The Genius Son-in-law of the Swordmaster Household—Blessed by Authority-Chapter 46 : Vampire Ruins Gate (7)

Vampire Ruins Gate (7)
"You're all the same bastards. You were after my companion's sword even before we entered the Gate."
"... What?"
"... Huh?"
― Thud!
At those words, the hearts of Johnson's party sank to the floor.
"You're not even denying it."
"Wh-what...! No!?"
"It's just... such... such an absurd thing to hear!"
"Y-yeah! What kind of nonsense is this!?"
"Do you have proof!? Are you paranoid or something?!"
"Proof?"
At the word 'proof', Ian let out a chuckle.
Was that important here?
This wasn't a courtroom but a Gate.
Inside this lawless land ruled by the law of the jungle, where if you didn't like someone, you could just kill them—what use was proof?
'Well, even so...'
Proof or whatever.
If they wanted it, it wouldn't be impossible to make them a parting gift for their trip to the afterlife.
"So, are you saying you're innocent?"
"O-of course we are!"
A barefaced lie came out with not a shred of hesitation.
"Why would we want your comrade's sword? Is it that expensive or something?"
"Yeah, exactly! W-what, is it worth hundreds of gold or something? There's a limit to paranoia! That's an illness!"
"Quiet."
Ian brought his index finger to his lips.
"This is your warning. If you tell even one more lie from now on, you'll regret it."
"Ugh...!"
"... Mmph!"
The moment Ian glared at them as though he might swing Vladiark at any second, Johnson's party, who had been lying with such excitement, shut their mouths tight.
Johnson's party, faces stiff, mouths clamped shut like clams.
A brief silence followed.
"Wh-why are you doing this to us?!"
Linda was the first to break the silence.
"We just wanted to help you once we recovered from our injuries...!"
― Crack!
― Snap!
At that moment, an abrupt cracking sound, as if chopping firewood, cut off Linda's words and echoed throughout the chamber.
― Thump!
"Huh?"
Simultaneously, Linda dropped down, plopping onto her butt with a confused expression.
She tried to get up right away but no strength came to her legs.
Wondering what happened, she looked down at her own legs...
"Guh!?"
Linda's knee was bent backwards.
"Ah, aaaarrrgggghhh!"
The moment she realized her bone was broken, horrifying pain spread through her body.
It felt as if every bundle of nerves in Linda's body twisted around her knee.
"A-augh! Aughhh!"
Even just breathing sent jolts from the top of her head.
Linda couldn't catch her breath and froth dribbled from her mouth.
"What the hell are you doing!!"
Dean screamed, nearly hysterical, grabbing for the dagger at his belt.
About to draw it—
"W-wait! Dean!"
Johnson, the party leader, barely managed to stop him.
"Johnson!? What are you doing!? That bastard just wrecked Linda's leg!"
"If you draw your weapon we're all dead, idiot! Stay put!"
"K-kill him! Kill that brattttt!"
"Linda! Shut up! Dumb bitch! What does it matter if a mage loses a leg!"
"Khh!? J-Johnson!? You... arghhh!"
Linda clawed at her throat, wailing.
"Damn..."
Her cries echoed noisily through the chamber.
Johnson covered one ear and watched Ian anxiously.
Ian looked back at him with eyes empty of all emotion.
A boy so utterly bland and calm, even after crippling a person.
No anger, no excitement, no guilt. He felt absolutely nothing.
As if he had just done his duty, his expression was purely businesslike.
'Is this kid really just a child...?'
He couldn't be fifteen yet, but he was this cold-blooded?
Just how did those Hisperion people educate children for their kids to be so utterly cold, as though not a drop of blood would come from them?
'No, wait! That's not important now!'
Johnson gulped, clearing his throat.
'I have to keep my wits about me from here on out!'
That monster of a boy probably already decided to use them as sacrifices.
Proof or anything else was all wordplay here.
'At times like these, the quickest-witted survive.'
Fighting that boy was not an option.
Even with all five Johnson party members banding together, the odds were low. Plus, Linda's knee had just been smashed, dropping their fighting strength to four.
Even if, by some miracle, they beat the boy and captured him, at least two would die, and the survivors would be severely injured.
And what if they had to face the brown-haired girl after that?
They'd all die—no questions asked.
'If you die, nothing means anything.'
Even if he had to lick the soles of the boy's shoes.
He had to avoid being used as a sacrifice to open the gate.
"Su-surrender! I surrender! I'll do whatever you say!"
Johnson threw his hands up high.
"Gray-haired kid! You were right about everything. We were in the wrong. We were after your comrade's sword from the start, and we followed you in here with dirty intentions."
"J-Johnson!?"
"What are you doing!?"
His party members gaped at Johnson's abrupt solo confession.
Johnson snapped his head around and shot them a fierce glare.
"Shut up! Idiots! If you don't want to end up like Linda!"
"Wh-what!"
"Ugh!"
"Ahem..."
Faced with Johnson's outburst, the others fell silent.
― Nod.
Ian nodded, apparently pleased by Johnson's attitude.
"Go on. Depending on your testimony, I might change my mind."
"... Ugh..."
Sweating coldly, Johnson continued.
"We'd been eyeing your sword since before we entered the Gate. It looked valuable. And when we came in here, we hoped you'd be dead. We were just planning to take the sword off your corpses..."
"And? That can't be all."
"U-ugh..."
Johnson swallowed dryly over and over.
Nothing good would come of admitting to more...
'Damn it... That kid's eyes...'
If he claimed this was everything, that he had nothing more to say, this boy might snap Johnson's knee just like he did Linda's.
"T-There's more, of course!"
Johnson continued, almost by instinct.
"We... we were going to vent our anger on your corpse a bit..."
"And?"
"U-ugh... The porters too... We were going to kill them all as well, so no rumors would get out that we'd been beaten so badly by you..."
Johnson confessed everything with a servile expression.
"Johnson..."
"You..."
His party members looked at him with scornful faces.
"I see."
― Clack!
For the first time, Ian revealed an expression as he rested Vladiark on his shoulder.
A cold smile.
― Crack!
"Ke-hack!?"
Suddenly, a black light flashed before Johnson's eyes, and instantly his knee, too, was bent backwards like Linda's.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Goddamn it!!"
"This crazy bastard!"
"You can't reason with a psycho! Let's get him!"
The moment Johnson collapsed, the third-rate adventurers each drew their weapons.
"A-aaah!"
The first to charge was the monk Sam, at the head of the pack.
He swung a heavy fist toward Ian's face.
― Whoosh!
A full hit would be enough to burst a person's head—an expert low-rank fighter's punch.
But—
― Whoosh!
To Ian, it was such a sloppy blow there was no need to use a single Frenzied Insight Style technique.
"W-what!?"
Ian grabbed Sam's trained arm with one hand and snapped it like a biscuit stick.
― Snap!
"Aaaaarrrrgh!"
― Slice!
Then, swinging Vladiark in his other hand, he promptly severed both of Sam's legs.
"Guoorrk!!"
― Thump!
Sam collapsed to the floor like a sack of leather.
― Swish!
The moment Sam fell, two throwing daggers hissed toward Ian.
They were Dean's.
― Clang!
Ian easily blocked them with Vladiark and reached out with his left hand for Dean's neck.
'Dark Hook Throw.'
A technique to link a hook using aura and snatch a distant target.
It was a killer technique extracted from monsters' magic power using Vladiark during his trek so far.
― Whack!
The Dark Hook Throw bit into Dean's neck cleanly.
"U-uh!?"
― Shaaa!
Dean instinctively clutched at his neck, but it was useless.
When Ian yanked his arm backward, dean was pulled as if by telekinesis and flew straight into his grip.
― Snap!
"Kugh!"
― Twang! Twang!
Almost simultaneously, the archer Harris's arrows flew at Ian.
Ian simply tightened his grip on Dean's neck and raised him like a shield.
― Thwack! Thwack!
Arrows sank into Dean's lungs and spine.
"D-damn it! Dean!"
"Ku, kuhurk!"
"Pathetic."
― Whoosh!
Ian hurled his meat shield at archer Harris.
― Whoosh!
― Thunk!
Harris was bowled over and pinned down by the 70 kg hunk of meat that was Dean.
― Swish!
Ian promptly threw Vladiark at the pile of Dean and Harris, stacked like a lump.
― Thud!
― Boom!
"K-keh!"
"Ggurk!"
Vladiark, flying like a cannonball, pierced through Dean and Harris together, embedding itself deep into the ground.
That was the end of the fight.
"K-kuh... why! Why the hell!!!"
Johnson, clutching his knee, screamed with bloodshot eyes.
"I told you everything! I said I'd do as you said!!! So why! Why the hell!!!"
Ian looked down at Johnson's outrage and let out a small laugh.
"I killed you because you told the truth."
"Wha-what!?"
Ian squatted before Johnson so their eyes met.
"You provided the reason yourself—for why you should die."
Grabbing Johnson's hair with a rough grip—
"Gah!"
He slammed Johnson's face into the ground.
― Thud!
"Ke-huk!"
"You tried to kill me and Sophia from the very start, didn't you? And you thought you'd get out of here alive?"
"You... kuh... you bastard...!"
Johnson, his cheek ground against the dirt, felt a rage swelling up from the depths of his chest.
But even more overwhelming than his anger was fear so deep he couldn't even bring himself to look at Ian.
"Heu... huukk... uuugh..."
All the emotions swirling within burst out as tears.
"You brought this on yourself."
Ian let out a shallow sigh.
"If you hadn't harbored evil thoughts, we could have cleared this and left together."
― Thud!
― Drag...
Ian grabbed Johnson by the hair and dragged him toward the stone statue's face.
He was about to use him as a sacrifice to open the gate.
"N-no! Aaagh! Stop! Sto-op! Uuugh! Just once! Please, forgive me just this once!"
Johnson sobbed, begging for a last-minute reprieve.
The agony made him feel like his knee would tear off and his mind would fade, but the fear of death forced his groggy mind to cling to life.
"It'll all be over soon."
But that desperate plea for his life never reached Ian's heart.
"For you, it's a more merciful death than you deserve."
As soon as they reached the face-shaped stone statue, Ian stuffed Johnson into its mouth.
"N-no!"
Johnson tried to scramble out—
― Thud!
"Oof!"
Ian stomped down on Johnson and slammed the statue's mouth shut.
― Thud!
― Uh! Uuuu! Uuuu!
Johnson's muffled voice could faintly be heard from inside the statue, but the wall was so thick it was impossible to make out what he was saying.
"Let's finish up and get out of here."
With mechanical steps, Ian picked his next sacrifice.
That fighter would do.
Simply because he was closest.
Since he'd kill them all anyway, it didn't matter whom he chose.
To Ian, these bugs were nothing more than tools to open the gate, and not an ounce of emotion colored his hands as he worked.
The only thing on his mind was getting to an inn with Sophia as soon as possible and getting cleaned up.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
That was a ruthless execution...
Damn...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】