Volume 3 Chapter 13 The One to Blame is You
Ever since a moment ago, the crowd had been tossed around like leaves in a storm.
"W-wait, did you just say you died once?!"
"Yeah. I'm not some regular guy, Sir Knight. You know about Adventurers cards, right? When the holder dies, it turns gray, and all the functions stop. Can't ever use it again. Go to Association headquarters ── they'll have my gray card stored there."
"So you came back as a monster after that?"
"Yeah. I picked up a 'revival item' after clearing out a massive dungeon. Thing is, back then, no appraisal magic worked on it. Had no clue what it actually did. Never even crossed my mind it could revive the dead."
The words fell straight from Horace's lips, heavy and real.
Whether any of it was truth or just another lie...
...there really wasn't a reason for him to fake it.
Actually...
"Hey! Did you hear that?! He just admitted he's a monster! Monsters are the enemy! Kill him! He's gotta die!"
Silvio screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Heh. Trying to guess how much gold you'd get for taking me down? You looking forward to that?"
"T-that's not──it's not like──"
"You wouldn't get a single coin."
"Come again?"
"Guess you don't get it, Sir Knight. There are monsters that leave bodies behind. Super rare──basically freaks of nature. That's me. Sure, I can control magic directly, so yeah, I'm still a monster. Doesn't change what I am."
"N-no, no, I──kill him! Either way, he's a monster! That's justice! You all learned this──the faith says so! Monsters are evil! The gold we get from their bodies feeds our people! You were taught that! He's a monster──kill him! Kill him!!"
Silvio's voice tore through the air.
But the knights... not one of them moved.
First, there was the truth Horace dropped about what really happened 15 years ago──and how Silvio just couldn't prove anything with his dead-end research.
Then, Horace had laid his own cards on the table.
He'd shown them the "no way out" proof.
With that, none of the knights had any room left to call what they were doing 'justice.'
But even faced with that, Silvio refused to stop.
"Kill this thing, carve it up, and we should get the revival item! Hand it over! I need to bring back my daughter!"
"...Rangella. The Demon Lord's corpse. Where is it now?"
"There wasn't even a drop item. It turned into a pile of gold and vanished."
"Liar! It was a gem given by the gods! It should be special! The corpse should have remained!"
"Wishes don't work with sudden mutations, Cardinal."
"Shut up!"
"And, I can recognize the gem in my body, but it doesn't have the revival effect anymore. I have that 'awareness.'"
"Shut up! All my hypotheses are correct! Give back my daughter! Give her backkkkkkkkk!"
In response to Silvio's shouting, Horace's face remains expressionless.
"After rotting away in the Great Church for 15 years, all you have to support you is faith. It's easy to imagine that your daughter is all you cherish. The reason you're so stubborn is that as long as she was alive, that was enough for you. That's all you wished for. I can understand that."
"Then, you can die! Give back my daughter! Your life is worth less than dust compared to hers!"
"There's no difference in the value of life."
Horace thought to himself, 'There is a difference in the value of people,' but he didn't say it out loud.
"First, you should know. You understand what I've said, right? You're pretty smart, after all."
"Don't change the subject, monster!"
"Hah... You'll understand once you actually talk it out. You're hung up on your daughter, but your mind works incredibly fast. Probably, you have enough data in your research to completely prove that 'humans can't directly control magic; we're just along for the ride.'"
"No! No! She'll come back. I'll take her back! I'll kill you and take her back!"
"You know you can't get her back by killing me."
Again, he snaps his fingers.
Silvio's mouth is gagged with cloth.
Now, he can't even shout.
"Hey, why am I not angry? Don't you find that odd?"
Horace mutters to himself.
...Yes, he's not angry.
Being hunted, ordered to die repeatedly──he's not even irritated.
"Gnnnngh!"
"I guess I'll spell it out, 'cause I don't think you get it. There are 3 points. First off, the whole idea of slaying monsters to feed society's needs? I'm on board with that. Two thousand years ago, the gods drove a wedge into the world, and monsters started dropping coins. That's where our money comes from. Society stands because of this, so I'm not about to deny killing monsters."
Horace doesn't care about the morality of other people's beliefs, but he does judge whether they're worth acknowledging.
"On top of that, I do agree with turning monsters into society's fuel."
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