Chapter 373
Chapter 373
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 373
Chapter Title: Troll's Song
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The hunchback who had gone into the cave had clumsily propped up a pile of branches or something like that to cover the entrance from the inside.
He seemed to care quite a bit about security.
"He went in?"
Winia, intrigued by the sight, looked at my face and asked.
"What, did he slather honey on it or something?"
I didn't know for sure, but whatever was inside that cave definitely seemed suspicious. What the hell could be in there that made him ignore the troll rampaging and head into the forest anyway?
"Shall we go see? Might be something fun."
Claudy said as she sheathed her curved sword.
Sounds good.
With my arm all busted up because of this bastard, I had to see what the hell he was up to in that cave. What kind of goddamn treasure was he hiding that made him act like this?
And so, we approached the cave entrance.
What lay beside the cave looked like a makeshift lid meant to cover the entrance. It was crudely woven from wood and random junk, nothing fancy.
Still, going to the trouble of making a lid to hide the entrance meant there had to be something inside.
......
As proof, faint voices or something like that drifted from within. And there was an orange glow, like from a fire.
Was he doing some kind of work in there?
This bastard wasn't digging a tunnel for infiltrating enemy territory, was he...!
—Rustle.
I immediately cleared away the pile of branches blocking the entrance and ducked inside. Winia and Claudy followed right behind.
The cave was low enough that we had to hunch over to enter. It was clearly sized for the hunchback. Maybe he'd dug it himself.
Ahead, in a chamber, orange light spilled out. It looked like he'd made a room at the end of the tunnel.
"Heh, hehehe... Eat, eat."
—Chomp, chomp, chomp.
The voices were clear now. I crept forward as quietly as possible.
Soon, the hunchback's crooked back came into view.
He was doing something, but his back blocked the view. He was so focused he hadn't noticed us.
From the talk of eating, had he stolen grain from the village and was gorging alone?
"Tastes good, so happy."
—Gulp, gulp.
Gulp?
That eerie sound sent chills down my spine.
What the hell...?
Winia and Claudy pressed close to me, chins on my shoulders, staring ahead. I could hear them swallowing hard.
"Ah!"
As the three of us watched his back like some three-headed hellhound, Winia suddenly gasped in surprise.
"Wh-what... What! Who, who is it!!"
The startled hunchback whipped around.
—Kyururururung!!
But I couldn't focus on that. A ferocious pig-like squeal gripped my soul.
"Tr-troll! It's a troll! Blackie, this bastard was feeding a troll!"
—Kyururururururu!!!
My brain froze for a moment.
A small monster thrashed wildly, trying to escape the panicked hunchback's arms.
Troll.
A troll?
"D-don't come closer! Get out!"
The hunchback went berserk.
Whatever—hunchback, troll, bullshit—I had to take this guy down first!
We charged into the cave room he'd made.
Unlike the narrow entrance, the room was spacious enough for three people to stand comfortably. He'd put some effort into it.
"D-don't come in!!!"
—Kyuiiiiiik!!!
As we entered, the agitated hunchback jumped up, grabbed a club from the floor, and the troll that had slipped from his arms crawled pitifully on the ground, wailing.
"You fucking bastard! What's this troll?!"
"Kuhk!"
I immediately unleashed Blood Heaven Asura Kick on the hunchback, subduing him. He crashed backward into the wall, clutching his side where I'd kicked him, writhing.
—Kyuuuuuuung!!!
Then the troll started crawling toward the hunchback...!
Like it was seeking its mother!!!!
"W-Winia? Is this really a troll?"
What?
I was dumbfounded.
Was it even a troll to begin with?
It looked somewhat like one, but it was tiny, and crucially, its legs... weren't normal.
They were thin like insect legs.
The upper body resembled a troll, but it was so alien it seemed more like a different monster.
Deformed and shriveled, it couldn't even stand, let alone walk. If anything, it was like it had long fingers below the pelvis.
"Ugh...! It hurts!"
—Kyuuuuuu!!!
The freakishly small troll let out a plaintive cry like it was worried for its mother and clung to the hunchback.
Then it stuck out a disgusting tongue and started licking him.
Was this... real life?
Was I having a nightmare?
In this horrific space where I couldn't tell reality from truth, shock nearly made me scream like a child. Barely holding it in, Winia spoke up as she watched the troll.
"It's a female troll! The legs... they're deformed, but it looks like a congenital disability!"
A handicapped female troll?
"Hng, looks like this guy was raising a troll."
"R-raising a troll?! Unbelievable!"
I couldn't help but be stunned by this unbelievable reality.
A person raising a monster like that?
Winia added,
"It's congenitally disabled. You can tell it's malnourished and didn't grow properly. In the wild, it would've been culled long ago, but this damn hunchback kept it alive!"
"Such a horrific thing!"
"And this smell... Blackie! That sack over there!"
There was a familiar sack where she pointed. He'd been gathering mushrooms or something here. I grabbed it and dumped out the contents.
—Birdsong Mushrooms.
The mushrooms that masked scents tumbled out.
Along with random plants and fruits.
Mushrooms that... mask scents?
"Yeah, now I get it."
Winia glared at the hunchback and said,
"This hunchback was using those to hide the smell and secretly raising the female troll here! No wonder the male trolls went berserk! They knew there was a female but couldn't find her, so they rampaged near the village!"
That explained it.
"And when they got exhausted, they hunted the easiest prey: humans!"
It was too horrific a truth.
"U-uwu...! It hurts...! G-get out! This is Coolcool's home!"
"Coolcool? You even named that cursed monster, you bastard! And you call yourself human?!"
Naming and caring for a man-eating monster!!
This was absolutely unforgivable!
"D-don't yell! Coolcool hates loud noises!"
"What bullshit are you spouting?!"
Furious, I kicked wildly at the hunchback cowering with the troll in his arms. "Kuhk!" My arm got busted trying to save trash like this!
My brain burned with disbelief.
I couldn't imagine this happening in the real world.
This should never happen...!
—Kyuruuuuuuk!!!!
Then Coolcool—no, the troll—wailed.
It was the hideous, cursed screech of a monster. Unpleasant enough to shake the soul just hearing it, like a nightmare cry!
That thing needed to be exterminated before it grew up to eat people.
And leaving this female troll could draw more males with her scent, invading the village.
More people would die!
"You seed of sin!"
I reached out to snatch the troll, but the hunchback went mad, trying to bite my arm.
"D-don't!"
"You've gone full troll in the head too, you dogshit! Get out of the way!"
"Kkuk!"
I brushed him off easily and grabbed the troll's arm. —Kyurururung!!!! The deformed, frail troll just screamed.
"D-don't hit Coolcool! Hit me!!!"
"Fine, you two die together today, you troll-fucking bastards."
—Thud!
—Kyuwouououung!!!
I flung the troll to the ground.
It was a gruesome scream, a cruelly pathetic reality. A person raising a troll, causing others to die.
It denied the very foundation of humanity.
"Monster spawn! Die! Die already!"
—Thwack! Thwack!!
Thinking that, I grabbed the club the hunchback had dropped and bashed the troll.
"S-stop it!!!!!!!!!!"
"You bastard!"
The hunchback tackled me with his weight, but I wasn't getting hit by that. I dodged and elbowed his back, sending him face-first to the ground.
"Kkuuk...!"
I grabbed his collar and roared.
"Why raise a troll? Do you know how many died because of you?!"
"S-stop hitting...! P-please get out! Coolcool's scared!"
"You dogshit! Answer me!"
He was playing dumb.
"You raised this troll and seven villagers died, you fucking shit! Why? Why raise a troll! Why did Jacob die, why did Jake go mad?!"
Jake lost his brother Jacob to the troll and went insane.
I'd only seen Jake for minutes, but that tragedy was entirely this hunchback's fault.
"I d-don't know! Stop! I-I'm sorry! D-don't hit Coolcool!"
"Don't know my ass, you fuck...! You masked the smell and everything!"
"K-kkhuk...! Coolcool, come here...!"
—Kyurururuk!!!!
He'd trained it well; as he tearfully reached out, the battered troll crawled to him.
It climbed onto his belly and clung to his collar like it didn't want to fall.
The hunchback wailed and hugged the troll.
"C-Coolcool's my friend... V-village chief, other adults aren't friends. They always hit me... Coolcool doesn't hit me...! Hic, p-please don't hit... Hit me instead of Coolcool...!"
—Kuuuung!!!
"Coolcool likes food... Fun to see smile... I-I'll protect Coolcool..."
He stroked the troll like it was the world's greatest treasure. Seeing that, all I felt was rage, hatred, violence.
"These fuckers putting on some shitty melodrama without knowing their place...!"
My brain vessels felt like bursting from insane fury. Killing them all was right. They played pitiful, but seven dead and one mad didn't change.
A world overflowing with monsters and violence.
Individual deviance leads to communal slaughter.
Being stupid, feigning ignorance, or not telling doesn't negate the crime.
Can zealots who kill in blind faith be innocent?
Can an innocent boy who drowns a friend for fun go free?
A preschooler who burns people alive out of curiosity—is that not a crime?
Of course, I can't claim a universal 'truth' for such things.
What's right on Earth might be wrong here. What's common sense here is absurd there.
Judgments of sin and good-evil differ for everyone.
However.
Kim Katt, seeker of Fusion Confucianism, guardian to purify this world and uphold justice, Heavenly Demon, can say:
It is sin.
Evil that must be eradicated.
"Whether you knew or not. Your damn troll playtime killed seven people."
"Euk...!"
"This demands judgment."
Fury surged within me.