Chapter 6: I Gave My Family What They Deserved
There’s no mistake. A line of magical power runs between the Ashcroft family’s mansion and that swamp.
Damn it. I’ve been doing business here almost every day, and I didn’t notice it at all. How frustrating.
The flow of magical power is cleverly concealed.
I only figured it out because I traced it back from that swamp. If I had only been investigating the Royal Capital, I would never have found it.
I went to the Mage Guild.
And I reported the cursed swamp and its connection to the Ashcroft family.
The Mage Guild, which hadn’t been able to achieve any results until now, was quick to act once they got a hint.
They traced the magical power back from the swamp, just like I did, and re-examined the Ashcroft family’s mansion to see if there was anything there.
They stormed the mansion with the country’s guards.
As a result, they discovered evidence of torture in the basement.
My father and mother were dissecting kidnapped vagrants alive here to create curses.
If the mansion became the source of the curse, they would be found out immediately, so they used the earth veins to transmit it to the distant swamp.
They were increasing the damage from the curse near the Royal Capital, and then profiting by purifying it with Light Magic. It was a terrible self-serving scheme.
The guards tried to arrest my parents, but they resisted, so they were killed on the spot.
As evidence, the mansion itself was confiscated, and my surviving brother became a homeless orphan.
I heard the whole story from Count Aimers, and I felt a little ashamed.
It’s pathetic that I didn’t notice such Dark Attribute crimes were being committed in the house I lived in.
But it can’t be helped. I didn’t even know the basement existed, and it seems there was magic cast to block detection from the outside. And the connection to the swamp was through the ground.
Damn it. How frustrating.
“Hey, Akitooo!”
On the way back from the Mage Guild.
I was stopped on a deserted road, and when I turned around, my brother was there with bloodshot eyes.
“Hey, brother. Long time no see. How have you been?”
“Don’t screw with me! It’s because of you that Father and Mother… you killed them!”
“That’s not true. The guards killed them, right? And they were killed because they resisted arrest, so it’s like suicide.”
“No! If you hadn’t snitched, our whole family could have lived in peace!”
“I wasn’t included in that ‘whole family’ anyway.”
“Of course not! Someone with no talent for Light Magic can’t be a member of the Ashcroft family!”
“You seem to be very proud of Light Magic. But torturing people in the basement to make curses is Dark Attribute magic, right? You exiled me for using Dark Attribute, but you were doing that kind of thing behind the scenes. It’s ridiculous.”
“Shut up! To make the Ashcroft family prosper and pass on the talent for Light Magic to the future, some sacrifices are necessary!”
“So, that way of speaking means you knew about the basement, too.”
“Of course. I’m the heir. I’m different from you!”
Hmm.
So, he’s a criminal too.
“You’re the enemy of Father and Mother… you destroyed the Ashcroft family… die to atone for it!”
My brother fired a barrage of light arrows.
I swallowed them with darkness and made them disappear.
Well then.
This guy knew about his parents’ crimes, and he was even involved in them. And now, he tried to kill me.
There’s no reason to keep someone like that alive.
It pisses me off. It’s self-defense.
“Damn it! I won’t lose to the likes of you!”
My brother created a sword of light and came at me.
I spread darkness at his feet.
“W-what is this!?”
One of my brother’s feet sank into the darkness.
He seemed to be trying to pull it out in a panic, but with that level of strength, it’s absolutely impossible.
And from the darkness, black tentacles extended and wrapped around my brother’s body.
“Are you trying to drag me in and kill me…!”
“No. I’m going to strangle you to death and then drag you in.”
“G-gyah! A-aggh, h-help, p-please! G-gobyah!”
The tentacles compressed my brother.
The sound of bones breaking. The sound of flesh tearing.
Blood dripped, but it didn’t fall on the ground, it fell into the darkness, so no traces remained.
My brother’s corpse had become quite small. Along with that, the tentacles sank into the darkness, and that darkness disappeared at my will.
That’s what it means to be completely gone. My brother was gone. I don’t even know where that darkness leads. It’s not a convenient thing that I can put things in and take them out freely, it’s a one-way gate. I don’t think it’s a place where people can physically reach.
“So, the whole family is wiped out. I feel refreshed.”
A sense of liberation ran through my whole body.
I really hated the Ashcroft family, didn’t I?
“I won’t forgive you… I’ll kill you…”
“Huh? That’s my brother’s voice… I see, he died with hatred and pain, so he left a curse behind.”
A black lump the size of a fist was flying in front of me. Since he just died, my brother’s will remained.
A curse with a will. What you would call an Evil Spirit.
If this was someone with a strong mental fortitude, they would remain as an Evil Spirit for a long time, but this guy will soon become just a curse.
“I’ve absorbed a lot of ordinary curses, but what will happen if I absorb an Evil Spirit?”
I was curious, so I tried it.
I was able to do it as usual, but there was a slightly different sensation than before.
So, I decided to look it up in the library.
Hmm, hmm.
The absorbed Evil Spirit isn’t just usable as my own magical power. There seems to be magic to materialize it and control it as a servant.
I read that book carefully until closing time.
And then I went back to the inn and tried it.
“Oh, it came out, it came out.”
My brother’s Evil Spirit.
But the one I materialized didn’t have my brother’s features.
Its appearance was that of a black skeleton.
No, that’s good. I don’t want to see my brother’s face anymore. If it’s a skeleton, I won’t feel uncomfortable.
First, I moved the Evil Spirit’s limbs with my will and made it walk around the room.
Next, I gave it a verbal command.
“You are my servant. Now, dance and entertain me.”
If I give a command, it should move on its own, using the spirit’s memories from when it was alive, without me having to control it in detail.
“Ahaha. What a weird dance. My brother was a terrible dancer.”
After that, I had it lift things. I had it punch things and break them apart. I had it regenerate from a broken state.
Once the experiments were over, I released the skeleton’s materialization.
“If I torture and kill bad guys, I can increase the number of spirits I have. The number of bad guys in the world will decrease, and I’ll get stronger. It’s killing two birds with one stone. Tomorrow, I’ll go to the Adventurer’s Guild and look for information on bandit gangs.”
I find goals to accomplish one by one.
It’s just like Mizuha’s novel’s ‘Bucket List’.
Having goals makes everyday life more fulfilling. I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes with a very satisfied feeling.