Side Story 3: Visiting a Remote Island 15

「Ah… Noble Envoy…」

The dying man stared up at the gigantic slime with a fanatical gleam in his eyes.

「O Noble Envoy! Please, grant the final request of your dying servant! Slaughter these fools with your unstoppable power…!」

The man plead while spewing blood from his lips, but the giant slime only trembled and quivered in response. It seemed to be hesitating.

Perhaps even a familiar of the Evil God could not simply ignore a plea from such a devoted follower? I guess the guy went crazy because of his long exposure to the slime’s evil energy. And the slime wanted to repay him for breaking the seal?

Or at least that’s the vibe I’m getting from the Evil God’s Innocence. She seems to be translating the slime’s thoughts for me, but is it really saying all that?

『…!』

No, I’m not accusing you of lying! I’m just saying the story is a bit hard to believe!

Well, there were all sorts of Evil God Fragments, and some, like the Evil God’s Innocence within me, were capable of communication. This slime was probably created by one of those.

「Oroooogh!」

The slime apparently resolved itself to fight. It shook off the hesitation and roared threateningly at us. Okay, maybe it wasn’t completely determined. It still seemed to be a bit shaky in the legs. Not that it had legs to begin with.

Honestly, I’m starting to feel a little sorry for it. I don’t know what evil it did to get sealed, but this time it just got caught up in someone else’s mess.

I had assumed it used evil energy to brainwash the man into breaking the seal, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

The whole thing started because the man got sick of his job guarding the seal, so he started investigating how to break it. Apparently, he wanted to revive the slime and have someone else defeat it. That way, he could finally be freed from his duty.

The resulting battle would almost certainly annihilate the farming village above us, but that’s a sacrifice he was willing to make. I guess he was a rotten bastard even before touching the slime’s evil energy.

Either way, he continued his research on the seal and was eventually corrupted into an Evil God worshiper by the evil energy leaking out. He went on to carry out various schemes as the slime remained sleeping within the seal.

That was the gist of the story according to the Evil God’s Innocence.

So the slime was just sleeping peacefully until someone suddenly revived it and pitted it against a foe that it stood no chance against. A bit pitiful, but if it insists on fighting us, then we won’t hold back.

「Oroooooogh!」

The slime should have recognized our pressure by now, but it still launched an attack, sending countless tentacles out with incredible speed.

「Master!」

『On it! Evil God’s Trust!』

I admire your bravery, but that won’t work on us!

My skill caused the slime to freeze, then Fran took a light jump into the air.

She delivered a single strike without a hint of killing intent. And yet, before anyone realized it, the gigantic slime had been cleaved in two.

「Orogh…」

With its core destroyed, a vast amount of the evil energy began pouring out of the slime. However, I simply absorbed all of it. It was easy as the slime had already stopped resisting.

The slime had completely entrusted itself to me, or rather, the Evil God’s Innocence within me. From its perspective, being consumed by the Evil God’s Innocence was a good thing. In a sense, it was becoming one with its god.

「Impossible…」

The man could only stare blankly at the scene. Though already on the verge of death, he had probably desperately clung to life in order to witness the so-called Noble Envoy trampling over Fran and Ouna.

Instead, what he saw was the being he worshiped getting defeated in an instant.

「That… sword…」

「His name is Master! He’s a super amazing divine sword!」

「Divine… sword…?」

The man stared at Fran and me, and eventually, his face twisted in realization.

「A black… cat…? Why are you… here…? How…?」

I’m sure any Evil God worshiper worth their salt has heard our names. In his last moments, he finally realized that we were the worst possible people to make enemies of.

After all, my seal contained something way stronger than the slime he worshiped. He died with despair written all over his face.

Ouna looked down at his corpse with disdain.

「Hmph. Serves him right.」

Pretty harsh. She seemed to harbor an intense hatred for people like him.

「Well then, it seems we’ve succeeded in stopping the incident at its source… Are we done here?」

『Hmm… It might not be so simple.』

Would the guild actually believe us if we said that we solved everything without any proof? Surely they would trust the testimony of a Rank S adventurer, but if there’s no evidence, they might try to detain us until further verification.

『Let’s look around a bit and see if there’s any evidence.』

「Nn.」

「Very well.」

We searched the underground cavern and discovered a hut-like structure where the man had been living. It contained plenty of research materials about evil energy and stacks of documents regarding the Evil Extermination Society’s inner workings.

Apparently, the Evil Extermination Society received a decent amount of funding from foreign nobles and merchants. This wasn’t enough to prove a connection to the Society’s dark side, but I’m sure the guild would love to get their hands on these documents.

This should be good enough to count as evidence.

When we emerged from the underground cavern, Fran lowered her head to Ouna in gratitude.

「Thanks for helping us.」

「Hah. I’m sure you didn’t need my help at all. If anything, I was just holding you back.」

「No, you helped us a lot. You even found the hut at the end.」

「Is that so?」

Ouna stroked her chin and glanced at me. She mentioned her distaste for divine swords, but I saw the curiosity of a researcher in her eyes.

It didn’t last long, as Ouna looked back at Fran.

「If you insist on thanking me, then… how about we cross blades for a bit? I feel like I could learn a lot more that way compared to just talking to Master.」

「Nn. Sure.」

「Hahaha… I had a feeling you would agree, Fran.」

「I wanted to spar with you too, Ouna.」

「Then shall we get right to it?」

「Nn.」

H-Hold on! How did it go from “thanks” to a mock battle?! That took, like, a single second! You guys are moving way too fast!

But after looking at Fran’s face, I knew there was no stopping her now. The same applied to Ouna. In the end, there was only one thing left for me to say.

『Remember, it’s just a friendly sparring match! No killing, okay?!』

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