[13th Round] A Trivial Reason
▷ Humiliation: I didn’t know it would be so embarrassing to look at myself in the past from the perspective of a third party… I was even worse than I imagined…
‘Hmm? So you’re still here, my angry senior.’
▷ Irritation: I lose my cool every time I involve myself with you. I’m not mad. I am now a person so rational that I no longer give in to outbursts of emotions.
“Does that seem to be the case?”
▷ Warning: Stop questioning me like that.
I was convinced that he was incredibly strong in the past, but I wasn’t weak either and based on skills alone, I had the advantage.
Level?
It was hard to check the level of anyone who’d gone beyond level 999, but I was confident that mine was higher.
The effect of my race, ‘Dual-Core Cosmic Human’, exceeded the heroes’ 500% experience points perk since I could absorb all the experience points of the opponent I defeated.
My senior was way too cheeky.
He spent his whole day doing useless business.
Meanwhile, I had already tamed a dragon, enthralled Saintess C, and had gone to the wizard that raised Snow Woman, making a deal with him.
I exerted incredible efficiency!
I had 64 years of experience, after all!
“Hey, why are you looking at me so fiercely? Through a fair deal, I bought the rights to raise this mutant harpy.”
“She’s not an object that you can just buy or sell!”
“Why not?”
“What?”
“I’m asking why I can’t do that to a harpy.”
“Why are you looking for a reason? Isn’t it only natural?”
The senior from the past pulled on his disingenuous mask.
“Do you know how many slaves live in this village permanently?”
“What?”
“Answer me. Do you know?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“If you don’t, then listen to me carefully. There are 43 slaves in this village. And we’re in the northern part of the Northern Continent, an extremely cold place in this world. Agriculture is difficult, even near impossible, because of the ground freezing over, and due to the heavy snowstorms, traders do not come here often. This small village exists only because a feudal lord decided to develop a mine nearby, which is why he bought slaves and forced them to live here.”
“…”
He didn’t say anything.
“You’re not happy that I’m in the business of buying and selling monsters, so you want to save the harpy. Does that mean you think monsters are more important than humans?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Why didn’t you know?”
“…”
He couldn’t answer.
This was the third day he appeared.
And all this time, he kept chasing the Snow Woman. He never peered into the faces of the smiling inhabitants, behind which lay sadness.
Meanwhile, in the 1st round, I looked through everyone. Walking around the entire village, I scanned the asses of all the villagers using the “Xray Vision” skill to check for the presence of slave marks.
▷ Fright: You checked their asses? All of them? Regardless of gender and age?
I could already deduce what my resentful senior was thinking.
But this was a habit from the 1st round.
On Earth, it was common for people to get tattoos, but tattoos weren’t given to this world’s inhabitants unless there was a reason.
Affiliation, status, rank, position, education received, occupation, origin…
It was like an identity card.
But from the 2nd round, I became lazy, so I stopped developing that skill. I already had people’s personal data in my head, making it easy for me to discern who was who without looking at their tags.
But then I fell for Thief E’s trick! That event made me get this skill again. Afterward, I really had nowhere to use it until now.
We were now in the past.
Hence, I went ahead and checked everything.
“Do you still have something to say?”
“…”
“If not, then get out. Let me leave you with a serious warning. Save the people first before taking care of monsters, you damn traitor to humanity.”
Due to the words of his righteous junior, his conscience began to devour him, and he stepped back!
▷ Justification: I admit I was an idiot in the past, but I don’t think I should be called a traitor to humanity. Everyone going through their youth would find a girl they were in love with so much that they’d forget about everything.
‘Not really. I didn’t have that.’
▷ Belief: Think hard. Surely, in the 1st round, when you were still a rookie, you were as pathetic as I was, running after every girl!
‘There was no such event, resentful senior.’
It was true that there was a time when I relied on Lanuvel, but in those ten years, there wasn’t a day when I didn’t think about my homeland and my mother’s tennis racket.
Survival and my return were more important than women!
And he shouldn’t lump everyone into one category. I didn’t like that.
“No! She’s not a monster! She’s a person like we are, and she’s very important to me! You’re wrong if you think I don’t care about humanity. It’s just that I’m not God. I can’t save everyone, but I can save those who are dear to me. And I will save Miss Snow Woman from your treacherous hands!” The First Hero shouted, holding his ground.
▷ Satisfaction: Well said, past me! It is impossible to save everyone. Isn’t it enough to rank all your followers in order of importance and treat them accordingly?
‘Watching you clear your own past image is disgusting.’
“…”
This wild world defied all logic. I got the beautiful Snow Woman in a fair deal, and it wasn’t illegal on any Continent of Fantasy to raise monsters as pets. Yet this senior of mine was behaving so atrociously!
“All people look different, just like how her hands aren’t the same as ours. Looking at her beautiful personality, I realized that she is human, and you, looking at her appearance, treat her as a monster. You leave me no choice. I will have to implement my justice by force.”
It seemed that he had chosen to use violence.
He summoned the ‘Magic Sword’, which was reflected in his status. I knew this weapon well.
Holy Sword B!
▷ Confusion: Who will understand you if you use such names?
‘It makes sense to me, and that’s all that matters.’
A special feature of Holy Sword B was that its pommel was heart-shaped, and it strengthened the wielder’s skills.
I knew well because I used it…
It was much more dangerous than the Holy Sword A, which had automatic functions.
“It’s not good to persuade others by force, savage.”
There were inevitable situations where my sword slipped off my hands, but I didn’t force those who were weaker than me.
“Raise your weapon.”
“I refuse.”
If I fought him, the course of history would be completely distorted.
I tamed the Snow Queen Elsh, one of the Five Great Disasters, and managed to get the Snow Woman. I couldn’t ruin everything now.
“I don’t want rumors to spread that I attacked an unarmed civilian.”
“That’s none of my business.”
“Refusing to fight means that you admit defeat. Free Miss Snow Woman. She’s not your property. If you refuse, I will take her away by force.”
He was determined to take her away from me.
I wanted to hit his sperm-filled head, but I knew I shouldn’t fight him.
I needed to somehow convince him with words.
“Hey savage, isn’t her opinion more important than anything else?”
“Ha! Who in this world will follow someone like you…”
“You talk too much. So is it important or not?”
“It is.”
“Then shut up. I’ll ask her about it.”
“…”
I turned to the Snow Woman.
“Would you prefer to go with the man who pestered you ceaselessly and became the reason why your identity as a harpy was revealed, causing you to be kicked out of the village, or would you like to go with me, whom the noble wizard that raised you trusted your life with?”
“You.”
The First Hero’s expression darkened when he heard her answer. Denying the reality, he began to shout rudely.
“That’s not fair! The way you worded it made you sound like the better option! Let me do the talking this time. Miss Snow Woman, are you better off with me, with whom you have accumulated many good memories in the past three days, or are you better off with this nasty slaver you’ve met today for the first time in your life?”
“This nasty gentleman sounds like the better option for me,” the Snow Woman answered confidently, resting her head on my chest.
I wanted her to remove her head as soon as possible, but it was better to stand and endure it in this situation.
There was no end to my patience!
“Miss Snow Woman, you are being deceived.”
▷ Disclaimer: Enough! Stop it! Isn’t it time to give up? Past me, please don’t make me feel any worse!
And I thought the senior was a cold-blooded person.
He seemed to have felt wounded due to his past self.
“I will definitely save you.”
But his desperate cries didn’t reach his younger self.
However, that didn’t concern me.
I hugged the Snow Woman with my right hand, and with the index finger of my left hand, I lifted her chin.
“Mmm…”
I didn’t usually kiss monsters, but on Earth, I had seen zoo keepers kiss dolphins or seals several times for visitors.
Because of work, I did this with a mermaid several times.
This time was no different, except instead of a fish, I was kissing a bird. Hence, it was excused.
The First Hero grew speechless and soon unsummoned Holy Sword B.
He seemed to have lost the will to fight.
He really seemed to have seen this mutant as human, which caused the expression on his face.
“Agh!”
Weeping bitter tears, he ran away without looking back.
My final victory.
The power of words defeated violence. This battle would be remembered for a long time.
“Drug Hero, do you think you should let him go like that?” The First Spirit asked anxiously after silently watching the scene unfold like an audience in a movie theater.
Who knew? Even if everything weren’t alright with him, everything would be alright with the world.
▶ Excitement: Hopefully, he’s not very shaken. The First Hero has the power to change the course of history, after all.
‘Trainee Teacher, if I were worried about that, I wouldn’t have started this. And even if something goes wrong, this is a fictional world.’
Our reality was safe.
Even if events were distorted here, the system would correct everything.
‘Isn’t that so, senior?’
‘Hmm? resentful senior?’
No matter how long I waited, no one answered.
Was he already gone?
▷ Conclusion: Due to the long-term failures of the education system, the dimension of Fantasy is becoming weaker every day. Hence, I put off the decisive battle until I was sure of my victory… but I’ve now changed my mind. We need to destroy the Fantasy World as soon as possible. I want to completely erase the existence of the educational institution in which my shameful personal file is kept from this world!
The First Hero made a declaration that made him sound like he was the final boss.
… All for a trivial reason.
