“Master…?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Your master.”
Zich got up and picked up a nearby box. He placed the box next to Tim’s side and sat on top of it.
“In the future, Tim, you become an unimaginably great villain.”
Like an old man reminiscing about the past, Zich’s eyes became sentimental. Zich’s face appeared too young to be making a face like that, but Tim thought the expression didn’t look awkward on him.
“So, you become my underling.”
“…Didn’t you say that you do kind acts? How could you accept a villain as your subordinate then?”
“In the future, I will become an even greater villain than you.”
“What nonsense.”
“It’s true. Then, how do you think I know about your habits and weaknesses that even you aren’t aware of?”
“…Okay then, let’s say that those kinds of things happen in the future. But how do you know of all these things? Are you some prophet who can read the future or something?”
“Or I could be a regressor who came from the future.”
Zich’s words sounded like lies and confused Tim; it sounded too unrealistic. However, if Zich’s unbelievable words were really true, it would make everything Zich said more persuasive. Yet, Tim gave up on thinking farther than that. He already couldn’t redeem himself in this life anyways; and even if Zich was a prophet who knew the future, a regressor, or even a reincarnated demon, it didn’t matter to him. Zich’s words simply bothered him and all he could do was deny them.
“Hey, I don’t know what kind of stupid dream you had, but it only makes sense for me to become a great villain in the future. No, knowing who I am, I will easily become a super great villain in the future. Are you seriously saying that I will become your underling?”
“In the future, you really do—”
“Bullshit.” Tim cut off Zich’s words with a curse word. “I will never follow you. Why would a villain follow a kind guy!”
Zich’s mind became blank; he couldn’t think of the words he wanted to say or anything to retort back. All he could think about were the words Tim called him.
“…Did you just call me ‘a kind guy’?”
“Yeah, a kind guy. You keep blabbering about how you become an even worse villain than me, but seeing the current you, it’s hard to imagine you becoming like that.”
“I think you are misunderstanding something, but I am really not a kind guy…”
“I know you are a strange guy, but I didn’t know you would be this unique. Didn’t you say that I was similar to you before?”
“Yeah.”
“That wasn’t true at all, you moron.” In comparison to his rough word choice, Tim spoke in a calm tone.
“I thought you also agreed with me.”
“Yeah, I did. That’s why I am bringing it up again and humbly admitting that I was wrong.”
“The word humble doesn’t suit you.”
“Okay, besides that and just for argument’s sake, let’s say that I repent before I die.”
“What, do you want me to pray for you or something? I do have the title of Karuwiman Honorary Knight.”
“…What? The Karuwimans gave you the Honorary Knight title to someone like you? Did they finally lose their minds?” Even if he thought Zich was a kind person, Tim thought it was still ridiculous for Zich to have such a holy title.
“I think so too, but it’s the truth.” Zich showed the Karuwiman Honorary Knight emblem, and Tim shook his head.
“It seems like the world is coming to an end. Maybe it’s better for me to leave this world early.”
Although the world wouldn’t come to an end, it was true that the world would change into a place just like Hell; it was truly ironic for Tim to say these words when he would be one of the key figures to make it so.
“Anyways, if you have the title of Karuwiman Honorary Knight, you really are not the same kind of human as me,” Tim said.
“I didn’t get this title because I was kind.” As he had repeated many times before, Zich received the Karuwiman Honorary Knight title because he protected Lubella and defeated many Bellids.
“That might be the case, but considering your actions, maybe the Karuwimans actually know you well—more than yourself.”
“Like I keep telling you, I am really not a kind person…”
“What do you think a kind person is?” Tim cut Zich’s words off again. “Do you need to attain some qualification, or does someone like a god or a king have to give it to you? Or the Saint? Who do you have to be acknowledged by to consider yourself a kind person?” Tim vomited another bucketful of blood but didn’t stop talking. “A person I consider to be kind is someone who does kind acts. So, if you do kind acts, you naturally become a kind person.”
Zich received quite a shock. He wanted to retort, but his lips seemed to be glued together. Until now, Zich had considered himself as a super evil human who happened to do kind acts. Yet, Tim’s words completely refuted Zich’s beliefs.
“…I am a kind person?” Zich got up from his box. “What are you saying? You know how twisted I am.”
The reason why Zich had gotten along so well with Tim while drinking was because of their nasty personalities that matched, and even Tim couldn’t deny this.
“Yeah, you are twisted. So, you aren’t a purely kind person. I’d say you are like a kind person with a bothersome personality, but that doesn’t change the fact that you are kind.” Tim raised his torso. More blood leaked from the hole in his chest, but Tim didn’t seem bothered by it as he said, “I feel better.” Tim’s voice sounded more comfortable now. “I shouldn’t have considered you to be someone like me just because we got along well. I have seen hypocritical guys who claimed to be good, but it’s my first time seeing someone who keeps claiming that they are evil. Is this all just part of self-criticizing yourself or something?” Then, Tim stared at Zich’s face, and added, “Your face looks even more annoying now.”
“…Even if I do kind acts, my core is completely different.”
“Are the only kind people you can think of gods and saints? Do you think the people who are deemed to be kind only think of pure and good thoughts all the time? Even those guys hold all kinds of impure and evil thoughts in their hearts. I know so since that’s how I used to be when others called me a kind person!” During those times, Tim felt bothered when other people made requests to him, and he wanted to hit the people who spoke badly of him. When he saw money, he coveted it, but he thought it was only natural for him to feel this way since it was normal human behavior.
“Yet, I tried to not show my inner thoughts and continued to do what people would consider as kind acts. When I did that, people looked at me as if I really was a kind person. Isn’t this very similar to your situation? If you don’t want to admit that, I’ll ask you a question in return. Let’s say that there’s a guy who is kind through and through in his heart but does evil deeds. Then is that person kind or bad?”
“…The kind acts that I do are beating the crap out of bad guys. With just that, I ca—”
“How many maniacs are trying to solve every single visible injustice in this world? If someone doesn’t do bad things and lives a somewhat kind life, they’re a kind person. Moreover, the thing you do—beating up bad guys—is something that most people have a hard time doing. Considering your strength, you probably beat up bad guys that are impossible for ordinary people to deal with. You’re good enough to be praised by people. Do you think hero stories are popular for no reason?”
Tim heaved a heavy breath. “Regardless of whether you become a supervillain or whatever, I have no desire to follow a person like you right now. What’s the fun in following a kind person?”
Tim’s body shook; it seemed as if he had lost even the small amount of strength he used to hold up his upper body. His body collapsed on the ground again. He coughed and more blood continued to seep out of his body. Zich stared at Tim; he looked much younger looking than the Werewolf that Zich was familiar with.
‘If I use potions on him right now, I could save him.’
Even though other people would have immediately died after getting their hearts destroyed, Tim was still breathing. Of course, full recovery was impossible. Tim would die shortly.
“I don’t need your pity.” Tim continued, “I feel like I’ll vomit if I get pitied by a kind person. It feels like I’m getting pitied by my younger self when I used to be pathetic and useless.”
This was the worst insult for Tim; maybe this was also the reason why he was continuing to blabber on so far.
Zich answered, “…Is that so.”
“Yeah.”
“Then, do you have anything else to say? I’ll at least be your talking companion in your last moments.”
“Damn it! I decided that I’d die in a huge house in the arms of beautiful women!”
“Be satisfied with this.” Zich threw a couple of precious items he found rolling around the ground at Tim. As rings, necklaces, and other precious items fell on his body, Tim swore and complained. But he didn’t refuse; instead, he forced his heavily injured body to move and wore the items on his body.
However, since his body was no longer that of a human’s, he couldn’t properly wear them. He barely squished the rings past his nails and the bracelets on his fingers, and he coiled the necklaces around his wrists. An indescribable atmosphere came from Tim—he had the appearance of a wolf monster with a hole in his heart and all kinds of precious items latched onto his body.
“I just satisfied your condition of a huge house with this, but there are no beauties. Should I hold you in my arms until you die?”
“If you lay even a finger on my body, I’ll kill you using whatever means possible before I die!”
“Good. We seem to be on the same page.” Zich sat back on the same box again. “Now, tell me anything you want to say.”
“I have nothing to say, and it seems like I don’t have any more time anyways.” Less blood was coming out of Tim’s injury. It wasn’t because his injury was healing but because most of the blood in his body had already seeped out.
Even the ground below Zich was flooded with Tim’s blood.
“You don’t have any last will?”
“What would a guy like me do with a last will? I’m just regretful that I couldn’t live a flashy and luxurious life. What’s the point after I die?”
Tim’s personality was like this. Even before Zich’s regression, Tim was only focused on the present, and he didn’t even have thoughts about what happened after his death at all. Therefore, when Zich had found out that Tim died to Glen Zenard, he felt regretful that he hadn’t conversed with Tim more even about trivial matters. However, even though Tim was dying right now, they couldn’t hold a proper conversation either.
“Ah, but I have one thing. If you do kind things, then confidently say that you’re a kind person. Don’t spout nonsense about how you’re a bad person doing kind acts.”
“…I’m really shocked that you used your last will for another person.”
“It’s the same for me. Damn it, this is not like me at all!”
There were two reasons why Tim said this as his last words. The first reason was that Zich’s claim, ‘I’m a bad person!’ pissed him off and the other reason was because…
‘Regardless of what happened, I wanted to cause havoc in the world with him.’ Zich had been someone who he really got along with, to the point that it was annoying, and this was extremely rare for him. He even thought about becoming Zich’s friend.
Zich replied, “What if I don’t want to?”
“Then, live however the fuck you want!” These were Tim’s last words. Tim was no longer able to talk. He was unable to move his body or close his eyes. Barely any blood came out of his body now. In a space surrounded by loud sounds of battle, the silence seemed to fall only upon where Zich and Tim’s corpse was. Zich stared at Tim’s corpse; he could no longer even use potions to save him.
Zich got up from the box. The battle against the bandits was still ongoing. Zich ran towards the nearest sound of battle, and Tim’s corpse was left alone.