Ch.29Street Methods (1)

“Hah…”

Crack! Crack!

I sighed as I stretched my neck.

It’s truly strange how all thugs consistently maintain such a delinquent attitude, as if their goal is to announce to the world, “I’m a gangster.”

It’s almost as if they received some divine command from the heavens saying, “You’re a thug, so act like this,” or were given a thin booklet titled “Gangster Behavior Guidelines.”

After roughly sizing up the situation, I approached the delinquent who was sitting on a box next to a pillar, chewing gum.

Thud. Thud.

“Hey, Jeremy. Coming to you?”

“Wow, young master, you’re dressed so fancy. But what can I do? I don’t have any candy…”

WHAM!!!

I struck the seated thug’s head, and a thunderous sound echoed through the area.

As I swung my fist sideways, flesh tore, bones broke, brain matter was crushed, and with the sound of the pillar cracking, the disrespectful thug died instantly with his head split open.

“…Huh?”

With my hand still embedded in the pillar, I stared at the worthless trash who were gaping at me.

Their expressions seemed to say, ‘An impossible thing just happened.’

“You know…”

Splat!

I pulled my hand out of the pillar, and bits of flesh and blood caught in my chain gauntlet began dripping to the floor.

“I don’t particularly like those who speak carelessly to me.”

“D-don’t come near!”

As I approached, the thugs—who just a minute ago had been leering at Seriya—completely changed their expressions to ones of terror and began backing away.

“A rich young master, huh?”

I said this while grabbing the head of a thug who had tripped and fallen on his own.

“I’m not just some rich young master.”

CRUNCH!!!

“AAAAARGH!!!!!”

CRACK!

As I applied force, his head separated from his neck, and then the spine attached to the neck began to pull out from the body following my hand.

Like uncorking a wine bottle with a corkscrew.

Thud.

I threw the neck with the spine still attached at the thugs, who were completely overwhelmed with fear and couldn’t even think to draw the swords at their waists.

“You approached my party member.”

“M-Michael…”

“You dared to mock me.”

“M-monster… he’s a monster!”

“Therefore, none of you will leave here alive.”

“Run, fuck!”

With those words, more than ten gangsters began to flee like children, and I drew my sword and began pursuing them, slaughtering them one by one.

For reference, “slaughter” meant horrific murder, which implied that arms and legs would be saying goodbye to the torso.

Severed limbs from my sword strikes began rolling across the street, and the thugs who had picked a fight with us ended their miserable lives in the agony of their bodies being torn apart.

“Hmph… such pathetic creatures.”

My body wasn’t in good condition, but that only meant it would be difficult to engage in “combat.”

And this, by any stretch of the imagination, was not combat.

Even walking pigs wouldn’t turn their backs on me, and even the Blood God Karil would not admit these ones to Valhalla.

Swoosh!

I shook the blood off my two swords before sheathing them again, then approached Seriya, who was standing frozen at the entrance with a blank expression.

“Let’s go to the inn.”

*

Before arriving at the inn, I left my blood-soaked chain mail and Seriya’s tattered leather armor at the blacksmith’s for repairs, and also paid to have our four swords maintained and repaired.

Probably by tomorrow noon, the armor and swords would return to us in pristine condition.

Tap tap tap tap…

“…Viktor.”

“What?”

“Those gangsters… why did you kill them?”

“Should I not have?”

“That’s not it… but there was no need to kill them.”

Seriya asked me the reason for the killings.

She probably took issue with me slicing them all to pieces.

Although the gambling den was on the outskirts of the city, Rascal was a place with a high floating population, and many came to enjoy gambling, so hundreds, no, possibly thousands of people would have witnessed me slaughtering those twelve thugs.

“…When I was young, I was afraid of many things.”

“Afraid?”

“Yes. The world I lived in was harsh, and there were many bad people. Almost every day, I heard screams, the clashing of weapons, and shouts.”

“…”

“The reason I killed them all is simple. It was clear they harbored ill intentions toward us.”

“We could have resolved it through dialogue.”

“But I didn’t want to resolve it through dialogue.”

“…”

Seriya said nothing.

Probably, she wanted to refute my words.

“Seriya.”

“Yes.”

“I’ve killed countless people. Enough to destroy an entire small village, perhaps. Maybe even more people than you’ve spoken to in your entire life.”

If you ask whether I feel guilty about killing people, of course I do.

To others, I might seem like a madman, but I’m not evil.

My heart aches when I see children begging, and my eyes grow moist when I see the poor frozen to death in the cold.

“I don’t hesitate to kill those who are disrespectful or those who try to harm us. That’s how it’s been, and that’s how it will be. This is not subject to negotiation, compromise, or dialogue.”

“Then I suppose I must accept that.”

“Yes. Because I’m the party leader.”

If someone gets in my way, I kill them.

For me, this was as basic as eating when hungry or resting when tired.

And this was also something Seriya, who was adventuring with me, had to endure.

She owed me a debt, and until that debt was paid, she had to walk this harsh land with me.

“Just where did you survive…?”

To Seriya’s question, which sounded like she might cry at any moment, I calmly replied.

“On the salt-filled streets of Parcifal. For sixteen years.”

*

“Two rooms.”

“Yes sir!”

“And prepare dinner for two. Something to restore our strength after a tough fight.”

“Understood.”

“Oh, and have bath water ready in both rooms so we can wash up.”

“Yes~! That’ll be one silver coin in total!”

I tossed a silver coin to the employee and sat down with Seriya at a table for two.

Creeak…

With something to lean against, I naturally leaned back and began to stretch out my stiff body, while Seriya just silently tapped on the table.

“The people you killed today… I knew them.”

“I didn’t know them.”

“We could have resolved it through dialogue.”

“That’s not for you to decide.”

“But this is my—!”

“I’m the party leader.”

I cut Seriya off.

She was my party member, my debtor, and weaker than me.

So this conversation ends here.

The fact that she knew them was of no concern to me.

Even if their deaths shocked and hurt her, if I had done nothing, she would have suffered something similar or worse.

And anyway, that level of hurt or shock would heal after a good night’s sleep.

She’s not a two-year-old child, but an elf who has lived for nearly two centuries, so she should be capable of managing her emotions to that extent.

“Your food is ready!”

Clatter… clatter…

Ignoring Seriya’s gloomy expression, the server began setting food on the table with a bright face.

Come to think of it, the more depressed adventurers were, the better it was for the staff.

It meant there was less chance of adventurers getting drunk and causing trouble.

I picked up my fork and knife and began eating the steak and bread, and drinking the dark beer, and only when I started eating did Seriya pick up her utensils as well.

For dozens of minutes, we didn’t converse and just focused on emptying the dishes in front of us.

I don’t know how it was for her, but for me, eating in silence was natural.

No one ever ate with me, and I never ate with others.

If I ever “shared” a meal, it was when I occasionally had some money and went to an inn to pay for an expensive meal.

This rare quiet meal was quite a satisfying experience.

Although Seriya was sitting across from me, she, like me, didn’t say a word.

In truth, conversation wasn’t really necessary for eating.

Tap.

After finishing our meal, we went up to the second floor and parted ways to our respective rooms.

“See you tomorrow.”

“…Sure.”

I entered my room after hearing her farewell and let out a soft moan as I immersed my dirty body in the warm bath water.

“Ahhh… that’s nice.”

Splash! Splash!

I muttered as I washed my face with the warm water in the basin.

I suddenly wondered, how many brushes with death have I had?

Even at a conservative estimate, it must be over 100, and I hope it doesn’t exceed 1,000 by the end of my adventures.

I’m not an elf, so if I get seriously injured, I might be fine now, but there’s a high probability I’ll suffer when I’m older.

I spent dozens of minutes thoroughly washing my body, and with my warmed body, I changed into fresh clothes and fell asleep on the bed.