The Hero’s Party Members Treat Me Well for Some Reason - Chapter 71



Imperial Expedition (5)

“Ugh… Huh…”

“Are you okay, Ail…?”

“Ugh… Yeah, I’m fine…”

Even though it was a hellish life as a slave, this place wasn’t always gloomy and terrifying.

Even if those feelings made up 99 percent, there was still about 1 percent that could offer some solace.

No matter how many things were broken, there were still things I hoped would not shatter completely.

For Belita, those things were the same children who remained here. All of them had either lost their parents or had been sold by them.

With similar tragedies, it was easy to bond.

Especially since this bleak existence had forged a strong connection among them, Belita had come to feel affection for them before she realized it.

It was somewhat distant from romantic love.

If anything, it was closer to camaraderie, familial love. The children who had lost their families were seeking the warmth of family in one another. Perhaps because Belita had endured in this prison longer than the others, the children trusted and relied on her.

“…Use this.”

“Uh, what is it, herbs!? Where did you get this, Sister Belita…?”

“I crushed the grass that the steward gave me a while back.”

“Wow, thank you so much!”

Squeak.

As they were taking care of each other like that, the door opened, and one person entered.

For a moment, the children thought it was a Veklon and flinched in surprise, but fortunately, it was someone else.

The person who entered the prison was Evil.

The steward of Veklon, the one who provided them with food.

Seeing that he was holding something in his arms, it seemed he had brought them something to eat this time.

At the sight of that, small smiles appeared on the children’s faces.

“Wow!”

“It’s food…!”

“It’s been a while since you came alone, Uncle Evil!”

Evil knelt down and handed out a piece of bread to each of the children. Although he was the butler of Viclon, the children weren’t particularly afraid of him.

This was because he would come down like this to help them gather what they needed whenever Viclon was away from home.

“I always say this, but it’s a secret from the lord… Don’t ever let on that you’ve eaten anything. Otherwise, the period of starvation will only increase.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t worry, Uncle Evil.”

“Thank you again this time.”

The scruffy children each expressed their thanks to Evil. Hearing their words, Evil let out a faint smile.

‘I’m sorry…’

The reason Evil took care of them like this was purely for his own satisfaction.

‘I’m truly sorry for not being able to stop my foolish master…’

Though Viclon had taken the children in, it was Evil who guided them to the education room. He couldn’t resist the lord who held power, so this was merely a way to relieve his guilt, even if just a little.

Of course, his self-satisfaction was like a desperate lifeline for the children.

Belita felt she could guess what Evil was thinking inside, but she didn’t let it bother her.

The reason the butler couldn’t do anything against the lord was simply because he lacked power himself.

“By the way, when will the lord come next?”

“I don’t know either… There have been strange rumors circulating in the city lately, but I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Is something happening… It must not be anything serious.”

“Ah… It’s okay. As long as the educator doesn’t come.”

“Don’t worry.”

Belita only wished that these small and precious moments would last as long as possible.

A few days later, the lord, Viclon, would be slain by the hero.

*

After knocking the lord’s head off, I headed straight to the lord’s mansion. The body would be taken care of later by Lily and Yulis when they came to handle it. They would announce to the citizens that he had become a puppet of the puppet master.

In that case, all I had to do was rescue the children in the meantime. Even at this moment, they must be trembling in fear…

That can’t happen. The Demon King’s seal keeps breaking.

“Did you come?”

As I sneaked into the mansion, I saw a guest who had arrived before me.

Adele. The thief of our team and the oldest dark elf.

I was momentarily taken aback when I saw her.

“Adele? Why are you here? Weren’t you with the saint and the wizard?”

“Compared to those two, I suppose I’m not very well-known. Being a dark elf and all…”

She mumbled the last part. In this world, dark elves weren’t exactly well-regarded.

Perhaps it was because their race lived near the demon realm, having endured years of persecution as fellow demonkind.

Of course, thanks to her and the efforts of other kin, most of that persecution had faded, but the perception still lingered.

You could say it felt similar to the experience of Black people on Earth. Their skin, dark like hers, didn’t seem all that different.

As I pondered this, she continued speaking.

“… And I don’t know what you might do.”

“Oh.”

In short, she had followed me to keep an eye on me.

From her perspective, I suppose there wasn’t much difference between me and the lord.

“Do as you please.”

I nodded vaguely, thinking it wouldn’t matter if she was around.

I was already unsure how the others would react, so an extra person was needed.

Thus, we began to descend the stairs to the basement.

Adele tended to be particularly taciturn when she was with me, so there wasn’t much conversation between us.

Creeeak.

As we passed through the dark staircase and opened the door, I began to see the disheveled children.

The rusty iron door seemed to have drawn my focus, and for a moment, my eyes met those of the children.

“Hey, kids…?”

And then…

“Ugh, ugh…?!”

“No… please…”

“Please save us.”

The kids began to tremble in fear.

Ah, damn that cursed fate, please.

*

[Cursed by Oppression]

—

Those weaker than you, when they see you, are seized by fear with a certain probability!

*

Every time the lord abused us, there was a phrase that passed through the air.

– Unruly brats. I should call for an educator soon…

The children did not know whether this was merely a complaint or if there was indeed a plan in place.

What was certain, however, was that the ‘educator’ spoken of by the lord was not a good person.

He could be a thug from somewhere, or perhaps a technician trained specifically in the art of tormenting others.

Whatever it was, it was not a good thing for the children.

Of course, until now, the educator had never appeared.

After all, child abuse is not exactly a moral act. The lord had chosen his words carefully.

Thanks to that, the children had been somewhat reassured until…

Creeeak.

From noble mtl dot com

A man opened the door and stepped inside.

The children instinctively knew the moment they saw him.

He is the ‘educator’!

The very person who could plunge us into suffering, who might even kill us for real, had truly appeared!

“Hey kids…?”

Oh, can you feel that wickedness already? He seemed to be trying to hide his ferocity behind a smile, but to the children, it was all too clear.

The children, who had been slumped over, shrank back, their faces turning pale.

“I didn’t expect you to be this surprised. You don’t have to be scared, kids…”

Especially Belita felt an alarm ringing in her head. Her instincts, honed over two years of survival, were quite sharp. Those instincts were warning her more fiercely than ever.

Run away. There’s no way being caught will end well.

Perhaps the other kids felt something similar, as emotions began to escalate.

“Ahhh—!”

One child screamed.

“Help me! Please help me!”

Another child started to run wildly, desperate to survive.

“I’m sorry! I was wrong! I won’t say I’m hungry or in pain again… Just please let me live!”

Someone, perhaps in a panic, mumbled strange words.

Meanwhile, Luke, witnessing it all, was on the brink of losing his mind.

“Wow, this is driving me crazy…”

“Why do you always leave a bad impression on others? That’s a talent in itself.”

“…… Would you believe me if I said I have a curse related to fate clinging to my body?”

“Hmph, nonsense.”

Luke felt a pang in his heart. He was once again reminded of the power of his curse. When he approached relatively less mature children, didn’t the effect multiply?

Seeing the awkward situation, Adele asked him.

“So what are you going to do?”

“… What can I do? I have to forcibly catch them and rescue them.”

“Oh, no!”

“Run! Run away!!”

After that, a game of tag began in the narrow underground prison. Something resembling a murderer roamed around trying to catch the children, while the kids did their utmost to escape.

“Please, kids. I’m not a bad person…”

Belita watched the scene in a daze.

‘No.’

Her precious things were about to shatter. Even in a situation where everything was breaking, what she had desperately tried to hold onto was on the verge of being destroyed.

So what was all this for?

‘… Because I am powerless.’

Thinking back, her life had always been like that.

She lost her family because she was powerless, lost her rights because she was powerless, and now she was about to lose her last companions and her own life because she was powerless.

One could say she was unlucky, but the world did not spare her for being unlucky.

It was unfair and painful, but there was nothing she could do as someone who was powerless and uneducated.

The powerless her could only imagine. She could only wish.

What if…

“What if I had power?”

What if she had overwhelming strength to repel the bad people trying to take away what was hers?

Then, no one would have been able to trample on her recklessly.

“Enough now…”

If that were the case, she wouldn’t have lost anything.

“Stop it!”

Quack!

The miracle happened in the next moment.

The moment she reached out her hand, a large claw flew from her palm. It was a claw as red as her hair. Finally, that claw clenched into a fist and struck Luke.

And then.

Bang!

Luke’s body slammed against the wall. Although he had blocked the claw with his arm, the sting was transmitted throughout his entire body.

Even though he was completely defenseless, it had still given a slight stimulus to Luke, who was at Lv80.

Luke, pushed back against the wall, let out a light exclamation.

“…Wow.”

*

How does a supernatural ability manifest?

Scholars who sought something beyond magic once conducted deep research on the manifestation of supernatural abilities.

Unfortunately, they could not artificially create these abilities, but at least they could speculate on how they came to be.

The first way is to be born with it.

Like a puppet that reigned as a tyrant from birth.

Like a dragon race that had different base values from the moment they were born. Those who are born with it occasionally receive a powerful supernatural ability as a gift from the world or the gods.

Another method is to gather intent.

The consciousness of life, emotions, desires, cravings, and so on. The strangely intense longings of life can sometimes converge in one place, completely altering the nature of magical power.

The magical power created in that way takes root in a single vessel, awakening acquired supernatural abilities.

Just as the techniques of the mad king, who had even modified his own body with obsessive determination, rose to the level of authority.

Just as a mere utensil that was born lowly became a calamity that would later destroy an entire city.

The stronger one’s determination, and the more intense the emotions of those around them, the higher the probability of a supernatural ability manifesting.

Just like this child before me.

I recognized that little kid.

Although it was my first time seeing them in person, I had seen this character countless times in the game.

[The Demon King and the Hero Party] was a game with many characters. Among such a multitude, there were always a few particularly impressive characters.

‘Velita.’

The red-clawed Velita.

She had taken a major position among the rebels even before reaching adulthood.

The character from the game stood before me in a slightly younger state than back then.