solid body
“Oh my, the youngest is sleeping again.”
A familiar voice was heard.
“You might be able to do it. This request was particularly long. Leave the youngest alone and go roll the dice.”
It was a conversation I had heard before. It had only been a few years, but it felt like decades ago.
‘···Is this a dream?’
Even though I hadn’t opened my eyes, the surroundings were vividly drawn. After finishing a rather long request, we were all gathered at a bar to celebrate the completion of the request.
Gambler Wayne, as usual, was flirting with Gorgai, and Gorgai, who had lost badly last time, had turned him down.
“I won’t do it with you.”
“Hey, Gorgai. Don’t be so upset when you’re so big. How did you survive the arena with such a narrow-minded mind?”
“Those are fake dice. I saw them roll by themselves when they went into the cup.”
“Really?”
“Well, if you really doubt it, ask Avery.”
“How dare you deceive me, Gorgai!”
Gorgai, who had noticed the gambler Wayne’s trick, got up from his seat and overturned the table, and I hurriedly caught the falling glass.
“Wait a minute! Gorgai! We’re colleagues! We were just joking! And it wasn’t even that much money!”
“The amount doesn’t matter.”
“A total of 1 gold and 32 silver.”
“Come to think of it, the amount is important too. Get up.”
Surprised by this, the gambler Wayne raised both hands in horror and declared surrender, but Gorgai did not accept him and rushed at him, causing chaos.
As the youngest, I had a hard time holding back laughter while watching them, but when Wayne, who was choked, made a duck sound, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Stop it, that’s it.”
Just before Gorgai could rip Wayne’s head off, the captain stopped them.
‘···And he told me, the youngest, to pour him some alcohol.’
“the youngest?”
A soft voice called me.
I opened my eyes to him.
In the black space where there was nothing, amber eyes that filled the world were staring at me.
– Oh, this is really delicious.
A fucking awesome low-pitched voice whispered.
***
Knock knock knock.
Raindrops tapped my shoulders.
The only sound around was the sound of rain.
‘···It’s quiet.’
I was sitting leaning against a wall that was almost completely broken.
In front of him was the corpse of something more hideous than a zombie. The guy’s face was completely shapeless.
‘You survived again. I really thought it was over this time.’
Every part of my body was in pain, but I felt much better than I expected.
Although his body was originally strong and he recovered quickly, this time he was almost dead. Even if he had survived, he would have had to lie down for at least a few weeks, but his condition was much better than he expected.
Even though my body was sore and in pain, I was able to move and even felt more energetic than before.
He opened his mouth, still looking up at the dark sky.
I took a gulp of the rainwater. It stung as if my insides had been pricked by a thorn.
“Are you okay?”
I heard a voice I had heard somewhere.
When he turned his head, the black knight was standing there. The knight’s magnificent black armor was completely torn apart and one shoulder was wrapped in bandages.
A knight with a tired look on his face sat down in front of me. His dull, clear eyes stared straight at me.
‘Are you suggesting we have a snowball fight?’
I didn’t want to fight anymore today, so I averted my gaze.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Your fight was so impressive. I honestly thought it was two demons fighting. So I prayed in my heart. If one of those demons has to win, I hope it’s you, who I know well.”
“I see. I felt the support. It was a great source of strength for me.”
“Haha! You make some pretty good jokes. I have a joke of my own. I’m a little tired right now, though.”
The guy kept babbling nonsense and twitched his hand slightly. Out of habit, I checked the half-broken rapier in his right hand and the terrible wound on his shoulder.
‘If that guy flinches, I’ll just stick my fingers into his shoulder, and if he drops his rapier, I’ll pick him up and stab him in the neck before pulling up his auror… I’ll survive again.’
I habitually snapped my fingers to weigh the possibilities.
“···Are you a devil?”
The guy asked in a very serious voice.
At the same time, the stupid questions, and the tears are rising.
“···If I were the devil, would I have fought like this while making such a fuss? Aaaah-.”
I was so shocked that I burst out laughing, but then suddenly dark red blood started flowing out of my mouth. Once the blood started flowing, it wouldn’t stop, so my pronunciation became slurred and strained.
Ugh- ugh.
The bleeding stopped with a sound effect that didn’t seem to exist. Still, since I had caught the devil, I wanted to show off my weight in a cool way, but I ended up showing off my unsightly appearance without any filter.
“Phew… yeah, definitely not the devil. I misunderstood. I’m really sorry.”
The guy suddenly bowed his head deeply and apologized with a voice full of sincerity. His polite manner, which was not appropriate for the Middle Ages, reminded me that he was a knight.
A knight is a quasi-noble.
Although he was obviously of a higher status than me, I didn’t want to speak up now.
‘The guy doesn’t say much, so it should be okay.’
I thought we had reached a tacit agreement.
“I will accept the apology.”
“Thank you. Are you feeling better?”
“Because I’m a bit tough.”
“···Seeing the fight, it seems like you wouldn’t be able to survive unless you were quite tough.”
The guy shook his head with a tired expression.
“It’s really hard.”
To the extent that I can somehow survive on my own… I swallowed my words and forced the corners of my mouth to rise. The guy who had been looking at me for a moment smiled along with me.
“I am Ben. I thank you on behalf of everyone here. Your fight was more noble than any I have ever seen. If it weren’t for you, things would have been terrible.”
“···I am Aaron.”
I scratched my beard and answered in vain at the unfamiliar words. It was obviously a dogfight, but the way they wrapped it up was quite impressive.
“Yes, Aaron. Aaron… that’s a good name.”
“That’s a very good name.”
“Oh, I’ll take the devil. That’ll be good for you too.”
Ben said with an ambiguous expression of guilt and self-loathing.
‘You want the ball? But you don’t look like that kind of guy···.’
I rolled my tired head to try to figure out what the guy meant.
If it were known that I, a mere foreign security guard and not Ben, had caught the devil…
‘The church will come looking for us. It’s sure to be a hassle.’
The religious group was usually a group of people who would laugh heartily, but when they encountered a devil, their eyes would roll back and they would brandish hideous weapons.
If I had the status of a knight, it might be different, but I had no idea how the sect would treat me, a mere security guard. They could sense a cloudy aura in my eyes, and they could even split my head open to take out the demon inside me.
The religious sect was a place full of such crazy fanatics. It was best to avoid getting involved with such sects, so it was better for me to say that Ben had taken care of them.
‘If the knight is caught lying to the church, it will be a big problem.’
Capturing the demon would be his achievement, but if the lie were to be discovered, it would not end with simply stepping down as a knight. He would try to take out the demon in his head.
‘···Uncivilized medieval bastards.’
Even in this place full of uncivilized and ignorant people, the most radical and ignorant place was the religious sect where those who radiated light from their hands and held themselves out as proof of God gathered.
“Thank you.”
It was a good offer for me too. I had no reason to refuse, so I nodded quickly.
‘Other guys probably wouldn’t even look at me because I’m a devil anyway…’
There was no need to worry about witnesses. To them, the devil was something they should not hear or see, so they must have been hiding somewhere, closing their eyes and covering their ears.
Ben actually frowned at my answer.
“···Are you okay? You’ve captured a demon. A demon that turned a village into hell and tried to kidnap a noble lady. This is a feat worthy of praise. You’re handing over such a great achievement to me.···If you do well, the church may even give you its blessing.”
Ben asked in a displeased tone.
‘What does this guy want me to do?’
I was dumbfounded at the sight of him making the first offer and then asking why he didn’t care. Judging from the distorted expression on his face, it seemed like he was feeling some pangs of conscience.
I thought about it for a moment.
‘Do you regret it? No, not at all.’
He shook his head.
In the end, I beat and killed that ugly bastard who was my target, and I survived. That was the most important thing.
And I didn’t want to get involved with a church full of crazy people, nor did I want to receive blessings from them.
‘I don’t even believe in God in the first place.’
This was a world full of vending machine-like miracles, where even those too seriously ill to walk would suddenly stand up after just one prayer if they showed proper sincerity to the pulpit.
But just as some people have faith without evidence, I did not believe in God even when faced with clear evidence.
“What’s there to regret? If you really feel bad, you could at least give out some compensation.”
Still, since he was a knight with a lot of potential, I secretly hoped that he would be given at least three-tenths of that. That alone would be several times the salary of a security guard.
“···Okay, I understand. If I get it, I’ll give it all to you.”
Ben nodded, his lips pursed, in agreement.
‘He’s a nicer guy than I thought.’
I was thinking of rubbing his shoulder, but I held myself back because of the bandage on his shoulder. Judging from the pus seeping out of the bandage, his condition seemed quite serious.
I was sure my hands would get dirty if I kept messing around there.
“Oh! And the young lady hasn’t woken up yet. Do you know how to wake her up? I’ve tried shouting at her and shaking her, but she just won’t wake up.”
Ben nodded and pointed to Young-ae lying down.
Youngae was lying under the only piece of roof that was not broken. Next to her was the lady in the light armor, and the two of them were lying with peaceful expressions. It was as if they were taking a nap.
‘What a lucky fate. Even though this shit happened right next to me…’
I’m in so much pain because of that woman right now, and I can’t believe he’s sleeping soundly… Of course, it wasn’t intentional, but I couldn’t help but feel upset.
“How to wake him up… I hit the mercenary in the face earlier, but he didn’t wake up….”
“I know!!”
At that moment, there was a loud noise from the side. I turned my head and saw a weasel with its pockets bulging out, as if it had filled them with something, raising its hands.
‘You survived well.’
It didn’t seem like he would die easily since he was lying shoulder to shoulder with a zombie, but he was much more healthy than I thought.
“You?”
“It’s Dylan!”
“Oh, I see. Thank you for your hard work, Dylan. Do you know how to wake Young-ae?”
“Yes! I woke up all the mercenaries earlier and made them fight the corpses! I can wake them all up at once!”
The confident weasel’s answer was utterly unsettling.
“What is that method?”
I tried to suppress my anxiety and asked the guy.
“Tada! If you just stab him half an inch in the thigh with this, he’ll wake up and come to his senses! I’ve done this to mercenaries more than ten times before, so don’t worry! I can stab him at the perfect depth.”
The weasel, holding a dagger full of red blood, smiled brightly and answered.
‘···You crazy kid.’
I couldn’t help but curse at the dog barking that was being said so cheerfully.
“So… are you saying that you’re going to stick a dagger into Young-ae’s body right now?”
Ben asked, stammering in disbelief. Ben’s right hand twitched toward the grip of his sword.
‘Yeah, just stab him and shut his mouth.’
If by any chance a hole were to be drilled in the weasel’s head, he vowed to bury it along with that devil’s by-product.
“yes!”
However, Ben’s hand stopped because the weasel’s answer was too confident. It seemed as if he was wondering if there was something about the weasel.
“Why?”
“Since it involves the devil, you never know! If you sleep longer, the curse could get worse, and you could never regain consciousness! It might hurt a little if you stab me with a dagger, but wouldn’t that be better if you spray me with a potion? For commoners like us, we can just apply some saliva and be done with it, but since you are a noble, Lady Young-ae, you must carry a potion with you!”
‘···Why does it seem strangely plausible?’
It was obvious nonsense, but it was strangely plausible. In a way, thinking about it, it seemed like a wise decision.
Of course, that didn’t mean I could let the guy stab Young-ae’s thigh with a dagger.
Ben, who should have been angry, looked back and forth between Young-ae and the weasel with a rather serious expression. Judging from the furrowed brow, it seemed as if he was seriously considering the weasel’s foolish suggestion.
“If you just leave it, it will happen. If it doesn’t happen, you can take it to the classroom.”
I spoke hurriedly, hoping that Ben might nod.
“I… I see. How could you put a knife to Young-ae’s body? Put that knife down.”
Judging by the way he flinched excessively at my words, it was clear that he had been taken in by the weasel’s words.
Todok.
Raindrops, much thinner than before, tapped my shoulder.
When I looked up, the dark clouds that had filled the sky were moving away. The sun was slowly rising on the horizon to fill the empty space.
Even though I only went up a fingernail, the dark world became much brighter. The surroundings were a mess. The town was completely destroyed, and dozens of corpses were lying around. It was like a picture of hell.
All the soldiers were either injured or not, and the only ones walking around were mercenaries. There weren’t even six of them.
The mercenaries wandered among the corpses, rummaging through them.
One of the men was stripping the corpse of its armor, but when he failed to do so, he took out an axe and held it up to the corpse’s arm. He then cut off the arm, took off the armor, and put it back on, grinning.
The smile was full of satisfaction, like the smile of someone who has received a generous salary after finishing a hard day’s work.
‘···Uncivilized medieval bastards.’
As I clicked my tongue, I saw a guy carrying four swords.
He was a bald, tattooed guy, and he wasn’t satisfied with just four, as he was rummaging through zombie corpses. He only had two hands, but he was really greedy.
There were too many swords on the guy’s waist, and mine happened to be empty.
“Hey. Over there.”
I raised my hand and called the guy.
The guy who had been hanging around there noticed me and frowned, but when he saw the knight in front of me, his expression softened and he approached me.
The guy gave off a horrible smell, a mixture of rot and blood.
The guy who came closer ran his eyes over my arm. He must have noticed from the scars on my arm that I was the best man in the East, and his eyes became much gentler.
“···yes?”
“Second from the right. Oh, that one.”
I pointed my finger at the sword hanging from the guy’s waist.
“Yes? …Are you talking about this?”
The mercenary tilted his head and held out his blood-stained sword in its scabbard.
I took it from him, pulled out the sword, and examined it. It was a little longer, but it was much sharper and in better condition than the cheap sword I had used before. I liked it.
“Yeah, I lost it in a fight, thanks for finding it for me.”
“···Yes? That···was in the dead mercenary’s arms···.”
I ignored the guy’s words and put the sword back in its sheath. Now I felt a little relieved.
The guy with the blank expression muttered a curse under his breath and turned back towards the corpse.
– Ah, can you hear me? This is… There’s more power than I thought… Phew… What is this… Ah?
I felt like a mosquito was buzzing, so I shook my head slightly and it became quiet.
– Damn, too much power… ahhh…
Someone must have already taken it, so he picked up the water bottle lying next to the naked John and brought it to his lips.
‘You mixed too much water.’
I clicked my tongue at the bitter taste.
I threw the water bottle I had finished drinking from next to John, who had a resentful expression on his face, and got up from my seat.
Anyway, I survived, so I had to move.
