I Was Called Incompetent ch.42

Weekly chapters (2/2)

What is cliffhanger?
Here is the continuation to satisfy your curiosity~

Enjoy.

Episode 42 : Malice

[Not here…?]

[Thi, this is definitely Mom’s room…so why…?]

Mom couldn’t even move around on her own now.
Don’t tell me… Horus-san…?

[Pardon Me, this Me did not look inside the bed…]

[It’s alright, Hades. Tia, do you know where your mother might be?]

[I-I don’t know… w-we should look for her…]

I had no idea at all.
Where in the world could Mom be…?

[Ah…]

[Nn? Something came to mind?]

[N. no… I still have no clue yet…]

Could it be at that place…?
Because I was gone, don’t tell me Horus-san forced Mom to take my place…!

[The basement… just maybe, I think…]

[Basement?]

[Whenever Horus-san wanted to use me as a medicine tester…and… when he felt the need to punish me, he’d always brought me to the basement. The basement is soundproof so no noise will leak out…]

[…I see. Alright, let’s head there. Tia, please guide us there. Hades, I think we still need your help here.]

[Leave it to this Me. Good grief…for this me to make such an amateur mistake earlier. Inexcusable.]

[Ah, don’t be too hard on yourself…]

[Rhode-sama, there does not seem to be any lookouts along the way.]

The moment we huddled together and Hades landed on top of Rhode-san’s head, all three of us immediately turned invisible.
If only I was not in direct contact with Rhode-san, I wouldn’t have noticed the others’ presence at all.
I knew they’re right there, but it’s weird because I couldn’t see them at all.

Rhode-san gave a little nudge to my shoulder.
This must be the signal to move out.
Wait for me… Mom…!

=====

Damn… it’s going into a bad direction.
Originally I planned to whisk Tia and her mother away unseen and keep them far from this mansion.
Now that I had to ask her to guide us further down the road, I don’t know whether she’ll be willing to simply escape.
It’d be good if she would listen to me…
But I had a bad feeling about this.

We passed by some lookouts along the way, but nobody noticed us.
Hades’ ability is indispensable for this kind of act after all.
I believe that he’ll continue to be a great help for us in the future.

Afterward, Tia guided us to the first basement floor.
The passage was made of stone bricks and there were several rooms on both sides of the passage.
It was slightly brighter than outside due to the torches hung on the wall, but the dim lighting only strengthened the impression that this is some sort of a prison.
There’s a slightly larger door at the end of the straight passage, and two men stood guard in front of it.
That must be what Tia referred to as the “Punishment Room”.

We couldn’t speak to each other now, so we headed back up to the ground floor first where the guards won’t be able to see us, then I poked Hades who had been sitting on top of my head.
He undid the invisibility so we started discussing the next plan, albeit quietly.

[Tia, is it through that door?]

[Yes… there is another passage behind that door, which leads to a room,]

[Rhode-sama, I will act as a decoy. I will pull the attention of the guards in this mansion and put them all to sleep at once. Rhode-sama should use Hades-sama’s ability to hide yourself and rush in while they are distracted.]

[I guess that’s one way to do it… Levi, you should cover up your face first.]

[Yes, with this cloth…un…like this?]

[…why are you tying the knot under your nose like that?]

[Eh, is this not how thieves usually cover their faces?]

I thought she was joking to ease the tension, but she seemed serious about it.
Is it really common sense?

[….I will contact you with a magic stone once we’re done.]

[As you wish. I will completely distract them… it shall be one of my best performances.]

[Yeah, I leave it to you…]

Levi’s grin made me feel uneasy, but let’s trust her.
Using Hades’ aid again, me and Tia turned invisible before going down the stairs again. We stuck ourselves as close to the wall as possible.
Levi came a short moment afterward.
It’s that kind of scenario where “the thief didn’t realize that there are guards here”.

[Nn… is she one of the maids…no she’s not!  Who are you!? ]

[Ah, I got caughtーtime to runー]

[Bastard, don’t run away!]

Levi left like the wind with the two guards chasing after her.
The dialogue was very icky… but at least it went well.
I poked Hades again to have him undo the invisibility.

[Thank you, Hades. I’ll definitely seek your aid again in the future. Until then, please think about something you wish to do]

[A wish, huh… very well. This Me shall think about it! Well then, Rhode-kun! And Tia too, be careful on your way.]

[Hades-san… thank you for your help.]

I undid the Materialization, turning Hades back into a helmet.
Putting aside the helmet for now, we stood right in front of the door.
The door seemed to be soundproof as I could hear nothing coming from inside.
That Horus must be inside.

[Mom…]

I tapped on Tia’s back gently while at the same time, used the power of Solomon on my left hand to help her calm down.
The time has come, if I have to say so myself.

[Tia, I’ll be going ahead on my own.]

[Eh, but…!]

[There may be more guards inside, and if that’s the case, it’ll be hard for me to fight them while also protecting you. Therefore, wear Hades and head outside. I’ll definitely save your mother.]

[….I understand]

[Count on me. Okay, let’s go.]

There was a hint of hesitation in Tia’s eyes when she received Hades from me.
But she wore the helmet and disappeared nonetheless, so after a while I steeled myself and used Solomon to unlock the door.

=====

Rhode-san unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open.
Creaak… the door opened slowly with a creaking noise. From the little opening, I could already hear Horus-san’s angry voice leaking out… and the sound of something being hit.

[Your! Daughter! She left you and ran away! ]

[Guh… kuh… igiihh…!]

I instantly ran in at that moment.

[Now! Eh, Tia!?]

I’m sorry, Rhode-san…
But in the end… I couldn’t just ignore Mom!

[Parent and child, both of you are trash!  Really… I had my eyes on you since the beginning, and yet you married that guy instead… That’s why he’s dead now. Because you betrayed my… feelings!]

Eh…?

[Guh…!? Wha, what do you mean…?]

[You fool… haven’t you noticed yet? That guy wasn’t sick or anything. There’s no such thing as Dausara syndrome. It’s all the poison I made. It gradually causes anyone who ingested it to lose bodily functions. Eventually you’ll die just like that guy.]

S-stop…

[Eh… oh…that…]

[It’s your own fault. Playing with my heart… that’s why I’m going to kill you! And your daughter will be next!]

Stop…!

[Aagh…!]

[Does it hurt? Feel my hatred for you and your daughter… you can blame her for running away. Both of you betrayed me all the same. But I’ll find your daughter eventually… she belongs to me after all… I’ll slap her, and slap her, slap her until she’s dead!!]

Stop it…!

[Aaaaghh!]

[If you die here, then she would never know. And she’ll be mine for the rest of her life. Besides, your daughter is an incompetent! She has nowhere else to go!]

I don’t like this… I don’t want to see this anymore…!

[No… Tia is not…an incompetent!]

[Shut up!]

[Guh! Ti, Tia is! My pride! Despite everything… she still loves me… she is the best daughter I could ever ask for! She is most definitely not an incompetent!!]

Mom… Mom!

[Even at the brink… you still dare to talk back to me!]

[Stooooop iiiiiiiiiiiiit!!]

[You!? You returned…?]

[Ti, Tia….? I’ll be just fine… so just…run away…]

M-M-Mom is… hurting… so full of scratches… guh… my head! My head, it’s hurting…!
W-why… Ihateit.
Why it has to be like this… IhateitIhateit.
What did we do to deserve this…… IhateitIhateit

I’ve had enough… IhateitIhateitIhateit… IhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateit!!!!

[U, uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!]

…die.
This person deserves to die.
He should be put to death no matter what.
He must… die!!

=====

[It’s like the wind…!]

Perhaps Tia had unknowingly cast her magic, but she marched past the short passage at a tremendous speed.
I was caught unprepared and now had to desperately chase after her.

When I arrived at the room, I saw Tia’s body was overflowing with an enormous amount of magic power.
Her overflowing magic power made the entire room glow pale yellow as lightning sparks started to crackle everywhere.
Judging from that and her terrifying expression, it’s obvious to me that Tia is trying to kill Horus.
This is… the power of Nature Magic…!

[Stop, Tia! You must n…!]

[Shut up and don’t get in my way! This guy shouldn’t be left alive! This guy isn’t human! This guy… this guy is… something this world doesn’t neeeeeeeed!!]

Damn! She lost herself to anger…!
Such a condensed magic power, she must be trying to cause that huge amount of magic power to explode here. 
Horus fell to his butt, stunned silly. Tia’s mother had lost consciousness, probably past her bodily limit already.
But Tia didn’t seem to notice this. She was too deep in her anger.

I called upon Solomon as I materialized him.
From his expression once he materialized, he’s already aware of the situation.

[Can Solomon transfer us outside!?]

[If it’s just everyone in this room, going outside should be possible!]

[Then please! If she explodes here, everyone in this mansion will die!]

[Gotcha!]

Solomon’s ring shone a brilliant light. There was a momentary darkness and we’re already thrown out of the mansion when I noticed.
I didn’t land well and ended up rolling on the ground for a bit, but I quickly got up and looked around.
I couldn’t see Solomon or Tia’s mother, but Horus was right behind me and… Tia was just a few meters away in front of me.

[Move away…!]

It’s probably the worst it can get.
She’s totally drunk in anger…
This is no good, Tia…!

[Tia… if you kill this guy now, you’ll be no different than him…!]

[I don’t care! I have to kill him at all cost… I NEED to kill him!]

[No… I won’t let you kill him. And I won’t let you kill anyone!]

[But why…? He killed my dad! And Mom is dying because of him too! You understand what he had done to me!? He robbed everything from me! Everything! And despite all that… you’ll still stop me!?]

[P-please save me! If it’s money I’ll pay you any a…]

[Shut the hell up!]

[Hiiii…!]

[I’ll do something about this guy. Tia… you must not dirty your hands with blood! Don’t get drunk by hatred!]

[I don’t care if I have to dirty myself… I won’t forgive him… kill kill kill kill kill… if you get in my way… then I’ll kill you too!]

A huge amount of magic power overflowed from Tia once more.
What’s with this amount of magic power…? No, I’m sure Tia has abundant magic power from the beginning.
The flow of magic that ran amok, I could almost feel her anger from it. 
It’s like her magic is responding to her feelings… Tia herself probably doesn’t know how she could use her magic now.

Right then, rain suddenly started trickling.
The sky which should’ve been clear with the beautiful view of the moon just a while ago was now covered by dark clouds before I knew it.
Could this also be… Tia’s power…?

[I’ll erase both of you all at once!]

As if I’ll let you…!
Somehow… I need to protect this girl!