Chapter 36 — That Guy’s Body Is Full of Life!
I had tied up my long hair, which I usually left loose, while riding the carriage toward Jageun Village.
It was said that several Badger Beastmen, known to be servants of the Witch of Corruption, had attacked Jageun Village along with other monsters, and we were heading there now.
I couldn’t believe that the group, which had been inactive for nearly ten years, had suddenly started moving again.
It seemed more likely that some of them had been abandoned by their group or had separated from it and were acting on their own.
More importantly, Badger Beastmen were a race obsessed with strength.
There was no reason for them to attack a village like Jageun, which was inhabited only by the elderly, and turn it into a complete mess.
“…Phew.”
The confirmed monsters included several Hobgoblins, one Badger Beastman, around twenty Giant Boars, and several Wolves of the Mist.
“….”
Inside the rattling carriage, everyone who had hurriedly left the training center was filled with tension.
Was it because we were about to face an unexpectedly large army?
It wasn’t as if they had randomly picked people and brought them here without any preparation.
Even if we were outnumbered, with that many enemies, some of us might get injured, but there was clearly no chance of suffering serious losses.
None of us lacked experience, either.
And among the trainees riding in this carriage, there wasn’t a single person who could be called weak.
Even so, there was only one reason the carriage was quieter than ever, when normally there should have been at least some casual conversation.
“…Hey, mister.”
The man we called Mister was a man named Kim In-gwang who had recently entered the training center.
He possessed an indomitable will, and right now, he had an extremely serious expression that I had never seen on him before.
“Why?”
His stiff expression, serious tone, and the heavy atmosphere slowly spreading around him were completely different from his usual ordinary, small-citizen-like self.
But there was one thing I couldn’t understand.
Although he had come from Jageun Village, he was an outsider, so I didn’t think he had any particular attachment to the village.
Then how could he become this serious?
Could it be that there was actually something precious to him in Jageun Village, despite what he had told us before?
I had heard that Jageun Village was mostly made up of elderly people and didn’t seem to have any special products.
Had he left something important behind there?
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I feel lighter.”
He was so insensitive to the changes that he still didn’t even know what the bracelet was supposed to do.
For him to react like this, it must have been something truly important.
I couldn’t even imagine what it could be.
“Ah! This is too frustrating! Mister! What the heck is wrong with you? What happened in that village to make you this serious?!”
Unable to endure the suffocating atmosphere inside the carriage any longer, Happy, the red-haired girl, practically jumped at Mister as she asked him.
I thought she was being rude, but I couldn’t hold back my curiosity either.
So instead of stopping Happy, I simply remained seated like the other trainees and listened.
“…Huh?”
“No! You’re making a face like the whole world is about to collapse! Why are you like this?!”
“Was I?”
“Maybe I exaggerated a little, but yes!”
Among our group in the carriage, Happy was the youngest.
Mister was the oldest.
At Happy’s words, Mister nodded with a faint smile that none of us had seen even once during the past six days.
But what came out of his mouth next was something I could never have imagined.
“I think I might know that Badger Beastman.”
“What?
Mister?
How do you know a Badger Beastman?
They first appeared in the Maze Forest about twenty years ago, didn’t they?”
He knew a Badger Beastman?
Even though we called him Mister, he looked like he was only in his late twenties at most.
How could he possibly know a Badger Beastman?
And he was an outsider, too.
I had heard that about twenty years ago, some outsiders who repeatedly performed strange acts had appeared.
Could he have been one of those outsiders?
I focused on Mister’s words, expecting him to explain everything clearly and tell us about his relationship with the Badger Beastman.
But instead, Mister stared at Happy with a shocked expression.
It was almost as if he was frightened.
“…Twenty years?
Twenty years?”
“Huh?
Yeah… I heard they came out of the Maze Forest together with the Witch of Corruption twenty years ago.”
“…Twenty years…
I’m screwed…!”
“What?!
Why?
W-What’s screwed?!
**What is it?!
Tell me quickly!**”
Mister calmed Happy down and then fell deep into thought on his own.
His eyes were filled with a mixture of anxiety, fear, resignation, and anger.
“The Witch of Corruption, perhaps…
But why do they call her a witch…
Corruption…”
He muttered those words so quietly that we could barely hear him.
Then he raised his head.
His eyes looked as if he had made a decision.
Or perhaps, as if he had simply given up.
“Yeah.
Actually, I created that Badger Beastman.”
“…What?”
I had heard that outsiders behaved strangely and followed their instincts so strongly that they sometimes seemed almost insane.
But this was completely unexpected.
Could he be lying?
If he had created a Badger Beastman twenty years ago, that meant he had done it when he was not even ten years old.
That was impossible.
No, it couldn’t possibly be true.
“And I think that person called the Witch of Corruption is probably someone I know, too.
Probably.”
The story about the Badger Beastman alone had already been difficult enough to believe.
But Mister seemed determined to build an even stronger wall on top of it.
“Why?”
“The reason she came to be called the Witch of Corruption…
It might have been because of me!”
“???”
“I don’t really know what she did, though.”
At that moment, the smile on Mister’s face was unbelievably bright and innocent.
It was completely open and honest, without even the slightest hint of a lie.
It was as pure as if light itself were shining from it.
“Wow!
I’m really sorry about this!”
“Hahahahaha!”
Only Mister’s laughter echoed loudly through the carriage.
None of us, including me, could understand what he had just said.
All we could do was stare blankly at him as he laughed awkwardly.
“It’s just how things are!
I wanted to stay at the training center longer, but if she’s being called something like the Witch of Corruption, then I should just go with the flow.”
“Ah, no, wait!
Mister!
What do you mean by that?!
If someone you know is being called that, shouldn’t you guide them onto the right path?!”
“Why should I?”
W-What was this?
He might not look like it on the outside, but I had thought he was a warrior at heart.
Someone he knew was doing bad things, so he would simply follow along and do bad things too?
What kind of logic was that?
Was there something wrong with my ears?
How had this man gained such an indomitable will?
And what exactly had he been building that indomitable will for?
“I’m joking.”
“From where?!
Which part was a joke?!”
I couldn’t understand why he had made such a joke.
Nor could I understand why Mister’s atmosphere was gradually becoming harder and harder to endure.
“The part about going with the flow?
To be precise, I’ll just do whatever I think is right.
If that girl has become so bad that even someone like me, who can’t normally be rehabilitated, would shake his head at her…
Well, then I’ll kill her.
It’s a shame, though.”
