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Prologue: The Strange Book Says to Defeat Evil
In
short, the Strange Tome read as follows:
“To
Ashley, the Seventh Son of the Emperor: If you desire a future, dirty
your own hands. Become both judge and executioner yourself. Slaughter evil.
Carry out the justice you believe in. Continue your insatiable challenge.”
As
a self-proclaimed bookworm, I guarantee it: this is a genuine Strange Tome.
It was like a workbook packed with assignments, but its contents were far from
sanity.
To
use terms from another world, if you were to casually flip through the thin
pages of this Bunko paperback, countless unreasonable demands would
appear along with the fragrant scent of ink. Furthermore, the book emitted a
faint glow even in the dark night, silently asserting itself to the reader. I
looked over it one more time.
— Purge —
- 【Bury 1 Villain】
- Completion Reward: EXP 200 / Shovel LV
+1
- “Put an end to the breath of
evil. Acquire the courage to execute justice.”
Unbelievable.
This is nothing but incitement to murder... But what is even worse is the
reality that I am about to put it into action. It cannot be avoided anymore. I
have decided to do it.
That
is why I chose this moonless dark night. Hiding in a back alley of the Imperial
Capital's entertainment district with my Shovel, I simply waited
quietly for my target. An evil that deserved to be condemned.
“Hey,
you beggar bastard... Oi! I'm talking to you! Come on, I'll give you
something good, turn this way!”
...Got
one. Unfortunately, the target had taken the bait. In the darkness, a
dull-colored knife was thrust at me, faintly reflecting the pale light.
This
guy's name is Dags, a cold-blooded bandit who parasitizes the people of
the Imperial Capital. What a fool. Being threatened like this actually
causes my remaining guilt and hesitation to fade away.
“That's
a nice knife. But unfortunately, I'm completely hopeless with blades...”
“Hah...?
You... are pretty slow in the head, aren't you? Just take off your clothes, and
those shoes too, if you don't want to die—”
“Ah,
I know what comes next. Hand over everything I have to Dags-sama,
right?”
“Yo-You
bastard...! My name... are you the Military Police!?”
This
man is the worst. Even if I complied with his demands, the ending would be the
same: kill the victim to silence them, strip them bare, and take everything. He
is a crazy freak who cannot understand the risk of piling up murders in the Imperial
Capital.
Incidentally,
in the world within the book from another dimension, this type of person is
called a Serial Killer. A definition that doesn't exist in this world.
“No,
you're wrong. I'm bad with swords and spears, and of course, I have zero talent
for that knife of yours; I'm quite troubled by it.”
“You
weird bastard... No, just strip everything, if you don't want to die.”
“Why
don't you run away? You seem to have bought quite a lot of grudges.”
“Don't
talk stupid! There's no way a greenhorn like you could stand against Dags-sama,
you piece of shit!”
Reality
differs from books. Villains in reality are short-tempered and fickle, and they
especially love surprise attacks. The dull knife was pulled back slightly, then
immediately thrust out, aiming for my stomach.
A
hard sound rang out on my stomach—no, upon the brick paving stone I had
concealed. The paved road here was in the way of burying a villain, you see. I
took some distance from Dags the bandit and provoked him just in case,
to ensure he wouldn't run.
“One-pattern
trick, huh? Is that how you killed only old people and children by surprise?
You coward.”
“Then
you! I'm gonna kill you right now!!”
“That
won't happen.”
“Don't
get cocky, brat! I'll torture you slowly so you don't die—”
Dags's bravado didn't last. That was
because a misfortune he never imagined occurred. On the stone pavement of the
dark back alley, a large hole deeper than a person's height had been dug by
someone. Dags, having fallen into it, groaned and held his injured leg.
“Ugh...
Wh-What is this!?”
“It's
your grave. A man whose mother you killed, a mother whose child you killed—they
were weeping, wishing for your death.”
I
am hopeless with swords and spears. But I have pride in my handling of a Shovel.
As you guessed, I dug this hole. And now, following the demands of that book, I
will bury Dags the bandit. I have steeled myself, so I executed it.
“N-No
way... Wait, wait, cough cough, what are you doing!? D-Don't bury me!
S-St-Stop! Stop it! Stop iiit!! Hii! Y-You, m-monster!?”
“Curse
if you want to curse, from the bottom of a hole in the entertainment district
where no one will notice.”
Leave
the handling of a Shovel to me. In just over ten seconds, his curses and
pleas, everything, disappeared into the underground of the Imperial Capital.
I have no intention of pretending to be justice at this point. In fact, the
creature known as 'me' was a monster after all.
Born
as the Seventh Son of the Emperor, my birth was never celebrated.
Because I was born with Dragon Eyes and a White Arm. In other
words, a monster just ate a monster; it has nothing to do with those born
normally.
“Dags
the bandit, you were much more of a monster...”
Perhaps
because his breath finally stopped, the book in question began to emit a pale
light. I opened the small book with one hand and looked down at the previous
page.
— Purge —
- 【Bury 1 Villain】 (Completed)
- Completion Reward: EXP 200 / Shovel LV
+1 (Received)
- “Child of the Emperor with Dragon
Eyes, that was splendid.”
The
light emitted by the book flowed through my whole body and eventually vanished.
Not only that, the information on the fourth page was replaced by a strange
power, and a new objective was presented.
— Purge —
- 【Bury 3 Villains】
- Completion Reward: EXP 500 / Shovel LV
+1
- “You are strong. Go further
down the path you believe in, endlessly with me.”
This
thing is crazy. The book whispered to me to slaughter more of them. The
so-called Tome of the Evil Dragon I received from Evil Dragon Zirant
was wishing for a self-righteous justice from me.
“I
see...”
I
decided to test out what this Shovel LV +1 reward actually was. I thrust
the tip of the large excavation Shovel into the stone pavement that
shouldn't be diggable.
Crunch... with a hard sound, my Shovel
cut through the brick easily, like soft clay. This is amazing. My hobby of
excavating ruins seems like it will progress even further.
Evil Dragon Zirant, I suppose I will make the most of your power as well. Just so this deformed Prince, who doesn't know when he might be assassinated, can continue to live in this world.