Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Unlike people who exchanged letters without meeting face-to-face and could be as rude as they pleased, those who faced each other holding weapons tended to show a certain degree of courtesy.

For most of those who failed to do so died with broken heads.

Even so, the reason the Leaf Village self-defense force shouted and acted recklessly toward Shan was simple.

Slouched shoulders, a gaze that nervously read the room as if subservient, and a hunched posture as though terrified.

His entire body was screaming that he was weak and would submit if threatened just a little.

In terms of judging others by their appearance, humans were not much different from animals.

“Roden-!”

“That crazy brat!”

Therefore, the moment the arm of the first man to step forward was severed, people felt anger before shock and fear.

As those close to the giant charged with their weapons drawn, Shan set down his wrapped cloak as if throwing it aside to lighten his body.

At the same time, when he pulled out the protruding handle with his free left hand, what emerged was a heavy mace.

When he smashed the face of an approaching man with it, teeth shattered in bursts and scattered in all directions.

“Uh.”

Although some felt that something had gone wrong upon seeing this, most could not maintain their composure as their blood boiled over the fact that their comrade had been struck down.

Men carrying bladed weapons pounced toward Shan, who was standing still.

But simply by lightly stepping forward, turning his head, and bending his waist to nearly a right angle, all of those attacks harmlessly sliced through thin air.

And the self-defense force members had to pay the price for those attacks.

“Ack!”

“Ugh, keck.”

“My, my eyes!”

Whenever the sword and mace held in each of his hands embroidered the air, someone’s body was bound to be severed, broken, or torn apart.

Wrists were severed, collarbones broken, ribs crushed to vomit blood before dying, or both eyes slashed to be blinded…

Not aiming for vital spots to take their lives like he did when fighting the bandits was not out of mercy.

Unlike his first fight against a dozen or so in the dark forest, the current situation was confronting over sixty people on a plain with not a single obstacle.

If they completely surrounded him and pushed their bodies forward, there was no answer no matter how well he handled a blade.

If his weapon happened to get stuck somewhere, it was not easy to replenish a new one right away either.

In comparison, if he did not kill the opponents confronting him but moderately injured them as he was doing now, they became excellent obstacles.

Unless it was a corpse, it was not easy for anyone to be harsh enough to kick away and push aside a living, wailing comrade.

The fact that extremities or parts like the eyes were easier to attack than life-taking vital spots was a bonus.

After roughly twenty seconds or so had passed like that.

As ten of those who had charged died or were disabled in an instant, the self-defense force members completely lost their will to fight, making the fact that over fifty of them still remained feel meaningless.

Those who threw away their weapons were the gentle ones; many urinated where they stood or collapsed to burst into tears.

“U-Uaaah-“

“M-Mother!”

Seeing a fully grown man crying out for his mother while crawling on his knees was so comical that Shan could not help laughing.

Drenched in blood while giggling, he was truly nothing short of a devil in the eyes of others.

‘Ah, this feels good…’

Just like during his first fight, he felt his head slowly heating up and his heart throbbing.

If he surrendered his body to instinct like this, he would be able to frantically enjoy himself until all of them died or fled.

However, Shan calmed his excitement by taking a deep breath in and letting it out.

If he recklessly killed them here, he would truly become the devil Priest Ador talked about.

Even if he was an unavoidable bastard of a devil, would it not be better to become a slightly less evil devil?

That way, he could stand proud even when he met Celina later.

“Can you believe me a bit now?”

The people who were still fine, but desperate to run away right this instant, nodded without anyone having to go first.

They probably would have obeyed even if he told them to kneel or slam their heads to the ground.

*

After the situation had calmed down to some extent, the people of Leaf Village changed their attitude like a lie, unlike their initial high-handed and arrogant demeanor.

A servile appearance, just like how Shan in the past had treated the people of Willow Village.

Watching that appearance, he did not feel any particular sense of superiority.

Just as looking at one’s shabby self in a mirror felt unpleasant, their appearance projected his past self, which only made him feel disgusted instead.

“Three villages…”

“That is correct, Sir Knight.”

Orgo, the village chief of Leaf Village, went so far as to respectfully address Shan with the title of Sir Knight.

A title referring to the strongest warriors directly appointed by nobles, who wore iron armor and rode horses.

Although Shan found it absurd and laughed, he did not bother telling him not to call him that.

Because the more they were frightened like that and looked up to him, the safer he would be.

“It seems that from Scops Owl Village to Mountain Shade Village here, and according to what you said, even Willow Village, have been destroyed by them.”

Orgo confessed and laid out all the surrounding geography and current situation that they knew to Shan.

According to its contents, the unidentified bandit group seemed to be moving from east to west, devastating every village that appeared.

They themselves did not know what became of the place further east than Scops Owl Village, which was the easternmost location.

“A few people gathered from our village as well and went to inform the Lord of this fact… but it has become troublesome now that the bandits are all dead or fled.”

“Why?”

“Because it means we dared to lie to the noble lords.”

If the Lord, upon hearing this news, sent an army to subjugate the bandits, would it not literally mean they made a wasted trip?

As Shan nodded upon understanding what he meant, Orgo, reading his expression, spoke cautiously.

“Um, then may we take our leave…”

“Mmm… ah, wait.”

Shan was nodding without much thought when a sudden thought crossed his mind, causing him to stop Orgo.

With just that single small phrase, the faces of dozens of self-defense force members turned pale white.

Regardless of whether they did or not, Shan swung the sword in his hand around with a light tone.

“Give me some food.”

“Pardon?”

“Since you came out far, you brought something to eat, right? Leave it all here and go.”

As it happened, the dry rations taken from the bandits had run out, so he needed to secure food.

Even so, accompanying them to their village was burdensome.

After all, was it not true that even mutts grew brave in their own front yard?

He was confident he could win against any number of small fry like these if they attacked openly, but he did not want to risk taking a blade while sleeping.

In the end, the people of Leaf Village, who had gallantly come to help the neighboring village, had to return in a tattered state after having all the food they had brought to eat confiscated.

“Chief…”

“It is fine. We are fortunate just to have survived.”

Orgo sighed as he looked at the battered villagers.

Although Leaf Village had the largest population in the vicinity, losing ten people to death or disability was a fatal blow.

It meant one out of seven adult men capable of working and fighting had been harmed.

But his words that it was fortunate to end with this level of sacrifice were truly sincere.

A boy who looked small and delicate on the outside, but was more agile, cunning, and cruel than any warrior he had ever seen.

Orgo had seen knights fight once or twice in his youth, but even they were not monsters on that level.

That the young monster was satisfied with taking food without demanding the blood of all of them was surely the Goddess’s protection.

*

Around the time Orgo was fleeing with such thoughts, Shan was holding a feast with the food left behind by the people of Leaf Village.

Coarse black bread, cheese made from goat’s milk, fruit preserved in honey or dried, and nuts.

Apparently, the people of Leaf Village seemed to be richer than those of Willow Village.

After enjoying the culinary pleasure, Shan let out a gloomy sigh as he recalled the story he had heard while interacting with the self-defense force.

‘Celina is already dead…’

According to what he had gathered, the place Celina had married into was Scops Owl Village, which was presumed to have been attacked first.

Time-wise, it had already been four to five days, and seeing as there was still no news of anyone coming out alive from there, everyone must have died.

Where should he leave for now then?

Thinking with the map Orgo had roughly drawn on the ground to show him, there was no suitable place.

Right now, two villages that were to the south and east of this place had been destroyed, the north was Leaf Village, and going further northwest from there was the manor where the Lord lived…

Other places aside, the Lord’s manor was definitely a place he must never visit.

Shan felt the eyes of the Leaf Village people, upon realizing he was an Altoan, change instantly from suspicion and vigilance to contempt.

High and mighty figures would not be much different, so if he went there, he might really have to fight knights or soldiers armored in iron.

‘How should I kill a knight?’

Shan imagined an enemy clad in full iron armor in his mind.

A sword probably wouldn’t work, so should he strike the legs with a mace to knock him down?

Piercing the eye area with a spear from afar seemed good too.

If they were strong enough to defeat monsters like dragons, they would move faster and more rationally with a body stronger than that, so it would be no easy fight.

Perhaps he might not be able to win.

Though he did not realize it himself, he had before long defined humans as hostile targets no different from beasts or monsters.

Because the way he had defended his dignity for the first time was through violence, he had not learned any other way to interact with others.

Afterward, he carried his bundle around the surroundings to find a place to stay.

Fortunately, in this village, there was a hut located relatively far away that had not burned down, and judging by the multiple pieces of fur-covered furniture, it seemed to be a hunter’s house.

Otherwise, it would have been difficult to enjoy such luxury.

The hut in Mountain Shade Village was a not-so-bad shelter.

Both the roof and walls were sturdy compared to the barn he usually stayed in, the furniture was soft, and the door even had a sturdy latch.

Being somewhat far from the village meant there was not much smell of rotting corpses, which was also a merit worth noting.

Having no nerve to clean up over a hundred corpses, nor any loyalty to do so, he intended to let animals carry them off and insects devour them.

Come to think of it, it would have been fine to tell the Leaf Village people to clean up before leaving.

‘Celina is probably rotting like that right about now, too.’

Shan pondered whether to stop by Scops Owl Village to the east at a sudden thought, but soon shook his head.

If it had been attacked even earlier than this place, the corpses would have all rotted or been eaten by beasts, and he had no confidence in accurately finding Celina’s corpse among them.

After unpacking all the luggage he had brought, he spent time in earnest exploring the nearby forest.

Unlike Willow Forest where he had occasionally gone to chop wood, the forest here was located on a plumply rising hill, fitting for the name Mountain Shade Village.

Shan wandered here and there, drawing a map in his mind using valleys, streams, uniquely shaped trees, and small springs as landmarks.

Thinking that this was not a place he had to visit to cut wood or fill water buckets, but his own land, his territory, humming naturally escaped his lips.

While he was at it, he bathed in the stream water, wiping away the blood he was covered in, and washed his blood-stained clothes anew before putting them back on.

After roaming around all day, he returned home, filled his stomach soundly again, and slept.

Lying on a bed packed with plenty of soft oat straw and covered with tough wool cloth, it was truly worthy of being called a heavenly bedroom.

One day passed like that, and another.

In his new home, Shan enjoyed a leisurely life for the first time and relished happiness.

In the morning, he slept late, got up lazily to eat food, roamed the nearby mountains, quenched his thirst with stream water, and sometimes played by swimming or jumping between nearby trees.

Unlike in the village, exercising his abilities to his heart’s content and testing where the limits of his athletic performance lay brought a pleasure no less than slaughter.

Brandishing the various weapons he possessed and imagining how he would fight people or animals with them was also fun.

There were also targets to put what he practiced to use on.

Whether the hunter of this village was lazy or the corpses had attracted predators, there were not a few threatening enemies like goblins or wolves in the forest.

Shan roamed the forest, hunting them relentlessly to make the surroundings of his dwelling safe while satisfying his urge to kill.

In many ways, a life closer to a beast than a human.

Once, while carrying around a bow and arrows, he succeeded in hunting a deer drinking water at a small spring.

When he pulled and released the bowstring from a distance, the flying arrow accurately pierced its head.

“Alright!”

Even if he had not learned hunting, he had assisted from the side several times, so draining the blood with a dagger and skinning it were not difficult.

The problem, as expected, was being unable to start a fire.

Shan regretted for the second time that he should have asked how to start a fire last time.

“Mmm…”

He brought stones from nearby and struck them together countless times, but fire did not ignite just from doing that.

In the end, he sliced the deer meat thin with his dagger and ate it raw, but naturally, the taste was terrible.

Since he had often eaten food worse than this, it was not to the point of being inedible, but after eating cheese and honey-preserved fruit a while ago, his standards had risen newly.

‘I’ll have to settle for honey-preserved fruit at least…’

Feeling peckish and rummaging through the cupboard to eat a snack, Shan realized that the food had run out before he knew it.

Though it was brought by dozens of people, every bit of it was at the level of light snacks, and since he had devoured it frantically every meal to bursting without restraint, it was a natural outcome.

Shan had never even thought of the concept of saving or stockpiling food from birth until now.

Because he had lived a livestock-like life, merely receiving and eating the food scraps given by the chief’s family.

“Ah.”

After all the food ran out, he had to make do with the deer meat he had caught earlier.

However, with the season gradually turning to summer, the meat spoiled before long in the hot weather.

Just because he was good at shooting a bow did not mean beasts in the nearby mountains and forests would come one after another to die for him, and even if he caught them like that, he would be in a situation where he had to eat raw meat of terrible taste.

At this, Shan pondered for a moment before fastening a sword and a mace to his waist and holding a spear.

The people of Leaf Village to the north had plenty of food, so if he asked, wouldn’t they share a little?

If they were to make a trade, he could also give them the silver candlesticks or melted precious metals he had brought.

What if they refused to trade altogether?

Although it would be a bit of a bad deed, he would have to point his blade and demand food.

At any rate, he could not just sit by and starve to death like this.

Feeling like he had become a bandit appearing in old stories brought a smile to his face.