Chapter 291: Mindless Puppet

Lys was now staring at the woman in front of him and felt a single, incredulous thought cut through the pain and exhaustion.

‘Is this woman actually insane or something? How can she say something like this without any hesitation?’

She had just offered, no, declared, that he would become her slave as if the matter were already settled for her. As if the only remaining question was how quickly he would accept. What possible reason did she have to believe he would agree to something absurd like that?

His eyes moved past her, watching as the ranks of armored men still poured through the enlarged hole in the wall. Some of them were already working at the edges of the breach, prying wooden beams and iron bands free to widen the opening further, letting more of their people in. 

And there was a very hard-to-believe fact that came to Lys's mind seeing people after people fall in formation in front of him. 

‘What the fuck…?! Every single one of them is male?!’

As far as he knew, in this world, that shouldn’t be possible. Men in this quantity, all of them under a single woman. The fact alone was wrong.

Men doing dangerous jobs existed, of course. He had met male adventurers, laborers, and the occasional merchant when the news of the dungeon had spread, and many people came to this village to find many opportunities. 

But an entire formation of knights and soldiers, dozens upon dozens of them, all male, all moving with the same silent, absolute focus? 

This was something else entirely. Dangerous work like this should have been dominated by women, as he had guessed until now from what he had seen around him. After all, the rarity of men made them too valuable to spend so casually on the front lines.

Yet here they stood. Dozens of them. Silent. Efficient. Completely locked onto their tasks.

Lys’s grip on CorpseSlayer tightened, seeing the expression they all had on them. Most of them had their visor on, but some had their head, eyes open too, without any visor.

‘Did she do something to them? Why do their eyes look like that?’

After thoroughly staring and trying to gauge the faces of the knights, the realization settled cold and certain in his chest. These men were not just following her out of loyalty or coin. They moved like tools that had already been sharpened and pointed in the correct direction. Even the two knights he had fought earlier had charged without a single word once his Aura of Intimidation pushed them. They all moved like robots, mindless dolls, who only had the instincts and skills they learned before.

Whatever method Ines had used on them, it stripped something essential away. The will to think, maybe.

Realising this now, he just knew one thing for sure; he could not say yes to her. He did not even want to imagine what “joining her collection” actually meant in reality.

Ines watched the silence stretch and tilted her head slightly, as if mildly disappointed by the lack of immediate reaction from him.

“What?” she asked. “Too awed by the offer to speak? Don’t worry. I have no intention of turning you into a simple, mindless soldier like these fools.”

The word ‘mindless’, coming from her mouth, landed harder than the rest of the sentence.

Lys took an involuntary step backward.

Ines noticed at once. Her eyes sharpened.

“Why are you backing away? Should I take that as a refusal already?”

Lys forced a thin smile onto his blood-streaked face. “And what did you expect me to do? Smile and thank you?”

“Well, I didn’t expect immediate acceptance, of course,” Ines replied calmly. “But I did expect you to at least hear the full shape of the offer before deciding. Did you truly make up your mind in the space of a few heartbeats?”

“Well, you can say I don’t delay when the decision is this large.” Lys’s voice came out steadier than he felt. 

“Becoming your puppet for the rest of my life? No, thanks. I already received a second chance at living. I will not hand that chance over to someone I just met. Even if you kill me here, I will not surrender my will without fighting for it first.”

For a moment, Ines simply looked at him.

Something that might have been genuine appreciation flickered across her features.

“Well said,” she murmured. “I actually like that answer. That just means you value what you have currently more than most of these fools behind me, I guess.” 

Then the appreciation cooled almost immediately. “But unfortunately for you, I have no intention of letting an opportunity like this slip away. Whether you want it or not, I will make you mine. You and your ability to use cursed weapons are too valuable for me to pass by, you see.”

She glanced back over her shoulder.

Several knights immediately began advancing, passing her on either side. At the same time, Ines herself took a single measured step backward, then another, fading toward the back of the ranks of soldiers still waiting beyond the breach. 

It was as if she had no intention of dirtying her own hands. The tools she had already prepared would handle the rest.

Seeing men after men filling his vision, Lys settled into a lower stance, CorpseSlayer rising into a ready guard between him and the knights. Blood still ran down his arm. His ribs still screamed with every breath. But as his life itself was at stake, none of it mattered anymore.

The circle of steel was closing.

He said quietly, almost to himself, “Well, then I guess I really will have to fight to the death.”

And then just as he said it, he moved first.