Chapter 8: PROTECT HER WITHOUT KILLING ANYONE

Bandits attacked shortly after sunrise.

There were twelve.

Vael noticed them three minutes before they emerged from the trees.

Lyria noticed them ten seconds before.

The merchant noticed them when someone yelled, "Stop the cart!"

Vael’s hand moved instinctively toward the dagger beneath his coat.

A pink window slammed into his vision.

[URGENT ROM-COM QUEST]

[Protect Lyria from danger.]

[Special Condition: No fatalities.]

[Reward: Biological Age -2 Years]

Vael stopped.

"What?"

Lyria drew her sword.

"What?"

"Not you."

The bandit leader pointed a crossbow.

"Money. Weapons. Food. Leave the woman."

Vael looked at him.

The bandit leader’s confidence visibly decreased.

Vael whispered, "Define fatality."

[Death.]

"What about permanent paralysis?"

[NO.]

"Loss of limbs?"

[NO.]

"Minor organ failure?"

[HOST.]

Lyria glanced sideways.

"This curse of yours really acts up at bad times."

"You have no idea."

The first bandit charged.

Vael had spent seventy years solving combat problems efficiently.

Efficiency usually involved killing the problem.

He discovered, to his annoyance, that non-lethal combat required restraint.

The first man swung a sword.

Vael caught the blade between two fingers.

Everyone stopped.

Vael remembered his reduced strength too late.

He twisted.

The sword snapped.

The bandit stared at the broken weapon.

Vael tapped him on the forehead.

The man flew backward through a bush.

[Alive. Barely acceptable.]

"Good."

Three attacked together.

Vael moved.

A palm strike to the chest.

A kick behind the knee.

A chop to the neck.

All three collapsed.

[Alive. Alive. Alive.]

The System sounded increasingly stressed.

Lyria forgot to fight for several seconds because she was watching him.

"Vale."

"Later."

An arrow flew toward her back.

Vael stepped between them and caught it.

Lyria’s eyes widened.

"How did you—"

"Good hearing."

"You caught an arrow."

"Excellent hearing."

The bandit leader turned and ran.

Vael raised the arrow.

[No fatalities.]

"I know."

He threw it.

The arrow struck the man’s belt, pinning his trousers to a tree.

The bandit screamed and fell face-first.

[Creative.]

When it was over, twelve bandits lay groaning across the road.

No one was dead.

Vael felt absurdly proud.

Lyria stared at him.

"What are you?"

"Retired."

"From what?"

Vael considered his options.

"Security."

[Deception Skill +5]

Lyria approached one unconscious bandit and checked his pulse.

"You didn’t kill any of them."

"Yes."

"You could have."

"Yes."

"Easily."

"Yes."

Her expression changed.

Not fear.

Something more careful.

"Why didn’t you?"

Vael looked at the System.

The obvious answer was because a magical pink parasite had threatened to invalidate his reward.

But another answer came first.

"Because I did not need to."

The words felt unfamiliar.

Once, necessity had been his favorite excuse.

The System chimed.

[QUEST COMPLETE!]

[Reward: Biological Age -2 Years]

[Bonus Reward: Skill Unlocked — Gentle Force]

Vael frowned.

"What is that?"

[Automatically reduces accidental lethality when Host is consciously restraining strength.]

Vael stared.

"This would have been useful sixty years ago."

[That is the point.]

For once, he did not have a response.

Lyria was still watching him.

Then she smiled.

"Security, huh?"

Vael sighed.

"Very dangerous security."

"I figured."

[Trust +11]

Vael mentally cursed the numbers again.

The merchant, who had spent the entire fight under the same barrel as before, climbed out.

"Is it over?"

"Yes," Lyria said.

He looked at the twelve unconscious bandits.

Then at Vael.

"Sir, what kind of security did you retire from?"

Vael answered without hesitation.

"Upper management."

Lyria laughed so hard she had to sit down.