Chapter 158 : Chapter 158

Chapter 158 : The Kingdom's Finest Sword (3)

In the end, Noser succeeded in sending his subordinates ahead and remaining alone.

There's a reason I use the word ‘succeeded.’

It was because his expression looked much more refreshed, as if he had gotten rid of a chronic indigestion.

“Hah, I can finally breathe.”

“Is it alright for you to say that after sending your subordinates away? In front of me, no less.”

“Well, I have my reasons. When the time comes, I'll be able to tell you everything. Of course, it's still a bit difficult for now.”

As if he had been waiting, Noser took off his plate armor and packed the various parts into his backpack and the saddlebags on his horse.

Then he changed into relatively light and comfortable leather gear, his movements skillful and fast as if he had done it many times.

A cheerful smile never left his lips.

“……It seems this happens often?”

“Well, not often. There are times when I need to hide my identity. In those cases, I tend to take the lead without hesitation. I can't push dangerous work onto my subordinates.”

That sounded like an excuse; it seemed closer to him enjoying it himself…….

Anyway, setting that aside.

I turned my head.

On one side, Bolero was comforting the head of the family, Marcus.

“You don't need to worry so much since we are here.”

“Yes, I understand…….”

Marcus's face was dark, like someone who had resigned themselves to their fate.

He seemed overwhelmed by the situation of having to return to Tarnholt after risking his life to escape.

“Is it because of Deiron?”

I asked.

Marcus's lips parted as if to say something, but then he firmly shut them.

“Well, I understand if you don't trust me. But I promise you this. Deiron will not lay a hand on your family.”

It was quite kind, for me. I needed to be. It was I who had suggested taking them to Tarnholt.

‘This will be solved if Deiron is gone.’

They said that once he marked someone as a sacrifice, he never forgot and moved on.

So this time, too, he was sure to appear to take Marcus's wife and daughter.

That's why Marcus's family was needed as bait to lure out Deiron.

But that wasn't the only reason I wanted to take them back to Tarnholt.

Let's say they ran away just like this.

They would have to endure endless pursuit and isolation.

The people of the Kingdom are mostly cold to outsiders.

To them, an outsider is not just someone from the Empire like me.

Those who come from outside their own territory, all of them are targets of exclusion and suspicion.

So what would it be like for ‘a family that fled after being marked by Deiron’?

‘There is no place that would welcome them warmly.’

On the road, they would be chased by vagrants, and in the places where they could find some rest, they would be met with people's suspicion and contempt.

As they say, there is no paradise in the place you run to.

***

As soon as we arrived in Tarnholt, people flocked to us from all over.

It was quite a clamor, as if a great spectacle was unfolding.

“Oh, Marcus! You're back!”

“I was scared to death thinking you really ran away! Where have you been all this time?!”

“…….”

Even in the best light, it wasn't a welcoming atmosphere.

Only then did I realize why Marcus had worn such a grim expression.

“You shameless man! You ran away just to save yourselves?!”

“Doesn't it bother you at all that some other innocent person will be taken instead of you?”

“It's a shame I can't beat you to death. If that bastard dies, one of us will eventually be dragged away again, won't we?”

“The ones Deiron marked are his wife and daughter. We can beat Marcus to death.”

The gathered people shot a word each.

I felt my own face flush; I regretted telling Marcus to come back.

“H-hey, stop blocking the way and move!”

Bolero suddenly shouted at the surrounding people.

At a glance, the three of us looked like we had captured a runaway slave family and dragged them back.

Creek, thud.

After we squeezed into Marcus's house, we closed the door.

Resentful voices poured in from outside.

Occasionally, the sound of rocks or miscellaneous objects hitting the wall could be heard.

“…….”

Marcus and his wife covered their children's ears and held them tight.

The three of us watched them with heavy hearts.

Bolero and Noser muttered a word each.

“He's made them watch over each other. Those who run away are hunted down by their own kind.”

“So they can't touch the one they should resent and hate because they're scared, so they fight amongst themselves, the easy targets.”

Deiron's bizarre tyranny had taken root long ago.

Even if a monster appears and drags away a perfectly fine person, people become desensitized if it's repeated.

Even fear becomes a habit, and eventually solidifies like a custom.

All that remains is helpless resignation and a distorted anger towards each other.

“First, please calm the children.”

Marcus and his wife took the children and went into the inner room.

The resentment and curses pouring in from outside showed no sign of subsiding.

They seemed ready to force their way into the house.

“There's a limit to shamelessness! What did you do so right to crawl in there and keep your mouth shut, Marcus!”

“Come out right now and kneel before everyone to apo…... Huh?”

I stepped outside the door.

Before I knew it, a crowd had gathered and densely surrounded the house.

“What, who are you?”

“Ah! You must be Deiron's subordinate who caught Marcus's family.”

“If you caught them, you should make them kneel and apologize first! This isn't something to be taken lightly!”

I felt a wave of dizziness.

It was truly endless.

It would be difficult to answer each one, so I first raised my voice.

“I am not Deiron's subordinate.”

“What? Then are you a mercenary hired by Deiron?”

“I am something similar to a mercenary. But I wasn't hired by Deiron. It's quite the opposite.”

Before long, the murmuring stopped. The people looked at each other and tilted their heads.

“What does that mean? The opposite?”

“Are you saying you're going to fight Deiron or something?”

It wasn't something to brag about, nor did I want to show off.

But the people gathered here, all of them had to know clearly.

“I am a knight who has come to punish Deiron.”

A sudden silence fell.

The people just stood there blinking, seemingly at a loss for words.

“A k…...knight?”

As the young man in front of me let out a dry laugh as if in disbelief, a similar reaction soon spread.

Sounds of snickering could be heard here and there, followed by outright ridicule.

“Some crazy bastard has rolled in from somewhere.”

“Punish Deiron? That's the funniest thing I've heard recently.”

“A knight, he says. Someone stop that naive noble sir. We don't want to get caught in the crossfire.”

“Maybe Deiron is up to some strange trick again?”

The faces of the crowd were full of disbelief and sneers. It wasn't a matter of believing or not.

So I was just as flustered. Standing among them, the situation was so absurd that I unknowingly let out a chuckle.

Everyone seemed half-crazed.

The situation itself felt like a ridiculous farce.

‘What's so funny, you idiots…….’

I can't just blame them.

These people are not twisted, but oppressed.

Crushed by irresistible violence, they have become distorted like this while struggling to survive.

I cannot and should not, judge their state by my own standards.

The starting point of the problem lies elsewhere.

Killing Deiron, who created this deformed world.

That is the only thing I must do.

Thud, thud.

The people in front of me parted to the left and right.

An old man slowly approached through the gap.

“I am the one in charge of being the lord of Tarnholt.”

The expression ‘in charge of being the lord’ was strange, and so was his appearance.

It was hard to see him as a noble. He felt more like a village chief in some mountain village.

“……A priest of Solari and a wandering knight, Bihen Benkou.”

The ways I introduce myself are gradually diversifying.

Well, I suppose it means the trajectory of my life is expanding.

“Solari? What's that?”

“You might not know since this place is completely cut off from the outside world. To put it simply, it's a school of magic with a religious tint. Its headquarters are in the imperial capital, and it has branches in about ten territories, from Conwell to Aldenfort.”

The people looked at each other and murmured. Just as the murmuring was growing, the man who called himself the lord calmed them down.

“A religious school of magic……. Similar to Deiron.”

The lord was an elderly man of advanced age.

He fiddled with the staff he held in both hands and gazed at me quietly.

His clouded pupils did not easily reveal his inner thoughts.

“What do you mean, similar to Deiron?”

Bolero, who had opened the door and came out from behind me, stood beside me.

He was openly showing his displeasure.

It seemed he found it hard to tolerate Deiron being compared to Solari.

“Don't such schools usually put forth an invisible absolute being and force worship? In the end, it's no different from Deiron demanding obedience from us.”

The lord said in an indifferent tone.

Bolero let out a sigh as if he were speechless.

‘If he's going to make that kind of comparison…….’

Wouldn't comparing him to the king be more intuitive and quicker?

After all, Deiron was playing the role of a king in this area.

“Deiron often compared his talent for commanding demonic beasts to the power of a god. Furthermore, he boasted that he was close to an omniscience that the king couldn't even imitate.”

……Right. The bastard wasn't satisfied with being a mere king in the first place.

“It's not like we haven't had schools like yours before. There were some who stepped forward on their own, saying it went against their doctrines, and claimed they would punish Deiron. I won't bother mentioning what their end was like.”

Just then, the people's expressions darkened.

His slow speech seemed to poke at their memories.

“That's all fine. But please make one thing clear. That we have nothing to do with you people.”

The lord turned his head and slowly scanned the people surrounding him.

It also looked like he was imprinting them in his eyes.

“This area, including our Tarnholt, has long been a place with frequent invasions by demonic beasts. After Deiron appeared, we were able to worry less about being eaten by demonic beasts. Of course, we didn't know that he would be a much more terrifying monster than the demonic beasts……. Still, isn't it better that there's at least a little room for compromise?”

The lord's face gradually contorted. It was impossible to tell if he was laughing or crying.

“The chances of being caught in misfortune have become extremely low compared to before, that's what I'm saying. There's no need to even consider which is better. Wouldn't it be wise to not stir things up and just let things flow as they are.”

The lord turned away.

“……Still, for some reason, the number of people being taken away has noticeably decreased recently. It's a real relief.”

Bolero and I were at a loss for words and couldn't say anything.

***

The three of us stayed at Marcus's house.

Without anyone having to say it first, we never let our guard down.

At night, we took turns to watch.

It was a series of tense days where anything could happen at any moment.

The villagers practically treated us as if we didn't exist.

The children would peek at Marcus's house as if they were looking at a haunted house, and if their eyes met ours, they would get frightened and run away.

In the midst of this, Marcus and his family were also wary of us.

At this point, they seemed to suspect that we were just using them as bait to make contact with Deiron and would then discard them.

About half a month passed.

At that time, I finished reading The Way of Medicine.

Of course, it wasn't a book to be finished after one reading.

I had to look at it frequently and study.

‘Acupuncture.’

It seemed like it would be quite effective when used with my blood points.

“I think it's about time for him to come.”

Bolero cleared his throat.

He, too, had focused on recovery during that time and his physical condition had improved a lot.

‘A pity. It was a good opportunity to test out acupuncture.’

As if we had been waiting, on the morning of the exact fifteenth day.

Deiron's minions finally showed their faces.

They all looked like defeated soldiers, their faces gaunt.

The interesting thing was that the villagers came flocking in behind them.

All their eyes were shining.

They were gulping down their saliva as if it were a great spectacle after a long time.

As long as it wasn't them, it didn't matter at all who died.

That was all they were.

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