NOVEL WEB Chapter 9
“So, like, we do it like this, right?”
“Uh, could you just trim a little more off the side with the 12 on it?”
“Got it!”
“Zech! What was the next number after work and arm?”
“Maxson, you idiot! Are you really asking Zech that? It’s twenty!”
“Ah-ha!”
-Swish swish.
“What the hell, you moron! It’s not ‘twenty-two’, it’s just ‘twenty’!”
“Isn’t that basically the same thing?”
“Hey, Johnson! Didn’t we talk about teaching this guy some number skills?”
“That was my attempt at it…”
“Oh damn…”
I had gotten pretty close with these thieves, and they even went so far as to make dice for our TRPG sessions.
Surprisingly, they were all pretty good with their hands.
Not so great upstairs, though.
Anyway, as I got closer to them, I started to notice something off.
“…But do we really have to keep Zech locked up over there?”
“Right? Now that I think about it, why did we put Zech there?”
“Because we’re thieves…?”
“Since when have we been thieves?”
“Uh… I don’t know.”
“…Well, it can’t be anything major! The boss decides stuff anyway!”
“Is that so?”
These thieves feel like they’re missing a screw or two.
Maybe it’s just their first time at thieving, but it’s like… there’s a gap in their memories.
Just looking at their behavior, they seem to be turning more into naïve village youths than thieves.
‘Rate needs to wake up if we want to get out of here.’
It couldn’t just be the effects of my hypnosis, considering it’s been three days and she still hasn’t woken up.
There must be something else going on here.
‘I don’t know…’
Sadly, there was no way for me to find out.
‘Should I hypnotize someone and check it out.’
Just then, as everyone started to get up saying they had things to do, I summoned only the dumbest one, Maxson, forward with a wave.
Hypnosis works best on folks with simpler minds.
“Maxson, can I ask you a quick question?”
“Huh? Sure, there’s nothing we really need to keep secret.”
“Good to know! So…”
I hypnotized him and asked.
“Why are you guys thieving?”
“Well… uh? Ah! The boss ordered us… We’ve followed the boss since we were kids.”
“So why did the boss tell you to start thieving?”
“Uh… because the village got completely wrecked, and we have no food or money…”
“So you guys are kidnapping innocent folks like me and locking them up? Planning on selling them as slaves?”
“Wait, huh…? Slaves…? No way we’re going that far! The boss definitely promised…”
Maxson started getting increasingly confused and then suddenly seemed to realize something and shook off my hypnosis.
“N-No way! The boss! The boss was tricked by those guys!”
“Those guys?”
What’s that now? When I asked, Maxson hurriedly grabbed a wooden bat hanging on the wall and shouted.
“Dark Mages! They blasted our boss with purple magic! Ever since then, we’ve… yeah! We’ve been brainwashed!”
He quickly picked up a key lying on a wooden box and threw it into the cage.
“Zech! Get out of there! Today is the day those dark mages are supposed to show up—”
“What the hell, who’s this guy?”
-Wham!
“Gah!”
“Maxson!”
A black tentacle came up behind poor Maxson and smacked him right at the nape of his neck.
-Thud.
“Run…”
“How’d he get free? I thought he was the dimmest of the bunch.”
“Maybe your spell wasn’t that strong after all?”
“You better watch it! Oh great, look, there’s two more captured over there. These guys are doing surprisingly well for their first time though?”
Stepping over the fallen Maxson, two men in black robes approached the cage.
“One looks like an average Joe… oh? That girl sleeping in the back looks pretty cute, huh? She’d fetch quite the price as a sacrifice.”
“How did someone like her even end up in a place like this? Hey, is she some high-ranking noble or something?”
“What’s there to be scared of? If we sacrifice these two, then we’ll be done!”
“Ah-ha!”
‘Crap, these are definitely some dangerous-looking dark mages.’
And it seems like they’re planning to sacrifice Rate and me.
One of the scrawny dark mages bent down to meet my gaze.
“Don’t worry, you’re going to become a precious sacrifice for our great master starting now. Consider it an honor to be his supply.”
‘This guy is insane.’
It’s my first time seeing dark mages and they’re crazier than I expected.
“…So, what exactly happens during this sacrifice?”
“Oh? Aren’t you a bold little brat? You look weaker than these thieves, but you’ve got some guts.”
The dark mage chuckled as if amused and pulled a book from his pocket.
“We’re going to extract all your negative feelings using this book. Things like anger, despair, sadness, and so on.”
“That book is…”
“Yes! This book is the ultimate Negative Extractor of our time! It’s called—”
Betrayer Hero & Support Disbandment!
“…”
These fools look more brain-dead than the fallen Maxson.
***
Time passed, and Maxson, who had fainted from the dark mage’s attack, slowly regained consciousness.
‘What happened… Ah! Zech!’
Coming to his senses, Maxson immediately grabbed the wooden bat that had fallen beside him and jumped up.
“You’re all gonna pay, dark mages—!”
But considering he had no idea what was going on, Maxson froze in place.
“W-Why can’t I feel any emotions?! Not even during the scene where Luka gets betrayed or Marcus gets kicked out! How come there’s no reaction at all?! Dammit!”
“I, I’m scared… they don’t look like humans…”
“Get a grip! We’re definitely gonna summon the great one back to this world and turn it upside down!”
“Not human…”
“Crap! We’re done for!”
“…?”
‘Wait, the dark mages are scared of Zech?’
What the heck are they doing?
Curiosity piqued, Maxson stealthily moved behind the dark mages and…
-Pow! Smack!
“Gak!”
“Agh!”
First up, he knocked down the two dark mages.
Maxson’s gaze turned to the book dropped by the dark mages, and as he realized something, he looked at Zech and said.
“Not human…”
“…No, I am human.”
***
“Phew… I feel like I can breathe again.”
After using the key to get out of the cage, that was my first thought.
“Zech, you really are human, right? How could you just sit there while watching the Betrayer Hero and Support Disbandment?”
“Come on, I told you I’m human.”
It’s just that watching something I wrote doesn’t really stir up any feelings.
“First, Maxson, do you have any way to tie these two up?”
“Oh, I’ll go grab some ropes.”
Maxson handed me some raggedy axe just in case and went outside.
“Hah… I can’t even swing this properly.”
I had swung swords a few times, but never an axe.
Ah well, that’s not what’s important.
‘This situation is way more complicated than I thought.’
A self-proclaimed hero had come to rescue me from the Imperial Palace, and while minding my own business, a gang of thieves showed up and took us captive.
But it turned out those thieves were brainwashed by dark mages, and those dark mages were trying to extract my negative feelings using my book.
…That’s so twisted.
Meeting these thieves was probably no coincidence either.
Rate had initially mentioned wanting to come with me when we first met.
What if Rate had purposely led me to encounter these thieves knowing they were under the dark mages’ thumb?
It’s suspicious whether that pigeon girl really had that big a plan or not, but denying it seems silly when all these coincidences keep piling up.
“The most direct way to get answers…”
Is to ask the person in charge, but Rate’s still out cold.
“Hah…”
I’m a writer, not Sherlock Holmes.
Maybe being locked up in the VIP room of the palace to just write would actually be better…
“Whoa!”
What’s wrong with me?
How could I even think such grotesque thoughts…
No matter how fancy it is to sleep on the best bed every night, eat the finest meals, bathe in the best baths, and chat with the stunning Second Princess Eve every now and then!
Even then, I still don’t want to write anymore!
‘The public’s attention is too overwhelming…!’
Was this how the number one S-rank hero in a comic, the bald-headed hero, felt?
Not doing much yet always being praised like a god is so freaking heavy.
Looking back, maybe this present situation is somehow better.
“Maxson! I brought the ropes!”
Just then Maxson arrived, so I hurried to tie the dark mages up-
“What the hell is going on here?”
Oh.
“Hah! B-boss!”
Why’s there a lady thief behind Maxson?
“…This little shit put a spell on Maxson! How dare you mess with him!”
“Wha-?! No, that’s not what—!”
“No matter how dumb Maxson is, he’s still like family to us!”
“No way, this little—!”
-Clang!
The lady thief’s dagger shot toward me.