Restarting My Life After Failing to Protect Girls in My Class – The Day I Was Called the "Demon God of Dragon Slaying" - Episode 19

“Wonderful. What a tragic hell this is.”

A cool voice rang out, completely out of place in the battlefield where countless wounded lay groaning in agony.

It was a woman’s voice, like the sound of ringing bells.

Looking over—there, at the front row by the poolside on Golgotha’s side, stood the “White Woman.”

Her long, straight hair was as dark as ink. Her skin was pale, as if untouched by the sun.

She wore a pure white long dress with matching white heeled sandals—a fresh and breezy outfit, perfect for a seaside stroll, yet utterly unsuited for the underground club’s grim and shadowy atmosphere.

Judging from the confused looks on the Golgotha members’ faces as they exchanged glances, it was clear she wasn’t one of them.

“Who is she?”

I casually asked.

“A woman from Gehenna.”

An answer that only left me more puzzled. I scratched my head and sighed.

“Seriously. Golgotha, Gehenna… You guys sure love your Bible references. If you like it so much, why not give up being thugs and dedicate yourselves to loving your neighbors?”

“Ahaha—”

She brushed off my complaint with a bright smile, then gazed into the pool, murmuring softly.

“So, Raiga Saiki has been defeated.”

“That depends on whether he admits it. He refused to, which is why the pool is in total chaos.”

“…A useless man. If he had captured Miyuki Noma and Aoi Aoki, he should have been given the chance to enjoy their flesh until his soul withered away.”

“…Oh?”

The White Woman looked quite young—maybe even my age.

And yet, the words that came from her lips were nothing short of horrifying. She spoke as if she had the authority to order Saiki to rape Noma and Aoki.

I chuckled dryly and asked her again.

“That’s quite the statement. Care to explain in more detail?”

With a wet squelch, I stepped forward into a pool of bl00d.

As I moved, the Golgotha members at the poolside recoiled in fear. But the White Woman remained completely unfazed.

“In exchange for lending Golgotha our warriors, we requested Miyuki Noma and Aoi Aoki as compensation. We didn’t care how they obtained them, only that they bring them to us. When Shumisen, unaware of the situation, proposed a rematch using the two girls as bargaining chips, we thought it was quite convenient—it saved us the trouble of abducting them ourselves.”

“And? Saiki was one of the designated rapists?”

“Exactly. We also intended to select a few strong and handsome men from Golgotha.”

“Why?”

“Why?”

“If your goal was to kidnap two beautiful girls and sell them at a high price, that would at least make sense. But why have Golgotha gang members gang-rape them? What do you gain from that?”

“Hahaha. There are many forms of art in this world.”

“Letting low-life thugs rape beautiful girls? That’s a convenient use of the word ‘art.’”

“Gehenna has some remarkable artists. We have a rare filmmaker with an unparalleled talent for capturing the fleeting peak of a girl’s beauty—rendering it even more vivid, even more passionate, even more crimson.”

“So you have an audience for this, then.”

“Oh, yes. A very devoted, very wealthy audience.”

“Hahaha. So, you’re running a criminal empire far worse than Golgotha—kidnapping girls and filming their rapes for profit.”

Despite my laughter, I was piecing together the puzzle in my mind.

“Let me guess—you don’t stop at just rape, do you?”

First, some perverted collector must have heard about Noma and Aoki’s beauty and hired the crime syndicate Gehenna to produce a snuff film, documenting their rape and eventual murder.

Golgotha, affiliated with Gehenna, was responsible for acquiring the two girls and carrying out the assault.

Then, the brutal act of beheading them alive and discarding their corpses in the staff restroom at Nishifuchu First High School was likely done by the so-called filmmaker himself. A criminal obsessed with “art” wouldn’t leave the climax of his masterpiece to someone else.

I smirked at the White Woman, fishing for more.

“Tell me, how far does this go?”

“Oh my, whatever do you mean?”

She feigned ignorance as if it was nothing.

Glancing behind me, I saw Noma and Aoki clinging to each other, their faces pale.

The constant mention of rape, gang rape, human trafficking, and criminal syndicates must have terrified them.

I wanted to say something to reassure them, but—

“You use quite the old-fashioned karate.”

The White Woman suddenly changed the subject, making me turn back to her.

“It looks like you’re just using your natural physique as a weapon, but in reality, you’re employing incredible skill. That punch of yours—it has ‘gamaku’ in it.”

Hearing my thrusting technique, which starts from my tanden, described so professionally made me smirk.

“You talk like you know a thing or two.”

“I have a keen eye for such things.”

“So, do you have a traditional martial artist among your allies? Perhaps the one Golgotha borrowed to take down Shumisen’s top fighter?”

“No comment.”

“‘No comment,’ huh? Then what’s your plan now? Aren’t you going to send Golgotha’s reinforcements after me to stop me? Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“No. Unfortunately, I came alone today.”

“Then, are you going to fight me yourself?”

“That would be impossible.”

“Thought so. Judging by your muscle tone and stance, you’re just an ordinary person.”

“I am merely a servant here to collect Miyuki Noma and Aoi Aoki. I only engaged in this conversation to report to my master what kind of warrior you are.”

“Haha! ‘My master,’ huh? You sound like something out of a play.”

Hearing that, for the first time, the White Woman’s brow twitched. She didn’t seem to like my remark about her theatrics.

Still, she quickly composed herself.

“You lack a sense of refinement.”

She smiled gracefully as she criticized me, but I had no ill feelings toward her words.

I had never lived my life worrying about such things.

“The Golgotha guys seem to have lost their will to fight. And if you’re the only one from Gehenna here, can we leave now?”

I didn’t want to scare Noma and Aoki any longer.

Beating the White Woman into submission to extract more information was an option, but if she refused to talk, it would only make Gehenna more cautious and harder to track.

I could always rely on my uncle, who was deeply familiar with the underworld, to investigate later.

Or, though it might be useless, I could simply ask the police to protect Noma and Aoki.

Surprisingly, the White Woman let us go without argument.

“Of course. You’re free to leave through the exit. We have no one here capable of stopping you.”

“‘We have no one here… huh.”

“Yes. At least, not at the moment.”

The Golgotha members no longer dared to oppose me.

As I stepped onto the poolside near the exit, the Golgotha crowd silently parted.

“Let’s go, Noma, Aoki.”

Hearing me call, they ran to my arms.

Shumisen’s people were pulling Inura out of the bloodied pool.

As I turned to leave, the White Woman spoke up again.

“I advise you not to involve the police.”

I smirked.

“You, of all people, are in no position to say that.”

She remained unfazed.

“Perhaps not. But neither are you. The police investigation will bring everything to light. This disaster will have to be explained in full detail.”

Oh, I see. So you’re threatening me.

“Injured people… I don’t know if there are any dead, but at the very least, there are many who are seriously hurt. This is clearly excessive self-defense, isn’t it?”

“Whether it’s excessive self-defense or not is for the police and prosecutors to decide. Besides, I don’t really care.”

“Indeed, a bold person like you wouldn’t care, would you?”

The white-clad woman’s gaze shifted slightly. When I followed it, I saw that it was directed at Noma-san, who was clinging to my left arm.

“But what about the maiden who was saved and protected by you? Can she just stand by and watch as you end up in handcuffs because of her?”

Noma-san looked up at me.

Her eyes were shimmering, on the verge of tears, as if to say, ‘That’s absolutely not okay.’ She gave a tiny shake of her head.

It irritated me to do what the white-clad woman suggested, but I was weak against a beautiful girl’s tears—especially when they were shed for my sake.

“Is this really okay?”

I asked in a voice only Noma-san and Aoki-san could hear. Without hesitation, I got two small nods in return.

“Alright. Then I’ll protect you.”

The white-clad woman must have seen our exchange. She gave a mysterious smile, as if delivering a farewell line.

“We are Gehenna. Messengers who grant sinful wishes.”

“……”

I looked at the white-clad woman one last time—wearing nothing but a sneer.

She was being so overly dramatic that it was laughable. The thought that weird people like this had tried to kill Noma-san and Aoki-san was ridiculous. I couldn’t help but mock her.

“You’ve been watching too much anime. That fancy ‘Gehenna’ name of yours, your whole ‘mysterious woman’ act—if you’re gonna embrace chuunibyou that hard, you might as well go all the way.”

The white-clad woman’s expression didn’t change. She kept smiling.

“Thank you for your feedback. Let’s meet again.”

But she couldn’t quite hide the slight twitching at the corner of her lips.