Ten Shadows blessing this wonderful world.

13

Visiting Wiz's shop next day was a given, since after most of our troubles have been dealt with, it was time to get back to work. I wanted to see the rest of the artifacts Wiz has brought before, but since I went to Keele's dungeon to help Kazuma, I missed such opportunity.

With a sigh, I pushed the door to the shop open, waving my hand to Wiz who was managing the counter.

— Wiz, I'm back. Good morning. — I walked closer, walking behind the counter to go to my table with documents, but stopped when I felt familiar aura. — ...Wiz, where is he? — As I looked at Wiz, everything clicked together. With a mental push, I made Blade of Extermination appear on my wrist, and, with a glare, pointed it at the disguised Vanir. — Stop playing games with me. What did you do to Wiz?

— Ho-ho, moi didn't expect you to figure out moi trick so fast. — With a bit of purple smoke clearing out, Vanir, Duke of Hell, has taken off his Wiz disguise, standing before me in his outfit I saw before. Aside from that, I noticed a roman number II on his mask, and it was obvious it was his second life, given that he's not dead after I killed him yesterday. — Worry not, for moi did not kill this failure of a shopkeeper. She's alive and kicking.

— Where. Is. Wiz? — In a blink of an eye, I was in front of him, with the blade scratching the surface of his mask, which made him sweat a little. I could tell that he did something to Wiz, and I was not about to let it slide. If he hurt her even a little, he's going to suffer.

— The shopkeeper is in the backroom. — He finally answered, and, holding him in an iron grip by his mask, I dragged him behind me, opening the door to our storage room.

What I saw...made me furious. Wiz was laying there, half-transparent, with burn marks all over her body, clearly exhausted from whatever Vanir did to her. She did not move, her face expression was that of a pain, and she was trembling, even when unconscious.

Slowly turning my head, I looked Vanir in the eyes, with my cursed energy running rampant, full of malice. Within a single heartbeat, Vanir was on the ground, his face facing the floor, with Blade of Extermination in his back, being stabbed right into his soul. He screamed from pain, with his scream being full of agony, because you can endure physical pain when getting tortured, but being hit directly to your soul? That thing is unbearable.

I slashed his soul millimeter by millimeter, aiming to make him endure as much pain as he can before he becomes dumb from it. The entire time I did that, he screamed, begging me for mercy, but I did not listen. He hurt my contractor, he hurt my friend, he hurt Wiz. He WILL suffer.

— Y-y/n-san, I beg of you, please stop! — Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and, with my hand now frozen, I looked at the one distracting me, to see Wiz, still shaking from exhaustion, trying her best to stop me. In a moment, all of the malice I felt in this moment dissipated, and I sighed, heeding her request. Blade of Extermination retracted back, and I finally stood up, ignoring Vanir squirming on the ground. His soul was damaged, but in a matter of a few minutes, it will be back as new, given I started using my cursed energy to regenerate it.

— Wiz, come here. — Embracing her in a hug, I sighed, catching her surprised yelp. Forming a handsign, I summoned Miracle, and made him start the healing process on Wiz. Normally, any evil being would feel pain in the presence of such pure Positive energy, but, as long as I do not want it to hurt them, they won't be. Thus, Wiz was getting the treatment she needed, with her skin getting less transparent each second. — What did he do to you?

— W-we had an argument over the matters in the shop...a-and it got heated when I mentioned I can't hire him without your permission when he said he can help me. — She confessed, and, yanking Vanir from the ground, I gave him a savage grin, looking him in the eyes.