Chapter 121 - Chapter 120: Subjugation Curse
The muscle-bound Zureept smashed the table and charged forward.
"Dieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!"
"You first. Stone Bullet."
Mika pointed his left hand at Zureept and unleashed the Stone Bullet.
Zugaaaaaaaaaaan!!!
The Stone Bullet struck the rock wall, and the loud sound of it shattering echoed through the hall.
Zureept was blown away, slammed against the wall back-first.
"Guff!?"
Spitting blood, he collapsed and slid down.
A hole had opened in his chest, large enough for Mika's fist to pass through.
(He pierced through so easily. Well, it has enough power to deal decent damage to a Chimera. Against a human, this is what happens.)
It seems he used Physical Enhancement, but no matter how many times you multiply a human's durability, it is limited.
Beasts are truly tough.
Seeing the loud noise and Zureept being blown away and collapsing, everyone in the hall was stunned.
Mika decided to take control of the hall in that gap.
"Air Cutter."
He sent out five Air Cutters, cutting off one ankle each of all the men in the hall.
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?"
"Kyaaaaa——————!"
With their ankles suddenly cut off, the men screamed and writhed on the spot.
The women who didn't understand what happened were terrified by the men's screams and began screaming themselves.
(With this, they can't escape either. Well then...)
Mika walked with a light step toward the women huddled together.
While Mika was moving around, the frightened women had gathered in one spot.
"Hii!?"
As Mika approached, the women were terrified, and some even began to cry.
(Well, it's not surprising they are scared after such a sudden tragedy.)
He wondered how to explain, but among the women, there was one person who, despite being scared, did not avert her gaze from Mika.
She was scared, but unlike the others who cried or closed their eyes and crouched, only she was looking at Mika.
(She seems to be the only one I can talk to properly.)
Was she in her mid-twenties?
She was a woman with black hair and a well-proportioned face.
Even while scared, she stood as if shielding the other women, facing Mika.
Mika smiled brightly and showed her his Guild Card.
"I am an adventurer. I also work as a Bounty Hunter. I came to help everyone."
"Eh!?"
The woman looked back and forth between Mika and the Guild Card, unable to speak from surprise.
"First, let's make you feel a bit better. O great source of life, Great God of Water. Your great..."
Mika used Heal to restore the woman.
Any injuries not yet healed would be cured, and her stamina would recover.
Fatigue wouldn't disappear, but it should be much better than before.
More importantly, to gain trust quickly, first "give a small benefit."
That is the best way.
The woman stared with wide eyes at the particles of yellow light.
Then, she touched various parts of her body to check.
Presumably, those were the places that had hurt her until now.
It seems she had quite a few injuries.
When Mika smiled brightly and used Heal on the other women, he could see their wariness weaken slightly.
Just as he was thinking he would start asking questions, one of the men shouted loudly.
"Y-you brat...! Use Heal on me too! I'll kill you!"
"Hii!"
The women looked terrified by the man's loud voice.
Without needing to confirm, it was clear they were frequently yelled at and subjected to violence.
Mika sighed.
"Sorry. Just wait a little bit."
Saying that, Mika walked toward the man who had shouted loudly.
The man thought Mika was coming to use Heal on him, twisted his mouth uglily, and got cocky.
The other men also started shouting to hurry up and heal them.
"Don't be slow! Heal us quickly! Do you want to be killed!?"
"It's us too! Hurry up, you brat!"
Mika silently squatted next to the man and then swung his fist down onto his face.
"Buh!? W-what, gu... what the... guff! Y-you... gue!?"
Five hits, six hits, seven hits, eight hits, nine hits, ten hits... twenty hits... thirty hits...
No matter what the man said or how much he resisted, Mika continued to punch him silently.
In the room, only the man's groans and the sound of beating echoed.
Soon, the man stopped speaking and stopped resisting.
He didn't seem unconscious, but he seemed to have lost the will to resist.
Or perhaps he had a concussion?
After confirming the man had gone quiet, Mika picked up the man's cut-off foot and attached it to his ankle.
Then, he cast Heal.
"There, it's healed."
"Ah... ah...?"
The man seemed dazed, not even seeming to notice he had been healed.
"Air Cutter."
"Guh, gyaaaaa——————!?"
He cut off the ankle opposite the one he had just healed.
"If you wait quietly, I'll heal you. If you don't need your legs, you can run away."
Mika stood up and made sure the other men could hear him.
"If you make a fuss, I'll put a hole in your chest. Just like that guy."
Saying that, he pointed at Zureept.
At this point, the men finally seemed to realize "this guy is dangerous."
Even though their boss had been killed right in front of them, they seemed to think "too late."
Mika returned to the women.
And, naturally, they were terrified.
(Fools... because you said unnecessary things...)
It was back to square one.
Well, how should I proceed with the conversation?
"You were captured by these guys, weren't you?"
First, he confirmed the women's situation.
Just by looking, he could roughly tell how they had been treated, but he wanted to talk to calm them down a bit.
Mika focused his conversation on the woman he had tried to speak to first.
The other women would gradually regain their composure as they listened.
Through this, the women's situation became clear.
These people were those who had been on the carriage Zureept had attacked.
Zureept and his subordinates had taken them back because they liked them.
Then, they used the Subjugation Curse to prevent them from escaping.
They were made to take care of their daily needs and were used sexually.
Essentially, they were in a state of slavery.
Mika felt nauseous at the cruelty of the contents spoken haltingly while the woman twisted her expression in pain.
He turned around and looked at the men.
(Should I kill all of them...?)
The bounty no longer mattered.
His head felt like it would explode from the rising anger.
While Mika was seriously wondering whether to keep them alive or kill them, one of the women stood up unsteadily.
He looked at the woman with brown hair suspiciously, wondering what she was doing, and she passed by Mika's side unsteadily.
Then, she picked up a fallen unsheathed knife and approached one of the men lying down.
"W-what, what are you doing!? You, you damn fool! Do you want to get beaten!?"
"............"
The man was clearly panicked but bluffed and shouted at the woman.
But the woman did not react at all.
She squatted next to the man, raised her arm, and stabbed the knife into his stomach.
"Gyah! Y-you damn fool!? You stabbed me!?"
The woman did not respond to the man's words and stabbed the knife into him over and over again.
"W-wait!? That's too much————."
As Mika tried to stop her, the woman with black hair shook her head and held Mika back.
It seemed the woman with brown hair had been treated terribly by the man she was stabbing.
(If the hatred is that deep, I suppose it can't be helped...)
Mika hesitated but slowly stood up and went to the woman with brown hair.
He grabbed her raised hand and took the knife.
The woman who had the knife taken from her slowly looked up at Mika with sluggish movements.
The woman had a blank expression and was quietly shedding tears.
Silently, while shedding tears, she just kept stabbing.
How much hatred must accumulate to lead to such an action?
The man was twitching and convulsing, barely alive.
Mika cast Heal on such a man.
Wrapped in particles of yellow light, the man's wounds healed instantly.
But although the wounds healed, the man fainted right there.
Seeing the man's condition, the woman with brown hair looked stunned.
"...Why...?"
Why won't you let me kill him?
Her eyes strongly pleaded that.
"...I know this is my ego."
Mika whispered softly.
"Still, I don't want you to get your hands dirty. You shouldn't get your hands dirty for scum like them."
The woman whose hands were stained with the man's blood heard Mika's words and looked as if she had lost hope.
He was saying terrible things.
Mika knew that too.
Still, he couldn't let these women bear any more crosses.
That was—
(Something I should bear.)
Mika stood next to the unconscious man, raised his leg, and stomped on his chest with all his might.
"Guff!?"
Crack, crack, crack... the sound of ribs breaking echoed, and the man's chest caved in.
His lungs and heart ruptured, and the man spat blood.
"Gah! Gulp, gulp... guff..."
Blood overflowing from his mouth spilled out.
The man's hand grabbed Mika's foot, but the strength soon left, and it dropped limply.
After confirming the man had died, Mika turned his gaze to the woman sitting next to him.
(This won't satisfy her... But just because you killed him with your own hands, it doesn't mean anything will get better...)
If so, it's better to have fewer wounds.
It might be a comfort.
It might be Mika's self-satisfaction.
Still, he didn't want them to get hurt any more for scum like that.
The woman with brown hair shed tears continuously while looking at the face of the man who had died, blood flowing from her mouth and her tongue hanging limply.
After the women calmed down, Mika proposed heading to Yaunasun.
Of course, he would take on the escort duty up to there.
The men whose ankles had been cut off were tied with the ropes they had, and then Heal was used.
Since the bounty no longer mattered, he could have let them bleed to death, but for now, their treatment was suspended.
Mika wanted to leave this place quickly, but a problem arose here.
"Don't leave the cave?"
When Mika asked, the woman with black hair nodded.
It seemed the women had been ordered by Zureept not to leave the cave.
"We were ordered not to escape. When Zureept moved his hideout, the order changed to another command, and every time we arrived at the hideout, we were ordered not to leave from there."
"But Zureept is gone now..."
The woman with black hair shook her head.
It seems the Subjugation Curse has nothing to do with the master's life or death.
(Once ordered, it doesn't matter even if the person dies. Troublesome...)
If the order was that killing would cancel it, someone could sacrifice themselves to save the others.
Some might make that choice.
"So... so... I... I don't really want to ask you for this..."
There, the woman with black hair covered her mouth, trying to hold back a sob.
"...Kill us... with your hands..."
"Don't say foolish things!? What are you talking about!"
He understood it was painful, but Mika couldn't do something like killing these women.
He couldn't possibly do it.
"We are forbidden by the Subjugation Curse to commit suicide or hurt each other!"
"I know you're saying terrible things! But...!"
The woman with black hair shook her shoulders and let out a sob.
Then, in place of the woman with black hair, the other women pleaded with Mika to "kill them."
"P-please, wait a moment! Calm down, let's think of some way!"
"No way!"
"Please! If you think we're pitiful, please..."
Two women in a wretched state demanded "kill us."
This situation makes me feel like I can't live!
"Um... um, that's right! That person stabbed with a knife just now, right!? Why was she able to do that?"
Mika squatted and pointed at the woman with brown hair who was still dazed.
"We couldn't disobey Zureept due to the Subjugation Curse, but we weren't ordered not to disobey the other men."
"But if we disobeyed or resisted, we were beaten terribly."
Rather, it seemed they enjoyed making the women resist and beating them to make them obey.
(Really, they are scum to the core...)
But this doesn't provide a hint for a solution.
It seems the Subjugation Curse cannot be cancelled once cast.
The thing that looked like a tattoo on the chest is called the Subjugation Crest, and even if the master dies, the Subjugation Crest remains.
If a Subjugation Crest like that was there, even if the master died and they became free, they could never forget for a single day that they were slaves.
(But, Subjugation "Curse"...)
It's the first time I've seen it properly, but if this is indeed a certain kind of "curse" as the name suggests.
(There might be a way. No, I must find a way!)
Mika made up his mind.
The woman with black hair seemed to have calmed down a bit; she wiped her eyes and looked at Mika.
"...I'm sorry. I said terrible things."
She smiled weakly, but her expression clearly showed resignation.
"Everyone else shouldn't be asked to do such things either."
"But..."
From the woman with black hair's appearance, Mika immediately understood what she was thinking.
(...Suicide is impossible due to the Subjugation Curse. But, a slow death?)
Direct actions like stabbing the throat with a knife were impossible, but what about waiting for death slowly through starvation?
Setting fire to this hall, or dying from lack of oxygen, or burning to death.
She seemed willing to try anything.
(Now, no matter how much I persuade her with words, it won't work. Then...)
Mika went in front of the woman with black hair and sat down.
He beckoned her with his hand a little, asking her to sit too.
"Sorry. I'm going to touch you a bit."
"Eh? Eh..."
Even when Mika reached out, the woman stayed still without moving.
She looked at Mika strangely.
When his fingertip touched the Subjugation Curse, he felt a clear curse.
But it wasn't that strong of a curse.
(No, probably it has enough strength to curse and kill a person.)
Recently, he had been handling curses that attracted so many Wraiths that his senses were numb, but this is probably as strong as the ring Mika had given up on unsealing.
In the past, this was a level where he could barely handle it just by touching it.
However, even for curses cast on humans, it isn't as strong as the Lust Crest.
(With this strength, it shouldn't take that long.)
Mika smiled brightly.
"Please stay still for a moment. I think it won't take thirty minutes."
"That's fine, but what are you doing?"
"Hmm... I want to try something. You'll understand immediately."
Saying that, Mika concentrated on unsealing the curse.
The method of unsealing the curse all at once, like he had been doing in recent "curse-type" requests.
Mika hardly moved a muscle, concentrating steadily on unsealing the curse.
"Phuuuuuuu."
It probably didn't take thirty minutes.
Mika, who hadn't moved at all, took a deep breath and released the hand he had placed on his chest.
"It's finished. You can go now."
"Already?"
The woman with black hair looked at Mika with a strange expression, wondering what it was all about.
But the two women who had been watching Mika and the woman with black hair were left speechless, their mouths opening and closing.
"What? What's wrong?"
"T-that...!?"
One of them pointed to her chest, squeezing out a voice.
"I-t's gone...!?"
"Hmm...?"
The woman with black hair looked at her own chest and widened her eyes.
"!? Eh... why!?"
The pattern that had been there until just now, a symbol of nightmare for the woman, had disappeared.
The women were surprised and confused.
Joy would not come immediately.
It would take a little time for the Subjugation Curse to disappear and for joy to well up slowly.
Mika watched over such women with a smile.