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Satisfied that he had extracted all of the information he could from these bandits, Frank glanced at them one last time. ​​

"Thanks for sharing everything with me. I am satisfied. I will now let you free… from this world, that is," said Frank, his fingers suddenly secreted a purple-colored liquid, which he poured all over the four men.

Splash!

"Nnggahaa?!"

"Poison!?"

"Y-You bastard…!"

"We told you everything! You can't… Nngghahhh…! Gggaaahh…!"

"Sorry. But this is the best way to take you out of business without making a mess or leaving your blood…" said Frank.

The four bandits struggled, agonizing. The poison that Frank poured on them was created through the Poison Synthesis Skill, which was simply named 'Strong Poison'.

The poison seems into the skin of its victim and its toxins are deadly to the blood system, however, Frank thought that dying through skin contact would be way too slow, so he poured more poison into their open mouths, which were always screaming in agony.

He had already created a Mana barrier around him and the bandits, enclosing any sound.

"Nnngggyaaa…!"

"Nnnggguuooohhh…!"

"Y-You damn… B-Brat…!"

"Go to hell, you bastard…! R-Raaghh…!"

As if synchronized, the four bandits died with their eyes wide open and their teeth gnashing in anger and pain, a gruesome death.

Frank had now killed people, four, to boot.

"At least, I can find comfort in the thought that I killed people that had already done many atrocities… And not innocent and good-hearted people… But people are still people, no matter how trash they could be… This is… This is vexing. I shouldn't feel guilty, I thought I was… prepared for this. But no, I am weak… I am very weak. I feel terrible now…" thought Frank. Although he was standing there as his eyes glowed eerily in the middle of the darkness, his heart slowly became darker, and his thoughts maturing.

However, instead of the edgy teen he thought he would become, he found out that he was still soft inside, he was still a human.

He felt guilt.

He felt terrible guilt, in fact.

He wished that there could have been a better way.

But his paranoiac thoughts and his over-cautiousness brought him to this only solution.

He did not have any brainwashing skill or enslaving power, he could not do anything to make sure that these bandits would not open their mouths to their bosses and bring doom to Frank.

As Frank's heart became harder as if covered in a layer of stone, he felt a sudden warmth within one of his hands, Ginseng was conjuring a healing Life Attribute Magic Spell on him as the young plant had thought that he was having some kind of injury due to the internal discomfort he felt.

The warmness soothed Frank's heart a bit and made him remember that he was not alone on this. He had many people he loved and wanted to protect.

The immediate image of his family came to his mind, his mother, his sister, his stepfather, and his grandmother, all of them being precious people to him, people that he had decided to do all of this for.

The image of the cheerful Annabelle, Asterion, and Hilvera came afterward, with Gwendolyn, Cathyl, and Ruby, later on, even Matsuo came to his mind.

If he wanted to find comfort, there was plenty of people to ask for it.

However, Frank was no longer a little child, he would not simply ask people to hug him or something.

Frank suddenly burst into laughter over this thought that came to his mind just after having killed four people, he could not help but feel as his mind was becoming different, more different than it already was.

So many conflicting thoughts clashing against each other like a storming sea, and the only thing keeping him afloat from drowning into a sea of insanity were those people beloved by him.

He was a normal person, after all, a normal Japanese student.

He was not an assassin trained his entire life to take the life off people, nor he was born in a world of constant wars where he had to get used to killing others to survive, or at least, that is what he thought originally before knowing the real face of Earth.

Frank believed that what he had done was a necessity, and he would not regret it no matter what, but this did not mean that there was no guilt behind the actions he committed… Because there was, there was a lot of it.

"I cannot keep going on like this… I promised myself to not be a crybaby when such an event was to happen in my life. I had expected this many times, I had readied myself for this moment many times… It is done, and it is already the past," thought Frank, slowly breathing and relaxing his mind.

Frank sighed one last time, glancing at the corpses.

"Thanks, Ginseng. I feel a bit better… Inventory,"

Frank opened his inventory as he made all of the corpses instantly disappear, afterwards, he made sure to clean the poison on the floor, while not leaving any thread left in the crime scene.

"Well, I will use their corpses as they used the ones from the innocent and good-hearted. I wonder how much their Mana Cores can help me in my cultivation?" wondered Frank, forcefully putting every thought that made him feel guilty aside and concentrating on the present and what he needed to do next.

He walked through the corridors in silence, as he was showered by System Windows.

Ding!

[You have leveled up to level 12!]

[You acquired the [Merciless Murderer] Title!]

[Due to the effect of the [Merciless Murderer] Title, you acquired the [Devil Magic: Level 1] and [Intimidation: Level 1] Skills!]

"Devil Magic and Intimidation? Is this a bad joke from the System? …Hm? My mind suddenly feels more at ease… What is this?"

[Merciless Murderer]

A title awarded to those who had mercilessly murdered someone who had asked for mercy several times, toying with their hopes of living only to crush them and bring them a gruesome death.

Effect: Negates any feeling of guilt.

Bonus Skills: [Devil Magic: Level 1] and [Intimidation: Level 1].

"Is this a way for the System to cope with my mental state? So this is how it's going to be…? Should I be grateful and angered? …No matter what I do or think, I can't change what I've done, so I better be happy with what I've gotten… What are these other Skills anyways?"

[Devil Magic: Level 1/10]

The Magic that those who are true devils within their hearts and souls can use.

Manifest the evil within the rotten heart of a person and embody it as spells that can injure the soul directly.

[Spells: [Devil Whisper]

[Intimidation: Level 1/10]

The power to exert one's oppressing presence over anyone, inflicting the status condition [Fear] in anyone weaker than the user within a radius of one meter.

The radius of this Skill effect increases as the level goes up.

This Skill can be switched on and off.

"Rather useful, I'll take it... Ah, I've taken way too long, how are those kids doing?" wondered Frank, walking through the corridors as he approached the kids, who were still with Ruby talking about the adventure they had.

As Frank reached the kids, another System window popped up.

Ding!

____________________

[Kill the Four Bandits!] Completed!

Congratulations! You have killed the four bandits that were trying to steal from your party, and most likely kidnap and violate the girls with you!

How nice, isn't it? You made a particularly good deed, no one is going to miss that trash.

What is it? Do you feel guilty?

Or maybe… not?

____________________

[You acquired the Quest Rewards: A Large Amount of EXP, 250 APP Points, [Assassin] Title]

"Seriously, what is wrong with this System? Is it teasing me for what I did? Well, thanks for the rewards, I guess…"

[You acquired the [Assassin] Title!]

"This must be the first time you gift me a Title…"

[Due to the effect of the [Assassin] Title, you acquired the [Assassination Technique: Level 1] and [Stealth: Level 1] Skills!]

"I already had Stealth, but alright…"

[Assassin]

A title awarded to those who mercilessly take the life of others by surprise.

Effect: Damage bonus to surprise strikes.

Bonus Skills: [Assassination Technique: Level 1] and [Stealth: Level 1].

[Assassination Technique: Level 1/10]

The Techniques that any Assassin possesses, giving them an advantage when lurking behind their enemy's backs.

More techniques can be learned by leveling up this Skill.

Techniques: [Assassination]

"So I am being forged into an assassin now? Hah, I don't have time to think about these things, tonight dinner will be fish… I have a bad feeling that it might not taste as good as the rest imagine…" thought Frank, the feeling of guilt that was eating him away had slowly dissipated, and although he still felt that he had taken lives, the weight within his shoulders had loosened significantly.

He gathered once again with the kids, walking out of the dungeon and making their way towards the Guild.

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