CH 158

Everyone was in a daze from the way too shocking development, and me, Ina, and even the Bear didn’t know what to do.

Within that tense atmosphere, Leila looked at the knife she was holding and me who was on the ground.

“I…I…I am sorry!” (Leila)

She suddenly turned around and ran off as if escaping from us. 

“Leila!” (Souma)

I shout, but she doesn’t stop. 

Her legs faltered for a bit when I called her, but she was still trying to get away from us. 

“Damn it!” (Souma)

I don’t know why Leila did that.

I might get attacked again if I get close to her. 

(But…!) (Souma)

I can’t just leave her be when she makes such a painful expression.

That’s why I extended my hand once again towards her and…

“[Darkness]!” (Souma)

I took away her vision with the dark elementary spell, Darkness, and threw the restraining item, Bind Rope, onto Leila who stood in place from the abrupt development. I then quickly closed the distance while she was confused, and caught her just as she was falling down, casting a whole ton of the Paralyze spell in close distance.

“?! ?!” 

“Alright!” (Souma)

It seems like she doesn’t understand what happened just now. Seeing Leila with her eyes wide open within my arms, I finally take a breath.

Looks like I can finally have a proper talk now.

“Now then, Ina, Bear, let’s enter the mansion for now.” (Souma)

Finishing one job here, I turned around and Ina made a questionable look.

“…Souma-san, that way of catching her was a bit nasty.” (Ina)

Ringo and Mitsuki came running out from the mansion wondering what happened, so I explained the situation to them. 

“…Souma, are you okay?” (Ringo)

Hearing this, Ringo was touching me all over the place in worry to confirm I am fine, so I gently pushed her away.

“I am okay. Just a scratch is instant death, so you could say I am uninjured.” (Souma)

I felt like that’s not too okay after saying it myself, but Ringo pulled her hand away. 

What’s most important right now is to hear what Leila has to say. 

I moved away the Bear, who was poking the cheek of Leila as if finding it amusing, and undid the restraints and paralysis of Leila. 

“Sorry for being so rough with you there.” (Souma)

I apologized first and Leila’s face blushed.

“N-No, I am the one at fault here, and I am happy about the princess carry.” (Leila)

She answered happily. 

…Alright, let’s just take this positively as her having cheered up a bit. 

“More importantly, why did you do something like that all of a sudden?” (Souma)

When I asked her this, she shook her head to the sides weakly. 

“I-I don’t know. My head suddenly went completely blank when I saw you two getting along so well and…” (Leila)

She said she barely has any memories of taking out the knife and trying to stab me with it. 

(Hmm, could this be…) (Souma)

The result of hearing Leila in detail was that there’s the possibility that the ‘Death to the Infidel!!’ is being treated as an event. 

Now that I think about it, this is close to the Train Mode of Ina in that you need to fulfill certain conditions for it to happen. 

Train Mode happens pretty much regardless of the will of Ina. If ‘Death to the Infidel!!’ is in that same vein, it wouldn’t be strange for it to have some compulsory effect.

However, if that’s the case, what’s strange is the time when I hugged Ringo.

Leila didn’t show any reaction and didn’t use the Death to the Infidel!!

Or maybe there’s a clue there. And so, I tried asking, but…

“Hey, when I uhm…wrapped my arms around Ringo’s shoulders, your head didn’t turn blank?” (Souma)

“A-At that time, my heart prickled a bit, but your voice was trembling, and I could tell you were pushing yourself there.” (Leila)

“Aah, I see.” (Souma)

She could tell I was acting there, so she didn’t get jealous to the point of activating the Death to the Infidel!!

(But that’s troubling…) (Souma)

If my assumption is correct here, even if Leila has no intentions of hurting me, there’s a high chance she will try to stab me again.

Moreover, those attacks all have the instant death effect against the player. 

(I have to test it out.) (Souma)

I silently resolve myself.

“Ringo!” (Souma)

I called Ringo who was the closest one and seemed to be on guard towards Leila. 

“Wa?!” 

I forcefully pull her close to me. 

Like a redo of before. 

However, I hugged her from the very front so that Leila doesn’t have any room for doubt. 

I could feel Ringo’s body curling itself up within my arms and, almost at the same time as this happened…

“!!” 

Leila had the knife in hand at some point in time and it approached me. 

After verifying several things, a number of points were made clear. 

It seems like the ‘Death to the Infidel!!’ activates automatically when Leila feels jealous to a certain degree.

You could say the conditions are a lot more lenient compared to the game where she would attack you just by talking a bit with a woman, but even with that, this is still pretty rough.

It activates at a high rate when getting along with my comrades, and she suddenly came at me when I was playing with the Bear. 

Looks like race, gender, love, friendship; doesn’t matter what it is, if they get along with me, there’s a high chance of getting jealous. 

Even if I don’t do anything and Leila just remembers that I was linking arms with Ina, it is possible for the conditions to be fulfilled with that, so that in itself is already dangerous. 

Fortunately, the attack speed of ‘Death to the Infidel!!’ isn’t that high, and she calms down when she does it once unlike the game, so we are managing somehow right now. 

That said, I don’t have the confidence that I would be able to avoid it when I am sleeping or eating.

Moreover, ‘Death to the Infidel!!’ phases through any obstructions…

No matter how powerful of an armor I have or an indestructible object, they won’t serve for anything, and the people around can’t block the attack, so you have to stop Leila from unsheathing the knife before it happens. 

But there’s a way to get out of this. 

From my experience until now, in order to change the results of this world’s events, I have to do actions that I couldn’t in the game, and there should be factors that the developers wouldn’t have anticipated. 

And so, about the Death Bringer that was a fixed weapon in the game and you couldn’t unequip, Leila apparently can unequip it in this world.

Since it is something that she originally couldn’t do, it takes a toll mentally, but when I asked her, she gave me the whole knife with scabbard and all while looking like she was in pain. 

‘Death to the Infidel!!’ is an attack that uses the Death Bringer, so if the Death Bringer which is pivotal to this is gone, there’s a chance we can prevent it. 

Thinking this, I tried to cause the ‘Death to the Infidel!!’ while I had the Death Bringer, and…

“…That didn’t work, huh.” (Souma)

It resulted in a failure. 

The moment the skill activated, Death Bringer disappeared from my hands, and returned to the waist of Leila.

And so, I asked for permission from Leila and synthesized the Death Bringer with another weapon. 

Death Bringer is unfortunately not on the level of the Meat Cleaver, so the only worthwhile trait was the Instant Death ability, but that’s not the main point this time around.

I doubt it can return to its original form if it gets synthesized. 

I prayed from the bottom of my heart, invited the jealousy of Leila, and…

“…Didn’t work again, huh.” (Souma)

I was disappointed in the fact that the Death Bringer appeared on the waist of Leila again.

Also, I avoided it all of a sudden, so I ended up letting go of the Bear and fell on the ground which angered the Bear and it smacked my leg repeatedly, but I didn’t have the leeway here. 

I hurriedly checked the equipment that I synthesized with the Death Bringer, and it still had its synthesized effect there. 

It is not like there’s absolutely no effect, I guess?

“…Souma, let’s stop already.” (Ringo)

Ringo then couldn’t bear watching any longer after seeing me avoid the attacks of Leila over and over again while scared, and spoke to me. 

However, there’s one last thing I want to try out. 

“Cooler Box! With this…!” (Souma)

The magic item that freezes time and stopped even the homing spear.

I placed my hopes on it, thinking that it should go well with this, and brushed the fluffy fur of the Bear. 

But…

“…It didn’t work, huh.” (Souma)

The result was complete failure. 

The moment Leila moved, there was a new Death Bringer in her hand, and the knife that I should have placed inside the Cooler Box was nowhere to be seen.

I lowered my head and groaned.

“…Don’t feel bad.” (Ringo)

Ringo patted my shoulder in worry. 

“Thanks, Ringo.” (Souma)

It is true that nothing will be born from getting dispirited here.

Even so, when I looked at the Cooler Box that was now empty, I couldn’t help but feel dejected. 

(Haah…I thought I could get an infinite supply of Death Bringers…) (Souma)

The fish that escaped was big. 

I returned to Leila and the others while sighing. 

After that, we tried a variety of things to get rid of the Death Bringer, but they all ended in failure. 

The Death Bringer was made in a way that it would be recreated on the waist of Leila the moment ‘Death to the Infidel!!’ activates as a countermeasure for when it is destroyed. Also, when there’s two existing Death Bringers, the previous one is automatically disposed of. 

“Guess this is it…” (Souma)

It seems like it is in principle impossible to do something about the Death Bringer. 

In that case…

“Let’s take a little break.” (Souma)

Unable to endure the gaze of Ringo, Ina, and Leila who were looking over here worried, I one-sidedly announce this and left the room with quick steps.

“…Fuuh.” (Souma)

The cold air from the corridor felt nice against my skin.

Looks like I was mentally exhausted without my noticing from avoiding the Instant Death attacks over and over. 

I confirmed that there’s no one around and opened the adventurer bag stealthily. I take out the Immortal Oath from there. 

…It is not like there’s absolutely no way to get out of this situation. 

“But, am I…really going to do it?” (Souma)

I looked at the cursed jet black ring and asked myself this. 

Me not having a single card to use was before I went to the Aken household. 

With the Immortal Oath in my hands, I can use a…certain method…to deal with Leila with most likely definite chances. 

The name is: The Eternal Stone Statue.

It is just like the name states, a method to turn an NPC into a stone statue.