Vending Machine - 118 - Enticement (Patreon)

Gumihou: Change the Red and White Twins’ names from Red and White to Akai and Shiro

“Now, before talking about our wish, I would like to tell you about our son. Hyurumi, I suppose you of all people should know something about… this crystal?” Leader said as he tapped at the enormous crystal, his eyes staring straight at Hyurumi.

“I believe… that’s a crystal coffin.”

“Precisely. As expected of you,” he said.

As the two casually traded words with each other, I had to frown. Just what is this crystal coffin? Is it something famous in this world?”

“What is a crystal coffin?”

“Yes, what’s that?”

Ah, looks like I’m not the only person not in the know. What a relief.

“Well, from what I heard, a crystal coffin is something that was created long ago. Some despotic ruler gathered all the magic tools craftsmen and healers to develop something that would make him immortal within three years. Anyhow, that team of geniuses got together and developed something alright. Their final masterpiece was this crystal coffin, which forcefully seals a person’s magic and sends them into a timeless sleep. They delivered what they were supposed to and fulfilled the demand in a way. So long as you’re stuck inside there, you will remain young and sort of alive forever.”

Wow, three years to develop something that would make him immortal? That ruler sounds pretty unreasonable. I’m sure that the concept of immortality had been studied by people for ages without success, so compared to that, what even is three years? I felt kind of sorry for those healers and craftsmen.

Hyurumi continued, “In the first place, it’s impossible to achieve perfect immortality, which had been researched by experts for hundreds of years. Three years is just... I must applaud them for technically fulfilling the contract. Those fellows sure did their best.”

While those fellows technically fulfilled their contract, I doubt the ruler was happy about the final result. Still, I have to praise them for delivering such a perfect trap well within the scope of the customer’s wishes.

“Thank you for the detailed explanation, Hyurumi. Now, the reason why our son is sleeping in this coffin. He received a Cursed Gift. As a result of this Curse, his entire life was disrupted. I could not bear to see my son deteriorate each day and decided to put him to sleep in this crystal coffin until I found a way to help him.”

Wait, so, this child had been sleeping here since he was that age? In this bleak and lonely-looking place? Surely it would be nicer to brighten up the place with some flowers or something? Ah, but Leader won’t have time to take care of fresh flowers. I wonder if I have any artificial flowers on my list of products.

“Uh, um, so… what’s a Cursed Gift?” Ramis shyly raised her hand to ask.

Thank you Ramis for asking about things I don’t understand.

“I see, I suppose it is not that well known. Well, a Gift is something bestowed by a Benevolent God. Take Ramis for example, her Gift is her super strength. Hakkon’s barrier could also be considered a Gift. A Cursed Gift, on the other hand, is a wretched power granted by an Evil God. A Gift that attracts misfortune and bad luck to the people around you is considered a curse. Hence a Cursed Gift.”

I was under the impression that a ‘Gift’ is ultimately a good thing. That the only bad thing about it would be something like Ramis not being able to control her own Gift or something. To think that a Cursed Gift also exists?

“Allow me to add to that in my capacity as a priest. It is said that there are a hundred gods in this world, with the Benevolent God blessing people with Gifts while the Evil Gods send down Curses that would make people suffer. Many of those Cursed ones are destined to die young.”

Come to think of it, I had almost forgotten that Hevoy was a priest.

“Well, two of our children did not suffer any ill effects. However, our eldest received a Cursed Gift, and that Gift is…”

“Corrosion,” said Vice-Leader Felmina with an agonised look on her face. “A despicable curse that corrodes everything one touches. Even worse, it corrodes the body of the Cursed one too.”

“Not only that, the child was born with the Gift of super regeneration. Even as he experiences the pain of his body rotting away, his physical body is being regenerated by the original Gift. He will suffer great pain over and over again, until the moment he dies.”

“Unfortunately, we did not realise our child had been suffering from the Cursed Gift of Corrosion for a long time. By the time we realised it, it was too late to do anything. The pain was too great for the child to bear. We were terrible parents.”

Even though it was difficult to see Leader's face with the hat pulled down like that, it was somehow easy to imagine what kind of face he must be making. The Red & White Twins, Akai and Shiro… well triplets actually, but it’s too troublesome to think of them that way, so I guess ‘twins’ is fine. Anyway, the two of them were looking at the floor with clenched fists.

“Leader. You said he ‘received’ the Cursed Gift. Then, it’s a Gift that was acquired after birth?”

“Yeah, in the past, my wife and I had a conflict with another hunting party. We drove them to the brink of destruction once, but the survivors activated a cursed object and cast the Cursed Gift at us.”

“It was a statue of an Evil God, wasn’t it? A cursed artefact made in the image of one of them. I believe it was activated upon the sacrifice of one’s life.”

“Well, the bastard died laughing. He must have been aiming at our children. He wanted to torture our entire family by making my sons suffer. Back then, I had no idea why this man would kill himself in front of me… I never thought that something like this would happen.”

It was an incredible story. I never would have imagined that the usually easy-going Leader, the carefree twins and the strict Vice-Leader would have such a past. Even an idiot would understand what this family’s wish would be.

“Apologies, I have rambled on too long. Naturally, our wish would be to remove this child’s Cursed Gift. We have done a lot to achieve this, and will do anything to make sure this wish comes true.”

“I am of the same opinion. My children too.”

“Our big brother protected us from the Curse. Once he is back with us again, I want all three of us to go and do something idiotic together again.”

“My big brother would end up being a [1] shota, but us brothers could become even more popular because of it.”

The twins’ words and tone are light, but there is no mistaking the sharp determination shining clearly in their eyes.

I was shocked to find that Leader, Vice-Leader and the Red & White Twins were a family. However, what was even more shocking was the weight of the reason behind their wish.

Was this the reason why they were able to push forward towards their goal without hesitation? To the point that they were called Whimsical Fools for their strange behaviour?

“Now you understand our goal and why we seek to conquer the dungeon. The crystal coffin could only last 2 years at best, 1 year possibly. We are running out of time. Moreover, with the teleportation gates are no longer working properly, we are in no position to choose our methods anymore. That is why we have a proposal for you.”

When Leader paused, I looked at him. What I could see from the shadows of his wide-brimmed hat was a light so cold in his eyes that it seemed to freeze the tear that had appeared at the corners of his eye.

What's with that look in your eyes? Those emotionless eyes were completely different from a moment ago.

“Will you defect to the King of the Netherworld with us?”

My mind stopped functioning at these words.

Wait, is he serious? However, the look… he is not joking. He knows perfectly well exactly what he is saying.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over. Mishael and Hevoy stepped forward to shield us.

“Leader Keyroil, you understand the meaning behind your words?”

“Yeah, I do, Mishael,” was his calm answer to Mishael’s stern question.

At his answer, Mishael pulled out his greatsword from its scabbard and settled into a defensive stance.

“Leader, isn’t this too weird?! The King of the Netherworld is the one who is out to kill everyone. Stop with these idiotic thoughts–!”

“Shui, we are a group of whimsical fools. We are all a bunch of fools and idiots here.”

Shui was begging him desperately, but her cries did not shake Leader’s heart.

The four of them just stood there, staring at us.

“Why? It’s wrong! Even now he is killing the people living in the dungeon like it is nothing. Please reconsider!”

“I know this. There is no need for you to tell me. However, my family is more important to me than the entire world. If I could wipe away my son’s pain by sacrificing the lives of the people in the dungeon, I shall do so gladly.”

The insanity of a parent’s love.

There is no way our words would change his mind.

Recently, I came to like the Leader and his party, but, how did things come to this?!

“Say, Leader, you say that you will defect to the King of the Netherworld. How do you plan to do it?” Hyurumi calmly tossed this question over at Leader.

“That, well… the Commander of this level will take care of it. She has a communication tool hidden on her and had been planning to make contact with us under the orders of the King of the Netherworld. Our goal is to conquer the entire dungeon and make our wishes come true. As for their goal, their target is the final floor which had yet to be released. Once we reach the final floor, he plans to take over it immediately. Once he has control over the final floor, he will grant our wishes. It's a win-win situation.”

So, the Leaders wanted to conquer the dungeon and the King of the Netherworld wants control over the dungeon.

Certainly, it looks like both sides would benefit and that working together may be the most obvious choice. Even so…

“There is no guarantee that the King of the Netherworld will keep his promise.”

Hyurumi is right. Will someone like the King of the Netherworld properly keep his promises?

He seems like the type who would dispose of someone once they are no longer of use to him.

“Aah, I thought about that as well. Even so, with the teleportation circles not working properly, how much time would we need to get rid of the King of the Netherworld and for the dungeon to revert back to its normal state? We have no time for that. We have no choice but to cling to this hope, even knowing that it is a trap!”

Leader spat angrily, his anguish clear to all.

Will our words ever reach him? Leader appears to have made his decision after understanding and considering everything.

“So, this is how it ends. All of you have been living on the edge all this while, I am truly sorry for you.”

Hevoy, who had already taken out his Morning Star, stepped forward.

“Are you not going to try and persuade us in the name of God as a priest?”

“If persuasion alone is enough to shake your hearts, would you have thrown your entire family into such a stupid decision in the first place?”

“It makes no difference to us who we work with. So, are there any of you who would stand with us? The King of the Netherworld will teleport us to the level just above the final level of the dungeon. So long as we are the first ones to make it there, we can make our wishes come true. Not a bad deal, eh?”

In response, everyone settled into a fighting stance.

[1] Shota - underaged male character