“Kukuku… Don’t get carried away just because you’re a little skilled with magic. We are the assassination guild, the Dark——— Guh!”
“K-Kisama! Don’t underestimate the assassination guild! Thanks to the secret elixir of poppy juice, we cannot feel the fear of death gopah!”
“K-Kill them——! Everyone, charge gyah!”
I couldn’t help but laugh at how the trash kept coming out one after another.
It was like pouring boiling water on an anthill.
While maintaining an invisible erasure field of Deletion Magic, I was enjoying afternoon tea near the exit of the slums.
“Wow… they’re dying one after another,” Ada commented as she gazed at the dying trash.
“Hm? Does this bother you?”
“No, everything Lord Exus does is absolutely right.”
“Ada, it’s okay, you can voice your opinions to me. Even I can make mistakes sometimes.”
“But aren’t you doing the right thing this time? I don’t know much about this slum or whatever, but occupying land illegally is a crime.”
“Well, yeah, but what about pushing a moral argument?”
“If you want to talk about morals, shouldn’t it be the government’s responsibility for letting such a large slum go unchecked?”
“That’s… a very good point.”
With that conversation, I continued to sip my tea, watching the fools die in front of me.
Still… my palate is like a child’s.
I find Assam milk tea tastier than Earl Grey.
Not that this world has anyone named Grey or a place called India, though.
This is merely a recreation based on my memories, so whether the taste is authentic or not remains unclear.
As I sipped on the hot milk tea under the chilly autumn sky, I thought about how content I felt.
“Wa-Wait! If we’re kicked out of here, we’ve got nowhere else to go!”
Among the beggars, there were some like this guy—a man missing a leg.
Others, including elderly people, started to crawl out of the woodwork.
“Oh? Nowhere to go?”
“Yeah! I lost my leg fighting in the war, and now—”
“Oh really? So why did you go to war?”
“I-I was the third son of a farming family, and there was no other way to make a living…”
“Really? Did you ever lower your head and ask to work as a servant in town? What about becoming an adventurer?”
“N-No, I didn’t… I mean, I’m not educated or strong.”
“Did you even try to gain education or strength?”
“I-I’m from a farm! It wouldn’t have mattered how much I tried…”
“I see, I see. So you’re saying I should help out a useless old man who didn’t put in any effort, went to war without thinking, lost, and came crawling back, huh?”
Ah, how disgusting.
Adventurers are considered the bottom of society, but even they work while attending guild training, learning to read and write, and starting out in basic jobs.
Sure, being born poor is tough.
But that’s all the more reason to make efforts to overcome that, right?
“Y-You! You’re privileged, aren’t you?! Born into nobility, living a life of luxury with money taken from us commoners! You’ve never known hardship, have you? So show us some mercy! Show us a little pity!”
Whaaaaaat???
What is this idiot talking about???
Did he seriously think my childhood was some “glamorous aristocratic lifestyle”?
How laughable!
Time to dish out some discipline.
“Oh, I see now! I understand perfectly! So the privileged are obligated to show mercy to the underprivileged, right?”
“Y-Yes, exactly!”
I sliced off the hands and feet of a beggar nearby.
“Look, this guy is missing both his arms and legs, unlike you, who’s only missing a leg. Why don’t you take care of him? Show him some mercy, will ya?”
“Eek! Y-You monster…!”
Excuse me?
“Don’t you dare take me for a fool, you piece of trash.”
I kicked the man’s head.
“Did you really think I didn’t know? You beggars have been exploiting the orphans, who are even more helpless than you. What mercy? Don’t make me laugh.”
That’s right.
These beggars have been extorting orphans, forcing them into crime to make money.
Since children only get beaten up rather than arrested, they force them into theft and other crimes.
They also collaborate with assassination guilds and thieves’ guilds, doing illegal jobs and passing on information.
Even at the bottom of society, adventurers are better because they at least work honestly.
The people here? They’re just cowards who ran from the dangers of being adventurers, opting for the easy way out.
That’s why the system exists where slum dwellers have no citizenship and can be killed without consequence.
Sure, there may be a few decent people who ended up in the slums, but they’ve already fled, wanting no part in this.
So why should I bother with trash like you?
“Why should someone like me, of all people, care about trash like you? Don’t be stupid.”
I cast Magic Missile.
After a while, a crowd of children came out, about a hundred of them, even toddlers among them.
“Ohhh? What’s up with you kids?”
I deliberately asked, though I already knew they’d been watching from the shadows thanks to detection magic.
Two children, a black-haired cat beastman and a tawny-haired dog beastman, came forward and knelt.
“We will serve you. We’ll do anything, so please take us in.”
Oh?
“…I like that.”
As I’ve said before, in business, the most important thing is seizing opportunities.
I like people who reach for opportunities.
If they’re reaching out, I’ll grab them.
“What are your names?”
“Alan.” “Betty.”
“Very well. From now on, all of you are my servants.”
I used magic to clean the children, then dressed them in decent clothes and fed them.
Ada, along with Alan and Betty, who claimed to be the leaders of the orphans, helped serve a large pot of soup.
The soup had finely chopped ingredients for faster cooking, paired with rolls of bread created in advance and some cheese resembling Camembert. I let them eat as much as they wanted.
“It’s so tasty… so tasty…”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“This bread… it’s so soft, I’ve never had anything like it…”
The children wept as they devoured the bread.
Ah, how touching.
Meanwhile, I used Deletion Magic’s Tiltowait to steadily erase buildings.
Deletion Magic only has three spells: Magic Arrow, Magic Missile, and Tiltowait.
Magic Arrow erases the part of any object it touches.
Magic Missile sends a missile that creates a blast, erasing anything it touches.
Tiltowait erases everything within a designated area.
Does that make sense? It’s just the difference between single-target, multi-target, and area-wide attacks.
With this much power, these three spells are all I need.
With Deletion, the ultimate cost-effective destruction, why would I bother with flashy moves like “meteor drops” or “nuclear attacks”?
What matters in weapons and destruction isn’t how cool they look—it’s how efficient they are.
By the time I’d finished turning the slums into an empty lot, the kids had stuffed themselves and fallen asleep.
I then summoned a mansion I designed using Generate Magic’s 3D CGI vision.
With telekinesis from Kinetic Magic, I levitated the sleeping children into the mansion.
It’s already November, so sleeping outside would be bad.
Feel free to let me know if there’s anything you need, kids. You’re valuable labor to me, after all.
