The greater evil (2)

"The greater evil, huh? Well that's quite arrogant of you little boy"

"I personally think such arrogance is normal considering I just massacred your entire band of friends"

"I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you. Those fools are nothing more than cannon fodders that I picked up from the street. Technically speaking, you just killed a bunch of hungry beggars from the slums, not real fighters"

Saying this, he returned his sword back to its sheath and shifted to a stance. The sword that he was using was a katana that had a black hue and was clearly enhanced by magic. Based on his attack earlier, it doesn't really take much to guess that someone like him is from a specific country all the way from the east...

I've heard that the magic spells and swordsmanship styles are a bit different out there, so I'm starting to be a bit excited to see what he has in store...

"You might be a bit skilled at magic, but in the end, you're just a boy. I'll show you how real adults fight!"

With a smile plastered on his face, he draws his sword and vanished from my sight. From the looks of it, what he did wasn't really superspeed...It's more of-...

"Teleportation?"

"You got that right"

I heard a voice from behind and a blade is brought down to my neck. It was quite strong, and I definitely felt the power behind it. If it was my sister, then she would've had a bit of a problem with this...

But that's not really saying much, considering that she'll probably grow way stronger after a few years

"W-What? How in the-"

The man clicked his tongue as he vanished once more. Before I knew it, I was hit with a barrage of slices from all directions. Just when I think that he's behind me, he turns up in a completely opposite direction. I'll give him points for being flashy, but in terms of efficiency, he's really failing it...

"I really wonder why people won't realize that their slashes won't work after the third time they went at me and still didn't do a thing..."

"Tch, damn it! What the hell is with you?! Magic barriers of caster-type mages shouldn't be this bloody hard!"

"I see you've had your fair share of battles. But stereotyping is dangerous, you weapon-type mages aren't the only ones who can exceed in durability"

"Tsk, damn you!"

The bandit shouted as he intensified his attacks. I was honestly getting a bit dizzy after a while so I pointed my finger in a direction that I had expected he would teleport to, and cast-

"[Quicksand]"

"W-Wha how did you..."

"After seeing it a thousand times, I think a monkey would've realized that you could only teleport at the opposite direction of someone"

The bandit seems surprised at the fact that he landed on sinking ground. He struggled to get out, and before he could have the chance to teleport once again, I quickly cast another spell

"[Mummified holders] Pull him down"

Emerging from the sand were humanoid figures wrapped in bandages. Their eyes were pure crimson, and their body was engraved with runes that emitted the color purple once they grabbed hold of the man. Once he was in their tight grasp, they began to slowly sink the man down to the quicksand

"This is...An anti-teleportation spell?! How the hell can a brat like you pull something this complex?!"

"Just lucky, I guess. Now then, it seems that your little hit-and-run tactic is all you've got so we might as well end our little charade here. I was kind of disappointed really, I expected someone from the Tengoku alliance to show me something new, but your fighting style is worse than ours"

"Shut up! I'll kill you, you little shit!"

"Ohoho, I really do love dogs that can bark. Why don't you also be a good little boy and tell me where you stash your cash? I might let you live if you do so"

"Piss off, I know you'll just kill me anyway so you might as well just do that or I swear I'll cut your head off once I'm free from this!"

"Is that so? Hmmm, then why don't we ask your little friends here"

I walked toward a cargo box that was suspiciously hidden outside their camp. After opening it, I was immediately greeted by three beautiful women who had their naked body laid bare for my eyes to see...Not bad...

Oh, and one of them also tried to stab me with a dagger, but that isn't really important

I restrained all three of them with my magic and dragged them toward the man by pulling their hair

"I thought that they were nothing but your whores at first, but the fact that you went through the trouble of hiding them from danger when I first attacked is honestly sweet. So my guess is, all three of them are your wives? Or is it something like that?..."

"Yato...help..."

"You bastard!"

"Oh, so your name is Yato? That's a cool name, I kinda like it. It gives off a feeling of...epicness and heroism. But well, we can talk about names some other time, let's talk business first"

I grabbed one of his little girlfriends by her head and pointed my wand at her

"Tell me where you keep your loot, or I'll turn her into mincemeat"

"Please! W-We don't have anything!" One of the girls screamed at me as they begged

"Bullshit, there's like thirty of you guys out here, you seriously I'll believe that?"

"Stop! O-Okay, we do have some cash, but it's for us to start a new family! P-Please, if we lose that money then we'll die in the winter..."

One of the girls explained as she crawled to my feet and gave me the puppy eyes

"Hm? Wait a minute...Family? Are you perhaps ..."

I focused my magic and began to scan their bellies. And would you look at that, they really do plan to start a family! Oh, and one of them has twins too. Awww, that's pretty sweet

"Well, congratulations. You sure are one greedy little devil, Yato. Family bonds are important, and so is money, but unlike money, you can never replace your loved ones...so if you want this future family of yours to live then give me the loot"

I began to focus a bit of magic on my wand which caused everyone to panic

"Hic...Please no..."

"You monster!"

"You're inhuman!"

"I swear to god I'll kill you-!"

"Ahaha, music to my ears~ But look, I don't really like asking the same questions. So this is your last warning, give me all the goods and live or I'll kill all of your women and just look for it myself, it's your choice really"

I intensified that build-up of magic on my wand which made Yato's expression all the more terrified

"Alright, Alright! I'll tell you, just please put the wand down!"

I obliged his request to which he lets out a sigh of relief

"Now, where is it?"

"I-It's at the center of our camp. Underneath the big table over there, you'll see a trapdoor...the loot is inside there"

"That isn't so hard now is it? By the way, did you wire it with traps or anything like that? Because if I go there and it explodes, I swear to god I'll torture every last one of your little wives"

"N-No, there isn't anything like that"

"Good"

With a smile on my face, I proceeded to the spot that he was talking about and ripped the trapdoor open. What greeted me was a massive sack filled with a lot of gold coins. To be honest, something like this is pocket change for our family but it's still quite a lot so I might as well take it

I also took the other stuff around that looked like treasure and went back to them

Their faces turned pale as they watch me carry all of their life savings. One of them even began crying which is honestly the icing on the cake

"Thank you so much for your generosity. Have a good night folks"

I turned around and proceeded to look for those ruins...

Oh wait, since I'm still here...

"Hey, do you guys know anything here about an ancient ruin with a deadly dragon lurking on it?"

All of the girls turned to Yato who seemed to hesitate for a moment but continued anyway once I brought out my wand again

"I-I'm not sure about this, but some folks that we robbed earlier were talking about stories on how they saw a dragon fly above them. I-I think it was somewhere around the northern part of the forest, just below a cliff"

The northern area huh?...True, I haven't really searched that part yet so I might as well go there

And more importantly, something that he said really interested me

"Robbed, huh?...Yato, would you consider yourself to be a good man?"

"Good?...I've lived the life of a bandit, so I guess not"

"B-But he's trying to change! He's been getting kinder recently, and we were even thinking about quitting our gang once we had the money..." One of the women explained before turning to me with a glare

"Hehe, you sure have supportive wives there. But I think you're right, I think you've been a sinful man, living a life of crime and plundering the goods and lives of people as you go about. In a way, I suppose I'm the same as you...I never really liked the idea of living a life of virtue..."

I walked closer to Yato once more and looked at him directly in his eyes

"We are scumbags, Yato. There's no doubt about it. We choose to live our lives on other people's suffering and we enjoy it. Do you know how many people you've killed, Yato? Of course you don't, because we were all too focused on the thrill of it. But all fun things end someday, and once it does, we will all pay for our choices"

"W-What are you-"

"And there will always be someone who'll make us pay for our sins. Always remember that"

Silence dawned upon us, and after a while, I merely stood up and began walking toward the northern part of the forest...

"...."

The forest seems to be empty, with only the sounds of my footsteps could be heard

"...."

They held their breaths as they watch me fade into the distance

"...."

Praying to their gods that they would finally be safe

"...."

But unfortunately for them, the gods don't answer the prayers of sinners like us

"...[Combust]..."

Once I cast the spell, I didn't even need to look back. The sound of flesh exploding, followed by Yato screaming at the top of his lungs was all I needed to hear. I continued to walk silently towards the north while humming a tune to sooth my ears, but even after I reached a certain distance I could still hear his howls overpowering any other sound...

If you choose to live a life of evil then you should always know...

There are no good endings for us