I Reincarnated as the Villain in an Eroge, But Before I Realized, I Became a Capture Target

Translator: Hasr11

Editor: Geli

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 14 (Part 2)

 This time as well, I took 15 days to complete the dungeon’s capture. The star fragment was a round, milky-white gem. I didn’t know this kind of gem was called, but it had a strange glow to it; when I held it in my hand, I could still sense its enormous mana.

 I hopped on the magic circle which led to the main hall and left the dungeon. It was just before dusk when I left. However, the sky was cloudy and overcast, and it looked like it was going to rain. I took a few steps forward, intending to get back to the inn before it started raining. But then I stopped.

 About ten people were standing in front of me. They were all wearing hoods to cover their hair, just like me.

 —I see. I guess there is no escaping the will of the world, after all.

“Nice to meet you, Abyss of the Dark,1 Zagan-dono. You have obtained the star fragment once more, haven’t you? As expected of an S-rank adventurer.”

“…Get out of my way. I’m tired. I have no intention to associate with hecklers.”

“Don’t say that. Why don’t you have a little chat with us? What? It won’t be a bad deal for you.”

“I’m not interested at all. You’re wasting your time. Get lost.”

“Well then, how about this?”

 The man who seemed to be the leader of the group took off his hood. Then the others took off their hoods one by one. What they bore was the noticeable trait of Dark Attribute users.

 The man in front of me had dark purple hair. The man and woman at his sides had the same deep purple hair. That was proof that they had considerable mana, even among those with the dark attribute.

 Oh, come to think of it, I had seen them before. They were the three who always appeared in the second half of Lumiere’s main storyline. Of course, they were only an illustration in the game then, but the features were the same. A middle-aged man as the leader, and a surly bespectacled man on his left. As well as a woman who wore a short hooded cape, and extremely revealing clothes.

 The others had purple hair too, though their shades varied in intensity.

“If the people coming out of the dungeon were to see you in this situation, they’d think you’re one of us. As an adventurer, wouldn’t that be a problem? You can try to run away if you want, but be warned that we’ll kill every last person in this city if you do.”

“…Alright. But I’m only going to listen to what you have to say.”

 When I acquiesced, the middle-aged man smirked and began walking. I had no choice but to follow behind him. But I did so only after slightly emitting an intimidating aura around me. I didn’t want them to think that I could be brought into the fold just because I had the same attribute as them.

 I was taken to an abandoned building on the outskirts of the city. It seemed that even in a prosperous metropolis, there were places that people avoided.

 Inside the building were nearly a hundred people, all possessing the dark attribute. All of them had hair with a considerably dark shade of purple. I see, so these people here were the sum of the fighting capability that the kingdom would be up against. If you considered those with light purple hair and children as civilians, then there were nearly 4 to 5 times more people than I’d expected in the Dark Organization. …These are all the people they have, huh.

“So what do you want from me?”

“To put it simply, we want you to be one of us. You also have the Dark Attribute, don’t you? Let’s destroy this country and build our own instead.”2

“No thanks. I’m not interested in such things at all. I’ve never harboured any hatred for this kingdom ever in my life.”

 The crowd buzzed. Whispers of “You’re lying” and “That’s impossible” echoed throughout the building.

“I’ve always lived alone in the Great Forest. I’ve been able to survive by myself since I was a child. And if I hide my hair, I can walk the streets as normal. You can also do the same.”

“I can’t bear the thought of living in secret, always hiding my presence!”

“That’s right! Why are we the only ones who have to go through this tragic fate? We’re also human!”

“All we want to do is pay them back for what they have done to us. What’s wrong with that?”

 I could hear sorrowful cries and protests coming from all around me.

 It was easy to understand why people were shouting about how unreasonable it was. I also had the dark attribute. No matter how much Luca invited me, I still had to capture the dungeon alone. I couldn’t accompany him on the way from one city to another, as I would be fighting monsters on the way.

“Hm. It seems that lately, you’ve been getting along quite well with the second prince, Luca Soleil.”

 We wouldn’t know when someone would be watching us when we’re together. If a person who possessed the Dark Attribute hung around someone of a different attribute, then it was obvious that people would complain even if this person was a prince. Despite it having nothing to do with them at all.

“Do you have a problem with that? Are you saying that I’m betraying you? We’ve never even been allies to begin with.”

“Wha-!? Don’t we have the same dark attribute!?”

“I just heard you say that we are all humans. Luca and I are also humans as well. We happened to meet in the dungeons, and then we also occasionally met at the adventurer’s guilds. And then we became friends. That’s all there is to it.”

“I see. Then, Zagan-dono, would you like to be our friend as well?”

“No thanks. I’m the type of person who finds communication with others tedious. He’s the only friend I need. Since you’ve finished your business, I’m going to go.”

 As I was about to leave, I sensed mana closing in from behind me. I instantly pulled out my dagger and cut off all the tentacles that were reaching for me. Too weak. If you couldn’t condense more mana, you’d never be able to catch me.

 But in the meantime, a number of people moved to block my path from the front, cutting off my escape.

“Do you really think you can escape from this many people?”

“You bastards, you plan to drag me along?”

 I unleashed a large amount of mana with a roar, intimidating the people around me. That itself forced more than half of the people in that place to its knees. I could hear groans and curses all around me, but I did not pay any attention to them.

“Have you ever thought about it…? Most of the people with the dark attribute are killed right after they are born.

“…I cannot deny that. Either they are killed right away, or they are abused and eventually die. Although some of them are protected by their parents, they are persecuted by the other parents and the people around them. You guys are saving those children as far as you can, right? That’s a wonderful thing.”

“If you know that, then don’t you want to change this country? Don’t you want to make this country a place where we can live happily?”

 Of course, if I could change it, I would.

 If Dark Attribute users weren’t being persecuted, then I could have had dinner together with my whole family. I could have been there to witness Noel growing up and the two of us, along with our mother, could have taken walks together. I could have even learnt magic from my father. As Luca’s senior, we might have trained together in magic. I was certain Luca and I could have explored many places together in our childhood.

 If I hadn’t been persecuted in that way, I could have spent my days with people of other attributes.

 That was why I had no desire to oppress anyone else.

“What are you going to do after you have defeated the king and destroyed the royal family? Are you going to persecute and enslave all the other attributes? Are you going to do the same thing those shitty people did, and become shitty yourselves? That’ll just make you a target for their hatred, and you’ll eventually be killed.”

 The man simply glared at me and didn’t say anything back. Of course, he couldn’t because I had told him the inevitable truth.

“How many people do you think are in the Kingdom of Soleil anyway? There are said to be over a hundred million people. Even if you could march into the castle and defeat the king, you will be quickly killed by the overwhelming numbers of the other attribute users.”

“…Yeah. This is why I want your strength. With you and the star fragments you have collected, we could easily bring down the royal castle.”

 I see. Even if I said this much, it was no use. This man must have witnessed the tragic fate of those with dark attribute too many times; he could only think of destroying the country.

“I’ll say it again, I don’t resent this country. I’m collecting the star fragments in order to purify the Lumiere and protect my country, not to destroy it.”

“It seems that our negotiations have fallen through. …That’s fine. We’ll withdraw quietly this time. At any rate, we have no way of winning against you with our current strength. I never thought you could render so many people immobile with just your bloodlust. Your hair must be darker than mine, after all.”

 He didn’t say it was jet black. I didn’t reply, as I had no intention of showing it, and this time I finally turned my back on them and left the ruins.

 I headed back to the inn. The sky was overcast and the rain was finally starting to fall. If I didn’t get to the inn soon, I would be soaked. But I couldn’t help but stop in my tracks. My rational mind was telling me that it was not too late, and that I should turn back.

 But my emotions didn’t want me to, and I couldn’t turn around. I had to go back, but my feet kept moving forward, albeit slowly.

 I had already reached a spot where there were more people around. Those without umbrellas were hurriedly making their way home.

 Shaa! The rain was growing heavier. My body was getting soaked. My hands and feet were slowly growing cold, and then my footsteps …stopped.

“What am I doing?”

 My self-derision leaked out. At my own stupidity. I was sure it was only for that moment just now. The only time I resisted the will of the world.

 That was why I had to kill him. That man. Because if I didn’t, he and the others there would kill the in-game Zagan.

 — Because they’re going to kill me in the future.

 After I captured the dungeon in Chapter 9, they were going to summon five dark dragons. Only those with the dark attribute could summon monsters by manipulating the miasma. Though it was impossible for one person to do so, if more than a hundred people with the dark attribute worked together to gather the miasma, they could even summon five dragons.

 Seeing those people made me think that this was actually possible. Even if the dragons were incredibly strong, it would be relatively easy to summon monsters with the same dark attribute.

 Truly, Dark Magic was terrifying. I completely realized then why the horrors of dark magic and the deadliness of its possessors were drummed into me by my father. I was a dark magic user myself, but I had believed that I had understood how dangerous it truly was up until now.

 No. Even if I had understood it properly, I couldn’t have killed that man.

 If it weren’t for that man, more dark attribute users would have died. Babies would have been killed right after birth. Children would have been abused and died in anguish. Thinking about those children made me sad, and that was why I admired that man who was trying to save them.

 But although he saved childen who had the dark attribute, he also killed and robbed those with other attributes nearby. Most of the unsolved murders that appeared in the newspapers were assassinations carried out by the dark organization.

 After all, they were a group of murderers. That was why it was easy for them to say they were going to kill the people in the city. Their plan was to break the seal on the evil god.

 The reason I couldn’t kill them was because of a more fundamental problem.

 …I had never killed anyone in my life.

 In my previous life, I was born in a peaceful Japan. I had a job as a systems engineer, and I was not at all concerned with the life and death of people. I had lived a normal life in peace. How could such a person take a life so easily?

 Even when I fought a monster for the first time, I was quite hesitant. The reason why I was able to defeat it was because it was a slime, which didn’t have a humanoid or animal appearance. Also, I knew that most of the monster’s body was composed of magical elements, and even if I killed it, all that would remain were magical stones and raw materials.

 Even when I was requested to be an escort at the adventurer’s guild or to take on bandits, I never killed anyone. Once I had restrained them with my tentacles and sealed their movements, it was over.

 I suddenly remembered what I had said to Noel before. ‘I can easily kill humans, it’s just that I don’t feel the need to.’ It was nothing but a bluff. There was no way I could easily kill anyone.

 But the result was this situation. Tens of thousands of people, including me, were going to die because I couldn’t kill a single person. Even if I wanted to resist, I knew from past experience that there was no way to escape the will of the world… the game’s scenario.

 — Absolute death was inevitable.

Hasr: After a small scale discord poll, I’ve decided to release full-length chappies July onwards~
P.S. We’re also teaching folks Japanese on our discord, feel free to join!

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32 minutes ago

I enjoy the rationality on why he couldn’t kill people. It’s not because he’s naive or anything, but anyone who never kills someone and has firm morality about that would hesitate to kill other even if theoretically it’s to saved your life.

Also poor the dark attributes tbh. It’s a tough situation. The dark organization only wants to save themselves, but in doing so, they hurt others. You can’t blame them for having this mentality, but that doesn’t meant mindlessly hurting innocents is the answer too, as Zagan mention.

Carina, wanderingfujoshi
Carina, wanderingfujoshi
2 years ago

Thanks for the chapter!

Cherry Boy
Cherry Boy
2 years ago

Thanks for the chapter!
Now we wait for Luca to come and comfort Zagan. Perhaps it will also lead to some fluff or borderline smutty stuff???

OHtheNovelty
OHtheNovelty
2 years ago

Thanks for the chapter!

misto713
misto713
2 years ago

oh my poor baby… 🙁

it’s a bit surprising that he never killed anyone, since he wqs so good at fighting the hero’s party, thr girls, into unconsciousness before. restraining takes more power and skill than a simple killing. oof. just how strong is he? is it possible that he’s even stronger than game!zagan? since he trained on powerful monsters rather than just murdering random civilians. i wonder if he could even take on those 5 dark dragons..

also, luca, you should come and comfort zagan!! zagan stands alone in the rain, that looks like a CG scene, luca should definitely be there to see it. maybe offer a solution or something to save dark attribute children so they don’t follow the crazy dark organisation.