Can Someone (Anyone!) Please Turn Off the Auto-Skill Setting?! - Chapter 2
Nancy gave him an awkward smile as he grew more agitated.
“A d-deal with demons is a serious crime. There’s no way I would—could do that.”
Yes. There should have been no way.
Nancy glanced at the hidden title and began to sweat.
“I am a paladin who swore to offer the heads of all demons to God. If you really made a deal with the demons, I can’t just let you go.”
Aaron pointed his sword at her neck, not as a mere threat but with deadly seriousness. The irony was that the sword threatening Hero Nancy was the very sword of a hero.
This is bad. His eyes are dead serious.
A chill ran down Nancy’s spine. She wanted to find an excuse for the ring, but no words came to mind. The sword aimed at her neck turned her mind completely blank.
“Why did you put me in the party? Why did you say you could trust me and give me the hero’s sword?”
If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have done it!
Nancy bit her lip, suppressing the urge to shout.
“I wanted to repay you for believing in me when even the other knights shunned me. I thought it would be meaningful to achieve something with you, to leave our mark on history…”
Aaron trailed off, his face filled with anguish.
With Nancy unable to devise a plan, her automatic skill activated on its own.
【 Calculation complete. 】
【 Recommended Skill: 〈Seduction〉 – Suppresses the opponent’s hostility towards the hero with other emotions. 】
【 Would you like to use 〈Seduction〉? 】
Seduction? In this tense situation, this is what it’s recommending?
Nancy was furious but had no other options. She quickly blinked and activated the skill.
Would it really work? Contrary to her doubts, the skill succeeded, and Aaron’s fiercely burning pupils suddenly softened.
“……”
“Aaron?”
She cautiously called his name, still not ready to let her guard down. Aaron didn’t respond. He seemed frozen, his pupils unfocused, as if he had lost consciousness while still awake.
She wasn’t sure what the skill had suppressed his hostility with, but it seemed she had survived for now.
“Aaron, we’ve become quite close and built trust over time, haven’t we? If I really made an illegitimate deal, could I have become a hero with God watching over me?”
Mentioning God had an effect. Aaron staggered and stepped back.
However, his condition seemed strange. His breathing grew more ragged, and he began to sweat profusely.
“Why… Why isn’t it a bell pepper?”
Had the skill malfunctioned? Out of nowhere, he started mumbling about bell peppers. When Nancy asked what he meant, he could only talk about bell peppers, as if he had forgotten all other words.
There are cases where mental skills malfunction and turn someone into a fool.
Nancy began to suspect that her automatic skill had temporarily scrambled his mind. He had brought this on himself by threatening her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about with bell peppers. Anyway, I have no idea if some demon stole the ring from your grandfather or not.”
“…….”
“The reason I had that ring is because a customer gave it to me! Are you listening?”
Nancy raised her voice slightly, and Aaron collapsed onto the spot. He clutched his chest in pain, gasping for breath.
“Hah… haah…!”
He was drenched in sweat, clearly in a severe state. Could the skill’s effect of suppressing hostility have actually caused him pain?
“Are you okay?”
Worried, Nancy lightly touched his shoulder, and Aaron slumped backward, falling with a thud.
He stared blankly at the ceiling, his labored breathing gradually ceasing.
…Could he really have died with his eyes open?
Panic-stricken, Nancy grabbed his arm with both hands and shook him.
“Aaron!”
When there was still no response, she pressed down on his chest with both hands, attempting a clumsy CPR. His limbs flopped lifelessly with each push, making the sight even more chilling with his unfocused eyes.
The memories of her adventures with him flashed through her mind.
He had saved her life multiple times. As someone born in the city who had never left it, he would offer her a slightly flatter spot to camp on when she complained about the hard ground.
He was a good companion. Except for his inability to understand her lack of stamina and his constant urging to move faster, she had no major complaints.
Would she really end up killing such a good companion with an accidentally activated skill?
“Hey, Aaron!”
Nancy, pale as a ghost, shook him frantically. If things went on like this, she might end up with a title like 〈Dark Hero Who Killed a Companion〉 to go along with 〈Dark Merchant〉.
Desperately, she called out his name. The fact that he didn’t move at all terrified her.