Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Ch. 20 .｡.:✧ Undecided (2) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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My perplexity might not be fully conveyed through just text.
So how shocked was I?
“Pull up the shutter! I know everything that’s inside!”
“Ugh… We’re closed…”
In the middle of the night, I ran straight to the red-light district and banged on the door of a store.
As the locked door opened, a clerk with a hat pulled down low to cover her face above her mouth appeared.
She rubbed her eyes, alternately looking at me and the boy, no, girl next to me, and clicked her tongue.
“No refunds. You took her for free.”
“You never said it was a girl!”
“I never said it was a boy either.”
“…”
I was at a loss for words.
Come to think of it, I had never been informed of the gender, nor had I asked.
I had just assumed it was a boy the moment I saw her.
“Then do you have any other blood ghouls? Male ones.”
“That child is the only blood ghoul we have. We have many male child slaves who aren’t blood ghouls. Want to see them? Flawless children start at 100 gold.”
“…”
My head started to ache.
Even if I brought in a new slave, the fact that I had to dispose of this kid wouldn’t change.
I had seen monster corpses to the point of being sick of them, but I still wasn’t very used to disposing of human corpses.
If she died as a sacrifice in the dungeon, I would feel a bit sorry for a moment and that would be it, but killing her with my own hands was a different matter.
“What will you do? Are you going to dispose of her? I can’t give a refund, but if you just pay the body disposal cost, I’ll take her back.”
“No. It’s fine. I’ll just take her.”
I didn’t want to do such a stupid thing as paying money to get rid of a slave I had just obtained for free.
If I thought about it calmly, there was no reason to react so strongly.
It didn’t matter what gender a tool I would use just to activate Guardian Knight was.
…Even if I tried to comfort myself like that, it was true that I didn’t feel at ease.
“So you wanted a boy. I didn’t know that was your preference. I should have paid more attention. I’m so sorry about this.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Hehehe. Of course it isn’t. Anyway, thank you for taking our troublesome child.”
“Troublesome child?”
“Yes. She was the first slave I caught after getting hired here. I pulled out her fangs myself. She was the first slave I brought in, so I stubbornly refused to dispose of her, insisting that I would sell her, but time passed and no one bought her. The boss said he would kill and throw her away if I couldn’t sell her by tomorrow. I feel relieved now that she’s been sold.”
I thought it was an ordinary story.
But faint wrinkles seemed to be visible at the corners of the clerk’s mouth where the makeup had worn off.
She looked quite old, and the slave she had personally brought into the store when she first got hired was this blood ghoul?
“Wait a minute. Then when did you bring this blood ghoul into the store?”
“Hmm. It’s been a little over 10 years.”
“…”
I turned my head and looked at the blood ghoul with the pale face once more.
A very youthful-looking face.
She looked about 12 years old.
Since 10 years had passed after her growth stopped, her actual age was well over 20.
That meant she could be older than me.
“Is there a problem?”
“No…”
“Then please come again next time. Yaaawn.”
My head ached even more.
I grabbed the blood ghoul’s wrist and turned around.
Every time I sneaked a glance at her, sighs kept escaping my lips.
‘She’s an object. Don’t pay attention to it.’
Female + child.
It was a combination that would make any normal person feel sympathy.
I thought my emotions had become quite numb after repeating regression 12 times, but it seemed I wasn’t a monster to that extent yet.
Should I be relieved about that instead?
“How old are you exactly?”
“…Eternal. 13 years old.”
That meant she was 23 years old.
I was right that she was older than me.
It had already become quite uncomfortable to deal with her.
Still, I decided to take comfort in the fact that my mental age was 12 years older due to the added time.
“Ugh.”
Sitting up, I saw that the sun hadn’t even risen yet.
My eyelids were heavy and I still felt tired.
Early rising had become a habit, so even if I went to bed late, my eyes would automatically open.
Last night, I had returned to the inn, washed the blood ghoul roughly, and went to sleep.
I must have closed my eyes, embarrassed to see her naked body, and scrubbed her like doing laundry.
I laid out a blanket on the floor and showed her to the bedding, and she sat docilely on the blanket and looked up at me.
Even after I turned off the light, she just stared at me with glowing red eyes in the darkness.
It seemed blood ghouls didn’t sleep.
In the end, I left her like that and went into the room to sleep.
“It would be a relief if she ran away during the night. Huh?”
Click.
The moment I turned the doorknob and opened the door,
I was startled by a cold object suddenly collapsing on me and stepped back.
“…Ugh.”
“What’s wrong?”
It was the blood ghoul.
It seemed she had been leaning against the door all night.
But her condition seemed unusual.
She lay on the floor, wriggling feebly and making strange noises.
Instead of the emotionless expression she had worn all day yesterday, a desperate look was on her face.
She reached out a trembling hand to me as if requesting something.
“Ah. I have to feed her.”
This was troubling.
I had forgotten to feed her yesterday and went to sleep.
You might think I could just throw her any food, right?
Blood ghouls have their digestive organs stopped, so they can’t digest food.
Instead, what they use as an energy source is blood.
They have to drink blood to live.
Blood selling is legal here, so fresh blood isn’t expensive and not difficult to obtain.
The problem is that if I go out to buy blood and come back, I’m worried this kid might die.
I should say she might cease functioning, not die.
“I have no choice. Open your mouth.”
“…Aaah.”
Having no other choice, I brought a dagger.
As if realizing I was going to give her food, she mustered her last strength to lift her head and open her mouth.
Swish.
As I made a small wound on my palm, dark red blood flowed down my fingers and dripped into her mouth.
She closed her eyes and quietly received those drops of blood.
From this angle, I could see clearly inside her mouth.
The place where her fangs used to be was empty.
Since 10 years had passed, I thought her teeth would be a mess, but I was a little surprised to see them clean and neat.
“…Gulp.”
“Did you drink it all?”
“…Mmm.”
“Hey.”
I thought she had finished drinking when she closed her mouth and swallowed with a gulp.
In a moment of carelessness, she grabbed my hand and bit my finger.
It seemed she was unsatisfied with receiving it drop by drop.
She gripped my arm with her cold hands and sucked on my finger as if begging.
I couldn’t bring myself to push her away because it seemed like she would spill blood drops if I moved.
In the end, I had to continue supplying fuel in that state for a long time.
“Are you okay now?”
“…Full. Of energy.”
I asked while wrapping my hand with a bandage.
Then she suddenly stood up and answered with an emotionless expression.
She was no longer trembling and looked truly fine.
“I should buy some blood packs.”
Although I didn’t lose a lot of blood, it was still bothersome to wound my body every day.
I needed to buy a bunch of blood packs and store them with cold magic.
Now that the fuel supply was done, we had to depart right away.
“You remember what I said yesterday, right? We’re heading straight to the dungeon. Get ready to leave. Ah. You have nothing to prepare.”
“…Yes.”
“I’ll have to buy you some clothes. It would draw unwanted attention if I took you around in rags.”
“…Yes.”
“But you. Tsk.”
I stopped gathering equipment and looked at her.
She was still silently standing behind me, her red eyes glowing.
It was awkward to keep calling her ‘you’ or ‘kid’.
It seemed more convenient to give her a name.
“Do you have a name?”
“…Forgot. It.”
“Of course you did. I’ll have to give you a new one. What should I name you? For now, let’s go with Undecided and decide after you’re fully dressed.”
“…Undecided.”
“Yeah. Undecided.”
“…Undecided.”
Why was she repeating the same thing?
After pondering for a moment, I turned back in a hurry, thinking ‘uh-oh’.
She couldn’t have understood her name as ‘Undecided’, right?
“No. Your name isn’t Undecided. It means I haven’t decided yet.”
“…Undecided. Like it.”
“I told you that’s not your name.”
“…Can’t?”
“Haa. Okay. Just go with Undecided. It’s tacky, but whatever.”
I gave up in the end.
I didn’t want to agonize over naming a tool I would use for a bit and throw away anyway.
With a name like this, there was no way I would get attached.
Hey. Your name is Undecided from now on.
“Alright. Let’s go now.”
“…Yes.”
Even if I call her ‘hey’, ‘you’, ‘dude’ more often when it’s just the two of us.
“…Yoo-jin.”
“What.”
“…Yoo-jin.”
“So why are you calling me?”
“…Just because.”
She had been doing this shit since I taught her my name.
I decided to ignore the voice echoing off the cave walls and concentrate.
I tied the rope tightly to the stalactite.
Now I just need to tie one more and it’s done.
“…Yoo-jin.”
“If you call me for no reason again, I’ll hit you.”
“…Stay. There?”
“Yeah. Stand still there.”
“…Water.”
“You want water?”
“…Falling.”
When I turned around slightly, I saw Undecided standing in the middle of a huge cavity.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Water droplets falling from the stalactite on the ceiling kept hitting Undecided’s head.
It seemed she had been standing completely still without moving an inch, getting completely drenched, as I had told her to stand still.
“If it bothers you, step aside a little.”
“…Okay?”
“It’s fine. Just a step.”
As Undecided slightly stepped aside, a suspiciously-looking door came into view.
That was the entrance to the dungeon we would challenge today.
Which dungeon was it again?
I think it was the 6th one.
It was called the Black Star Dungeon and boasted the most vicious difficulty among the early-stage dungeons.
In fact, the gimmicks inside that dungeon weren’t that difficult.
The problem was that to reach the entrance, you had to wander through a maze-like cave.
And from the entrance, you had to fight a battle of life and death.
“Is it done now?”
Leaving Undecided standing still, I walked around to double-check if the preparations were perfect.
Dozens of holes in the cave wall, just big enough for one person to crawl through.
And the ropes tightly installed in front of them.
No problem.
I gave Undecided a thumbs up and went to hide in a safe place.
“Hey. Open the door.”
“…Okay.”
At my command, Undecided nodded and reached out to the door.
Now, when that door opens, a horde of mid-boss level monsters, Fenrirs, will rush out.
They are the main culprits who make newbies, who are starting to think they are getting good at conquering dungeons, quit this shitty game.
The user has to touch the door to satisfy the condition for the Fenrirs to appear, so they always have to start the battle surrounded by monsters in the middle of the cavity.
It’s an insane difficulty that you can’t even touch unless you’ve grown to the point of challenging the final boss.
The proper way is to form a party and protect each other’s backs.
It’s funny to see users aiming for the same heroine cooperating in a visual novel game, but anyway, that’s how it is.
Of course, I don’t have any teammates to party with, but it doesn’t matter.
“…Opened it.”
Rumble…
The door moved slowly with an eerie sound.
And at the same time, fierce wolf howls erupted from all directions.
“Grrr!”
“Aroooo!”
In an instant, dozens of huge wolves sprang out from the caves.
The ropes blocking the entrances just loosened helplessly.
Sharp claws and fangs rushed toward Undecided, who was standing still according to my orders.
But at that moment.
“Twang!”
Thwack.
The arrows fired from the crossbows I had set up in advance accurately pierced the monsters’ heads.
The trigger for firing was the rope tied in front of the entrance.
The monsters had pulled the trigger themselves and shot arrows into their own heads.
I knew the rushing speed of the Fenrirs I had seen countless times during the 12 playthroughs, so as long as I got the angle right, it was a sure hit.
“…Ahhh.”
Undecided let out a scream with an emotionless expression, lacking any sincerity.
The Fenrirs’ corpses toppled over and stopped right in front of Undecided.
Before long, wolf corpses were piled up around Undecided to the point where only her face was barely visible.
“Are you okay?”
“…No. Problem.”
They were burdensome to take down alone and took a lot of time.
I had many dungeons to go through today, so I couldn’t waste my energy from the start.
If there was a way to solve it without exerting effort, I actively utilized it.
That was my method of conquering dungeons.
“Then let’s go in right away. We’re short on time.”
“…Yes.”
Stepping over the wolves’ corpses, I kicked open the door that Undecided had slightly pushed.
There was no time.
Let’s go quickly.
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