"So? Are you willing to answer how it is to be a murderer?"
By now, it was the tenth house they've broken in, yet Rissa wasn't capable of understanding what was happening.
Every time she had heard about someone who murdered, raped, robbed, or just beat another human being, she had always felt regret for the victim and disgust for the culprit, even if she thought that there must have been a reason for this happening.
But why wasn't this the case right now? Why didn't she hate herself for what she's done? Why didn't she feel any guilt for the people she's murdered?
Maybe she knew. No, she must have known already. She just wasn't prepared to accept it.
Rissa was never meant to be a nun. She was never meant to care. She was never meant to feel anything for anyone else besides her.
Maybe it was her mind that wanted her to drift away from this future, or maybe it was something far more complex, like someone messing with her real feelings, but she didn't care anymore.
And after all, what was wrong with doing that? Since everything is being controlled by evil beings, why shouldn't she also do things like this? What would they do? Kill her because she will do exactly what they are doing? All they could do is try.
Rissa looked at the disfigured corpses on the ground. Since she killed those two kids, she never once shed a single tear again. She felt nothing besides a hint of exhilaration every time blood got on her hands. Looking at them, she felt an odd satisfaction seeing the blood dripping down.
'Was red... always this beautiful?'
She glanced at Ertex, seeing that he was still looking at her.
[Transcend (Error)
You are able to transcend everyone.]
[STR - 103 - Error
END - 110 - Error
DEX - 100 - Error
INT - 250 - Error
MP - 250 - Error
CHR - 100 - Error
LCK - 20? - 999? (E? - EX?)]
"Hey."
Ertex looked into Rissa's eyes, waiting for her to say what she wanted. She averted her eyes, wondering how to ask.
"Do you... have a reason?"
"Reason for what?"
"For being... like that?"
"..."
Ertex shrugged.
"Do I need one? Like I told you before, it's just easier. That's all."
Rissa slowly nodded, turning towards him.
"What's you goal?"
After seeing his sly smile, she regretted asking.
"To have the biggest harem one ever had. Are you interested?"
Rissa shook her head as she went to a sink to wash her hands.
"I'll pass. How is it going until now?"
"Only one, but I'm very patient, you know? Since you seem to have gotten over all this killing stuff, are you going to buy points now?"
Rissa threw some water on her face before she ran a hand through her hair.
"Now that I think about it... How does me knowing how to kill people grant me money?"
"Rob them, make them make money for you through fear, take jobs from people who want other people dead... Do I really need to teach you everything?"
"If you want money, yeah... What if I run away after taking your points?"
Ertex looked at her as he rubbed his chin.
"That's a possibility, isn't it? Well, I'll find you, most likely."
"... Fine. Give me 500."
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.
Ertex clicked his tongue, visibly dissatisfied.
"I've wasted so much time for only 500? You should've told me from the beginning if that was the case!"
"It's barely been an hour, though."
"Do you know how many women I could've fucked in an hour?"
"... Didn't you say you only have one?"
A notification suddenly appeared in front of Rissa.
[Ertex sent you 500 attribute points!]
"Fair enough... That'll be 125,000 coins. Like I said before, you have 14 days. For every single day you are late, a 6% interest rate will be added. If, by any means, by the end of the 28th day I don't have my money back along with the interest, I will be forced to do some unethical things to get them from you. I don't think that will be the case, right?"
.
.
.
Rissa couldn't believe her ears! How could someone be so shameless?
"What?! Why didn't you tell me those things before you sent the points?! I don't want them anymore!"
"I'm afraid my company has a no-refund policy. Just work hard, I'm sure you can do it!"
Before she could even try to send the points back, Ertex disappeared. Rissa left the house fuming and cursing him.
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"What's your name? It's quite inconvenient to not know how to call you, now that I think about it."
Ertex once again arrived in the empty and dark place after hearing that there's new information.
"Just call me Astama. It's about Agura. She has something to tell you."
He nodded as he followed her after lighting a cigarette.
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.
.
She looked just as gorgeous as she always was. The only difference, however, will be that her hands kept sweating while she tried to hide it by wiping them on her dress. If that wasn't enough to make Ertex realize what was happening, there was also her face.
Agura was stressed about something. Knowing that they only spoke about a single thing, he could more or less guess what the reason was.
"Hello, Ertex.."
He looked at her, waiting.
"Do you want... to take a seat?"
She pointed towards the chair that was on the other side of the table, facing towards her.
"No. Your sister, Agura."
"Right... You see, I think... she might have found out that you are looking for her?"
"How so?"
She took a deep breath, once again wiping her hands on herself.
"She always stays in a room that looks identical to this one. She very, very rarely leaves that place, with the last time being, I think, around six years ago. She just uses her clones to do all the work while she's just lazing around. But this time, when I looked for her, she just... wasn't here. I even waited for quite some time, but she never came back. That's why I think... she must know?"
Ertex blew out the smoke, seemingly in thought.
"Did she... somehow do anything to you six years ago? That's why she ran?"
"Can you take me to the place she stays in?"
She slowly nodded as she got up.
"Just... Follow me, I guess."
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.
The room did indeed look identical, the only difference being that there was a window. An open window.
He walked towards the table, throwing away the cigar.
"How does time work here?"
"Well, one day in my room is roughly ten here. I left like 3 hours ago, so about a day here."
"... Were you close with your sister?"
The table was empty. He looked outside the window. It was open.
"Yeah. I think I was the only person she allowed to enter this room."
He nodded as he inhaled. The window was open.
"Perfume."
"Huh?"
"The only thing I can smell here is a very sweet perfume. And it's not yours."
Agura took a sniff herself.
"It... does! Did she just come here for a brief moment and left?"
"..."
Ertex looked up. He took a deep breath and suddenly left.
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.
It was night and the field was empty. He looked around before leaving that place too, arriving in his house. He checked the room he was sleeping in. It was empty.
He checked the bathroom. It was empty, too. He checked every other room. They were also empty.
He went down the stairs, going towards the kitchen. He saw light. He calmly entered, seeing the figure he was so used to humming and chopping.
Ertex squinted his eyes. Something was amiss.
'What did she do?'
He looked at Arga from head to toe, not finding a single scratch. She turned around, almost screaming when she saw Ertex.
"Since when were you there?! You scared the shit out of me!"
'There's no way she would be that dumb, right?'
Arga seeing how he didn't say anything, she began worrying.
"Are you alright?"
He ignored her, once again leaving. He appeared in the room Edna with her mother were sleeping. He looked at them, trying to find something.
But he didn't.
He teleported back to the kitchen.
"... You are scary when you do that..."
But then it clicked.
Ertex began laughing as he hid his face in his hands.
Of course she didn't do anything. Astama would have told him if that was the case.
All of that was her scheme. A scheme he fell right into.
'I'm still doing exactly what she wants... She must be laughing right now, seeing me like that.'
He stopped laughing but still had a smile on his face as he suddenly hugged Arga, raising her up.
"I'm sorry, my dear! Just useless thoughts, that's all. What are you making?"
There was no one who could sense it.
Arga couldn't, either. But she could do something that no one else could.
She could see.
She saw how Ertex was. Most likely because she knew him the best, but she could see.
He was enraged.
Arga knew that Ertex knew how to control himself. No veins were popping; he wasn't hugging her too tight to the point she'd suffocate; his breathing was normal; heck, even his heartbeat didn't change.
But she knew his eyes. They were frantically moving around. They were precisely avoiding her own. Arga knew that even if she were to respond, he wouldn't listen. There was only one time when he was like that, and it hurts her just thinking about it.
She wrapped her hands around his neck and her legs around his waist, hugging him as tightly as she could. But to no avail.
Ertex felt nothing.
'It's alright... It's alright. So what if I fell for it? It's alright! That was on me. But it's alright! I'll find you, you know? I will. You and that fucker. Trust me. I will!'
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them again. He looked in front of him, seeing that what was Arga chopping before we're some mushrooms.
Seeing the oven working, he let out a small laugh before kissing her.
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"I'll really let you cook tonight."
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Forgot to mention yesterday when I posted this.
Don't always believe what Ertex says. Just sayin'.