Persuasion to The Point of Coercion

We went deeper into the [Demonic Forest] after I extracted what I needed to know from the captured soldiers and mercenaries. They gave me a few pieces of information. One of those pieces of information was the news about a famous summoner, Ruby, participating in the siege. From the information I got about Ruby, he didn't seem to be the type who would be moved by money or authority. So I assumed the reason must be Felis. He might have wanted to acquire the possession of Felis's contracted spirit. If I'm not wrong, Felis's contracted spirit has never been revealed to the public. But according to Mujina's information, Felis is rumoured to be contracted with a spirit king. And that must be the reason she had to leave the Amelia kingdom. And since even an information broker knew about it, I wasn't too surprised upon finding out that Ruby the summoner knew that too. Thus, I decided to use that information and that idiot called Ruby to prepare a trap to see the true face of Felis and Wind Cat. As for what that trap was, it was actually the barrier created by Girimekhala's cursed realm. Only us, Ruby, and his people were allowed to enter the barrier. And just like that, the stupid clown had played the drama in accordance with my script. As a gift for doing a good job in playing his role of a clown, I planned to honor Ruby-kun with being the test subject for several revolutionary torture methods. But before that could happen, he ended up getting burned to a crisp by the self-proclaimed maggot, Ifrit-kun. Well, that was just a trivial matter though. And just like that, for the sake of performance and dramatization, I suppressed my embarrassment and walked along the impromptu sword path prepared by Girimekhala. By the way, Anna, Faf, and Myu are currently house-sitting in another cursed realm of Girimekhala. Well, I asked Anna to take Faf and Myu for a walk around the forest in the cursed realm to kill some time. Anyhow, no one can infiltrate the cursed realm without Girimekhala's permission. So, I can do my job with fewer worries. 「The lead actress is asleep, eh? Wake her up! I need to talk to her.」 AD I spoke while looking at Girimekhala. 『Yes!』 Girimekhala nodded and clapped his hands. 「Munyaa… eh?」 The moment she woke up, the seemingly fifteen-year-old girl whose blonde hair was bundled to one side vigilantly looked at her surroundings. This person's name is Felis Loto Amelia. Despite her youthful appearance, the duchess is 30 years old. Good grief! No matter how youthful a woman can look, there should be a limit to everything. I've heard that she's the holder of another joke-like gift called [Itako*], which no one knows about. [TL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itako] 「My name is Kai Heineman, and I'm the temporary royal guard of Rosemary Loto Amelia. I came here to make a deal with you people.」 Everyone seemed to be relaxed after my introduction. 「A-Are you really… Kai Heineman?」 The tall and lanky white-haired old man with a beard asked without hesitation. His name is Lucas Gijidoor. He's the ex-captain of the knight order of the sorcery kingdom and the father of the strongest hunter, Isaac Gijidoor. 「Yes, my name is Kai Heineman. My apologies for putting you people through this test. The only one who passed this test is you, Lucas Gijidoor. As for the rest, well, they failed to get the passing mark.」 「WE FAILED YOU SAY!!」 AD Girimekhala's subordinates shot glances at Felis the moment she raised her voice in protest. That wannabe evil spirit who looked like a boy shrieked in fear. 「Yes. The reason being your choice. It was the worst possible choice. Every one of you had planned to offer your life force and make that evil spirit fight for you, right?」 Well, the fact that they were willingly offering their own lives—even if it was toward this malicious evil spirit—was enough for me to accept them though. 「E-Evil spirit, you say! He's the spirit king of earth, Titan, you know?」 「This fellow… is a spirit king?」 The evil spirit called Titan trembled non-stop upon receiving my gaze. It seems he didn't even put up a resistance. Good grief! How can a spirit king of the earth end up trembling non-stop as he kneels toward me, a human? Even the wannabe spirit king, Ifrit(now self-proclaimed maggot) had more guts than this boy over there. Really now! Things will get troublesome if all of those malicious, yet cowardly evil spirits start to call themselves spirit kings. 「Y-Yeah, just… what in the world… Forget about it! I can't even follow this anymore.」 Felis looked at Titan for an answer, yet she only ended up confused at the sight of the latter shrinking in fear as his line of sight matched mine. 「Well, let's put that trivial matter aside. I won't accept loser dogs who abandoned their duty and responsibilities to Rose's subordinate. Thus, here's my offer for you guys. First, gentlemen from Wind Cat. There are still around 900 people left among Count Ketzer's personnel. Show me how you're going to repel them! Naturally, I forbid you from borrowing Felis's and Lucas-dono's strength.」 「T-That's impossible!」 AD A black-haired girl, along with other Wind Cat's folks, shouted in protest. What should I do now? They seem to be severely lacking in self-confidence. These people's loser dog mentality is the worst. 「Kai Heineman! All of them lack combat experience! You cannot force them to fight those 900 people as it is!」 I heaved a sigh upon hearing Felis's reasoning. 「If you refuse, then we're going to withdraw from this place. Since that evil spirit over there is gonna lend a hand to you people, I guess he can pretty much curb-stomp those soldiers.」 「As if Rose is gonna permit such―」 「Hah, are you misunderstanding something here? I'm Rose's temporary royal guard, not even her subordinate. Why should I need her permission to do this?」 I again heaved a sigh upon seeing Felis glaring daggers at me while pouting. Then, I added, 「Now, listen to me. I'm the one to decide whether it's possible or not. You only have two choices. Will you accept my help and prove that you're capable of achieving the goal with your own hands. Or die a dog's death after giving your life force to that evil spirit over there. The choice is yours.」 They had two choices to decide their fates. 「B-But, Felis-sama and Lucas-sama are the only ones who can fight amongst u―」 「I've told you, right? it's not about possible or impossible. Are you going to do it or are you not?」 AD A black-haired girl stood up first among the people whose heads were already hung down in despair. She glared daggers at me as if I were her parent's enemy. 「These monsters are following you because you're strong, right?」 「I won't deny that.」 According to my analysis, my strength is supposed to be at the top of this world. 「Then, repelling those soldiers should be a simple matter for you!」 「Correct!」 Even if I'm incompetent, I won't lose against those mobs outside this cursed realm. That's the result of my training, after all. 「THEN WHY ARE YOU NOT DOING THAT!? THIS― THIS IS JUST BULLYING!」 「You seem to misunderstand me. Let me tell you in an easier way to understand. I have no duty or responsibility to save you guys. I'm not one of those kind and soft-hearted heroes from legends. And there's no reason for me to eliminate the pieces of trash outside.」 I carefully explained the matter to her. Although the black-haired girl looked like she was about to cry, she just sat back, crossed her arms, and looked away from me. The other folks also exchanged glances, but that was all. None of them dared to speak again. 「Don't proceed with the conversation at your convenience! As if I'm going allow my people to fight like this―」 AD Felis approached me with an angry expression, grabbed my collar, and looked into my eyes. 「Listen here! The kind of people I hate the most are those who give up on their lives with something like self-sacrifice, which sounds nice to the ears. Even if the situation is dire, don't give up on victory till the moment of your last breath.」 This is the first and most important sense of value that I cultivated in that dungeon. It's similar to tragedies or difficulties that all people in this world feel. Only those who never give up can achieve their goal. Naturally, nothing is smooth-sailing in this world. But, the true loser is the one who gives up. Those lazy bones are not worthy of receiving my help. Good grief! Seeing the current Felis made me remember the unpleasant memory of my weak self who easily gave up on everything just because I was labelled as incompetent. I grabbed Felis's hand, and then threw her down. Felis landed on her rear and was seemingly about to voice a complaint, but― 「Milady, Kai-dono is right in this regard.」 「Lucas, what are―」 「Let's trust Kai-dono for now. We'll get the chance to talk later.」 Lucas stopped Felis from trying to say whatever she wanted to say as if he wanted me to proceed with the talk. People who know their predicament truly are helpful in these situations. 「Felis, you're going to save Akinashi.」 「Me? Save Akinashi?」 She asked with a puzzled look on her face as her pretty eyebrows arched. Well, one will usually have the opposite reaction though. AD 「Yes, Akinashi is under attack from more than a thousand thieves. Their number surpasses that of the soldiers surrounding you guys. The situation over there is worse than here. Now, you can feel at ease knowing that you'll have an even harder time than your people.」 「N-No way… Why are there so many…」 After seeing Felis chew her thumb in frustration, I looked down on that evil spirit called Titan, who stood behind her. 「Oi, evil spirit.」 「Y-YES!」 「To be honest, the only end of an evil spirit who I find committing such atrocities is death. But, let me give you a chance to repent.」 It's not like I don't have a way to use this evil spirit. Maybe, I should put him in a boot camp like his acquaintance, Ifrit. 「From this point on, you have to pledge eternal, absolute obedience to Felis. And then, show me that you can pass this test along with Felis!」 And just like Ifrit, after this, I shall put him into Girimekhala's boot camp to train his rotten guts. 「…」 Titan stiffened, at loss for words, 『OI, EVIL SPIRIT! OUR SUPREME RULER IS TALKING TO YOU! GIVE YOUR ANSWER!』 AD One of the top brasses of Girimekhala's faction shouted at him. 「Y-YES SIIIIIIIIIIR!!」 Titan stood as he gave his answer. Next is that skeleton, but this one seems to be rather wise. Well, let's entrust both of them to Girimekhala. I looked at Wind Cat's folks, Lucas, and Felis, then, 「Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's showtime. Don't worry! The worst you can get is death. That's why let's enjoy this festival.」 I gave an encouragement that wouldn't reduce their worries.