The Vegetarian Troll's Cabin (8)
"Crazy bastard." Yohan spat, his voice dripping with genuine disgust.
It wasn't enough that they had slaughtered a young boy's entire family and neighbors. Just when he finally managed to make a new friend, they had snatched that away too. The chief wasn't just a bastard; he was a monster.
At this point, it was a miracle that Billy was even sane. Or perhaps his current, overly gentle demeanor was actually a fractured personality born from those horrific traumas.
Yohan stared at Billy, who was continuing his story in a calm, detached tone, and clicked his tongue in disbelief.
"So, what did you do?" Falco asked while Yohan was busy muttering to himself.
"I protested. I went straight to the tribe and confronted them."
But despite Billy's desperate pleas, the chief refused to budge.
"He told me this: 'If we let this child live, it means your choice will ultimately kill another innocent person instead.'"
Hearing Billy's words made Yohan feel suffocated. Frustrated, he thumped his own chest.
If he stayed silent, his friend would die. But if he tried to save his friend, another innocent soul would perish. It was a sick game of weighing human lives. And the burden of tipping the scales had been thrust entirely onto Billy.
It was pure sophistry. Anyone could see that. The very premise of sacrificing an innocent person every year was fundamentally twisted. Yet, that monster knew exactly how to weaponize Billy's morality against him.
"So, I fought back. I think that was the first time in my life I fought with a genuine desire to kill someone."
But Billy had lost. Even his father, a seasoned warrior and a half-troll, had been no match for the chief. There was no way a boy who hadn't even reached adulthood could stand a chance.
Billy had been utterly brutalized. It wasn't a duel between a challenger and a chief; it was one-sided violence. Though his troll blood allowed his physical wounds to heal quickly, his heart, cold and lifeless, must have been torn to shreds.
"The chief dragged my beaten, broken body down to the human village. Then, he declared that as punishment for this brat challenging his authority, he would slaughter everyone if even a single villager tried to escape."
Cruel. And devilishly clever. The chief had successfully redirected the fear and hatred that should have been aimed at the troll tribe onto the innocent Billy.
"Not long after, the 'event' proceeded as scheduled. And from that day on, I couldn't bring myself to eat meat."
And so, Billy went into hiding. He never approached the human village again. Instead, he simply warned any travelers who happened upon his cabin—like Yohan's party—to flee as quickly as possible.
"Shall we... get some fresh air?"
Perhaps finding the atmosphere inside too suffocating, Billy suddenly stood up and walked toward the door.
Yohan and Falco silently exchanged glances before following him outside.
The night air at the foot of the mountain, where the sun had completely set, was biting. Coming straight out of the warm cabin only made the chill feel sharper.
"I wanted to at least make them a proper grave, but I couldn't even find their bodies."
Billy murmured, his gaze drifting toward the flower bed. Yohan followed his eyes and noticed a small mound of earth rising in the center of the garden.
"Then that is..."
"Yes. It's an empty grave," Billy replied with a bitter smile.
"Anyway, I've lived alone in this cabin ever since. Not a single villager has ever visited me."
While it was incredibly unfair to Billy, from the villagers' perspective, it wouldn't have been surprising if they had formed a mob to lynch him.
The only reason Billy had remained safe was likely because he was still technically considered a member of the troll tribe.
In other words, Billy had lost his family and friends to his enemy, yet he owed his survival to that very enemy's terrifying influence. It was a sickening paradox.
"That's all. That is my story."
"Hmm." Yohan let out a low grunt. He crossed his arms and fell into a long silence.
"I want to ask you one more thing," Yohan finally broke the silence. Billy gave a slight nod.
"After being pushed that far, how did you manage to stay in this cabin without ever taking their side?"
Any ordinary person would have lost their mind and ended their own life, or given up entirely and joined the troll tribe. That was how utterly devastating Billy's past was.
"That is..." Billy trailed off, looking flustered, as if he hadn't expected such a question.
"At least, this is how I see it. No matter what kind of blood flows through my veins, I was raised among humans."
He gently stroked his chest with his thick, calloused hand.
"No matter what that monster says, I am a human. I am not a man-eating monster."
The expression on Billy's face as he spoke was more resolute than ever.
"Well, I guess—" Yohan started to speak, but at that exact moment, a brilliant light flashed between them.
"Billy!"
"W-what?!"
Out of nowhere, the Goddess manifested in the physical world. She lunged straight at Billy, wrapping her short, slender arms tightly around his waist.
"I—I am truly moved! Thou art a person of greater justice than any other!"
"W-who are you?! Wait, ah, get your snot off me—!"
The Apostle and his companion froze solid at the Goddess's sudden antics. Thanks to that, the Goddess was able to smear her tears and snot all over Billy's trousers without any interruption.
"Uwahhh—my Apostle!" Having buried her face in Billy's waist for a good while, the Goddess finally seemed to calm down. She turned her head to address Yohan.
"In my name, I command thee! Free Billy and the villagers from the evil clutches of those man-eating trolls!"
"Look..." He was planning to do that anyway, but what in the world was this farce?
"Wait a second. Apostle? Who is this little girl? And who on earth are you people..."
Sigh. It looked like they would be talking until sunrise. Yohan let out a heavy sigh.
"An Apostle of the Unnamed Goddess... I knew you weren't an ordinary person like me."
"Please. To anyone else, you're plenty weird yourself."
The four-person table, which Billy had used all by himself for so long, was fully occupied for the first time.
"Hehe. Indeed! Not long ago, in a place called Balifield, my Apostle Yohan and I personally vanquished a demon that was parasitizing a human body!"
Deeply moved by Billy, the Goddess insisted on maintaining her physical form, completely ignoring the rapid drain on her divine power.
"A-a demon?" Billy gasped, thoroughly startled. To be fair, this was the standard reaction of anyone in this world when hearing about a 'demon.'
Unable to believe his ears, Billy eventually shot Yohan a questioning look, silently asking if her words were true.
"Yeah, a real demon. But fighting that thing put a nice, breezy hole right through my stomach, and she almost faded out of existence. I practically became a human donut," Yohan said, patting his belly. Billy's eyes widened in sheer shock.
"Regardless, Billy! I shall surely save thee and the villagers. Therefore, sorrow no more."
To be honest, hearing those grand words come from a tiny kid didn't carry much weight. But what could he do? No matter how pathetic she looked, she was still his employer. Yohan stared at the Goddess sitting across the table and sighed inwardly.
"Save... the villagers?"
"Indeed!" she declared loudly in response to Billy's query.
"Yeah, she's telling the truth. I can slice a troll's head off in a single swing." Knowing it was best to play along at times like this, Yohan chimed in, glancing at the cloth-wrapped troll head.
"Yes. He can," Falco added quietly, backing him up.
"..." For some reason, Billy fell silent. He rested his chin on his clasped hands, staring blankly for a long moment.
After a while, Billy suddenly squeezed his eyes shut. At the same time, his broad shoulders began to tremble slightly.
Noticing this, Yohan immediately looked away. Falco opened her mouth to say something to Billy, but Yohan stopped her with a subtle gesture.
"This is the first time," Billy said, his voice dropping to an incredibly low whisper after his long silence. "The first time I feel like... we can actually do it."
To high-and-mighty heroes, man-eating trolls might be nothing more than minor pests. But to ordinary folk, they were an inescapable terror, a looming death from which there was no running away.
"..." Yohan wanted to offer some words of comfort. But no matter how hard he thought, there were no words that could truly heal the deep scars of Billy's past. So, he chose to remain silent. In times like this, actions spoke louder than words anyway. With that thought, he simply nodded.
The long night finally drew to a close as the sun began to rise. The deep indigo sky slowly faded into a pale, gentle blue at the horizon.
"Yaaawn—" Inhaling the crisp morning air, Yohan stretched his limbs. He then rested one foot on the carriage's driver step. "Alright. Let's get moving."
Yohan and Falco naturally climbed onto the driver's seat. Meanwhile, Billy hesitated to board the carriage for some reason.
"Even if things have turned out this way... is it really alright for me to go to the village?"
"Of course you have to come. Having you with us will make it much easier to win the villagers' trust."
Both the troll's head and Billy's presence were part of Yohan's calculated plan to convince the villagers. Falco nodded slightly, agreeing with Yohan's reasoning.
"Besides, don't you want to see it with your own eyes?" The fall of your lifelong enemy. Yohan didn't speak the last part aloud, but Billy instantly understood what he meant.
Creak— Having made up his mind, Billy climbed into the carriage. The moment the massive young man stepped aboard, the entire carriage rocked violently.
"Whoa. Maybe we should buy a bigger, sturdier carriage."
"Don't forget that if it's too big, traveling will become much harder," Falco pointed out.
"True enough." In any case, they were setting off. Yohan flicked the reins. The horses, which had been yawning just like their master, finally began to pull.
"The trolls haven't already noticed one of their own is missing and gone to the village, have they?" After traveling along the mountain path for a while, Billy poked his head out of the carriage window.
"Even if they did, that wouldn't be the worst thing. If they've come to the village but haven't killed anyone yet? That actually works in our favor." It just means the prey delivered themselves right to us. At Yohan's casual reply, Billy wore an expression that was half-convinced and half-worried before quietly sitting back down.
Before long, the carriage carrying the three of them reached the outskirts of the human village.
"It doesn't look like the trolls are here yet," Falco noted, scanning the surroundings. Yohan kept a sharp eye out as well, holding the reins tight. Fortunately, the scenario Billy feared hadn't occurred. The man-eating troll tribe clearly had no idea that one of their members had gone missing.
"Up we go." Yohan handed the reins to Falco and hopped down from the carriage. He then reached inside, pulled out the severed troll head they had stored, and set it down on the ground.
The village was dead silent. It seemed everyone was still asleep.
Ahem. Well, time to wake them all up. Yohan cleared his throat.
"Rise and shine, everyone!" he roared, his voice booming across the quiet village.