Chapter 29 “Self-love”

Now, it was no longer difficult to hold it down, as it would foolishly and honestly counterattack if we repeated the attack in turns.

Heidi distracted it and I repeatedly burned and slashed it with magic, but it hasn't been effective so far.

It regenerates right away.

　So...so? How does this guy die?

Even though the sword is still stuck in his head, he's still moving fine.

Does that mean I should just crush the Zubel head in its belly?

I've wounded it several times with magic, but it seems to be regenerating this one too...

　Can you do it if the attack is so severe that the standard regeneration can't keep up?

　Hmmm. I know I'm being a bit unreasonable, but I need the memories, don't I?

I want to know what he was thinking when he did this foolish thing.

　...Memory? ...... This could work, right?

　Let's give it a try.

Hopefully it'll be an easy cleanup.

　"Heidi. Get his attention whenever you can."

　"Any ideas?"

　Heidi also had a somewhat bitter look on her face as her opponent repeatedly regenerated.

If there was a way to break the deadlock, she would welcome it.

　"I understand."

She replied with a single word and ran off.

Pulling a knife from the waist, and throwing two projectiles in rapid succession.

They pierced both of the demon's eyes.

　The demon tried to pull the knife out of both eyes.

Heidi did not allow it to do so, but firmly stepped on the ground and severed one of the demon's arms from the elbow with a powerful swing down.

Before he could react to the severed arm, she spun her body and severed one leg from behind the knee.

The demon whose leg had been cut seemed to lose its balance, but he used his wings to forcefully levitate his body and regain his stance.

At the same time, he struck at her with his arm, which had begun to regenerate.

I thought she might step back and duck, but Heidi steps in the opposite direction.

She leapt, using the intact knee as a springboard.

She slammed her knee into the demon's jaw.

　The demon's jaw jumped up.

　Okay, here it is.

　"Heidi!　Get away!"

　Heidi lands on the ground and immediately backsteps to get away.

I leap onto the demon's shoulders and pull out my sword, which is still stuck in his back.

　I threw down the sword I pulled out and plunged my arm into the wound.

　I spit out the root with all my might from the arm I plunged in.

If I can't kill it, I'll just eat it.

　I will use the roots to suck up the demon with all my might.

　I also read its thoughts.

　The demon struggles to pull me off of it, but after a few dozen seconds it convulses and collapses.

　I continue sucking the contents without letting my guard down.

　Hmm?　Zubel's memories are coming in, but I don't see any demon memories coming in.

It's there, but I'm only getting memories from when it got here, you know?

　I extend the root to the torso and examine the demon's insides... there's something there.

I twirl it around and pull it closer.

　The demon's body bounced around a lot and never moved again.

I pulled back the root and grabbed the thing I had pulled out.

What remained in my hand was a large magic stone.

　It was a dark purple color, so dark that it seemed to absorb light.

The demon, having lost the magic stone, slowly melted away and turned into an unidentifiable black puddle, leaving behind a dried-up Zubel at its center.

Of course he is dead.

I let go of the magic stone and sat down on the spot.

　Ah. It was a mentally exhausting battle.

　Mainly because of Fatima.

　"You did it!　What did you just do?"

　Heidi runs up to me with a smile.

　I pick up the magic stone and hold it out as if to show her.

　"I pulled it out."

Heidi stares at the magic stone and makes a puzzled face.

"Oh, I see. Did you mean to say that this is the main body?"

　"I guess so."

"I was surprised when you stuck your hand in its head, but I guess this is what you were aiming for."

　"......, well..."

　I'm going to say it's a coincidence, but let's call it that.

　I slowly get up.

　I've still got a few things left to do.

　"Hey, isn't this a bit much indeed?"

Heidi's cheeks were flushed as she raised a panicked voice.

　The location has changed, and we are now in the reception room of the Oratorium mansion.

　Fatima is lying on the floor in her underwear.

I'm not sure what this woman is capable of, so I stripped her down, tied her hands and feet with rope, blindfolded her and stuffed a cloth in her mouth so that she couldn't resist.

I had magically healed her ears and major wounds, with this nothing she could do.

　At first I wanted to strip her completely naked, but Heidi was adamantly opposed, so I gave up.

　"She's a tricky one. This is what happened because you were against killing her in the first place."

　Heidi stopped me from trying to kill her while she was unconscious, and so I had to restrain her....

　I let out a sigh inwardly. It's getting troublesome.

　If I don't convince Fatima, it will be trouble again later.

　To be honest, I had no confidence in my ability to persuade this woman.

　To put it bluntly, I had planned to kill her from the beginning, so I had not prepared the option of persuasion.

I had intended to kill her in the heat of battle, but with the appearance of ice armor, dogs, and demon, I had no chance.

As a result, I succeeded in incapacitating her, or rather, self-destructing... but I captured her.

　I was thinking about what to do now, but there is a way.

　Whether it would succeed or not was unknown, but I wanted to try it somewhere, so in a way, it was probably a good thing.

　Heidi is muffling her mouth to try to argue.

I don't want her to see what I'm about to do, so I'll ask her to leave me alone for a bit.

　"Heidi."

　"Hey, what's up?"

　"I need to talk to Fatima alone. I'm sorry, but I need you to step out for a minute."

　"Is that something you can't talk about with me present?"

　Heidi's expression disappears and she looks straight at me.

　I'm not sure how to do this.

　I nodded lightly.

　"I can't talk. Besides, it's hard for her to talk when you're around, isn't it? And before you say anything, I'm not going to kill her anymore. That's what you're worried about, isn't it?"

　"I can trust you, can't I?"

"Of course you can."

　Heidi's face relaxes as she hears this.

　"I understand. I'll rest in the guest room."

　"No, you can have my room. You'll be more comfortable there, won't you?"

　"But...no, thank you. I'll do that."

　Heidi left the room with a complicated expression on her face, saying, "Call me if you need anything."

　The presence moved away and disappeared completely.

　Well, now we won't be disturbed. Now it's time for some fun human experimentation.

First, I will use the root to receive Fatima's memories.

First, let's see if I can read the memories intact from a living person.

　I think this will probably work.

　I'm using Rothfeldt's brain as it is.

　I can read memories without doing anything that would cause a deficit.

　If so, I should be able to do it elsewhere without any problem.

　In fact, it was possible.

Starting with memories from childhood, encounters with parents, sisters, and Rothfeldt.

　Distorted love. Knowledge of witchcraft. How to use golems and demons.

　Now that I knew what I wanted to know, I pulled up roots.

　Now, to answer the question.

I take the cloth from her mouth.

　"Here's a question. Tell me your name."

　"...... Fatima Rose Liard. Mr. Rothfeldt... what are you doing to me now?"

　Okay, no problem.

I ignore Fatima's question and shove the cloth into her mouth again.

　Fatima cooed and groaned, but then grew quiet as she realized it was useless.

Well, next time, this is what I'm going to do.

　I look at Fatima's leg.

Seeing the fine scratches from the earlier battle, I extend the roots to the relatively large wound.

　The roots burrow into the wound, wriggle inside the skin, and the wound begins to regenerate.

　I see. Regeneration is possible even for a stranger?

　I pull out the root. Fatima is trembling slightly.

　...Ah, she is afraid because she doesn't understand what is being done to her.

　From the way she looked earlier, it looked like she was going to say "I don't care what you do to me if it's Mr. Rothfeldt," but that wasn't the case.

She was implying something about love, but when it comes down to it, people can only think of themselves, can't they?

　I know from her memory that she is not in love with Rothfeldt, but with the "ideal Mr. Rothfeldt" she has in her mind.

　This woman didn't understand this discrepancy until the very end.

　Now, the last experiment.

"Ro, Mr. Rothfeldt. What have you been doing?　Hurry up and untie this rope. And let's get rid of that bug!　You are confused now. Now, get rid of that worm and return to the gentle Rothfeldt-sama you used to be!"

Oh, she spit out the cloth from her mouth by herself?

　The original...huh? She's still saying that at this point in time.

　"...... don't force your convenience on me."

　"Mr. Rothfeldt?"

　"Ex?　Gentle?　Don't make me laugh?　What you're looking for is a masochistic bastard who smiles at you no matter how much you hurt him, right?　I'm sorry, but I'm not that kind of pervert. Will you stop imposing your ideals on me?"

　Fatima was so surprised that she was at a loss for words.

I don't like talking to this woman, but for some reason I felt compelled to tell her.

"In the end, you were fine with anyone who accepted your propensity and had a nice face, weren't you?

　"No..."

　"Do you love me?　You who smiled behind my back when you saw your fiancée in trouble?"

　I saw the memories.

　I can see right through you.

　"You love yourself, not me. 'I helped my fiancée recover so I could feel good about myself for doing my best for him. I watched my fiancée suffer because it made me feel good.' I'm going to say it right now. You're a piece of shit. And I don't love you."

　Perverted narcissism, mental illness...was it proxy something syndrome?　I can't remember.

They want to be satisfied with themselves, but they also want to be seen as good by others as well, or they think it's convenient.

This woman is helpless.

　I guess I got a little emotional when I was pulled into the Rothfeldt memory.

　All I could think of was, "Why didn't you save her?" But now that I knew this woman, such questions were empty.

　This woman thinks only of herself to no end. And she thinks nothing of enforcing it.

　Or perhaps she is not even aware of it.

　Fatima froze and did not move.

　"No... no."

She says something with trembling lips.

　"You are not Mr. Rothfeld!　You're a fake!　My Mr. Rothfeldt would never say such a thing!　What are you going to do with me? And what are you doing disguised as Mr. Rothfeldt, you monster?"

　Ha-ha-ha.

She really doesn't waver, this woman.

　That's what happens when you don't accept reality.

　She can't accept it, so she calls me a fake. After that, will she say it's a dream or something?

　If it had been the other way around, you would have said, "You need to be persuaded," and you were going to do something that was akin to torture.

　"Oh, I understand. This is an illusion. Do you think you can deceive me with this kind of magic!?"

　Hallucinations.

　That was a little off the rails.

　Well, that's okay. I don't have to hesitate about what I'm going to do.