Published: August 2, 2025
Today, three chapters are posted simultaneously.
This story is the second chapter.
They look at me as if they’re seeing something unbelievable.
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re really going to die, you know!?”
“I don’t know what circumstances you have, but right now, you are bandits, aren’t you? You’re in a position where you can’t complain even if you get killed. I said I wouldn’t kill without reason, but if you’re rebellious and try to run, there’s no reason for me to keep you alive by force.”
The extermination of bandits is basically total annihilation. Capturing them alive might increase the reward, but it’s not mandatory. Especially when it’s unplanned like this, my own life takes top priority.
“I have some questions, but… you’ll talk, right?”
“Y-Yes!! Of course! I’ll say anything! I don’t want to die!”
One remains just as obedient as before.
“So, it’s no problem if one or so of you decrease in number.”
“D-Don’t mess with me!”
“How can you kill us so easily?”
“I don’t want to hear that from you bandits. You probably stole that sword by killing someone, right?”
The moment I said that, the man who had been struggling finally collapsed as if he lost consciousness.
…That’s enough of the threats.
“Well, I admit I forgot to warn you, so I’ll let you off this time.”
I instructed the slime responsible for the collars to grow a little bigger.
“H-Hey…”
“Are they still alive?”
“Who knows?”
“What do you mean ‘who knows’…”
“Well, their chests are moving, so probably alive? If dead, then so be it.”
I don’t bother getting close to check their state. It would be troublesome if they attacked me in that moment.
“Besides, the human body consists of blood, flesh, bones, and internal organs. These are exactly the parts my familiar prefers. I won’t waste a life that’s already gone, so you can rest assured about that.”
“““…”””
The conscious men shuddered simultaneously.
Even I, as I say this, feel it’s too late to cherish them after death. I’m starting over here, but I have no idea what’s happened to my body on Earth…
“Anyway, it’s simple if you don’t cause trouble. Don’t resist and listen to me. Then I won’t kill you.”
Once it quieted down, I asked about the sword.
“I’m searching for a missing person. That person was using the upper mountain pass, traveling to Kerevan with weapons loaded onto a horse-drawn cart. The swords you have, all have the same design and seem new. I took a quick look, and the contents of that wooden box also appear to be metal.
To be direct, did you attack them?”
“Y-Yes! We took these swords recently, along with the box’s contents. We don’t know their name or remember their face clearly, but probably it was them… The location matches the upper route.”
Just as I expected.
“How did you attack? I heard from inquiries that only this road was used. No one mentioned anything strange.”
“Well, we intended to stop them and steal just the cargo, but an arrow hit the horse, it panicked, veered off the road, and rolled down the slope… We often had to cover up after such attacks, erasing wheel tracks and making the grass grow over the cliff the cart crashed into. Then we took as much valuable stuff as we could and fled.”
“And the driver?”
“I don’t know…”
Don’t know? That can’t be. The cart wasn’t running unmanned.
“Tell me everything without hiding. Did you kill them?”
“No! No, that’s not true! They lost consciousness after the fall, so we tied their limbs and left them under magically grown grass. After that, we just stole the cargo and left. We don’t know anything else! It’s true!”
“…You didn’t finish them off?”
Even with the cover-up, if the victim reports, it’s meaningless.
I suspect they’re lying to make a better impression.
“We didn’t! We never intended to kill anyone from the start! We only planned to steal their cargo and food! We didn’t plan to roll them down the slope! So I, or any of us, have never killed anyone!”