Chapter 122 (1/2)

Volume 2

Chapter 101

『Money, what decides the value of people is how much money they have, only that.』

Once I understood what was going on, I noticed that this was the thing my father told me the most.

I don’t remember him saying one kind thing to me. However, that was enough as is. It was because my father was right in this thinking.

I bought the toys I wanted with money.

I crushed my enemies with money.

I got the beautiful woman I desired with money.

Yes, money could buy anything.

There was nothing you couldn’t get with money.

『But there are things you can’t get with money!』some would try to argue.

However, after being driven down with debt, and then chasing them for it after a while, they soon are crushed.

Then, in their final cries, they ask you for more money.

「P, please! Let me borrow some more! If I don’t get some, I can’t buy any drugs!」

Their deep-dug eyes in hollow, skinny cheeks, their body red and face an ugly color.

They have less value than the standard blacksmith you see in every town.

「Hah hah hah hah hah!! What, where is your 『But there are things you can’t get with money!』phrase you clung to so tightly a while ago, hmm? 」

「T, there’s really nothing like that! I already sold my wife and daughter! Please, I’m begging you! I need the drugs!」

He fell to his knees, and threw his face and pride down the dirt with his head down.

「Heh heh heh, hah hah hah hah hah!」

This guy yelling about love or whatever to me sold his wife and daughter as slaves as he got hooked on alcohol and drugs and now look at him.

I stepped on the top of the worthless man and then gave him my decision.

「Who the hell would lend money to trash like you?」

「Gyaa?」

「We’ll sell you to a slave trader, then maybe I’ll get something!」

I kicked the man’s face, and then turned back and sat in my chair.

He kept screaming until the last, but my employees finally got him out of the room.

「Sell him to a slaver! I don’t need him anymore.」

「As you wish.」

I told Fegner to pay off the wife and daughter’s slavery.

If you let someone fool around with others’ lives like that there’s nothing that can be done anymore.

「Heh heh heh, it is all about money. Money does everything.」

Even if there’s not enough money, there’s nothing money can’t buy.

Then, my father died, and I became head of this company.

I stacked, and stacked, and stacked up the money, because I wanted to stack the highest tower of money possible.

In this world, whoever stacks the highest amount of money is the winner.

That’s what I was born for.

That’s why, hero, you are my enemy.

Your knowledge came handy. However, your existence itself was hurting my beliefs.

Wanting to go back, back, back, I always think, looking down on this world, making me a fool.

Not obsessed with this world nor with its wealth.

It was a reality that all the power I collected would come to nothing. Just like the meaningless trash, not even fit to look at.

Insensitivitely not noticing even my anger at those actions.

An arrogance different than even the strong, a will that lets you be separate from this world’s money.

My heart was made to throw up the bitter mud over and over.

…Your disgusting desires, making me throw them up over and over.

Chasing me down again and again, mocking the power of money making me feel humiliated.

……………..

………….

………

Then, the day that I had saved for and long awaited came.

Finally the day of that scene arrived.

『Nda…what is this?! WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!?!?』

「Heh heh heh, hah hah hah hah hah hah!! Disgraceful, right? Hero! Thinking those pieces of trash important!? hah hah hah hah!!」

That pained scream of the hero sounded great in my ears.

I raised my voice in return while hitting my desk.

「Master Grond, that’s not good behavior.」

「As if I could watch this without laughing, Fegner, look, he’s a complete disgrace!」

We both watched the scene on a magic tool that an employee was holding.

「Heh heh heh, I wonder how he feels? hero, you were attacked by those completely changed children. Too bad for you.」

It felt so good it was unbearable.

Show me more of your despair, hero!

「Yes, good! This is too much pleasure!」

Finally, those employees of mine were killed by the hero, and at the same moment the image on the screen disappeared.

「You’re the one wrong here, hero. Heh heh heh, hah hah hah hah hah hah!!」

It all went as planned.

I didn’t want for all those little pieces of filth to be killed, but that image alone was enough.

No matter what, now the hero would rot away.

It’s true that he had great powers, different from the demon lord, but it wasn’t the strength of just one man.

Even more, that crazy hate the queen had for the hero meant that soon he would be dead.

「Well, from now it’s not the hero but the demon lord. Time for something nice to drink, hah hah hah hah hah hah!!」

The laugh from the bottom of my heart felt ravishingly good.

That puffed up hero, mocking my power of money.

It was so good I couldn’t take it.

Just like that, that whitish-ash covered memory replayed inside of me.

I know. This memory was no fake.

No, maybe it was fake, but it was strange not to think so, when your heart becomes unnecessarily stressed things get ambiguous.

Then, that guy that laughed crazily over and over and over and over, almost as if horrified, was looking down, laughing at me.

「I want to see you dance on my stage here! So let’s dance, dance, dance dancedancedance!

—and in the depths of your despair, you will go crazy and die.」

…it was the figure of that very same hero.

☆

「Stop laughing! Don’t laugh! Bastard, what are you trying to pull?! What memory is this?」

「Shut up, fatty.」

「Gwahh!?」

「You look disgusting, Grond.」

After kicking him over, he rolled over in a clumsy way.

His body was covered in sweat, and after tumbling through the woods like a crazy man he had mud and dirt all over him.

Today, in this place, I was going to make him feel pain ever so slowly.

His cheeks were sullen and his eyes were dug in just like he had some horrible disease.

He looked quite like the faces of those children in their final moments.

「Ah, ugh, you, you need to wipe that nasty smile off your face, you ass!」

「Don’t you chirp at me, this is how you should look, you fool!」

「Shut upshut upshutup, Answer me you bastard! What was that memory, what is all this?!

And I’m telling you to cut it out with that smile of yours!」

He lifted his pained face at me, and with his eyes rolled back until he could see me.

A cold wind rushed through the shrubs the same time he shouted at me, and then there was a silence almost like no human was there, waiting for me to speak.

「…revenge.」

Then, the hero whispered his response.

「…revenge?」

「Correct. You don’t need to know how or why. Just this, this place, with be a continuous rotting hell for you.」

Yes, this place, dark, cold, bitter, hot, a place covered in blood.

The wounds you caused here haven’t been healed, the children’s blood here still flows.

「Hah hah hah, revenge?! You’re making a big mistake, that was all because of your cowardice! You were the one that said 『Use your profits for the children.』so I just did what you told me to do, right?!」

Grond shouted at me without a trace of guilt in his voice.

I simply listened to what he said. I simply zipped my lip and kept my disgust to myself, and let him rattle on until my ear felt it was about to fall off.

「It’s because of your disdain for money that all this happened! Money is power, the power of money can overcome anyone, and since those orphans had no money anyway, that’s why they ended up like that!」

「…」

「Money decides value for people, it’s used for peace, right? Used to raise orphans, even? Who just throws their money away on orphans like I did, anyway? That’s why they ended up like that, throwing money around on trash like that, you’re the one that’s guilty!」

「…」

「You’re the bad one here, ONLY YOU! All the time, all the time, all the time, all the time, even though you have the means to make money, you had no interest nor any sign of it! I want to go back, want to go back, you say, as if the money here means nothing! What the hell?! Money is blood! Money is life!」

Glare, the fallen Grond was speaking as he looked up at me.

「…yeah, I know, just as you can’t understand me, I can’t understand the way you think…for all our lives.」

That’s why, to that screaming Grond, I told him how it was.

「It’s just as you said, Grond. All that dirty money you gather, it has no value to me. However, just relax Grond. If you don’t, well, if you don’t, that’s bad.」

Good, it seems he was a bit unrelaxed.

That money you cling onto, that you obsess over, if you didn’t do so the way you do, you’d have already lost hope completely.

That’s why your special show starts now.

I’m going to make you fall into the abyss of despair.

「Okay, this is your final stage, Grond!」

「Guwaaah! Let go of me!」

I pulled on Grond’s thinning hair and dragged him, right to the edge of this pit with raging fires around.

Grond was the target of revenge, and I, only the facilitator.

Since he wasn’t a seasoned warrior, he didn’t have the power to resist me.

「Agh, ugh」

I let go of him right in front of the hole.

There Minnalis and Shuria were waiting with their cold smiles.

「Who the hell are you?」

「Us? Our master’s accomplices?」

「Hey, you shouldn’t pay that much attention to us anyway. We’ll play a role every once in a while though.」

「Right, we’ve already prepared everything below. After this, you can have all the fun that you want.」

「What are you talking about? …I see, you bastards, you all set me up for this!」

「Heh? Now you get it? A little too late to notice now!」

「…you, I’ll have all you killed! You aaaaaaaaassholes! I’ll make you just like those kids! Gah!」

「Hey, Grond, what did you say?」

His thoughts moved a little quicker than his judgement, and he quickly cut off what he was saying, but a bit too late.

Without thinking, I stomped on Grond’s back again.

「Hey, what did you say you’d do to my accomplices again? Huh?」

「Guwaaaaahhh!!」

「Stop fooling around, Grond. I’m not going to let you or any of your guys touch anything of mine again. So just relax, and…」

「Master, please calm down, we were hoping to enjoy ourselves here.」

「If you keep doing that he’ll die. It all have been a waste.」

They grabbed my arm, and I came to my senses.

Then, I slowly pulled back the leg I had stomped him with.

「…ah…sorry.」

「Gah…cough, cough」

I had kicked Grond over and over again, and Grond now spat blood from his mouth.

His ribs had been broken and it damaged his organs, I bet.

I thought I could let myself go a little bit, but if I kept on like this he’d soon be dead.

(…Geez, I really got to control myself.)

I took a deep breath at my own stupidity and took out the 【Verdant Green Crystal Sword]and healed him.

「Ugh…ughhh…」

「Hey, don’t fall asleep! You think I’m going to let you?」

「ugh, ahahh!」

He was about to pass out, so I threw water in his face.

「Okay, let’s get started. This hole is your grave.」

I pulled off his shoes and picked him up by his throat.

「Aggh, guwaaahh!」

I used the 『Sky Walk』 to float him in the air, then he fell into the hole surrounded by burning fire and decorated by greenery.

There were two levels to the holes depth.

10 feet deep into the hole with fire and smoke rising all around was a square with the middle having five footholds, and then another 20 feet deep dug inside of that.

The bottom of the deeper hole was filled with water and there was a thinly constructed coarse iron grid fixed in one of the footholds there.

Grond fell on the middle foothold of the hole.

When he fell there was no injury, as I had used the 『Sky Step』 to drop him there.

Thinking about what came after made my legs quiver in excitement.

「agh…ugh, what, what are you going to do?」

Because of the fire all around him, the place was filled with a vicious heat.

「What, just a little game.」

「Wha?! Agh!」

As I said that, I dumped all the money he had brought into the watery hole.

「Agh!?」

Copper, Silver, Gold.

It all shimmered like a waterfall as thousands of large and small currency fell like an avalanche into the water hole.

「S…stop!!」

「Come on, this is your important money! You scrambled to get all you could, right?」

The sound of metal grinding echoed, as the metal grid now began to sink into the water.

As the loud sound ceased, the reflection from the fires struck the currency on the surface of the water and made it shimmer.

It was a scene that must have made Grond’s heart jolt.

However, the fun had only yet begun.

「You, you bastard…no better than a worm…」

「I told you right? You’re going to dance for me.」

Finally, the first part of this scene was over.

It must have been like a dream for him.

He probably had some hope now among all this despair.

That’s why, from now, I had to teach him what true despair meant.

「Come here.」

I floated to the ring around the hole.

Then came the properly seated Minnalis, and the cross-legged Shuria from the ground carrying a carpet with them.

In one place where the fire had stopped, we sat to watch the disheartened Grond.

I took out a water bottle from my bag and picked up the 【Water Spirit’s Droplet Blade].

I moved the stored water with the spirit blade, and made a water ball about two feet in diameter.

Then, I took another thing from my bag, a large leather bag with a special burned mark on the side.

「That, that’s…」

「Hah hah hah! Even though you said you’re only interested in money, you remember this mark, right?!」

Inside of the bag was a light blue colored drug.

It was the Ramune that the now crushed 『Slugs』used to make.

I loosened the bag, and poured all of the drug in the magical floating water ball.

It sloshed around the ball, and mixed in as a part of it.

The ball spun around in a beautiful blue color, as the flickering flame-light illuminated it.

「Hey Grond. This ramune, do you remember what the base ingredient for this is?」

I took one coin of gold out.

「The ingredient…? It’s the 『Quick Growth Drug』or several, no way that…」

「Yes, you’re right. It quickly raises your status, and then…」

Fwip, I tossed the gold coin into the middle of the water ball.

「…it’s such a strong erosion agent that it grinds any metal to dust.」

Whuzzzzh, a sound just like water quickly hitting a hot plate, a shimmering gold showed green flickers and bubbled as it crumbled to dust.

「Well, with something this dense only half of it would turn all that currency in the water to dust!」

「What? You! Bastard!」

「Yes, yes, but I can’t have you just insult me. Let’s have some fun, okay?」

I shrugged my shoulders as if to mock him.

「Well, now the game begins. This water can fall right into the middle, or…」

「No! Stop! That’s my money, right?!」

「Yes, that’s your money. And I’ll give you a chance. If you can drink up all this water, then I’ll do nothing to your money. If you drink all of this up, you won’t be able to prevent becoming addicted to this drug though, well, you won’t die right away. You might live for a year or so…」

「What the?!」

「On the other hand, if I do toss this then you can watch it happen from where you stand. All the money you own will break and crumble before your very eyes. It would be ironic to see all of it eroded into green bubbles and light, and then seeing you despair and the death of 『Businessman Grond』, I would let you live in that despair until you die.」

「Agh, agghhhhh!」

「The game’s ending is simple. Lose all your money, and turn into a low-life weakling, or suffer for a short time and keep all you money intact. Now the game starts, do your best, okay?!」

「?!」

「Okay, are you going to drink all this up?」

I made a quick smile, and then moved the ball to Grond so he could make the decision.

「Offngh, glup, glug.」

The water streamed quickly downwards with a splish and splash.

Grond unhesitatingly started to drink down the water. Of course, he couldn’t do it all at once, so the water spilled down his clothes and produced smoke as it touched the metal pieces on his garments.

「glug, glug, gasp!」

「Oh, you’re doing well! It must really hurt.」

The quick erosion of the metal on his garments burned Grond’s skin.

「Aghh, ugghhhh!」