Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Brother...
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"Brother...."
Emotions are strange things. Incorporeal as they are, they can still inflict physical pain.
It brushed past him in the shallow sleep he'd kept for vigilance—right by his ear... no, inside his head. Whether it was a dream or a fragment of the past.
He snapped his eyes open in the darkness at the voice he'd heard at some point.
A pain like someone strangling his throat and crushing his heart.
His insides boiled and twisted, his entire body throbbing as if he were deathly ill.
But on the outside, he was serene. Like someone who'd woken up absentmindedly.
His face showed no change. Even his aching heart beat no faster, as if concealing itself.
Cain reached out and wiped at his eyes, but nothing came away.
“Grahhh. Ack, hack... grahhh.”
In the darkness, Cain lay back down and stared at the ceiling as his roommate from the knight intake—sharing the same room—snored away.
Moonlight slipping through a gap in the curtains drawn over the window cast a single, thin line like a sword blade across the ceiling, long and narrow.
“At least she's alive.”
Cain recalled the words Adelian had once spoken to him.
At least she's alive.
He already knew what that implied. He'd simply refused to fully comprehend it—postponing it, locking it away, burying it deep, never letting it show.
In the cult of the evil god, where human lives held the highest sacrificial value, how many reasons could there be to take just his little sister among the commoners offered up... and keep her alive all this time?
From Adelian's actions afterward—never once properly explaining anything to him—Cain could already infer a fair amount.
Adelian hid and withheld plenty, but if it had truly been to his benefit, he'd have repeated it a dozen times over by now.
‘Drugs, brainwashing. Their minion. Or a bigger sacrifice.’
A sharp blade.
I wonder how Father and Mother fared.
He'd thought they were ordinary folk, so he must be too... but what about now?
Objectively speaking, neither belittling nor praising him, but how many others his age could match his talent?
The continent was vast, but you could probably count them on one hand.
His sister was probably the same. That's why they hadn't slit her throat or gutted her on the spot—they took her away.
And if she was still alive.
If she'd started training and gripping a sword before him.
She might even be stronger than him now.
‘That's possible, too.’
Even pooling his strength with Adelian's, Luna's, Zero's, and now Leaf's who'd just joined... it still wouldn't be enough to retrieve her. Which was why Adelian hadn't breathed a word.
The seething emotions and urges. The surging anger and impulses egged him on to leap out right then, slaughter them all, reunite with his blood kin, burn his life in the blaze.
But cold reason opposed it more firmly than anyone.
If he stirred things up sloppily and they caught on, using her as bait to draw him in...
How long could he hold out?
“I can wait.”
The moment he'd signed the contract. Adelian had promised.
He would definitely let him see her again. So in exchange, swear loyalty to him.
Cain closed his eyes, which felt strangely gritty.
* * *
What kind of magic had they woven into them? The perception-lowering enchantment on the badges apparently grew more intricate and robust the longer you wore them.
“Get some apples. Fresh stock finally came in after ages. These carrots are pretty plump, too.”
“Plenty of carrots. Apples... young master?”
“We've still got a good bunch of apples.”
If we parted ways like this and someone asked after our appearances, they wouldn't remember properly. Yet we'd run into them again, and they'd recognize us on sight.
Judging by how nothing weird stuck to Luna or Leaf, it must fuzz out things like our looks and builds just enough to leave a vague impression.
‘Now that's something.’
This was on the level of turning the other person into an utter scatterbrain on the spot.
Not like a squirrel or anything. They remember your face on sight, but give it time and poof—like an acorn lost under the clouds.
Hope it doesn't mess up their brains or anything.
On the way back from finishing the extermination request, we'd made a quick stop at the market, but nothing really caught our eye to buy.
As I said we should head back to the inn and pretended to dig in my pocket—opening my subspace instead—the apples made me crave one.
I pulled out a nicely ripened one, tossed it to Luna, Zero, and Leaf, then grabbed mine, rubbed it briskly on my clothes, and took a big bite.
"Mmm... I'm beat."
"You?"
"Well, mentally drained, I guess."
Zero rarely whined like this, staring right through me.
―Well, you were pretty rough on us this time, Administrator.
“Sounds like Leaf just chimed in. No clue what he said, but yeah, I'll agree for now.”
Wow, harsh. Pushing me like this. Sure, I worked Zero a little hard, but... Huh? It's all for your own good, you know.
I put on a deliberately aggrieved expression and spoke up.
“But hey, we're heading home early this time.”
Thanks to using Zero as troll bait, we'd cut the two-week troll extermination down to five days—pure profit.
Cain was due to join the regular extermination unit soon anyway, and it was getting about time for Sle to return, so it'd be easier to sync up.
“Even so, I didn't expect you to hold off helping till I was about to get eaten.”
“Ah, c'mon—the troll's regeneration is insane, so hitting the inside of its mouth was the most efficient spot.”
Other parties had tried a few times before, but the old thing was cunning despite its age. Strong-looking groups that seemed too much to handle? It just holed up somewhere and stayed hidden.
Too-weak parties ended up as troll snacks, and ones roughly on par got tricks like rolling boulders or luring into narrow valleys full of jagged rocks—making the difficulty way higher than the risk warranted.
In the end, to prepare for any accidents, I'd planned to use Leaf—who could tough it out and survive even if chomped once—as bait...
‘But his acting was downright awful...’
With acting on the level of a wooden log, I'd switched to Zero—who could likewise pull through a chew—as the bait.
“No matter how much I can come back to life, it still hurts like hell.”
Zero, hobbling around pretending to be injured to draw it out. The troll went for it, snatching him up in one hand, nearly chomping down from the head.
I'd shoved a magic missile right into its mouth, but he'd gotten pretty rattled.
He shook himself off like a dog caught in the rain, while Luna and Leaf patted his shoulders from either side.
Lately, it felt like I was the one getting the short end of the stick most in these grind sessions.
And for all his griping, when it was Zero's turn to play bait, he'd thrown himself into the role full-tilt—method acting the injury like he loved it.
Luna and Leaf had watched with rapt fascination, munching carrots as Zero scrambled out of the troll's grasp.
I was the one getting professionally scapegoated here, pounding my chest like the total victim...
When someone suddenly dashed up and planted themselves in front of Luna.
“Hey, bunny girl. That extermination request you said to tip you off about if it popped up? It's here.”
“Really? I'll go check right now.”
Luna shot me a really? glance, and I nodded—we'd go take a look.
Probably the one I'd asked about last time.
I stuffed the eaten apple core into my subspace as we walked, when a murmur rose from up ahead.
“Those are the new knight intake for this round.”
“Won't make a difference. Either they bolt when their contract's up, or they get eaten whole without a trace.”
“Rumor has it a noble lord's in this batch, too.”
A party strolling by, chatting about exactly what I'd been curious about.
Thanks to them, I didn't even have to shove through the buzzing crowd to get the gist.
Unlike mercenaries, who could gauge difficulties ahead and pick their own requests, the regular extermination units had limited slots—and sometimes got saddled with overkill assignments.
Especially if you drew the short straw teamed up with some demoted noble or one just grabbing merits: difficulty skyrocketed.
They'd use their rank to shove contractors into the meat grinder and pocket the glory. So yeah, a noble in the batch meant the whole vibe would be a mess.
‘Whoever it is, good luck to 'em.’
Thinking of it as someone else's headache, I stepped into the request office—when Luna let out a groan.
“What?”
“Heard the regular extermination unit's 1777th intake just arrived... and it sounds like Cain's with them, no matter what.”
“Guess you heard that too, sir.”
Zero, Leaf, and Luna all nodded knowingly among themselves—leaving me, Adelian with my plain-old human hearing, totally out of the loop.
“Spill the details.”
I tossed it out casually as we headed for the board lined with request postings, and they started chirping one after another.
“They say he's insanely handsome. Like he has a halo shining around him.”
“Someone's wondering if he's some imperial sent from the capital.”
―Said when the guy dismounts his horse, you gotta slap his cheek first. Make him say you're the first woman to ever smack it. That's the plan, Administrator.
What, some washed-up weekend drama plot?
―And get this: the one who said it was a male merc, sir. Why?
Beats me. Probably just some merc venting subjugation stress via romance novels.
“So the noble rumors are because of Cain?”
Luna shook her head at my question.
“Nah, doesn't seem like it. I overheard some guy grumbling that a commoner was stealing the spotlight from him.”
“Sounds like at least two nobles, minimum. I heard a woman saying stuff like, 'I have to stick it out here for a whole year?'”
Leaf nodded along with what Luna and Zero said.
“That message we got back then said they'd enter regulars three days later—that was their final field test. Guess they finished and shipped here after.”
I said it halfheartedly.
‘Whoever it is, good luck to 'em.’
Whoever came with Cain.
No massive exterminations on deck yet, so linking up with him right away would be a stretch anyway. Plus, I had my own request in mind—so even if possible, not now.
I started scanning a request on crisp new paper, still stiff and with barely any fingerprints.
A small slash-and-burn village three days' ride away.
Originally an illegal settlement, but given how barren and hazardous the area was, they turned a blind eye to little spots like this near the borderlands.
Every night, faint children's laughter echoing softly.
A brand-new village: either newborns or teens fifteen and up—no kids in between.
The men grabbed torches and went out to track the source, but the laughter neither drew nearer nor faded—it echoed from every direction.
Suspected monsters: ghosts or black mages. Or a summoner's familiar...
I shrugged. Most tangible monsters you could just beat down.
But suspected spectral ones like this? You needed magic or mana attacks to even scratch them. Which explained why this seemingly simple request was still open.
I ripped down the flapping posting, claiming it, then grinned lazily.
“How about dinner with Rachel tonight?”
“Nope.”
“Too much food to make. Pass.”
―I don't mind either way, but the seniors say no, Administrator.
For all their talk, Zero was already talking about heading out to market with Sle, and Luna was grumbling about making something spicy—which meant they'd warmed up to it after all.
“Spicy it is? Fire chicken tonight, then.”
Last time I'd scarfed down some spicy chicken and offhandedly called it fire chicken—they'd remembered.
“Make it scorching hot! And ours... a little less spicy...”
Luna's voice trailed off into a whisper to Zero as I watched, and I burst out laughing.