For Romantic Superpowers - Chapter 52 - Who Is The Most Cruel?

#52. Who Is The Most Cruel?

Kevin’s body was so battered that there was no place without a wound. Lia was now exhausted from crying and screaming. She had never seen such cruelty before. She couldn’t bear it. The man, feeling proud, hit Kevin for a while. Then there was commotion around. Some people knew this place. 

“Hey! How’s it going?”

It wasn’t just one person. Suddenly, light poured in from a corner, and several people came down the stairs. It seemed like it was indeed underground. Kevin tried hard to remember the faces of the incoming people despite his blurry mind. Just in case he got free and needed to recognize them right away. They were all ordinary folks, probably working in the village. They didn’t seem like criminals. 

“Who’s this man?”

“We’ve captured him as a hostage. We can’t harm such a valuable person who can use abilities.”

“Hmm.”

Seeing Kevin’s bloodied body, they frowned for a moment. They also seemed unfamiliar with such events. They were ordinary people who hadn’t committed many crimes. The exception seemed to be Shu-shu’s father, just one person. 

“The ability you mentioned? Are you sure?”

“Shu-shu saw it, so there’s no mistake. But she’s being stubborn and hasn’t used her ability yet….”

One of the group, a man who seemed like their representative, inspected Lia and Kevin. Lia felt like she was merchandise under his scrutiny. She didn’t feel good at all. 

“How much for her?”

The man intended to sell Lia. The villagers needed her ability. Since he didn’t work himself, all he needed was money. The villagers also wanted to delegate dirty work to him and just profit from it. 

“But how can we believe she can grow plants when we haven’t seen it?”

“Well…. that’s true. Alright, I’ll show you the ability.”

Lia had no intention of obeying his words at all. But when she saw him receiving a sharp knife from one of the villagers, she shouted.

“I’ll do it! Just let me do it!”

“No!”

Kevin shouted, trying to stop her. But it was hard for him to resist any longer. He felt resentful for enduring until this point. 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Kevin… I’m sorry….”

It was all her fault. If she hadn’t shown her ability to Shu-shu, none of this would have happened. It was frustrating to have the ability to grow plants from birth. Like tears nurturing plants, every drop of tear that fell, the plant in the pot grew a little. 

“Wow, is this for real…?”

“I’ve never seen anyone born with the ability to grow plants.”

“Me neither.”

The plants grew at an incredible speed. Soon, the floor of the basement became densely packed with plants.

“This should ease our food worries for the year!”

“Alright. I’ll pay the agreed amount in full.”

“No, you’ll have to double it.”

“What did you say?”

“We need to keep one more person captive. Naturally, you should pay double.”

“But we don’t even know what ability this guy has.”

Of course, Kevin had no intention of revealing his ability. He was constantly thinking of ways to make amends at this moment. Even now, Lia’s plants continue to grow.

“You guys seem like ordinary villagers. Can you get involved in such dirty business…? Do you have the capacity to handle it?”

Everyone flinched at his provocative tone. The man who seemed like the representative among the villagers responded.

“We have to do this to survive, don’t we? Many people with abilities are sent away from the center, and with good weather, there should be plenty of food. But they don’t reduce our taxes! If you had understood our situation even a little, you wouldn’t have done this!”

Their anger was understandable. They had faced discrimination just because they were born in the Hiver region. However, it was unfair to vent their anger on Kevin and Lia in the wrong place.

“That’s not fair. But remember this. We are the ones sent from the center to resolve this.”

“You?”

They looked at Lia and Kevin alternately. The sudden words seemed to confuse the man too. Moreover, the statement that they came to resolve their problem was surprising.

“Resolve it with abilities? Are you also a plant ability user by any chance?”

“No. There’s a limit to taking her away to grow crops with her ability. Abilities are not an infinite resource to begin with. That’s why we came to provide more fundamental solutions.”

“Fundamental solutions?”

“Yeah. We’re here to recommend crops that can thrive in this area and teach you how to grow them.”

The villagers were swayed by Kevin’s words. His words implied that they had hindered more fundamental solutions themselves. Discussions started among them on whether they should let them go. The man who kidnapped them was confused. Resolving the food issue was not beneficial to him at all. He had already committed the kidnapping, and his only goal was to get money from them. As they seemed to waver, Kevin added another word.

“…Besides, she’s a noble. She’s not someone you should mess with lightly. Do you know what happens when you mess with central nobles?”

“A noble?”

“This lady is a noble?”

“What will happen to us then?”

“You could all be punished. You’d put your lives on the line for such actions, right?”

The man who answered Kevin’s mockery was the one who kidnapped him.

“Of course, we’re willing to put our lives on the line! Moreover, no one else knows about this place. It’s only known to us, and since I came here through spatial teleportation, there’s no trace left!”

So that was it. Even pretending not to have abilities was ultimately a lie.

“Aren’t you ashamed in front of your child?”

Kevin criticized him with a stern expression. The water he drank before collapsing was given by Shu-shu. It was a signal that the child was involved. It disgusted him to see someone using even a child for their own benefit. But he casually smiled and replied.

“After all, she’s just a found child.”

It was an attitude of having no feelings towards Shu-shu. It was Lia who was infuriated by that attitude.

“Wow.”

“What did you say?”

“You… You’re disgusting!”

As she shouted, plants began to grow at a frightening speed. Unnoticed, the plants filled the basement.

“What’s this!”

Their feet were not an exception either. The vine-like plants quickly wrapped around their legs. No matter how much they tried to remove them, they grew back and eventually dominated their entire bodies. Tears no longer fell. Lia’s eyes were filled only with anger. The plants that wrapped around all of them revealed her anger. It took away the freedom of their legs, then their arms, and soon began to block their vision.

“Lia…”

It was chaos. They screamed and constantly tried to remove the plants, but the plants kept growing. It felt like a snake coiling up one’s body. Lia, enraged like this, was something Kevin had never seen before. She watched with wide eyes as the villagers, the man, and Kevin struggled to remove the plants.

“Just some weed!”

The man, in anger, threw the fire that was hanging in the basement onto the floor. The plants didn’t easily catch fire, but because of the dry leaves on the floor, the fire began to spread.

“What are you doing!”

To avoid the fire, people had no choice but to eventually open the basement door.

“Klock, Klock.”

“We’re trying to break in, but you came out well by yourselves.”

Frantically coming out, they didn’t realize they were surrounded outside. Each of them was breathing heavily.

“Mr. Perth, what should we do?”

“Encircle them all and take them to the castle.”

Even though they waited outside, Lia and Kevin didn’t come out. Perth grabbed the face of the last person to come up as soon as he saw it.

“What… what are you doing…!”

“It’s not your place to talk about kidnapping so casually.”

He grabbed the man’s face and pulled him. It seemed like he was going to save him, but as soon as he completely came out, he punched him to the side. Then he took out the keys from the man’s pocket. A pungent smoke rose from behind the man. Perth took off his coat and covered his mouth with it. Carefully avoiding inhaling the smoke, he entered the basement step by step.

“Kukk! Don’t inhale… the smoke, Lia!”

Kevin’s voice came. Because of the smoke, the view was blurry and it was hard to see ahead. Perth headed towards the direction where the voice came from.

“Mr. Kevin?”

“Mr. Perth? Kukk! Why… did you come now!”

“I’ll untie you right away.”

“No, behind! Release Lia first!”

At his words, Perth turned around. Lia was lying limp, as if unconscious.

“Lia!”

He didn’t hesitate and rushed to Lia. She too was bound in chains. Hurriedly trying to free her, he stumbled instead. Striving to remain calm, he first unchained her arms. She collapsed, seemingly unconscious. Holding her up with one hand, he freed the chains from her legs. He then lifted her and went back to Kevin.

“Let’s get out of here quickly.”

Kevin took the lead, and Perth held Lia. He covered her mouth with his coat to prevent her from inhaling the smoke. They managed to break through the fierce flames and barely made it outside.

“Lady Lia! Lady Lia, please wake up!”

As soon as Perth came out, he checked on Lia. Fortunately, she seemed to be unconscious. It was only then that Perth remembered one thing. He had been touching her with his bare hands. Scenes he had ignored in his effort to survive the fire flooded his mind like a tidal wave. Thanks to his ability, he could vividly feel the pain Lia endured. Thinking about the fear and anger she felt at the end, tears involuntarily welled up in Perth’s eyes.

“Why did you come so late, you…”

Kevin didn’t realize he was using informal language. Perth didn’t mind if Kevin used informal language with him either. He repeated apologies to Lia, who was unconscious in his arms.

“I’m sorry, I should have come a little sooner… I’m really sorry….”

It was chaos all around. The villagers who tried to escape were all being escorted to the castle. It was thanks to Perth’s quick contact with the castle. Other villagers had gathered to try to extinguish the fire. However the entrance to the basement was narrow, and there were many obstacles to escape, making it difficult to put out the fire.

“I’ll… help.”

Kevin, still groggy from inhaling smoke, managed to stand up. Then he reached out towards the fire. Gradually, raindrops started to fall. The light rain quickly turned into a downpour. Thanks to this, the fire that couldn’t be caught when people were trying to extinguish it could soon be put out.

“So this is what an ability user…”

Although Kevin’s power was weak, the villagers were amazed. They were not accustomed to relying on abilities in their lives. The rain fell impartially, on both the ability users and non-ability users alike.

Kevin himself also got wet from the rain. As the water soaked into his wounds, they began to sting. Perth, without caring about his own wet body, hugged Lia. Seeing his tender expression, Kevin’s lips twitched. If only he had been a little stronger, if he hadn’t lost his ability, Lia might not have been hurt. If Perth hadn’t come… He didn’t want to imagine any further.

“Thank you for coming, even if it’s late.”