Episode 70
"At eath!"
"..."
"A-ten-shun!"
At the child's slurred commands, Ballakk moved sluggishly, making a half-hearted show of obeying.
Retribution followed imdiately.
"Smackie!"
"Aaaaaah!"
As if the 'Owner of the Thorn Crown' had activated its power, Ballakk scread and clutched his head.
"I did what you said! You damn brat...!"
"Quiet! Pwostwate!"
Whether the power of the restraint was truly that great, Ballakk, despite muttering curses like "dammit," and "fuck it," quickly prostrated himself.
The sight of the large Ballakk and the small Ballakk lying prostrate side-by-side in front of the tiny child, who didn't even reach their waists, was quite a spectacle.
"Pwitty pink unni! I'm here!"
I had such a hard ti dealing with the puppet...
Lucy, who had subdued Ballakk so easily, ran over to , flapping her arms.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
I hurriedly checked the young elf.
Lucy had done better than expected, but she wasn't my niece, so it would be troubleso if she were hurt in the slightest.
"Nuh-uh!"
Fortunately, she seed fine, smiling brightly and speaking clearly.
"Unni told to wear this, so I wore it. But the sa one ca out. So I put it on Ballakk-kku!"
It seed to an that when she put on the 'Owner of the Thorn Crown' she'd taken from Ballakk, another restraint device appeared, so she put it on him.
She must have taken after her uncle; her ability to imdiately grasp the nature of a stolen item was extraordinary.
"Good job."
It was as I was stroking her soft blonde hair.
"Lucy!"
Soone shouted loudly from the left.
I whipped my head around, and Elaine was approaching, leading a group of elves.
"Huh? Mommy!"
Lucy imdiately ran, flapping, in that direction.
Elaine, who was at the front, spread his arms wide to hug his niece, but Lucy ran right past him and threw herself into her mother's arms.
Elaine walked over to dejectedly.
"All the slaves escaped successfully, Apothe... Ugh!"
He, who had shaken off his dejection and was trying to report the escape to with a bright face, was unfortunately stepped on by .
"Ah, why...!"
Elaine clutched his foot, trying to protest with a deeply wronged expression.
I felt a little bad, wondering if today was just his day to suffer.
But it couldn't be helped.
I motioned with my eyes to Kassel, who was standing behind , and mouthed.
'Master.'
Since he was quick on the uptake, Elaine imdiately changed his form of address.
"...I'm back, Master-noona."
"...You worked hard."
I offered my own simple consolation, but he couldn't hide his pout for a while.
Just as I was thinking I needed to get back to the hotel, give him so reward, and appease him before he lost his mind and went crazy.
"By the way, that person..."
Elaine suddenly pointed at Kassel behind and tilted his head.
"Why?"
"That person suddenly appeared and took care of all the organization mbers, so I was able to get almost all the slaves out."
"Really? That's a relief."
I already knew this from my earlier conversation with Kassel, so I answered indifferently.
I knew Kassel hadn't stepped up to help the slaves, so I didn't feel particularly grateful.
For so reason, Elaine seed to have noticed that fact as well.
He, who had been glancing at Kassel with a strange expression, finally confessed with a dark face why he had brought his brethren.
"But my blood brethren couldn't escape because of the restraints..."
"You can take them off now. Lucy took the laurel crown from Ballakk."
"Really?"
At those words, the elves, including Elaine, opened their eyes wide.
Then they began to take the restraints off each other's heads.
"It-It's true!"
"Finally...!"
"We're free too!"
Among the elves who were hugging each other and rejoicing, a green-haired woman who looked a lot like Elaine approached .
"Unni!"
Lucy, who was in the woman's arms, waved her hands, acknowledging .
"I don't know which noble family you are from, but I heard a rough explanation from Elaine. You helped our Lucy and Elaine, and saved all of us..."
"Ah, well..."
"Thank you so much, Young Lady."
"Thank you!"
"Thank you, Young Lady!"
I wasn't even a noble, but being called 'Young Lady' felt embarrassing.
I smiled awkwardly and passed the credit, just as I had been doing.
"It's nothing I did. We were able to resolve this because that person over there helped."
When I pointed to Kassel behind , the elves sward over to him and expressed their gratitude.
[The Lord of Nightmares regards you with a certain level of suspicion.]
The bastard stared at , his eyes narrowed, as if asking what kind of bullshit this was.
I nonchalantly avoided his gaze.
'This is just giving an extra rice cake to the one I hate, you bastard.'
Right before his reinstatent, if he built up the achievent of wiping out a troubleso criminal organization and saving all the slaves, wouldn't things go much more smoothly for him?
Besides, it was a good opportunity to instill a favorable impression of Kassel in Elaine.
Just like how I had passed all the credit I'd earned in Hailey to get Adam and Kassel to beco friends.
But unlike his brethren, Elaine just stood there blankly, stuck right next to , showing no intention of going to Kassel.
I asked, puzzled.
"Aren't you going to go thank him?"
"What did that person even do?"
"You just said with your own mouth that you were able to free the slaves because that man took care of the organization mbers."
"He was probably just acting in his own self-interest."
Elaine sneered, to my surprise, and assessed Kassel rcilessly.
"It's obvious with high nobles like him. Do you think they see slaves like us as fellow humans?"
"...That's true."
I barely swallowed the words, "He's the type of guy who doesn't treat anyone but himself as human," and nodded.
"Today's hero is Lucy."
At my words, Elaine suddenly squinted one eye.
"Noona... you're really weird."
"You're weirder."
"Wow."
[Elaine Griselda doubts your ntal age.]
[Elaine Griselda develops a certain level of favorability toward you.]
Just looking at the bipolar system windows, I had no idea who was calling whom weird.
I was so dumbfounded that I ignored him and walked past.
Elaine trotted after .
I stopped in front of the Ballakks, who were still prostrate, as Lucy hadn't given the command to get up.
"What do we do with this guy now?"
"Can you kill him?"
I thought for a mont, then nodded silently.
Killing Puppet Ballakk was surprisingly simple.
If you kill the main body, the connected spirit is severed, and the puppet dies with it.
There was also a way to kill just the puppet while leaving the main body, Ballakk, alive.
Although it would require a lot of health, it wasn't impossible for , an NPC who doesn't die.
I quietly explained the two thods to Elaine.
He seed to ponder for a mont, then opened his mouth and answered.
"I wish I could tear him to shreds right now..."
"..."
"But I can't let him die that easily."
Elaine added, staring fixedly at the back of the prostrate Ballakk's head with dark, sunken eyes.
"He needs to die a more wretched and miserable death."
"Dat's wight!"
It was then. Lucy leaped from her mother's arms, ran over with dodo-dodo steps, and shouted.
"Ballakk-kku killed gwandma. And wots and wots of elfs and slaves. He has to pay fow his sins!"
She had clearly picked up a lot of words from sowhere. After finishing her piece, she held sothing out to Elaine.
"This is fow Samjjon."
In her hand was none other than Beliser's Eye.
"This is Samjjon's pwesent!"
Lucy then pointed to the top of her own head.
Whether she knew it was dangerous to take off the laurel crown even for a mont, she was praiseworthy beyond words.
Elaine didn't accept it, just looked at with wavering eyes.
"What are you doing? It's a present."
"But... do I deserve this?"
He hesitated, then added in an unconfident tone.
"This was all because you, Apothe... no. Because you, Master-noona, told to do it."
"What are you talking about? You saved Lucy and freed the other slaves. Technically, you're the leader of the elves now."
"But, noona..."
"For your information, I'm strong, so I don't need stuff like that. But if you're thinking of using that restraint on , I'll destroy it right now."
I added, glaring at him.
This was why I had told Elaine to bring the laurel crown to , instead of telling him to wear it like I did with Lucy.
Just in case this psycho bastard tried to put the restraint on .
I was an NPC, so it was highly likely the item's domination effect wouldn't even work on .
However, Elaine's life would be in danger for trying such a thing.
"You definitely said you couldn't use magic... anyway, you're weird."
Elaine, who had been staring at with an unreadable expression, grumbled as if to himself.
Then, he accepted the items from Lucy.
My conscience pricked, rembering I'd feigned ignorance and told him I hadn't used magic before, so I desperately avoided his gaze.
Elaine, wearing the laurel crown, imdiately opened his mouth.
"Die."
"Uwaaaaak!"
As if testing out a newly decided activation word, Ballakk, who had been holding his breath, scread and grabbed his head at Elaine's low mutter.
He must have been in extre pain, as he shed copious tears and thrashed, even throwing away the doll he had been clutching.
Tadak, tadadak.
Thanks to that, the puppet doll rolled to my feet.
[Lv.200 Soul-Reflecting Cursed Doll]
Originally, Ballakk, who was a ager magic apprentice, discovered this doll by chance when he followed his master to attack a black magic base that worshipped demons.
Unable to handle the doll with his own power, he killed his master and friends, drank their blood, and poured the siphoned mana into the doll to create his puppet.
From then on, he began to walk the path of darkness in earnest, eventually rising to beco the leader of the Dark Society.
This was the background, revealed in a few lines after defeating Ballakk, that was hidden here.
'If he keeps this, the elves will be in danger. It will keep demanding mana from its wielder...'
I looked at the item, which looked like an ordinary puppet but exuded an ominous aura, then looked back at Elaine and said.
"Instead, I'll hold onto this."
"The doll?"
"Yes, it's a dangerous item."
I bent down and picked up the doll without hesitation.
"Ah, no... please, just not my doll...!"
That bastard Ballakk took advantage of the pause in his pain to plead with .
Ignoring him completely, I grabbed the doll and the control bar, and used my strength to snap the connecting strings.
Ududuk!
At that mont.
"Ugh."
The power of black magic, strengthened by being layered over a long ti, poured out from the broken strings and washed over .
'HP -768'
HP 192
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