episode_0024

Eyes were gouged out, teeth were torn out.

Only now did I notice, but she was even bleeding vaginally.

What had been done to her.

Even without asking, I could tell.

But, even so, I still couldn’t help but ask.

“Do you really want to die?”

I know too.

That if one survives in this state, only a life worse than death remains.

I too had constantly seen only things too heavy and dirty to speak of hope, so I couldn’t bring myself to say the irresponsible words of having hope.

But, nevertheless, I still couldn’t help but speak.

“…They say saints have no illnesses or wounds they cannot cure. If you meet a saint, might you not be able to be cured?”

I am not a saint so I cannot do such a thing, but if the rumors about the saint were even half true, they could surely heal a small girl like the one in front of my eyes now.

However, despite such shallow comfort of mine, the girl only shook her head.

“……I’m sorry.”

For not being able to help.

It wasn’t my fault, but guilt clung stickily inside my chest.

I aimed the sword at the child’s neck.

Feeling the blade sharply digging into her neck, the child raised her head and looked at me with empty eyes.

And then, showed a blurry smile.

Having no eyes, she couldn’t make an eye smile, and in the pain of her teeth being torn out, she couldn’t even properly raise the corners of her mouth.

So, on the surface, it wasn’t a smile.

But I thought the child was smiling.

In one go, sweat began to well up in the hand gripping the sword due to the pressure that I had to send her off without pain.

It’s not the first time I’ve killed a person.

The first killing was not intentional.

My body moved on its own and I struck down a thug’s head with a sharp stone.

Like that, after running away, the next day I heard that the thug I had struck down with a stone had died.

The second killing was intentional.

I killed the bandits directly with my own hands.

I had repeatedly struck down the bandit leader’s head with my sword to cut it off and secure the victory.

After returning to the inn, I suffered from nausea for several days.

But in both of the previous cases, I could defend myself.

That it wasn’t intentional, even if I killed intentionally, they were ultimately a bandit group deserving of death – that is to say.

Killing an innocent person, even if there is their own request, this is the first time.

“…I’ll try my best, so it’s not too painful.”

All I could do was merely grant her peace without pain.

Exhaling a deep breath, I raised the sword.

The sword tip must not waver.

If it wavers, it cannot cut cleanly.

If it cannot cut cleanly, it only adds needless pain.

Let’s not hesitate.

If I hesitate, that soon becomes pain.

I swung the sword.

Although it was a sword whose edge had already been damaged several times while facing goblins, it was nevertheless still sharp.

The child’s neck was severed.

I picked up the child’s neck.

If I left it in this place, it would surely only be used as material for a totem.

In the helplessness of not being able to save the child, I trembled in my spot, but I did not forget the work I had to do.

I cut off the nose from the goblin’s corpse.

And I checked if there was any item symbolic of a leader.

Not long after, I found it.

A necklace made from human eyes was hanging around its neck.

That it hadn’t rotted and had hardened stiff like stone, it seems some kind of special treatment was done, but it is merely disgusting.

Perhaps among these, the eyes of that child are also there.

In needless anger venting, I split open the goblin’s belly, pulled out innards and such, and made it hold them in its mouth.

And then, I left the place.

In the dark night, catching an assassin moving without sound is not an easy task.

For goblins who have no special abilities other than hearing, catching me is close to impossible.

As I came out of the goblin settlement, I deliberately pretended not to hear the screams that were being heard.

Now, this settlement will self-destruct on its own.

I achieved revenge.

Therefore, there will be no one to blame me.

Although I repeated that to myself, only discomfort and self-loathing deepened.

Feeling inferiority towards the saint, it was a job I accepted with the thought that I too could do it.

If it were a saint, wouldn’t they have properly saved the child I couldn’t save, and likewise offered a hand to the people suffering from the goblins?

Thinking that the saint would have done the work I couldn’t do as if it were natural.

Endlessly, only self-criticism remained, tormenting me.

After finishing all the work, I returned to the village only at dawn.

I knocked on the village chief’s house door.

Looking at the child’s head, the goblin’s nose, and the eyeball necklace held in my hand, the village chief collapsed on the spot.

And then, he urgently ran to the vigilantes and called people, and about a hundred villagers came out of their homes from dawn and looked at me.

“The request, I succeeded. I killed the goblin leader, and this is the proof.”

I handed over the particularly large goblin’s nose and the eyeball necklace.

And.

“This was the child who was in the goblin leader’s house.”

I didn’t say the unnecessary words that I killed her.

“It seemed like she would be used as material for a totem if left as is, so I brought her.”

“……Sana?”

Among the crowd, a young couple saw the head I held, ran out urgently, and received the head.

They sat down on the spot and poured out tears.

Everyone said a word each to me.

“Adventurer! By any chance, did you not see my daughter!”

“My mother, surely not…!”

“Adventurer, younger sibling, did you not find the younger sibling!”

Adventurer Adventurer Adventurer Adventurer….

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.

At the thought that among the screams I heard, there might have been the people they were looking for, my throat was choked.

“Why are you like this! Everyone! You’re causing him trouble!”

“He has done a difficult task and come back, don’t burden him!”

“Even after seeing that child’s head, don’t you know? Everyone is already dead!”

I wanted to say that they were still alive, but because I knew I shouldn’t, I didn’t say anything.

“…Is this indeed the goblin leader’s necklace and nose?”

Looking at the necklace and nose I handed over, the village chief uttered words as if suspicious.

“…Pardon?”

“Because it’s suspicious that you went to the goblin settlement and killed the goblin leader.”

The village chief openly doubted me.

Even though I brought the nose and necklace, and even the child’s head.

“I’m sorry to the Adventurer, but you are merely a wooden tag, that is to say… aren’t you an apprentice adventurer?”

The tone was polite, but the content was not at all so.

It was words interrogating how someone like me could have accomplished such a task.

“Even if it’s suspicious, nothing changes. I hunted the leader, and I brought the proof like this, didn’t I?”

Even such a counter-argument of mine only faded away vainly at the village chief’s nonchalant reaction.

“How can we know if this is the real leader’s nose and the necklace the leader used?”

“Village chief…!”

“Be quiet.”

A vigilante urgently tried to stop him and spoke, but at one word telling him to be quiet, he tightly closed his mouth.

Only then did I come to know.

That now the village chief was doing this intentionally, even though he knew.

“That you brought the child’s head and hunted one goblin is certain, but giving you more than that as a reward seems difficult.”

Was this the goal?

Ultimately, it was words saying he didn’t want to give the request reward.

“Since you must be tired, let’s let you rest fully today.”

Saying that, the village chief turned his body.

It was only a verbal promise not through the Adventurer’s Guild, and there wasn’t even a proper contract.

Therefore, even if he came out like that, there was nothing I could do.

Although it was a request I received because of the inferiority I felt towards the saint, so I wasn’t greatly interested in the reward itself.

If he came out in this way, it was difficult to hold good feelings.

“When it seemed like you were about to die, you begged me to please do it, and now that it seems things will be a little alright, if you come out like this, I too cannot just stand by.”

Looking at the spot where the village chief disappeared, I uttered words that were not exactly a monologue, so everyone could hear.

It was a type of warning.

Wishing to hear my warning, the vigilantes approached me, having dispersed the people.

“…I’m sorry.”

“You know that saying sorry won’t do, right?”

I have no intention of going along with the village chief’s stubbornness.

Extending my hand, I lightly tapped the vigilante’s shoulder, pat-pat.

“If you don’t want to see the sight of the village chief’s limbs dismembered after you wake up, persuade him well.”

A request not through the Adventurer’s Guild.

A request for which not even a contract was written.

Therefore, it’s a usual story that coming out like that means I have no choice but to swallow my resentment from my standpoint.

But, so what?

This world was savage, a world where fists preceded law.

It seems he came out like that because I outwardly seem weak and not particularly affiliated with anywhere.

Being a strong person is ultimately relative.

In this village, I too was a relative strong person.

If you feel wronged, resolving it with force is enough.

It seems he saw me as a kind-hearted pushover because I accepted a pathetic request, but he saw the wrong person.

“……I understand.”

The old man, who was the representative of the vigilantes, uttered words, letting out a groan.

“Then I’ll wait. It would be better not to see me as a good person.”

Making those words the last, I shut myself in the lodging.

Like that, two days passed.

I received the 60 silver coins that were promised.

Compared to the task I completed, it was an absurdly small amount, but since I knew the reward was small from the start, there was no particular problem.

As soon as I received the reward, I finished replenishing and left the village.

In the process of the goblins self-destructing, it was clear that the goblins would go mad and rampage, and there was no guarantee that the damage wouldn’t spread to the village.

If, by chance, he had properly kept the promise, I would have remained in the village for a while and blocked the goblins, but that intention had long since disappeared.

“It seems I’m not the type to be a hero because my heart is narrow.”

Exhaling a sigh, I again hastened my steps.

Coming out onto the main road, I checked the map.

Until the next destination, I had to move for about five days without resting.

“Come to think of it….”

Because of this incident, a change occurred in my characteristics and swordsmanship.