Chapter 11: Zen questions and answers

—-Punish her. Punish her. Punish her. Punish her.

I’m not sure what today’s order is.

The commands that’s coming from the control unit in my head were always random, but today’s commands are just too vague, and I was confused about what to do.

The Butcher sometimes loses control and acts differently from the intentions of those who use it. Some people think that this is because the Butcher’s brain is empty, but I suspect that the sketchiness of these commands accounts for about half of the reason.

So, what’s the punishment? Can I commit her?

The Butcher’s work is varied. Sometimes they are sent out to do physical labor as heavy machinery because of their strength, and other times they are given special orders on a temporary basis.

The aliens probably think of the Butcher as a handy and slightly unwieldy tool that does whatever they want.

I had been on guard duty once before with a female alien who was a VIP. And security was the most important.

I turn my bright red eyes to the woman against the wall.

She has sharp eyes and is poised with her hands out toward me.

Her shiny flaxen hair stretches straight down to her waist, and her pointy ears stick out a little from it. Her eyes looked a bit uncomfortable. She was an elf girl with a slender body.

In the end, the sword lying on the floor and the belongings of the men who were left behind were the only things that were found in the case of the fox girl a few days ago. They seemed to have understood the situation based on the scars on my back, and no blame was placed on me.

I was on the verge of being judged a broken butcher and being punished. Just thinking about it makes me angry at those assholes. But I’ve already eaten them.

The wound on my back was something that would have healed quickly even if I had left it alone, but I got it healed with recovery magic.

However, as a follow-up, it seems that I am being checked for a while to make sure I am following orders properly and not attacking anyone without permission. I guess that’s why I’ve been feeling more presence than usual on the other side of the mirror lately.

I know I just brought up the concept of magic, but it’s true. These aliens have the power to modify the human body, but it is rooted in a mysterious technology called magic, that transcends human scientific technology. This is both their strength and their weakness.

What I mean is, for example, this room. There are no surveillance cameras. Or rather, they don’t have any surveillance camera technology. So they use a low-tech system of translucent mirrors for surveillance.

How is it that they can modify the human body and jump through time and space to come from another world, yet they can’t make a single surveillance camera?

That’s magic.

There are certain things that magic can do and certain things that it can’t, making it difficult to apply in a wide range of applications. That’s what I’ve learned from observing their organization from the inside. There is quite a gap between what they’re good at and what they’re not.

Sighing, I took a step toward the elf girl.

She shouts something and blows flames from her outstretched hands, showering me with them.

It’s hot – but that’s all.

It’s magic she’s using. And the Butcher’s skin has extraordinary defensive capabilities. You could say it transcends living things. It’s not possible to get even a single burn from the magic that is released without a catalyst.

Of course, if she uses a wand, amulet, or other magic catalysts to concentrate her magic, I’m sure I’ll get hurt too.

In fact, I’ve been on the battlefield with alien mages. I’ve seen their magic overwhelm the physical weapons of the humans on many occasions. When I was fighting as a human scout, they used to give me a lot of trouble.

But it wasn’t until I was trapped here as a Butcher and saw their lives up close that I realized that it was actually the power of the magical catalyst that boosted them.

Magical catalysts come in a variety of forms. Sometimes it’s just a ring. That’s why humanity is unaware of their great capabilities. I never thought a tree branch could have that kind of power. All human soldiers recognize that aliens are difficult enemies who use their bare hands and tremendous power.

But the magic catalyst shines brightly when it’s used. I noticed this when I became a Butcher. Now, when I see one, I can sort of telling which one is the catalyst.

Without such a catalyst, magic would be child’s play to me now.

One step. Two steps. As I move closer, ignoring the flames, the elf girl clenches her teeth and runs around the room to escape my approach.

We’ve been chasing each other around the prison for about an hour now.

The prison is quite large, so as long as I don’t seriously chase her around, this situation will continue forever.

This elf girl hasn’t shown any signs of remorse over this series of chases, has she?

What really baffles me is that when I try to accelerate a bit and attack the elf girl, I get mixed up with commands to “don’t kill, don’t rape, don’t kill, don’t rape”.

Apparently, I can’t kill her or rape her.

So what am I supposed to do?

I’m the Butcher of Slaughter.

The only thing I can think of is to rape, kill, and eat, but when two of those things are blocked, the only thing left is to eat. But if I eat her, she will die. In the end, there is nothing I can do.

No killing, no raping, just punishing.

I’d like you to be a little more specific.

…… I wonder if this is actually a test of my sanity?

It makes me feel like I’m being forced to do a zen test.

~~

–The Butcher raped, killed, and ate all day long, day after day. –And the Master comes to him and says. –What is the use of raping, killing, and eating? –What do you mean by rape, kill and eat? –Then the Master took out his Mara and began to polish it in front of his disciple.[Mara: 摩羅 1). obstacle to Buddhist practice (practise) , 2). penis] –What are you going to do by polishing the Mara? –What is the use of polishing a Mara? –Therefore, I ask you. If you rape, kill, and eat, will you be able to punish the elf girl? –Then how can I get rid of the elf’s girl? –If the ox-cart does not move, will you kill the ox or eat the cart?

~~

It’s great teaching. But it’s too difficult to solve. If I can solve it, I’ll be enlightened.

No, no, no, no. This is no time to run away from reality.

There’s no way out of this. I have to break the rules.

I stop and stare at the elf girl in astonishment.

She looks at me. She sneered and lifted the corners of her mouth.

You think you’ve just beaten me in a match, …… don’t you?

Damn it. Now I’m going to show you my …… human wisdom. ……!

Meditate………..

I’m not going to kill you, I’m not going to rape you, I’m going to punish you.

Punishment, to put it simply. This elf girl has done something wrong. I want her to be reminded of it. I want to traumatize her for life so that she will never want to do that again.

” 〒□○§▽〒□△▼！ ◇★＃■！ ◇★＃■！”

The elf girl is puffing her chest out to the mirror and screaming like she’s winning.

But there’s a trace of cold sweat running down her cheek.

I’m going to traumatize you for sure.

I’ll be cruel to the elf girl. ……!

I stared determinedly at her.

Don’t kill her, don’t rape her. …… Oh, you can’t hurt her!

I find a way out of the long tunnel and extend my tongue with a flick.

I caught her slender waist with my tongue and yank her towards me.

The elf girl’s face scrunched up in shock as she fell into my arms.

Immediately, I bring my claws close to her face, pretending to scratch at the air with my hands.

I’ll give her a scratch on her face with this. If you want, I can tear off her clothes and hurt her a little. I could even strip her bare and chase her around. At any rate, let’s make her feel scared. The recovery spell will heal the injuries anyway, but this will be frightening. I’ll also show her my face at close range, which is a great bonus.

Sure enough, the elf girl’s beautiful face twisted into a crying face.

She’s clamped down on me over my arm, unable to move.

I open my gums and huff my butcher’s breath at close range.

“Huh. ……”

She lets out a small scream.

Then, as I try to run my sharp fingernails along the unblemished skin…

–Don’t hurt her. Don’t kill her. Don’t rape her. Punish her.

……Give me a break.

I am totally lost.

____________________

[author’s note]

This is from an episode of “The Philosophy of Zen” by Mazu DaoyiIt seems to be called “polish the tiles to make a mirror.”

This is a vulgar alteration of the story. The original is a more proper and virtuous story.