3 bar menu

Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 143 Part 2

CHAPTER 143 PART 2

Iris then lightly twisted her hand.

With just that single movement, the wire that was entangled on her arm was severed with ease.

However, it seems to have succeeded in what I originally intended to do: turning Iris’s attention to us.

She did not seem to be paying any attention to that Adventurer anymore.

「What are you doing in a place like this anyway, Rein-san? If you don’t mind me asking?」

「We are conducting an investigation on a certain “Devil” that’s been getting more and more notoriety throughout this region as of late.」

「Oh my, what a great and grand task that is! So…… Did it pay off? Did you manage to find anything on that “Devil”?」

「Yes, I guess that you could say that. And we have found a way to re-seal it once and for all.」
「Nyah? Rein, seriously? But I thought that we didn’t…… MUUGH!?」

「Shhh!!! Shut up, you stupid cat!」

I saw Kanade trying to say something unnecessary behind my back, but Tanya covered her mouth with her own hand and managed to salvage the situation just in the nick of time.

I’m sorry Kanade, but honestly……

I’m grateful to Tanya for doing that. You could have ruined everything just now.

Of course, it was a big and fat lie that we have found a way to re-seal the Devil. Because we couldn’t actually find anything about it in the ruined village.

But if Iris is indeed that very same Devil and she was to believe my bluff, it was something that could be plausible and make sense.

「Hmm, I see. Incidentally, could you tell me…… The way in which the sealing process is done? It makes me really curious for some reason.」

「I most certainly could, but truth to be told, you should know way more about this than we do, right?」

「What do you mean by that?」

「…… Because you are the Devil that was sealed away there, aren’t you, Iris?」

「…… Yes, I suppose that’s correct.」

It was then that Iris actually admitted to being the Devil, just like that.

In all honesty, it was a bit of a letdown.

I was actually expecting her to try and cheat her way out of this, or to blow the matter off in some way or another……

But as we could see from the fact that she was showing herself off so openly, she might have arrived at the conclusion that there was no longer any need for her to actually hide that fact from the world.

「As I recall from our previous conversation, you said that you were looking for something, right?　So why are you here? Could you tell me?」

「Oh, that’s easy. That’s because I have found what I was looking for.」

「Can I ask you about what it was that you were looking for?」

「That’s even easier: the last survivors of the village they called Pagos. That’s what I was looking for.」

「And what are you going to do now that you have finally found them?」

「Well, I have long since decided on that matter as well.」

Smiling like a maniac, Iris then told us in a merciless and cold tone of voice.

「I’m going to kill them all. Every last one of them.」

「Ngh!」

「You see, the last time I visited that village, because of certain reasons I had to pull out before I was able to massacre everyone, but…… After I thought it over, I have come to realize that letting the job unfinished was a huge mistake on my part. So now I have come here to actually correct that mistake and clean up after my own mess.」

「Is this chick for real……!?」

Standing right next to me, I could clearly feel Ax’s voice was brimming with anger.

Well, it was not that I was unable to understand where that anger of his was coming from.

It would seem that Iris had no troubles with killing people en masse, and the matters of their lives and deaths were of no concern for her.

She didn’t seem to think that killing is wrong. In fact, she seemed to think that killing is the right thing to do.

So Ax was in the right to feel anger towards such a cold-hearted monster.

Actually…… I might have been the odd one here. Because for some strange reason, I was still feeling a kind of connection to Iris.

「I want to confirm something first, is that okay with you? …… You are the one who destroyed the Pagos village, right, Iris?」

「For a number of reasons, unfortunately, I couldn’t quite kill them all, but…… Yes, that’s right. It was me.」

「And all those recent murders in River’s End…… That was also your doing, correct?」

「I mean, there was so much trash just lying around in that town. So yes, that is also correct. It was me who decided to clean the place up and take out the trash little by little.」

「So there is no mistake about it. You are the one that the people around these parts dubbed as the “Devil”, Iris?」

「Why, yes. Yes, that’s right. I admit it. Guilty as charged.」

Giggling, Iris laughed.

「Now that you have confirmed all of those things for yourself, Rein-san…… Whatever it is that you are going to do? After all, I’m the enemy of humanity. But you already know that, right?」

「Yeah, I know, but, it’s just that……」

Somewhere in the back of my mind, there was a part of me that didn’t want to be hostile to Iris.

Why is that……?

「But let me be clear about something here. What I said to you back at River’s End, Rein-san, that was all true. I have a certain fondness for you, Rein-san, and I do find you to be mysterious and intriguing. Now, if I said that I am going to make an exception just for you and let you off the hook if you leave this place right away…… What would you do?」

「That’s certainly a nice offer but…… There is no way that I can just turn around and walk away from here, knowing full well what you are about to do.」

「I knew it. So, it has to be this way, huh?」

For a moment out there, I could see Iri’s expression changing slightly, looking somewhat lonely for a moment.
　
But just because it was for a single moment, I had no way of actually knowing if that expression was true, or if it was simply a tick that my mind was playing on me.

「I’d like to see you turn back if you can. You know that we can seal you away when push comes to shove, right?」

「Did you honestly expect me to believe such a lie?　I can assure you that you have no idea how to seal me away, Rein-san. Because if you did, you would have started to make all the necessary preparations for that process.」

「I knew that I couldn’t fool you, but I had to try…… It would have been a lot easier if you just backed off here.」

「I don’t see how that’s possible. I want to kill the humans. And you, Rein-san, you want to protect them alongside your comrades. So there’s only one answer to this situation, wouldn’t you agree?」

「Yeah……」

I wish I could do things differently, but……

That naive idea isn’t going to work here.

I’m going to have to make up my mind.

「…… What is the meaning of all this?」

「Arios?」

When I was finally about ready to make up my mind……

As if to further disrupt the scene, Arios appeared.

Arios stared at Iris with a somewhat mortified look on his face.