40 – Stable Philemia, a New Novel
Swoosh
After slashing one of his legs with a sword, MacDerrus turned to the man and asked again.
“This is the last chance.”
The man screamed in pain, but soon realized his impending death as he saw his own severed limb and shouted.
“f*ck… anyway… anyway, I’ll die if I tell you. If I speak because of the branding magic, I’ll die!”
Unable to bear the pain any longer, he revealed his greatest weakness and became nothing but a man.
If he couldn’t answer, he was worthless to MacDerrus.
MacDerrus changed the question.
“If I could have taken those kids with me, what would I have done? I could probably say this much.”
“You’re asking because you don’t know? Obviously, I would have taken them everywhere, you bastard!”
He stomps forcefully on the man’s mouth. And then, as if sensing his own death, the man starts screaming until the end.
“Don’t pretend to be noble… You’re nothing but a murderer in the end. The worst kind of murderer who killed even the people of his own country… You’re a joke… Abandoning so many people, yet cherishing your own… it’s sickening…”
MacDerris uses magic to cut off the man’s breath. Soon, the man disintegrates in mid-air and disappears without a trace.
“…”
In front of the man’s lifeless body, MacDerris quietly recalls the ancient inter-species war.
— MacDerris! It’s… it’s becoming impossible to hold on any longer! You must use the massacre magic!
— No. We cannot execute the massacre magic until all the prisoners of the Human Union in the enemy’s camp and those who are performing missions in the enemy territory return. They will all die in an indiscriminate attack.
— If this front line is breached, everyone behind will die! It means the destruction of the Human Union itself! You must choose between abandoning and taking action.
— Damn it…
— MacDerris, the words of the Imperial Knight Commander are correct. Carry out the mass massacre magic.
— But if we use it now, our allies in the enemy camp will also die.
— There is no one on the battlefield who is not prepared for death. Do you know why I am here? Because once this place is breached, everything will be over. If this place falls, hundreds of times more people than those you tried to protect will die. And when we fall, the elves and dwarves who helped humans will also face ruin.
— Your Majesty, I…
— It is an order. MacDerris. Carry out the massacre magic. I will take responsibility for everything that follows.
The scene of lightning bolts raining down and countless red creatures popping out, devouring everything in sight, is vivid. The sight of those lives, regardless of their affiliation, dying before his eyes is imprinted once again.
— MacDerris… why… why did you abandon us!
— We fought for you, so why did you…
It was as if he could hear the cries of his comrades who died alongside him in the massacre magic on the enemy front line.
“Damn it…”
Despite saving humanity, MacDerris was called a slaughterer because he killed all the life forms in the enemy territory. Due to his red rain, both allies and enemies melted away, screaming.
Although he saved humanity, he gained the title of both savior and slaughterer. Even from the enemies, and even from his own allies.
Of course, no one openly expressed their resentment.
It was true that MacDerris led them to victory in the war, and it was thanks to his massive slaughter magic that they were able to avoid destruction. Even without such justification, no one could recklessly confront the horrifying sight of countless people dying from a single magic.
An auditory hallucination is heard.
— There could have been a better way.
— Don’t rationalize it as destiny. You’re the one who killed us.
— In the end, you chose the ones who are alive now over us.
“Ugh…”
Breathing heavily, gasping for air. A headache rushes in as if it’s about to split. Memories that I had forgotten for a while torment my mind once again. An overwhelming dizziness rushes in as if I might collapse any moment.
And then.
Crack…
A familiar sensation is felt.
I quickly turn around, and Fleamia is holding onto my collar, looking at me.
“You took so long… to come…”
She looks at my face and then hurriedly approaches me, looking surprised.
“MacDerris, what’s wrong? Where does it hurt?”
Her face turns pale. Seeing her sweating and looking cold, Fleamia wipes away my sweat with her hand, her expression filled with concern.
“Looks like what I ate earlier didn’t agree with me.”
I circled around vaguely, but Philemia wasn’t so easily fooled. Her current appearance was not that of a normal human.
“Even Lord McDelas…must have…difficulties…like me…”
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I didn’t lie to her. Instead, I didn’t respond.
Snap…
Philemia grabbed onto my collar. But this time, she pulled me closer. Not too deep, not too shallow.
“I don’t know what’s going on…but…I hope I could be of help…if you have any difficulties, please tell me…”
The thumping of my heart, the pale face returning to normal, and the hallucinations starting to fade away. McDelas slowly pushed Philemia away and spoke.
“I’ll tell you later, I promise.”
McDelas looked at Philemia. What if Philemia found out the truth about the interspecies world war? What would she think when she learned that he had killed enemies, as well as allies and prisoners in enemy territory? Would she understand, knowing that it was necessary? Or would she condemn him as a monster?
He didn’t know. But he didn’t really want to find that answer right now.
“Lord McDelas? What are you doing?”
Choi Yebin approached me with a basketball. Seeing Philemia urgently moving away from me, she opened her eyes slightly.
“Hmm…”
McDelas spoke vaguely.
“If you bring that ball from the arcade, it’s considered stealing.”
“Really?”
“Go back quickly. Before you get misunderstood.”
After that, we spent quite a pleasant time. As if nothing had happened.
— — —
“Hhuuuaaa…”
Flemea stretched and got up from the distant bed. As soon as she opened her eyes, she looked for me.
“Are you awake?”
“Yes. Yebin-unnie says she sleeps well now too.”
Because of Flemea’s persistent requests, Yebin and Flemea came to my room before going to bed and slept together. However, they each had their own bed placed more than 1 meter apart. At first, Flemea was uneasy, but now she had become somewhat accustomed to sleeping in a separate bed and there were no major issues.
Since moving rooms, Yebin, who used to suffer from insomnia, started sleeping quite well.
“Well, there’s no safer place in the world than my room right now. She must have realized that after spending some time here. She must have realized my position in this novel and inside this Martop. Especially how safe my room is.”
After spending a few days with Flemea and Yebin, Flemea’s condition had improved a lot. However, her habits hadn’t changed.
She always looked around and found me as soon as she opened her eyes, then without hesitation, grabbed onto my collar. As if it put her mind at ease.
The routine had become somewhat familiar. We would eat together in the morning, go outside and spend time, have lunch and dinner, and then play simple games or talk before going to sleep.
Repeating such mundane actions on purpose was a form of psychological therapy. Yebin felt the need for Flemea, who came from a place where assassins roamed and war broke out endlessly, to experience and appreciate ordinary things.
The effect was remarkable.
Now, both of them seemed psychologically stable.
Now, it was time for me to start doing what I had to do.
— — —
“What? What does that mean? Are you going into another novel?”
“Go…going into another novel…?”
Yebin and Flemea widened their eyes and asked me, especially Flemea bombarding me with questions.
“Umm… Where are you going? How long will you be gone? Who are you going to see? W-will you be coming back?”
“No need to worry. I’m going to see a user on the bulletin board named ‘trying man.'”
Fleemia murmured, seemingly relieved.
“Oh… So you’re going to meet a man…”
“That’s right.”
Sigh…
Fleemia, who had suddenly appeared next to me, grabbed onto my collar and asked a question.
“Can’t I go with you?”
If I used the Link skill, we could go together through a warp, but it wasn’t possible this time.
“I can’t use the warp ability. I can only use the newly acquired possession ability.”
“So, does that mean I can’t come?”
“You have to come.”
I didn’t know why, but the Leader skill emphasized that trying man needed help.
Even when I helped Fleemia without any system messages before, my administrator points and level skyrocketed, and I gained various additional permissions related to the annihilation gallery.
So, what would happen if I openly helped someone that the system explicitly asked me to help? Perhaps I could receive even better rewards… That’s the story, at least.
“In the end, even if it’s not the Succubus Union, there might be another race union that could start another world war.”
We can’t rely solely on slaughter magic. If I can acquire other controllable abilities, I must obtain everything necessary to protect this ordinary life.
“…”
Fleemia grabbed onto my collar and murmured with a hint of regret.
“I… I really have to go, don’t I…?”
“Sure. No matter how much I postpone it, I’ll have to go later.”
“Are you going to help someone?”
I nodded, and Flimia withdrew her hand.
“Be careful… when you go. Will you enter the community? Can I send a message through that?”
“Whatever you want.”
Flimia bid a somewhat regretful farewell and then Choi Yebin, who was beside her, approached me and said,
“Since I’ll take good care of Flimia, please be careful. Don’t act strange or use community language excessively.”
I smirked as if I were sending off a child.
“Got it.”
Finally, I used the administrator function.
“[trying man is currently unable to warp. If you use the newly acquired possession function, you can possess trying man’s body. Will you proceed with possession?]”
I pressed accept.
But.
“Uweeek!”
As soon as I possessed Trying Man’s body, a sudden wave of nausea overwhelmed me. My whole body felt sluggish, and a terrible pain, as if being pricked by needles from all directions, flooded in. This is definitely poison. Thinking that, I tried to use a detoxification spell, but…
[As a penalty for possession, magic usage is restricted for 24 hours.]
“Damn it…”
I hurriedly used the selective penalty release function.
“Release the magic usage penalty…”
[Not possible. With the current function, only the release of mana usage penalty and lower-level magic usage is available.]
“Then, let’s do it… like this…”
In an instant, my body began to fill with vast amounts of mana.
“Detoxification.”
As soon as I confirmed the mana entering my body, I hurriedly used Detoxification, a low-level spell. The mana in my body was swiftly drained, and in an instant, my body returned to its original state.
“Cough… cough…”
I almost choked as soon as I opened my eyes.
“What a f*cking situation…”
[The possession of MacDerris has been successfully completed in the body of the deceased trying man.]
But what surprised me even more was the message from the system.
Considering the recent post, it seemed that Trying Man was still alive.
“He’s dead? So, that’s why the warp didn’t work?”
Forming a brief hypothesis, I anxiously surveyed my surroundings.
Fwoosh!
Using fire magic like a torch, I illuminated the area in front of me, revealing a strange sight.
“What on earth is going on…?”
Hundreds of pills scattered around me.
Most likely, these are Trying Man’s signature.
I slowly moved around, searching through the drawers and desks in the room. Literally, nothing useful came out, and since there was an empty space above the ceiling, I pushed it and a notebook came out. Inside, my diary was written.
“I bought a large quantity of potions that even ordinary people can learn magic from. If I eat this and learn magic, that person will look at me again, right? They won’t ignore me or try to avoid me anymore. Let’s confess again then.”
The situation became clear. The pills scattered on the ground didn’t contain any mana at all. To put it bluntly, they were filled with substances that cause toxicity, paralysis, and seizures.
“Someone deceived and purchased drugs, leading to their death from excessive consumption. That must be right.”
Now that the cause has been revealed, it’s time to find the provider.
However, it didn’t take long to find the provider.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
The sound of someone walking from outside can be heard.
Clank…
Clank…
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Creak…
They entered the room, even though I didn’t open the door for them. I pretended to be unconscious.
“Let’s assess the situation first.”
Thinking I was dead, the two burly men whispered to each other.
“Brother, I think this bastard’s dead.”
“Ah, f*ck… He took the drugs and passed out, so we thought we could just take whatever we wanted, but look what we found.”
“What should we do?”
“What else? Let’s call the boys, get rid of the body, clean up everything. Grab all the drugs, gather anything valuable around, and since it turned out this way, let’s bring the bastard’s body too, just in case. It might come in handy.”
“Yeah.”
A subordinate-looking man murmured as he collected the scattered pills around.
“Ah… Why the f*ck did this bastard stick the pills in his mouth when he couldn’t even swallow them all, getting saliva all over them?”
“I noticed that he seemed desperate. He asked if the effect would be greater if he ate a lot at once, so I told him it would, and he just gobbled them all up. What an idiot. But well, isn’t he our excellent customer? He’s giving us such a valuable resource, even if it means living or dying.”
“Well… what you say is right, hyungnim. We need these kind of weaklings to survive. hehehe.”
The employee, diligently picking up the pills, suddenly felt a strange sensation and glanced at me with a sly smile. He then spoke to his superior again.
“Hyungnim, but this guy isn’t alive, right? Come to think of it, how did he ingest the pills? I’m pretty sure they’re supposed to be absorbed into the body when eaten…”
“He probably ate so many that they came back out. Shut up and quickly gather them.”
“Yes…”
The employee hastily scraped and gathered the pills. He froze. It was because our eyes met.
I whispered to the subordinate who met my gaze.
“If you make a sound, you’ll die.”
But the employee ignored me, stepped back, and then thrust a knife at me.
“Hye…hyungnim…this guy is alive…”
“What nonsense…”
The employee, who looked like a superior, backed away as soon as he saw me and held a knife.
“How is this bastard alive…? Who the hell are you? Are you from another organization?”
I peeled off the pills stuck to my body and held a pen that was rolling on the ground in my hand. This should be enough.
“The one who should be asking questions is not you, but me.”
Suddenly, one of the employees seemed to snap out of it and shouted.
“This…this incompetent inspector who can’t even use magic. Whoever you are, I’ll kill you right here today.”
I lowered my body and replied.
“You’ll soon find out who’s incompetent.”