The SSR Spearman (Doesn’t) Hide His One-Shot Damage - Chapter 39

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 39

* * *

James’s sudden appearance brought a brief silence over the scene.
Rian stared at him, dumbfounded, at a loss for words.

“…”

Then I spot Ailin, Hecate cradled in both arms, watching him with an expressionless face.

“S-Setanta? Is that… really you…?”

Using the three limbs he had left, James crawled toward me, dragging his body forward, his left arm torn clean off.

“P-please… take me with you too… Save me, save me…”

He seems unable to see anything at all in the darkness.
He appears to be gauging my position from nothing but the sound of my voice.

“Ah… ah, the two of you from Ailand, have you been well all this time…?”
“…”
“Our encounter in the Labyrinth last time was, was an encounter after all. Please… please look after me this time as well…?”

His servile face twists into a forced smile.
He strains his unfocused eyes wide toward where we stand, desperately, and the sight is like a corpse that has somehow started moving.

‘So when that giant red hand appeared, James got caught up along with the soldiers nearby.’

He was the first to run off screaming, and in the end this guy ended up trapped here as well.
What a pitiful, idiotic fool.

‘No, is there any reason to feel sorry for him?’

【An Eye for an Eye】
-Find those who took part in the attack on the Underground City and take your revenge!
◆ On quest completion: Gain 1 Player Point

I brought up the quest I had left unfinished during the last Labyrinth.

…Ding!

[The quest target is nearby.]

And right on cue, a quest notification surfaces.
The Great Mage’s System has very kindly pointed out the target of my revenge.
James, this bastard is the culprit.

‘Since we’re inside the Labyrinth right now, these are the ideal conditions for finishing off a revenge quest.’

Hmm, how should I handle this?
I glanced back at Rian and Ailin.

I’m certain because of the System notification, but…
My companions only have suspicion to go on.

‘If I go around killing people on my own like this, I’ll lose their trust in no time.’

This is the case when, in the original game, he handled things based on ‘facts only the player knows.’
There were often plot points where the heroes secretly rebelled, calling it unilateral action.

-I found a traitor and executed them on the spot, and the heroes’ trust level plummeted T_T Why is this happening?
└I’m so flustered. I killed them because they were a bad guy, and now the main party is preparing a coup. They say they can’t trust me (OP)
└Huh? Was there solid proof they were a traitor? Did you just stab them out of nowhere without your companions understanding?
└Ah… there’s no proof, but they’re definitely a traitor. I saw it in the guide (OP)
└lmaooo
└Think about it. If the leader suddenly skewers some random passerby with a sword, what would you think?
└Some crazy Gung Ye type who goes around slashing people based on his own mind-reading, sure, you’d think, wow, this guy’s lost his marbles.

That’s right.
What happens if you do something drastic like an ‘on-the-spot execution’ without sufficiently convincing the heroes?
The heroes’ trust level goes completely to pieces.
In the worst case, they’ll decide someone like you, a mentally unstable little freak, isn’t fit to lead, and stage a coup.

‘If an event like that happens… I’ll end up having to overhaul the main party, after all.’

Once trust and respect are lost, even once, they’re hard to win back.
I don’t want to shoulder that kind of risk.

‘Of course, right now, saying it’s the Great Mage’s revelation would probably pass well enough?’

But honestly, that’s a bit of a cheap trick.
It feels like a magic phrase that says ‘just follow what I say,’ that’s the problem.
And if I keep hiding behind the Great Mage every time, sooner or later they’ll start doubting my own words.

“Hmm…”

‘For now, should I take James out of the Nest first, then gently needle him little by little until he confesses?’

Just as I was mulling it over.

“Setanta-nim! This man betrayed a comrade who once tried to help him!”
“…Hm?”

Rian jabbed a finger at James and shouted.
Behind his wide-open gray eyes, some strange sense of righteous indignation was welling up.

“Back then, he used a knight who was looking out for him right up to the end as a shield, and ultimately got him killed! He’s untrustworthy!”

The gist of Rian’s argument was this.
When James finds himself in danger, he’s a villain who’ll use his own comrades to save his own skin.
Therefore, we must not let him into our party.

“Even back in that labyrinth, he kept clinging to Setanta-nim, and it was infuriating!”
“…Excuse me?”
“Setanta-nim’s side is ours by right! How dare someone who isn’t even one of our own!”
“Ah, right…”

…There seems to be quite a lot of personal feeling mixed in there.
Still, Rian’s point did hold some truth.

‘But if I just leave James here, the revenge quest won’t be completed, will it?’

Only once we personally put this guy to the sword will the quest finally be complete.

Hmm…
Should I just say the Great Mage told me everything this time, and expose this guy’s true nature outright?

I’d been agonizing over it for about three seconds.

“S-Setanta… I-I know who’s behind the attack on the Underground City!”
“…!”

James, who had been crawling on the floor, suddenly began to make a strange, strangled noise.

“I-if you spare me… I’ll tell you all who the bastard is! So please, please take me with you…”
“…Behind the attack on the Underground City, you say?”

Behind the attack? What on earth is he talking about?

Ailin and Rian also looked down at James, their eyes sharper than before.
Their expressions were half suspicion, half impatience.

‘This needs to be checked.’

I pressed a finger to my lips, signaling the others to keep quiet for a moment,
then took a single step toward James.

“James, what do you mean by that? Explain yourself properly.”
“That, that’s… First, if you’ll just spare my life…”
“Who is the mastermind?”
“I can’t tell you… not right now. If you spare me, then… then I will…”

James’s eyelids twitched.
His gaze was a tangle of abject servility and a raw craving to survive.
Could what he was saying possibly be true?

‘Should I use a privilege to read his mind?’

If I spent one Privilege Point and dug through James’s head, I could know for certain.
Whether this bastard was lying or telling the truth.
…And if it was the truth, then even who had planned the attack on the Underground City.

[Player Points currently held: 2p]

‘But I don’t have many points to spare right now.’

Besides, a mere rank-and-file member of the Imperial Knights, not a captain or vice-captain, claiming to know who masterminded and directed the attack on the Underground City from behind the scenes…
Honestly, the odds that he’s lying are far higher.
It could end with me wasting one precious Privilege Point for nothing.
It means I could just waste a precious Privilege Point for nothing and that’d be the end of it.

“S-Setanta… so please spare me… I’ve lost an arm too, and I can’t possibly get out of here alone…!”
“…”
“I’ll, I’ll definitely repay you…! My house… yes, my family! If it comes to it, I’ll sell my family too! Once we get out of here, I’ll make sure to repay you!”
“No, your family isn’t for sale, thank you very much…”

And on top of that, I’ve got a feeling.

This bastard James…
A hunch that he knows nothing worth knowing and is just babbling whatever comes to mind to stay alive.

“Hah…”

For now, I need to move us out of the nest.
Then I’ll think it through.

Snatch!
I scooped James up and hoisted him onto my left shoulder.

“James, sit still. And whatever you do, don’t scream.”
“I-I-thank you, th-thank… you…!”
“And keep that mouth shut, too.”

Hup.
Just like that, Patroclus with no right arm, Achilles with a foot gone, and James with his left arm sliced off were piled onto my shoulders one after another.
A three-layer hamburger patty, complete.

“Let’s get out of this Nest first. We can think things through once we’re somewhere brighter.”
“…Setanta, are you all right?”

Just then, Ailin spoke to me.
Her expression was hard to read, a little enigmatic.

“Oh, I’ve got plenty of strength. I can carry three of them with no trouble at all. Just Hecate, though, if you would.”
“…No, that’s not what I was asking. Still, I’m glad to hear you’re fine.”
“…?”

We retraced our steps, heading back the way we had come.
All the way to the Nest, I had been scraping marks into the Labyrinth floor, so the trip back was relatively easy.

* * *

‘Finally, I can breathe a little.’

The moment we left the Nest, the thick darkness lifted, and it felt as though my vision had finally cleared.
I also gently set down the Scorpion’s Poison Needle I had brought along just in case.

“Let’s rest here for a bit before we go. We’ll wait until Hecate wakes up.”

Thud!
I set down the three men, each one missing a limb, onto the Labyrinth floor.

“Huff, hah.”

The moment he touched the ground, James scrambled away on three limbs like a cockroach, flailing in a panic.
Patroclus and Achilles still seemed not to have come to their senses.

“….”

Before long, Ailin carefully laid Hecate down.
Her silver Prosthetic Arm patted at Hecate’s forearm, pat-pat.
It was the gentleness of someone tending to a child.

“Setanta, the temporary Barrier is complete! From the localized area we’re in, no light or sound will leak out from here on.”
“Oh.”

Meanwhile, Rian announced that the sound-blocking Barrier was finished.

“Thank you. It makes me feel much safer, which is very good.”

I lined up the three unconscious members of the Rom Federation side by side and sat down on the cold stone floor.
Then I stole a glance at James.

…Tk, tk, tk.

James’s mental pain symptoms seemed to have flared up again; his eyes couldn’t stay still for a moment, and his teeth were chattering.
He clutched his one remaining hand desperately around his severed left arm.

‘Hmm, if I prod at it a little here… shall I start the quest?’

Now, how do I make him confess?
I was still turning it over when—

“…So you’ve soundproofed the room. That means if anyone screams in here, nobody will hear it, I take it?”
“…?”

Ailin suddenly spoke up.
Her smiling eyes lingered on me for a moment before drifting over to James.

“James, was it? A pleasure. I have a great many things I’d like to ask you.”

A gentle smile.
Clear, transparent eyes.
The fresh, innocent face she must have worn before the Underground City fell…
She was fixing her gaze on James.

“Oh, but we should introduce ourselves first. I’m Erin. Do call me Erin.”

Just like the way she had gazed at the Imperial Knights who had died in a row, skewered on spikes.
Her delight was plain to see.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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