Chapter 10 - Deathwish (3)

Nobody involved in the main scenario was ordinary, and few of them could boast nothing but good qualities. There were plenty of people best avoided at all costs, and this girl ranked near the top of that list.

Deathwish, Katya Heinkel Craven. A key figure whose role in the scenario rivaled Noel’s.

As for the traits he remembered: eccentric, fickle, self-destructive, and utterly willful. And for all that, her innate power was terrifyingly strong. Every ingredient was there to make the fallout catastrophically bad if things went wrong.

"..."

Given the direction the game’s story took, all its main characters were bound to get blood on their hands eventually. But across the different routes, the person standing before him was often the one who killed the most people.

She wasn’t inclined to indiscriminate murder, nor was she a piece of shit who enjoyed inflicting violence on innocents. But flip a certain switch, so to speak—touch her sore spot—and this girl would commit mass slaughter without batting an eye.

On the surface, she looked like a rich young lady taking a leisurely stroll without a care in the world. A deceptively docile time bomb, perhaps.

!! Side Quest !!

▶ Make contact with ‘Deathwish,’ Katya Heinkel Craven.

▶ Resolve the situation as peacefully as possible.

▶ Handling the current situation smoothly will greatly increase the target’s affection for you!

▶ Failure will result in penalties!

... And it wanted him to resolve things peacefully while tangled up with someone like her. As though something decidedly unpeaceful was guaranteed to happen.

The thought alone was horrifying, but now that this had appeared, he would have to stay sharp.

‘... A crisis could also be an opportunity.’

It could be, if he played his cards right. A huge increase in affection meant plenty of chances to copy skills, didn’t it?

"I’m bored."

They had been walking quietly together for quite some time when the girl suddenly spoke.

"Isn’t there anything we can do?"

"... I thought you asked me to keep you company for a chat. Didn’t you have something to say?"

"No?"

"..."

"I really only called you over because I was bored. I had something fun right in front of me, and you spoiled it, remember?"

Her smiling reply left Aiden speechless.

Seriously? She had plenty of questions she could ask. Why he had intervened, how he knew who she was—either topic could have sparked a lively conversation.

"Or would you like to entertain me yourself?"

"..."

"I can think of a few very nice ways to play with you. Want to hear—"

"Anything will do?"

Katya snickered as Aiden cut her off. By any standard, this was no way to treat royalty, but everything he knew about her suggested she didn’t care about that sort of thing.

She was blunt about everything. There was no need to go looking for hidden meanings.

"Anything’s fine."

"I have something to do. Follow me if you want."

With that, Aiden set off ahead of her. When Katya saw where he was headed, she snorted.

"A gun shop?"

You could get anything in the capital’s back alleys. Naturally, that included guns, which otherwise required a license that was hard to obtain, so long as you had the money.

"Is there any point to this?"

"I need one."

"Why?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"You can use supernatural powers."

"..."

How the hell did she know that?

Aiden gave her a look that conveyed exactly that. Katya tilted her head, immediately offering a sheepish answer.

"... That’s the sort of thing I can tell just by looking."

... There certainly was a lot she could tell just by looking.

That aside, explaining why he needed a gun was a little complicated. As Katya said, people who could wield supernatural powers had little reason to use firearms. But considering the particular trait Aiden had in mind, no tool suited him better than a gun.

["Supernatural powers become much more precise when given form like this. You can imbue your body with them, but using a weapon is more efficient."]

He remembered Noel explaining that before. Supernatural powers worked perfectly well on their own, but channeling them through a weapon multiplied their efficiency. A very simple concept.

For Aiden, who wielded several supernatural powers, that made choosing a little trickier. The weapon needed multiple components, and above all, it had to be something he could use without any combat training.

That ruled out traditional cold weapons such as swords and spears. He had no experience whatsoever with those things.

Naturally, that left the most suitable choice: a firearm. An easy-to-use weapon made up of multiple parts.

"Welcome!"

The gun shop’s owner was a friendly old man who greeted his customers warmly. Considering how menacing Aiden’s disguise was, his customer service deserved full marks.

"... Do you have a handgun a beginner could use?"

"Certainly. You’ll find them over here!"

His unfaltering courtesy in the face of a request so at odds with Aiden’s voice and appearance only reinforced that impression.

"I don’t see much point in buying one of these."

In contrast, Katya, who had trailed after him, peered around as she voiced some inexplicable dissatisfaction.

"Weapons are for killing people. These are for self-defense."

... Embarrassingly enough, that was exactly what Aiden wanted. But before he could explain as much, Katya was already acting on her complaints.

"Shopkeeper! Where are the cartridges?"

"Ah, you’ll find them in the drawers."

Whistling, Katya rummaged through the drawers and pulled out rounds that fit a handgun on display.

Nothing was particularly strange up to this point. It was all so normal that neither Aiden nor the owner thought anything of it.

"If you’d like to try it out, the backyard—"

The problem was that before he could finish, Katya had already aimed the loaded gun.

At her own head.

"Wait, miss—!"

Before the flustered shopkeeper could even get the words out, an earsplitting gunshot rang through the shop.

"..."

Aiden’s jaw dropped as the spent casing clattered across the floor. Divinity surrounded Katya, having flared up the instant she fired.

It looked exactly like the divinity Aiden had wielded before: flames that sensed danger to their user and moved on their own. The bullet had clearly melted without a trace upon touching their extreme heat.

"Even when I suppress it as much as I can, it flares up like this. So annoying."

With a faint chuckle, Katya set the smoking gun back on the display. Then she moved along it, picking up the guns one by one and repeating the process.

Pick it up. Load it. Aim it at her head and fire.

As though she were comparing them.

Aiden and the shopkeeper stood rigid as they watched her antics. Each bullet she fired continued to melt against the divinity surrounding her.

"Ah, there we go."

Naturally, the farther she went along the display, the larger the calibers became. Before long, Katya was pointing something better described as a hand cannon than a handgun at her head.

"I have a good feeling about this one."

After she spoke, the divinity that had easily stopped ordinary handgun rounds was pierced straight through. Apparently, a projectile of this caliber was too much for it.

But...

"..."

The blood drained from Aiden’s face as he watched what happened next.

Even with her head completely blown away, Katya was turning around as though nothing had happened.

Her face, pierced and pulverized by the bullet, squished back together like a doll molded out of clay. Filling the gaps was the same divinity that had automatically poured out when she was in danger a moment earlier.

As though it would not allow its wielder even death, as though it would not permit her to shed a single drop of blood, it regenerated the damage completely, leaving not a trace.

"Now this is usable firepower. You’d be better off buying something from here onward."

And the girl herself didn’t so much as blink, despite having just blown her own head apart. Her expression hadn’t changed in the slightest.

As though she truly couldn’t feel a thing.

"When I suppress my divinity as much as possible, it’s about as tough as a few layers of thin iron plate. A weapon needs to penetrate at least that much to be useful in combat, don’t you think?"

Aiden groaned inwardly as he looked at Katya, who was offering him the handgun with the same cheerful smile.

Intellectually, he knew the traits this girl possessed.

Painlessness. And something that went far beyond it: absence of sensation.

In exchange for wielding this absurd divinity, Katya Heinkel could feel no sensations whatsoever. Her divinity automatically erased anything capable of harming her, cutting off all external stimuli.

‘Seeing it in person, she’s a complete—’

Wasn’t she a monster?

Even though she had said herself that she was suppressing her power as much as possible, calling her effectively immortal would be no exaggeration. He could see why her role in the main story rivaled Noel’s.

And clearly, at least one other person vehemently agreed with that assessment.

CLICK

Aiden and Katya both turned toward the sound from the counter. The shopkeeper, deathly pale, was pointing a loaded gun at her.

"Get out of my shop."

"... It’s a little gruesome to watch, isn’t it? I’ll pay for every round I fired, so—"

Light flashed before Katya’s eyes as she spoke. Presumably, her divinity had erased the bullet the shopkeeper fired.

"I told you to get out, you fucking monster...!"

He forced out the words in a voice taut with tension. His trembling hands plainly showed that he wasn’t used to making threats like this either. Katya’s casual insanity had probably driven him into a half-panic.

But at the sight, the corners of her mouth stretched into a wide grin.

"Sure, I might seem a little strange."

On the surface, it was the same frivolous smile she always wore. But Aiden, well versed in reading people, immediately caught the difference.

Beneath that expression lurked killing intent so sharp it seemed to tear at his skin.

This girl was extraordinarily sensitive to other people’s hostility.

"But shooting me out of nowhere? That’s a little upsetting."

The moment Aiden saw Katya stride toward the counter as she spoke, a switch clicked in his head. His personal alarm, the one that went off whenever things reached a crisis.

It was much like what he had felt just before Noel was about to swing her sword at him.

If he stood by and did nothing, that man was in for a truly horrible fate.

!! Side Quest !!

▶ Make contact with ‘Deathwish,’ Katya Heinkel Craven.

▶ Resolve the situation as peacefully as possible.

▶ Handling the current situation smoothly will greatly increase the target’s affection for you!

▶ Failure will result in penalties!

And under the circumstances, that was absolutely not a development he welcomed.

Aiden groaned and clutched his head. This was already the second time since meeting this damned princess that someone might die unless he stepped in.

And at the very least, he wasn’t the sort of person who could shrug something like that off. Especially when he had the means to prevent it.

◈ Weaver of Fate

【 Katya Heinkel Craven 】

- Bond: Level 2

- You may copy 1 skill.

<Copied Skills>

◆ The First Vow

He hurriedly worked the familiar window he used whenever he copied a skill. Having already skimmed the available options once, choosing was easy.

The only way to stop Katya from doing something insane here and now was to divert her attention. He had no way of restraining her physically.

And the only way to soothe someone so fickle, eccentric, and willful was to pique her interest.

That settled which skill he would take.

- System Message

▶ Copying skill ‘Sacred Body’!

While Aiden worked the window, colorless flames rippled around Katya as she strode toward the counter. The blazing divinity took shape, honed into a blade aimed precisely at the man behind it.

She fired without hesitation.

The shopkeeper had gone beyond pale and was now turning purple. He looked as though he had foreseen his own fate.

"...?"

Then Katya’s eyebrows arched. Presumably, she had noticed Aiden throwing himself between them.

But her eyes immediately widened.

Probably because the blade of flame pierced the arm he had thrust out, and—

"That hurts!"

—even as he screamed, his arm was regenerating in a blaze of divinity.

It looked exactly like Katya herself regenerating her shattered head moments earlier.

▣

It hurt.

It hurt...!

◆ Sacred Body

Restores the body using The First Vow as its foundation. Its potency can be enhanced through the Rite of Vows.

◎ Requires the prerequisite skill ‘The First Vow’!

◎ ‘The First Vow’ has not been granted user-specific qualities. The ‘Sensory Block’ trait is removed. A penalty is applied.

◎ Only minor wounds can be healed!

Thanks to that, his arm was intact, but pain was still pain. Aiden clutched his arm and writhed wildly.

Needless to say, burning pain was the worst pain a person could experience. Having a blazing blade driven clean through one arm was agony beyond words.

In other words, his reaction was only natural.

But...

"..."

Katya watched him with horror in her eyes. As though she were seeing something that could not possibly exist.

"Mister...!"

While Katya stood frozen in a daze, Aiden groaned out a call toward the counter.

"Run, now...! Fuck, this hurts like hell...!"

Understanding him, the shopkeeper immediately turned and fled.

Thankfully, his stunt seemed to have been worth it. Katya clearly had not the slightest interest in the shopkeeper escaping.

"You’re just like me."

Her cheeks trembled. For once, her perpetually smiling face was badly contorted.

"Hey. Mr. Aiden. Answer me. That was my divinity, wasn’t it?"

Still tearing up from the agony, Aiden turned toward her blankly.

"Mr. Aiden?"

"Did you think that pathetic disguise would fool me? Never mind that. Answer me. What the hell was that?"

... Then she had approached him knowing exactly who he was from the start.

He had felt she knew a little too much about him, and meeting someone like her by chance had seemed far too convenient.

But rather than press her on that, Aiden merely sighed inwardly again. It wasn’t what mattered right now anyway.

"... That’s right."

There was no point in lying. She wasn’t an idiot; he couldn’t deceive her about something like this.

No, to be precise, he needed to deceive her about something else.

"You’re just like me."

"You can see for yourself."

"..."

Katya’s expression grew even stranger at his reply. The excitement in her gleaming eyes was obvious enough for even a fool to recognize.

"Then how on earth—"

"How can I feel pain?"

"..."

Katya went utterly still. Her eyes darted wildly, as though he had struck right at the heart of the matter.

Aiden knew why this girl went around casually shooting herself in the head.

To be born not merely unable to feel pain, but unable to feel anything, was a horrific curse. It meant going on and on without any stimulus, empty, living only because you couldn’t die.

She repeated those bizarre acts because she wanted to feel something, anything, however faint.

With that in mind, while part of her shock surely came from seeing Aiden use her exact ability, the greater reason was probably that he could possess it and still feel pain so vividly.

So...

"Want me to tell you?"

"..."

Katya’s body went rigid. He had unmistakably struck deep into her vulnerable spot.

As Aiden watched her, the switch in his head was still clicking away.

Things had erupted in an instant, and his solution had been improvised on the fly. But now that he had come this far, there was room to add one more thing.

Since it had come to this, shouldn’t he take every advantage he could get?

"If you want to know..."

In that respect, it was time to get back to his real profession.

Fraud. Lying to someone.

"Will you do me one favor?"

And turning that lie to his own advantage.

- System Message

▶ You have handled the Side Quest wisely.

▶ Target ‘Katya Heinkel’ takes a greater interest in you.

▶ Bond increases from Level 2 to Level 3.

▶ You gain 1 additional skill-copy opportunity!

▶ Related content is added to the Main Quest!

"..."

Aiden sighed in relief at the window that appeared.

One thing was certain: the feedback on his gains was wonderfully straightforward.