“Even if you do not know exactly what the King's abilities are, you have seen him. You must have some idea.”
At my repeated question, the cyborg boss's lips twitched as though he were trying to smile.
[What exactly is your intention in asking me that?]
“Every other bastard plugs his ears and says whatever he wants. You are at least capable of having something resembling a conversation.”
I had considered asking the old shopkeeper, but I doubted an old man who never left his shop would know much.
[I serve the King. Do you truly expect me to answer that?]
“Exactly! A traitor who sided with that monster would never answer you!”
From what I had seen before, he had never seemed particularly devoted to the King.
Still, judging by the way he kept answering my question with questions of his own and avoiding the subject, apparently he was unwilling to betray his superior.
“The King said he needed my ability…….”
“What?”
[The King did?]
“You met the monsters' King?”
The woman took a step backward as she asked.
The cyborg boss snorted at her reaction and mocked her.
[To think you would try to distance yourself from someone who helped you merely because he spoke with the King. As expected, you care for nothing but your own safety.]
At the cyborg's accusation, the woman glanced nervously at me before snapping at him.
“Sh-Shut up!”
She seemed to be trying to cover up something she had done unconsciously, but I had never thought particularly well of her in the first place, so it made no difference.
I would actually have preferred it if she had simply given up on me after hearing that and declared that we should go our separate ways.
[If you met the King, it would have been faster to ask him yourself.]
“Because the King would not answer me.”
The cyborg let out a breath that sounded almost like a scoff.
[Why should I tell you something the King himself chose not to reveal? Especially when he stands above me, not below me.]
Before I could even react, the woman jumped in.
“Ha! After joining the monsters, it seems you have convinced yourself that you were always a monster to begin with.”
[I almost wish that were true. It would have been far better than being the same kind of creature as humans like you.]
“What did you say? Better to be one of those monsters……? How can you say something so vile……!”
The woman trailed off and looked at me as though expecting me to take her side.
Considering he had turned his entire body into a machine without seeming particularly bothered by it, I could understand why he would say something like that.
From my perspective, if the choice was between a country full of people like this woman and people who actually intended to make proper use of their abilities, I might have leaned toward the latter as well.
Maybe that was why I had never felt any desire to help the woman, either when we first met or now.
[At least that seems preferable to your side, which destroys any ability that does not develop in the direction you desire, no matter how useful it may be.]
When I remained silent and pretended not to hear, the woman apparently decided I was not a card she could play right now and continued arguing with him.
“The monsters' King only took you in because you were useful to those monsters in the end!”
[If an ability is useful, then naturally it is useful rather than useless. He is still a King, not a charity worker. Even so, I would say he is better than fools who throw away useful abilities simply because they do not want them.]
“Fools?!”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, what I had been doing was essentially asking an enemy subordinate to betray his own boss.
Unlike the others, he was easy enough to converse with that I had forgotten, but he was still an enemy.
[In any case, I have no reason to tell you something the King himself chose not to reveal.]
“Well……. I only asked because I cannot understand why the King said he needed my ability.”
After ignoring the two of them while they argued, I spoke to the boss again.
The woman kept glancing at me anxiously.
[Are you saying the King truly told you that he desired your ability?]
“Yes.”
Only then did the creature fall silent in genuine disbelief before slowly shaking his head.
[To be frank, I find it difficult to believe everything you are saying.]
I probably would not have believed it either.
Why would someone far more capable than I was covet an ability of mine that was practically useless?
[From what I can see, you are an utterly ordinary person who can barely manipulate Mana.]
“…….”
If he had seen me on floor 1, when I had not possessed even a trace of Mana, he probably would have recoiled and asked whether I was actually human.
If even a man whose entire body was mechanical said something like that, was manipulating Mana considered basic competence in this world?
There was something bizarre about being criticized for barely knowing how to use Mana by a cyborg.
He observed me silently for a while, then narrowed his one damaged eye.
[Perhaps you possess some talent that is difficult to recognize directly, as I did. Or perhaps you possess some specialized technique.]
“I do not think it is either.”
If I had possessed a technique valuable enough for someone to covet, and had actually demonstrated it, then I probably would have understood immediately what the King meant by my ‘ability.’
[Who knows? Perhaps the King recognized an ability that even you yourself have not noticed, and that is why he desires you.]
“What nonsense.”
An ability I did not even know I had?
Even if something like that existed, there was no reason it would be useful in this world.
Even Mana was something I had only gained after coming here.
I had lived in a completely different world. There was no reason I should possess some ability naturally useful in this one.
[I would advise you not to dismiss the possibility so quickly. When I first heard about the King from the others, I did not believe any of it either.]
“You have a remarkable amount of faith in him.”
[If you truly met the King, I would have thought you understood why.]
“Not at all.”
He had not shown me anything that would make him trustworthy.
“Then explain the King's abilities so I can understand.”
When I asked for information about the King yet again, the creature merely laughed aloud without saying another word.
It was irritating.
“……If you will not talk about the King, then my next question. The door at the very bottom. How do you use it?”
His face twisted as though he were smiling.
Half of it was gone, so I could not tell whether he was actually smiling or whether I was mistaking some other expression for one.
[You mean the [Final Door]?]
“Yes.”
[If I tell you that, what will you give me in return?]
I frowned at his attitude.
He was essentially demanding payment in exchange for information.
“Did you not say you would tell me everything if I defeated you?”
[I said I could answer you. I never said I would tell you everything.]
“…….”
Was he seriously playing word games now?
Then again, annoyingly enough, he was not technically wrong.
[And until you reach that door, you will have difficulty finding anyone else like me who is capable of holding a proper conversation.]
“……That is true.”
So information about the King was forbidden, but information about this was negotiable?
His standards were vague and completely arbitrary.
Not that I minded.
If anything, this was better, because information about the door was what I needed most.
“You are dying anyway…….”
It would look strange if I already knew about floors I had not even reached in Normal Mode.
Even aside from that, it was better to gather as much information as possible now.
Considering how the King had behaved last time, there was no telling what else he might order to block me.
I let out a deep sigh as though I had no choice.
“What do you want?”
With the hand that still had a few fingers remaining, he pointed at the woman.
She flinched and subtly moved closer to me.
I quietly moved away by exactly the same amount.
“Ah…….”
I heard her dejected voice but deliberately kept my eyes fixed on the cyborg boss.
[That woman.]
“What about her?”
[I would like you to hand her over to me.]
“No! No, you cannot! Absolutely not!”
The instant he finished speaking, the woman shouted as though she had been waiting for it and clung to my arm.
I shook her off immediately, but she latched onto it again.
“Haah.”
[Why? Is that something you cannot do?]
Was he blind?
Hmm.
Right.
I had destroyed his eye.
“Let me correct one thing first.”
I shook the woman off again with force, but she stubbornly attached herself to me once more.
“As you can clearly see, I would actually welcome the chance to get rid of this woman.”
“W-What……?! How can you say something like that?!”
“And she just decided to follow me on her own. She is not my companion.”
[You expect me to believe that?]
“Yes.”
Before, I might have said I did not care whether he believed me or not.
But now, even being associated with that woman was unpleasant.
“How can you say something so irresponsible?!”
The creature frowned at her shout.
[Irresponsible?]
This woman, seriously.
If she was going to speak, why did she have to phrase things in the most misleading way possible?
“I never took responsibility for you in the first place, and I never said I would.”
“Was all the time we spent together really so meaningless to you?”
“You followed me around without even asking permission. What the hell are you talking about?”
“Surely I am better than someone like him who sided with monsters!”
“Not particularly.”
“He even tried to kill you!”
“You got me killed over and over again without warning.”
“Th-That was not intentional…….”
I had been brushing her off without even looking, but at those words, I turned toward her.
Apparently afraid I would shake her off again, the woman had buried even her head against my arm and was clinging to it tightly.
“…….”
In Normal Mode, the woman had pretended to be innocent while hiding what she truly thought until the very end.
If even this was an act, I would probably never know whether she truly had not intended any of it.
“Whether you meant to or not, judging only by the results, you are worse.”
“Th-That is……”
The cyborg silently watched us repeat the process of her clinging to me and me peeling her off.
Then he lowered his head and his shoulders began shaking.
[Heh heh……. What an absurd farce.]
It was not funny at all to me.
But from his perspective, he was a complete third party, so perhaps it was amusing.
He was our enemy to begin with.
“I do not care if you laugh……. But I would appreciate it if you stopped treating that woman and me as a set.”
“Th-That……”
The woman muttered in a voice that sounded ready to cry at any moment when I drew such a clear line between us.
I ignored her and peeled the leech off again.
[Even if she is not your companion, I doubt that woman will willingly come to me. You hand her over.]
“And if I do, you will tell me?”
[Yes.]
Still hanging from my arm, the woman screamed.
“N-No!”
“You are hurting my ears.”
I bent the arm she was clinging to and trapped her grip against me.
Then I dragged her toward the boss.
Her feet slid along the floor while she remained upright at first, but eventually she dropped into a seated position.
Her body was so light that she continued being dragged anyway.
Finally, she began struggling desperately to escape.
“Let go! Let go of my arm! I said let go of my arm!”
She had been the one who clung to me first, and now she was demanding that I let her go.
If she wanted to escape, she should not have grabbed onto me in the first place. She should have run when she had the chance.
“D-Do not—No, please do not do this!”
Once the distance became too short for her to escape, she changed what she was saying.
It was a late decision.
And there was nothing she could change now.
“Here.”
The instant I released her, I grabbed her again before she could flee and practically threw her toward him.
“Aah!”
The moment the woman came within reach, the creature drove his broken hand straight through her chest.
“Ghk.”
I reflexively turned my head away.
[Thank you for your assistance.]
THUD.
Even when I heard the unmistakable sound of him throwing her aside, I could not make myself look back in that direction.
“…….”
I could not hear her breathing.
Was she dead?
Was that really necessary?
Could he not simply have driven her away because he did not need her?
…No.
Had I ever genuinely believed something that naive in the first place?
At the very least, I had not expected him to do it immediately, right in front of me.
But why?
‘Is she really dead?’
She is an NPC.
One who revives together with me whenever I die and come back.
But she was too much like a real person to dismiss as merely a well-made NPC……
Still, after killing countless monsters until now, was I really going to be shocked because someone who had only been a hindrance died in front of me?
She was not even truly dead.
[I did not expect you to help me so quickly.]
Only then did I realize I had been biting my lip.
I finally opened my mouth.
“……Just tell me what you promised.”
I had something I wanted to hear, so rather than completely destroying him, I had focused more on preventing his attacks……
[Ha ha. You say that even though you know there is nothing I can do to you in this state.]
“If you die halfway through explaining, that counts as breaking your promise. So talk quickly.”
At my words, the creature chuckled and twisted his ruined face.
[That will not happen.]
A fair amount of time seemed to have passed, yet his voice still had plenty of strength behind it.
Surely he did not have some hidden Phase.
Or a Recovery Pattern.