate me more.

"What did you do wrong? These soldiers just made you bow down to them just because they didn't like you, didn't they? What kind of a crazy situation is this?"

The soldiers were at fault now.

"Pushup positions. Now."

Dust began to rise as soldiers got in their positions.
Nearly fifty people went into the pushup position.

"Should I punish them according to military law? Hey, Sergeant Kim."
"Yes sir!"

The closest soldier near him shouted out loud.

Well, I guess he didn't have much of a choice, considering his only other option was prison.
Necro walked over to Sergeant Kim.

"Let me ask you this. What happens in the battlefield if one disobeys the command of a higher officer?"

"Correct. You may stand."

He takes care of the man for being a fellow Korean…

"I'm not gonna do this again. Do this again and… You get it?"

The man was basically threatening the soldiers with death.

They must be really regretting their decision right now.

"You should understand that I just saved your a.s.ses right now. Do you even know who you were trying to pick a fight with?"

Just what was he…

"If this guy feels like it, he could just wipe you in three seconds. You think I'm joking? Roll left."

The ground shook.

"Oh? You guys are getting relaxed already, huh? Roll right."

The ground shook again.

"They must be tired from all the work. You should really stop…"

Carrot after the whip.

If Necro was the boss, she must be his a.s.sistant.

"Did you go see your fairy's extended family or what? You took so long."

The saint kicked my shins.

The pain revived in my leg for a bit.

"…Stand."

Dust rose up and the soldiers all stood up.

"I'll think about what to do with you after seeing how hard you work today. Just know that I, as your leader, have become very disappointed with you. Understand?"

The response was small.
Necro's voice turned ferocious.

"You sons of b.i.t.c.hes? Fine, I'll give you what you want."

He only became finished with them after making them roll for five more minutes.

Their backs were drenched with sweat.

Plus, they probably valued their life much more than petty revenge.

We walked up a steep hill.

It really was fall.

Inside the forest was a giant graveyard.
The rows upon rows of grave posts made the entire scene quite eerie.

"This is?"
"The graveyard for the summoned ones."

The saint seemed to be trying to hide some kind of emotion in her voice.

"There's a lot of them."

Around five hundred.

It was hard enough trying to look after myself.
These other people were probably just unlucky.

"Accidents?"
"Well, there were accidents, but most of these are just failed summonings. They were summoned without their bodies or heads."

The one to answer my question was Necro.

"Did you know? We had three failed summonings before we managed to summon you. I really thought we failed by the time you had arrived."

"Well, it is quite far away. And it's not like a person would stay still for a long time. Trying to estimate their coordinates based on their movement is… Phew~ It's impossible."

Perhaps sitting in the electric chair ended up being a blessing for me.

"Isn't it quite accurate already though? You'd need to calculate the planet's revolution and rotation, and not only that, the rate in which the universe expands."

One had to calculate a person's exact location according to time.

"Ah, we already have equations for those. We aren't wizards just for show you know."

A plain appeared before us.

"Well, even so, it does get quite scary at times. One little mistake, and we'd end up summoning the sun or a black hole. This much is amazing already, but I can't help but wish for a safety decide…"

An ability to be able to locate a specific target and summon it into a different world…

"If it's possible to summon a human, wouldn't it be possible to summon wealth, food, and weapons into this world?"

If they didn't do this, despite it being possible…
I could guess just how much mana this operation usually took when I thought this much.

"How wonderful would that be? We could just summon things whenever we wanted it. But the thing is… The cost to summon one thing from a different world is worth a single year's budget for the department of defense. You get how much money we spent on you now? You're quite expensive~ You might not think of yourself as one, but the people at top already regard you as the nation's property. You'll probably have an inspector come for you later even."
"Inspector?"

The saint answered this one.

"It isn't much. He'll just appear like a ghost, ask a few questions, then disappear. You just have to be honest. Never lie."

"I don't know. I never lied."

Liar.

I could begin to see a black train reveal itself in front of us as we made our way downhill.

Chapter 21. A Report On The Undying

The scenery quickly changed outside the window.
We left the forest that we were in, and a giant plain appeared before us.

Honk–

After the horn sounded, an announcement by the captain rang through the train cars.

[Thank you for boarding. This train is headed for Hope, and it has departed from the station Kuboren, Kuboren station…]

Thanks to Necro buying the entire carriage for ourselves, it was quite s.p.a.cious and nice inside.

Thanks to this being the VIP room, there was quite a lot of s.p.a.ce inside.

Who knows? The man might snore.

"Hah!"

The saint leaned back the two chairs and lay down.
Since it took eight hours to get to our destination, Volez, it seemed that she was going to sleep.

"I get to have such nice treatment thanks to Mr. Murderer… I must've acquired quite a bit of positive karma… heh."

You're kidding me.

She almost looked like a cat in that position.

"……."

"The soldiers are all traveling while standing up, and here you are lying down like a lazy pig. How about you try doing a handstand for the rest of the trip out of atonement?"

The saint made an annoyed face at my kind advice.

"Would the soldiers feel more comfortable if I did a handstand? No. I'm corrupted through and through."

"I'm gonna go to h.e.l.l anyway, so I might as well enjoy life now."
"In any case, give me the doc.u.ments I need to see."

I saw one of the soldiers hand the saint a doc.u.ment before getting on the train.

"You're quite the workaholic, Mr. Murderer."

The saint began to move her bare feet.

This girl, she doesn't even want to sit up?

"Here it is. The updated information on the Warrior."

"Does not. Are you sure you aren't mistaking the smell of flowers for smell of feet? Here, indulge in the smell."

I dodged as she tried to rub her feet into my face.

I'm acting a lot bubblier than usual to fit her personality, but I'm still a murderer…

The saint's skirt slid up, creating a crack that allowed me to see some sensitive areas.

"I can see everything."
"Don't care about you seeing it."

The saint responded dryly and rolled towards the window.

"……"

Students these days can be quite scary.

I took out the doc.u.ment from its container.

He looked like…

The name of the person was Romeo Smith.

He was one of the key members of the hero's party, and he worked as a tank.

Let's… check out his stats first, shall we?
When I turned to the next page, the Oracle created a copy of the status page in front of me.

"Level 10…"

He was two levels higher than the strongest white wizard in the world.

"How strong is he?"

The saint responded vaguely to my question.

"Around three times?"

"…If a level one is an average person, a level two would be able to defeat two average people in a small room. It keeps going up like that. Level threes are able to take on two level twos, and level fours are…"

"Well, it's not 'absolute', but… yes, that's pretty much how it goes. But in front of [Memento Mori], it doesn't matter how many level nines are involved."

The saint was talking about the Warrior's power.

"Remember you must die", in Latin.
A phrase that the slaves of Rome shouted at the general who returned from a winning battle.

[The Undying = Memento Mori] – An ability to overcome death.

– [Lv.2] An immunity from death by fatigue.

– [Lv.4] An immunity from death by poison, sickness, or foreign elements.

– [Lv.6] An immunity from death by heat radiation, or any form of cell injury.

– [Lv.8] An immunity from death by age.

Level 8…
I guess one thing I should be thankful for is the fact that he's not immune to everything.

"About level six. Did you guys ever try using radiation or electricity?"

"……"

Wasn't specific enough.
He might as well be immune to all sorts of death.

"Undying, huh…"

In the past, the standard for death was "the heart coming to a stop".

I wonder what the standard would be in the future?

Would it be possible to call someone who can't do anything "alive"?

What is life?

Would I be considered to be alive?

Immunity from starvation.

Even if you deplete your body of nutrients?

They aren't invincible either.

Would air magically appear in his brain?

I put a 'keep thinking' post-it on the question I thought of and kept reading.

"Personality is… Necrophobia."

Fear of death.

"I was wondering for quite a while, but… Personalities don't really matter, does it?"

The saint shot a question back at me.

"Why do you think that?"
"Because of you, of course. You say you're opposed to violence, and your personality is Ahimsa at that, and yet you always. .h.i.t me."

The saint rolled to look at me.

"It's not violence, it's an act of love."

"I'm always honest. Each of my blows are filled with love."
"…We'll talk about that later. In any case, this just ends up making even less sense? A Warrior is afraid of death? How did he become one in the first place?"

Having necrophobia doesn't make someone a coward, but it doesn't mean something completely different either.

"How can one fight monsters if he's afraid of death?"

She isn't going to say that love and courage overcomes everything, is she?

"Mm… What you're talking about makes sense, but…"

The saint sat up.

"Humans aren't that simple, you know? If fearing death is your fate, will you just live that way? No, you'll find a way to overcome it. That's what a human is, after all."

Does the saint not see me as a monster?

"I think because he didn't get too influenced by his personality and power, because he always stayed positive and motivated, he managed to get this far."

'Getting over one's personality'…

That was a joke, of course.

"Of course, there are times when one gets overtaken by their personalities at times. This is especially the case for those who attained their powers. Mr. Smith just managed to take his immense willpower, love, and courage to overcome his fear of death."

Love and courage.
And here I almost thought it wouldn't appear again…

"He got over his fear, and if he doesn't die, I really don't know how to deal with him."
"Don't give up. Powerful abilities come with high costs. This is an old saying pa.s.sed down from the ancient times. Seeing how powerful [Memento Mori] is, the cost for it must be…"

The saint closed her mouth.

Heart of Gold required money as its cost.

Either an advance payment, or a deferred payment.

Time to move onto stats.

He'd die after being stabbed by a sword about 320 times.
Of course, this would only be the case when his health regen and defense stats were all at zero.

"……"

Again, I was faced with a question.

Humans die when their necks get cut off.

Was it based on one's tenacity to life?

For example, if the saint lost all the blood in her body, and still had HP left, would she stay alive?

Based on my experiences so far, HP only served to work as a warning.

It just shows how hard it is to kill a living being.

I looked down and took a look at the Warrior's defense and magic resistance points.

"150 for defense and 100 for magic resistance…"

The saint chipped in after hearing my mutters.

"The Warrior didn't even get a scratch from a dragon's breath when he was wearing the Hirganrel. No matter what you do, Mr. Murderer, you shouldn't be able to injure the Warrior."

The saint seemed to think that I would fail.
I don't really know why though.

"…Hold on, I need to see a fairy."

When I tried to leave for a second, the saint grinned.

"Bathroom?"

"Smoking can lead to lung can…"
"Shut up."

I got out of the room and bit down on my e-cigarette.
How can I kill the Warrior? His defense points were unreasonably high, and his body was immune to death.

As I thought, the way to kill him would just come down to…

After thinking for about ten minutes, I went back into the room.

Snack time again?

Bitter?
Almost smelled like medicine, but…

"Can I have a cu…"

Before I could even finish, the teacup in her hand disappeared.

"Hahaha! This is really expensive, so it probably won't suit your cheap mouth. Understand?"

This girl…
What was she hiding?

"Cheapskate."

She probably won't tell me anything if I tried to dig deeper…

There are more important matters to work on.

Dragon Blood, Imagine Citadel, Zenith Crown.

[Dragon Blood] – Immunity from sword wounds. It's a temporary ability that can be gained by bathing in a dragon's blood. It can block a sword strike from a normal soldier, but any more than that would result in an injury.

It's said that the ability's strength dissipates with time, so this was more of a needless t.i.tle for the Warrior at this point.
Next is…

[Imagine Citadel] – Magic that allows one to create a ma.s.sive protective barrier in the name of G.o.d. The defensive capability of this barrier is as strong as the average castle's.

A miracle that the Warrior can perform once a day.

How convenient.

If a person like the Warrior went under the influence of a mental attack, there would surely be a lot of trouble.

The biggest issue I'm going to be faced with is his power.

He should've experienced pretty much every form of battle by now.

The reason why a person like him would appear in a town out in the open is… overconfidence in his power, perhaps?

It should be hard to try to take advantage of that to kill him, though.

I had to kill someone like that.

Well, since we already have a plan for this one, I shouldn't think too deeply about it…

They approved the plans that were presented to them because they were certain that it would work.

After confirming all of his items as well, I tried looking into the Warrior's main weapon, the Sword Monster.

[Mouthless monster = Sword Monster] – Rank: A

– A black magic that can be applied to a monster. Any blood that is comsumed by the user is sacrificed to G.o.d, and 10% of this blood can be returned in whatever blood type the user desires. It is possible to dope oneself in excess blood to gain physical enhancement.

– Attained after slaying [Mirage Belt]. Any time the sword is swung, the world becomes slightly injured, causing the mana in the area to begin boiling. Most magic spells, therefor, can be dispelled just by a swing of the sword.

How disgusting.
You might as well just have written down 'It's a cheat' as the description.

"Sword Monster… He uses two…?"
"Surprised? It might seem amazing to you, but it really isn't much of a weapon, at least to me and Necro. It's just described fancily."

I asked a question at her.

"…Not a good weapon?"
"Sword Monster really is just suited for defense. It's just st.u.r.dy."

I could kind of understand.

She was the strongest white wizard in the world.
To her, Sword Monster was just a st.u.r.dy weapon.

"How strong would a weapon with high attack points be then?"
"Well…"

After thinking for a bit, the saint brightened.

"It should be able to destroy a star in one hit?"
"……"

Star destroyer?

It was way more powerful than what I had imagined.

"You're joking, right?"

The scale was a little too big to grasp.

"It might be hard for you to grasp it, but it's true. The weapon I just described is the strongest weapon in this world… Of course, there might be stronger weapons than [Another Fact] that haven't been revealed to us yet, but for now, this is the strongest one we have in public record."

Another Fact.
An artifact from a different world.

"Could that be the hero's sword…?"

The saint nodded vigorously.

"Correct~!"

…Perhaps now's a good time to pack up.

Chapter 22. Can't Save Everyone

"Why'd you buy so many things? Was it possible to get things delivered inside the train as well? How strange~"

Necro, who had just come back from work with an exhausted face, began to rummage through the delivery boxes.

"Protein pack, latex gloves, raincoat, rubber boots, umbrellas… What the h.e.l.l? Are you on a crazy shopping spree or what? I'm not gonna count this towards traveling expenses, you know?"

The saint, who hid her own delivery box under her seat, stiffened up.

…Maybe I can do it as well?

"Can you actually count this off as traveling expenses? I bought this with my own money."

Necro shouted at me in anger.

"You think we're on a picnic?! h.e.l.l no. Hey! What did you order? Give it, give it. d.a.m.n, it's been awhile since I felt myself get angry like this."

Necro quickly s.n.a.t.c.hed away the box in the saint's hands.

"What's this? Manicure? Lipstick? You two idiots really get along well, don't you? Don't even think about getting your grubby hands on our budget, ok?"

The saint rubbed her two hands together like a fly towards Necro.

"I told you, this isn't a picnic? Get your s.h.i.t together. You think I'm your mom or something? Do I really have to check on you for everything? There is a war going on here you know."

Necro clicked his tongue and threw the delivery box at the saint.

"I'm gonna forgive you just this once, alright?"
"Understood!"

The saint dug through her box while making a strange "kikikiki" sound.
Feels like she's getting less and less human the more I get to know her.

"Oh, that idiot."

Necro thudded down on the chair opposite to me.

"Who in the world would take her like this? Hey, Jin, you want her? I'll give you a discount."
"Do you take refunds?"

The saint threw the delivery box at us.

"Hey! Stop it, stop it. Are you a G.o.d of violence or what?"

Necro frowned as he blocked a sock to his face.

"That smell! Holy c.r.a.p! What? Hey? Where are you going?"
"Secret!"

Probably going to apply some makeup.

Having both of us sit in the room like this was quite awkward.

Necro realized this as well, and leaned back a little.

"What was that thing you ordered earlier?"

"That and the other things. It's not for me and Morto, is it? It's not like you're going to need protein anyway. Planning on testing something?"

Sharp question.

"Don't worry about it. I might not even end up needing it."

"I know. You can't kill him."

We looked at each other in the eye and fell into deep thought.

I had knowledge on how to kill people, and Necro was a scholar of death itself.

He probably tried to find ways to defeat Memento Mori.

I didn't make light of this fact.

"Well, that's that."

Necro was the first one to end the silence.

"Looks like we're almost here. Get ready."

I thought I smelled something close to cow dung. Now that I looked at it, I could begin to see farms lined up outside.

At the horizon, I could see giant mountains and majestic cliffs.
I modified the position of my eyes to look at the mountains.

A volcano with a height of 5,150m, Volcorre.

At this height, one should be able to see some snow lined up at the top, but I could only see tiny bits of white among all the brown.

Inside, crimson-black lava was writhing inside like a living being.
The Warrior probably wouldn't die from this.

[This station is Boiser, Boiser station. For those of you wishing to visit Volez, please get off here. Please make sure you don't leave anything behind as you get off. For elders and those with higher blood pressure, please be careful of the extreme change in temperature. This station is Boiser, Boiser station.]

Kii-
The train began to steadily slow down.

"Hot!"

The saint fanned her face with her hands as soon as she got off.

The color of her lips changed a little, maybe?

She really looks like a kid like this.

Her height is short to begin with, but her other aspects are…

"Ora!"

I got kicked.

"…Why?"
"I felt something dangerous from you."

I rubbed my b.u.t.t.

"Can you stop hitting my b.u.t.t already? Just hit somewhere else."

Unhealthy to be hit in only one place all the time.
The saint narrowed her eyes.

"Please don't say anything that can result in misunderstandings."

How would this create misunderstandings?

"Wow, it's hot."

Necro almost tore off the necktie off of himself.

"It feels like it gets hotter every time I come here. Should I have bought something cool for myself?"

Should be hotter in Volez.

Necro pointed at the waiting room nearby.

"Let's rest there for a bit. We can move after we get permission. The commanders should sort out all the soldiers for us."
"Permission?"

Necro sent me a telepathy to answer my question.

[They installed a bomb on the bridge. They'll blow it up after we pa.s.s.] "Ah."

Volez was a plot of land right below a volcano.

The problem was, the land around the town uplifted and subsided several times, creating a cliff around the town.

To reach the island, one needed to go halfway down a cliff, then take a bridge to town.

This was a pretty good place for us in that regard.

There were quite a lot of people.
No one seemed suspicious though.

"Won't we get found out like this?"
"What?"

I sent Necro a telepathy.

[Volez is being controlled by the military right now.] [Yeah?] [Towns nearby must make trade deals with Volez. Wouldn't it be pretty weird if Volez just stopped communicating all of a sudden? For example, there must be a restaurant of sorts inside the town. If ingredients for the day don't arrive…] [Ah! I had been wondering what you were curious about. You're really looking down on the power of a nation. But… Good question. I thought you would just skim over it. How sharp.]

Necro clapped lightly.

[It's not in the report, is it? There's no choice really. These guys are unofficial. Can't have any records of them. Forbidden by international law to have these guys around as well. In any case, there's a branch in the government that handles this kind of stuff.]

An information department?

[This would call for… Protocol number three. So a tiny bit of brainwashing is involved.]

A government that effectively makes use of wizards and ability users…
I a.s.sumed they would be quite powerful, but not to this degree.

[I suppose rebellions would be nigh impossible with a group like this.] […You think?]

What does he mean?

To be more specific, someone staring at the saint.

"Eh? Dear, look. That… Isn't that the b.i.t.c.h?"

An old woman frowned as an old man pointed at the saint.

"Where? I can't really see… Ah! You're right! That little b.i.t.c.h! That b.i.t.c.h who killed my son!"

Everyone in the room looked this way in an instant.
Mutters began to rise from the crowd. I could make out words like 'b.i.t.c.h' and 'traitor' from the crowd.

"Ah… I should've used magic…"

Necro facepalmed in annoyance.

"What did you come here for this time?!"

The old man stomped his way over to the saint and swung his cane at her.
It shouldn't hurt much for her, but…

"It's dangerous."

I blocked the cane and looked at the saint's face.

She was like a corpse.

"Let go! Let go, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Let go already!"

The old man did all he could to try and get the cane out, but it refused to budge from my hands.
Only after the old man decided to back off, did I decide to let go.

Clang.

When the cane dropped on the ground, the saint flinched.
She had been looking at the floor like a criminal since a while back.

"It's the saint…"
"It really is her."

The mutters were getting louder now.

"Piece of s.h.i.t."

"Because of her, my son was…!"

When a middle-aged woman shouted in anger, the rest of the crowd went up in an uproar.

"That witch made the war last longer!" "I won't forgive her!" "Why couldn't you save my son?" "Wh.o.r.e!" "The solder you saved killed my child!" "Go back to the wh.o.r.ehouse you came from!" "b.i.t.c.h!"

There was only anger and hate in the area now.

Anger infected the crowd like a plague and frowns began to spread.

The only thing keeping them from actually doing that was me and Necro.
I walked towards the saint.

"How annoying."

The saint gripped her clothing tightly.

Because she couldn't dare see someone die in front of her.

In the middle of the battlefield-

The soldier would thank the saint, and go out to kill the enemy.

She couldn't bear to see someone die, even if that person was an enemy.

In the situation where someone must die, the only thing the saint did was to extend the time of the war.

Not even her.

Look. This is the result of your actions. People aren't worth saving.

Clack.

An apple rolled on the floor.

Instead of turning back myself, I modified my eye to look into the crowd.
One of the children clicked his tongue in disappointment.

Thump.

This time, a bag hit my hips.

"Bring back my son…"

The woman's hands were shaking. Rather than fear, she was filled with anger.

The people's faces stiffened once they saw this and began to throw various objects our way.

"Disappear from our town."

"You in front of the saint, move!"

All sorts of things began to beat my head and my back.

I suppose it can't really be helped, considering my position right now. It doesn't hurt that much anyway.

"Ehei! Stop it!"

Necro tried to stop the people, but they didn't show any signs of stopping.

"If you keep doing this…!"

Someone began to throw sharp objects like pens and knives, which began to stick into my back.

Shatter!

The people stopped when gla.s.s shattered on the floor.

Is it over?
I turned back with a sigh to look at the people.

…They were all worthless.

I almost lost self-control, which caused the crowd to tremble a little bit.
One of the teens who tried to throw something stiffened.

"d.a.m.n, didn't you hear what I said?"

Necro stepped out before me.

It was easy to tell that this was corrupt mana just by the looks of it.

Chaos ensued.

Necro really is quite helpful at times.
I looked at the saint, who seemed to be close to fainting, and flicked her in the face.

Flick!

Her head bent back with a loud snap.

"What ar