We searched all over the interior of the shrine, but couldn't find anything
that seemed to be a clue.
Perhaps there were books and documents that left some kind of record
behind, but they must have faded with the passage of time.
There weren't lithographs or anything in particular.
[Are these all that we can find here?]
A small idol that was in that hall was enshrined in the room leading from
the hall.
As expected, the face was flat and unrecognizable.
Maybe this was the image of God in the first place.
I couldn't help myself, so I went outside and investigated the inside of what
seemed to be the remains of a residence, but…
[There's nothing ]
[Right?]
There was really nothing inside the building that looked like a residence.
I mean, there were pieces of broken pottery, but the Appraisal Eye judged
them as nothing but trash.
By the way, when I looked at the idol with Appraisal Eye, it said Ancient
God Statue .
Apparently it could be used for something, but it's not clear what.
For now I simply put it inside my inventory.
Unable to find anything, we stretched out at the top of the moss-covered
stairs.
Using my stomach, since I was lying on my back, as a pillow, Marl was
also laying on her back.
How should I put it? I had a small reward, but it's not as satisfying because
all it did was fork out mystery after mystery.
Well, it's not a game, so I suppose not all mysteries were meant to be
solved.
[Ma arl ]
[Who is it?]
[It's me ]
[I might be one of those summoned Heroes.]
[Eh …wha?]
Marl woke up and peered into my face.
There was seriousness in her eyes, as well as love.
[Actually, the day I met you, I found myself in the grasslands near
Crossroads. There was no one around, and I had money and the bare
minimum of tools in my inventory, so I managed to become an adventurer.]
I continued speaking with my eyes closed, so as not to see Marl's
expression.
Marl didn't say anything.
[Well, I still have my memories from my old world. That world was very
different from this one. A world without monsters and magic. I lived in a
peaceful country, and the last war was over fifty years ago.]
Once again, I could feel Marl's head on my stomach.
Her weight felt comfortable on top of me.
[You must've noticed it, haven't you? That I'm not all that normal.]
[Taichi-san is Taichi-san.]
Marl's hand caressed my head.
Unbelievable. Never thought I'd ever be able to talk about this like the main
character of a supernatural thing in real life.
[My precious one.]
I was so happy that someone actually accepted me like that.
I almost drowned from my happiness.
Suddenly, I could feel Marl stiffened on top of me.
Then something fell on me.
When I picked it up, I realized it's a bowgun bolt.
[Taishi-san!]
[Protection!]
The magic power I released from my left hand instantly created a light
protective film that blocked anything that flew at it.
I jumped up and hugged Marl as if to protect her, and looked around.
A number of bolts flew at me.
Using the Appraisal Eye, I realized that those bolts were covered in poison.
The mithril ring on Marl's left hand crumbled.
[Oi oi, already?]
The magic eye detected multiple figures in the forest surrounding the ruins.
Since living creatures always emitted weak magic power, it's easy to see
what's where with the Magic eye.
I quickly opened the menu and acquired poison resistance up to level 2. It
seems that poison resistance is maximum at level 3.
It's possible to max it up by using my remaining 9 points… but let's leave it
at that for the time being, just in case.
As long as you don't die instantly, you can detoxify with magic.
Even so, it's very quick for them to pursue us already.
It's strange how they could track us this far, even if we left the town without
anyone else knowing.
[Air Shield!]
Wrapped in a swirling wind, I hugged Marl like a Princess and rushed
towards the building that was thought to be the residence of the priests.
The flying bolts were deflected by my air shield and failed to hit us at all.
It's only level 2 wind magic, but it's surprisingly useful.
[Don't come out until I say you can leave.]
[Ta, Taichi-sa――!]
[Earth Wall]
I throw Marl who was about to say something into the building, and cover
the entrance with a mud wall.
They shouldn't be able to touch her without destroying the wall now.
[…alright then.]
I've trained at the guild's training grounds and had mock battles at the
knights' station, but this would be the first time where the other party was
trying to kill me for real.
I tried my best to keep my knees from shaking.
I was surrounded by a group of assassins dressed entirely in black.
There were thirteen of them.
[You guys, I reckon you've prepared yourself for the worse.]
Without the protective ring, Marl would have died. These guys were as
good as having killed Marl once.
A gloomy feeling filled my head.
[I'll kill you all… and it'll be slow and excruciating. Don't even think about
having a quick death.]
I should forgive them since Marl didn't end up dying? No way.
These guys killed Marl once.
Thinking that I infused my battle staff with magic.
With this much, a regular human would probably disappear if they take a
single hit.
It felt like a switch somewhere within me was clicked on, changing the
gears in my mind.
And it seemed they realized it too.
Instantaneously, all the black-clad people rushed toward me from three
directions.
Flashes of white blades, probably dipped in poison too, surged upon me.
[Hyaaah!!]
I mowed down the incoming flashes with my magic infused battle staff.
Three of the thirteen were in mid-air, so they could not dodge. The swung
battle staff hit them directly.
Splat.
The three instantly disappeared into fragments.
Chunks of meat and bone fragments scattered and injured the other blackclads.
Half of them managed to survive. I guess only those with good intuition
managed to avoid that.
Hahaha, what is this?
They died so easily.
Are you kidding me?
I don't get why they died very easily like that.
[Kaah!]
Under the mist of blood, I jumped and slammed my battle staff on one
black-clad who ended up lying on his back.
Splat.
And he turned into a squashed tomato.
What the hell was this? Fragile.
Aren't they too fragile?
Is it because they're trash? Yeah, it's because they're trash.
Unacceptable, unacceptable, unacceptable.
[You scum!]
At that point, another black-clad came at me.
This one was wielding a longsword, and the blade let out a dim light. Magic
strike?
I infused my battle staff with magic, and intercepted the magic strike with
my own.
Boom!
An explosion-like sound occurred, almost like the sound of a car crash.
My battle staff crushed the long sword.
The assassin's eyes widened. But, what do you expect when a trash mob's
amount of magic power clashed against mine!
I manipulated my battle staff and knocked down the sword wielding
assassin.
My side was hurting――before I knew it, another assassin had stabbed me
with a dagger.
I twisted my body to avoid them deepening the wound, and slammed my
elbow onto their head.
Receiving such a crushing blow to their skull, the assassin immediately fell.
For some reason, the wounds he stabbed with his knife didn't cause much
pain.
On the contrary, a strange feeling gradually spread. It's poisonous.
Circulating magic power, I quickly activated Detoxify.
The wound is still hurting though. Fuck, I'll kill you for real.
It's my turn now, so let's try out something.
[Water!]
A giant water ball appeared above my head, and it instantly compressed to
the size of a basketball.
Concentrate magic power, target lock, activate.
A basketball-sized water ball shoots countless high-pressure water streams
like lasers.
The black-clad scum let out a scream.
I deliberately left out the vital points, there are many things I have to ask
from these guys.
Two managed to dodge my attack. Lucky bastards.
They must have decided to withdraw, so the two turned around and tried to
escape. But it's too late.
The first one got his back pierced by my battle staff, then I swung around,
tossing his body at the second one.
With a dull sound, the last black-clad assassin tumbled down the mosscovered stairs as the corpse of his friend struck him.
While casting healing magic on myself, I followed the other person who
was probably still alive and descended the stairs.
He probably broke a bone somewhere.
The last black-clad assassin groaned while crawling out from under the
thrown corpse.
[Where the hell do you think you're going?]
I kicked the black-clad corpse away and grabbed the head of the crawling
black-clad assassin while saying the number 1 sentence that I definitely
wanted to say to fleeing prey.
I dragged the captured assassin up the stairs and removed the black mask.
[Ha.]
The lucky bastard turned out to a young woman seemingly in her twenties.
A good looker too.
The left side of her face was covered in blood as it appears that she has
injured her head somewhere.
I grab the groaning woman by her blood-soaked black hair and turn my
attention to her colleagues wriggling in their own blood.
Let's make this a reminder.
[Can you see it? Can you see it now? It's your fellow scums. Did you guys
come to kill me? You came here to steal my precious Marl, right? We both
know it's true. Since you tried to steal what's mine, surely you are prepared
to have your stuff stolen as well, correct?]
I grabbed her by the hair again and dragged her along.
There were seven other survivors. Not half bad.
I took a rope out of my inventory and tied the woman up so she couldn't
move.
Then, in front of the woman, I dragged a surviving assassin who was
seriously injured and unable to move.
I took off the mask.
This one seemed to be a man in his twenties.
He got a broken leg, and something white was sticking out of his shoulder.
Probably the bone fragment of the first three I killed.
[Now, here are the rules. I'll ask this scum a question. If he doesn't answer,
I will ask you the same question. If you don't answer either, I'll kill this
piece of shit. Isn't it simple?]
The sadistic side of my heart was intrigued by the woman's expression as
she looked back at me.
Yeah, that's good.
It's best to completely break the heart of such a scum and trample them in
both body and mind.
[I like that. I'll definitely save you for the last.]
That's it.
Even if you're trash, there's no doubt that you're a woman. I will enjoy this.
I'll break you, then rape you.
[…haa.]
After burning the corpses of the black-clad corpses and scattering the ashes,
I let out a sigh.
A short distance away, lying down with her limbs spread out weakly as she
silently looked up at the night sky with her unfocused eyes, was the female
assassin scum――Fram.
Leaving the still trembling Fram, I undid the mud wall that I cast to protect
Marl.
Marl, who recognized my appearance, jumped out with teary eyes and a
runny nose.
[Taichi-saaaaaaan! UWaaaaaaaAAA!]
[There, there. I'm sorry.]
I patted Marl's back as she hugged me and buried her face in my chest.
I wished I could heal her broken heart right here right now, but it's not over
yet.
I took Marl's hand and brought her to the front of Fram.
[Thi, this is… Taichi-san?]
[Ah, right. She is one of the trash who tried to kill Marl. So I just did that in
return]
Looking at Fram, anyone could guess what just happened.
And Marl also understands what actually happened since there were no
other black clad assassins around.
[Can you follow me?]
[…I'll follow you]
While saying so, Marl looked at me with a sad face. I stroked her cheek
while shedding tears.
Come on now, don't look so sad.
Why do you look so apologetic? They deserved all that, you know?
[It's okay, you won't let these scum kill you. I'll protect you.]
I hugged Marl. Marl also hugged me back.
Right, this is alright.
I cast purification magic and recovery magic on Fram's body.
Dirt and bodily fluids here and there were washed away in an instant, and
the fine scratches on her body disappeared.
After that, Marl and I dressed her in spare clothes and tied her to earthen
pillars made with earth magic.
[What are you going to do with that person?]
[It seems that she's a knight of Karendil Kingdom. I was thinking of taking
her as evidence of this attack, maybe we can use that as a bargaining chip.]
[I am sure that the kingdom will just feign innocence.]
[Of course. Maybe I should just kill and turn her to ash… Can't we turn her
into a slave because she's a thief who attacked us?]
[It is possible if her crime includes attempted murder.]
Marle said so and looked at Fram.
[Ah, what a coincidence.]
=====
Name: Fram Folses
Age: 19
Skill: Etiquette 1, Equestrian 2, Sword Mastery 3, Shooting 2, Stealth 2,
Assassination 2, Deception 1
Title: Assassin, Knight of Karendil Kingdom
Crime: Attempted murder
=====
When I looked at her with an appraisal eye, the result was like this.
She's actually better than Marl in terms of combat capability.
By the way, in my crime logs there's no murder nor rape.
I thought what I did should be enough to be considered a rape.
[By the way, I don't have murder or rape for some reason, do you know
why?]
[I think it's because these people attacked me first. Because as long as it is
in retaliation, no matter what you do, you won't get listed for what
otherwise be crimes such as murder, attempted murder, robbery, rape, and
arson.]
[….who makes such a judgment?]
[The God of Judgment, of course.]
[…I see.]
I wonder what would have happened if these guys managed to kill me and
Marl.
These guys must have come to kill me on a mission.
But, there's no use making assumptions.
It is what it is. I suppose they'd get promoted if they succeeded?
[Speaking of which, what was the result of the interrogation?]
I nodded at Marl's words and shared the information I obtained from the
interrogation.
Firstly, these assassin scums came from the Karendil Kingdom.
Part of an execution team taken from the knights, trained to become
assassins.
This execution unit was a non-regular unit that did not officially exist, and
the aristocrats of the Anti Hero faction forced this operation to go ahead by
forceful means.
They followed us to this ruin by tracking the dagger Captain Twanning gave
to me.
[Perhaps a magic engraving. Taichi-san, is there a strange pattern
somewhere on that dagger?]
[Like this one in the pommel?]
The only thing that matched the description was the pattern on the pommel.
Apparently, these magic engraving could have various effects by combining
it with another magic engraving.
The function of engraving on the pommel was probably to identify its
location.
I thought it was just some random engraving. But now after hearing Marl's
explanation, I could connect the dots together.
[Should I erase it?]
[No, I think it is best to keep it intact for now.]
When I tilted my head to Marl's words, I heard a rustling sound coming
from the bushes.
Judging from the sound, it seems that multiple things are heading towards
this ancient ruin.
[Taichi-dono! Are you alright!?]
After passing through the forest surrounding the ancient ruins, the one who
appeared in front of us was the 1st Squad of the Crossroad Knights led by
Captain Waltz.
[What do you want? It's the Knights of the Karendil Kingdom who sent
these assassin trash to me.]
I took out the battle staff from the storage and looked down at the knights
from the top of the stairs.
Captain Waltz was relieved to see me safe, but his face stiffened after
hearing my words.
I signaled Marl with my eyes and had her drag the still-dazed Fram.
[A total of thirteen assassins attacked us, and only this one survived. Well,
well, let's just say she said a lot of things.]
I tried my best to smile while looking down at the knights.
Captain Waltz knew he must choose his words carefully. He paused for a
moment before he began to speak.
[Taichi-dono, it is understandable that you are angry. However, please
understand. In the Karendil Kingdom, there are not only forces that want to
harm Taichi-dono, but also those that want to protect you.]
[Let the assassin go first, and if the assassination fails, you guys will come
out and try to reconciliate. Is that the scenario?]
I spoke as if to cover Captain Waltz's words.
It's a surprisingly cold voice, even for me.
Obviously, it's difficult for me to trust them.
[No! That's definitely not the case! We…!]
[How can you trust someone who once tried to stab you in the back? Aren't
you asking to accompany us back to Crossroads and try to take our head on
the way? Eh?]
Captain Waltz was at a loss for words.
Better yet, let's kill all of them and turn them into ashes so that there are no
corpses left.
That's right, it should be quick.
I poured magic into the battle staff――just as I was about to do so, Marl
hugged me.
[Taishi-san, please calm down. It may be difficult to trust, but it's
unreasonable to turn the Karendil Kingdom into an enemy from now on.
Let's believe Captain Waltz here. Hmm? Aren't we comrades who defeated
trolls together?]
Marl looked at me with a begging expression.
Can I really trust them? These guys?
But, what Marl said is true. We were once comrades in arms.
[….alright.]
[Thank you, Taichi-san. Waltz-sama, can we really trust you?]
[I swear upon this sword.]
Captain Waltz got down on his knees and bowed.
=====
It's been two days since we left that ruins.
We literally smashed the monsters we encountered as we advanced through
the forest and arrived at the Crossroad town.
Although the number of people increased, there were no monsters attacking
this many people, and we only had to go back the way we came, so we got
back much faster than we had to go.
After all, there were nearly 20 people in the first squad alone.
By the way, I left Fram in the 1st Squad's care.
Perhaps seeing my face reminded her of that night, making her panic every
time.
It kinda inspired the sadism within me. I don't mind keeping her around for
a bit more just to torture her like that.
But for the time being, there's no point in doing that, so I left her in the
knights' care.
It's best to hand her over to them, as they were pretty much the law
enforcement of this world.
I considered turning her into my slave, but at this point she'd just turn into a
nuisance.
When we arrived at Crossroads, we drank well-chilled fruit water at the
tavern attached to the adventurer's guild and had a light meal.
Mine was Neapolitan-style pasta with plenty of ingredients, while Marl had
a sandwich with ham, vegetables, boiled eggs, etc.
By the way, it's one of the more expensive items on the menu at the tavern
next to the guild.
The cheapest was salted pasta, which was boiled pasta sprinkled with salt.
[Just when I thought he had been gone for over a week, he came back with
an abnormal amount of material…]
Perhaps the examination of the monster's corpse we brought in was over,
and after a week we hadn't seen each other, old man Woz who looked a
little thinner walked up to our seats.
Then, he placed the bag on the table with a heavy clanging sound.
All the monsters I encountered along the way to the ruins were dispatched
and thrown into my inventory, so I came here to sell them.
For today, I will be taking a night off, and I was requested to report to the
knights first thing tomorrow morning.
I don't know what would happen, so I decided to cash everything in right
now.
By the way, my and Marl's adventurer rank had gone up.
Now I'm a D-rank, while Marl E-rank.
[So, what are you guys actually going to do in the future?]
I was telling old man Woz what we had been doing since we left
Crossroads.
I thought that the old man was also a minion of the Karendil Kingdom, but
Marl seemed to think otherwise.
I opened my mouth after thinking a little about the old man's words.
[For now, let's see how things go. For me, this country sucks, but depending
on how you show your sincerity, I might reconsider. If Marl didn't have a
protective ring, she would've died.]
[…what if you feel that it's insufficient?]
[Then, I'll leave this country.]
[…do you think this country will just let you go?]
The old man's words made me smile.
What would you do if that happened? It has been decided.
[If that happens, then it's an all out war, right?]
In response to my reply, the old man Woz gave a cramped smile.
Meanwhile Marl simply stared at my face for some reason.
=====
After receiving the profit from the sale of adventurer cards and materials at
the guild, we headed to the Burning Anvil Pavillion.
The corpses of the Giant Mantis and the Nightstalker (a large, black
panther) that were subjugated in the forest were sold at an unexpectedly
high price.
I spent 15 gold in order to escape Crossroad, but instead of having to
consider it a lost revenue, I actually made double that amount.
The sickle, meat, and shell of the Giant Mantis were quite expensive, while
the beautiful jet-black fur and meat of the Nightstalker were also expensive.
There were other swords that I took from the assassins, but I kept them in
my inventory as backup weapons.
[Ah, has it been a week? Coming here to eat?]
When I came to the scorching anvil pavilion, I bumped into Phinea, who
was cleaning the lobby.
Still as small as ever.
I mean, no matter how you look at it, you could only see a girl, but how was
it that she's older than me?
I guess it's what they call a legal loli.
[No, just here to stay overnight. For the time being, it's just a two-person
room for one night.]
[Customer-sama, we are not that kind of establishment. Speaking of which,
didn't you two rent a house before?]
[I lied. There were some other circumstances.]
[….haa. My husband is at the reception desk.]
Tired of interacting with me, Phinea gave up and resumed her cleaning
duty.
It can't be helped, because it was necessary to cause confusion.
It turned out to be useless.
=====
After taking the room, we took off the leather armor we were wearing and
threw our bodies on the bed together.
It's the same room I got before.
It was only about a week ago, but the time we spent together in this room
was peaceful.
Silly talk, flirting, and a sweet and sour atmosphere.
I should have just thought about earning money, training, and Marl.
[How did this happen?]
I held my hand up toward the ceiling.
I killed 12 people with my own hands.
And it's not just normal killing.
In an interrogation to get information――no, I killed seven people just to
mentally break Fram.
They were all badly wounded already, and I snuffed their life one by one.
But, the other side were assassins aiming for my and Marl's life.
I had the right to kill or plunder, as long as it's in retaliation.
That's why I trampled, violated, and broke them.
I had my rights, and they should have been punished.
You tried to steal something important from me, it's a natural retribution.
It's up to me to take it, kill it, or destroy it. It's a natural right.
That's why I'm not at fault.
It's not bad, it's not bad, it's not bad, it's not bad, it's not bad.
No, it doesn't matter if it's good or bad.
I took their life. I can't just escape my sin.
Was it a crime to take a life? Then this world was full of sinners.
Killing to eat, killing to protect yourself, that's not a crime.
However, it wasn't an animal or monster that I killed. It was a human.
It's a sin for a human to kill another human.
No, it had nothing to do with humans, beasts, or monsters.
There was no honor that outweighed that of life, killing was not a sin.
I'm not bad, I'm not bad, I'm――
[Taichi-san.]
Marl's hand gently wrapped around mine.
It's warm, and for some reason I felt like I wanted to cry.
[Taishi-san killed them and destroyed her to protect me. Taichi-san is madly
in love with me, so it's only natural to do so. So don't worry about it.
Taichi-san, I did it for my sake, so it's my fault.]
I looked to the side.
Marl smiled with a very kind face.
She gently grabbed my head and stroked it.
Enveloped in her warmth and scent, it's as if everything that had been
suppressed inside broke through the dam.
I was scared, I was about to lose my mind.
But I thought I had to do it, but I didn't like it. Couldn't get by without
bumping into something somehow.
I cried and spilled out everything to Marl.
Marl comforted me and gently wrapped me like a loving mother.
[You're a wicked woman. No, the word 'wicked woman' is still too kind.]
[As expected of Taichi-san, the first thing you said was abusive! You were
so cute yesterday. Crying in my chest like a child saying [Aa! Aa! I don't
wanna hear!].]
I covered my ears, not wanting to hear any of it.
Damn. This woman was really wicked. She must be a witch.
[You make men useless. Let's give you the title of useless man
manufacturing machine.]
[Hmmm, is it strange that I don't feel ashamed to have that kind of title?]
There's nothing I can do about this idiot who laughed while saying such
things.
I also felt refreshed now that I'd spilled everything on my mind.
Goodbye to yesterday's me, hello to today's me.
[So, what are we going to do today?]
[I don't want to go anywhere. I'm sure there will be surveillance]
If you've escaped once, you'll be under constant surveillance.
Is it really impossible to escape? But then again, there was no merit.
[Alright then. Let's head down to eat, Taichi-san]
[Yeah, I should wash my face first before going out to eat.]
[I'm looking forward to Phinea-san's cooking after a long absence!]
The breakfast menu consisted of freshly baked bread and thin vegetable
soup with lots of ingredients. Even though it was morning, it was troll
steak.
The troll meat was quite tough. It wasn't very tasty, but it was filling.