Ch.1212. Darbein

“Rex, stand back.”

Gert said, still keeping his gaze fixed straight ahead.

Even in the thick darkness, the blade in the man’s hand gleamed distinctly. Though goosebumps rose on his skin, Gert coolly assessed the situation.

On the surface, the forces on both sides seemed evenly matched. There were two people capable of fighting, but on their side, they had someone to protect.

Sometimes, there are things more precious than life itself. Things without which there would be no reason to live.

“Father! But—”

“Go! Hurry!”

Rex, who was about to protest, saw the desperation in Gert’s eyes and closed his mouth. There was no time for arguments.

Rex opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally managing to say:

“…You must return safely.”

“I will.”

Rex bit his lip hard and turned around. The mother and daughter were looking at him with anxious faces.

“Let’s go.”

To avoid wasting the time his father had bought them, they needed to move quickly.

“Huh? They’re running away? Should we chase them?”

The one-eyed man asked stupidly, watching them move farther away.

“You call that a question? You idiot, go after them now!”

At the man’s sharp rebuke, the one-eyed man flinched before scrambling to run as if his feet were on fire. And so, only two remained.

The man let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.

“Well, well. Did I look that easy to deal with?”

Though his tone was light, his expression was cold. Gert silently pulled the trigger. Twang! The arrow that cut through the air was deflected when the man casually moved his arm, hitting the blade and bouncing off.

Gert was known as the best marksman in the village.

And yet this man had not dodged but deflected an arrow shot by Gert with his weapon? It was a feat hard to believe even having witnessed it. With this crossbow, he had already taken down countless enemies today.

In other words, this battle would not be as easy as the previous ones.

“Hmm?”

The man raised his eyebrows and tilted his head.

“That crossbow. I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before… Ah, I remember. You’re a former mountain ranger, aren’t you?”

At those words, Gert’s eyebrows twitched. But that was his only reaction. Gert quickly loaded a bolt into the crossbow and raised his sickle.

The interested gaze disappeared quickly. The man shrugged with a bored expression.

“Well, whatever… Let’s end this quickly. Both you and I have people waiting for us.”

The man stomped on the ground. His launched form closed the distance in an instant.

***

Rex ran down the dark path with the mother and daughter ahead of him. The burning village grew closer. He kept turning his head to check behind them, and from a distance, he could hear cursing.

“Huff, huff. Damn it, why are they so fast? Fucking bitches.”

For a bandit, the one-eyed man had poor stamina. Or rather, it was impressive that he could maintain his sense of direction with only one eye.

Anyway, he was still far from catching up, and it seemed possible to escape at this rate.

But suddenly, the mother and daughter fell to the ground. In the pitch-black night, they hadn’t seen a protruding stone and had tripped over it.

Rex quickly stopped and approached them, letting out a sigh of dismay. The mother had twisted her ankle, and Anna’s knee was bleeding.

They were trying to get up somehow, but they kept limping. Rex instinctively realized:

‘This is the end.’

It had been physically demanding from the start. Even Rex had been out of breath for a while from running without rest.

It was difficult for a frail woman to endure such a forced march. The fact that they had come this far was already remarkable.

“Ugh. Urgh.”

Anna held back the urge to vomit with a pale face. Her mother was in no better condition.

Finally, Rex decided to stop and prepare to fight the one-eyed man.

But today was truly a day of terrible luck.

“Hey, there’s something over there.”

“What? It’s people. Hey! Who’s there?”

As Rex was about to move, he sensed presences from the direction he was heading, and a group of men appeared.

“Get those bastards!”

The one-eyed man, who had finally caught up, shouted while gasping for breath.

“That’s Robert’s voice.”

“Why is he here? Where’s the boss?”

“Damn you all! Attack!”

The men hesitated, seemingly not fully grasping the situation.

The one-eyed man opened his mouth again in frustration, but his words were cut short. Rex moved first. Staying still while being surrounded from both sides would be the worst scenario.

Naturally, it was easier to break through one nearby opponent than to face an unknown number of enemies.

It meant going back the way they came, but escape was already impossible, and now was not the time to be picky.

“Huh!”

Rex threw his axe at the one-eyed man. The one-eyed man ducked in alarm. But the throw was just a feint; the real attack was yet to come.

Rex charged with a dagger held in reverse grip. The one-eyed man hastily pulled out a long, awl-like metal object.

“Huh?”

As he looked straight ahead, Rex had vanished as if he’d sunk into the ground. The next moment, a burning pain grazed the nape of his neck.

The one-eyed man opened his mouth stupidly and looked down. Blood was gushing out. What is this? Is this coming from me…?

“Gurgle.”

That was the end. In the blink of an eye, Rex had slashed his opponent and roughly pushed him away with his foot. The one-eyed man made an “uh” sound before collapsing. He never opened his eyes again.

The distance had been awkward for wielding a weapon, making him let his guard down, but Rex had exploited that moment and reached him at an impossible speed.

Though the one-eyed man had been the second-in-command of a mercenary group that had terrorized the surrounding areas for a long time, he died with a single strike without putting up any resistance. He had planned to loot this village one last time before fleeing far away to start a new life.

It was a futile end, but also a fate that would have found him eventually. It just came a little sooner.

‘One down.’

Whether the man lived or died, Rex didn’t care. He picked up the axe stuck nearby and the awl the one-eyed man had dropped.

The newcomers seemed to finally grasp the situation and were rushing over. They didn’t attack immediately but stopped at a slight distance.

“…Robert is dead.”

They appeared quite shocked.

Rex slowly backed away, guiding the opponents toward a dead end.

He pushed Anna and her mother behind a large rock. This would prevent them from being attacked during the fight. It was also a suitable environment for fighting multiple enemies alone.

“Damn it, die!”

The bravest among the enemies charged forward with a snarl. Taking that as a cue, the others also shed their hesitation and drew their weapons.

But this time, heaven seemed to be on Rex’s side.

Just as the fight was about to begin, people suddenly emerged from the trees on both sides and overwhelmed the enemies.

“Kill them all!”

“W-wait. What is this… Gack!”

Whoosh! Thud! Slash. Thump. Then silence.

Frozen by the sudden ambush, the enemies were swept away without even being able to respond. The one charging at Rex was so confused that he instinctively looked back.

You look away? Rex didn’t miss the opportunity and swung his axe.

“Arghhhh!”

With a death cry, the opponent shuddered once before going limp. Rex lowered his blood-stained axe and turned his head. Familiar faces.

About thirty villagers had gathered, stomping on the fallen bodies with hateful eyes and curses, as if even this wasn’t enough to quell their anger.

No, considering the crimes committed, perhaps they had been given too merciful a death. Given what had happened in the village, their reaction was understandable.

“This is not the time. Everyone, please calm down.”

Tom was managing the angry crowd. As the chaos subsided, Tom approached Rex.

“We’re not too late. That’s a relief.”

Rex nodded blankly. Though the enemies had died due to the unexpected arrival, Rex was just as surprised. So many had survived?

Well, the village had been attacked only two or three hours ago at most. Even Rex hadn’t thought all hundreds of villagers would be massacred. Even considering that, it wasn’t easy for them to gather like this and come all the way here.

Noticing the question in his expression, Tom added:

“Your father had already given people a heads-up. He had designated a meeting place in case of an emergency. So when trouble broke out, the few people who were far from the scene quickly joined forces.”

“Ah…”

The village chief was a wise man. No one questioned his inherited position. Though he occasionally showed a cold and fearsome side, he was a man who had dedicated his entire life to the village.

Thanks to his meticulous nature, some villagers had escaped the disaster. But the chief himself was nowhere to be seen among the people.

Rex was about to voice his question but closed his mouth as a sudden realization struck him. Seeing this, Tom murmured in a bitter tone:

“…He’s gone. Around the time we returned from the goblin cave. He was leading people to rescue isolated villagers when a fight broke out with the bandits. As the chief, no one would have blamed him for staying back. But he insisted on being at the front and was attacked… and that was it…”

His eyes were bloodshot as he stared blankly at the night sky. How could mere words gauge the sorrow of losing family?

As Tom silently stared at the sky and Rex stood awkwardly, the uncomfortable silence was finally broken by Johan’s appearance.

“Rex.”

“…You’re here too.”

“My house was safe. I had just returned home when people came, and I joined them right away.”

Johan was one of the lucky ones. None of his family members were hurt. However, the fatigue from the goblin cave and the stress he had endured left dark circles under his eyes. Johan walked over to Rex with a sigh.

“So is it all over now? Oh, where’s your father?”

And with that casually thrown question, Rex’s mind snapped back to reality.

Father! He must be fighting alone…

This was no time to be standing around. Quite some time had passed since they had escaped, so the battle might already be over.

“Oh no! Let’s go quickly.”

Hearing Rex’s words, Tom swiftly led the people. Rex ran faster than anyone else, thinking to himself: Please, just be alive.

‘Damn it! I shouldn’t have left Father alone.’

At the time, he had followed his father’s orders because of the urgent situation. Looking back, it didn’t seem like Gert could defeat that man alone.

Though it was a brief moment, the impression the man gave was intense. His relaxed attitude and extraordinary aura clearly indicated he was skilled. The one-eyed man had constantly been watching the man’s reactions.

‘He’s the leader.’

That was the conclusion drawn from all the circumstances. Rex gritted his teeth in a surge of anger. He resented himself for leaving his father to face the most dangerous opponent.

From behind, he heard voices urging him not to go too far ahead. But he didn’t stop. A terrible premonition kept clouding his mind.

‘Shut up!’

It can’t be, it mustn’t be. There will be time to think after everything is over. For now, just run. Repeating this to himself, he sprinted.

After some time, in the distance, the scene he had been hoping for came into view. Gert and the enemy were engaged in a fierce battle.

Whoosh!

As Gert swung his sickle, the man quickly stepped aside. Not missing the opening, Gert fired his crossbow, but the man easily dodged that as well.

In a situation where they were practically entangled, was that even possible? Rex was astonished but didn’t stop running.

Even while dodging the bolt, the man slashed with his sword. A droplet of blood appeared on Gert’s skin. A long wound opened up, sliding across his flesh.

However, Gert was not a man weak enough to be paralyzed by pain. With a rough kick, the man was pushed back, raising a cloud of dust.

Though he had crossed his arms in front of his chest to minimize damage, the intent was to create distance, so that was sufficient.

“Father!”

Gert flinched at the voice calling him. With his gaze still fixed on the enemy, he briefly replied:

“You’re back. How are your mother and Anna?”

“They’re safe. We joined up with other people. About thirty of them. They’re coming here now—”

“What? No!”

Gert was covered in blood. Besides the recent sword strike, he had already allowed several attacks, as evidenced by the sword cuts all over his body. But as if his own bloodied state didn’t matter, Gert shouted with a desperate face:

“No. Absolutely not! They must not come! Rex, you should escape too. This is not an opponent we can handle!”

The emotion in his voice was so urgent that Rex could only stare at Gert without saying a word.

“He was just toying with me! If he had wanted to end it, he could have at any time. Quickly—”

But unfortunately, Gert’s wish was not fulfilled. Before Rex could turn around, the people arrived at the scene, just a moment too late.

“…Oh no!”

“F-Father.”

Gert wore a dark expression and said nothing. As Rex looked at the people in confusion, they murmured, seemingly unaware of the chilling atmosphere:

“What? It’s just one guy?”

“These damn bastards! So some of you were still around.”

“If we kill this one, it’s all over, right? Let’s finish him quickly.”

“That’s right! Let’s kill him!”

The crowd glared at the man with hostile eyes and slowly approached.

“No, you can’t…”

Gert tried to stop them, but his words were drowned out by the incessant voices of the crowd and ultimately weren’t conveyed.

And then, the man who had been watching all this laughed.

“Ha, haha…. Hahaha!”

People turned to look at each other. Is he crazy? Regardless, the man continued to snicker.

The faint laughter soon turned into a roar of laughter, and eventually, he clutched his stomach as if it was hard to contain. When he finally raised his head, everyone present froze with goosebumps. His face was so expressionless it was hard to believe he was the same person.

“Interesting.”

The serious-faced man twisted his lips and asked Rex:

“The one-eyed man? Is he dead? What about the others?”

Though Rex had no intention of answering, the man shook his head vigorously and continued:

“Interesting. So all forty of them are dead. In a backwater like this. I was planning to leave far away after this job…”

A chilling silence enveloped the air.

By now, people had realized something was wrong.

Who is this guy? How can he be so confident when he’s alone? It seems like we could just rush him and stab him to death, but there was something unsettling about actually doing it.

If someone took the lead, everyone would follow, but no such person emerged.

Since everyone had been living peacefully until just yesterday, they hesitated to put themselves in danger. They had fought against the bandits together earlier, but that fighting spirit had vanished like a mirage.

Actually, do we really need to kill him? Do we have to?

He’s clearly not ordinary. Can’t we just let him go? All the other bandits are already dead. Is there a need to take the risk?

Weakness seeped into people’s hearts.

As a result, the blade of the longsword the man was holding also became more noticeable. The blade gleamed ominously, as if well-maintained. He was also wearing thick iron armor. Just like that fearsome knight.

He was clearly different from the bandits they had seen so far. Their will to fight dimmed even more.

“This is ridiculous.”

The man surveyed the crowd with a disinterested face. The people who had been so aggressive just moments ago were now avoiding his gaze as if they had never been that way.

“Fine. What can I expect from such rabble?”

The man raised his longsword with both hands.

“Since things have already gone awry, I might as well tell you now. I am Darbein, the leader of the Flowing Blade mercenary group.”

Holding the sword upright next to his head, Darbein murmured softly:

“Now then— die.”

A wolf leapt into the midst of frightened sheep. As dust swirled in the wind, screams filled the air.