Kains and Dmitri left the carriage to check up with the 'elf' who had obstructed their path.
Shun followed after right behind them.
Before the carriage, laid an androgynous-looking person.
It was a person with a very youthful appearance, very much like someone around 10 to 15 years old; akin to a premature child. It's abundant and lush blonde hair had been smeared with mud stains on the ground.
Their eyes were dilated and unfocused, but still twitching slightly.
It was clear that the person was alive, but definitely not in a good state of health, and needed to be medically treated as soon as possible.
The person was entirely naked... so when the 3 guys glanced at the lack of a chest and over the presence of something on the lower half of its body, they quickly realized it was a male.
"...Eh...? I-it's... that's a guy...?"
"... ...He's... injured...it seems." (whisper)
Kains noticed the various slash wounds inflicted all over the male's body. They were extremely severe, and had blood spilling out of them.
-Most likely, they had been freshly inflicted...
A fresh wound... ...Is someone here...?
Kains quickly scanned his surroundings.
"Bestow the gift of clear eyes, Presence Awareness!"
Having completed the chant, a blue magic sigil filled with complicated patterns and characters appeared beneath his feet.
A long-distance effect scanned the surroundings in a large radius.
"...!!!"
He detected the presence of another individual, hiding a few hundred meters away from them.
But the person seemed to notice that their position had been compromised and quickly retreated.
...Aside from that irregularity, Kains could no longer detect anyone else nearby.
"...What was that..."
"? Kains?"
"No, it's nothing."
Kains took off his white cloak draped around his shoulders, and covered the naked body of the male elf.
"An elf... this is peculiar... we've never seen an elf since a long time ago in this continent... Have they taken residence somewhere in this forest I wonder... The investigation this time doesn't seem as simple as I originally thought...
You guys should take caution as well... We may very well be treading into enemy territory... Elves are known to be extremely xenophobic and very protective of their settlements.
That said though, we should move him aside and keep going. We shouldn't waste time for an elf either way. We are strictly here under His Majesty's orders. Delaying without a justified cause is due for a capital punishm-"
"-Wait, don't you think it's cruel to leave him alone like this? We have a cleric in our party after all, it wouldn't hurt to expend a little mana for something like this.
I'll call Yanagi over to heal his wounds first."
"Huhu... As expected, your kindness knows no bounds, Mister Kains. I had meant for this to be a small test, but it seems like I had been the one who had been tested instead...huhu..."
"...I don't deserve such flattery, hahaha... Mnn, well then, I'll be right back."
Kains quickly jogged over to the second carriage at the back and got Yanagi the cleric girl outside after explaining the situation.
----------------------------------------
"Terrible... who on earth would do this..."
"...Listen up, Yanagi. We're not on Earth anymore. Things like these, happen. We need to steel our minds for when we face the Demon King we were supposed to defeat.
That is probably why we've been sent on this investigation team; We might be more powerful than others physically, but we lack the proper field experience to stabilize our mentality in battle."
"Y-yes... it is as you say...
...You're right, Amagiri. I will try my best to heal this person from their pain!"
"Mn." Kains nodded his head amiably.
Having received the signal to continue, Yanagi pressed her spectacles up and lifted both of her hands to chest-level, preparing to start her incantation for an Advanced Heal.
"-Hmm? What's this...?
!!! Is that... an elf...?!"
She was curtly interrupted by a voice at her back.
Turning around to look, it was someone the class didn't like in general.
Matou Takeo.
A belligerent pig in her eyes who had no respect for women.
As she had heard previously the day before, Takeo had indeed brought his slaves with him as if he was on a leisure trip.
Since she had been prepped up by Kains whom she admired secretly, earlier, she was incredibly furious when she noticed the frail bodies of the demihuman slaves on each of his shoulders.
They kept silent, as Takeo groped all over their bodies. He held a very pompous grin on his face while doing so, as he came over with great strides. Urayama Ichiyo, his best friend, was tagging along behind him silently.
She detested these kind of men, but she could not do anything about it. She was a shy and timid girl who found solace in books. There was no way she would have a change in personality overnight and bravely face these guys for their faults.
"-K-yaaa!!!"
Noticing that Yanagi was not moving, Takeo just shoved her aside onto the ground, prompting an astonished shriek from her when he did so.
Kains squinted his eyes and looked at Takeo with an annoyed expression.
Takeo noticed this, and flinched slightly.
"...W-what... why are you looking at me like that... Move aside, you're hoggin' the elf on your own right?! Kukuku, you're just like me ehhh?
As expected, what a fake hero you are!"
He laughed provocatively.
"...I'm not hiding anything in particular. Go ahead."
Kains continued eyeing him for a moment, and then moved his body aside to give way to Takeo.
Takeo snorted, as he felt that he had won over the hero with words once more, and proceeded to walk forward.
When he and Ichiyo had arrived close enough to inspect the elf, Takeo was the first to gulp his saliva.
"...T-this is really... wow... Elves are even more beautiful in person...You lot look like shit in comparison huh?!"
His lecherous face revealed itself, as he tried to look over the white cloak covering the elf's body. He had also seemingly lost interest in his other 3 slaves.
A bulge appeared in between the front of his lower waist.
"Ooohhh... an elf. It's truly a fantasy world after all, wouldn't be complete without elves..."
Ichiyo remarked nonchalantly, which Takeo immediately took notice of.
"I-I'm not letting this one go you got it?! Y-y-you can get the next one we see!"
"Relax... I'm not interested. There's just one who'd caught my eye, like I said~"
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
"O-ooohhh... you're truly a good friend indeed! Nihihihihihi! I'll treat you next time!"
Everyone present who had left the carriage were staring at the two with cold eyes as if they were truly degenerates.
"...Let Yanagi heal him first. He's covered in wounds beneath that cloak."
"...?! Huuuuhhhh?! What do you mean by that? You think you're better than me, just because you lent a helping hand?
Hah, something like that... I can do that too, you idiot!"
Takeo noticed that the cloak covering the body of the elf belonged to Kains, and his inferiority complex kicked in again, as he lashed out on Kains for no reason at all.
"Wait, 'him'?"
Ichiyo seemed to notice the gender from Kains's words, but he just kept silent after that. On the contrary, Takeo who was constantly busy filling his words with malice, did not catch them.
Yanagi furrowed her eyebrows and stared angrily at Takeo. Shun was no better, he was ready to beat up that smug look on Takeo's oily face.
...Of course, Kains, whom he respected, stopped him again with a hand gesture.
Dmitri was looking at Takeo as well with judging eyes; he was clearly displeased with his conduct.
"..."
"Tch..."
When Kains saw that Shun had backed off, he beckoned Yanagi to continue.
"Yanagi, if you would proceed."
"I got it."
Yanagi got up and prepared herself again, as she began to chant.
This time without interruptions.
"Bless thy hands with immeasurable grace! Advanced Heal!"
Just like after Kains had chanted, a similar magic sigil appeared beneath Yanagi's feet. But it was white this time instead of Kains's blue sigil.
Moving her hands around systematically around the body of the male elf, the wounds slowly disappeared beneath the cloak.
Amidst the effect of the recovery magic, the male elf slowly woke up.
"...Nn...Nnggh... this place...
...this place is..."
"Are you okay?"
"...?!!! HUMANS?!"
The elf reacted strongly when he saw Kains smiling right in front of his face. He backed off very quickly and soon had his back against a tree behind.
"Ah... we're not going to hurt you. We just happened upon you since you were unconscious in the middle of the road. We've noticed you've been hurt quite heavily, so we have tended to your injuries already."
The male elf heard that and felt his body all over.
"I-it's true..."
Seeing that the elf had settled down more quietly, Kains smiled and got up from his squatting position.
"Mnn. I guess that is it. If you have any other concerns, please let me know. If not, we'll not disturb you any longer and be on our way."
"A-ah... the cloak..."
"...? Oh that, you can keep it. Don't worry about it."
"A-ah, th-than-"
"Hey, hey, hey... hold on a second. Why are you the one calling all the shots... HUHHH?!"
Takeo interrupted without a care.
"Mister Takeo, we do not wish to dwell here any longer. I have originally intended to respect the goodwill of Mister Kains here, but I doubt you hold any of that towards the elf he had just saved. We should be on our w-"
"Shut up, you old geezer!"
"?! Why you-!"
Before Dmitri could blow his fuse finally at those disrespectful words towards him, Takeo interrupted him again.
"-How much?"
"... ...Pardon?"
"How much for that elf? Name your price, oi!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
Just like the others, Dmitri was appalled as well.
He had not expected such a degenerate question from Takeo at this moment.
...No, he did not want to think that he was capable of reaching such lows. He was technically part of the hero's party as well, and bearing the qualifications of a hero... so he could not belittle him as long as he held power enough to contribute to withstanding the armies of the Demon King.
The Empire... no... the entirety of the human race needed every single form of help they could get against the horde.
But this was entirely out of his expectations.
Dmitri's opinion of Takeo sunk even lower than pit bottom.
He did not reply to him, and just kept silent like that without knowing how to reply to such absurdity.
"...You know, my friend... that's a guy... you know that right?"
Unable to bear it anymore, Ichiyo told his friend about the gender of his new target.
...But Takeo's reply was completely out of his expectations as well.
"...?! E-even better!!! A loli-trap! What a beautiful combinationnn!!!
...Say, if no one's offering a price, I'll just consider it up for grabs now okay~?"
His degeneracy truly knew no bounds.
The male elf looked at Takeo's face filled with indecent desire, and shuddered.
"N-noooo!!!"
Screaming that, he quickly ran away from Takeo and the others.
"Wha-! Hold on! Don't run! ...Tch, you lot, what are you still doing clinging onto me?!
What are you waiting for?! GIVE CHASE! We can't let such a fine specimen get away!!!"
Takeo barked, as the 3 demihuman women panickedly followed his orders and prepared to go after the male elf who was covering himself with the white cloak as he ran through the sea of trees.
"And I suppose I won't have to tell you what happens, if you can't keep up with me~"
Takeo smirked and left quickly with his immense agility from Martial Stance Correction.
"Wait! The mission!"
But Dmitri's words went by deaf ears, as Takeo ignored everything else and began to tunnel vision towards obtaining his new toy.
Realizing that their collars may explode if they were far enough from their master, the 3 demihuman slaves quickly ran after Takeo as well, with blood drained from their faces.
Leaving behind the carriages and knights who accompanied them for the investigation mission assigned to them by the emperor, Dmitri was dumbfounded at the immature actions of Takeo.
He apathetically resigned to the selfish nature of Takeo, as he prepared to call for the others to follow him.
"...Sigh... I suppose we should give chase as wel-"
"-No." Kains instead gave an opposing reply.
"H-huh? Wh-what do you mean by that, Mister Kains...?
Isn't he... your party member...?"
"I surely do not consider him as one. Have you ever seen him contributing anything at all? Should we ever raise a question if we should continue to keep him in our party among the others, I'm sure the consensus would be to kick him out.
Say, even if he did tag along with us still, what kind of example are we setting with him around... will the citizens bear any expectations of us anymore if this keeps up?
Even at a time like this... I bet all that guy is thinking is that we would obediently follow after him or wait for him. Do you want someone like that? I'm sure, you have your fair share of grievances dealing with that guy.
He has a powerful ability, so he shouldn't die that easily. If he wants to make his way back, he can surely do so. We should focus on the task at hand."
Dmitri was surprised at Kains's sudden and heartless decision. It felt like he was suddenly a different person for a moment there when he said that.
His words made a lot of sense. But it was a little cruel to leave him here on his own.
Dmitri could not decide this easily, because he was the one who called the shots in this task force.
But before Dmitri could come to a conclusion, someone else objected.
"What the fuck are you saying, you stupid fuck?! That's my friend you know?!!! He's also someone in the hero's party you know?! Are you sure you want to leave someone with this much potential here to die?! You clearly know he's not going to make it in here right? You're blatantly killing him off with your selfish decision...!!!"
"... ...If he dies here even with the backing of such a powerful ability, he's probably already a goner as a normal human being. Not even capable of surviving on his own in the wilderness... I may sound harsh, but it's all up to Sir Dmitri in the end.
So..., what do you think? Do we really have the time to backtrack around these woods? I don't think our carriages are adept at handling the rougher paths off the main road as well.
...Should we really let a single person's selfishness... decide the course of action for professional elites carrying out the duties of the emperor?"
Shun had originally thought it was a little cruel as well for Kains to say that despite his gripes with Takeo. But this reminded him why he was here in the first place. His ideals were far more important than caring about someone he was not even close to. Takeo wasn't even a good person by nature.
In the end, Shun passed the judgement that Takeo was someone not worthy to disrupt his ideals, and agreed with Kains's decision.
Yanagi had some misgivings on the situation, but she knew she had no say on the matter so she kept quiet.
The questioning of his loyalty towards the emperor sealed the deal for the knight captain as well, as his face turned serious once more.
"... ...
...We will proceed. Everyone, get back in your carriages. We will continue towards Bulwark Village."
"Wh-!!!"
"And that's the decision. Ichiyo, I should remind you that you are no better than your best friend. So if you want to follow after him, be my guest.
...So what will it be then? Will your friendship prove worthy till the very end...?"
"Kuhhh... I...
I...
...I still have... things I have to do..."
Ichiyo remained silent after saying that.
"Well that's the gist of it. I expected that much."
"Alright, let's get back inside. We'll move out shortly."
The entire company left shortly just like that, after making that decision cohesively.
----------------------------------------
Despite being disrupted by the unfamiliarity of the terrain, Takeo eventually caught up with the after a few minutes with his cheat-like agility.
His slaves had caught up as well, but one of them had not...
...and had lost her life with her head cut off from the effects of the Slave Contract.
Even the ones that did caught up did not look very well either. Their faces were pale, and had trouble breathing with their frail bodies.
But Takeo did not care for them at all, nor the loss of another slave.
The one before his eyes, was only the defenseless little elf boy.
Takeo spent his time, thoroughly ravaging him...
...until the boy died from shock and extreme blood loss.
He was thoroughly overpowered by Takeo's monstrous strength and grip.
He even broke the joints of the elf's kneecaps just to make sure he couldn't run away.
...It was a very sadistic treatment.
"Phew... incredible... what a workout..."
He stared at the lifeless body of the elf boy he was holding, and grimaced when he had realized that the boy had died.
Lifting the corpse up from his genitals, he flung it aside violently as it hit a nearby tree.
"Elves are pretty nice... Ahhh... it's not enough...
...I'm too aroused now... Maybe I should find another one around here... But I think I've been gone for a long time now, I should head back..."
As he was still hard at thought and unaware that he had been left behind, he did not notice the dead body of the elf boy starting to move again.
"They must be so tired of waiting for me... kukuku~ What a nice feeling, to have everyone wait on me~! Kukuku~"
Until it was too late-
"?!!! KAHAAAAAA!!!"
A sharp tree branch pierced his chest from the back. Takeo coughed out a mouthful of blood as the blood inside of him congested.
"W-w-w-w-wh-AAaaAAaAhHHHhHhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
Takeo had never experience this kind of pain before in his entire life.
Not even dying to the loss of blood, he was already close to succumbing to the shock.
Realizing it was a dead body that had inflicted a very serious wound on his body, he began to panic and flail his hands around.
Since his ability, Martial Stance Correction was constantly active, his monstrous strength blew apart the elf's head. But he couldn't look behind properly, so he was ultimately stuck with trying to move his hands around behind his back to break free.
Even without a head, the elf boy displayed the characteristics of a zombie, and continued to pierce through Takeo's chest with the tree branch without a care.
He had Spatial Awareness LV5 and Ignore Inertia LV5 when he toggled his cheat ability on, so he could easily break free if he consciously exercised the use of his passive abilities. But he had never used them to this extent before, so he was entirely ignorant of how to break free from this situation.
Slowly but surely, his body's state was deteriorating.
Since randomly trying to break free wasn't working very well, he started to look around in chaos, and noticed the 2 demihuman slaves who had been resting nearby while he was raping the elf boy.
They had noticed that Takeo had been punctured with a tree branch by the seemingly undead elf.
"Y-you two!!! Get over and help me get this thing... OFFFFFF!!! Don't you know that if I die, you die too?!!!
You stupid women, come and protect me!!!"
-The two slaves instinctively gave way to their fears and approached their master quickly.
But as a demihuman, they had a keen sense of smell and hearing.
They could also smell the stench of death, if one was close to it.
Especially so, when Takeo had not bothered to bring potions along with him to recover from these wounds.
And they noticed it coming from Takeo.
...He could no longer be salvaged, they thought.
...That means they, as Takeo's slaves, were going to die as well...
On the contrary to feeling despair, this revelation didn't surprise the two slaves at all. They felt this was a chance for them to be free at last.
Their lifeless expressions began to turn a little more ecstatic as they noticed that their master was suffering from pain.
They were not sadists, but it was truly getting them off.
Seeing that this was an opportunity to carry out their grudges with bittersweet revenge...
"You guys are finally here... now get this of-F?! AAAAAAAAaAaAhHhhHhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY EYESSS!!!!! MY EYESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Takeo quickly realized that his slaves were disobeying him, since he had not ordered them to gouge out his eyeballs.
There was a skill he could chant to command them with a Master's Priority, but he could not chant anything now.
""KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!!! TAKE THAT, AND THAT! AND THAT! AND THAT! AND THAT! AND THAT! AND THAT! AND THAT! AND THAT! AND THAT!""
He could only scream endlessly in agony, as the slaves continued to cackle crazily while breaking his body apart piece by piece.
The undead elf just continued to stab the same place on his chest over and over again.
Without the composure to use his cheat-like ability, he died under the torturous acts of the three.
And the two slaves joined him shortly after, but they died with blood all over their bodies...
...And a satisfied smile on their face.
The body of the elf boy toppled down to the ground when it had fulfilled its purpose, as if it was a puppet that had its strings cut.
...And then, Matou Takeo rose up in his place.
His corpse walked towards a figure nearby, as if attracted to a magnet.
...The figure slowly stepped out of the shadows, revealing itself...
It was draped around a dark purple robe, like a voodoo witch. It held a staff made of human skulls and bones, with miasma leaking out from the entirety of its slouching body.
Its skin was wrinkled with old age, and had no eyes under the veil of the robe covering its head.
...A monster with a human-like exoskeleton, capable of raising the dead.
A B-class threat identified within the monster ranks of the Adventurer's Guild because of its dangerous ability to siphon lifeforce away from living creatures to increase its own lifespan.
But an S-class threat, ...when it lays its hands on powerful hosts, or a number of people as its personal army.
A terrifying existence in this world...
...A Necromancer.