Chapter 271: A Promise

“Comrade.”

Bros came out of me and talked to me just as I was about to leave the stage in a few steps. There was no point in putting him back in the sword…

“Do you think this solves the problem of the heroes?”

“Eh?”

The problem of the heroes must be the spirits with whom they have contracts, etc.

“It’s true that you were able to free the species from the heroes, but that wasn’t enough. However, that is not all they could do for their own satisfaction. People like that make the same mistakes over and over again. It’s good that they are now frightened of the unknown threat that suddenly appeared in the form of you, comrade. But that fear will eventually be forgotten and turned into anger. At that time, they will sign another contract for revenge. Just because we were able to liberate them doesn’t mean we were able to prevent them from contracting again. As it is now, it will only change who the victims are.”

“………”

Bros’s words convinced me. It’s true that as it is now, it’s all about my hypocrisy.

“What should I do?”

“The easiest way is to kill the heroes, but that’s not good enough, right?”

“Ah.”

I asked Bros for advice. Bros isn’t the kind of guy who says things like that when he doesn’t know how to do it. He knows what to do, and that’s why he said it so harshly.

“I know how to handle people like that better than anyone. You just have to break their confidence. Leave the method to me.”

From there, Bros gave me a little acting instruction.

“The heroes will be fine. But the saint…”

“I’ll take care of the saint while Nii-sama takes care of the heroes.”

“Then, it’s good.”

As for the saint, it was decided that Sophie would take care of her.

“Spiritualization, devilfication, and beastification.”

And I exited the stage.

“”Hee!””

I stepped off the stage, and the moment our eyes met, the heroes let out a small scream. I guess they were hit by the murderous intent skill I was using. Immediately, each of the three began to run away from me.

“What the hell is that thing…it’s not human no matter how you look at it…”

The female hero immediately stopped time. She then tried to calm herself down in the suspended time.

“Don’t you think it’s rude to say I’m not human?”

“Eh…wh–why……”

The female hero was surprised that I started talking despite the time stop. I can’t stop time even with the spirit magic I have with Yug. But I can still move in the middle of someone else’s time stop.

“Hey, hey…you wouldn’t run away, would you?”

“Ah…ah…”

I went around with a lightning shrink behind the female hero who was taking distance from me, backing away from me little by little in fear. And I put a thin scar on her cheek.

“Check out your skills for a minute, will you?”

“Wh–what, why…?”

“Just do it.”

And she fearfully took out her status and checked her skills.

“oh—what? One of my skills is disabled…”

“That’s what I can do with the skills I have. So my question is, if I disable time stopping skill here, can you get out of this time-stopping space? I’m curious, can I try that for a second?”

“No…well, that’s just…”

I really don’t know what will really happen. I don’t even know what will happen outside when I get out of this time stop by myself.

Incidentally, since she’s time-stopped, a day will not pass, so she cannot automatically release her skill seal.

The fear that she might be left alone in this space for the rest of her life made her tremble so much that she couldn’t even stand.

“If you don’t want me to do that, can you promise me one thing?”

“Promise…?”

“A simple promise. Promise not to have anything to do with spirits, devils, or beasts ever again.”

I told this to the female hero who sat down flat on the ground. This kind of simple promise is usually meaningless.

However, with the pledge magic created by Yug, you can add a lot of meaning to this. This magic can make sure that promises are kept. The only inconvenient thing about this magic is that it will not work if the other party is even slightly dissatisfied with the promise. That’s why it’s necessary to push them into this kind of state of mind.

“I will! I will!”

“Good, then. You can cancel the time suspension now. I’ve restored your skills.”

When she said that, I felt the pledge magic activate. This was the end of the first one.

By the way, she could cancel the time stop at any time. However, there was no time to think about that because of the irregularity of my entering and the murderous intent effect. Even if the time stop had been cancelled, Bros had his next plan.

““Whoa!””

A and B were startled by my sudden appearance behind them as the time stop was lifted.

“Don’t run away, both of you. You don’t know what will happen if you run away, do you?”

The two of them froze as the murderous intent was still in effect. All I need to know here is that if they really move, I’m going to amputate their legs, even if I don’t intend to kill them.

“Ah…haa…haa……”

Then suddenly B started hyperventilating, breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Hey…what happened to you in the future when you moved? I’m curious, so why don’t you tell me?”

“Uh…ah…”

“Never mind. Rather than that, I want you to promise me something.”

And the process from here on was the same as with the female hero. I just spoke my promise with a willingness to stab them in the leg if they refused or if the pledge magic didn’t activate. Then B made a promise. I wonder what on earth he saw in the future.

“I’d like you to make the same promise to me.”

“Why would I make such a promise?”

I tried to talk to A, who was listening nearby, but he refused. He’s getting used to the murderous intent effect, and now he’s able to refuse.

“Unique skills fully open.”

“Eh—–?”

I suddenly showed A all my unique skills. At first he looked at the unique skills as if he didn’t know what they meant, but then his face turned pale. Then he read the unique skills again and again.

“Iya, during the match there was a guy who copied the skill called high-speed reflex. That guy was making a fuss about killing the guy who he copied it from.”

“If I promise, will you help me?”

A grabbed me by the shoulders and said so. If you think about it calmly, there are many things you can think of, such as making skills invisible and extra skills can only be degraded copies. However, A, who is exhausted after the match and scared to death, is scared that he has copied the skills of something he does not know.

“I’ll help you if you promise me.”

“I will! I will, so help me!”

The pledge magic was activated. Now the three of them could no longer associate with spirits, devils, or beasts.

“Picone!”

Such a sound echoed in my brain.

”Well then! The awards ceremony will be held in an hour from now, so all the players should be ready by then!”

And I heard that announcement, too. Looks like I could have finished while the audience was still excited as I exited the stage. Then I went back to the waiting room by myself without looking around. But before I knew it, Sophie was behind me.

“Perfect. You did a great job.”

“Thank you.”

“Nii-sama!!!”

And when we got to the waiting room, I passed out. I originally knew that it was a burden to interrupt the time stop and try to use the magic that Yug suddenly created in a normal way. But now it was no longer possible for the heroes to make a contract with the species. The way I did it was completely villainous, though. ……

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