"W-wait! If I hadn't bought you back then, you would have died on the streets!" Feeling Raphtalia's murderous intent growing stronger, Idol's survival instinct kicked in, and he quickly begged for mercy.
"Shut up! Do you think I've forgotten what you did? I can't forget it. There's no way I can forget!" Hearing his words, Raphtalia said angrily.
"I'm sorry! I apologize! Please forgive me!" Seeing Raphtalia's eyes, Idol knelt on the ground and kowtowed to her.
"Someone like you, a monster like you... If it weren't for you, Rifana would never have..." As she spoke, Raphtalia raised the long sword high.
"Stop! Stop! Please don't!" Feeling the breath of death approaching rapidly, Idol wept and begged for mercy. Seeing his appearance, Raphtalia suddenly felt her hand tremble slightly.
Takeru watched this scene from behind. Regardless of Raphtalia's choice, whether to kill or not, Takeru would not interfere.
Of course, Idol would definitely not survive.
After hesitating for a while, Raphtalia thought of the goal she wanted to help Takeru achieve. She gritted her teeth and swung the sword at Idol's neck. This swing was not for herself, but for Takeru...
As for Idol, he never imagined Raphtalia would actually dare to kill him. After all, she was just a demi-human he had always looked down upon.
After watching Raphtalia kill Idol, Takeru came up behind her and gently patted her head.
"Takeru-sama, waa..." Feeling Takeru's gentleness, she could no longer hold back. She threw herself into Takeru's arms and cried. Takeru gently patted her back.
After about five minutes, Takeru reminded her. After all, there were still many demi-humans locked up in the basement. Every minute they delayed, someone down there might die.
"That's right, Rifana and everyone!" Hearing Takeru's reminder, Raphtalia finally remembered the people from her village.
Seeing her recover, Takeru directly extracted Idol's soul.
As a soul body, Idol, after being extracted by Takeru, had no consciousness of his own and appeared very dazed.
This was very normal. After being separated from the physical body, most souls cannot adapt to the human world. They only dissipate quickly over time. Only those with extremely high spiritual power or those carrying extreme hatred might, by chance, become special ghosts or transform into new monsters...
As for Idol, he naturally couldn't reach such a level, nor did he have such conditions. Takeru extracted his soul mainly to examine his memories.
Although most memories would be lost from such a soul body, some would be preserved. What type of memories they were depended on the situation.
After Takeru examined them, he only found memories of Idol's daily life and memories of torture.
Beyond that, there were memories of his deeds against the demi-humans. He claimed he had 'bought' Raphtalia and the others at a critical moment.
In reality, after Raphtalia's village was hit by the wave, just as people were starting to regain confidence and work hard to rebuild their lives, he ordered a large number of knights to ambush Raphtalia's village and lock up all the demi-humans.
Seeing this, Takeru directly devoured his soul body. Besides gaining a little over two hundred points of mana reserve, there was nothing else. It had no value whatsoever...
Snap!
After another snap of his fingers, the knights slowly stood up. Idol's corpse was also covered by a special light. Then, he stood up completely intact. His gaze toward Takeru was dazed yet loyal.
Seeing Idol stand back up, the others looked at him nervously.
"Don't worry. This guy is just an ordinary puppet now. The original Idol is dead." Looking at their vigilant expressions, Takeru said softly.
Hearing Takeru's words, Via and Raphtalia stared blankly at Takeru. They couldn't imagine what kind of magic Takeru had used.
"Master is amazing!" Only Filo didn't dwell on these things. She just shouted excitedly at Takeru.
Takeru didn't bother explaining to the three either. Controlling Idol was extremely simple. The magic Takeru used was puppet magic, a technique he had learned from Demon Lord Clayman.
First, he used manifestation magic to repair and strengthen Idol's corpse. Then, he used puppet magic to give it consciousness.
Although Takeru could also use creation magic to achieve everything in one step, repairing, strengthening, and granting consciousness all at once, the resulting consciousness would be at the level of a magical beast.
That meant it would have intelligence, but it would be very low. It would need to learn to possess the wisdom of a normal person.
Puppets were simpler. Takeru directly copied some of the original Idol's memories and gave them to the puppet, then issued his commands...
Bringing the 'reborn' Idol and the knights, Takeru and the others quickly arrived at the basement where the demi-humans were imprisoned.
Inside, Takeru saw a large number of barely alive demi-humans.
"Everyone, I'm sorry. I came too late." Seeing the people from her village, Raphtalia covered her mouth and cried.
"This is no time for that. Quickly, save everyone. As long as they aren't completely dead, they can be saved." Looking at the crying Raphtalia, Takeru spoke loudly.
"That's right, everyone!" Thinking this, Raphtalia quickly pulled herself together. She quickly broke open the cages and saved the surviving demi-humans.
"Rifana!" The one Raphtalia cared about most was Rifana, who had been imprisoned with her until recently.
When she got there, after breaking open the cage, she saw Rifana, who looked like a corpse. She couldn't help but cry.
Takeru, meanwhile, quickly gave everyone simple treatment, then came over to Raphtalia.
"Raphtalia, Rifana should still be saveable." Looking at the grief-stricken Raphtalia, Takeru calmly checked Rifana's condition, then spoke directly.
"Takeru-sama, you mean... you mean Rifana..." Hearing Takeru's words, Raphtalia shouted excitedly.
"Go out and comfort the others first. Leave her to me." Looking at the excited Raphtalia, Takeru spoke directly.
"I... yes, I understand." Although nervous and excited inside, Raphtalia still followed Takeru's words and went outside.
Only a little over ten days had passed, but Raphtalia had completely changed, so when she told everyone she was Raphtalia, they were unsure.
"Keel, do you remember? You almost drowned in the sea once. Sadina-nee saved you. You also got a stomach ache from eating poisonous mushrooms. You couldn't move and made me promise to keep it a secret. Also, after the wave ended, when I proposed rebuilding the village, you were the first to agree, right?" Looking at the nervous crowd, Raphtalia first approached Keel, whom she knew better.
"Raphtalia? You're really Raphtalia?" Hearing Raphtalia reveal so many of his secrets, Keel confirmed that the mature-looking demi-human before him was indeed Raphtalia.
"I'm so glad you're still alive." Seeing Keel finally recognize her, Raphtalia said excitedly.
"Who are these people?" Then, Keel looked nervously at Filo and Via.
"I'm traveling with the Sword Hero now. The Hero brought me back here to save everyone!" Hearing Keel's question, Raphtalia said proudly.
"The Sword Hero?" Hearing Raphtalia's words, everyone was stunned.
In their memory, it was actually the Shield Hero who was kinder to demi-humans. However, they didn't have any bad impressions of the other Heroes either...
While Raphtalia was rebuilding everyone's morale, Takeru confirmed that the demi-human girl before him wasn't completely dead.
There was still a very faint breath left in her. Perhaps it was her strong will that kept her holding on.
Even though she was afflicted with numerous diseases, she still hadn't died completely.
Thinking this, Takeru directly used high-level healing and purification magic on her. Applying both methods simultaneously made her body recover quickly.
Under Takeru's treatment, Rifana's body recovered rapidly. However, due to long-term abuse and her body being in a state of collapse for so long, her consciousness couldn't wake up quickly.
While treating her, Takeru also noticed the large number of injuries on her body. He felt a surge of anger.
Although he wasn't familiar with her, seeing such a thing still made him incredibly angry. After all, she was just a little girl...