The SSR Spearman (Doesn’t) Hide His One-Shot Damage - Chapter 4

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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 4

Blue mana began to ripple and gather around the Hero.

[A new Geas is being engraved onto the Hero’s soul!]

◈Geas◈
【Loyalty to the Enemy】
-You must obey Setanta absolutely. You cannot harm him, either directly or indirectly.
◆ Geas Effect: While carrying out the target’s orders, all stats increased by 25%.

“W-what… Setanta, what have you done to me!”

The Hero trembled violently and glared at me as if he meant to kill me, but.
As though something had blocked his path, he couldn’t lunge at me.

‘So the Action Compulsion privilege I used has taken shape as a Geas.’

【Geas】
-A soul-bound pact that grants abnormal power in exchange for binding yourself with restrictions.

Within this game’s system,
when a Hero swears a Geas, stat bonuses are added to them.
The harder the restriction you bind them with, the stronger the power granted.

‘So a Geas was originally a card meant to maximize a Hero’s abilities.’

And now it’s a slave-making machine?
Well, it’s not a bad way to use it.

“Setanta… Setanta! What on earth did you do? Why would you put a restriction like this on me…!”

Leash fitted. Done.
Now it’s time to input the Hero’s Behavior Pattern.

“Hero. I’m giving you your first command. No suicide. You survive no matter what. From now on, you are never allowed to die.”
“…!”

Suicide prevention.
I’ll carve the most important thing in first.

“And eat three proper meals a day. Don’t go showing off, and stay holed up in safe zones only.”
“Ugh… uuugh…!”
“No drinking or smoking. No overwork. At least seven hours of sleep a day. In bed before eleven at night.”
“….”
“Oh, and no fried food. Fish and chips? Forget it.”
“…nnngh…!”

For reference, the Empire is set up to have a rather horrifying food culture, much like those British bastards.
Taking away fried food on top of that makes me wonder what he’ll even eat, but?
The world can only turn properly if this guy stays healthy, so there’s no helping it.

[Due to the effect of Geas, 【Loyalty to the Enemy】, the Hero’s actions are restricted!]

‘Is this enough, I wonder?’

I’m reviewing whether there’s anything else I should add.
Thud!
The hero collapsed like he’d been knocked out cold.

‘Hm? Did he take too little of the potion before?’

Only now did I notice his legs, bent at grotesque angles, blood trickling steadily from them.
His hands and feet were cold as ice, too.

This is really…
He looks like a corpse that’s about to die.

“Kkrrrrk!”

Several demonic monsters that had climbed onto the roof in the meantime lunged at me, so I took their heads off.
If I stayed here any longer, the whole building would be buried under the monster swarm.

‘First, I need to find a potion shop and save the hero.’

The moment I braced against a spire rising from the roof and got to my feet, the Imperial Capital spread out before me in full view.

‘…The chapel is right over there. And that far one must be the potion shop.’

The imperial capital that had built its wealth on Magitech Engineering and colonial rule.
That dazzling city was being wrapped in a river of monsters, crumbling by the moment.

‘Thankfully, the Red Steam blanketing the capital has nearly dissipated. If I just avoid the low ground to the east, I should be fine.’

I readied myself to descend at once.
Every second counted.

.
.
.

With the limp hero slung over my shoulder, I leapt from rooftop to rooftop.

‘How much farther? Ah, there’s the smithy, so we’re almost there.’

Thud!
The moment I cleared the roof of the last building, my destination finally came into view.

“Kkrrrrr…”
“Krk, krr… KYAAAAK!”

As expected, the potion shop already had other customers waiting.

Bang, bang!
One monster, mouth gaping wide, was slamming its head against the window again and again.
The other three aimlessly paced in front of the shop.
They’d been touched by the Red Steam and were already mutating, but enough of their human forms remained that they looked all the more grotesque.

‘Should I finish them quickly and go in?’

I dropped down from the roof and landed lightly.
Swish!
A swing of my longsword from behind, and the heads of two monsters came off cleanly.

“Kkrrrrr…!”

Another one turned around, its creaking neck snapping as it did, and I cut it down as well.
The last one lunged at me the instant it saw me, so I drove my blade straight into the center of its forehead.

‘I need to farm and get out before it gets dark.’

I shoved the monster corpses littering the doorway out of the way and simply grabbed the handle and turned it.
Creeeak.
The sharp scent of medicinal herbs, tangled with the stench of blood, rolled out to greet me.

* * *

‘Huh? The shopkeeper’s dead?’

The moment I stepped inside, a fetid pool of blood welcomed me.
A body lay sprawled on the floor, blood pouring from a gaping hole in its chest.
The wound looked less like a monster’s work and more like a stab from a sharp blade.

‘In the original game, this character stayed alive the whole time… That’s strange.’

The blood still seeping out was warm, so it must have happened not long ago.

“Shopkeeper, I’m borrowing some potions!”

I leapt over the blood pool that sat in the middle of the shop like a pond,
pulled out a Health Potion in a hurry, and poured it into the Hero’s mouth.

[You have used a Health Potion on the Hero.]
[The Hero’s condition has stabilized.]

“Ugh…!”

The Hero let out a pained groan.
I spread the remaining potion evenly over the areas where his compound fractures had twisted his limbs.
Phew, I think the immediate danger is under control.

‘Still, I need an inventory to carry all these potions.’

Especially in the early stages of Hell Mode, Curse Resistance Potions are essential.
Because contact with the steam is what triggers the curse check that causes mutations to the body.

‘Oh, there’s something suitable right here.’

A leather belt slung over the corpse’s shoulder caught my eye. It seemed to be a matched set with a storage bag.

‘Mmm… Forgive me, shopkeeper.’

Splash, splash-
I walked straight into the blood pool, stripped the equipment off the body, and put it on.

[You have obtained a Belt-Fixed Storage Bag.]

Now I, too, had an inventory.

[Warning! – Immoral choices will lower the hero’s Good-Evil Value!]

I’d deal with the Good-Evil Value I’d lost later, by taking on a Good-Deed Quest to raise it back up.
For now, I rifled through the display shelves and stuffed as many potions as I could into the bag.
With no owner around, I didn’t have to pay for any of them, which I liked quite a bit.

‘Alright. I’ve saved the Hero and the early potion supply is going smoothly.’

So next up, recruiting party members?

‘The original work had something like Hero Gacha. I wonder if it applies in this world too?’

A limited-time, first-run-only Hero Gacha: three heroes.
Once you finish the Tutorial, Hero Gacha kicks in automatically.

[Heroes with whom you have formed a Fate bond will regard you favorably, and will be far more willing to join your Party.]

Of course, it isn’t like a gacha game where heroes are simply handed to you.
If their Trust Level drops, they’ll betray you, or stab the protagonist in the back.

‘Still, it’d be reassuring if a few decent performers showed up.’

I’d write off N-Rank outright and was hoping for just three R-grade units when—

‘Hm?’

A racket of footsteps came pounding from somewhere far off, growing closer and closer.
Bang!
The shop door flew open, and three adventurers came barreling in all at once.

“S-shut the door! Now!”
“Krrk, krrrrr—!”

Clattering and shoving the monsters that had followed them in, the adventurers slammed the door shut with a rough hand.
Then they dragged over every chair they could find and threw up a barricade.
They pulled off their cloaks and began draping them over the windows.

‘They’re blocking their sight so the monsters lose Aggro on them.’

Then, looking a little more closely—
all three of them were faces I knew.

‘Wait, don’t tell me those guys are…?’

My eyes snapped open with a jolt of delight.
I’d played this game over and over, so there was no way I wouldn’t recognize them.

‘The three R-grade Heroes, exactly like their illustrations in the game.’

Those were the ones who never failed to make it into my early-game Guide Party, thanks to their strong starting stats and solid all-round reliability.
Sure, they get outclassed by SR and SSR units in the midgame, but in an early stage like this, they’re exactly what I need.

‘Don’t tell me these guys came up in my first-run triple pull for the limited banner?’

[…Part of the Hero’s Trust Level has been inherited.]

Looks like today, I’m actually a little lucky.
I think I’m a little lucky.

“…That’s how it happened.”

After the trio discovered the potion shop owner’s corpse, they were horrified, so I walked them through everything that had happened in detail.
Running into these guys, whom I’d seen again and again in the game, under circumstances like this stirred something in me.

“Oh? So you only came across the body, is that it? Understood.”

Something feels off, though…
The atmosphere had turned strange.

“About that trade caravan contract we were going to fill in for. It’s safe to say it’s been canceled, right? Tch.”
“You mean the mercenaries who first made a fuss over the profit split, then backed out of the deal with some excuse about a sprained ankle?”
“Hah… And here I thought we’d land a sweet gig thanks to those idiots. What a joke.”

They ignored me and carried on among themselves, as if they were the only ones who knew what they were talking about.
As though I’d turned invisible.

“The Empire’s in ruins to begin with. How do we know the man footing the bill is even alive? Just forget about it.”
“….”
“And on top of that, we’ve got rotten luck… Tch.”

Then they turned their heads toward me, and the look in their eyes…
Carried plain contempt.

‘What now?’

I met their stares with a puzzled look.
James, the one who seemed to lead the group, strode straight up to me and asked,

“You speak with an Ailandish accent. Are you from Ailand?”
“Me? Well, I suppose so?”

Setanta, by the setting, was a native of Ailand, a colony of the Empire.
So I answered truthfully.

[James is wary of you.]

Somehow the mood had grown strange.
What’s going on?
Did I pick the wrong choice?

“Tell me, was the potion shop owner already dead when you got there?”
“Huh? Like I said earlier, he’d stopped breathing by the time I walked into the shop.”
“…But there was a wound on the corpse’s chest, as if he’d been run through by a sharp blade.”

Swish-
His gaze came to rest on my longsword.
Bloodstains I hadn’t wiped off clung thickly to the scabbard.
Of course, they weren’t human blood. It was the blood of a demonic monster.

[Mason is wary of you.]
[David is wary of you.]

[Warning! – Several heroes hold hostile feelings toward you.]

What?
Why are these guys suddenly acting like this?

[The heroes’ Trust Level toward you has dropped to a dangerous level.]

‘If they were summoned through my first Fate Summon, they should be friendly toward me, shouldn’t they?’

Is it really worth going this hostile over a single bloodied blade?
I was thoroughly baffled.

“In case you’re wondering, I should say this: this blood splattered on me while I was slaying demonic monsters.”
“….”
“If you still doubt me, feel free to touch it! The texture and color of blood differ subtly from a human’s, and—”
“…Why is there so much blood on your bag, when you’ve never been wounded?”
“Huh?”
“The belt and bag you’re carrying. Why are they soaked in blood?”

For a moment, a heavy silence settled over the place.

[Warning! — The Heroes harbor intense hostility toward you!]

What on earth…
What is this situation?

Then a thought flashed through my mind.

‘Wait, they said the bonds with the Heroes from the previous Run would be inherited.’

All my confusion dissolved at once.

‘Could it be that because I, Setanta, betrayed the Empire in the previous Run…?’

Is that why these Empire folk are so hostile toward me?
…Just like the Hero?
Did I tank my Trust Level into the negatives the moment I started?!

“We cannot overlook the atrocities of a murderer from Ailand.”

Shing—
James drew his axe.

“Wait, what are you—!”

Before I could even finish my words.
Whoosh!
The massive axe sliced through the empty air.

“…!”

If I hadn’t snapped my body back to dodge, my head would have been split clean in two.

“Damn it…!”

I put some distance between myself and James.
Then, just as I reached out to grab the Hero back—

“Do not lay a hand on our noble! You filthy thing!”
“…Huh?”

The other two swiftly gathered up the limp Hero and retreated into a corner.

“No, Charles is my party member! Hand him back this instant!”
“Get lost! From now on, he will travel with us!”

The pair propped up the Hero as though he were some lord they served.
Their eyes were full of a tender ache, as if they were gazing at something precious.
It was nothing like the rotten, fish-dead stares they had cast at me.

‘They treat me as an enemy, and yet they hold the Hero in such high regard?’

…Is this because of the Trust Level inherited from the previous Run?

I’m utterly dumbfounded.
Just as I stood there, staring blankly at the bastards.

KRA-A-ASH!

The building’s outer wall caved in.
Monsters in human-like forms began pouring through the gaps.

“Kkrrrrk…!”
“Kkrk, GRAAAAH-!”

‘Damn it, did the noise draw their aggro?’

In the chaos, one of the R-grade Heroes who had been supporting the Hero got pinned under the debris, thrashing and flailing both arms.

“Aaaaagh-!”
“Let go, let go of me! Get off, I said! Ah, AHHH!”

The other one must have had his trouser leg grabbed by the thrashing man.
He toppled right over, and the two Heroes ended up tangled together in a heap.

‘This is my chance!’

I’d rush over and snatch up the Hero before anyone could react.
…Snap!
One of the monsters’ jaws clamped down on nothing but empty air.

“Kkrrk, krk!”
“Ugh…”

Through the crumbled outer wall, the monsters were shoving their faces in, one after another.
This shop was about to come down on our heads.

‘I have to get out of here…!’

I hoisted the Hero onto my back.
Then, as I tried to pull myself up from among the tangled R-grade Heroes.

Thud!
…Thud!
……Thud!

“Die, you butcher-!”

James came charging at me, eyes bloodshot, swinging an axe.

“Huh?”

I twisted my body slightly and dodged with ease.

…Chunk!

With a dull, meaty sound.
Blood spurted up from below in a spattering burst and soaked one side of my face.

“….”
“….”

[Mason returns to the bosom of the Goddess.]
[David returns to the bosom of the Goddess…]

With a single swing of his axe, the two tangled bodies were cleaved apart at once.

“Wh-what…? Wha…?”

James stood there with the blood-soaked axe still in hand, trembling from head to toe.
The crushing weight of guilt had clearly stripped the color and sense from his face.

“I-I didn’t… I never meant for it to turn out like this…”
“…No, my Triple Pull?”

Limited first-run Gacha.
Just like that, both of those monsters vanished in one blow.

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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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