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If You Are Strong Enough
I stayed behind in the tent for a while to take care of the girls. Mainly, I moved the dead away and applied first aid to the remaining girls to make sure they don’t die.
A few girls were so injured that they could die anytime, thus, I had to spend a bit of my mana in them. I did not bother to heal them completely, instead, I only took care of her life-threatening injuries and left the rest to the people that are going to treat them later.
When I finished, I heaved a complicated sigh. Although I feel pity for these girls, I also understand how normal something like this is.
When there is war, many terrible crimes are committed. R*pe is just one of them, and soldiers raping innocent women is something common. Of course, many commanders dislike it, but most of them feign ignorance to let the soldiers vent.
That does not happen only in this world, but also in worlds much more developed than this. When there is war, many atrocities are committed. Hell, you would be surprised to know that even things such as human experimentation are commonly seen.
I remember I once reincarnated in an ability-based civilization. This civilization had a high level of technology, and some people among them wielded something called ESP abilities.
The funny thing is that these abilities were discovered in a laboratory whose main research topics were related to human experimentation.
Thousands of people died during those experiments.
Living beings are greedy, and surprisingly, smarter living beings are greedier. When people in power pursue more power, the main victims end being the powerless people unable to defend themselves.
Just like this time. The reason these girls suffered this fate was that they were too weak to resist when people stronger than them wanted to hurt them.
Were they bad people? Probably not. Did they deserve this? I don’t think so.
Once someone told me, weakness is a sin.
And after several lifetimes observing many worlds, I know how true his words were.
But at the same time, I confirmed another thing.
When you are strong enough, you are right no matter how wrong your acts are.
Once upon a time, I was a warrior of justice. I fought for the weak against the strong, trying to make the world a better place.
Unfortunately, now I know there is not a happy ever after.
… And ironically, I’m still searching for my happy ever after.
I smiled wryly. It has been a while since the last time I was so emotional.
… It’s probably because I saw her recently. That makes me think about some things I have forgotten long ago.
Sigh, how troublesome…
After making sure all the girls were alright, I left the tent. I then looked around and found Katherine seated on the ground outside the camp.
“Are you alright?” I sat beside her and asked with a concerned look.
“… Don’t worry about me. I’m just a bit shocked.”
I sighed. “This is not your fault, you know it, right?”
“I know. It’s just that… This… This shouldn’t be happening…”
I stayed silent and looked at the ground.
“I heard about it from teacher Tear. She told me that the real reason the emperor refused to send reinforcements is that he wants to achieve something with this situation. He doesn’t care how many students die if he achieves that goal.”
“… Perhaps.”
Katherine looked at me with a complicated expression.
“Do you know about that reason?”
“… Why do you want to know?”
“I just want to know what is so valuable to sacrifice so many students.”
I chuckled softly. “You will not like my answer then.”
Katherine turned around and grabbed my hand. “Please tell me.”
I looked straight into Katherine’s eyes and sighed.
“He wants to kill me.”
“!!!”
I gazed at the forest and smiled calmly.
“This expedition was a ruse to disguise my death. Well, the daemons are something unexpected, but even without them, this expedition was destined to turn into a tragedy.”
Katherine turned pale. She took several steps back and looked at me with an aghast look.
“B-But you… Y-You are… Y-You are…”
“A prince? His son?” I smirked. “You are headmistress Evelyn’s student and Dina’s friend. Have you not heard the rumors about Dina and me? Even if we are the emperor’s children, we are a thorn in the rest of the imperial family’s eyes.”
Katherine’s expression turned even paler, then, she seemed to understand something.
“… Is that the reason you hid your strength?”
I just smiled without answering.
When Katherine saw that, she bit her lips and walked towards me, holding my hand again.
“… I’m sorry.”
“Are you feeling pity for me?”
“N-No, I-I’m… I-It’s just…”
I smirked and hugged her waist, putting her on my lap. Then, I stole her lips again.
This time, though, the kiss was not as short as the ones before it.
Instead, it was a long kiss filled with passion.
Katherine tried to struggle at the start, but after a few seconds, she closed her eyes and decided to accept it.
Unfortunately, she did not let me use my tongue. When I tried, she instantly bit on it.
“Ouch!”
Katherine blushed and lowered her head. “… Don’t go too far.”
I smiled. Fortunately, my body is pretty strong, so Katherine’s bite was not painful in the slightest.
“You don’t need to pity me, Kathe.” I caressed her long green hair gently. “I don’t care about the thoughts of that shitty father of mine or my two stupid brothers. Besides, I also want to kill most of my family, so we are even.”
“… Huh!?” Katherine was so surprised by my words that she even ignored the fact that I called her Kathe.
“Why are you so surprised?” I laughed again and pinched her nose, making Katherine frown in displeasure. “Let me tell you something, Kathe. You are angry for the students that died here, right? But what can you do about that? Nothing. Because you are too weak. Can you kill the emperor? Or kill all the daemons that invaded this forest? You can’t, so you can only endure.
“But if you were strong enough, then no matter if it’s the emperor or the daemons, you could have killed them if you wanted.”
“… Are you strong enough?”
“Me? Mmm… My situation is a bit more complicated. To me, it’s not a matter of strength anymore.”
“Huh?”
I laughed softly and put a finger on Katherine’s forehead.
“I’ll give you a gift as your future husband, Kathe. Perhaps, you can find a way to become truly strong through it.”
Then, I passed certain information to her.
It was a technique suited to Katherine. A technique that could bring the most of her talents.
When I finished, Katherine held her head in pain trying to comprehend the new information in her mind.
Meanwhile, I caressed her silky hair while lost in thoughts.
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