In all the books you read, people who come to another world seem to easily jump on murdering people. Take any hero, and he'll slaughter countless hordes of animals and people in the pursuit of justice. However, that's still killing people, and killing is scary. I don't care who you are, if you haven't murdered someone personally, you should probably shut the hell up, and if murder fulfills some wanton desire deep inside you, please seek therapy and let's never meet.
At least, that's what I believe. In reality, these men had done nothing to me. They were only guilty of conspiracy to commit crimes against me, at best. Even those words were probably mostly big talk. When you think you are in control, you say and do all kinds of things to boast. I was a little angry at the big guy for targeting the girls, but it was a product of the company he kept, and at the end of the day, his threats were completely idle. That's why I had no intention of taking it out on these people.
"M-master! You're stepping on his head!" Celeste sputtered.
"Ah… sorry… I was just healing the big guy and my foot slipped, I swear."
"…"
Well, I was in control at the moment, so I guess even I acted a little full of myself. I had no intention of killing these men, but that left the question of what I was going to do with them. I could always do the standard of abandoning them naked and stealing all their stuff. That would be a lesson learned on stealing.
What about the other people they might hurt in the future? When did I suddenly become the police? And no, I didn't agree to become a vigilante either. I defended myself and my party. Despite the job, I've made it abundantly clear I'm not a hero. These were human beings, not mobs, and yes, I made a distinction. So far, I had only killed ghosts and undead. I even worried a little if I'd have the ability to kill other monsters, but even if I did, monsters came from curses, and curses came from dungeons. When you killed them, they disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Actually, being as I had never killed a person, I didn't know if bandits would disappear with a puff of smoke either. From what I understood, they would not. Only monsters would do that. Humans and animals would die much like they die in real life. That's bloody and messy. I mean, I died once, and my body remained behind for the resurrection. It was the same for Miki.
That actually brings up the final reason that killing bandits was a bad idea. Let's say these guys knew a Dark Priest so that when they were found dead, they were then brought back again. That would mean that I accomplished nothing by killing them. Actually, worse… I've made a lifelong enemy. It may not be personal right now, but if I tortured or killed these bandits, you could be damn sure it'd be personal after they came back.
I suspected that the opposite was also true. As much as the big guy talked, he likely only thought of taking my girls exactly because he saw them as only slaves. In a world where people didn't stay dead, it would stand to reason that wronging a potentially rich Lord too much wouldn't go good for any bandit. In reality, they were only really able to take a little bit less than it'd be worth to hunt them down. A bandits life must be tough.
"So, I have some questions I need you guys to answer." My voice finally broke through the encampment of men, all tied up and pushed into a circle. "And I suggest you answer."
I actually didn't mean it as a threat, but all the girls started stroking their weapons and a few of the smaller bandits started shaking in their boots. Ah, once again, my girls can be scary sometimes.