14: A Cripple's plight

Seeing the man in such a horrifying and gruesome state, Defolta quickly rushed at him for the aid.

"Shit!" Defolta immediately unchained the shackles that bind the amputated man's arms to the wall, "Hold on, I'm here to help!!"

"You… you are not Matilda." The man said in a weak voice upon now having a closer look at the girl rescuing him, "Yet you donned the same garment that she wore."

"Ah, you mean this robe? Plucked straight right from her rotting corpse," Defolta clarified the man's confusion, earning an expression of astonishment from him.

"So, the Evil Witch is dead?" The man asked in bewilderment, and Defolta nodded in response, "I see. You have my… our eternal gratitude, lass."

"Save your gratitude when I finally free you all here from this miserable place." Defolta said, but the next word that came from the man instantly baffled her.

"No."

"No?" Confusion was apparent on Defolta's face, "What do you mean, no?"

"Lass, let me tell you something." Despair of the grim inevitable washed all over the man, "The darkness of this desolate place can dull a person's perception of the time, but I for one, kept track of the dark days that we spent right here, to at the very least, maintain a semblance of sanity in this decaying mind of mine, all with the hopes that maybe, maybe someone would take us away from this wretched nightmare that we are in."

"And here I am." Defolta said.

"Indeed, you are." The man smiled melancholily, "Every single day, we have been subjected to the Witch's self-serving experiments as our bodies were mangled and toyed with. Our lives were constantly subjected to her selfish whims, and she played us as if she was a God."

"That bitch!" Defolta clenched her fist in rage, "You can rest easy, knowing that she suffered a painful death in my hand."

"Then justice is served." The man's expression seemed to be at peace, "Ah, where are my manners? My name is Conrad. May I know your name, Witch Slayer?"

"Defolta." The girl introduced with her Magical Girl moniker.

"Well met, Defolta." Conrad greeted with the utmost of respect, "Under normal circumstances, I would have rewarded and treated you with a cup of tea. But alas, our predicament is not done here. As I have mentioned, I have been keeping track of the days of our agony, and it has been a year since we have last seen the sun."

"A year!!??" Defolta's mouth hanged in the open, "Fuck, then it's truly a miracle for you all to survive and still live."

"Heh, survive, yes." The man snickered darkly, "But live? Highly debatable."

"Debatable? I don't like what you are implying, Conrad."

"Is it really living when we are treated like animals by our fellow human being?"

"Don't go all philosophy on me. I'm here to save you all, and that's final." Defolta declared, but her conviction seemed to have fallen in deaf ears as Conrad still retained the hopeless look in his face.

"Lass, we are beyond salvation." The man said, his expression turning more aloof. To make matters worse, he also coughed blood, causing Defolta to swiftly react and retrieving a vial of Health Potion from her Inventory.

"No, lass, don't waste your precious supplies on a cripple like me." While touched by the gesture, Conrad nevertheless rejected her offer of help, "I have witnessed how the Witch would smile cruelly while she cut off my body to half, just because I failed to satisfy her urges and told me that my lower regions are wasted on someone who is a less of a man like me."

"That's fuck-up."

"Yes, but that's not all, and it was not the end of my suffering." Conrad said and gestured Defolta to look at the children's direction, "Those kids… back at the village, I run the orphanage and treated them as if they were my own flesh and blood. Matilda knew this and decided that her evil made no exceptions, not even to the poor innocent souls like them. She would… she would…"

"You don't have to continue if you don't want to." Defolta saw the discomfort in the man's demeanor, but he shook his head and insisted to continue.

"She would violate the children in full view for me to witness as she made a mockery of my manhood, saying that even a crippled child can bring her more pleasure than I can ever hope to."

It was Defolta's turn as she looked away from the man with discomfort and guilt. She may have gotten the gist first time around upon witnessing the children's comatose state when she entered the room. But to hear it in person? It was the very first time that Defolta wanted nothing more than to find and learn some kind of resurrection spell ASAP, cast it on Matilda, and murder the bitch repeatedly until not even her very soul is intact for the demons in hell to claim.

"Why, why are you telling me all of this?" Defolta could not help but wonder.

"Because I want you to see the gravity of the dilemma, the burden of the injustice that we are forced to shoulder." Conrad answered, his voice turning weaker, "I don't have much long in this world, and we have suffered long enough. For a cripple such as myself, death is the release that I have been longing for and is preferable over living like this like an empty shell."

"So, what are you saying?" Defolta's voice was shaking, and her resolve weakened, "You want me to kill you?"

Mind Check (22), Success.

Which was actually not the case and her mental strength managed to prevail in the end, albeit barely.

"Yes, while whatever shred of a dignity still remain in me." Conrad pleaded, "But before that, I want you to do something for me, call it my final wish before I face judgment in the afterlife."

As Defolta remained stunned while still processing her thoughts from Conrad's request, the next words from the man's bloodied mouth was about to break her every being.

"Before killing me, I want you to kill the children as well."

Mind Check (22)

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FAILED