"What the hell happened here?"
With legitimate surprise and horror, Oscar voiced these words.
They were perhaps the only true words which he had spoken before Risa thus far.
"What..... the hell? Everyone is dead?"
Oscar and Risa rushed to the encampment, looking around them at the mess of blood, bodies, and gore.
"This..... wasn't supposed to happen....."
Oscar found it difficult to hide his own annoyance at the situation, holding his head in anguish.
Risa too was taken aback, breathless at the scene.
It was incomprehensible.
Thousands of bodies lay across the ground, and they were slaughtered in no normal manner.
Even if this were the site of a battle, and even if Risa held not an ounce of trust for the man leading the 4th legion, this was too much.
Limbs and organs had been ripped and thrown all over the place. Many people looked as if they had undergone surgery, with so many incisions and missing organs that it was a wonder as to who would do such a thing, even after the opponent was long dead.
"Did.... the knights of the Kingdom do this?"
Risa voiced her question with doubt.
In the distance of the encampment was the battlefield, and laid across this battlefield were the corpses of many knights and legionnaires.
"There are no knights here. The only bodies in this area are those of the 4th legion. In the distance there are bodies from both sides, so a battle likely went on in that location..... but over here....."
Oscar voiced his deduction, shying away from the final words.
'It was a one sided slaughter.'
As the two looked back at the town, Oscar looked forward with determination.
"We should check the village to see if there are any survivors who can tell us what happened."
Risa nodded in agreement and the two set off together.
Oscar however, was beyond irritated.
'What the hell? I come here to expose the actions of the 4th legion, and everyone is dead? Did Troy kill them all!? Agh! I can't believe he found out so quickly and did all this!'
The two headed into the town, the buildings of which had been decimated.
"This is..."
Risa thinned her eyes in clear displeasure on seeing the state of the town.
Whoever or whatever had done this, they held not an ounce of mercy.
It was then, as the two walked through the alleyways and entered a plaza, that they saw it.
A man had fallen over.
The body of this man was headless, and stuck into the ground was a spear, with the head of this man tipping it.
Blood dripped from the base of the displayed head.
It was relatively fresh. The killing had happened recently.
'Wait a minute..... that weapon.....'
Before the man's body, a greatsword lay.
"That's..... the hero of the Empire..... right?"
Risa voiced these words with fearful tone as they approached the body.
"It..... is....."
'What the hell? What actually happened here? The hero is dead? Well, that is actually a good thing..... I needed to kill him anyways, so getting him out of the way now is something I can use..... but I need to figure out what happened here. There is too much chaos. Too much went awry, and I need to find out why. If I don't, then all my plans in the future will fail.'
"We need to find out what happened here."
Oscar made this statement, and Risa made no comeback.
She was not her usual self after seeing these scenes of slaughter.
"Ok."
She quietly agreed, and the two exited the plaza, passing up the body of the hero.
It was then that they came across the center of the city, where the jail was located.
Around this area, a number of people walked the streets with dutiful expressions, hurrying to perform whatever tasks they were focused on without a care for anything else.
The destruction around them did not phase them. They merely rushed about, desperately heading to their respective destinations.
"Excuse me...."
Oscar called out to one woman, but she quickly walked past him, not even giving him the time of day.
'Huh? She.... just ignored me, right? No no, she doesn't know I am the Indeterminant. Of course she wouldn't pay attention.'
Oscar brushed it off, but then came to another realization.
'But she didn't fall before me to my charm alone?'
Looking into the distance, Oscar called out at the hurried woman.
"Hey, you. I have some questions to ask."
The woman halted in her path, and Oscar and Risa turned to her.
However, the woman then bursted out in a sprint.
Without a word, she began running.
At this strange behavior, Risa thinned her eyes.
"I'll get her.", she said, before taking off on her own.
In a moment, the dark skinned hero returned with the woman in her hands.
"Agh!!! What are you doing!?!? Let me go!!!"
"It's very suspicious to just run away when someone calls out to you. Don't you think, Indeterminant? I think she knows something."
At Risa's words, the eyes of the woman went wide with fear.
"I..... don't know anything!!! Please let me go!!!! I don't know anything!!!!"
Oscar let out a sigh as he looked at the woman.
Clearly she was lying.
"I'm sorry to force you into questioning like this, however thousands of men including a hero were killed just recently. Would you happen to know even the slightest detail? Anything at all will help. We need to find out what happened here."
The woman looked at Oscar and began to tremble.
"N.... no..... I... I....."
Turning her head away, she shut her mouth.
She refused to say anything.
"Do you even realize how suspicious you're acting? You look like a regular civilian, but based off that reaction, I'm more inclined to think that you're actually in line with the ones who did all this."
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Risa glared at the woman she held, unsure what to make of her.
Yet the woman did not speak.
"Forgive my partner's harsh treatment, but we truly need to know."
Bending down to look the woman in the eyes, Oscar smiled kindly upon her.
"Is there anything at all you will tell us?"
The woman looked up at Oscar only to avert her eyes once more, her lips quivering.
"I..... can't..."
"You can't?"
"I can't..... tell you....."
[You've said too much. The pact not to reveal any information has been broken. Begone.]
It was at that moment that the head of the woman exploded.
Brain matter and blood splattered on Oscar and Risa, and in a second the woman was nothing more than a headless corpse.
Oscar's expression went from a kind smile to a gaping look of horror, and Risa jumped back in terror, screaming as she dropped the body.
"AGH!!!"
The two were left to stare at the now headless woman, and Oscar felt a great sense of irritation fill his mind.
'To think..... that someone would kill a woman right in front of me..... before I could even get anything from her....."
Oscar could barely hide his own anger and veins formed on his forehead.
'What.... the fuck? Is someone messing with me?'
"Risa."
"Y....y....yes...."
The girl was clearly horrified at the sudden death which happened in her very arms.
"I'm going to vent."
"Vent?"
Risa stepped back, blood covering her hands.
It was then that Oscar punched the wall next to him, causing the very rubble to collapse upon itself.
[/destroy building]
"AGH!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!!!! WHO THE HELL DID THIS!?!?!?!? ARE YOU MESSING WITH ME!?!?!??!?!?!??!"
Shouting at the top of his lungs, Oscar lost all control of himself.
He was not angry because he cared about the woman who had died.
He was furious that so much was happening, and he had no explanation for any of it.
The slaughter of the men of the 4th legion.
The unexpected death of the hero.
And most importantly, the sudden death of the woman who they tried to question.
"Why.... why.... why...."
Throwing a piece of wood to the ground, Oscar furrowed his brows in frustration.
"Why is nothing going my way!?!?!"
Risa could do nothing more than watch as he threw his tantrum, however she remained out of the loop.
In the belief that he was angry over the deaths of so many people, these words went over her head, and she too found herself overwhelmed with emotions.
Placing her hand on his shoulder, tears came to her eyes.
"Indeterminant..... we..... did we mess everything up? We were trying to help these people....."
Looking at the corpse of the woman before her, Risa tried to confide in Oscar, who looked at her with a mad glare.
Risa stepped back at seeing this glare, however on realizing his own demeanor, Oscar calmed himself.
"Ah.... no, I'm sorry..... I was just frustrated..... but..... perhaps that is right."
Oscar looked onto the body with bitter expression.
"Maybe.... we did mess a lot of stuff up. That's why I said it before.... we are nothing more than people with power who have been given the title of hero..... it's our duty to help people..... it's our duty to save people..... but just because you have power.... and just because you try to do something....."
Holding his forehead in anguish, Oscar dropped to his knees.
"Doesn't mean you can do it."
"Indeterminant....."
Risa looked on the woman, and anger formed in her expression.
"We must destroy them."
Oscar looked up to the girl, hearing her resolved tone.
"What?"
"Whoever did this. We must kill them. Whatever the cost."
Nodding, Oscar agreed.
"Yes..... you are right. We.... must find whoever did all this. After all, that is our duty as heroes."
Oscar stood up, and the two walked off with heavy hearts.
'Whoever the hell you are... what the hell? What the hell!?!? Why were the women roaming freely around the city!?!?! I thought the Commander of the 4th legion was going to capture them!?!?! I was supposed to be the hero! I was supposed to step in and save the captured women, and yet I come to see that they're all perfectly fine and walking around the town!?!?!?!?! Like nothing happened!?!?!? And then they can't even tell me what happened!?!?!?!?'
Oscar kept a straight face, but inside he was raging with emotions.
'I'll destroy you. Whoever you are. You messed with the wrong opponent.'
It was then that a message appeared in front of Oscar.
[It looks like your little plan backfired. Oh, it's rich to see you so flustered. Did you think you could get information on what happened here? How naive. You will not find me, for you know not even who I am. How many enemies have you made since coming to this world? Hahaha..... more than I can count on my two hands. But I will let you know..... I am not your ally. That is certain. As a matter of fact, let me give you a little hint! You killed me before. Have fun scouring the nations trying to find out who I am.]
At reading this message, Oscar was shaken to the core.
'Why you little.... was it one of the men I killed? How many....'
Oscar begun to recall all the people he had killed since coming to this world.
'That one soldier when I first came here..... the one noble..... that one man who was walking with a fine woman..... that Senator..... Kyle..... those men in the Sultinate.... the soldiers standing outside Touchette..... agh! There are too many to count!!! But.... how the hell...'
There were 2 things that bothered Oscar about this message.
The first was the fact that someone had obtained the ability to send Oscar a message in the first place.
The messaging feature was an option which he had unlocked at some point, however that only pertained to him.
Of course, even before he had unlocked the messaging feature, there had been a scenario where he had been given a prompt to send someone a message.
That was very likely the case. Someone, somehow, had been granted the permission to send Oscar a message through the system which controlled this world.
The second thing that bothered him were the contents of this message.
It was somebody he had killed.
Meaning, it was someone who had been revived, one way or another.
How?
How had they revived?
Had someone revived them, or had the system which had granted Oscar his own abilities interfered somehow at the moment of this person's death?
'Tch..... there isn't enough information..... fine! I don't care what you say or do. I'll keep doing what I was going to do either way, and eventually you'll show your face. If I can't get any information out of anyone here, then I'll just wait until you expose yourself, whoever you are!'
[Please do. I believe we will be meeting again in the future. And when that happens..... I will put an end to you.]
'So annoying.....'
Oscar merely brushed the messages off, stepping forth with newfound determination.
'I'll show you. The second you show yourself, everyone in the world will turn against you. You went against the hero, and in doing so you have become the villain.'
----
'Everyone in the world? He talks so big. Unfortunately for him.... everyone in the world is already against us.'
'I won't let him do as he pleases. Even if I have to make enemies of the entire world.'
An angelic figure sat in a desk, speaking to herself in conflicting manner.
'It's quite humorous to see him flustered though. Don't you agree? Shouldn't we torment him a bit more than this?'
'If you think that the deaths of people are what torments him, then you're wrong. He doesn't care for them. He's merely pissed that his own plans aren't going the way he wanted. But that's fine. I'll keep disrupting him. I..... want to see him ticked off. I want him to understand just how much of a piece of shit he is..... before he dies.'
'Ooh. Are you sure I'm the evil one here? Hahaha.... you even let me throw those people's lives away for this. Is that fine?'
The angelic figure smiled lightly, looking out the window with nostalgia.
'It's an acceptable sacrifice.... for the greater evil.'
----
Oscar and Risa scoured the city, but to no avail.
Each and every person they questioned gave them the cold shoulder.
"It seems that the woman who died was killed because she held information.... if we question these people too much, then they will likely meet the same fate. We need to find someone who has this knowledge, yet will not be instantly killed after revealing it."
Risa nodded, and the two continued trying to find someone who was willing to talk, yet none appeared.
So many rushed off on the mere mention of what had happened, and even those who didn't run off would not speak.
When met with these responses, the two did not press the people further, for fear that the same fate which happened to the woman earlier would befall them.
It was then that the two came across a strange woman.
This woman, with blue hair, had lines under her reddened eyes as if she had been crying.
She slumped along with a dead expression, as if all life had been sapped out of her.
On seeing Oscar, she merely looked up and continued walking.
"Wait a minute."
Oscar held out his hand, stopping the woman.
"What is a knight of the Kingdom doing here? Surely you must know something."
"What.... what am I doing here? Hah.... hah.... that's.... a good question."
The woman looked up to Oscar with a look of despair.
"What am I doing here?"
Oscar was unsure how to react, but on looking at this woman, a single thought entered his mind.
'I want this one as well.'
"Hey. You're fighting for the Kingdom, right? That means you're an enemy. We can't just let you walk around in a daze like this. What should we do with her?"
Risa probed Oscar, clearly conflicted.
"A good question..... if we were to simply let her go..... well, I don't believe she would be much of a threat on her own, however she might hold a clue as to what happened here."
"Haha.... what happened here? What happened here? You want to know? I don't even know myself!!!"
The woman fell to the ground, holding her head while lightly laughing, causing both Oscar and Risa to step back on guard.
"She seems to have gone mad.", Oscar stated. "Just what could have possibly...."
Risa bit her lip, but looked forward with Determination.
"Let's take her in. Even if she can't give us information now, maybe we can learn something from her."
"A sound idea."
Oscar agreed, and held out his hand.
[/create handcuffs]
Cuffing the woman, Oscar made a conflicted expression.
"I don't want to do this, but I have to."
"Hahaha..... are you taking me away!? Who are you!? What are you doing!?"
The woman shouted as she was bound, to which Oscar replied calmly.
"I am the Indeterminant. Your hero went mad with his own delusions, and so I am here to free your people from the chains which he has placed upon them."
"An odd thing to say as you chain someone....", Risa whispered.
"I have no qualms with you, but the fact of the matter is that you are an enemy, and one who might hold critical information. What happened here?"
As Oscar said this, the woman looked up at him with fear.
"No..... no no no..... you won't get anything out of me..... ha....hahaha..... NOTHING!!! I WON'T SAY ANYTHING!!!! DO YOU HEAR ME!!!!"
The woman shouted out to the skies, yet somehow it didn't feel like she was talking to Oscar.
"Take me away!!! Do what you want!!! I don't care!!! Hahaha!!! I won't say a thing!!!!"
The two were appalled at the shouts of the woman, yet Oscar merely grinned on the inside.
'Oh..... I wonder what it would be like to try out a woman who has lost her mind? I suppose once I have tamed this hero beside me, I have this one to save for dessert.....'
"We will take this woman as a captive. As for what will be done with her, that will be decided at a later date.", Oscar stated. "She knows exactly what happened here. For all we know, she is directly related to whoever caused this."
The woman was clearly not powerful enough to defeat a hero, and her words suggested that she was in line with someone who was.
Risa, acknowledging this, said nothing and grabbed the woman with her own brute strength.
"Hahaha!! You're taking me away!? Fine!!! You won't get anything out of me!!"
Oscar and Risa both had awkward expressions, filled with guilt at the scenario, yet it was necessary to take the woman in.
"In order to find the culprit, we must do at least this much....", Risa whispered.