Fool's Battle (II)

“No… I can still fight…”

Seeing the floating status screen suddenly pop up in front of me, I find a second burst of resolve.

That’s right. I’m not out of options.

I may be too weak to win a regular fight, but I have an ultimate cheat skill that once belonged to the Demon King. If I use it, I should be able to easily turn the tides.

However… I said earlier that I wouldn’t use the Crest of Greed. I swore that I wouldn’t be tempted to use such an evil ability. Even now, my mind is screaming at me not to use it.

But the moment I glance at the slave wagon parked ahead and see all those people packed inside, all those hesitations vanish.

“I can do this. There has to be something here that I can use.”

With my mind decided, I quickly begin rummaging through my school bag. After a short moment, I find the best thing I can and pull it out of the bag: a regular plastic ruler.

Otherworld Ruler

Effect: None

Cost: 0 Gol

“Huh? What are you doing now?”

The carriage driver asks, confused at my sudden strange actions.

I ignore her and focus on navigating through my status menu.

The status screen just now said that I can use my ability to upgrade my items. That means I can potentially turn even this regular ruler into a mighty weapon.

I’ve made up my mind. As a compromise, I won’t use any of the blatantly evil abilities from the Crest of Greed such as the ones for stealing stuff or enslaving people. But if it’s just the ability to upgrade items, I’ll make an exception for special circumstances like this.

“All right. Input ready. Now, I command you to 「 Enhance 」!”

Otherworld Ruler

Sharpness UP!

Durability UP!

Attack Speed UP!

Attack Range UP!

After being upgraded with 4 SP, the once regular plastic ruler is now brimming with power.

This will work. I can do this.

“Seriously? An upgrade skill?”

“This will settle it. Take this!”

With my spirits renewed, I make my final charge at the carriage driver with my new weapon in hand.

Once again, the moment I get close, she swings her staff at me. But this time I have a weapon too. I swing my ruler forward to parry the oncoming blow.

Clang!

The two weapons clash and deflect each other.

Good. It’s working!

If it had been a regular ruler, it would surely have failed to parry the staff. But with the durability buff, it’s now tough as metal.

“Haaaaahhh!!”

With a lengthy scream, I continue my barrage of attacks, swinging my ruler wildly at my opponent and forcing her to keep blocking.

I know I can’t compete with her in actual fighting skill, so I rely the ruler’s enhanced attributes to press my advantage.

With the increased attack speed, I can attack over and over again without letting her rest.

With the increased attack range, I can stay out of her staff’s reach and force her on the defensive.

And with the increased sharpness—

Slash!

“No way!”

The ruler finally cuts straight through the staff, slicing it in half after numerous attacks.

In that moment, as she’s forced to adjust to her shortened weapon, I find my opening.

I raise the ruler and aim it at her, as if I’m about to slash her chest open. But it’s all a feint.

My real aim is a shoulder tackle!

“Haa!”

I smash into her with my full body weight while she’s off-balance and expecting a slash instead. It knocks her off her feet and forces her to tumble onto the ground, like I did earlier.

Good. I knocked her down without having to seriously injure her.

And now, there’s no one in the way to stop me from getting to the slave wagon.

“Okay! Hold on tight. I’ll free you guys right now!”

I jump back onto the wagon and start slashing at the cage bars.

As you’d expect from such a thick cage, they’re really sturdy. Even a regular sword probably couldn’t slice through them.

But after all this, I can’t give up so I quickly use my last remaining SP to upgrade the ruler’s sharpness once more. With it, I slash at the cage as hard as I can and finally manage to cut through the bars.

“I did it! Heck yeah! Okay, you guys. Quickly, let’s run!”

I call out excitedly to the demons inside the wagon and reach out a hand to help them out of the cage.

However—

“… huh? Hey, what are you guys doing?”

“…”

For some reason, none of them are moving. Even though the cage has been opened, they just continue to sit still and stare at me with blank, confused eyes.

What’s going on? Don’t they realize this is their only chance? Why aren’t they moving?

“Hey! Come on, don’t just sit there. Let’s go!”

“… go where?”

“Ah.”

Oh, I see… that’s how it is.

Those words tell me everything. They show me the reason behind those lifeless eyes.

They tell me, that even after I get them out of this cage, they won’t have anywhere to go.

There isn’t a place for them to stay. There isn’t a place for them to go back to. There isn’t a way for them to keep safe from ever being captured again.

Even if they take my hand right now, they’ll still be trapped inside a cage.

How did I not realize it sooner? From the very beginning, it was impossible for me to save them…

“Hey! Get down from there, you jerk!”

The carriage driver grabs me by the shoulder and forcibly pulls me down.

I’m too stunned to resist, and I end up falling flat onto my ass.

“Ahhh, look what you did to my wagon! You bastard. How are you gonna pay me back for this?”

The carriage driver screams in annoyance as she sees all the damage I did to the cage.

At the same time, I begin to hear many other voices around us.

“Hey, what’s going on? Is there some sort of fight?”

“Yeah, looks like that guy over there is trying to steal some slaves.”

“Wow. In broad daylight? That’s bold.”

“Geez, what a crook. Can’t he just buy one normally like a civilized person?”

I look around and find several people starting to watch on while gossiping.

None of them seem that fazed by what’s happening. They aren’t questioning the slave wagon at all. Instead, they’re all looking at me like I’m weird. Like I’m in the wrong.

I look back towards the slave wagon and meet the eyes of the one who spoke to me. A boy with dog-like ears. His eyes are empty. There is no fear or sorrow in them. They aren’t crying for help. They’ve completely accepted his fate in life.

I see. So that’s it. This… is normal. In this world, demon slaves are normal. It is correct. In comparison, what I’m doing is wrong. I’m the weird one. I’m the crazy one. I’m the bad guy.

“Hey! What’s going on here!?”

Just then, a couple of knights arrive on the scene, looking for the source of this ruckus.

Immediately, all fingers in the crowd point towards me, singling me out as the root of all evil. There is no discussion or further question needed. There is no room for doubt or consideration. Everyone here unanimously agrees that I am the villain of the scene. They simply know what evil look like.

The knights swiftly circle around me and brandish their weapons at me, as if I were a great danger to everyone around.

“You! Are you trying to steal this woman’s wares?”

“Robbery, assault, destruction of property, and public disturbance. You’ve got a lot to answer for.”

“What do you have to say for yourself!?”

What can I say? I don’t know…

That this is wrong?

That all of you are wrong and I alone am right?

How could I possibly say that now? What would even be the point?

No matter what I say or do, I can’t save them. I can’t free them. I can’t feed them. I can’t protect them. I can’t do anything for them.

In that case, I…

“… I’m sorry. I was mistaken.”

I get on my knees, lower my head, and apologize.

Shamefully. Regretfully. Miserably.

“… geez. What a weirdo.”

Seeing that, the carriage driver just shrugs and hops back on her wagon, before driving off.

“Okay, then. We’re taking you back to the Knight Post.”

The knights grab a hold of my arms and begin roughly dragging me away.

Soon enough, the small crowd watching grows disinterested and disperses as well.

But even after everyone is gone, even as I’m being dragged away, I stay in the same position. On my knees, apologizing over and over again.

Not to the knights or the driver or the crowd around me, but to those who I failed to save today.

“Damnit… Damnit!”

But in the end, my frustrated cries reach no one at all.