Chapter 34
“Please, I beg you. 50 silver. Just lend me 50 silver. If you do, I swear I’ll repay it no matter what it takes.”
“……I’m sorry, old man. We’re barely getting by ourselves.”
“My granddaughter and I couldn’t gather the full protection fee this week. I don’t care about myself, but if this continues, even my granddaughter will……!”
“We have our own family to feed. I’m truly sorry.”
Bang!
Watching the door close heartlessly, the old man fell into despair.
The young man in this house was the one in the village he was closest to.
He had believed the man would surely extend a helping hand.
Just as the old man, still clinging to hope, was about to knock on the door again—
“Grandfather.”
The girl looked at the old man with pity as he couldn’t let go of his lingering attachment.
“Wait, child. I’ll find a way somehow.”
“Grandfather… let’s just go…….”
“…….”
At the sight of his granddaughter weakly pulling his hand, the old man could no longer insist.
No conversation passed between the old man and the girl on their way home. Only a heavy, oppressive silence hung over them.
But the old man’s mind was far from quiet.
He had to think, over and over, about how to handle the situation that would soon unfold.
If he didn’t come up with some alternative……
“G-Grandfather.”
The girl shook his shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts.
The reality he faced was utterly cruel.
“Ah…….”
“T-they’re here.”
In the direction the girl pointed, a group of large, imposing men was entering the village.
At that moment, the tense, storm-before-the-calm atmosphere of the village began to stir.
Passersby stopped in their tracks, and residents who had been holed up in their homes or shops frowned as they came out onto the street one by one.
“Those sons of bitches. They never miss a single week.”
“Shh. They’ll hear you.”
“If we pay the protection fee, how are we supposed to eat next month…….”
“Hic… sob…….”
“Why is she crying?”
“They say she couldn’t gather the full protection fee.”
“Poor thing.”
To some eyes, the group entering the village looked worse than beasts—nothing but trash. To others, they appeared like grim reapers.
For the old man and the girl, it was the latter.
“What a beautiful moonlit night. Have you all had a fulfilling day, residents of ‘Riter’?”
The group consisted of five men in total.
Among them, the bald man who appeared to be the leader smiled amiably as he looked around at the villagers.
Meanwhile,
The other four paired up and stood on either side of the leader, spreading out large sacks.
“Once again, a meaningful moment has arrived this week. Yes, that’s right. It’s collection time. But for all of you, it’s also a time to ‘extend your lives.’ Hahaha!”
Despite the leader’s hearty laughter, the villagers’ faces were filled only with shadows.
“You’ve all gotten used to this by now, so I won’t need to explain, right? Alright, just line up one by one.”
As he said, the villagers naturally formed lines in front of the four men.
And then.
Clink, clink, clink, clink—.
Gold coins fell one after another into the sacks they had spread out.
The amount was a full 3 gold per person.
A massive burden for the residents of this slum to pay once a week.
Naturally, many couldn’t afford it.
“Old man? You seem to be getting thinner every time I see you. It pains my heart. And today your expression looks particularly bad.”
“…….”
Among them were the old man and the girl.
Seeing the old man hesitating while staring at the ground, the leader’s smiling brow furrowed.
“Old man. Don’t tell me you don’t have the money for the protection fee?”
“P-please give me until next week. Then I’ll definitely pay for both myself and my granddaughter—”
“Aigo, old man. Why would you beg youngsters like us for an extension over such a small sum? If you keep doing this, your granddaughter will also…….”
Grab!
“Be in trouble, you know?”
At a single glance from the leader, one of his subordinates reached out and seized—
The hair of the girl who had been standing anxiously beside the old man.
“Kyaa!”
“Child! ……You bastards!”
The old man charged furiously at the subordinate, but
Thud!
One kick from the leader sent him sprawling helplessly to the ground.
Seeing this, the girl screamed and struggled, but could only let out twisted groans as her hair was yanked.
It was a miserable sight, yet no one stepped forward.
They had all learned deep in their bones what would happen if they did.
“If you don’t have money, you can make up for it with something else. We’ll take good care of your granddaughter and return her home by tomorrow night.”
“No, you devilish bastards! Not my child! Take me instead!”
The old man crawled across the ground, scraping his elbows, and grabbed the leader’s ankle.
“Haa…….”
Veins bulged on the leader’s forehead as if dirty filth had touched him.
“You senile old fool. There’s a limit to how nicely I can treat you.”
The man who had spat out harsh words lifted his other foot.
To stomp on and break the old man’s wrist.
Step—.
But the sound that followed was someone’s quiet footsteps.
The leader who had been about to commit violence, the old man and girl who had squeezed their eyes shut—everyone turned toward the direction of the footsteps.
There, a red-haired boy was walking toward them.
His clothes were shabby, wrapped in a tattered cloak, but his appearance gave off the atmosphere of a young noble that absolutely did not belong in this slum.
In fact, everyone present wore expressions that seemed to ask if such a boy had even existed in this village.
“You are……”
Only one person.
Except for the girl who had been with the old man.
“What the hell is this?”
The leader muttered as he stared at the boy.
He wondered if it was some brat burning with a misguided sense of justice, but……
His expression was far too indifferent for that. It was like a statue, showing neither anger nor fear.
The leader, momentarily flustered by the unreadable atmosphere, made his own guess and asked.
“Who the hell are you? Planning to pay the old man’s money instead?”
“Even if I paid, what meaning would it have?”
“What?”
Swish—!
At that moment, blood-like currents swirled and a red morning star appeared in the boy’s hand.
Right after.
Crunch—!!
The morning star swung like a ray of light and smashed the head of the man holding the girl.
The man collapsed, gurgling with a caved-in temple, dead on the spot.
It was an utterly sudden situation. Even the leader could only move his lips in shock.
“Anyway, this money was going to return to its rightful owners…….”
At this moment, the only calm person in the area was Ruth.
“And the four of you are going to die by my hand right now.”
***
Crunch—!!
The sound rang out for the fourth time already.
The last remaining subordinate fell backward with his face caved in. Instant death.
“F-fuuuuck…….”
The leader drew his sword and trembled like a leaf.
The events that had unfolded in less than a minute didn’t feel real to him at all.
Out of nowhere, at such random timing, some boy had appeared.
And in an instant, he had massacred all his subordinates. As easily as stepping on bugs.
Now only he remained.
“Fuuuuuuck!”
In the end, the leader turned tail without even daring to fight back.
However, his pathetic escape did not last more than three steps.
Crack!
“……?!”
A massive surge of cold energy suddenly burst from the ground, freezing him from the soles of his feet all the way up to his knees.
Entur looked at the leader, now frozen stiff like a statue, and let out a proud snort of victory.
<I caught him while you were distracted! I did well, didn’t I!>
“Yeah.”
<Praise me with more sincerity!>
“You told me not to praise you because it feels like I’m treating you like a pet dog, and now…….”
Ignoring the ancient dragon who was difficult to keep up with, Ruth approached the leader who could no longer move.
To the leader, the slowly approaching Ruth felt like the utmost terror.
“H-heaaaaah!!”
Cornered like a rat baring its teeth, the leader swung his sword recklessly.
Of course, Ruth had no intention of being hit by such blind attacks.
He slightly extended the length of the blunt weapon using <Blood Weapon> and
Clang—!!
Smashed the leader’s frozen legs.
In the blink of an eye, the lower half of his body was completely destroyed. The leader screamed, tears and snot pouring down his face.
“Shut up.”
Crack!
Ruth briefly spoke and stomped on the leader’s wrist as he crawled across the ground like a worm.
He was simply returning the exact same action the man had almost done to the old man.
“U-ughhhk!”
“What’s your name?”
“J-Jackery… Jackery Gould, sir…….”
“Jackery. I’m full of thoughts about sparing you. I also know recovery magic that can restore your lost legs to their original state.”
“R-really… is that true?”
“I swear on the Goddess, it’s true. In exchange for wanting to live,”
Ruth grabbed Jackery by the hair and turned his head so he faced the villagers standing blankly behind them.
“Reveal the full identity of your <White Sword> Guild in front of these people.”
“R-reveal our identity? What are you—”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ruth slammed Jackery’s face into the ground three times in succession, then lifted it again.
After those three slams, Jackery’s face was completely covered in blood.
“Next will be nine times.”
‘F-fuck. This bastard definitely knows who we are.’
Otherwise, there was no reason for him to suddenly threaten to make him reveal their identity out of nowhere.
Realizing he stood no chance against such a man, Jackery began spilling everything.
“W-we are actually the <Silver Snake Group>, disguised as the adventurer guild <White Sword>.”
“……!!”
The first words were already shocking. All the villagers turned deathly pale and swallowed hard.
The <Silver Snake Group>.
Along with the <Dark Blood Society>, they were one of the five major criminal organizations on the continent.
The residents of Riter Village were utterly horrified to learn they had been living under the protection of a criminal syndicate all this time.
“U-um… The <Silver Snake Group> has been collecting enormous protection fees under the pretext of protecting everyone from the ‘Monster of the Mountain’ living in the mine outside the village, but…….”
“Continue.”
“Ugh…….”
Jackery let out a groan as if he really didn’t want to say this, but
If he didn’t, he would die.
“In truth… the ‘Monster of the Mountain’ that has been threatening Riter Village is a dark spirit directly summoned by our branch leader.”
“What the hell are you saying!”
“You sons of bitches……!”
The reason the people of Riter had been paying protection fees to White Sword—no, the <Silver Snake Group>—for the past year was because the head of this branch was the only one capable of temporarily sealing the monster in the mine known as the ‘Monster of the Mountain.’
The ‘Monster of the Mountain,’ which had suddenly appeared without warning a year ago, had brought a tragic catastrophe to Riter Village.
Countless people in the slum had lost their lives to it.
‘The Drekal Empire, which should have been protecting Riter Village, did nothing at all.’
There were two main reasons.
First, the emperor of the empire was a tyrant who didn’t care in the slightest about a slum like this.
More importantly, the ‘Monster of the Mountain’ could not be killed by ordinary means.
Fearing it might invade the empire itself, the Drekal Emperor had sent subjugation parties two or three times.
‘The result was near-total annihilation.’
From the testimonies of the very few survivors, the emperor realized the ‘Monster of the Mountain’ was an unstoppable disaster.
It was around that time that an adventurer guild appeared claiming they could temporarily suppress the monster.
‘After that, the empire completely lost interest, according to the setting.’
Whether some adventurer guild exploited a poor village under the pretext of protection was none of their concern.
But the truth revealed through Jackery’s mouth was the complete opposite of what the world knew.
The ‘Monster of the Mountain’ was a spirit summoned directly by the <Silver Snake Group>’s branch leader.
In short, they had been staging the entire thing.
As a former <Soden> player, Ruth already knew all of this, but for the villagers it must have felt like a hammer blow to the back of the head.
Having been toyed with for over a year, the villagers hurled every curse imaginable at Jackery.
Of course, they could only do so because Ruth had a firm grip on the man’s lifeline.
“T-this is everything I know.”
“…….”
“I-I swear it’s true! I really don’t know anything more……!”
“Calm down. I believe you.”
“T-then you’ll spare me? You definitely swore on the Goddess that you would spare me…….”
“It was a lie.”
“Eh? W-what do you mean by lie?”
“The sound of your head exploding.”
Crunch—!!
The blood-red morning star turned Jackery’s face, which had been wearing a dazed expression, into pulp.
Then silence fell.
The villagers looked at the corpses of the <Silver Snake Group> members with complicated expressions.
Even though they had witnessed the miserable end of those who had tormented, exploited, and deceived them until now,
The villagers’ faces were not bright. They were dark instead.
Now that this unidentified boy had done this, the future of the village didn’t seem bright at all.
However, there was one exception. The girl who had been with the old man approached Ruth with a face full of joy.
“Sir Ruth! You really… you really came to our village!”
“It’s been a while, Nora.”
The girl’s name was Nora Steel & Anvil.
She was the girl whose life he had saved from the evil god worshippers on the very first day he possessed this game.
“You… know him, child?”
The old man—Jackson Steel & Anvil—looked back and forth between Nora and Ruth with a dazed expression.
Nora jumped excitedly and shouted,
“It’s him, Grandfather! This is the benefactor who saved me back then!”
“……What?”
Jackson’s eyes widened like lanterns as he broke into a cold sweat while staring at Ruth.
He had heard many stories from his granddaughter when she returned that day.
Every single one had made his heart sink……
But among them, the part that gave him the most goosebumps—right alongside the fact that Nora had nearly died—was this one.
“T-then this person is… the successor of the <Black Radiance Divine Sword>?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
Ruth lied boldly.
***
While Ruth was having his first meeting with Jackson, the blacksmith who would make his weapon,
<…….>
Entur was looking far into the distance.
Toward the massive mine adjacent to the village.
<Hmm.>
It seemed Ruth, as a ‘living being,’ couldn’t feel it at all.
But as a fellow spirit, she could sense it clearly.
It wasn’t the ‘Monster of the Mountain.’
Something far larger, far more powerful, and utterly unfathomable……
‘To think something like that exists. The material world truly is an unpredictable place.’
……was sleeping.
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