Chapter 30
Joshua waited for an hour at the laboratory.
"It looks like someone is coming."
Talleon, who was keeping watch, said.
When I turned my head in the direction the boy was gesturing, three silhouettes were visible.
It was Roden's group.
Unlike when we parted at the crossroads, they were noticeably emaciated.
Living corpses.
They collapsed near the laboratory.
"We made it! We made it."
Roden's voice was filled with resentment.
He had forgotten the result of the contest.
For him, surviving this moment was the most important thing.
"Hey."
Joshua approached him closely.
The moment Roden met his gaze.
The contest he had forgotten flashed through his mind, and he shrieked.
"Aaaargh!"
Roden scrambled backward on his hands and knees.
"I-It’s a ghost!"
"Do not treat a perfectly living person as a ghost. More importantly, is this all of you who survived?"
Joshua looked around and asked.
The group of nine had been reduced to three.
They had died during the journey here.
"It is a nightmare. God, please let me wake up from this nightmare."
Roden was losing his mind.
Terrified, he whimpered, with snot and tears streaming down his face, bowing his head repeatedly.
"A promise is a promise."
Joshua walked towards Roden's comrade behind him.
Most of the group's luggage had been entrusted to him.
He had lost his comrades, but he had not failed to collect the belongings they left behind.
"Do not come closer! I will never give this up."
"You all agreed to it. The winner takes everything they want from the other."
"T-That was something Roden started arbitrarily! We have nothing to do with it."
Joshua recalled his face.
He was the boy who had thrown the copper coin before departing from the Tower.
Even if I would show mercy to others, I had no intention of showing any to this particular guy.
He was the one who insulted my family.
Regardless of whether Joshua's family was his real family or not.
He had to take responsibility for his actions.
"Stop the unnecessary talk."
I took out the dagger from my waist.
"Hand it over in three counts."
"What?"
"One."
"Wait a minute! You cannot do that. I will absolutely not give in."
"Two."
"Fine, let us make a deal then! I will hand over this backpack if you let me join your group."
"Three."
Joshua slit his throat with the dagger.
The boy grabbed his neck with his hands, trying to staunch the flowing blood.
Drops of blood slipped through his fingers.
A red puddle formed on the ground.
"What the—"
"I did say three."
His bloodshot eyes glared at me.
His expression showed that he had not expected to be cut.
"You may have said you wanted to make a deal, but I don’t want anything from you."
"......I have this backpack though."
"That is already mine, so it does not count."
The man could not speak any further.
The hand clutching his neck fell away, and the vigorously gushing blood subsided.
Joshua retrieved the backpack from the cooling corpse.
I looked around.
One of the three people who arrived at the laboratory had run away.
It was the moment I had cut his neck with the dagger.
And Roden, the leader, was still muttering to himself incoherently.
"You did well."
Talleon welcomed me when I returned to the group.
The other two, however, looked bewildered.
"What, do you think I killed him?"
I asked the two who were silently inspecting the acquired backpack.
Gavinu spoke first.
"The backpack was like a lifeline to them, so they would not have given it up easily. Killing him swiftly would have been… indeed better than a prolonged argument."
"And Tania?"
"There was a possibility of retaliation. If we had spared him, he would not have forgotten us and would have sought an opportunity for revenge."
"Both of you are correct. And next time, you two must be able to do it too."
Joshua turned around while advising the two.
Roden stood there, pointing his staff at me.
"This is ridiculous. How can a fallen noble who has even lost his place to return try to defeat a true noble?"
Roden exuded intense killing intent.
The magical power he had gathered at the tip of his staff was on a different scale than what he had shown in the Tower.
A double spell, with woven spell circles.
It was a new magic he had devised on the brink of death.
"This is not the Tower. There is no knight to protect you."
"Haha, I don’t know what you are talking about."
He was mistaken.
"The knight was protecting you, not me."
I reached my hand above my head.
Light Attribute did not possess offensive magic.
However, it depended on how you used it.
The [Shield] spell, designed for defense.
I created a giant shield made of light elements above my head.
"......What the."
Roden turned his gaze upwards.
A massive shield was floating in the air.
Fear crushed his entire body.
If such a large object were to plummet, he had no way to stop it with his power.
"What are you! The you I met three years ago was an idiot who could not even properly perform basic skills! But how can you use a spell like that now!"
"Even a dog at a schoolhouse can recite a poem after three years."
Joshua swung the hand he had raised downwards.
The shield began to fall.
"Wait! If you spare me, my father will pay an astronomical ransom! So just get rid of that for a moment."
"You should have said that first."
Roden counterattacked with an electrical discharge.
Crack!
The magical power he squeezed out was only enough to crack the shield slightly.
The shield fell as it was and was deeply embedded in the ground.
In the place where the shield disappeared, he was writhing in pain, his entire body twisted.
[The opponent who looked down on you has been made to pay the price.]
[The doctrine of the Loner God has been executed.]
[2 Coins are acquired.]
[Total Coins: 54]
A reward was bestowed by the Loner God.
While confirming it, I heard applause from somewhere.
"Wow. Student, you are quite skilled."
Joshua turned his head.
A shabbily dressed man walked toward me with a bewildered posture.
'Damn it, just my luck.'
There are mainly three types of enemies encountered at the laboratory.
The first are zombies.
The second are competitors encountered on the way to the laboratory.
The third are the groups that hunt people who come near the laboratory as a base.
'To meet them all.'
It was the worst-case scenario.
This game is indeed unkind.
[Steady Nerves] lashed at me to shake off my thoughts and focus on what was in front of me.
Joshua met the man's gaze.
He was wearing animal furs crudely sewn together with a needle, and he carried a bow and quiver on his back.
He was a bandit.
They were people who had taken advantage of a loophole that opened up in the academy's outskirts due to the zombie situation and had infiltrated.
For these barbarians, the academy was a desirable place.
Small villages were scattered here and there, and a city also existed.
If they were lucky enough to capture students of status, they could exchange them for a ransom or supplies.
"Cough, Ptoo!"
The bandit spat phlegm at the dying Roden.
"Keke, serves him right. I heard that bastard was looking down on you. Good job. Arrogant bastards who live for their own gratification never come to their senses until right before they are about to suffer."
The bandit bent his knees, looked at Roden, and guffawed.
"What does it feel like to kill with magic? I imagine there is no satisfying impact."
"I feel nothing."
"Really? That’s boring."
The bandit seemed disappointed.
He stood up and walked down the slope created by the shield's impact.
Then, he searched the body of Roden, who was not yet dead.
"Uggh!"
The bandit's movements were rough.
He stripped off the top, the bottom, and even checked the underwear.
Finding no particular items, he draped the torn clothes over his body.
"Tch, it does not fit me."
Roden, unable to bear the humiliation, shed tears.
"I am sorry, Sir Joshua."
Talleon threw the dagger he was holding toward Roden.
The dagger spun a few times in the air and accurately plunged into the chest of the dying man.
A small, final gasp signaled his end.
All small movements ceased in his body.
"Whoops, you startled me! Hey, kid, when you throw something like this, you need to announce it first."
The bandit looked pleased and pulled out the dagger Talleon had thrown.
He licked the blood on the blade with his tongue.
"I can keep this dagger, right? If you had made a mistake, I might have been hit."
Talleon frowned.
The axe he was clutching tightened in his grip.
He wanted to cut down that slippery man right now.
But he had to endure it.
"That man would not have come here alone."
Talleon shared the observation he had made.
Joshua shrugged his shoulders.
It meant that was the correct answer.
"Ah, say, do you kids have business in that white building behind us?"
The three students, excluding Joshua, stirred.
He was not just a bandit passing by by chance.
He was part of a group that hunted those who came near the laboratory, using the area as their base.
"Yes."
Joshua answered calmly.
The bandit's eyebrows twitched.
"If you don't mind, why don't you come with my friends? We are also very interested in that building."
Joshua stroked his chin.
The level of barbarians was not fixed.
They were often weaklings, but there were also quite a few who were the opposite.
If they were professionals skilled in plundering, one should not respond recklessly.
They knew how to use poison and were adept at coordinated attacks.
"You want to enter the building, but you cannot, right?"
The bandit stopped smiling and put on a serious expression.
"You speak as if you can get in."
"The name of that building is the Laboratory, and it is a facility for the professors who educated mages. To enter, you either need to know a password shared only among those in the know, or you need a mage who can decipher it from scratch."
"Cut out the boring explanations. Can you open it? Or can you not?"
"I can open it."
The strength of the spell circle guarding the laboratory entrance was threefold.
It was difficult for current students to handle.
If tampered with wrongly, it was highly likely to become crippled by the backlash of the magic.
"You are quite confident. Do you know how many mages died trying to tamper with that door before you came? A whopping seven."
"That is fewer than I expected."
"What?"
The bandit was flustered.
The boy remained calm even after hearing the number of dead people.
"Hahaha, good. You need that much guts for me to trust and entrust it to you. Follow me."
"Wait a moment."
Joshua tilted his head.
The bandit was mistaken.
"I didn’t agree to your proposal yet, did I?"
"Huh? You were talking so naturally, I thought we were already on the same side. Are we not?"
The bandit wiggled his fingers.
Ready to pull an arrow from the quiver and aim it at the opponent at any moment.
"How many people are there?"
"Why are you suddenly asking that?"
"I need to know your level to decide whether to join hands with you."
"Do you not trust us?"
"What reason do I have to trust people I met today? It is troublesome if you try to take advantage of a young student too much."
The bandit fell into thought.
The boy was somehow different from the usual naive students.
He was not someone who would be easily swayed by sweet talk.
"Excluding me, there are six people."
"What is the reason you are acting alone?"
"I am the scout. My role is to patrol the area around the building and make contact with groups like yours."
"Are the other comrades armed like you?"
"Everyone carries a sword to protect themselves."
The bandit was starting to get annoyed.
He was dissatisfied with the position of having to obediently answer the boy's questions.
"Hey! Enough of this, and answer me. Are you coming or not!"
"This is the last question. I am curious about your experience. How long have you been a bandit?"
"Heh, a little over a year. You, who are new to this business, might not know, but that record is quite remarkable. Now, it is my turn! Tell me."
Joshua nodded.
Surviving as a barbarian for a year was a great achievement.
They had been able to constantly plunder, dodging mercenaries and knights, even while being wanted criminals.
However,
"We will not be going."
Their success was only remarkable by the standards of other barbarians.
The standards of a player like me were different.
At my current level, I did not need to fear a bandit with one year of experience.
"Shit! Who do you think you are messing with?"
The bandit gnashed his teeth.
His bloodshot eyes glared at the boy as if he would kill him.
The boy, who had been watching calmly, took one step forward.
The air trembled.
His comrades nearby realized what that meant and held their breath.
The bandit decided to act on the hesitation he was feeling.
He pulled an arrow from his quiver, notched it onto the bowstring, and aimed it at the boy.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"I am perfectly sane."
Joshua no longer showed him any courtesy.
He never intended to join him from the start.
Negotiating with a barbarian is dangerous.
Since they act according to their moods, their actions are difficult to predict.
They are a group that betrays others frequently and is the furthest from the words 'fairness' and 'trust'.
'That man proudly boasted about surviving as a bandit for a year.'
In other words, that year meant he had participated in all kinds of dirty deeds.
He cannot be trusted.
Therefore, the task I had to do was set.
I had to eliminate him before he could inform the rest of his group about the situation here.
"I don't need to taste you to know whether you are good or bad."