Will I End Up As a Hero or a Demon King (WN)

Chapter 174

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Chapter 174 – Killing

After returning to the inn and having dinner in the dining room on the first floor, I sat in the chair in my room for the rest of the time.

I don’t know how many times I sighed as I looked out the small window at the raindrops falling.

I waited until the last minute, but in the end, Ria didn’t come down for dinner.

It wasn’t something that needed to be discussed over dinner, and maybe the goddesses had discussed it beforehand.

If that was the case, I thought I would make good use of my time alone, but I couldn’t concentrate at all, and no matter what I thought about, I couldn’t get my thoughts together.

“I… killed someone… I killed someone…”

I deliberately said these words to myself, but strangely enough, I didn’t really feel that way.

When you kill someone, you are tormented by feelings of guilt.

You can’t get the face of the person you killed out of your mind.

It’s like the kind of disorder you hear about that you get after killing someone.

For some reason, I don’t have that.

It’s so disappointing that I don’t have anything.

Is it just that I can’t feel it yet because it’s today, and will it be different after some time?

I look at the small window where the drops are stuck, and of course, my hand covers my mouth, and my thoughts go round and round.

Even if they weren’t human, I’ve already killed countless numbers of the same creatures as monsters.

Even species that are close to human form, such as goblins and orcs, I’ve trampled on countless numbers of them as mere food after coming to terms with the fact that I have to live.

What’s more, I didn’t just kill them; I had to dismantle them and take their bodies apart.

In this world, especially for a hunter, this is a perfectly normal action.

It is also quite possible that this has become a strong resistance.

In addition, that man was clearly “evil.”

He kidnapped young girls, held them captive, and sold them.

He worked with men like bandits, attacking, robbing, and killing.

That’s right, he gave orders to the girl and tried to kill me.

That Kazura’s blood poison, as the person himself was surprised, I, who had a high poison tolerance, would have been the only one who could have survived.

Because of its high speed of action, it’s normal for a person to die within seconds of being poisoned, right?

So… he tried to kill me… He didn’t have any other intentions like Ril; he just tried to kill me because my existence was in the way of his evil deeds, as ‘pure malice’…

Killing someone like that would only make me feel better, and I wouldn’t feel guilty at all.

My body twitches involuntarily for a moment, and I was startled by my own thoughts.

No, no, this way of thinking is bad, isn’t it?

I feel like I’m losing something important as a person…

A deep sigh that made me think my soul was about to escape.

It’s been like this for a while.

No matter how deeply I think about it, I can’t find a satisfying answer that makes sense.

“Justice… advantage… purpose… influence… execution…”

Could it be that Acorn is telling me in this world…

Hah.

Shaking my head, I opened the status screen to change my mood.

Anyway, I’ll talk about this when Ria comes.

Then I’ll do something I can do even if Ria isn’t here.

I opened my notebook as if to escape reality and checked the contents of the new tab that had been added today.

There are two types of slave magic: ‘voluntary slaves’ and ‘forced slaves’.

A voluntary slave is someone who has agreed to become a slave, and a slave contract is signed between the two parties.

Forced slavery is possible if the user knows the name of the target slave and has their blood in the target’s body.

Only voluntary slaves can have a master other than the user. In this case, the rights of the slave contract are transferred to the new master, but the user continues to pay the costs as long as the slave contract continues.

When making a voluntary slave contract, the user must set the conditions for terminating the contract, and the target slave must agree to those conditions in order for the contract to be made.

By paying a cost of 1, you can put a target slave into a ‘soul binding’ state, and in return, you can restrict or compel them to do an action.

A maximum of 10 costs can be paid per target slave.

However, you can only pay one cost per target slave up to the user’s Slave Magic level or less.

For forced slaves, you must pay a cost of 10 times that of voluntary slaves for everything.

Only when the tenfold cost is paid does the slave’s status change from “Soul Binding” to “Servitude,” and there are no restrictions on coercing or restricting actions.

The voluntary cancellation of a slave contract cannot be performed by the target slave and will be canceled when the user or the appointed master approves the ‘release’.

If the target slave dies, the slave contract is forcibly terminated.

If the user or the master dies, the slave contract is forcibly terminated.

If the slave contract is canceled for any reason, the paid cost is immediately returned to the user.

This is part of the detailed explanation for the newly added Slave Magic skill in the Other Skills section.

This is the original, in-depth explanation.

Slave Magic Lv.3: Allows the user to sign a slave contract and bind or enslave the target’s soul. Maximum cost: 150. Magic Power Consumption: 30 when a slave contract is signed.

Of course, it was impossible to understand just from this explanation, and at first, I thought it was the same as the overly simple explanation of magic-related skills and that I would have to figure it out by trial and error.

However, I soon realized how different this skill was.

A new tab had been added to the skill frame on the right side of the status screen, separate from the skill tree.

When I looked at that tab, I could see the above explanation in full, and I understood that this was the Slave Magic-only tab.

As I scrolled down, I saw notes about the need to touch a body part when making a contract, as well as the importance and amount of blood that should be in the target’s body.

The process of making a contract for both Voluntary Slaves and Forced Slaves was also described, and when I used Slave Magic on the men, the remaining cost and details of each contract were even displayed.

It was clear at this point that this was a skill that was being handled differently than before.

Was it because a different consumption target had appeared, called “cost” instead of “magic power”?

Or is it because Acorn is treating this slave magic as something special and is trying to get me to use it?

Either way, it doesn’t feel like a very powerful all-purpose skill with a lot of coercive power, like it’s saying anything goes because they’re slaves.

“Voluntary slavery” is, in a sense, healthy and has a strong commercial connotation, and without agreement with the slave target, nothing can progress in terms of contracts or termination conditions.

In other words, it means that the slave targets understand and accept that they are becoming slaves for some reason, such as to avoid a capital crime or because they have run out of money and sold themselves.

In this case, the men, who are like bandits, and the girls are these “voluntary slaves.”

The darkness is also deep when it comes to the girls unless they understand the true nature of slavery and have enough wisdom to carefully consider the terms of termination.

Or, if they are forced to submit to the armed force in front of them, they may end up in a situation where they are forced to sign an unwanted voluntary slave contract…

Even so, you can only impose restrictions and force on slaves up to the level of their Slave Magic skill.

I’m level 3, so I can give up to three orders to each slave, and in terms of the number of slaves, my current capacity is between 50 and 150 people, depending on the cost.

On the other hand, “forced slavery” is exactly the kind of slave contract I imagined, like the ones in the stories.

In this case, it is the two female hunters.

You can force them to become slaves without considering their will, and you can put restrictions on their actions.

However, the fact that it costs ten times as much is a big obstacle for the user, and even I was only able to force four men to do what I wanted after giving three orders, so it’s not something that can be used very often if you have to work within a limited cost.

And if they’re clearly of a higher rank than you, it would be difficult to get them to let you put blood into their bodies in the first place.

The difference in power―From the supplementary explanation, it seems that the amount of blood that can be contained in the body also changes greatly depending on the difference in magical power or intelligence, so I don’t think there are many people who are forced into slavery in this world.

What’s more, the ‘state of servitude’ that can only be achieved at the highest level of slave magic is probably a level that no one in this world can use.

I don’t know how to explain it, but when you get the Slave Magic skill, it’s not like you can do whatever you want with your slaves, and that’s frustratingly interesting to me.

Well, I’m just trying to keep track of it in case I need it, but I don’t plan on using this dangerous skill much.

I don’t need such a skill to defeat monsters.

Besides, the fact that that skinny guy was able to use Slave Magic so well means that the information itself is probably not worth much.

Is there some kind of status screen that the user of a skill can check?

As long as the skinny guy is dead, this question will remain a mystery for the time being.

As for the rest of the information…

…I can’t help but sigh when I compare it to the results from the day before that were written in my notebook.

When I see the clear results of killing someone, I feel a part of my heart smoldering, as if the core of my being is being blackly eroded.

Listening, Newly Acquired→Lv1

Negotiating, Newly acquired→Lv1

Crafting, Newly acquired→Lv2

Processing, Newly acquired→Lv1

Conversation Lv1→Lv2

Different Language Comprehension Lv3→Lv4

Trap Making, newly acquired→Lv1

Intimidation, newly acquired→Lv1

Maximum Magic Power Increase Lv2→Lv3

All of these skills were acquired from the skinny guy.

In addition, there are at least twice as many skills that have gained experience points even though they haven’t been upgraded to skills yet.

Based on the number of experience points gained, I’m sure that most of them were skills at level 2 or below because it’s only after level 3 that you can be sure of getting a skill in one go.

Zink-kun and the others said that by the time they became hunters, they had acquired about 7 to 10 skills in ‘Status Judgement’.

They were all around 10 years old when they were still children with little life experience.

If that’s the case, the experience of adults who have lived twice or three times as long would naturally be more than that, and the number of skills they have acquired would naturally increase in proportion.

In addition, while the monsters had clear skills, humans also had “experiences” that they had yet to acquire.

For me, things like swimming and fishing, which have only slightly increased in experience, are just like that.

Although I haven’t been able to verify it, it’s possible that some of these experiences that haven’t yet led to the acquisition of skills can be acquired.

Also, I’m sure that the monsters definitely don’t have any job skills or crafting skills.

Skills like that, which can never be compensated for by simply killing monsters, no matter what you do this time, such as Crafting and Processing, if we’re talking about this time, can be obtained by humans in their entirety…

――Thud!!!

I hit my forehead hard as if I’d fallen face-first onto the table.

It’s happened again.

I’ve once again considered the ‘decision to give up everything’ in exchange for strength.

What happened as a result of making that choice?

I probably had a big handicap in the past, and I limited my life choices, and I just lived a life of survival?

“(Because of that time, because I was able to forget the past for that time, I’m sure that’s why I’m here now.)”

I guess I was intoxicated by the fleeting joy, elation, and pleasure, and I ended up paying the price.

“(The price I had to pay wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It gave me a little confidence in a society that didn’t understand that hard work would eventually pay off.)”

What is beyond gaining such strength in this world?

“(I don’t know. But surely, a free and ideal world where nothing can be given up…)”

Ah, this is like a drug.

I have to resist.

I have to resist.

I want to resist.

…..Can I resist?

“(Loki, I’m coming down.)”

The voice that echoed through the Oracle’s words was slightly childish, and the lack of inflection made it seem cold and made me nervous.

Still…

Slap!

“…I have to tell them the parts I have to tell them honestly.”

Slapping both cheeks, I spoke to myself and then turned my gaze to the purple mass of magic that had begun to swirl in front of me.

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