Chapter 24
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Change
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Her eyes had been gouged out, and her teeth ripped away.
Only now did I notice she was even bleeding from below.
What she'd been subjected to.
I could tell without even asking.
But still, I couldn't help but ask.
"Do you really want to die?"
I knew it myself.
I knew that surviving in this state would just lead to a life worse than death.
I'd seen so much heavy, filthy despair that I couldn't irresponsibly tell her to hold on to hope.
But even so, I couldn't help but speak.
"...They say saints can heal any illness or wound. Maybe if you meet one, they could treat you."
I'm no saint, so I couldn't do it myself, but if even half the rumors about saints were true, they could easily heal a little girl like the one in front of me.
But even at my shallow words of comfort, the girl just shook her head.
"......I'm sorry."
For not being able to help her.
It wasn't my fault, but guilt clung stickily to my chest.
I pointed my sword at the child's neck.
The child felt the blade digging sharply into her neck and lifted her head, gazing at me with empty sockets.
Then, she gave a faint smile.
Without eyes, she couldn't crinkle them in a smile, and the pain of her missing teeth kept her from properly lifting the corners of her mouth.
So, on the surface, it didn't look like a smile.
But I thought the child was smiling.
The pressure to send her off painlessly in one stroke made sweat bead in my gripping hand.
This wasn't my first time killing someone.
My first murder wasn't intentional.
My body moved on its own, smashing a thug's head with a sharp rock.
I ran away, and the next day, I heard that the thug I'd struck had died.
My second murder was deliberate.
I killed the thieves with my own hands.
I hacked at the thief leader's head with my sword several times, severing it to secure victory.
Back at the inn, I spent days wracked with nausea.
But in both prior cases, I could justify myself.
It wasn't intentional, or even if it was, they were thieves who deserved death anyway.
Killing an innocent person—even at their own request—was a first for me.
"...I'll try to make it as painless as possible."
All I could offer was to grant her rest without suffering.
I let out a deep breath and raised my sword.
The tip mustn't waver.
If it wavered, I wouldn't cut cleanly.
An unclean cut would only add needless pain.
No hesitation.
If I hesitated, that itself would become her pain.
I swung the sword.
The blade was already dulled from clashing with goblins several times, but it was still sharp enough.
The child's head fell.
I picked up the child's head.
Leaving it here would just make it goblin totem fodder.
Powerlessness over failing to save the child made my body tremble in place, but I didn't forget what I had to do.
I sliced off the goblin's nose.
And checked for any item symbolizing its leadership.
I found it soon enough.
A necklace made of human eyes hung around its neck.
They hadn't rotted, hardened like stone—some special treatment, no doubt—but it only disgusted me.
Probably included the child's eyes among them.
In pointless venting, I slit the goblin's belly, yanked out its guts, and stuffed them in its mouth.
Then, I left the area.
Catching a silent-moving assassin in the dark night isn't easy.
For goblins with no senses beyond hearing, it was near impossible.
As I slipped out of the goblin village, I ignored the screams echoing behind.
Now, the village would self-destruct on its own.
I'd achieved revenge.
So, no one should blame me.
I repeated it to myself, but it only deepened my displeasure and self-loathing.
I'd taken the job out of inferiority toward the saint, thinking I could do it too.
If it had been the saint, they would've properly saved the child I couldn't and reached out to those suffering from the goblins, no doubt.
I thought of how naturally the saint would've done what I couldn't.
Endless self-criticism tormented me.
After finishing the job, I returned to the village at dawn.
I knocked on the village chief's door.
The chief stared at the child's head, goblin nose, and eye necklace in my hand, then collapsed on the spot.
He rushed to summon the vigilantes, and over a hundred villagers poured out at dawn to stare at me.
"The request is complete. I killed the goblin leader. This is the proof."
I handed over the particularly large goblin nose and eye necklace.
And then.
"This was a child in the goblin leader's hut."
I didn't add the unnecessary detail that I'd killed her.
"I brought her because leaving her there would've made her totem material."
"......Sana?"
A young couple in the crowd spotted the head I held and rushed forward, taking it.
They collapsed, sobbing.
Everyone hurled words at me.
"Adventurer! Did you happen to see my daughter?!"
"My mother, surely not...!"
"Adventurer, what about my little brother?!"
Adventurer this, adventurer that...
I couldn't bring myself to speak.
Thinking some of those screams I'd heard were the people they sought choked my throat.
"What are you doing! All of you! You're distressing him!"
"He just came back from a hard job—don't burden him!"
"Can't you tell from that child's head? They're all already dead!"
I wanted to say some were still alive, but I knew I shouldn't, so I stayed silent.
"...Is this really the goblin leader's necklace and nose?"
The chief eyed the necklace and nose I'd given him, then spoke suspiciously.
"...Yes?"
"I'm skeptical that you went to the goblin village and killed their leader."
The chief openly doubted me.
Even with the nose, necklace, and child's head in hand.
"No offense to you, adventurer, but you're just a wooden plaque holder... an apprentice adventurer, aren't you?"
His tone was polite, but the intent was anything but.
He was grilling me on how someone like me could've pulled this off.
"Even if you're suspicious, it doesn't change facts. I hunted the leader and brought the proof."
My rebuttal fizzled against the chief's apathetic response.
"How do we know this is truly the leader's nose and necklace?"
"Chief...!"
"Be quiet."
A vigilante tried to intervene urgently but clamped his mouth shut at the sharp order.
That's when I realized.
The chief was doing this deliberately, knowing full well.
"We're grateful for the child's head and confirm you killed one goblin, but anything beyond that... we can't pay extra."
Was this his goal all along?
Basically, he didn't want to pay the request reward.
"You must be tired. Rest well today."
The chief turned away as he spoke.
It was just a verbal promise outside the Adventurer's Guild, no formal contract.
So, even if he pulled this, I had no recourse.
Though I'd taken it due to resentment toward the saint and didn't care much about the reward anyway.
Being treated like this made it hard to feel goodwill.
"Begging me to do it when you thought you'd die soon, then pulling this now that things might be okay? I can't just sit still."
I muttered—not quite to myself—loud enough for all to hear, staring at the spot where the chief had vanished.
A sort of warning.
The vigilantes dispersed the crowd to heed my warning and approached me.
"...Sorry."
"Sorry doesn't cut it, you know?"
I had no intention of playing along with the chief's nonsense.
I reached out and patted the vigilante's shoulder lightly.
"If you don't want to wake up tomorrow to find the chief dismembered, convince him properly."
A request outside the Adventurer's Guild.
No contract written.
So, normally, I'd have to swallow my anger.
But so what?
This world was barbaric, where fists outranked law.
He acted this way because I looked weak and unaffiliated.
But strength is always relative.
In this village, I was the relative powerhouse.
If wronged, solve it with force—that's all.
Guess he mistook my accepting a cheap request for gullible kindness. Wrong read on the person.
"......Understood."
The elderly vigilante leader spat the words through gritted teeth.
"I'll wait. Better not see me as the nice guy."
With that, I holed up in my lodging.
Two days passed like that.
I received the promised 60 silver coins.
Ridiculously low compared to what I'd done, but I'd known the pay was meager from the start, so no issue.
I took the reward, resupplied, and left the village.
In their self-destruction, the goblins would rampage wildly, and there was no guarantee the damage wouldn't spread to the village.
If they'd honored the deal properly, I'd have stayed to fend off goblins awhile, but that willingness had vanished long ago.
"Guess I'm too petty to be a hero."
I sighed and quickened my pace again.
I exited onto the main road and checked the map.
Five days of nonstop travel to the next destination.
"Come to think of it..."
This job brought changes to my traits and swordsmanship.