Suzi’s Perspective

  This was the last thing I wanted. My heart was about to burst out of my chest and my head ached. The air was cool yet I could not stop sweating. I held my rifle so tight just to keep my hands from shaking. It felt like I was suffocating.

  Lily kept staring at me with concern as we rode along the moat of the castle in a wooden boat. I guess even through the thick fog I couldn’t hide how nervous I was.

  I tried to keep myself focused by obsessively scanning the top of the castle wall for hostiles as we moved through the water slowly. Even if this fog was a stroke of good luck, anything could happen on the battlefield.

  The reason why I was in such a sorry state of mind was that I was once again forced into a leadership role that I am neither qualified nor confident enough for. Unlike some idiots, I knew the limits of what I’m capable of and my own track record when it comes to leadership.

  There were moments where I had my leadership skills tested and I knew I barely passed. I never even bothered to attempt Ranger School. I was good at fighting and nothing else beyond that.

  Yet, when my squad leader died, I was the one promoted to sergeant and tasked with leading what was left of my team. I tried to convince my commanding officer that I was not qualified but he insisted.

  “We have no one else.”

  Those were his exact words. He knew I did not have the ability to properly lead a team through combat but there was no one else to take my dead squad leader’s place. I knew trying to object would be futile because when the top brass makes a decision, there’s nothing someone like me can do to change it.

  Then everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong.

  It was during a chaotic airfield raid. Bullets were zipping past our faces, just barely missing our head. Mortars, artillery fire, and grenades were kicking up the dirt all around us and I still gave my team the order to move up. I got separated from them and when I was finally able to get my bearings, I saw my childhood friend, Daniella Ramirez with the lower half of her body gone.

  Why didn’t she say anything? Why didn’t any of them say that my orders were wrong?! Dani would still… No. Why am I blaming them for my failure? That’s not what a leader does and proves that I am not qualified.

  Yet, here I was. I accepted another leadership position without a fuss. Maybe I should have said something. Maybe even whine and complain like a child but it would do no good. Nothing would have changed.

  The worst part is that I’m not even leading trained soldiers, I’m leading a bunch of kids! Lily and Pip-Pip barely look older than seventeen and Aurelia is only thirteen. If I make one mistake, I will cut three young lives short. Just the thought of their mangled bodies as a result of my failure was almost enough to make me puke.

  The only way I could stay focused was not to treat them like kids but as soldiers. If I thought of them as kids, I would make more mistakes, so it was the best option. I expect them to fulfill the same roles as my old team. I won’t ask them to do anything I haven’t done myself.

  Honestly, the only reason I haven’t thrown myself into the water and let myself drown was the slim chance that Dani might have been transported to this world just as I have. Pip-Pip said that this Masahiro boy was from Japan so that gives me some hope.

  Who knows? Maybe he’s already met her before but that would mean Dani has already been here for two years, perhaps even longer. There was a chance that I was put into some sort of stasis or something and was just now awakened after fifty years or so.

  I’m overthinking things. Trying to figure out how my reincarnation works would only give me a headache. The best thing to do for myself was to focus on what was happening now.

  We arrived at the pipe and I told Pip-Pip to watch for any movement along the castle walls. I jumped into the water and motioned for everyone to follow. The first to hop into the water was Aurelia followed by Lily and then Pip-Pip.

  The water was dirty and smelled horrible. For a fantasy world that was supposed to give reincarnated souls a chance at a better life, it was not making a good first impression. This had been the second time I’ve had to trudge through a dark, narrow path that reeked of shit. But then again, this time was mostly my fault as I had chosen this path.

  Moving through the pipe was bearable but still unpleasant. The smell reminded me of the trenches I was forced to sleep in during the first few years of my deployment. The only real places we had to properly relieve ourselves were hastily dug latrines and unused ammo boxes. There were proper toilets installed but they frequently broke down and sewage would often leak out. It’s honestly a miracle I didn’t contract any diseases during that time.

  To make matters worse, the water was terribly deep. With how tall I was, I was able to manage trudging through it but the others were struggling, especially Aurelia. She had to hold onto my backpack just to keep her head above the water. It was cute.

  We kept moving until the water got deep enough to where we were forced to swim. I told everyone to hold their breath and to keep moving in a straight line until they needed to come up for air.

  I went under first and made sure to feel around my surroundings for any pockets of air. I kept moving until I felt my fingers touch a stone wall. I grabbed for the wall and pulled myself up to the surface. I checked my surroundings to see that we were now in the sewers. Everyone else rose up shortly after I did.

  I spotted a platform and told everyone to move toward it. Pip-Pip and Aurelia did as I told but Lily stayed holding onto the wall.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “I-I… can’t swim.”

  I understand that Lily was not as well trained as me, if she was even trained at all, but how can you become an adventurer and not know how to swim? Her blushing face was cute though, so I could forgive her just this once.

  I grabbed hold of Lily and swam over to the platform Pip-Pip and Aurelia were on. Once we were out of the water, I looked around to get a good bearing on the area.

  The sewer was in the absolute worst shape possible. The various pathways that lead to the surface were broken up by debris and pools of dirty water. There were holes in the ceiling where occasionally lumps of something would fall. Not to mention the same smell that was in the pipe went from bad to unbearable.

  It took every ounce of my willpower to not puke up what I had eaten for breakfast and I was not the only one suffering.

  “The smell is so bad!” Lily complained.

  “You know, where I’m from, some people are sexually aroused by this type of stuff,” I said.

  “We did not need to know that.”

  “Some even like to eat it.”

  “Please stop talking.”

  I was only joking around. It’s not uncommon for soldiers to make crude jokes at times as a way to relieve stress. Humor is a soldier's lifeline that gets them through difficult situations. Without humor, I would fall to pieces.

  I remember how someone standing right next to me got his hands blown off. I was panicked a little but the first thing he did was start making jokes about how he should have called in sick. As I was tending to his wounds, I was wondering how this guy was laughing.

  So, I’m gonna keep making strange jokes even if no one gets them or if they get upset because without humor, I would lose myself. Though, I will admit that my sense of humor has gotten twisted. In fact, I was not entirely sure if I was truly joking or if I was expressing a wish to be as perverted as those freaks aroused by human feces so as to make crawling through the sewer more bearable.

  Lily was right. I should stop talking.

  We slowly moved through the sewers, occasionally jumping over gaps in the path. It was all quiet until I heard two people talking in front of us. I ordered everyone to move out of sight and to stay quiet.

  “Why do we have to come down here? This place reeks!”

  “We’re here because that strange woman said so. I think she’s paranoid but she’s the one paying us so Wilhelm told us to do as she says.”

  “Wilhem, that bastard! I swear, he doesn’t actually care about the money, he just wants a chance to get in bed with that strange woman.”

  I wanted to hear what the bandits had to say as it could prove to be valuable intel but I could tell from the sound of their voices that they were closing in on our position. I pulled out my knife and waited until they came around the corner.

  As soon as I saw the silhouette of someone’s head, I lunged at him and jammed my knife right into his throat. Blood spurted from the wound like a geyser and the man tried to scream out but his voice was drowned out by his own blood.

  I turned my attention to the other bandit who was already trying to unsheathe his sword. Before he could, I tackled him and stabbed him in the shoulder. He let out a brief yelp before I silenced him by stabbing him right in the eye and twisting the blade.

  Once I was sure that both of the bandits were dead, I dumped their bodies into the sewer water and wiped my knife clean.

  “C’mon, let’s keep moving,” I said.

  I looked behind and saw everyone slowly moving past the spot where I had just killed the two bandits. Just looking at the way all three of them moved, I could tell they were uncomfortable.

  I wanted to laugh at the sight. Almost no one I knew back in the Army acted like this. Maybe some of them felt that way on the inside but they never let it be known. I have to remind myself that these girls are still kids but then I would be setting a bad example.

  That’s the kind of situation I’m in. I want to treat these girls like I would any other soldier but they do things and act a certain way that remind me they’re still kids. It’s all so damn frustrating and I have no solution. The best I can do is look past it and move on.

  “Let’s go,” I said more firmly.

  With that, we entered the courtyard of the castle. There were crates and piles of rubble that we could use as cover to avoid being seen. Another point of good luck was that most of the bandits were focused on a dried up fountain that had smoke emanating from it.

  The air reeked of a smell I was already too familiar with.

  “What is it?” Pip-Pip asked.

  “That stench… I’ve smelled it before.”

  It was best to move on and to try not to think about it. On the way, we overheard the bandits talking.

  “This is such a waste! What is Wilhelm thinking?! We should have said no when we had the chance!”

  “Give it a rest already. You know just as well as I do that Wilhelm’s orders are absolute.”

  “This wasn’t his order! It was that damn strange woman who forced us to do it! Do you have any idea how valuable this merchandise would have been for us?”

  “I don’t like it as much as you but there’s nothing we can do. That strange woman is paying us a hefty amount for whatever it is she needs.”

  “What exactly is she planning?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t think I even wanna know. I just hope she pays us soon and leaves.”

  These bandits should really stop talking because the more they speak, the more I hate them. I know exactly what these people mean by merchandise. Every ounce of my being is calling for me to give up on stealth and kill every last one of them, but I was able to keep myself under control.

  We made it through the courtyard and found the dungeon. It was dark and lightly guarded. Pip-Pip took the lead once we were there and the rest of us followed her as she looked into each cell.

  We looked into so many cells that I almost gave up on finding Masahiro alive until we found him. He looked horribly malnourished but he was alive. The door to his cell was locked of course, so we either needed to find the key or find another way to open it.

  As if anticipating this problem, Lily had packed a special item that would allow us to get through the door.

  “In this vial is a magical oil that can make anything with an edge sharp enough to cut through steel.”

  “Even my fingernails can become sharp enough to cut through this door using that oil?”

  Lily nodded enthusiastically. She seemed proud that she thought ahead so well.

  I took the vial containing the oil and was about to coat my knife with it but then I saw Lily’s large elf ears and had a much better idea.

  I pulled Lily close to me and poured the oil over one of her ears. I then gently massaged her ear so that it was completely covered in the oil. Once I was sure that her ear was perfectly coated, I grabbed her face and made a sizable hole in the door. After that, I sat Lily down and gently patted her head.

  “Thanks.”

  Lily didn’t respond. Her face was as red as a tomato and I could see a few tears dancing on the rims of her eyes. She was so cute.

  Pip-Pip entered the room first, followed by myself and then Aurelia. Lily would keep watch for any hostiles.

  Something about the room made me uneasy. It was too easy to find Masahiro. The fact that there were no guards made my heart race a little. I scanned the room looking for anything that might resemble a trap but nothing stood out.

  I let my guard down for a moment and then I saw something glow right next to us. Then there was a loud noise and suddenly I was knocked unconscious.

  I woke up to an intense ringing that deafened me. I felt like there was something in my lungs so I coughed. I could only manage to wheeze like a sick old man and it still felt like there was dust in my throat.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  I looked over to see Pip-Pip lying on the ground unconscious. I stood up and tried to move towards her but I fell over. I was still coughing up the dust that had entered my body. The ringing in my ears was so loud that I couldn’t hear anything else.

  I managed to stand up straight and moved towards Pip-Pip. When I was right in front of her, I saw the state of her. Her left leg was horribly mangled, as if a wild animal had gotten a hold of her. Her foot was twisted at an awkward angle.

  I saw Lily helping Aurelia up and moving towards us. I couldn’t hear what I was saying but I told Lily to grab Masahiro and for Aurelia to help me carry Pip-Pip.

  We tried to escape the dungeon as quickly as we could. The ringing in my ears became unbearable at this point and my head hurt. It felt like it took all of my strength just to stand.

  We walked into a small room that had shelves filled with various bottles of wine and closed the door behind us. I coughed up more dust as I set Pip-Pip down and tried to treat her wounds. The wine cellar had a window that made the room much brighter so I could see that Pip-Pip’s leg was in worse shape than I initially thought. The gashes in her thigh were large and deep enough to the point where I could see bone.

  I pulled out my medkit and began to put my training to good use. In the 75th Ranger Regiment, I was trained in medical proficiency. I was no doctor but in a situation like this, I was good enough.

  As I was opening a pack of gauze, I realized that my hearing was finally starting to clear up. I only noticed because I heard Pip-Pip screaming and I rushed to cover her mouth.

  “Hey, Pip-Pip! I need you to be quiet. I know it hurts but you need to stay quiet. Don’t worry, I’ll fix you right up. You’re gonna be alright.”

  My voice was so raspy and unclear that I wasn’t sure if Pip-Pip could hear me. I removed my hand from her mouth and returned my attention to her leg. Using the gauze, I went to apply pressure in an effort to stop the bleeding, which caused Pip-Pip to groan in pain.

  I looked over to Lily, who was kneeling in front of Aurelia, then I remembered that magic existed.

  “Aurelia, can you use your healing magic to help Pip-Pip?”

  “No… That’s not… a good idea.”

  “Why not?!”

  Seeing how dazed Aurelia was, Lily spoke up to answer my question.

  “Aurelia hit her head. If she were to use healing magic in her current state, it would be a disaster!”

  “Fuck! Alright… Lily, once you’re done helping Aurelia, get over here.”

  Lily nodded and gave Aurelia a healing potion. She then came over to me and kneeled down.

  “Before I give her a healing potion, we should stop the bleeding first,” Lily said.

  “Got it! Pip-Pip, I’m gonna apply a tourniquet to your leg. It’s gonna hurt real bad but it will save your life.”

  Pip-Pip tried to talk us out of trying to apply a tourniquet but I wasn’t gonna listen because then she would die. I understand why she would be nervous about it. I got wounded in the leg once and when Dani put a tourniquet on me, it was one of the most painful things I ever experienced for three to four minutes. It felt like my leg was falling off.

  This was due to the fact that if a tourniquet is not made the absolute tightest it can be, the wounded person will actually bleed out more. It hurts so bad but it does save lives.

  I took the tourniquet from my medic bag and wrapped it around Pip-Pip’s upper thigh. I took hold of one end and tightened the tourniquet with every ounce of strength in my body. Pip-Pip immediately started to scream out in pain but I kept going.

  Once I was finished, Lily gave Pip-Pip a healing potion and things finally started to calm down. Lily offered me some water, which I accepted.

  “What do we do now, Suzi?”

  “We need to signal the guild to come in. The bandits definitely heard that explosion and they’ll be on high alert. What even was that?”

  “It was an explosive magical trap. They can be easily hidden depending on the skill of the caster.”

  I knew something wasn’t right when we walked into that cell. I should have said something. Maybe Pip-Pip would never have gotten hurt.

  There was no use blaming myself now. I had to get these girls out of here. I am not losing a single one.

  I kneeled down next to Pip-Pip so I could ask her what to do next.

  “Pip-Pip. You mentioned that you had a plan for if we were in trouble. Tell us what to do.”

  Pip-Pip reached into her pocket and pulled out a small crystal. It shone a bright blue and had something swirling around on the inside.

  “Use this crystal. Go to the tallest tower of the castle and just throw it out the window.”

  “Thank you. Lily, you stay here and watch over these two. Once Aurelia feels better, have her heal Pip-Pip’s leg. I'm gonna head to the tower.”

  “Got it. Please be careful, Suzi.”

  Without another word, I left the room. In the dark hallways of the castle, I felt like someone was watching me. I frequently looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was there. No matter how fast I moved or how long I stared into an empty space, I always tensed up as if someone was going to jump out at me.

  I hate being alone in a hostile environment. I should have stayed behind. But then we would have been stuck in that room for who knows how long. Pip-Pip needs medical attention and I had no idea when Aurelia will be able to heal her. She might even be badly injured as well. She had a head wound. Was she bleeding? Why didn’t I check? Why did I leave them alone?!

  I punched the wall out of frustration. A small bit of blood was left on the spot where I struck. My knuckles ached and it hurt to extend my fingers.

  This is why I’m in no way fit to be a leader. I’m always second guessing every decision I’ve ever made when I should be focusing on the present. It was agony to think that I would be solely responsible for the deaths of these three girls. Pip-Pip, Aurelia, and Lily.

  There was no use constantly thinking about such things. I had a job to do and I was gonna see it to the very end. I took a deep breath and continued on my path to the tower.

  I moved slowly through the dimly lit halls of the castle. I checked my corners and hid from bandits in my way. They did not seem particularly concerned with the loud blast from the trap in the dungeon that they undoubtedly heard. This combined with how poorly guarded the castle was, told me that these bandits were both incompetent and lazy. It makes sneaking past them easier for me and now I’m looking forward to watching them cry as they beg me for mercy.

  The amount of self-restraint I have to exert is astronomical. It is very rare that my urge to kill is as strong as it is now. I was about to signal the entire Iron Hawk guild to come charging in, so I could wait a little longer before I could satisfy my bloodlust.

  I climbed the flight of stairs that led to the top of the tower, keeping my rifle pointed in front of me, just in case someone decided to get in my way. I reached the door and was about to open it until I heard a woman’s voice from the other side.

  I slung my rifle over my shoulder and pulled out my pistol. I quietly opened the door and slowly moved into the room.

  “Did nobody hear that explosion? Go check on the prisoner,” the woman said. Her voice was cold but there was a tinge of irritation as she spoke.

  “There’s no need to do that. A spell like that would kill anybody in an instant. Though, your prisoner might have gotten killed because of it,” said a gruff, manly voice. His voice sounded like it was coming from some sort of telepathic medium.

  “If the prisoner is dead, you will be punished.”

  “Punishment from you sounds more like a reward for me!”

  “I swear, you are the most infuriating person I have ever had the displeasure of working with! I need that prisoner alive and if he’s dead, you’ll be the one to take his place.”

  “Yeah, yeah… I’ll send over a group to check on him.”

  “And once you’re done- Oh?”

  By this point, I had successfully snuck up on this woman and had the front end of my pistol pressed into the back of her head. On the table in front of her was a small floating orb. I instantly knew that she was using that orb to speak with someone.

  I pressed my pistol harder into her head and looked her right in the eye.

  “You’re dead unless you do exactly as I say. Stop what-”

  With a swift motion, the woman slammed her fist into the orb, smashing it to pieces. She then stood up to face me.

  The woman I was pointing my gun at was slightly shorter than me. She had long red hair and eyes that shined like emeralds. She looked to be a little older than Lily. If I had to guess, she might be about twenty-years old. She wore a dark cloak that covered most of her body.

  This woman stared at me with a blank expression for what felt like an eternity. Then, she let out a small laugh that surprised me.

  “You’re going to kill me?” she said with a chilling smirk.

  I heard the door behind me open and without even looking to see who it was, I grabbed the woman and took her hostage.

  The people that opened the door were two bandits who revealed their weapons once they saw me.

  “Stay right where you are or she dies!” I yelled.

  “Who the hell are you?!”

  “How did you get here?!”

  “Drop your weapons or I’ll blow her brains out!”

  While I and the two bandits were yelling at each other, the woman was acting unusually calm. It unnerved me to see someone with a gun pressed into her temple act so nonchalant but then again the people in this world had no idea what a firearm was.

  “This is such a shame. I was so close to perfecting my spell on that boy,” the woman said.

  “Shut up!” I yelled.

  “So many months of preparation just tossed aside. I’ll have to come up with an entirely new plan from scratch.”

  “I said, SHUT UP!! Lower your weapons! I swear to God, I’ll kill this bitch!”

  “It’s not a big deal though. After all, I have all the time in the world.”

  Just as she said that, I saw that she had one of my M67 grenades in her hand. My eyes went wide when the woman pulled the pin.

  “You fucking bitch!!”

  I immediately pushed the woman away from me. One of the bandits charged at me, so I shot him in the head. About one second later, the grenade detonated, causing some combustible magic materials on a shelf nearby to ignite and create an explosion powerful enough to create a large hole in the wall.

  The blast knocked me off my feet. I stood up and looked out of the hole that was just made. I could see the same cliffside I was once on the edge of while observing this castle. I looked down to see bandits along the wall and in the courtyard looking up at me and wondering what was going on.

  Wasting no more time, I took the crystal that Pip-Pip gave to me and threw it. The crystal shined as bright as the sun for a few seconds before disappearing. After that, I descended the tower and made my way to regroup with the others.

  I stepped in something squishy before I left the room. I looked down and saw the remains of the woman and one of the bandits. Their bodies looked like melted mush with a few parts scattered around to remind you that these piles of goo were once human beings. It didn’t even look like they were blown to bits. It was like they just melted where they were.

  “Gross.”

  I walked over the remains and pretty much sprinted my way down the stairs. Immediately after I reached the bottom, I literally bumped into a bandit like I was a school girl late for class.

  We stared at each other in disbelief for a solid second before I lifted my rifle and shot the bandit three times in the chest. The sound of the gunfire rang throughout the halls and I could hear more bandits approaching. I just kept on running and did not think to look back once.

  “What the hell was that noise?!” a bandit yelled from behind me.

  “It came from over here!” said another.

  “Hey! Stop right there!”

  I kept on running until I reached the same room that I had left Lily, Aurelia and Pip-Pip in. I swung the door open and slammed it shut.

  “Suzi! You’re okay-”

  I covered Lily’s mouth with my hand and told her to stay quiet. Pip-Pip’s leg was now fully healed, though the tourniquet was still there. Aurelia was looking to be in much better shape and had moved on to keeping Masahiro alive.

  The heavy footsteps of bandits could be heard from the other side of the door. We slowly and quietly moved away from the door as I kept my rifle aimed at it.

  Then, the door was kicked down and a bandit clad in rusty armor walked right in. I shot him twice in the head and he went down. Another walked in and I shot him once in the neck, which caused him to roll around the floor in agony.

  Blood gushed from their wounds, quickly creating large pools. I did not even look at the bandit I just shot in the neck as he choked on his own blood.

  We stood in silence for a moment. I was waiting to see if anyone else had the brilliant idea to walk into a room without taking the proper precautions first by checking the corners. Honestly, the way they just walked into the room without any care made me want to laugh.

  I saw one of the bandits peek his whole head through the doorway and move back once he saw me. This was about the dumbest thing he could have done as I now knew exactly where he was. He was also hiding behind a wall that did not look to offer much in terms of protection.

  Material such as wood and sheet metal are only good for concealment and once you make your presence known, the concealment is lost and you have to move somewhere else.

  I fired my rifle three times at the wall and heard the bandit fall to the ground screaming. I moved a little closer to the doorway but stopped when I saw a shimmer in the air and heard the sound of glass cracking underneath a boot.

  I turned and fired four shots in the general direction I saw the shimmer. A bandit, a girl this time, suddenly appeared almost right next to me and tried to stab me with a dagger. I grabbed her wrist, twisted the blade out of her hands and slammed her into one of the shelves. When she fell to the ground, I put a single bullet in her head.

  I took a second to make sure that our area was secure for the time being. I peeked out the door and saw no one else in the hallway.

  “Alright, we need to get out of here and link up with the others. Pip-Pip, can you walk?”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  I went over to Pip-Pip and removed the tourniquet. If it was on for too long, she would have had a dead leg and it would need to be cut off.

  “Suzi, you’re-”

  “Are you okay, Aurelia?”

  I ignored Lily’s words and began looking over Aurelia’s head for any injuries. I then went over to Lily and checked her body for any wounds, which caused her to stutter.

  “S-Suzi!”

  “Are you bruised anywhere?” I asked.

  “S-Stop!”

  “Let me look at your head-”

  “Stop it! You have a wound in your back.”

  “Where? Ow! Don’t touch it!”

  As it turns out, I’ve been walking around with a gash in my back since I went up to the tower. I must have gotten hit by shrapnel or something. I couldn’t feel the wound until Lily touched it due to adrenaline but I felt like an idiot. If the wound had been any worse or if I was bleeding, I would have passed out a while ago. I can’t believe I made such a stupid mistake.

  Aurelia used her magic to heal me and I thanked her with a pat on the head. She pouted but accepted my thanks anyway. After that, we all left the room but stopped when we heard ragged and pained breathing.

  One of the bandits was still alive. He left a trail of blood on the floor as he tried to crawl away. Every breath he took had a pained whimper in it.

  I walked right up to him and turned him over so that I could look him in the eyes. He held his hands up and tears danced on the edge of his eyes.

  “Please don’t kill me,” he whimpered.

  I did not hesitate to shoot him in the head. People like him don’t deserve to live. I’m doing this world a favor by killing such scum but it seems the people that are accompanying me don’t agree with that sentiment.

  My party was staring at me in horror, frozen in place from the shock of what I just did. Pip-Pip and Lily were in disbelief while Aurelia just looked angry. Their expressions told me that they wanted to say something but they could not find the right words.

  I just stared at them with a blank expression and told them to keep moving. I did not care what they thought. I don’t need to be well-liked by my peers to do my job. If being merciful means risking the lives of my teammates, then I’d rather not be merciful at all.

  If I’m being completely honest, I don’t feel any sense of remorse for killing these bandits. In fact, I’m feeling genuine satisfaction that I’m doing my job well. Killing these people is like getting rid of a stubborn stain on the countertop. The stain has been there for too long and now that it’s gone, you feel good that you made your home cleaner.

  In conclusion, I consider this quest to rescue Masahiro Kirishima one of the few instances where I genuinely enjoyed killing other human beings.