episode_0201

Early in the morning, when the sun had not yet risen, I started my day by waking up on my hard, cushionless wooden bed and stretching out.

I relaxed my neck and shoulders, and finally my lower back. I heard the crunching sound of bones and sighed at the cool, tingling pain.

“Ouch… … . No matter what I do, I can’t get used to this damn bed… … .”

Yawning, I trudged out and went to the well to get some water to lightly wash my face.

“Ugh… … !!”

Naturally, the bucket full of water had a lot of weight, which caused an exhilarating pain to hit my already stiff back.

But doesn’t that mean that a person who sells things can’t sell things in a dishonest manner?

I just clenched my teeth and drew water. Rather than washing my face, I took a sip of water to wake up and washed my face with the remaining water. Even though it was the middle of summer, the ice-cold water made me lose sleep.

“Phew. Today is the beginning of the day.”

I must have woken up and cleaned up. Now all we have to do is prepare for business. I came down to the city, patting my back.

After that, I brought back the items I had stocked up to open the store, briefly greeted the store across from me, organized the items I had brought and placed them on the stand, and cleaned up the area around the store.

It was truly the start of a day like any other. So, as usual, I stretched out while watching the sun rise in the middle of the empty street.

At that moment, I opened my eyes to the sound of horses’ hooves coming from afar, and when I saw a wagon running towards me at great speed, I was frightened and retreated to the side of the road.

“Get out of the way!! Get out of the way!!”

“Wow!!”

Doo-dad-dah, the sound of horse hooves pounding on the ground passed right in front of me in an instant. I blinked my eyes blankly as I saw the back of a cart running in the distance.

what… … . What just happened? I slowly got up from my seat and patted my back, which was sprained in surprise.

“Oh my waist… … .”

“Hey! Are you okay!?”

I nodded and answered the voice that came from the store across from me.

“Uh, uhh. It’s okay.”

” That’s a good thing. Ugh, I’ve been wondering what’s going on this morning… … .”

That’s right. I muttered that and tried to calm my trembling heart.

“Ugh… … . What was that carriage just now? What kind of guy does he drive a carriage like that――”

“Shhh!! Man, watch your mouth!”

“No, why are you yelling like that? The mistake was made by that guy over there.”

When I asked with a frown, the owner of the store across from me glanced around and came running over to me and whispered.

“The carriage that just passed by… … . It was driven by the duke’s knight… … !!”

“What… … ? No, no matter what. Article price per noodle!? A person was hit and almost died… … . Ugh… … .”

“There must have been something quite urgent. Still, you didn’t get seriously hurt, right?”

“But… … . Umm. I don’t really like it.”

No matter how much he is a knight, he is the same person, but he almost hits someone with his carriage and then just walks away without even a word of apology… … .

I frowned, relieved my anger, and then sighed.

“Yes, after all, we are commoners and those bastards are all nobles and knights. I should be grateful just for telling me to get out of the way.”

“What can I do? It’s a world where commoners like us can’t even talk to nobles.”

“Hu… … .”

As I listened to those words, I suddenly remembered the words of a vagabond who visited me in a back alley in the city not long ago.

―In this damn world, knights, nobles, they are all the same as us, so what is it that makes them so successful that they live their lives complaining about being kings and nobles? Have you ever thought about it that way?

―Let’s live like humans, doing what we want to do. Do you want to live your whole life being treated like livestock? No! Do you want to live while being despised and looked down upon because you are a commoner? No!!

-So, let’s change it. Now, if you just join the duchy, it’s 4 million. I don’t need a kingdom or anything, knights or anything. If we band together and attack them, they are no big deal!

I frowned as I remembered the man who had been talking about starting a rebellion and turning this country upside down.

Really, if there were as many as 4 million gathered… … . Is it possible to change this shitty life? Is it possible for us to live like nobles? … .

“This person. What are you thinking so hard about?”

When the owner of the store across from me slapped his arm, I scratched my head and spoke carefully.

“Why is that there… … . A vagabond who came to the city not long ago.”

“Bum… … ? Wait a minute, can you… … .”

“No! No, it’s not like that… … . ha… … . Honestly, do you want to live like this for the rest of your life?”

“You man, come to your senses! How can you live like this? It’s thanks to those nobles and knights that we can live in peace like this! Protects you from external enemies and protects you from wild animals, huh?”

I sighed at those words and shook my head.

“The money I earn from standing in front of the stall all day is barely enough to feed my mouth, and if there are no customers, I have to starve. On the other hand, the nobles are doing nothing, just playing around and eating. Do you think that is true?”

“Come to your senses, we are better off. uh? It is said that Baron Petra alone collects 70% of the harvested grain as taxes. On the other hand, the Duke of Rochelle collects only 20%. Don’t you know how frugally the Duke lives? Normally, if it were any other duke, he would have built a palace, but seeing him just living in a mansion… … !!”

“You think it’s frugal to take the money we earned through hard work and pay taxes on it? Is it frugal to take someone else’s money and use it as your own? That’s stealing!”

“Oh my god, you frustrating person… … . What on earth did I hear there that changed me like this?”

I kept my mouth shut at his words. changed. It has changed… … .

“It’s not that I changed, I just realized it. I just wasn’t sure until now.”

“I… … . I don’t know why you’re doing this. Okay, let’s say you’re right. So what are you going to do, are you really planning to start a rebellion? Do you think there has never been an attempt like that before?”

“I know very well that this is not the first time. But, this time is different. From what I heard, this rebellion… … . No, they say there are as many as 4 million people who have gathered to start a revolution.”

“4 million… … ? Are there really that many? no no… … . 4 million, I have no idea… … .”

“Okay. It’s an unbelievable number. So.”

As I said that, I looked in the direction of the duke’s mansion.

” Rather than living like this for the rest of my life, I would rather risk my life and change the world… … .”

As I said that, I looked in the direction of the duke’s mansion, and at that moment, I could not help but become as hard as stone.

There was something floating in the sky to the west of the mansion. No, I wasn’t even sure if it was floating. Just seeing that gave me goosebumps all over my body.

There was no other way to describe it other than a hole in the sky. Even though I blinked and shook my head, it didn’t go away.

“Don’t start talking suddenly, man. You have to say it till the end.”

I shivered at those words, looked at the man for a moment, and then extended my finger toward the hole in the sky I had seen.

“That, that, that, that… … . Do you see that?”

“What? No, why are you doing this all of a sudden? There’s something over there… … .”

It was a dark red hole. It burned as if it had risen in place of the sun, but it never illuminated or warmed.

It just existed there, endlessly repeating swelling, shrinking, and boiling.

Even the perspective was messed up, making it look like it was far away or right in front of us.

“What is that… … .”

The moment I saw the black hole that could overflow at any moment, the thought of running away filled my mind, but my frozen body couldn’t even blink.

The moment I forced my body to move with the instinct to survive and took a step back, a strand of black thread flowed out of the dark red hole.

“… … Run away.”

I muttered unconsciously and took a step back, the moment the black thing touched the ground.

“Run away!!!!”

The black hole boiled over.

* * *

After severing the link with the familiars that had spread throughout the duchy, I slowly got up from my seat and headed towards the tightly closed window.

“It’s a rebellion… … . I don’t know about other places, but it doesn’t work here… … .”

The windows were covered with dark red mud that poured from a hole in the sky.

With a light gesture, the mud covering the window split left and right as if it had will, showing the situation outside the window.

―Aaaaa!!

-no… … ! Why, why… … !!

―It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts

―Ugh, Mom… … . Mom… … .

The endless mud had already covered more than half of the territory, and as if covering the ground was not enough, it was devouring the humans that came in contact with it.

The human body that came into contact with the mud had its flesh melted on the spot, its bones eaten, its blood sucked, its internal organs torn to pieces, and the dead human being became a part of the mud.

okay. This is not just mud.

“4 million… … .”

These are all the people I have killed so far, the human souls I have kept inside me, and the ghosts that have been broken with me over and over again.

And that number――

“I don’t know if I can last four days.”

Just like that, it’s 780 million.