Chapter 365

365 – There’s a Demon Living in the School’s Underground #1

“That thing over there, I’ve got someone captured…!”

Paranoi pointed at the shack she used as both an office and personal quarters.

Rustle, rustle—.

And I could tell that something was stirring around in there.

According to Paranoi, while I was away, she managed to capture one of the bandits who raided this shrine.

“Good job, Paranoi!”

There’s a fact about Paranoi that many people often overlook—she’s physically stronger than your average Bronze adventurer.

She’s about level 21 or 22, and I recall she has one of the highest amounts of mana among the cultists.

Despite this, it’s still surprising to think that she managed to hold down the fort all by herself while I was gone.

“I’ll praise you.”

Swish, swish—.

I placed my hand on Paranoi’s neatly combed hair, courtesy of Antiope, and disheveled it again.

Rubbing her chin or the back of her neck with my fingers like one would with a large dog, Paranoi frowned.

“I’m not a puppy, you know…! This kind of praise doesn’t make me feel good…!”

“Oh, really?”

“I need something rougher…!”

So the issue wasn’t the method but the intensity.

Thus, Antiope and I began scratching Paranoi’s back, the back of her neck, and her hair with vigor.

“You have to scratch my back more tenderly, Antiope…!”

“Nymphs, they’re such a handful.”

“To my senior, what do you mean by that? Anyway, that’s enough…!”

After scratching her for a good few minutes, Paranoi finally seemed satisfied enough to push our hands away.

“Anyway, I’ve captured one of the ruffians who attacked the shrine…! He’s a very crafty and evil character, so we should be careful…!”

Paranoi didn’t hesitate to issue warnings, portraying the captive in her shack as some terrible criminal.

Someone brazen enough to attack a shrine is undoubtedly fearless and lacks common sense. They’re devious and wicked enough for sure.

But if Paranoi managed to capture them, they clearly aren’t that strong. And they wouldn’t pose much of a threat to Antiope and me.

Creak, creak—.

Finally, Antiope and Paranoi acted as my de facto escorts as I leaned into the shack.

“Eep, eep—.”

Inside, I saw a girl bound with rope, wriggling around.

A handkerchief was tied over her mouth, distorting her face slightly. She had auburn hair and freckles scattered on her nose and cheeks.

She was wearing a drab robe that concealed her figure, making her seem like any ordinary young woman you might find in this world. She was probably around my age or perhaps younger.

Antiope returned her short blade to her back and said,

“What is this? She’s rather ordinary. Judging by her build, she’s not a warrior.”

“Unnnhnnnh!”

As soon as this girl spotted me, she began struggling violently, trying to move her bound body. With her arms and legs tied, her movements resembled those of a wriggling caterpillar.

“This girl is trying to escape…! How disrespectful to try such a thing after witnessing the great Hassan-sama! It’s unacceptable…!”

For some reason, her wriggling seemed to trigger something in Paranoi. Like a cheetah, Paranoi leaped and began punching and kicking the woman.

Thud, smash—.

“Eep—! Eep—!”

“What’s this? Even among Pluto’s followers, the taste of Paranoi’s fists, known as the ‘orange comet,’ is renowned…!”

“Unnh, eep!”

“Having committed a sin, it is only natural to receive punishment! Accept it graciously…! This is divine punishment…!”

She babbled on, and while doing so, it became clear that Paranoi genuinely enjoyed hitting someone who couldn’t fight back.

Since humans inherently have a latent urge to beat someone senseless, I could understand her to some extent.

“This is for all the nymphs you’ve tormented! This is for Paranoi! And this is for Paranoi as well…!”

“Ugh, guuuek—.”

If we let Paranoi continue, the significance of capturing this prisoner might disappear, so I eventually had no choice but to grab her by the neck and lift her into the air.

Swish—.

“He’s going to d*e—stop it.”

“A person doesn’t d*e so easily…! They’re quite durable…!”

That’s true, of course.

“And, it would be a more humane and compassionate form of punishment for her to receive blows from me instead of directly from Hassan-sama!”

“Fair point.”

Indeed, if I were to get involved, this prisoner would surely be obliterated given my superhuman strength.

In that sense, it was fortunate for her to have taken those punches from Paranoi’s tiny fists.

So now that the lynching had been resolved to an extent, I decided it was time to figure out who this unexpected guest was, where she came from, and why she had come to me.

Swish—.

So, I removed the gag from the girl’s mouth. Once it was off, she immediately began shrieking.

“GYAAAH—! GYAAAH—!”

As I’ve explained before, a woman’s high-pitched scream isn’t something that just seeps into your mind—it carves it out.

“KYAAAH—!”

Perhaps women have some special ultrasonic frequency or decibel levels?

Or, maybe, female screams from ages past when caves were guarded had a similar purpose to sirens, warning others and embedding a sense of alarm through human evolution.

“I’ll let you go! Let me go! I’ll scream louder, I tell you—!”

What I’m getting at is this—

“This girl is being loud…! Having committed a crime, she’s making more noise than she deserves!”

It was extremely noisy, just as Paranoi said.

Noise like this left me no choice but to deliver a well-timed “silent slap.” However, a slap from me might silence her too permanently, so I decided to snap her forehead with my pinky finger instead.

Snap—.

“Ow—.”

With the sharp sound of a slap reverberating through the small shack, the girl finally shut her mouth.

Swish—.

A lump rose on her forehead where it had been struck by my pinky—it looked quite painful, but it was supposed to.

I spoke.

“So, who exactly are you? And you mentioned having accomplices.”

“…”

“You couldn’t have come here without knowing what this place is. In fact, it seems you knew exactly what this place was before attacking it.”

“…”

But the girl responded with silence.

It didn’t seem like her silence was out of some grand spirit of resistance. More like she was simply too afraid and panicked to respond, panting heavily.

Thud—.

In the end, the girl collapsed, her eyes rolled back in a faint.

She had passed out.

“Uhh, why did she faint?”

“Maybe I hit her too hard?”

At Antiope’s words, I looked at my pinky. Even a little snap from my pinky finger seemed to deliver a devastating blow.

Fwoom.

How fragile humans are, truly.

“Hassan, you need to work on controlling your strength.”

“Yes, I should.”

I gave an appropriate response and then touched the wrist of the unconscious woman.

An inscription appeared:

『Name: Marda, Level 3

Condition: Concussion』『Hyperventilation』『Mark of Wrath』

Level 3, huh.

In this world, levels and Karma rise only when someone overcomes dangerous and perilous situations. From this, it seemed that Marda had lived a rather safe and comfortable life without much danger.

With her condition showing both ‘Concussion’ and ‘Hyperventilation’—it seemed the blow she received caused a concussion, and her subsequent fear made her hyperventilate.

Then what was the ‘Mark of Wrath’?

It looked like a new type of ailment. Probably something unique to this world, either indigenous disease or perhaps a curse.

*

Marda, Paranoi’s prisoner, regained consciousness a few minutes later.

To be accurate, it was after I worked on her cold hands to relieve the concussion, hyperventilation, and the Mark of Wrath.

“Ughh, that hurts—!”

Just pressing her wrist awakened Marda as if she had been dead, startling her awake.

“What, what is this?”

Upon regaining her senses, Marda looked around and, realizing she was still inside the shack, screamed in alarm seeing the three of us looming over her.

“It’s not a dream! What is this? Save me! Someone, save me! Is anyone there?!”

But no matter how loudly she screamed, no one would answer.

This place is rumored to be haunted, after all—a graveyard that no one wants to approach.

Even I, who built this shrine here, have to mentally prepare myself when I come here at night—it’s that scary.

“Spare me! Let me go!”

“This girl, she’s so noisy…! How dare a mere mortal scream so loudly? It’s off to hell with you…! Straight to Tartarus…!”

Marda closed her mouth in fear of Paranoi’s threats and turned her gaze towards Antiope who appeared to be the most sensible among us, and someone who might be able to understand her as a fellow woman.

I could see the desperation in her weepy face, a silent plea for compassion.

But Antiope spoke coldly.

“I’m Antiope of the Shrine Knights. This sacred ground is officially recognized by the kingdom. To invade and cause a disturbance here like you have is illegal and, by the laws of the kingdom, you’re bound for the Prison City.”

“Prison city—!?”

Marda gasped with terror at the mention. There’s not a soul on this continent who doesn’t know what the Prison City is.

The Prison City is, as the name suggests, hell on earth. It’s a trash can stuffed with all kinds of terrible criminals.

Talking about how scorching and fearsome the underworld of Tartarus is may not resonate much with people who think of it as a realm beyond this world.

But the mere mention of the Prison City strikes fear into the hearts of everyone.

And Marda, a woman who had led such a normal, level-3 life, seemed no different.

“So, I’m sorry! I was just following orders! Please spare me! Please forgive me!”

“There’s no way that will happen…!”

“Right now, the guards are heading this way. You’re a fragile girl. Do you know what happens to someone like you in the Prison City? You’ll end up having children for the prisoners for the rest of your life.”

“Hiiik, khiiiiik—! No! I don’t want to go to the Prison City! Eeeek—!”

Paranoi and Antiope were breaking her spirit again, only moments after she regained consciousness. It may seem cruel, but,

had this been the shrine of some cold-hearted gods like Bacchus, Mars, or Minerva, she would’ve already had her head chopped off or faced a far more terrible fate.

In this sense, I was being exceptionally merciful as gods on this continent go. And my role was meant to be the carrot in the carrot-and-stick approach.

After Paranoi and Antiope intimidated her and terrified her, it was my turn to be the carrot.

“That’s enough.”

With a gentle raise of my hand, both Paranoi and Antiope fell silent.

The two girls, who were grumbling like angry Siberian Huskies, quieted down. And the hut itself, this entire graveyard, fell into silence.

The only sound now was the terrified breathing of the girl, Marda, who was shedding tears in streams.

Swish—.

When I looked into her teary, chocolate-colored eyes, she visibly trembled in fear.

I spoke.

“Marda.”

“How, how do you know my name?”

“I’m a god. Of course, I would know something like that. Anyway, Marda. If you answer my questions honestly from now on, you’ll never have to suffer pain or sadness again.”

“…”

Marda nodded silently. Upon seeing this, Paranoi, standing next to her, furrowed her brows and raised her hands aggressively.

“This girl, how dare she nod so impertinently! It’s unacceptable…! We should just tear her apart right now…!”

Paranoi still hadn’t fully calmed down from the anger over her tormentors. With Paranoi growling menacingly, Marda burst into fresh tears.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’ll answer properly!”

“Alright, good. That’s enough, Paranoi.”

Under my restraint, Paranoi reluctantly fell silent. During this exchange, I noticed a subtle shift in Marda’s expression.

Her eyes, which had looked at me now, seemed full of hope, like a lifeline dangling over a cliff.

In Marda’s mind, I, who had stopped the cruel Paranoi and Antiope and was now speaking kindly to her, was far more trustworthy and reassuring than the others.

Of course, it was just a good cop, bad cop strategy, but it was surprisingly effective.

I asked,

“So, Marda, who are you, and where do you come from? You said someone told you to do this. Who made you do something this terrible?”

“Th, that—. It was the… the stairs! The stairs made me! The stairs….”

“Stairs?”

The sudden mention, not of a person but an architectural structure, made me feel a bit dizzy.

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