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Chapter 44: Let’s Reform the Grandpa (somewhat cruel)!
For starters, we had everyone sit in seiza while holding stones as means of reflecting on their wrongdoings. The grandpa…didn’t die. Though he might have taken brain damage. For the time being I forced a healing potion down his throat, and now we were waiting to see whether that did the trick.
“Oh, it wasn’t a big deal after all.”
He came back to his senses.
“…Uuhh…”
Sword dropped his shoulders in disappointment. Looking at him, I said, “To be honest, since you suffer mental damage so easily, I’d like you to go over there and wait till I’m done.”
He became lively all of a sudden and ground my temples. “I admit, you’ve got a bold attitude of treatin’ humans unrelated to you like monsters. But, for this very reason I’m way too scared to leave things to you!”
Why!?
＊
Grandpa went for the super stereotypical statement of “You think you’ll get away with doing something like this to me!?”, but as soon as I stabbed some needles between his nails and into his nether region, he immediately quieted down.
Me warning, “Don’t worry. These wounds only hurt but won’t leave any lasting injuries. They’ll quickly heal up once I pull the needles out. Though I’ll stab them back in again, you know? Let’s count how many dozen times I need to stab you before I get away with it,” was probably part of the reason why he became docile.
After around five times, he reached a point of willingly fessing up his objectives. Two additional stabs later I got stopped by my surroundings, and grandpa had been fully reformed.
One hour after hugging stones, the other guys fell prostrate. Though I think it was partly owed to their legs having become numb.
“Bah, everything got resolved so easily. And even without having to kill anyone.”
When I muttered that, everyone started to bawl.
“…Yep, I was wrong. Your strong. At this point, you don’t need to prove it anymore. But, I’ve decided to absolutely keep you away from any requests involvin’ other people.” Sword declared with a smile.
The objective of grandpa and his goons were my Ryokus. Just as Sword had said, they apparently wanted to examine them by breaking them apart.
I scolded grandpa with a grin, “Now listen, okay? Why are you trying to take the easy way by investigating the belongings of others after breaking them? You are a sorcerer and maker yourself, aren’t you? Or is sorcerer a job where you break stuff? Are you a pervert who gets off from destroying things? Are you as a pervert even taking disciples? Wouldn’t it be just as fine to dig holes and bury them? Digging holes and burying them, breaking the soil apart and restoring it, rinse and repeat. That would be the most optimal method which wouldn’t cause inconveniences to anyone. Dig holes and bury them! As long as you master the way how to make Sorcery Liquid, things like magic tools should pose no big problem to make! Building something from scratch with your own hands is one of the biggest joys, and yet you want to destroy things built by others? What’s so fun about that!? Prick up your ears!! The Ryokus are creations I built while pouring my passion into them. Do you know how many hardships I experienced until I finally managed to complete them? Do you know how much information I had to program into them until they could stand up straight!? If you want to build golems, then observe living beings rather than dismantling golems! Even though humans can’t even crawl at first, they become capable of walking on two feet. Carefully and thoroughly observe the entire process! Don’t you know just how difficult it is to reach such a level? …Most likely you don’t. After all you’re a grandpa who’s already standing in his coffin with one leg. No, I guess it’s unrelated to your age. I’m pretty sure your character and talent hasn’t changed over time. …How pathetic. You break the things made by others, but you don’t even possess the intelligence to understand such simple coherences. And yet you’re clinging to your pride and authority which only flaunts your age? Behavior like that is what’s meant with problems caused by the elderly. I think you dying might actually be of benefit for future generations. And not comprehending as much just shows how utterly pathetic you are.”
When I finished speaking, he was crying sorrowfully. I’m sure he must have been deeply touched by my wise words, yep.
You said something great there, me.
As I was reassuring myself while repeatedly nodding, Sword’s fist visited my head.
“Why!? I said something so wonderful!”
“Just whaaaaaaaat was wonderful about any of it!?!?! On top of instigatin’ him, you probably broke his heart! Now even I feel pity for him!”
Why!?
But, he kinda became curious about building things himself, I think?
＊
Although we wasted time unnecessarily, let’s finish up the request.
We headed for the summit.
“Fog has come out, huh?”
Suddenly visibility became bad and blurry as the area got covered by thick layers of fog.
How nostalgic. Come to think of it, back in the other world, my otherworld self used to climb mountains. This feels kinda like that, doesn’t it?
“…Hey, this is… …Indra! Come to me! Ryokus, you too! This is magic! This magic art belongs…”
When I turned around towards Sword’s panicked voice, Sword became hazy at a very quick rate. He extended a hand, but before I could grab it, his hand vanished alongside the fog.
“……Eh?”
The fog cleared up. But no Sword was to be found anywhere.
“……Swooooooooooorrdd!!” I shouted, but no reply came back.