Now I Get Why That Bastard’s Acting Like That
Thirin changed into the clothes she'd been given. She roughly covered her face with her messy, unkempt hair and put the crude mask back on. This way, no one would get a proper look at her face.
Thirin continued walking toward the plaza. The sense of liberation from finally being able to speak properly made her steps lighter than ever. Now that her tongue had loosened, she figured she should give Martha a proper greeting. She'd also prepared a few choice words to fire at that little brat Vera. Well, she wouldn't go too hard on her out of respect for Martha, but there was no way she'd let all those freckles—looking like someone had sprinkled strawberries across her face—slide without at least one comment.
Thirin was in a good mood. At this rate, she could even teach that adorable little brat about the relationship between mud and skincare. Her steps felt like they might take flight.
But as she got closer to the plaza, Thirin's pace gradually slowed. Louder commotion and shouting than before reached her ears, along with what sounded like a woman's tearful scream.
The plaza scene came into Thirin's view again. It was those damn mercenaries. Their numbers had decreased—some must have left—but the ones who remained were clearly the worst of the worst. Their behavior was even worse than before.
This time, Heres was in front of the bakery, grabbing Vera by the forearm and throwing a fit.
“P-please, stop this! I-I'll give you the money, just—!”
Martha was desperately trying to pry the two apart, but the mercenary's thick, muscular arm wouldn't budge. The surrounding villagers kept their distance, only whispering among themselves or deliberately looking away. There wasn't a single sign of the Empire's peacekeepers.
Heres cackled as he spoke.
“They say there's some kind of cult in this village, right? The Savior Cult or the Love Cult or whatever? They preach about loving each other and having romance, so doesn't that mean I can have a little romance too? Huh?”
There was something in Heres's words that caught Thirin's attention. She knew Peter was part of the Savior Cult. But a Love Cult? The Savior Cult tells people to date? Peter had never said anything like that to her.
“Ah.”
Thirin suddenly realized something. Was that what he meant? All those times he'd been telling her to act like a prostitute—had he actually been saying to go on dates?
Thirin thought to herself. Yeah, that old man's definitely not right in the head. Then again, to understand the crazy shit I was spewing, you'd probably need a few screws loose yourself.
Thirin nodded in satisfaction.
Understanding of others has increased!
Basic conditions for activating the Enlightenment system have been partially fulfilled!
What the hell is this nonsense?
Seeing the System after six months felt strangely unfamiliar. And what was this about Enlightenment? Even when she mentally demanded an explanation, the System remained stubbornly silent.
While she was busy internally cursing at the System window, Heres's voice grew increasingly vicious.
“Goddammit! What, am I some kind of rapist now? Fuck this, did I come all the way to this shithole village and risk my life hunting monsters just for this? Huh? Am I a rapist? I just asked to have a little fun together, and I get treated like this?!”
Heres's grating voice dug into Thirin's sensitive ears. Her mood grew fouler by the second.
“Kyaaak!”
Thud.
Martha screamed as she was hurled to the ground.
“M-Mom…!”
Vera's sobbing voice as she was held by Heres.
The murmur of villagers who didn't dare approach.
The smell of bread scattered across the ground.
Unable to stand the disgusting sight any longer, Thirin lifted her head and looked at the sky.
“Whoa…”
For a moment, Thirin forgot everything as she gazed at the scene before her in awe. The sunset had become a massive golden spear, piercing through the ashen clouds. A clean, majestic sight that could never be seen in the polluted air of her hometown. That spear of light was slowly fading as purple darkness began to dye the sky.
Thirin closed her eyes for a moment and felt the blowing wind. Her sensitive senses told her it was the breeze of twilight. Soon, darkness would fully raise its head.
“…”
But Thirin could also feel it—the faint warmth still lingering in the sun that had already mostly set. She felt that faint warmth was similar to the texture of the hard bread Martha had given her.
Thirin let out a small chuckle.
There was a saying: don't take in a black-haired beast. Contrary to the common misunderstanding, it didn't mean not to help others. It was a proverb warning not to turn your back on someone who showed you kindness, lest you become a beast yourself.
Yeah. Debts must be repaid—whether they were monetary or the warmth of a single piece of bread.
“You only die once, right? Not twice?”
Thirin muttered the words under her breath and snickered to herself.
Thirin doesn't die. That was the first thing she learned after falling into this other world.
Right after arriving, thinking it was all a dream, Thirin had thrown herself off a cliff. The result was obvious. Compound fractures so severe she couldn't move. A person dies after just three days without water. And Thirin had spent several times that long at the bottom of that cliff.
A horrific time that was painful even to remember. She'd tried to soothe her burning thirst by licking her own spilled blood, but it was useless. Even after enduring such agony, Thirin hadn't died.
Thirin doesn't die.
Then what was there to fear? What could possibly be frightening?
What she feared wasn't pain. What she feared was falling into beastliness. What she must fear was abandoning her humanity.
Thirin would never become a beast.
Thirin began walking forward. She had a method to resolve this in the most civilized way possible.
She shouted.
“Hey, Heres! You fucking pedophilic piece of shit!”
Vulgar language no villager would dare utter slammed into Heres's ears.
“Who the hell said that?”
Heres turned around with a face twisted in rage, but the moment he saw who had spoken, he froze in shock.
“The mute bitch… can actually talk?”
Thirin was somewhat famous. In a remote pioneer village, the identity of a crazy beggar woman who could only curse was practically reverse idol status.
Thirin savored Heres's stunned gaze and spoke.
“Hey, Heres. What the hell are you doing twisting a little kid's wrist over there?”
“…”
Heres was so dumbfounded he lost his words for a moment, but soon a sneer spread across his face.
“Crazy beggar bitch… I don't care if you can talk properly or not. If you don't want to see something ugly, get lost. Who wants to see blood on a festival day like today?”
But Thirin just cackled and took another step closer. Her laughter grated on Heres's nerves.
“Heres, Heres, you stupid bastard. I know exactly why you're twisting a little kid's wrist on a nice day like this.”
Heres's face grew even more menacing, but Thirin paid it no mind.
“You're Heres, the vice-leader of the Messenger's Blade mercenary group.”
At Thirin's words, Heres's face hardened. How does this bitch know who I am?
But what Thirin said next made that question completely irrelevant.
“There's a rumor going around about you. They say you got kicked out of Wilson's tavern for beating Merye, right?”
The puzzle pieces clicked together in Thirin's mind. Why had that idiot beaten Merye and gotten himself thrown out?
In her beloved home world, there was a saying: [Please let that bastard's dick be three centimeters!]
It was something ordinary—slightly above average by peninsula standards, where the bar for "average" was set quite high—men said with a mix of envy and jealousy toward handsome, muscular guys.
Heres fit about half of what those ordinary men envied. He was what people called a "perfectly proportioned" muscular man.
But only half.
Heres had a great body, but his face was ugly. That was a plus. It was safe to assume his dick wasn't three centimeters, but more like three and a half.
But three or three and a half—it's all the same in the end.
“Yeah, now I finally get it.”
Thirin nodded with a satisfied expression.
“Now the picture's perfectly clear. Since that tiny little rat tail of yours doesn't work on grown women like Merye, you've moved on to easy targets like little kids, huh? You figured since kids are small, even your cute little thing might somehow get the job done?”
“Shut up! You fucking bitch…!”
Heres's face had turned bright red. The villagers' whispers stabbed into him like daggers.
Thirin continued in a smooth, mocking tone.
“I bet it was really hard for Merye too. With that… cute? thing of yours, she probably couldn't even feel anything. Sigh, she took the money so she had to do the job, but pretending to feel something with that tiny little—”
A lightning bolt of realization struck inside Thirin's head.
“Ah, so that's why you hit Merye? Because she wasn't acting convincingly enough?”
Understanding of others has increased!
Basic conditions for activating the Enlightenment system have been fulfilled!
Congratulations!
Thirin swiped away the System window in front of her. That stuff wasn't important right now.
“…”
Heres silently released Vera's arm. His hands were trembling, his breathing was ragged, and his eyes were bloodshot.
“You beggar bitch.”
Heres spoke with clear killing intent in his eyes.
“Looks like you're excited now that you can talk. Go ahead and flap that tongue all you want. Today will be the last day you get to use that smart mouth of yours.”
At Heres's words, Thirin felt incredibly cheerful.
She could finally repay the favor.
Thirin was going to beat the shit out of these scumbags and repay Martha's kindness once and for all.