Chapter6. When you feel safe, hit your back. (9)
After a cruel declaration,
Creak.
The old man’s chair moved again.
This time he took something out of the bookshelf and spread it out on the desk. It was a ledger that he always carefully maintained.
The old man dipped a fine quill pen into a pitch-black ink bottle. He opened the ledger and wrote down something with a quill filled with ink.
“It’s a shame. It wasn’t easy to get through to Kader.”
He continued to mutter to himself as he moved his quill.
“Moritz’s business skills weren’t bad either. He had a stable supply of goods and handled sales neatly.”
The old man stopped his fingers.
“however.”
A voice like a knife cut through the air.
“Why was it so late to figure it out?”
The young man took a short breath.
What is coming has come.
“sorry.”
He took a long breath and began to explain. Trying not to offend the old man as much as possible.
“Once there was no reply to our call, we immediately sent a member of the organization. But when we arrived at the company, there was nothing left.”
“I guess the guards at that territory aren’t that diligent.”
The old man’s voice became colder. At the same time, the air in the room froze.
“Furthermore, I understand that there is a branch near the Kader territory. Are you saying that you were late on the way there?”
“no.”
The young man shook his head heavily.
“It was because the guards cleared the scene in a hurry.”
“Why?”
“Because all the bodies were rotting.”
The young man spoke calmly, recalling the memories he received.
“They say all the corpses had a black, burnt appearance. As if all their bodily fluids had been sucked out, no.”
He exhaled heavily.
“It’s like all the vitality has been sucked out of me.”
The old man stopped pressing and just listened to the young man in silence.
“It seems very ominous that a body that was found only a few days ago looks like it has been buried in the grave for several years.”
“…….”
“They were whispering that it was a plague or a curse, so the guards quickly collected the body and disposed of it.”
After the young man finished explaining, he lowered his head.
“So, we gathered rumors as quickly as possible to find out the full story. We are truly sorry that it took some time to do so.”
While I was listening to the explanation, the ink on the quill was dry. The old man held the quill pen, which no longer had ink flowing, and twirled it in his hand.
“……This is a strange incident. Couldn’t you have saved the body?”
“Yes. They say they have already incinerated everything.”
“hmm…….”
The quill moved as if representing the old man’s thoughts.
“I’ve never heard of a case like this. What kind of trick was used? Was it some kind of strange hex? Or even magic?”
The old man who was muttering stopped his quill again.
“What do you think of his facial expressions?”
Fortunately, the reprimand for this incident did not last long. But there was still more to report.
‘shit. What should I say next?’
The young man swallowed a shallow sigh and immediately answered.
“They say he has black hair and black eyes. He is said to be slim.”
“Age is?”
“At most, I’d guess he’s in his mid-twenties.”
“You’re a young guy.”
The old man twirled the quill in his hand.
“For just one kid….”
I lost all my products and a good worker. Furthermore, the line connected to the place and even the customer were lost. I was especially upset that there was nothing to do about it now that they were all dead.
The old man clicked his tongue briefly.
“Is there any other information? Isn’t it difficult to identify him?”
“sorry.”
The young man answered the old man’s question with regret.
“This impression was also obtained through rumors… It appears that some of the products on site survived and spread the word.”
“Were there any survivors during that time?”
“Yes. But it’s all gibberish, and my memory of the situation at the time seems to be blurry. So it’s difficult to say that this information is accurate.”
The old man paused for a moment and then asked.
“Then, have you found out what kind of weapon he uses? If you know that, you will be able to figure out why the body he killed looks like that.”
“First of all, I heard that they use a sword with a black blade.”
“Sword, sword…”
The speed at which the quill twirled slowed.
“Of course, it’s rare to see a sword like that….”
At the same time, the old man’s muttering became slower.
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“I’ve seen black handles and decorations, but this is my first time hearing about it. Anyway, it will help me identify this guy.”
As the old man’s voice quieted down, the young man held his breath quietly. This was so as not to prevent him from organizing his thoughts.
“The fact that he single-handedly annihilated the company at that age means he was an incredibly talented person.”
The old man tapped the feather at the end of his quill.
“There’s such a skilled swordsman in the west? I guess he’s a strong person in that remote mountain valley.”
The old man’s voice became dry and dry.
“There is Diego Ovest Kindreal. But why does that old man own the Kader territory?”
A slow murmur continued.
“There’s no way a nobleman who doesn’t even come to the noble meeting would drag that heavy butt all the way there.”
“…….”
“So, is this another swordsman belonging to the Knights? No, this one is probably less likely. They’ll just be busy protecting the border.”
The old man’s quill stopped.
“Anyway, thanks to that, it will be easy to notice that he has appeared. There will be corpses like that everywhere you pass. Isn’t that right?”
“……Yes that’s right.”
“Based on your answer, it seems like it appeared again after that. When and where was it?”
The young man’s eyelids trembled slightly.
‘As expected, Lowell.’
As someone who has been in this world for a long time, the old man’s insight was sharp.
He would probably be able to tell what the young man was thinking just by the sound of his breathing and the way he spoke.
“Actually, he appeared in Kader territory once more.”
The old man who heard it said as if he could roughly guess the contents.
“It looks like they did something big again.”
“Yes. This time, they robbed a brothel. They say they assaulted the customers and killed all the gangsters guarding the place.”
“Where exactly was it? Isn’t there more than one brothel there?”
The young man hesitated for a moment and then opened his mouth with difficulty.
“That… it happens to be managed by our guild.”
“…….”
“The gangsters who managed it have scattered, and several valuable products have been lost. The rumors are so bad that it will likely take time to rebuild.”
The voice of the young man reporting his painful failure gradually became more withdrawn. I tried to speak as business-like as possible, as if it wasn’t a big deal, but it wasn’t easy.
No matter how lightly we try to talk about failure, the essence of failure does not change.
However, the repercussions of not accurately telling the truth will be greater.
‘If you’re going to get hit, it’s better to get hit first.’
So the young man chose to attack head-on. But that didn’t mean the fear went away.
“…….”
The old man was silent for a moment, perhaps in shock or lost in thought.
The young man sweated his hands. When his palms were wet with sweat, the old man suddenly asked:
“Are those bodies the same way?”
“yes.”
“He’s a fearless guy.”
The old man muttered as if he was interested.
“It seems like he’s working hard to show off. He’s clearly leaving his mark.”
“…….”
“At first, I thought it was the work of a rival guild. It’s a bit ambiguous to say that they were simply trying to screw up our guild.”
The old man’s voice calmed down coldly.
“What do you think?”
The young man answered cautiously.
“I am putting more emphasis on that. The reason for making such a fuss may have been to hide the intention.”
“Yes. That is definitely a possibility.”
“To say that it was simply for the purpose of ‘murder’, they only selected and robbed places run by our guild. This clearly appears to have been an intentional act.”
The old man let out a hum as if he was thinking over the young man’s words.
“Has anything been reported since then?”
“Yes. It’s quiet.”
“But you wouldn’t know if nothing really happened.”
The old man’s voice did not contain much emotion and did not change in pitch.
However, the young man clearly sensed that there was a piece of ice in it.
“Maybe someone else is raiding our branch again. We didn’t realize this too late because the members of the organization were killed.”
The sweat on my palms cooled thanks to the old man’s cold voice. The young man felt that his hands were as cold as ice.
“…I’m sorry. I will correct it.”
“If we are unable to contact you for more than three days, send a member of the organization immediately.”
“Yes, I understand.”
The old man made the young man freeze and was silent for a moment.
After a while.
“Open the cage.”
“-!”
For the first time in a very long time, the young man saw those words come out of the old man’s mouth.
He asked back with a trembling voice.
“Did you say cage?”
“okay.”
The old man’s fingers began to move holding the quill pen again.
“The target is a guy with black hair and black eyes who uses a pitch-black sword.”
Despite the gruesome content, the old man’s tone was monotonous, as if he was talking about what to eat for his next meal.
“Capture him alive by any means necessary.”
“All right.”
The young man’s shoulders trembled. He could imagine what kind of trouble he would face if he were caught.
Crunchy.
Contrary to the atmosphere in the room, the old man moved the hand holding the quill pen gracefully.
“I need to take a closer look at what kind of weapon he uses. It looks like he has obtained a rare, world-famous sword. If that’s the case, we can’t just leave him alone.”
The old man’s faint laughter fell on his fingers.
“I’m sure you’ll be very happy if I bring you the sword.”
All kinds of decorations were placed on the bookshelf behind the old man. The blue pearl in the center of them gave off a faint light.
❖ ❖ ❖
The gateway post of Bezerk Territory.
“Hwaaaam.”
Everett rubbed his face on the high castle wall.
“I’m free today too.”
Originally, the phrase ‘I’m a little free today’ is a taboo for guard workers. This is because from the moment you say those words, an unexpected guest suddenly arrives.
But not in this Bezerk territory.
“I was free yesterday, and I’ll probably be free tomorrow too.”
No matter how many times I repeated this, nothing happened to make him feel less bored.
Squeak. Squeak.
Everett yawned repeatedly and diligently wrote down his work log.
“Working situation…nothing wrong.”
After finishing writing, he sighed.
“I think I’ll get through this day safely.”
In fact, he was a person who greatly welcomed this boredom. No, he was actually a person who was always bored.
“Please, I don’t want to see a single hair on a monster until I retire.”
He was very timid and had a weak stomach. Nevertheless, the reason I chose this job was because the salary was paid on a regular basis.
“Let’s see. I can change shift in three hours.”
When working at a guard post, it is common for two people to stand together. But in recent years, there has been little for the security guard to do other than let the occasional visitor through.
So he had to stand alone on guard duty, which doubled his boredom.
“Ugh, I’m bored. Should I eat some with salt?”
Everett spent his time muttering the words that had become a habit, or adding nonsense.
“I’m bored, I’m bored.”
It was around this time that he repeated about 20 times that he was bored.
“I’m bored, I’m bored… huh?”
He noticed something strange happening in the distance over the scenery he always saw.
“Uh huh?”
fantasy,
