Ch.109It’s a Terrible World. Truly.

“I’m a person, not a kobold, Millia.”

I persuaded her casually while putting my armor and weapons back on.

I wasn’t without anxiety. Millia had always been somewhat weak-minded.

She might hesitate when pursuing and eliminating enemies who looked like ordinary villagers.

But in a way, this was actually fortunate.

The first villains we’d be eliminating were all pathetically weak.

You could call it a tutorial.

If she could just overcome her initial reluctance, she’d get used to it quickly.

If these had been proper enemies rather than bugs, hesitating for even a moment would have meant death, so how fortunate.

“Steel yourself. A knight should handle this easily. Eliminating a group of evil kobolds, I mean.”

If she couldn’t handle this much, she wouldn’t be able to live as a knight anyway.

“You want to move forward with Demian, right? As a knight.”

“…Yes. I understand.”

Millia nodded with a determined expression.

—-

After finishing preparations, I sent Millia downstairs.

I returned to Jahan to check on his condition.

Jahan seemed to have regained some strength, as he burst into tears with a choked cry the moment he saw me.

“Our Jahan. You must have missed me a lot. Crying so messily.”

I wiped his eyes with my gloved thumb.

Touched by my consideration, Jahan trembled violently, streaming tears of blood from emotion.

I grabbed him and carried him downstairs.

Surprised by Jahan’s appearance, Millia couldn’t take her eyes off him.

“Th-that man from earlier…”

“This is Jahan, our new friend. Say hello, Jahan. Say ‘nice to meet you.'”

I grabbed his flailing arm and waved it around like a balloon figure at a festival.

“Uuuugh…”

Jahan uttered a weak greeting after regaining consciousness.

“Ah, how thoughtless of me. Your mouth is still gagged. Sorry, Jahan.”

I’m curious what he might say.

Will he curse at me? Or beg for his life again? Or perhaps…

I removed the cloth gagging Jahan’s mouth.

“Kill… kill me…! Please, stop… it hurts…! Kill me…”

“Earlier you were begging for your life, now you’re so fickle.”

Not a particularly original last wish.

I stuffed the cloth back into his mouth.

“To part so soon, how sad! But since it’s a friend’s final wish, I should try to grant it!”

Joking around, I lightly placed Jahan on the central table on the first floor.

“Frider senior, something seems off about Haschal… Why is he acting like this?”

“Don’t know. He’s been excited since earlier. Maybe he got drunk from smelling alcohol.”

Demian and Frider whispered to each other.

What do you mean drunk? I’m not drunk.

I’m just relieving some built-up stress.

Honestly, I’ve been accumulating massive irritation in many ways. Like a cat in heat.

My body keeps whispering to kill enemies, but lately there haven’t been any opponents I could freely engage.

I’ve been enduring and holding back.

“Um… this baptism is grace to cleanse your sins and be reborn as a true person… blessed is he who receives His anointing?”

I improvised some lines while pouring strong alcohol over Jahan’s head.

“Where did you hear such words? There aren’t even priests in the plains.”

“From books. I’m probably much more knowledgeable than you.”

“I doubt that.”

Frider smiled wryly.

I wasn’t joking though.

I threw the empty bottle behind me and turned to face the group.

I’ve had enough fun playing around, time to get to work.

“Frider, is the carriage ready? There are two horses… leave one separate.”

I wasn’t planning to ride it myself.

If I run properly, I’d be faster than most horses anyway.

Though the horses in this world were better than Earth’s horses.

“I’ll sweep through the village, while you, Millia, ride around and shoot down anyone trying to escape.”

“I’ve never shot a bow while riding a horse… but I’ll manage.”

After hesitating briefly, Millia nodded.

This is a good opportunity to learn mounted archery too.

“Frider and Demian, take the carriage to the chapel and rescue the captured women… and just to be clear, don’t fall for something stupid like a hostage situation.”

“It’s not like I’d die for them. Let’s go, Demian.”

“Yes, Senior Frider.”

Frider answered nonchalantly before heading outside with Demian.

They should be fine with Frider there.

“Hey, Haschal. What about the children? Surely they’re not all accomplices…?”

“The hairy ones are. Shoot them all. For the younger ones… just threaten them so they can’t escape.”

Millia nodded while gripping her bow.

—-

“Well… goodbye, Jahan. I’ll send your friends up soon, so don’t worry and wait in heaven.”

As soon as Millia left, I tossed my nearly burnt-out cigarette at Jahan.

With a whoosh, the alcohol-soaked body caught fire.

The flames gradually grew fiercer as they spread to the table.

Jahan struggles frantically.

Well, since his legs can’t even twitch anymore, is it still called struggling?

“Mmmmph!! Mmmmph!!”

He’s still energetic. He still has strength to make such noises.

Even though I’ve smashed his limbs and eyes.

“Don’t feel so wronged. You’re just getting what you deserve, right? I heard once that everything eventually finds its rightful path.”

The righteous path has finally found you too.

Walk diligently along this path of flames.

Leaving Jahan to receive his baptism of fire, I made my way outside the inn.

Demian and Frider were already seated at the driver’s bench.

“Finally coming out. We’ll head out first. When should we enter the chapel?”

“A beacon will rise from the inn soon… let’s use that as our starting signal.”

It’ll be a signal that will startle the entire village.

Seeing their hunting ground go up in flames.

“A beacon? Ah, I get it.”

“Jahan is working hard to light it. Amazing self-sacrifice.”

I shrugged and sent the carriage on its way.

—-

A wind carrying the smell of burning began blowing from behind.

It would take about five minutes to burn properly.

“Haschal? I’m ready too.”

Millia looked down at me from atop her horse.

Though some hesitation remained in her expression… her unwavering eyes showed she had steeled her resolve.

This should be reassuring enough.

“I’ll start from the west side of the village, so you go east. It should be nothing much, but be careful of anyone who might shoot arrows.”

The horse wasn’t wearing armor, so if hit by an arrow, it would collapse and throw her off.

Millia’s clothes wouldn’t stop arrows either.

She could probably dodge or deflect arrows shot by these scum, but just to be safe.

“Got it. I’ll be careful. See you later.”

Millia lightly struck the horse’s reins.

The startled horse began to gallop away.

…I should get going too.

After loosening my ankles, I dashed toward the western part of the village.

—-

The village I arrived at was already stirring with a strange excitement.

Despite it being bedtime for most people, I could sense that most of the men were still awake.

The cause of the commotion wasn’t worry or anxiety.

Rather, yes, anticipation and excitement.

The village men were as gleeful as children waiting in line for a ride.

The fact that the nine men who went ahead hadn’t returned yet wasn’t a concern for them, but rather confirmation that today’s prey was so excellent they were losing track of time enjoying themselves.

If I listen carefully, I can hear them gathered inside buildings, chattering among themselves.

Vulgar obscenities. Vile and cruel tales of experience. All sorts of disgusting insults.

Impressions about a woman they had captured previously.

‘…She was troublesome at first, thrashing about, but after starving her for a month, now she…’

A tale of subduing adventurer couples, deliberately waking them up to violate them.

‘…After threatening and toying with them, I killed the man in the middle, and the way she screamed and struggled was amusing…’

…Right. Must have been so amusing.

The disgusting tales continue endlessly.

Sounds that make my ears feel like they’re rotting just from listening.

Stories of killing a merchant and tasting his wife and daughter simultaneously.

Complaints that those in the breeding pens are no different from beasts and therefore not entertaining.

If anyone’s a beast, it’s you lot.

So they were doing things like breeding pens after all. Good thing I didn’t send Millia there.

There was also conversation about us.

Laughter about how the silver-haired one clearly looked like a noble and would be fun to tame.

Nonsense about how the green-haired one would be perfect for his child’s coming-of-age ceremony.

Black hair… that’s about me.

Ridiculous talk about how I might be a witch since I stayed hidden in the carriage with my face covered.

Jokes about purifying me with holy water at the chapel if I were a witch.

Disgusting bastards.

Whether Ka’har or Imperials, the scum at the bottom are all the same.

These bastards have been doing this for fifty years and are still fine, so I guess the gods who supposedly watch from above must all be sleeping?

Or perhaps my arrival here is divine guidance?

A mixture of disgust, revulsion, and anger filled my chest.

My body heats up and warmth pools in my mouth.

As if unable to resist hunger, violent impulses urge me on.

No, not yet. I need to hold on a little longer.

Timing is crucial for this kind of thing; to handle it properly, we need to start simultaneously.

I sharpen my senses further to scan the village.

Ignoring the vile conversations, I focus on detecting the presence of these non-humans.

Twenty gathered at the village hall. Groups of three or four scattered around… about thirty.

Fifty in total.

If Jahan was telling the truth, the remaining thirty would be at the chapel.

Since there doesn’t seem to be anyone even at the level of a knight apprentice, this won’t take long.

Laugh all you want now.

You won’t have anything to laugh about later.

The inn that had been flickering red finally bursts into flames.

Bright enough to be clearly visible even from here.

Frider and Millia must have seen it too.

There was no need to hold back any longer.

I released my pent-up killing intent and lunged at the building before me like a hungry predator.

With a thunderous roar that shook heaven and earth, the wall my shoulder touched exploded outward.