CHAPTER 23

Meyer watched the strange situation go off with a frown.

His face crumpled after belatedly figuring out the situation.

"Jun Karentia! You're the one! If you do something like self-harm again…!"

"I don't have any hobbies that hurt myself. Don't worry too much."

I shook my fine left arm exaggeratedly.

Of course, it's not without the pain of being stabbed.

If I were in the beginning of the first round, I would have cried.

But it wasn't quite rolling in the meantime. That's about it. Compared to the cut-off of the arm, I could not lift an eyebrow.

I'm sure Meyer isn't really making a fuss about me.

'It would be a difficult thing for a person who has been appointed to die without making a decent result.'

I suddenly winked as if nothing had happened. Meyer's golden eyes thinly scattered me.

"I'm suspicious if it's real. I need to revise my assessment of you."

"Wait, how are you going to revise it?"

"I thought you were smart and rational. You're such a fool."

"No, there was no rational judgment anymore, right?"

"You don't need to cut your arm off with a knife?"

Honestly, I didn't have anything to say.

It was because there was a feeling of retaliation against Wipera, who made my affairs twisted because it was just a rational judgment.

In short, it was a result of agonizing over how to put the Wipera into despair.

I laughed so hard that I couldn't stop laughing.

Meanwhile, weapons fell from the hands of other troops who came to their senses.

The sound of iron hitting the floor rang well.

One by one, Wipera's 'one number' became useless, and the members of the unit, realizing that it was meaningless to resist, screamed, putting their heads on the floor one by one.

"W-we're only guilty of what the captain tells us to do! The commander's order in the dungeon is absolute obedience! Your Excellency, please!"

"You guys! You're the only ones who'll survive!"

Betrayed, Wipera let out a boiling cry with grief. But he also had nothing to do.

He had no choice but to ask for mercy by tightening his head with the troops.

Meyer picked up a sword from among the weapons dropped by the troops on the floor and tightened it.

"The order of the vice commander is absolute obedience… And the leader's orders in the expedition are absolute obedience."

Meyer's eyes were cold, unlike the golden dawn, as he looked at the troops.

It was such an eerie look that it felt warm here, in the demon world.

Every time Meyer took a step closer, the troops, who were tightening their heads, stepped back one by one with their hips.

Meyer snorted at the sight of them with no pride.

"You will easily accept the order to take the life of others, and ignore the order to pay the price… Well, you don't mean that, do you? I can't believe you're choosing your superior's orders. There couldn't be a more ridiculous excuse than that."

"Your Grace, please have mercy…!"

"Oh, Jun Karentia. It's up to you. Will they be punished in the dungeon or will they be punished outside?"

Without regard to the pleas of the troops, Meyer asked me, tapping me on the shoulder with the broadside of the sword.

I cleared my throat, and continued to speak clearly.

"I think it would be good to take this opportunity to publicize their sins and establish discipline of the Black Knights, but…"

Their faces were clearly exposed to the expectation that they could live.

I put their expectations to the bottom.

"I think it would be better to put this matter behind closed doors because we can plant distrust within the Black Knights."

In other words, let's kill and destroy them.

The face of the spear unit, who understood what I said correctly, became haggard.

But maybe they thought there was still a way to survive, so they shouted desperately.

"T-there's still a boss monster left! If you give us one more chance…"

"Boss Monster?"

I laughed without realizing it.

Did they really think we'd need their help to break this level dungeon boss monster?

Meyer frowned with a sigh.

"It's a black knights division that doesn't have a little objectivity in the dungeon and expedition. I'm ashamed to show you this."

"Don't worry. I'm not going to revise my assessment like you did."

"That's very kind of you."

Meyer said so and headed to the front of Wipera.

When Meyer's form cast a shadow over him, Wipera shook and denied the reality.

"I, I am chosen by God, I am!"

While Wipera shouted his last words, Meyer's sword fell down in the air.

It was a sword of sin, with no hesitation or mercy.

***

I asked Meyer just before we left everyone's body behind and entered the final match against Boss Monster.

"Would you like me to use some supporting magic?"

"I don't think it's necessary… If you want to be included in the contribution chart, you should use it."

I agree.

As my level was not so high yet, I couldn't miss the opportunity to be carried by Meyer like this.

"『Strong Muscle』!"

I cast a simple attack-up spell on Meyer.

Unlike the world's healing magic, which has absolute value, support magic was mostly relative value.

In short, the higher the opponent's stan, the greater the increase.

And Meyer is…

As Meyer's stack went up, the air temporarily fluctuated.

For Meyer, only 10% attack power increased, but that 10% figure greatly exceeded my attack power.

Whether it was the first time to receive the support magic, Meyer mumbled as if the overflowing power was amazing.

"How much did my attack go up, exactly?"

"Now it's 10%. It's a normal attack increase magic figure. I can stack up to three times. Do you want me to do more?"

Then it goes up to 33%. I'm probably the only one who can do this.

I felt a little proud.

But Meyer shook his head.

"No. I think I'm going to get drunk."

He repeatedly clenched and unfolded his hands several times.

Every time he did that with his hands, I got the illusion that the space in it was twisted.

"Did you say that Wipera could have doubled his ability?"

"Yes, if you have a lot of restrictions, you can do that. The life force was the price, and the target for support was also limited to himself."

No matter how high the number went up, it was really useless magic for me.

Even if I improve my attack. Zero is zero no matter what it is multiplied by.

Meyer, who heard my answer, murmured softly.

"Sure… I understand why Wipera did such a thing."

"Is that so?"

"Once you've gone up there, you feel like it's your real ability. Power is more addictive than drugs… It must not have been easy to get out of."

A bitter smile hung around Meyer's mouth, whether he understood his desperate desire to be strong by any means.

"But."

Meyer's face turned hard.

"You can't be forgiven for actually doing that. If you commit a crime, you must pay for the price."

He held tight on the handle of the sword, which had dried blood on the blade.

To me, it felt like a vow to Meyer himself.

It was meaningless to take more time here.

So we entered the final place of the dungeon where the boss was.

Meyer handled Boss Monster so easily that it was embarrassing that I put a supporting magic on him.

It was my first time seeing Meyer's skills, but the monster died before I could see it properly.

To some extent, before entering the boss battle, the time to apply the support magic to Meyer was longer.

So while I was absent-minded, the gate opened.

If Meyer hadn't attracted me, I might have been absent-minded and locked in a dungeon.

Not long after leaving the dungeon, the gate closed.

The black Meyer picked up and used by Meyer failed to withstand the power of the Meyer, and it began to crack. A terrifying man.

"… But I'm glad you caught the monster and broke it. You almost fought the monster with your bare hands."

I said it as a joke, but it was also true.

Of course, Meyer would have killed the Boss Monster with his bare hands.

"Your Grace."

Then someone approached us. It was August who was waiting.

"Did anything special happen?"

"Yes, by the way… The fact that only two of you have escaped…"

"Yes. As expected."

August, who knew somewhat about the situation, lowered his head and drew a cross.

"The unjust use of the mercy of Saint Marianne… It's too painful to speak."

Ah… I thought he would say it was a pity that a person died, but it was a matter of misuse of ability.

I briefly forgot that this world's religion values responsibility for magic, which is God's blessing, rather than life.

That's true though. It was also hard to get used to August, the priest, reacting in a way that 'I don't care about the importance of life.'

While I was so nervous, Meyer suddenly pulled me into his arms and took me to August.

"By the way, that's just in time. Priest August, hurry up and heal the vice commander. She got kicked and stabbed everywhere."

"I'm not hurt."

"Ignore the vice commander."

Meyer said straight away.

I don't know what face he's making because I was turning my back on Meyer, but it was clear that he wasn't happy just by hearing his voice.

I grumbled.

If you over-treat a normal person, you don't become energetic, but you waste your holy power for no reason. Does holy power remain?

August's facial expression of treating me was not much different either.

But it can't be helped because Meyer is watching hard.

So we continued our meaningless treatment.

Meanwhile, Meyer continued to nag.

"You have to do a big job with me, but you're already rolling around like this."

"Yes, yes."

"Your body isn't just yours anymore. Feel more responsible…"

"Yes, yes."