『Money, what decides the value of people is how much money they have, only that.』
Once I understood what was going on, I noticed that this was the thing my father told me the most.
I don't remember him saying one kind thing to me. However, that was enough as is. It was because my father was right in this thinking.
I bought the toys I wanted with money.
I crushed my enemies with money.
I got the beautiful woman I desired with money.
Yes, money could buy anything.
There was nothing you couldn't get with money.
『But there are things you can't get with money!』some would try to argue.
However, after being driven down with debt, and then chasing them for it after a while, they soon are crushed.
Then, in their final cries, they ask you for more money.
「P, please! Let me borrow some more! If I don't get some, I can't buy any drugs!」
Their deep-dug eyes in hollow, skinny cheeks, their body red and face an ugly color.
They have less value than the standard blacksmith you see in every town.
「Hah hah hah hah hah!! What, where is your 『But there are things you can't get with money!』phrase you clung to so tightly a while ago, hmm? 」
「T, there's really nothing like that! I already sold my wife and daughter! Please, I'm begging you! I need the drugs!」
He fell to his knees, and threw his face and pride down the dirt with his head down.
「Heh heh heh, hah hah hah hah hah!」
This guy yelling about love or whatever to me sold his wife and daughter as slaves as he got hooked on alcohol and drugs and now look at him.
I stepped on the top of the worthless man and then gave him my decision.
「Who the hell would lend money to trash like you?」
「Gyaa?」
「We'll sell you to a slave trader, then maybe I'll get something!」
I kicked the man's face, and then turned back and sat in my chair.
He kept screaming until the last, but my employees finally got him out of the room.
「Sell him to a slaver! I don't need him anymore.」
「As you wish.」
I told Fegner to pay off the wife and daughter's slavery.
If you let someone fool around with others' lives like that there's nothing that can be done anymore.
「Heh heh heh, it is all about money. Money does everything.」
Even if there's not enough money, there's nothing money can't buy.
Then, my father died, and I became head of this company.
I stacked, and stacked, and stacked up the money, because I wanted to stack the highest tower of money possible.
In this world, whoever stacks the highest amount of money is the winner.
That's what I was born for.
That's why, hero, you are my enemy.
Your knowledge came handy. However, your existence itself was hurting my beliefs.
Wanting to go back, back, back, I always think, looking down on this world, making me a fool.
Not obsessed with this world nor with its wealth.
It was a reality that all the power I collected would come to nothing. Just like the meaningless trash, not even fit to look at.
Insensitivitely not noticing even my anger at those actions.
An arrogance different than even the strong, a will that lets you be separate from this world's money.
My heart was made to throw up the bitter mud over and over.
…Your disgusting desires, making me throw them up over and over.
Chasing me down again and again, mocking the power of money making me feel humiliated.
......…..
.......
...…
Then, the day that I had saved for and long awaited came.
Finally the day of that scene arrived.
『Nda…what is this?! WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!?!?』
「Heh heh heh, hah hah hah hah hah hah!! Disgraceful, right? Hero! Thinking those pieces of trash important!? hah hah hah hah!!」
That pained scream of the hero sounded great in my ears.
I raised my voice in return while hitting my desk.
「Master Grond, that's not good behavior.」
「As if I could watch this without laughing, Fegner, look, he's a complete disgrace!」
We both watched the scene on a magic tool that an employee was holding.
「Heh heh heh, I wonder how he feels? hero, you were attacked by those completely changed children. Too bad for you.」
It felt so good it was unbearable.
Show me more of your despair, hero!
「Yes, good! This is too much pleasure!」
Finally, those employees of mine were killed by the hero, and at the same moment the image on the screen disappeared.
「You're the one wrong here, hero. Heh heh heh, hah hah hah hah hah hah!!」
It all went as planned.
I didn't want for all those little pieces of filth to be killed, but that image alone was enough.
No matter what, now the hero would rot away.
It's true that he had great powers, different from the demon lord, but it wasn't the strength of just one man.
Even more, that crazy hate the queen had for the hero meant that soon he would be dead.
「Well, from now it's not the hero but the demon lord. Time for something nice to drink, hah hah hah hah hah hah!!」
The laugh from the bottom of my heart felt ravishingly good.
That puffed up hero, mocking my power of money.
It was so good I couldn't take it.
Just like that, that whitish-ash covered memory replayed inside of me.
I know. This memory was no fake.
No, maybe it was fake, but it was strange not to think so, when your heart becomes unnecessarily stressed things get ambiguous.
Then, that guy that laughed crazily over and over and over and over, almost as if horrified, was looking down, laughing at me.
「I want to see you dance on my stage here! So let's dance, dance, dance dancedancedance!
—and in the depths of your despair, you will go crazy and die.」
…it was the figure of that very same hero.
☆
「Stop laughing! Don't laugh! Bastard, what are you trying to pull?! What memory is this?」
「Shut up, fatty.」
「Gwahh!?」
「You look disgusting, Grond.」
After kicking him over, he rolled over in a clumsy way.
His body was covered in sweat, and after tumbling through the woods like a crazy man he had mud and dirt all over him.
Today, in this place, I was going to make him feel pain ever so slowly.
His cheeks were sullen and his eyes were dug in just like he had some horrible disease.
He looked quite like the faces of those children in their final moments.
「Ah, ugh, you, you need to wipe that nasty smile off your face, you ass!」
「Don't you chirp at me, this is how you should look, you fool!」
「Shut upshut upshutup, Answer me you bastard! What was that memory, what is all this?!
And I'm telling you to cut it out with that smile of yours!」
He lifted his pained face at me, and with his eyes rolled back until he could see me.
A cold wind rushed through the shrubs the same time he shouted at me, and then there was a silence almost like no human was there, waiting for me to speak.
「…revenge.」
Then, the hero whispered his response.
「…revenge?」
「Correct. You don't need to know how or why. Just this, this place, with be a continuous rotting hell for you.」
Yes, this place, dark, cold, bitter, hot, a place covered in blood.
The wounds you caused here haven't been healed, the children's blood here still flows.
「Hah hah hah, revenge?! You're making a big mistake, that was all because of your cowardice! You were the one that said 『Use your profits for the children.』so I just did what you told me to do, right?!」
Grond shouted at me without a trace of guilt in his voice.
I simply listened to what he said. I simply zipped my lip and kept my disgust to myself, and let him rattle on until my ear felt it was about to fall off.
「It's because of your disdain for money that all this happened! Money is power, the power of money can overcome anyone, and since those orphans had no money anyway, that's why they ended up like that!」
「…」
「Money decides value for people, it's used for peace, right? Used to raise orphans, even? Who just throws their money away on orphans like I did, anyway? That's why they ended up like that, throwing money around on trash like that, you're the one that's guilty!」
「…」
「You're the bad one here, ONLY YOU! All the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, even though you have the means to make money, you had no interest nor any sign of it! I want to go back, want to go back, you say, as if the money here means nothing! What the hell?! Money is blood! Money is life!」
Glare, the fallen Grond was speaking as he looked up at me.
「…yeah, I know, just as you can't understand me, I can't understand the way you think…for all our lives.」
That's why, to that screaming Grond, I told him how it was.
「It's just as you said, Grond. All that dirty money you gather, it has no value to me. However, just relax Grond. If you don't, well, if you don't, that's bad.」
Good, it seems he was a bit unrelaxed.
That money you cling onto, that you obsess over, if you didn't do so the way you do, you'd have already lost hope completely.
That's why your special show starts now.
I'm going to make you fall into the abyss of despair.
「Okay, this is your final stage, Grond!」
「Guwaaah! Let go of me!」
I pulled on Grond's thinning hair and dragged him, right to the edge of this pit with raging fires around.
Grond was the target of revenge, and I, only the facilitator.
Since he wasn't a seasoned warrior, he didn't have the power to resist me.
「Agh, ugh」
I let go of him right in front of the hole.
There Minnalis and Shuria were waiting with their cold smiles.
「Who the hell are you?」
「Us? Our master's accomplices?」
「Hey, you shouldn't pay that much attention to us anyway. We'll play a role every once in a while though.」
「Right, we've already prepared everything below. After this, you can have all the fun that you want.」
「What are you talking about? …I see, you bastards, you all set me up for this!」
「Heh? Now you get it? A little too late to notice now!」
「…you, I'll have all you killed! You aaaaaaaaassholes! I'll make you just like those kids! Gah!」
「Hey, Grond, what did you say?」
His thoughts moved a little quicker than his judgement, and he quickly cut off what he was saying, but a bit too late.
Without thinking, I stomped on Grond's back again.
「Hey, what did you say you'd do to my accomplices again? Huh?」
「Guwaaaaahhh!!」
「Stop fooling around, Grond. I'm not going to let you or any of your guys touch anything of mine again. So just relax, and…」
「Master, please calm down, we were hoping to enjoy ourselves here.」
「If you keep doing that he'll die. It all have been a waste.」
They grabbed my arm, and I came to my senses.
Then, I slowly pulled back the leg I had stomped him with.
「…ah…sorry.」
「Gah…cough, cough」
I had kicked Grond over and over again, and Grond now spat blood from his mouth.
His ribs had been broken and it damaged his organs, I bet.
I thought I could let myself go a little bit, but if I kept on like this he'd soon be dead.
(…Geez, I really got to control myself.)
I took a deep breath at my own stupidity and took out the [Verdant Green Crystal Sword]and healed him.
「Ugh…ughhh…」
「Hey, don't fall asleep! You think I'm going to let you?」
「ugh, ahahh!」
He was about to pass out, so I threw water in his face.
「Okay, let's get started. This hole is your grave.」
I pulled off his shoes and picked him up by his throat.
「Aggh, guwaaahh!」
I used the 『Sky Walk』 to float him in the air, then he fell into the hole surrounded by burning fire and decorated by greenery.
There were two levels to the holes depth.
10 feet deep into the hole with fire and smoke rising all around was a square with the middle having five footholds, and then another 20 feet deep dug inside of that.
The bottom of the deeper hole was filled with water and there was a thinly constructed coarse iron grid fixed in one of the footholds there.
Grond fell on the middle foothold of the hole.
When he fell there was no injury, as I had used the 『Sky Step』 to drop him there.
Thinking about what came after made my legs quiver in excitement.
「agh…ugh, what, what are you going to do?」
Because of the fire all around him, the place was filled with a vicious heat.
「What, just a little game.」
「Wha?! Agh!」
As I said that, I dumped all the money he had brought into the watery hole.
「Agh!?」
Copper, Silver, Gold.
It all shimmered like a waterfall as thousands of large and small currency fell like an avalanche into the water hole.
「S…stop!!」
「Come on, this is your important money! You scrambled to get all you could, right?」
The sound of metal grinding echoed, as the metal grid now began to sink into the water.
As the loud sound ceased, the reflection from the fires struck the currency on the surface of the water and made it shimmer.
It was a scene that must have made Grond's heart jolt.
However, the fun had only yet begun.
「You, you bastard…no better than a worm…」
「I told you right? You're going to dance for me.」
Finally, the first part of this scene was over.
It must have been like a dream for him.
He probably had some hope now among all this despair.
That's why, from now, I had to teach him what true despair meant.
「Come here.」
I floated to the ring around the hole.
Then came the properly seated Minnalis, and the cross-legged Shuria from the ground carrying a carpet with them.
In one place where the fire had stopped, we sat to watch the disheartened Grond.
I took out a water bottle from my bag and picked up the [Water Spirit's Droplet Blade].
I moved the stored water with the spirit blade, and made a water ball about two feet in diameter.
Then, I took another thing from my bag, a large leather bag with a special burned mark on the side.
「That, that's…」
「Hah hah hah! Even though you said you're only interested in money, you remember this mark, right?!」
Inside of the bag was a light blue colored drug.
It was the Ramune that the now crushed 『Slugs』used to make.
I loosened the bag, and poured all of the drug in the magical floating water ball.
It sloshed around the ball, and mixed in as a part of it.
The ball spun around in a beautiful blue color, as the flickering flame-light illuminated it.
「Hey Grond. This ramune, do you remember what the base ingredient for this is?」
I took one coin of gold out.
「The ingredient…? It's the 『Quick Growth Drug』or several, no way that…」
「Yes, you're right. It quickly raises your status, and then…」
Fwip, I tossed the gold coin into the middle of the water ball.
「…it's such a strong erosion agent that it grinds any metal to dust.」
Whuzzzzh, a sound just like water quickly hitting a hot plate, a shimmering gold showed green flickers and bubbled as it crumbled to dust.
「Well, with something this dense only half of it would turn all that currency in the water to dust!」
「What? You! Bastard!」
「Yes, yes, but I can't have you just insult me. Let's have some fun, okay?」
I shrugged my shoulders as if to mock him.
「Well, now the game begins. This water can fall right into the middle, or…」
「No! Stop! That's my money, right?!」
「Yes, that's your money. And I'll give you a chance. If you can drink up all this water, then I'll do nothing to your money. If you drink all of this up, you won't be able to prevent becoming addicted to this drug though, well, you won't die right away. You might live for a year or so…」
「What the?!」
「On the other hand, if I do toss this then you can watch it happen from where you stand. All the money you own will break and crumble before your very eyes. It would be ironic to see all of it eroded into green bubbles and light, and then seeing you despair and the death of 『Businessman Grond』, I would let you live in that despair until you die.」
「Agh, agghhhhh!」
「The game's ending is simple. Lose all your money, and turn into a low-life weakling, or suffer for a short time and keep all you money intact. Now the game starts, do your best, okay?!」
「?!」
「Okay, are you going to drink all this up?」
I made a quick smile, and then moved the ball to Grond so he could make the decision.
「Offngh, glup, glug.」
The water streamed quickly downwards with a splish and splash.
Grond unhesitatingly started to drink down the water. Of course, he couldn't do it all at once, so the water spilled down his clothes and produced smoke as it touched the metal pieces on his garments.
「glug, glug, gasp!」
「Oh, you're doing well! It must really hurt.」
The quick erosion of the metal on his garments burned Grond's skin.
「Aghh, ugghhhh!」
Grond must have realized all this. He soon tossed away his garments with metal decorating them.
「Aha hah hah, good job figuring things out.」
「He's quite the thirsty pig, master. It turns out this is a good show to dine to. Heh heh, it turns out this special tea is better than I thought!」
「It's really good, I'm glad this show comes with a meal.」
As they said that, the two ladies were enjoying the show and laughing happily.
After trying to drink most of the water, Grond stopped.
「ugah, pant, huff, you, bastards!」
Grond had only had a bit of the water to drink, maybe a coffee-cups worth.
From all the heat around him, the amount of sweat he generated was probably more water.
「Ahah hah hah, good good, that's the way to work! Okay, the tutorial is over.」
I felt my smile rise again as I told him that.
☆
『Lose all your money?』or『Die quickly with all your money left?』
Two unbelievable choices.
I didn't have time to reason with that damn hero, so I simply chose to drink all the water.
Maybe because of all the heat around me, I felt hot and lazy like I had a bad case of drunkenness.
The hero and the other two were seated outside the hole happily drinking tea and watching me.
Then the flow of water cut off.
(Idiots…with this water, if I keep drinking it, what will happen?)
There was the white silver hanging from my neck. It had the ability to dispel any poison.
Honestly, even after drinking all of that, the drug's effect of a mad happiness and sensitivity didn't occur.
(That's why you're weak, hero, if I can just survive, I'm going to regain all my power and crush you like a bug.)
The only problem left was after drinking all the water at once, was losing it all in this heat, so I had no idea what would happen.
「Ahah hah hah, good good, that's the way to work! Okay, the tutorial is over.」
「What, huh?!」
The flow of the water suddenly began again.
But this time it was different, the places it flowed from changed here and there.
「Hmph? Hmgn?」
「Are you ready to dance?!」
The voice of this damned hero, and the ball moving here and there, finally to the outside of the foothold, then,
…above the iron mesh that had been heated up by all the fires.
「Nghh, ngaahhhhhhh!!」
「Hah hah hah hah, come on, give it your best! Dancedancedance!! You have to do the best for your precious precious money before it turns to dust! Hah hah hah hah!」
Pwish, pwush, came the sound, as my feet felt intense pain.
(This is why he pulled my shoes off!)
It wasn't like being directly burned, as there was no direct heat, and it wouldn't have hurt like this if I had shoes on.
I didn't know the exact temperature, but it was hot enough for it to be hard to walk on with bare feet.
「Ugh, ggg, Gah, uughh!」
The sound of me trying to drink down the water quickly mixed with the sound of my moving feet being burned.
The physical pain that I was feeling wasn't protected by the white silver.
「Ugh!」
Finally the water flow moved to the next foothold. Then the water stopped again.
「Huff, pant, gah!」
「heh heh heh, you did well, we finished the first point! But no time to rest, right? Time for the third stage to begin!」
「W, wait, nugaah!」
And within the less than 10 seconds I was given to rest, the water flowed to a different foothold again.
I stepped on the mesh and without preparing myself mentally for it, burned my feet.
(Ow! Ow! Ow! Dammit! Why did this happen to me?!)
Then I got to the next foothold.
Just like before the flow of the water stopped.
「Gulp, gasp, pl, please, just a rest, aghgh!!」
「Hey, we're only half done, right? It's a little early to give up!」
That's why he didn't give me time to rest, and within 10 seconds it flew over the metal grid again.
「Well, the first stage is half over. Time for a level up?」
「Ngh? Ngh, ghuh!」
I heard him laugh, and the falling water broke into two sides.
「Hey, hey, if you don't concentrate all your money will be gone, heh heh heh.」
(Dammit, stop messing with me.)
His sadistic smiles showed me he was enjoying himself.
Then the water went around back to the first foothold.
「Congrats Grond! You cleared the first stage!」
「Huff, huff, !!」
The hero clapped at my performance.
I wiped the sweat off my head with the back of my hand, as he smiled and looked at me.
My feet had stopped feeling the heat and started feeling pain. The pain and the heat all around made my concentration scatter.
My face was covered by the remnants of the messy water I tried to drink, tears, and snot.
As the hero looked up, the ball itself had only shrunk a little.
「Hey, don't get angry. If you get that upset, you might misjudge the water and not be able to drink it, right?」
He snickered, and kept on talking.
「Okay, that's enough of a rest, right? Onto the second stage, do your best!」
「What? Just a little more…agh!」
I wasn't prepared to jump onto the metal mesh again in order to stop the falling torrent of water.
However, at the words of the hero talking about the second stage, my body understood his words faster than my mind did.
「Guwaahh! Gulp! Glug!」
The pain suddenly hit from my right arm. Then surprise, as something forced my words back down my throat.
(What?! What the hell was that?!)
Something had happened to me, but I had no idea what it was.
However, the pain from the hit didn't stop.
「Ugh! Glug?!」
Hits on my left shoulder, right wrist, back…
And the sounds of something metal hitting me and then the metal mesh.
「Ah, I missed.」
「Dammit, you have to throw it right. It's a waste of money if you don't!」
「Shuria, the way you flick your wrist is important. This isn't like a throwing knife - it wasn't made to be thrown.」
(Are they throwing my own money at me?!)
I was so focused on stopping the flow of water that I couldn't really see what was going on, but from the sound of it hitting me I could easily imagine.
Then it went back to the next foothold, and I was able to take a short rest.
「Damn you alllllll, how long are you going to use my own money to mock me!?」
「Well, you still look pretty healthy! Hey you two, go ahead and hit him!」
「This time I'm totally going to get him, 100 shots, 100 hits!」
「That's the spirit, let's shoot for him, heh heh.」
The hero laughed, and from another mountain of money, the two girls laughed at me as they threw the money at me.
「Hit him well, okay, you two? You can't just let him clear this stage easily!」
「Look, throw it properly like this.」
「Agh! Glug!」
The sound of her voice and a shock on my throat.
Drinking down water while getting hit like that made me want to spit everything up again.
But because I had to keep drinking the water down, I had to keep myself from doing that.
The two girls just kept throwing coins at me and having fun doing so.
「Damn, he keeps moving and I can't hit him in the head!」
「Well, it's not like you missed so it's okay, right?」
(Dammit! Dammit! Stop all this stupidity…)
Then on to the next foot hold, and then the next, and the second trip around was finished.
「Huff, pant, huff…」
The water ball above me now had gotten even smaller.
I had drank a lot, but my body needed even more water now.
However, my whole body felt wasted.
Ow, oww, and only the feeling of pain.
Pain and heat started to disrupt all my thoughts.
All the was left was the continually renewed pain to my feet, and the unnatural feeling of sweat soaking my body, and being hit again and again by my own money.
Sweat, tears, and saliva all over my face, and the water I couldn't stop drinking…it was hell.
「Here's the final summit of stage two! Give it your all to make it there and back.」
Then the water began running toward the middle foothold again.
「ung…mmmph…geh」
My feet struggled to get my heavy body there, and I screamed at having to step whether it was on the metal mesh or not in all the pain.
And at that time…
「Um, the wrist, flicking the wrist, you mean like this?!」
「Agh? Gah!」
She threw the gold way harder than usual at my feet.
Since I couldn't take getting hit in the foot, I lost my balance…
「Gyaaahahhhhhh!」
Hot! Hot!
My yet untouched face and hands now sizzled on the mesh as I heard a sizzling sound.
I got up as quickly as I could, as the mesh I tried to push off of crumbled and fell.
The water that hit my body and fell turned the metal into dust.
Of course, since I couldn't put my hands on the crumbled spot, my body fell back into the mesh again.
「Gyaahhhhhhahhhhh! Owwwww!」
「Aha! I did it! What a hit!」
Still, as I was able to get up there was an amount of the water that fell into the pit.
「Ahhahhhhhhhahhhhh! My, my moneyyyy!」
I was able to keep all but a cupfull of water from falling into the pit, but even that amount falling in caused the water to start to bubble.
「Ahah! Hah hah hah hah!! More, Grond! More of you scrambling around! Make us all happy!」
「Agh! Glug! Glug!」
I tried to stand but my legs wouldn't move, so on knees I tried to gulp down all the water I could.
「Hee hee hee, this is really funny Grond! Ahah! Hah hah hah hah!」
「He really is a disgrace, heh heh, like a fish out of water.」
「Hee hee, I'm really loving this too!」
They were slapping the ground, and laughing along with their hero friend.
(Dammit! I'm never going to let them get away with this! Neverrrr!!)
As I couldn't stand, I was crawling with the metal burning me through my clothes, and then the water moved to another foothold.
「Glug, huff, wheeze wheeze.」
「Stage two is now clear, Grond. You did great, greaaat. Now, next is the last, the final game, the third stage…」
As I looked at the hero, he was looking at my worthless legs.
「All you have to do is drink all of the remaining water up. If you do that, you're a free man.」
(heh heh, I'm telling you, you're too nice, hero.)
「Water! Hurry, give me water! That water!!」
Hurt, heat, pain, hotness, bitterness.
There was no way I ever thought something like this would happen to me.
However, it would all be over soon.
Crossing that metal mesh, as long as I didn't have to endure the pain of getting hit again, it would all be over soon.
All I had to do is drink the water down. Then I could leave this place. No problem.
(The Ramune's poison would be dispelled by the white silver. All I have to do is drink water, hero.)
「All I have to do is drink it up, and it's over, so…」
「…okay, now the final stage begins. You've worked and worked and worked, and now you've made it to here. So you think you can do your best?」
「Water…ah…glug, glug.」
(Laugh all you want now, hero…I'm going to watch you go to hell!)
I just had to make it look like I was drugged, just make the hero smile.
Yeah, this white silver would protect me.
All of that water that fell means I could drink up the rest.
「Yeah, good, you're drinking it well! 」
「Ngahh, glug, gulp, ngah.」
The hero just watched me with a calm face.
He must be thinking that 『it's enough』by now.
That's why you're a coward, you haven't put enough though into all of this.
Yeah, you can laugh all you want in your heart, and the next moment, you'll feel a chill and your thoughts will stop.
「I guess it's about time now, huh?」
That calmly looking face, now all of a sudden changed into the look of a demon.
「?!」
That was the first time I saw his mask slip like that, and I felt really bad.
And with that, without being able to think about it, disaster falls without anyone being able to think about it.
Of course, this moment was like that.
Rip, the first change happened with that one first sound.
Suddenly, I felt a small pain on my cheek.
「Hmpg? Guh, aghhhh?!」
Just as a sand castle falls apart from one small piece, it collapses more and more, just as my body felt that first pain.
「Gah, hmph? Ahhh?!」
(What? What happened? What's happening?!)
Almost like the surface of my body was cracking apart, I felt small cuts appear in my flesh.
Those small cuts were becoming countless, and deeper as well.
「Hey, Grond, the poison protection of mithril, do you know how it appears?」
「Hmpg? Guh, aghhhh?!」
I felt the burning on my feet get stronger, almost like a file or rasp was being pulled along my flesh.
My thoughts races as I now began to understand what the hero was saying.
The hero slung out his sword and the water stopped.
「Glug, ugh, huff, huff」
「The poison dispel effect mithril has. It's almost like a small-scale magic dispel. Okay, now for a question! Equipment that exerts dispelling magic does so because it has a magical stone inside that powers it. Okay, so what does mithril use to do the same?」
「Ah? What? What does?」
「Here's a hint. A suspicious man like you would think that I wouldn't guess you'd have a small bag with mithrilin it right?」
I couldn't guess what he was getting at.
It wasn't because the pain was distracting me either. But yes, it was a confusion like just after drinking a strong liquor.
「Hint two, a magic stone that exerts that dispel magic when it exceeds the safe amount of magic it dispels, finally breaks!」
「ugh, so, what are you saying?!」
The hero continued talking without listening.
His words simply kept spilling out without a pause over and over while I couldn't make their meaning out.
「Hint three, a human doesn't have a certain "Safe amount"…so what's the answer?」
The hero asked with a wicked smile.
(Answer? What do you mean? In other words, no, it can't, nooooo!)
The dull thoughts I had finally arrived suddenly at an answer.
However, he simply laughed as if it were some fun conclusion.
「BZzzzzzzt! Times up Grond! That super important mithril you have with you Grond…」
No, I don't want to hear it.
I thought I shouldn't hear, but he simply kept talking.
「Is sucking up your magic, while it sucks up your life.」
「?!」
「The phenomenon occurring in your body, is that even though the magic is drying up, the sucked up power has to be put somewhere else. Okay, so final choice. 」
As he said this, he started the water flowing again.
I reacted by putting my mouth out so that my gold wouldn't be hurt, but in that moment, pain shot through my body.
「ngguuuhhhhh, uguggghhh! Ugghhhh!」
「You so so important money, is now hurting your body? You still have more than half left. Show me, what is your choice now?」
What to do? What?
(What's the choice? This torture or…my money in the hole? Which?)
「Answer me Grond. Your life or your money. Which will you choose?」
Those words, they made my already tired heart hit my stomach with a thump.
「ugh….ughhh…..ugaahhhh!」
I forced myself to stop drinking.
「….ahhh…so you'll pick life then.」
After saying that as if he was disappointed in my choice, he then had the look of that demon again.
「Well, then, you don't want this?」
「Wha, stop!?」
「I won't stop, because it's game over, right?!」
With that the hero dropped the half water ball in the water.
Suddenly, fwissshhhhhhhh and a huge angry sound erupted from the pit of water.
At the same time, bubbles like magma erupted.
「Ah, my money, my money!」
I fell to my knees in a loss of all my power, and watched all my money evaporate away.
Changed, changed away, my money, into worthless dust.
My heart suddenly felt like it was immediately stepped on and squished.