Chapter 43 – Ascension

Lynett

His eyes were cold, emotionless. Feeling absolutely not threatened at all, the slavers’ leader was standing right in front of us, his guard completely opened, as he carefully studied each one of us, stroking his chin. His men, however, were a bit more cautious. Their hands resting on their swords, they were ready to pounce at any time, were any of us to make the slightest suspicious move.

“You look strong,” he eventually spoke, his eyes focused on Leven. “Number 4889, was it?”

“I’m honored that you remember my number, sir,” Leven sarcastically spat with an arrogant smile, which the other slavers didn’t miss. The leader, however, paid it no mind.

“So, what is it that you’ve done exactly?” he asked.

“He murdered two of our men the night he arrived,” the secretary dude at his side responded. “Art was murdered in his sleep, and he got John right after, while he was trying to subdue him.”

“Art and John, huh?” A grin appeared on the slavers’ leader’s face. “Pretty impressive.”

“Well, they were slowpokes so it was easy,” Leven taunted.

Falling for his provocation, a slaver came to grab him by his collar.

“You piece of shit! Your death is going to be slow and painful!”

“That’s enough,” the leader ordered, “I’m not finished here.”

The slaver ground his teeth as he reluctantly let go of Leven, still glaring at him. So the leader’s word is absolute, huh?

“It says on your report that it took a total of five people to take you down,” the leader continued, impassive, “and that you managed to injure three of them before being completely subdued. You seem to have experience when it comes to fighting. What did you do for a living?”

“I cut down trees,” Leven replied with a straight face, “It’s just your men who are pathetically weak.”

Offended, the slavers shot him a deadly glare. Their leader was the only one to be seemingly impressed by his boldness, judging by the smirk on his face.

“Strong and audacious, huh?” he noted. “I don’t dislike it. Would you like to work for me?”

Leven frowned at his unexpected proposition, and he wasn’t the only one. Outraged, a slaver immediately came forward to express his disapproval.

“Boss!” he shouted. “He killed Art and John!”

“I’m aware,” the leader replied with a disinterested voice, “but if those two weren’t able to defend themselves against a mere logger, it’s their own fault. I have no need for weak men.”

His harsh statement caused the slaver to flinch.

“But… Even if it’s true, he’s an insurgent! He rebelled once, he will do it again! A former slave like him can’t be trusted!”

The leader sneered at these words.

“Trust?” he repeated with an ironic smile. “Like you think I trust any of you? You bunch of thugs are only here because I pay you. The moment a better opportunity to earn money presents itself, you will no doubt stab me in the back.”

The slaver tried to disagree, but he couldn’t find anything to retort.

“Money buys loyalty,” the leader continued, before shifting his attention back to Leven, “and now, I’m offering to buy yours.”

“You want to buy me?” Leven repeated with a hard expression, before a grin spread across his face. “Alright, I’m listening. How much are you offering?”

I frowned, giving Leven a condemning look. He can’t be seriously considering his offer, right?

“One gold coin,” the leader proposed.

His men all winced in synchronization, clearly disapproving of this offer.

“Boss, that’s a bit…” the secretary dude tried to reason with him, but he was immediately cut off.

“Silence,” the leader ordered. “If I say one gold coin, it’s one gold coin.”

As the slavers exchanged dubious looks, their leader turned to one of them.

“You,” he designated the one who grabbed Leven by his collar just before, “bring him the money.”

Despite grinding his teeth, the slaver complied. He glared at Leven and, without breaking the eye-contact a single second, he unwillingly brought a pouch full of coins. Then, he took a golden coin out of it and tossed it at his face.

“There,” he said, just before spitting at his feet.

Ignoring his rude action, Leven looked down on the single golden coin who just fell on the ground.

“One golden coin?” he mumbled.

“A peasant like you should be satisfied with that, right?” the slaver added, his voice filled with contempt. “It’s probably more money than you’ve ever seen in your entire life.”

But Leven clearly disagreed.

“Satisfied?” he repeated, a grin breaking onto his face.

Something triggering within him, Leven suddenly pounced on the slaver. In a split second, he stole the knife at his waist and used it to slash his throat, not even leaving the poor man a chance to react. He died before he could even understand what was happening. The others, however, were quicker to react.

“Fuck!”

“That little bastard!”

“Grab him!”

Leven immediately tried to go for the leader, but his men didn’t leave him the chance. In an instant, a swarm of slavers came to subdue him. Leven may have managed to put on a fight against five of them before, but this time, there were more than ten of them. He was quickly subdued, tackled to the ground.

Seemingly unfazed by this sudden attempt of murder towards him, the leader simply let out a long sigh.

“How disappointing,” he said, “I guess I’ll have to take that for a no?”

“You, son of a bitch!” Leven bellowed, struggling on the ground. “One golden coin? Are you fucking kidding me? Is that what human lives are worth to you? My wife… My daughter’s lives... One golden coin?! Go to hell!”

The leader sighed once more.

“Such a waste… Hold him well,” he ordered his men, “we’ll take care of him just after I’m done with the other two.”

“Fuck…! Come back here you bastard! Don’t hide behind your men! Fight me fair and square!”

But the leader had no reason to listen to him. His interest in Leven now gone, he moved to Cottontail, completely ignoring the corpse at his feet.

“So this is the mutant girl?” he inquired.

“Yes, this is her,” the secretary dude responded. “She is also quite a dangerous one. Apparently, she took down dozens of our men on her own.”

“Interesting.”

The slavers’ leader stepped forward to better inspect her. However, Cottontail did not appreciate that. When he tried to reach her chin to raise her head, she immediately growled, threatening to bite his hand off.

“Another fierce one, I take it?” the leader grinned, seemingly amused by the little girl’s attempt to intimidate him.

“And the chosen one,” he finally moved onto me. “A pretty face indeed.”

But the leader didn’t linger on me for very long. Unlike with Leven and Cottontail, he quickly lost interest in me as he simply sighed complainingly.

“Such a waste, such a waste…” he mumbled.

He turned to his men.

“Alright, execute them all.”

The slavers nodded at his order.

“Huh? You sure, boss?” One of them inquired. “Shouldn’t we at least keep those two alive and sell them?”

“I have a reputation to keep, I can’t sell disobedient slaves,” the leader replied. “We don’t have the time to discipline them and they’re a symbol of rebellion. It’s not worth it.”

“Oh, alright…”

As the slavers came to drag us and line us up with the other insurgents, widely exposing us to the crowd, commotion rose among the slaves. It was just like Leven had predicted. The slavers’ leader never had the intention to spare a single one of the rebels. This was a warning.

“I don’t mean to press you, Aileen,” Leven muttered with half-smile at my side, “but if you want to make anyone’s stomach burst, now would be a really good time.”

I smiled. He never misses the opportunity to joke around, does he? Despite the situation…

“Etch this into your memory, people,” the leader declared, “this is what happens when you mess with me.”

He marked a pause, turning in our direction, as the slavers were awaiting for his command.

“Any last words?”

“Yes, fuck you,” Leven blurted out.

This time, the leader did not react positively to his boldness. Instead of an amused smile, his face showed nothing but disappointment. And as the other insurgents were certainly not going to add anything else, considering their mental state, he continued.

“Well, if there’s nothing else…”

“I have a question,” I finally spoke up.

The slavers’ leader directed his attention to me.

“What is it?” he sighed, already disinterested in what I had to say.

“Where’s Olivia?” I asked.

The leader squinted his eyes.

“Olivia? Who the fuck is Olivia?”

I turned my head, inspecting the row of insurgents.

“That guy’s wife,” I said, designating Troy as I finally spotted him a bit further. Unlike the other insurgents, Troy had been gagged. He was being held against the ground by two slavers, as he kept struggling, sending me all sorts of signals with his eyes to attract my attention.

“How the hell should I know that… Ed!” the slavers’ leader called.

“Yes, boss?” the secretary dude replied.

“What happened to this guy’s wife? Did we ever have her?”

“We did, but she died eight months ago.”

…

Oh, for fuck’s sake, you’ve got to be kidding me…

“So he said,” the leader turned back to me.

I shifted my gaze to Troy. He was giving me a meaningful look.

For real? She’s dead? What am I going to tell Axis? I promised to bring back his mother. I know I’ve done nothing but lie ever since I reincarnated in this world, but promises are different. I’ve always kept my promises. And now I’m going to have to tell that boy his mother died. And not recently on top of that. She died eight months ago. That was before we even met.

I clicked my tongue, glaring at the slaver.

“Don’t give me that look,” the secretary dude said, noticing my expression, “we didn’t kill her. She was already unstable when she arrived, and she couldn’t adapt herself to her new situation. She took her own life only a few days after arriving at the camp.”

Even if that’s true, she wouldn’t have killed herself if it weren’t for them.

“You said she died eight months ago,” I pointed out. “In eight months, you’ve never thought about telling her husband about it? Didn’t he come every day?”

According to the other slaves, Troy has been coming here quite regularly in order to pay the slavers and assure his wife’s safety. He clearly wasn’t aware about her death. And neither was Axis.

“He did, didn’t he?” the slaver holding him down sneered. “That fool had no idea she was dead and still kept coming every single day to give us money. And when he finally found out, he flipped out and tried to start a rebellion!”

I don’t blame him. Those jerks purposely hid that fact from him to take his money.

“He owed us money, anyway,” the secretary dude explained, indifferently. “What would it have changed to tell him about it? If it wasn’t for her, he probably wouldn’t have paid us back.”

“It was his wife, he deserved to know.”

“So what?” the slavers’ leader interjected, slowly losing patience. “I don’t care if she was someone’s wife, daughter or mother, she died. It’s just as simple as that. End of the story. Can we move on now?”

But Troy clearly disagreed. His furious eyes cast on the leader, he was trying to grumble something through the piece of cloth he was biting.

“What? You got something to say?” the leader taunted, a smirk on his face. He approached Troy, crouching down on him. “An insect like you doesn’t get to say anything. Your wife died because she was weak. She died because you are weak. Don’t blame it on me if you weren’t able to protect her.”

“What a piece of shit….” Leven muttered, loud enough for the others to hear.

The leader got up, shifting his gaze to him.

“I may be a piece of shit,” he admitted, “but you, you are going to die.”

My eyes locked on him, a long sigh escaped my mouth.

“So you feel absolutely no guilt at all, huh?” I said.

“Guilt?” the leader repeated, turning in my direction. “What is there to feel guilty about? I am only a businessman. There is a demand, so I’m offering a supply,” he explained. “Those people didn’t end up here without a reason. They’re here because they deserve to be here. Most of them, like the idiot over there, couldn’t pay back their debts. But if you can’t pay back a loan, then don’t get one in the first place! And the others? Just a bunch of thugs who thought it was a good idea to challenge the system, or to offend nobility. What did they expect?” An arrogant smile spread on his face. “I am only a good Samaritan offering them a chance to make amends for their mistakes.”

Hearing his nonsense, I couldn’t help but frown.

“Alright, let’s suppose that this is true,” I proposed. “Let’s admit for a second that it is their own fault they ended up here. What about raids?”

The slavers’ leader eyelid twitches at my words.

“When’s the last time you’ve checked the law?” I continued. “Slavery may be legal, but raids aren’t. It is absolutely forbidden to enslave someone without a proper reason. I was merely walking around in the woods when your men attacked me. You’re not a businessman, you’re just a criminal.”

The slavers’ leader glared at me for a few seconds, keeping a straight face. Then, his lips curled into a grin.

“So what?” he said. “What are you going to do about it? Report me to the authorities? The moment that collar is locked around your neck, you are nothing but a lowly slave. Your words are worthless. Besides…” His grin widened. “The ones in power are the same ones who come for me to buy slaves. They know about it. They’re just turning a blind eye on it. Do you know why?”

He marked a pause, turning to face the crowd.

“Because you people are cattle! Nobody cares about your lives!”

The slavers’ leader snorted, returning his attention to me.

“You see? This is how the world works. People aren’t equal. There are those who get stomped on and those who do the stomping. It’s called hierarchy. You can only pray that you won’t come across someone stronger than you, that’s it. It can’t be helped. No one is to be blamed.”

Ah… I’m tired.

“What? Angry?” he scoffed.

Angry? No, I’m not angry. To be honest, I feel… Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. No anger, no frustration, no irritation, nothing at all. I feel empty. Because no matter how harsh his words were, I knew he was right. The world has never been fair to begin with. It’s life. That’s the only way it can work. But as human beings, we are capable of compassion. This man is a piece of trash without a doubt. He has no scruples destroying the lives of the others for his own benefit. Yet, I can’t feel angry at him. I don’t even find him hateful. Just… Pitiful.

Ah… I knew this would happen. I knew this would happen one day, from the moment I was reborn. And that is exactly why I tried not to meddle in others’ business. Because I always feared for this moment to come. For the moment I stopped being capable of empathy. Because it would be the moment I completely stopped being human.

My body is already no longer human. I noticed that a long time ago.

I have never once fallen ill in this life. Not a single cold, nothing. People thought it was because I was blessed. It wasn’t until I was three that I noticed something really wasn’t right. At that time, someone tried to poison me. However, it took us a long time to notice that as it had no effect on me. It wasn’t until one of the maids was caught poisoning my meals that I understood that I actually had consumed a large amount of toxins and that I was immune to it. Naturally, the maid was executed, and we never found out who ordered my assassination, although I have a pretty good idea. But that’s not it.

Over the years, my biological needs also continuously decreased. When I was a baby, I was almost constantly hungry. However, as time passed, my appetite declined. As the daughter of a noble house, my meals were all generous and flavourful. Yet, I didn’t feel hungry at all. I kept eating less and less, to the point where the maids started to worry about my health. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be eating three times a day. In fact, I probably wouldn’t even eat once. I have already skipped meals during my short time in the Academy, and even after going days without eating, I still didn’t feel hungry at all. It was the same thing with sleep. I gradually lost the need to sleep, to the point where I spent most of my childhood nights sneaking out in the library. At this point, I only ate and slept out of habit, but my biological needs disappeared a long time ago. Soon, I will probably stop aging too.

Everything that made me mortal was disappearing, as my body changed to become the body of an immortal. And with my mortality now completely gone, there was only one thing left making me human. One thing which I’ve been desperately holding on to ever since I discovered that I was reborn here. But now, it was disappearing, too.

Empathy.

The ability to share someone else’s feelings, experiences. The ability to relate. And that is exactly the problem. I can’t relate. Not anymore. How am I supposed to? People live their lives to the fullest because it’s ephemeral. Because one day, they die. But I won’t. If I miss an opportunity, I know there will necessarily be another one, so why bother? My time isn’t being counted. I have eternity in front of me. So I can’t do it. I can’t identify myself with the others anymore. I can, to some extent, attempt to rationalize my feelings, but I can’t feel emotionally connected to them. Worse, the value of life itself has dropped in my eyes. Life is precious, I know. Or at least, I used to. But I just watched Leven murder a man in cold blood and I didn’t even bat an eye. He may have been a slaver, but he was also human. Chances are he had a loving family. Yet, I watched him get his throat sliced. I watched him bleed out as blood poured out his neck, splashing everywhere. I watched the life in his eyes vanishing. And I didn’t feel a damn thing. Nothing. Not even the slightest flinch. I just feel completely disconnected from reality. This entire world, after all, is my creation. The result of my childish fantasies. And all those people here are dispensable.

I have felt like this before. I remember. It was before I got sick, when I used to play in the yard behind the house. One day, I witnessed something particular. I witnessed two colonies of ants fighting each other. And I didn’t do anything, I just watched. I was old enough to understand what death was, yet, I felt absolutely nothing at all watching those poor ants die. They were, after all, only ants. Their deaths didn’t matter. They were dispensable. If a colony died out, another would replace them, and the cycle of life would continue. This is exactly how I’m feeling right now. I see all those people and I feel nothing. I know they're innocent. I know they don't deserve to be here. But I still feel disconnected from them. I know what’s right and what’s wrong, I know it. But I just can’t feel it.

This was not how a normal person was supposed to feel. A normal person would not ignore the others' suffering. A normal person would not consider the others' life dispensable. This was not the mindset of a human being. I was perfectly aware of it. This was the mindset of someone considering themself as superior. This was the mindset on someone placed above.

This goddamn divinity is messing with my mind, and despite being aware of it, I can't stop it.

This is exactly what I feared would happen ever since I learned about my abnormal status when I got reincarnated here. Ever since I tortured my aunt in cold blood. My humanity was dying. But despite this, I still had one thing left. One thing that couldn't be corrupted. Morals.

“I have only one thing left to ask,” I told the man in front of me, having made my decision. “I’ve heard that you’ve been operating in the capital for over twenty years. Have you ever smuggled any elves?”

The slavers’ leader squinted his eyes.

“Elves?” he repeated, before a proud smile broke onto his face. “Oh, elves! Of course I have. Who do you think I am? They are the finest captures a slaver like me can stumble upon. You don’t come across them every year, but sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can find an entire village of them.”

“And then?”

“And then? And then we capture them all! The men aren’t needed and too dangerous, so they are all slaughtered, but the women on the other hand… Every single one of them is worth thousands of normal slaves. If they don’t kill themselves first, that is. They’re prideful creatures, after all. Out of ten elves, maybe one or two survive,” he proudly recounted. “Not that I blame them. Considering the treatment that awaits them, I would probably also killed myself if I was in their place.”

So he’s aware about it after all.

“Do you remember someone called Azariah?” I finally asked.

“Azariah? What’s up with you and all those names? First Olivia and now Azariah?”

Yeah, figures. I expected this. Of course he wouldn’t remember. It was years ago, and he has probably smuggled thousands of people these past few years only. Why would he remember her? She was for him, after all, only one among many “cattle.” Too bad for him, though. This one cattle is precious to me and now, he's going to pay the price for messing with her.

I raised my arms up to my neck to grab the slave collar around it. It unlocked at the contact with my hand.

“How-?!”

The leader gasped as I tossed the collar at his feet, and he wasn’t the only one. The slaves and the slavers all exchanged confused glances as no one could understand how I took the slave collar off on my own.

“You know what?” I said, “I agree with you. The world is unfair, it’s all about luck. Like you said, you can only pray that you won’t come across someone stronger than you.” I marked a pause, giving him a meaningful look. “Unfortunately for you, your luck has run out.”

I turned to the fox girl at my side.

“Cottontail,” I called.

She got up and imitated me, taking off the collar around her neck, much to everyone’s surprise.

“Murder them all.”

With the single nod of the head, Cottontail disappeared in a swift jump. Next, screams could be heard as blood spurt out like fountains all over the place, slavers dropping down one by one like flies. The fox girl was so fast they couldn’t keep track of her. Using nothing else besides her nails and teeth, she tore off the skin on their neck, exposing their bare muscles as blood flowed out of the ruptured vessels in rhythmical sprays.

“F-Fuck!”

“Where is she?! Catch her!”

As panic broke out, Leven took advantage of the confusion to shake off the slaver holding him and attacked him. And he wasn’t the only one. Among the crowd, a few dozen of the slaves seized the opportunity to join the battle, pouncing on the slavers around them, while the others desperately tried to get away. It was total chaos.

“Shit!” The slavers’ leader cursed as he could see his men getting overwhelmed. Understanding he needed to take action quickly, he turned in the direction of the crowd.

“『Enough』!!” he shouted, his voice resonating through the valley.

In one instant, every one of the slaves froze, under the influence of their collar. The [Slavery Contract] allowed the master to use Mind Control on the slaves, bending their will to his convenience. Unable to disobey the leader’s word, the slaves all winced in pain as the Mind magic took over their body.

The slavers immediately reacted. They took advantage of the magic to overthrow the situation. The rebels were immediately subdued while others directed their blade against innocent slaves. Sensing my hesitation, Cottontail stopped the bloodshed and returned to my side. The situation now under control, the slavers’ leader turned his attention back to me, shooting me a deadly glare.

“You! What did you do?!” he bellowed. “How the fuck did you do that?!”

He ground his teeth, receiving a simple apathetic look from me as an answer.

“Who are you?” he groaned. This time he was completely on his guard.

“My name is Aileen,” I said with the same straight face. “Remember it well, as it will be the last name you will hear.”

“Aileen?”

Commotion started to rise among the slaves as I introduced myself.

“You heard that?”

“Is it the same Aileen Troy has been talking about?”

“She must be! Didn’t he recognize her earlier?”

Too focused on me, the leader didn’t pay attention to the growing agitation around him. I took a step forward as he flinched in apprehension.

“Stay away!” he ordered before directing his attention elsewhere. “Ed!”

Following his eyes, I noticed the secretary dude grabbing Troy, placing a knife to his throat. Cold sweats forming on his face, he was panting heavily and his hands were shaking. Clearly, it was his first time witnessing such a slaughter.

Well, technically, it was my first time too...

“Take another step forward and his head flies!” the leader threatened.

But that was without counting the bold statement of Troy

“I don’t care, kill him!” he shouted, finally freed of his gag. “Let him feel the wrath of all those who died!”

“So he says,” I told the leader.

The slavers’ leader flinched, understanding he was losing control of the situation. Then, he immediately turned to his men.

“Guys!”

This time, it was the other slavers’ turn to take random hostages in the crowd.

“No!”

“Please…!”

“Have mercy!”

“Try anything, and those little shits die one by one,” the leader said, returning his attention to me.

I see. So he’s taking the entire crowd hostage to prevent me from doing anything. That’s quite bothersome. I can kill one slaver or two, that’s easy. But I can’t kill every one of them at once. Scattered among the slaves, I would need a massive spell to do that. And massive spells kill without discrimination. The slaves would die as well. I need to kill the slavers one by one. But by the time I spot them all, some of them would have had the time to kill their hostage. Really. Such a pain in the ass.

“Kill him!” someone suddenly shouted.

Turning my head in the direction of the voice, I noticed a hostage giving me a meaningful look.

“Kill him!” he repeated.

“Silence!” the slaver holding him hostage ordered. “Do you want to die?”

His face was familiar. I quickly recognized him from yesterday. He was the slave who tried to lecture me about taking responsibility. I think his name was Gale.

“Aileen!” he yelled, completely ignoring his captor. “You’re the one who said it, right? Not to expect someone to save us! It doesn’t matter if we die, so kill him!”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” hollered another slave. “I don’t want to die!”

“Me neither!”

“I have a family!”

“So what?!” Gale shouted. “I have a family too, and I don’t want to die either! But if my death can allow the others to be freed, then I’ll die!”

“I…”

“But…”

“Come on, people!” he continued “This is the miracle you’ve all been waiting for! Is life so great? Do you want to live so bad that you are all willing to crawl at the feet of a piece of shit like him? If I’m going to live miserably, then I’d rather die!”

His powerful words caused the other slaves to fall silent.

“Aileen!” he called once more. “With this shitty collar around my neck, there is nothing else I can do but give you my life! So kill that piece of shit! Make him tremble like he made our children tremble!”

Gale’s unwavering determination eventually managed to reach the others.

“Kill him…”

“Kill him!”

“Make him suffer!”

“Don’t let him go!”

As each one of the slaves soon started shouting all kind of murder threats, the remaining hostages also joined Gale’s cause.

“If… If it can allow my family to be freed…”

“T-That’s right…! What’s the point of living such a miserable life?! I don’t care about dying, kill him!”

“I-I’m also willing to die if I can watch that jerk suffer!”

“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!”

Most of them were trembling, unable to overcome the fear of death, but they kept shouting anyway, ordering the slavers’ leader’s execution.

A smirk forming on my lips, I shifted my gaze back to him.

“Hear that?” I said, “looks like you’ve lost your shields.”

The slavers’ leader flinched at my words.

“T-They’re all going to die!” he threatened. “Are you really going to sacrifice them all just to kill me?!”

“You know, back in my old world, there was something called democracy. It's a bit complicated, and I'm too lazy to explain it to you anyway, but it was based on one thing: the majority decides," I told him, giving him a meaningful grin. "And this is what they want, so…”

Understanding there was no way out, the slavers’ leader drew out his sword. Not even his men would be able to save him this time.

As Cottontail stepped forward, I called her back.

“Cotton, step aside,” I ordered. “He’s mine.”

The fox girl nodded.

Seeing her walking away, a new wave of confidence lifted him up. The slavers’ leader readjusted his grasp on his sword as an arrogant grin spread across his face. He had seen Cottontail in action and had been warned about her, but he had no reason to fear me. To him, I didn’t seem to be a threat. The tables had turned. Confident in his win, the slavers’ leader rushed forward, throwing himself onto me.

“Leven,” I called, “this one is for you.”

As the young man raised an eyebrow in confusion, I spread my mana in front of me. I took over the leader’s body, letting my magic flow into his stomach, and then I made it burst from the inside. His guts spilling out of his belly, the slavers’ leader died instantly, choking on his own vomit of blood, before falling on his own sword.

“Oh, shit!” Leven exclaimed. “That’s fucking nasty!”

Witnessing their leader’s death, the remaining slavers quickly understood they were next. As panic took over their mind, they started executing the slaves in a desperate attempt to create confusion. Hysteria broke out once again in the camp, as slaves started to run for their life. Unfortunately for the slavers, there was nowhere for them to go.

“Cotton,” I called.

Understanding my silent order, Cottontail rushed forward into the crowd to stop the slavers’ killing frenzy. She hunted them down one by one, as I helped her from here, without moving from my spot. As a dedication to Leven, I burst out the insides on any slavers entering my sight.

The show was only beginning.

◊◊◊◊◊◊

It took quite a bit of time, but with the two of us, Cottontail and I eventually managed to decimate all of the slavers. The losses, however, were quite considerable. Over five hundred dead among the slaves. This was the price to pay for freedom. Unable to celebrate the end of the slavers’ control, it was in a heavy atmosphere that the survivors spent the next two hours gathering their dead, in order to give them a proper departure.

“Is this all of them?” I asked, staring at the stockpile of corpses in front of me.

“Yes,” a young woman muttered in a small voice.

It was Clarice. Seated on the bare ground, she was caressing the cheek of Gale’s corpse, her face full of grief. He had been one of the first to be killed, along with Troy, when I executed the slavers’ leader.

“He looks happy,” Leven noted, trying to lift the young woman’s spirits.

Clarice looked up at us, displaying a forced smile.

“Thank you,” she said. “You’ve done enough, we’ll take care of the rest. We’ll bury them in this valley, where they fought for their freedom.”

The other slaves nodded in agreement. As I watched the sad expression on their face, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty.

Ah… For fuck’s sake. What am I doing? Not your problem, Aileen, not your problem. But those people pretty much died because of me… So I guess I’ll make an exception.

“Step aside, everyone,” I requested, a resigned sigh escaping my mouth.

The slaves all gave me an inquiring look, not understanding my demand.

“Step aside,” I repeated.

This time, the slaves complied. Despite the confusion, they all moved out the way, without asking questions.

My eyes casted down on the pile of corpses, I let out a second sigh. I probably shouldn’t be doing this but well…

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting my mana expand all around me. It quickly dispersed, enveloping the bodies of the fallen slaves.

Alright. I’ve done this before. There are just five hundred times more bodies than before, but it shouldn't be so complicated. It’s going to be fine. Their souls haven’t departed yet.

“『Rise』.”

Light suddenly erupted from the fallen slaves corpses, as I ordered the [Word System] to bring them back. Blinded by the sudden light, the other slaves looked away, covering their eyes. When the light finally subsided, there was no longer any trace of injuries on the corpses. They had been completely healed, and, additionally, they were no longer corpses. Blood started to rush again through the fallen slaves’ veins, slowly warming up their cold bodies. Soon, the first returnees started to rise.

“Wh-?!”

“Oh my goodness!”

A wave of surprise quickly spread among the survivors. But the initial shock didn’t last, as relief quickly took over. It didn’t take long before the first survivors rushed to the returnees.

“Dad!”

“Oh, gods, honey you’re alive!”

“Thank gods!”

In the middle of all the happy reunions between the surviving slaves and the returnees, one man was left confused. Completely disoriented, Troy brought his hands to his neck.

“I… I remember, I was….” he muttered, as he couldn’t feel a cut on his neck.

“If it weren’t for your son, I would’ve left you for dead,” I told him.

Troy looked up at me with bewildered eyes.

“My son…?” he repeated. “My son… Oh, Axis… That’s right… I still have Axis…”

“Since you know that, don’t die so easily next time. You’re all he has now.”

Suddenly realizing the consequences of his actions, Troy lowered his head in shame. Blinded by rage, he threw away his own life, leaving a son behind.

“Right… I have… Axis. I have Axis…!”

Tears formed into his eyes as he kept repeating his son’s name.

Thinking about the poor boy, I couldn’t help but sigh. He’s already lost his mother, but at least, I could save his father.

As I was about to leave though, Troy called me out.

“WAIT!” he shouted, before burying his face onto the ground. “I…! I will never be able to thank you enough for what You’ve done!” he said. “I will forever be grateful for this second chance You have bestowed upon me!”

His sudden behavior naturally attracted attention as all the slaves around turned their eyes on us.

“Ah…”

“Uh, well…”

Remembering everything I’ve done, the slaves exchanged confused looks, unsure what to say.

I sighed.

“Just to be clear,” I loudly announced, “I did not save you guys. You just happened to be there when I enacted my revenge, alright?”

The slaves were even more confused.

“But you didn’t have to bring us back,” Troy pointed out, raising his head. “You brought those slavers justice by killing them; you freed the slaves and you brought back the fallen ones. Your benevolence is limitless! You truly have the heart of a Goddess!”

Uh, well… No…

“A Goddess?”

“So what he said was true?”

“Well, she killed those slavers so easily… And she brought our brothers back from the dead…”

“It’s like… a Goddess of Life and Death…”

“I, Troy, will dedicate my life to honor your name!” Troy suddenly declared, burying his head onto the ground one more time.

However, before I could ask him to get up, another slave kneeled down in front of me.

“Uh, me too…”

And another one.

“Me too!”

And another one.

“I will worship the Goddess of Life and Death!”

And soon, a swarm of people started kneeling in front of me. Until no one was left standing.

“The Goddess Aileen saved us all!”

“She is the Goddess of Life and Death!”

“She is good, she is great, all hail Aileen!”

“Praise the Goddess!”

Ah… Yeah… I knew this would happen.

As I turned around, I noticed Leven on the ground.

“You too…?”

He gave me a teasing smile.

“Praise the Goddess of Life and Death!” he beamed.

Ah… Whatever. It’s not like I’ll ever meet any of these guys again anyway. I’m out of here.

You have earned 5,343 believers.

Uh…

Congratulations !

You have unlocked a new achievement: [Started a new religion]

No, wait…

All the required conditions have been fulfilled.

You have unlocked a hidden quest: [Path to Divinity]

…

Oh, for fuck’s sake.