05. The Cabin of Tragedy

◆ Synopsis of the previous chapter:

Did you think that I was gonna die? Too bad, it was my double instead!

◆ Warning:

The story this time will have depictions of gore.

For those who are weak against it, please scroll to the afterword after reading until the second separator.

◆ Because of things that were pointed out (16/12) PS:

Even though it’s not direct narrated, there are s.e.xual violence depicted in the story.

For those who are against these kind of things, please follow the abovementioned instructions and scroll to the afterword for confirmation before deciding if you would like to read it.

To be honest, it’s not a big deal, but just to be sure. By the way, there are no plans for further depiction in the story. For those who are vehemently against such topics, kindly skip the matter on this chapter.

◆ Specifically, if you can read [Boundary of Emptiness]’s [Ever cry, Never life]) with ease, then it shouldn’t be an issue… I think. But I forgot if there was such a scene in direct narration.

Chapter 5.

Now. I cannot be laying down forever.

The sounds of our battle should have travelled far, alerting monsters and students to our presence. I consider both of them my enemies.  I must take this chance to leave here immediately.

Dragging my tired body, I returned to the cave.

Loot was a magicked wooden spear. Additional information about [Monster Tamer].  And, the existence of a new comrade.

“From now on, your name is Rose. My best regards from now on.”

The humble Magical Puppet, Rose. Because Lily is lily, I decided to give our second companion the name of a flower.  The monster is s.e.xually neutral, or rather, as.e.xual. Giving it a woman’s name might not be good.  Well, the person itself doesn’t seem to mind, I will be only one to call it that anyways.  There isn’t really a problem.  

Note:  リリ is Lily phonetically, while 百合 is Lily, as in the flower. - sumguy/fb

I wasn’t feeling particularly well as expected from having going through two life-endangering events in a single day, I decided to spend the rest of the time in the cave. Since the total manpower have increased by two person, it’s possible to have one of them as a bodyguard.

For procuring food, I let Rose handle it.

I laid my tired body upon Lily whom I used as a sofa and, while I was dozing off, Rose returned. Rose is more agile than Lily but cannot use Magic.

A rat, a lizard, and a squirrel.

Due to the nature of a battle-axe type weapon, the small animals that Rose gathered, all of them had been squashed and cut in half, though anything that will fill my stomach is good by me. All of them, I roasted over the campfire.

To be frank, the taste isn’t good.

However, I can’t complain as it fills my belly.

Apparently there weren’t any large animals nearby.  Because there are monsters, they may have all been eaten.

Incidentally, while I was at the Colony, I heard that the difference between an animal and a monster, is the existence of magic. I can’t sense the presence or absence of magical power, but it seems I am able to use it.

The difference with magic is absolute. A normal bear that exceeds three meters length, cannot win against a 5 cm long monster rat, it’s like that.

Consequently, I believe large animals that only have size have increased difficulty surviving in this environment.

Also, this thing that’s known as Magical Power, dwells within one’s soul.

When fighting monsters, it’s possible to rob them of their magical power.  Monsters with large amount of magical power are strong, but the magical power to be gained also increases.

In fact, cheat ability users have been getting rapidly stronger by hunting monsters.  Eventually, others who had helped hunt the monsters, also got stronger, to the point where they started to talk about fending for themselves.  But before that could be realized, the colony was gone.  

What I want to say is, inside the forest are monsters, besides increasing my family there is also the ability to enhance our battle strength. Of course, being able to do it safely is another matter. Today was like walking a tightrope, I’ll pa.s.s on more.

“Alright.  Now then, I am going to sleep.”

After filling my stomach, I feel sleepy.  My strained mental state is begging for rest.  It’s a little early, but I’ll try to sleep.  With the presence of my companion, I can sleep in peace.      

＊＊＊

A few days pa.s.sed.

I continued to stay in the cave.

Life is stable.  I try not to remember the crisis, and focused on securing a food source.  I even started stockpiling jerky now, it’s a world of difference compared to the situation of a few days ago.

Lily wasn’t inside the cave. I had asked her to investigate the surrounding area.

Rose stayed behind, because I had other things for her to do..

“Yes.  This came out well.”

Rose respectfully presented the wooden s.h.i.+eld to me, which I receive, then inspect carefully.

It was heavy.  The wooden s.h.i.+eld I have in my hands, it’s larger than even the one Rose has equipped, it’s big enough to cover half of my body.  Because it’s made of wood, I can carry it reasonably well with just my strength, yet it also has the strength of iron, this sort of magic should be considered foul play.

It’s a little difficult to manage due to its size, but I would be doomed anyways with my sense for combat when we enter battle. That I can just use it as a wall to protect myself, it’s enough.

This was newly created by Rose, it was a protective gear to keep me safe.

Magical Puppets have the [Tool Creation Ability].

Of course, Rose who had joined my Family also had this power.  All the tools she makes will have magic imbued in them.

She had excitedly cut down trees with her battle axe, then used a knife to skillfully process the wood.

Protection for my chest and lower body have already been created. Although I think it’s too similar to my school uniform, this isn’t the time for fas.h.i.+on.

There was the spear that I looted from the Magical Puppet that I defeated for weapon.  But, I will not wield it.  It’s better to stay out of combat.

“Thank you. Please, continue making armour for me.”

Responding to my words of thanks, Rose returned happy thoughts, bowing her head.

Note:  Like Lily, they can’t communicate, but have a telepathic link through their magical pathways. - sumguy / fb  　

By the way, Rose has nothing but her sword and a s.h.i.+eld equipped. The gear made from now on will be given to Rose to use.

As I was doing this, Lily returned, but her appearance was different.

“Welcome back, Lily.”

Lily, who had entered my view, looked the same as Rose. She had become a Magical Puppet.

This is Lily’s mimic slime ability.

In fact, I had Lily ate the corpse of the defeated Magical Puppet.  By doing so, it became possible for Lily to take the form of a Magical Puppet through the mimicry ability.  She can still use magic in this form, so our combat strength has increased.

Unfortunately, her weapons and armour creation ability is inferior to that of the original, so I asked her to explore the area.  Well, I wouldn’t dare to take away the job that Rose has been doing.

“Hm.”

Through the magical path, there’s a feeling as though Lily want to tell me something.

“What happened, Lily?  Did you discover something?”

An affirmation came immediately.

By the way, I can exchange thoughts through a magical pathway, feelings can be transmitted,  the intent can be vaguely understood, though it does not have the amount of information conveyed through a conversation.

Therefore, this can’t be called a good means of communication.  In this regard, measures have to be taken.

“Got it, let’s go.  Rose, get ready.”

We left the cave fully equipped.

I wonder what this is about.

　　　＊＊＊

After leaving the cave for the first time in a while, we walked for around 1 hour, being guided to someplace by Lily.

There, from the same school as me, I saw the figure of a student from another world.

I told Lily previously, if you see any students, reporting it would be top priority.

Lily properly did her duty.

As a result, since the collapse of colony from a few days ago, I was able to find a student aside from myself for the first time.

But, it was a corpse.

A girl that I was once acquainted with, had died all alone in the forest.

The fact that an acquaintance was dead, it made it hard to swallow, I bit down hard on my lower lip.

She had a young appearance, but you can ask anyone and they would agree Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho is beautiful.  Her blonde-dyed hair went through a bra.s.s hair band, and reached her shoulders.

Her corpse hasn’t been eaten by monsters yet. From speculation, it hasn’t been much time since she died. Additionally, the cause of death wasn’t a monster killing her.

The uniform she was wearing was tattered and ripped.

If you look closely, examining the body, there was evidence that she was s.e.xually a.s.saulted.

In despair, she might have rammed a hidden knife into her throat. It was there held tightly in her stiff hand, even now she grasped the knife.

It’s possible, that she chose death in order to protect her dignity, and then someone ended up committing necrophilia.  In either case, it’s horrendous.

Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho’s beautiful face, was frozen in clear despair.

This may have happened because she, who is a second year like me, was ranked 5th in the school’s top beauties.

―Thanks, guys are after all reliable for physical work. In regards to Majima-kun, because you were earnest, I survived.

(t/n He’s recalling a conversation with Miho that he had.-berserkknight)

―Not to gloss over it or anything, but it’s just a trivial matter.

―Hmm? That might be. To me though, I don’t think that way.

Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho belonged to the Stay Behind group in the colony, since she didn’t have a cheat ability. I only talked to her once, and that was while working on the colony’s construction.

She had remembered me, the name of an inconspicuous male student, I remember that I was surprised.  I remember her bright smile.

Until a few days ago, she was surely laughing.

“Lily.”

I order her in an emotionless voice.

“Eat her.”

Lily immediately reacted to my order.

She changed from the Magical Puppet form back to large body of a slime, then covered the girl’s defiled body with her semi-liquid body.

Inside the transparent body, Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho’s existence miserably melts away, I watched this intently.

“…”

The white of the eyes, the red of the internal organs, the yellow of the fat, the white of the bones, and all the other grotesque miscellaneous things, they are things I must remember.

It took time, but Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho’s body was completely digested.

By the time I noticed, the sun had set

The setting sun can’t be seen from inside the forest. However, the sky was dyed red, with a blackness mixed with the red creating a creepy shade, everywhere I could see was shrouded like this.

With that background, was the pure white of a young girl’s naked body.

Ironically, her limbs were beautiful. There wasn’t a speck of defilement from when she was alive.

The word rebirth came to mind.

I erased that thought. This is not the case.

It’s not something like that.

“Acquisition complete, master.”

I heard Lily’s voice for the first time, of course, it’s exactly the same as Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho’s.

The way of speaking, in all likelihood, probably got carried over from Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho.  It’s almost identical to how I remember.

It is different though, in that she refers to me as master.

Because of this, there is a hopeless gap in difference that cannot be filled.

This is a fact of course. She is not Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho. She is a monster wearing the skin of another.

And, I’m sure I’m one as well, a monster wearing human skin.  Otherwise, how can I do something this cruel without hesitation.

―So I decided to use Miho Mizas.h.i.+ma’s corpse.

I let Lily mimic her.

It’s a horrible conduct, I’m aware that it’s unforgivable.

However, since I decided to live in this world, I am prepared to do whatever is appropriate in order to do so.

It’s also my responsibility to look after Lily and Rose that are accompanying me.

This was the best course of action, though as a human it is the worst thing to do.

Although I felt nauseated, I swallowed it down, I did what I had to…..

“Did you understand the specs of the body?”.

“Specs?”.

“Inside the body, it should have a special power”.

Well, even the original person didn’t know what her power was.  It’s no wonder that it will take time for the mimicker to know what it is.

At the worst, it’s possible that my guess is wrong.

“It’s fine if you don’t know”

Because just by being able to form a human shape, that in itself is useful.

The problem is combat capability, Lily is able to use her abilities even in the form of another monster. For example, in her Magical Puppet form she is still able to use her magic. To be precise, Lily is mimicking, and is able to separate the “form” and “skills” of the original for her own use.

Of course, she is also limited by her “form.” For example, in her Magical Puppet form, the original predation ability of her slime form cannot be used to it’s full potential.

“I think it will do for what master needs.”

“Then it’s good.”

I turned around. I didn’t particularly want to stay here.

However Lily’s voice rang from my back.

“Master, I must tell you something else.”

“What?”

“There are other humans, similar to master and this girl, nearby. It’s probable, that they killed this girl―rather, they were the ones that caused this girl die.”

I suddenly stop.

I turn back and ask.

“Is this true? How do you know?”

“Well, I, they are in this girl’s memories.”

These words she casually said, blew my mind.

“It... Is this true?”

“Yea. Ahhh no. It might be different in the details. This is, yes, they were recorded? The things that I remember are in a sense, the same.”

“Ah. So you can talk in the same tone as Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho.”

Lily’s ability as a slime to Mimic, it may have tremendous capabilities if used thoughtfully.

Of course, Lily’s ability to create tools did not compare to Rose’s, as there is some deficiency or degradation to some extent, it appears she still absorbed the majority of Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho.

Complete mimicry, would be equivalent to near total seizure of the other’s existence.

I feel light-headed, thinking this is impossible.

I, I may have done some something worse that I thought, to Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho.

“What will you do, Master?”

Lily who has taken the form of Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho asks this, while lavishly exposing her beautiful figure to a backdrop of the red-black sky.

“That’s right.”

The information she told me is important information, now that I think of it, rather than worry, there are other things I need to do.

The despicable absolute worst people who killed Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho.

That they did all these things to her, that they are still alive, this seems to me to be unforgivable.

“I have decided.”

I answered in a tone full of anger.

“I won’t ignore this responsibility.”

I will kill the person that killed Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho.

Such a thing as revenge, it doesn’t carry this type of meaning.

Originally, we weren’t on familiar terms. My feelings towards this are somewhere like, I feel pity for her, and ill will and resentment towards her a.s.sailants.

Thus, yes, this can simply be called me taking responsibility.

The people that defiled the girl Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho, I am the same as them.

　　　＊＊＊

We are heading toward a location not far from where Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho had died.

“…What?”

Inside this demons infested forest, stood a lone cabin.

This is obviously strange.  Why, is there a cabin here?  Why haven’t it been destroyed by demons?  To begin with, there should have been something that’s interfere during its construction.

With suspicion, I head toward the cabin.  Then, Lily and Rose suddenly stopped and stood still.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t get any closer.”

According to Lily, there’s apparently a mechanism that’s repelling them from the cabin.

Whether I want to or not, I headed toward the cabin alone.  Since monsters can’t get close, there shouldn’t be any problem.

From inside the cabin, I can heard a boy laughing, and the scream of a girl.  Both of them sounded young,  Similar to me, they might be students from a parallel world.

There seems to be more.

“So it wasn’t just Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho.”

For some reason, my heart wasn’t moved.

Just, it was the same feeling as if the number of dogs was increasing.

Ah, in other words, I didn’t think of them as human.

I may be an unfeeling monster that doesn’t care for anyone else, but those people are only sub-human brutes. I’m relieved. I’m relieved from the bottom of my heart..

Like this, I don’t need to hesitate to kill them

I investigated the place Lily said beforehand  “she feels extremely disgusted by.”  ...but, even though we have a link between us, and it has its uses, in the end being able to converse is better. The detail of information is in another league.

Looking around, I found a beautiful transparent stone on the ground. Sophisticated characters or something like that were written on it. Judging by that, this might be a magical item. It adds up if you think the original owner of the cabin made it.

This plainly suggests some important facts.

In this world, there are humans other than us aliens.

Come to think of it, the primary Expedition Unit, they may have also found these “traces of humans,” and it’s possible that they changed to their mission to finding an inhabited settlement in the forest.

The humans of this world, they have knowledge unknown to us, and created a trick to repel monsters. It’s magnificent. Unfortunately,  I don’t have the understanding to know the true value or the workings behind it.

“And done.”

Precisely because I don’t understand it, I can break it without hesitation.

It might be that it’s extremely valuable, but it’s merely something that’s in the way. More so I’ll be accompanied by monsters from on anyways, so I can’t use it. I don’t understand how it works. I felt no regrets for breaking it.

Now then, the fate of the men in the cabin has been decided.

They already, lost the things they should have clung to to this monster-infested world.

Thus, I don’t need to intentionally lift a hand here

There’s no need, to leave it to the hands of others to end things here, that would be irresponsible.

“Kill all of them except the one they are attacking.”

My order to Lily and Rose came, I felt no anguish about it.

Honestly wanted to blow the cabin up with magic, but there was a person being attacked inside, so that wasn’t an option. I hate humans. But, that person hasn’t done anything bad yet, rather there’s no way I can be like them and kill an innocent girl.

“Ah, Wait.”

I stepped in front of them to stop my companions.

“Tear off the arms and legs to stop them from moving, stop after that Lily. I don’t care if you do more.”

“Un? ...Un. I understand.”

TL Note : Un is like a nod/yes - Sarah

Doing such a thing may have no meaning.

I don’t even know if Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho wished for it.

But, this is the only thing, that for her that died that I can do.

　　　＊＊＊

When we entered the Cabin, the school boys within it had shocked faces. No wonder. She’s supposed to be dead.

By the way, in order to not shame Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho any further, I lent her my school uniform jacket. One arm has been torn off, but it is sufficient to hide the slender body of a girl.

“Do it.”

In response to my order, Rose began to run fiercely.

The boy that was a.s.saulting the girl was kicked as he turned around. Though the kick wasn’t particularly aimed at it, the school boy’s nuts were crushed.

The other school boys froze. They probably thought, that it was impossible for monsters to be in the cabin.

This was their paradise.

It’s a slaughterhouse now.

“I’m going.”

Lily thrusts, wielding the spear I pa.s.sed to her..

“HigyAAAA!”

The school boys couldn’t even react, toppling as their hands and feet were cut off. Their blood spurting like geysers, a scene from h.e.l.l was created.

I proceeded into the cabin where blood was spraying everywhere, and take off my s.h.i.+rt, and place it over the naked body of the girl.

The school girl appears to be younger than me. Her face has beautiful features, though it’s currently soiled. She also seems to be wasting away.

“You are…”

“Relax. I have no intention of hurting you.”

She looked up and looked at my eyes. There’s an odd color, I saw a strangeness in her eyes.

But, before I could understand the meaning, she lost consciousness. She probably hit her limit in various ways.

While I untied her arms which were bound behind her, one schoolboy, two schoolboys were stabbed by Lily.

One of them began begging for his sorry a.s.s. A suitable end to a villain.

“It hurts, it hurts. Wha- what is this… ...what is this, you’re alive! AHHHHH… su!”

The last standing guy was screaming.

It didn’t bother Lily, she raised the spear I lent her. There hasn’t been any resistance so far. It’s natural. These guys are a bunch of minor villains that can only bully the weak.

”Wait Lily. I want to hear what he has to say.”

Lily stopped her hand. When I received the spear back from her, I grasped by the bangs, the head of the male student.

“It hurts. Help me. I’m begging ya man. AHH. It hurts. It huuurrttsss!”

“Answer me if you want help.”

Though the school boy looked pitiful, I didn’t care.

“Are there only three of you? Do you have any other companions?”

“There aren’t. It was, just us three. …AHHH, it hurts. It hurrrtttsss!”

He doesn’t seem to have anymore companions. Well it’s fine. At least it wasn’t the worst case scenario, that they had a comrade with a cheat ability, seems like it was a pointless concern.

“It hurts man. I, I answered, you said you’d help me man.”

“That’s right.”

The schoolboy looked up at me and I looked into his eyes and nodded, then placed the spearhead on his throat and pierced it.

I heard him scream and garble, *guba, toka, ge-gya*

“Well, suffer as much as possible.”

The student’s eyes opened wide, as if he couldn’t believe what just happened. After watching his expression of despair, I slowly pulled out the spearhead.

The light disappeared from the schoolboy’s eyes.

This was the first time I’ve murdered.

Since the transfer to this world, I thought this day might someday come.

It’s finished, it was rather disappointing.

But, even with all this finished things are still in a terrible state.

I sighed.

“Clean up these corpses Lily. It’s fine if you leave them in the forest.”

“Is it alright for me not eat them?”

“...These guys remains are giving me a disgusting feeling. It’s OK not to.”

These guys are cheat ability users. Even if they didn’t know their own power, even until their last moment, it would be strong.

If Lily eats their corpse she can obtain their power.

However, this might be a betrayal to Miho.

She who was taken into Lily would be with those guys. I would feel bad. Lily might be defiled.

If absorbed, parts of them will be incorporated, and there is concern Lily will be affected by this. Considering the use of the skill “record,” their personality and memories, they will be stored in Lily as a separate ent.i.ty. Still, I am concerned. It necessary to negate these concerns.

“Look after this girl Rose. Clean her body and lay her in the bed.”

“What will Master do?”

“I will… do something about this devastation.”

The inside of the cabin is b.l.o.o.d.y. Thinking of the a.s.saulted girl whose name I don’t know, for her sake I should clean the place. Just  my opinion, but I wouldn’t want to sleep in this place.

This was a blood stained place, a place of tragedy.

“…”

I held my head, I unexpectedly have a dull headache.

I felt that they were watching me, the hollow eyes of the dead schoolboys.

Of course, this is just an illusion.

Because my heart is weak I see it, a phantom.

...No wait. I have weakened.

“Are you alright Master?”

“…I’m fine”

I must be OK. I can not afford to collapse in a place like this.

Then, with Lily and Rose following me, using the body of Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho, I a.s.sumed the responsibility of slaughtering those schoolboys.

If I couldn’t do it, it would have been better to have ended in that cave.

“I’m alright.”

I immerse myself in the work of cleaning up the bloodstained cabin.

It’s like i’m trying to run away from something, I notice.

◆ Thank you for reading this far.

◆ I don’t know where’s the delicate line of how much gore depiction is acceptable. But when I look at [Re: Zero] and [The Nameless Monster], I think that it’s scary how far you can go with it.

Stop. That’s a th.o.r.n.y path!

◆ For the sake of those who skipped, the (perfectly serious) summary of the chapter:

Arriving at the place after following Lily’s instructions, they found the body of a girl.

It was a girl who committed suicide after being s.e.xually a.s.saulted: Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho, and the MC let Lily eat her.

Using her mimicry ability, Lily took the form of Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho and informed him that the boys that caused her death were at a certain cabin.

There was something like a barrier against monsters around the cabin, after destroying it, the MC ma.s.sacred the defenseless boys, discovered a girl who had been similarly ravaged like Mizus.h.i.+ma Miho, under his protection.