Kind Hans
Beep! Beep!
As I entered Area 7, I could faintly hear the sound of a whistle that I hadn’t heard before. It was getting closer.
“What the hell is going on in the middle of the night? Did the devil show up?!”
“It’s nothing. Go in and try not to come out today.”
“Well, what kind of demon would come to this country castle? The demon would go to the city far away! And even if he does appear, Aaron can take care of it like last time!”
The old lady nodded, her plump cheeks fluttered, and in a quiet voice she muttered, “Okay? Just for about a month…” and went inside.
I stood there for a moment, getting hit by the falling rain. Should I call for backup? Should I take Berman with me? But if I did that, once I found Hans, there was no turning back. Berman was a particularly inflexible guy.
Before Hans’ face was hung on the gate, I wanted to hear at least an excuse from the guy.
‘Tsk. Those ignorant guys deserve death or innocence.’
He grumbled and pulled out his sword. It wasn’t a good sword since it was a basic sword, but it had already been used for over two years and felt good in his hand. He straightened his sword and held his breath as he slowly headed down the dark alley.
Wooden boxes were tangled up in a mess, broken here and there. It looked like someone had passed through in a hurry. Phew… I took a breath and relaxed my muscles.
Eventually I discovered two blue lights in the darkness. Blue eyes, like the summer sky, were shining steadily in the deep darkness. It was Hans.
The guy wearing a black piece of cloth was lying in the corner, staring at me.
Gulp. I swallowed my saliva without realizing it because of the tension. He was a kind guy, but he was a wizard. Not as much as Kel, who had a hatred for wizards, but bad stories about wizards were widespread in this world, and the wizards I had experienced were not all that normal.
Thud.
As the raindrops hit him, he flinched noticeably and shrank back. It was then that I noticed that his left arm was empty.
The left side of the black cloth was red, and underneath it was a puddle of blood and rain. The red puddle was getting lighter and darker by the minute.
My eyes met Hans’s again. His blue eyes grew wide. He seemed to recognize me. He was about to open his mouth.
Looking at that sight, my head became complicated.
The wizard does not know the mind, the wizard’s words have unknown powers, and can control or kill people.
The wizard is a demon permitted by the emperor.
The thought was short. I knew that Hans wasn’t a bad guy, but it couldn’t hurt to be careful. I had to be careful about everything in this fucking place.
I took a deep breath. I pulled my relaxed leg muscles taut and kicked the ground. A small spray of water splashed from the puddle on the floor, wetting the mud walls on either side.
widely.
I stared into the blue eyes visible through the falling raindrops. The blue eyes did not waver.
Another step. If I extended my sword, I could cut off the guy’s neck. His mouth was wide open.
He leaned forward and thrust his sword forcefully. A silver diagonal line was drawn in the air. Before he stabbed the sword into the guy’s neck.
“···brother.”
What came out of the guy’s mouth was neither a spell nor a curse. It was just his usual calm voice. A little trembling.
I was lightly poking my black guy’s neck. A drop of blood fell from his neck.
The guy looked up at me, the black cloth fell, and I could see his full appearance. His face was full of fatigue, but his usual gunmanship was still there. His left arm was cleanly cut off from the wrist, and his right hand was holding something.
I stepped on the guy’s right forearm with my foot while aiming my sword. Then he opened his hand and I could see its contents clearly.
A fancy-looking piece of pink cloth. It was clearly a woman’s underwear. And it was stained with blood.
‘···This kid really stole a woman’s panties.’
I looked down at Hans with complicated feelings.
Hans, who was soon to enter the Academy, was a boy with a bright future. Just by entering the Academy, he was guaranteed a position in the Empire’s administration and could even enter the Magic Tower.
What was his usual behavior like? He smiled and greeted everyone he met, so his nickname was Kind Hans.
That guy would steal Young-ae’s underwear, now that she’s an adult, and make everyone in the castle do shit in the rain all night long. It’s hard to believe, but the evidence was right in front of us.
“···What is this?”
“It may look strange, but it was something that had to be done.”
I was speechless at the serious expression on his face, like a warrior standing before the Demon King.
How on earth does the world work that stealing women’s underwear is a necessary thing to do?
I thought of all the possible scenarios, but none of them made sense.
“And I felt bad about stealing, so I took out all the money I had left and left behind a set of Beatrice-made underwear.”
‘Isn’t that the problem?’
The guy looked straight into my eyes as if he was really proud. Beatrice… I wondered how he could have obtained something that was hard to obtain even with money in such a remote castle.
First, there was something I had to check. I grabbed the guy’s chest and ripped it off. The frayed fabric ripped off in an instant, revealing bare skin devoid of muscle.
Those who have accepted the devil have a terrible scar near their heart. They are called the devil’s handprint. That’s why checking the chest area was the easiest way to reveal a connection with the devil. It was also my favorite method.
But the area around the guy’s chest was clean.
‘I’m not a devil… Why on earth?’
If he had been a devil, this situation would have been understandable, but there was no devil’s handprint anywhere. The guy was conscious, and his blue eyes were clearer than anyone else’s.
Pitter-patter.
The boy looked up at me without flinching even as raindrops got into his eyes. I looked into those straight, transparent blue eyes and collected my thoughts.
If this were Seoul, I would have handed the guy over to the police without hesitation. He would have been punished through due process.
But this was a fucking place where demons and magic were real and people were skewered and burned whenever they got the chance.
The man who stole the lord’s precious daughter’s underwear was to be gagged so he wouldn’t utter a single word for fear of spitting out the devil’s whispers, then hung from the castle gate without a trial, becoming the new mascot of Castle Cassadyk.
It didn’t help that Beatrice left behind a set of her underwear in her ignorant judgment.
I looked at the guy’s empty left arm, the underwear he was holding in his right hand, and his blue eyes.
Is losing an arm enough punishment for stealing underwear?
I don’t know. I wasn’t in a position to make a judgment call, but the thought of handing this guy over and having to work and see his neck hanging on the gate for half a day made me sick.
It was clear that I wouldn’t be able to sleep properly for months due to the guilt of not having even a single coin worth of value.
A habit I developed when I came here. Thinking is short and acting is fast. I grabbed the fallen guy by the collar and helped him up. Maybe because his arm was cut off, he was lighter than I thought. I took out the lowest-grade potion I had bought in case of an emergency from my pocket and poured it on the guy’s cut face.
’90 Silver, like my blood…’
I had a thought that maybe the water flowing down my eyes wasn’t rain. The blood stopped flowing as bubbles rose. I covered the mouth of the guy who was trying to say something and walked away.
‘It should be around here.’
There was a hole in District 7 that our group occasionally used. It was originally a place that Kel bought from someone for secret meetings with married women, but after Kel bragged about it while he was drinking, everyone started using it secretly.
Past the house with the collapsed roof, kicking away the high pile of rotten firewood, I came across a hole just big enough for a person to pass through. I threw the guy in front of it.
“···brother.”
Why did he keep calling me from earlier? My complicated hair became even more tangled. The hole was filled with sewage. It was the perfect escape route for a thief of women’s panties.
I don’t know why on earth he stole my underwear, but I didn’t really want to know, so I just waved my hand.
“thank you.”
I laughed out loud at the sight of him struggling through the mud, carefully holding his underwear in his arms with one hand. It was a world where only incomprehensible things happened.
‘Oh, right.’
I grabbed the back of Hans’s neck, who was submerged in the sewage water.
Then Hans looked up at me with questioning eyes. I used moderate force to hit the guy in the face with my fist.
The boy screamed, but was drowned in the filthy water and could only spit out air bubbles. A moment later, he disappeared through the wall.
In a way, it was a situation where I helped a pervert who stole women’s underwear, but it relieved the weight on my heart that had been as heavy as a rock.
Knock knock knock.
I could hear footsteps moving away through the sound of the rain. Soon, only the sound of the rain could be heard.
“I really do all kinds of crazy things.”
He picked a large rock from the ones lying around and repeatedly struck the top of the hole. The rough surface of the rock tore his armor, but he didn’t stop.
After a while of striking, the rocks above the hole fell and filled the empty space.
I dug the ground next to him with my hands and made him a little more solid with the wet earth. After I finished, I felt steam coming out of my body. It seemed a little obvious, but it suited the rough wall to begin with.
Beep! Beep!
The sound of the whistle grew closer, and District 7, which had been filled with darkness, was illuminated by numerous torches.
‘Fuck.’
I looked up at the sky full of dark clouds and ran my hand through my rain-soaked hair.
The sky was still dark, but the rain, which had been annoyingly damp and sticky, felt refreshing, ironically.
***
“Wow, Hans must have been more impressive than he looked. Even the knight moved, but he couldn’t catch him.”
Kel, his face full of irritation, muttered in a sarcastic voice.
“Since he’s a wizard, he probably used magic to escape. Isn’t that right, Commander?”
Brick, with his round face, asked.
“Stupid Brick. If magic could do it all, you wouldn’t have lost your arm. Why would your arm be stuck in that gate?”
The snake eye grass next to it rustled.
“That… that’s so?”
“Ahhhh… I only slept for 2 hours last night… I might die.”
“You won’t die if you don’t get enough sleep, quota.”
“What do you know? I might die. Sleep is more important to me than food.”
“Everyone is being noisy.”
“Berman, what are you pretending to be again? You’re just a guard like us.”
The rain showed no sign of stopping. The guards who had been searching for three days and nights in the rain were so rough that they would burst at the slightest touch. Well, it wasn’t much different from usual.
“Everyone worked hard. But now that it’s confirmed that he’s not in the castle, the search is over.”
The lord was so angry that he sent his knights and inner guards out of the castle in pursuit.
They were all on horseback, so I could have met Hans’ handsome face hanging on the gates tomorrow, but I tried hard enough. I hope one of his magic spells makes him run faster.
Kel, Brick, and Quarter sank to the floor. Quarter, whose eyes were closed, seemed to be thinking right now.
“···But, Captain. The ‘search’ is over? That’s a bit strange.”
The first thing I noticed was the snake eye grass. At the grass’s words, Jo-won’s eyes were focused on me at the same time.
“I have to patrol and stand guard. Our group is on duty today.”
I didn’t want to be the one to break this news, but what can I do? I’ll just have to curse the fact that we live in an ignorant age without employment laws.
“Ahhhhhhh!!”
Quarter, who had his eyes closed, let out a long scream as if he had been stabbed by a knife.
Perhaps working while sleep-deprived was more painful for Quarter than being stabbed with a knife.
Knock knock.
“Come in.”
“Aaron. Is the captain looking for you?”
The door opened and it was Jaden with a square jaw who came in.
‘Oh, I forgot.’
Unable to cut it, he scratched his bushy beard nervously.
Sadly, this long day never seemed to end.
***
“Come in.”
The captain’s voice, unusually firm, could be heard from the other side. It was clear that he was with a superior.
I briefly checked my attire and opened the door. The captain, wearing armor that didn’t match his usual attire, was standing there, and a bearded man was sitting in the captain’s usual seat. He had thick lines and sharp eyes, and he reminded me of a tiger.
‘Sheriff William.’
He straightened his posture involuntarily at the sight of his opponent. He was the man who had to be careful after the lord in this castle. The captain next to him motioned for him to come closer.
“Aaron, you said? Nice to meet you. Sheriff William.”
William stood up. He was so big that he almost reached the ceiling. I was tall, so I never had to look up, but I had to crane my neck to see William.
William held out his calloused hand. Without even a moment’s hesitation, I took off my gloves and grabbed his hand. Even though I was just holding his hand, I could feel his firmness.
“You were friends with the sinner Hans?”
William looked down at me, his eyes narrowed.
‘This raccoon kid?!’
I quickly glanced at the captain, but he was staring somewhere else.
“Well… we only know each other a little bit.”
“I see. I heard that your group headed straight to Area 7 during the search. Why did that happen?”
William’s amber eyes stared straight into me, as if trying to see right through me.
[Your name is Aaron. Aaron.]
However, that gaze reminded me of someone, and I felt bad.
