Chapter 87: As God Leads (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 87: As God Leads (6)
It was the first day since leaving Lukart that I felt truly happy being among a crowd of people.
But I never dreamed that in a place our joy couldn’t reach, someone was struggling to survive, drowning in frustration and despair.
Especially since that person had always shown nothing but a bright face.
“That’s enough.”
After seeing the magitech floating elevator—carrying Arasen, who was holding a kitchen knife to Fran’s throat—head for the summit, I climbed the statue myself, moving like a ranger.
Thanks to that, I managed to catch up to her, though I was a bit late. She was standing at the very edge of the statue’s arm, right by the tip of its dagger.
“Arasen. Let’s talk.”
“Lord Alto…”
A flicker of relief crossed Arasen’s eyes when she spotted me, but she quickly tensed up again, pressing the knife firmly against Fran’s neck.
“Eek! Hyuk! Do something! Do something, please!”
“Shut up, Fran! Stop blubbering like a little bitch! If you squawk one more time, I’ll slit your throat and die with you.”
Fran wailed, his face a mess of tears and snot.
Arasen barked at him with a murderous intensity.
Terrified, Fran shut his mouth, but he pouted his lips and tried to make the most pitiful expression possible toward me. It was an absolutely pathetic sight.
If the situation weren’t so dire, I would have punched that mouth shut myself.
“Lady Rune and Lady Narupa must be so lucky.”
“……”
“Because they’re loved.”
The kitchen knife was large and the blade was sharp.
I could already see several shallow nicks on Fran’s neck, with thin trails of blood trickling down.
Even those were being washed away by the falling rain, only to seep out again and again.
“Arasen.”
Shhhhhhh—
Despite the heavy sound of the rain, we could somehow hear each other’s voices clearly.
“What’s wrong? If there’s something bothering you, tell me everything. I’ll listen.”
“That’s exactly what I hate—!!!”
My attempt to calm her down somehow seemed to strike a nerve.
Without warning, Arasen raised her voice and took another step back.
“Why! Why! Why are you so kind when you’re so ugly?! Why are you so strong despite that face?!”
She didn’t even bother to brush back her wet hair as she wailed; she looked like a literal vengeful ghost.
Her eyes were already filled with a manic, eerie light.
“When you first got in my carriage back in Lukart! You were just an ugly man!”
Ouch. That actually hurt a little.
“Why did you buy me food for no reason? Why were you so unnecessarily kind? I just thought you were being nice because you were ugly. Kee-hee! Hee… hee… Hahahaha!”
I couldn’t tell if that laugh was a scoff or a bitter sob.
Strangely, it felt like she was mocking herself.
“Huuuuh…! Even though you’re ugly… you were a man who smiled at women… a man who was considerate enough not to hurt a woman’s feelings…! Why! Why!”
The laughter turned into sobbing, and Arasen’s emotions grew more volatile.
Her body and Fran’s were swaying precariously.
Whenever the knife accidentally grazed his neck, Fran would make that annoying face again, grating on my nerves.
“If you’re ugly, you should just be like the other bastards! Obsess over women and live by extorting money from them!!!”
Arasen took another step back.
It was as if she were trying to run away from me.
“You should have just lived like a parasite, sucking the life out of women! But you… you didn’t hide behind others like the rest. You jumped at a Serpent just to save one woman. And you did it alone!”
I quickly scanned the situation on the ground.
It was no good.
A massive crowd had already gathered in the plaza, and the key figures of Dakuren, including my women, were unable to move forward through the dense throng of people.
“And then what? Those pathetic ‘Four Handsome Heavenly Kings’ or whatever those shits are called took you to a salon… but you didn’t act all high and mighty like other men would. You just accepted Lady Rune’s crying and clinging! If you accept all that, what does that make us?! What are we?! What about the rest of us women who get beaten and left collapsed in the market square even after bringing men money every single day?!”
The old geezer, who had arrived a bit later than me, was giving orders to the people around him, but he was also blocked by the crowd. The path to get the equipment needed for a rescue was completely cut off.
“And then what? A dungeon clear? Are you kidding me?!!!!!”
Arasen’s sharp lament was heard by everyone in the plaza—no, by everyone in the vicinity.
Because it was a cry pulled from the depths of her soul, her voice didn’t crack as she continued to interrogate me.
“If you’re ugly, then act pathetic like you’re supposed to!!!! You’re a man too! Act like the men we know! Grope women in the streets, steal their money, and hit them! Why are you the only one acting all noble with a face like that?! Why do you hug your women so tenderly every day, and why! Why do you whisper that you love them every single day! Who do you think you are to make me so jealous—!!!!”
Sensing that I couldn’t let this continue, I took a cautious step forward. Startled, Arasen jerked the knife back, and the blade accidentally stabbed into Fran’s neck.
“Aaaagh! Argh—!!!”
It was only a shallow puncture, but Fran screamed as if he were being slaughtered.
Arasen’s rage turned back toward him.
“Shut up, you piece of shit! Fran, you son of a bitch! How could you do this to me after everything I did for you!”
“A-Arasen…!”
“I only looked at you! I’ve followed only you since I was five years old. I liked you because you were kind, even if you were sickly… I only had eyes for you…”
Her angry reproach dissolved into muffled sobs.
“I didn’t want to lose you, so I volunteered for the war in your place… and even when you played around with other women, I didn’t want you to lack for anything… I drove that carriage 365 days a year without a single day of rest… Even when my hips and back felt like they were breaking from sitting there all day, even when my hands grew calloused and I got uglier from holding the reins… all I thought about was whether you were eating well. But all you cared about was the money I brought home. I did it because I liked you, because I loved you, but you only loved the money!”
“No, no! Arasen, I love you! Of course I love you!”
“Really…?”
“Yes, of course!”
“Then why won’t you ever eat a single meal with me?”
“A meal? That’s nothing. We can go eat right now, okay? Please? Let’s go down, Arasen. Okay?”
“Huhuhu… Hahahaha!”
Arasen tilted her head back toward the sky and laughed and cried loudly.
“Waaaaaaaah—!!!!”
That expression.
I knew it.
You know it too, don’t you?
The look someone wears when they’ve given up on everything.
It was the exact same expression I had worn back in Lukart.
“I…! I just wanted to be loved…! That would have been enough—!!!!!!!”
Her final, spiteful scream shook the plaza.
“Even if you added up every bit of kindness you’ve shown me since the war, what this man did for me once was greater! He’s obviously much stronger than you! The only thing you had going for you was your looks, that was it… but he’s so cool that I can’t even see his face anymore… I’m so jealous of the women he holds… Those women said their man holds them tight when they sleep. Meanwhile, even when I hear news that you’ve gone off to fuck some other woman, I check the door from my bed over and over, hoping you might come to me. Fuck, we’re both women, so why is it so different? Why are our lives so different? Why is one loved while the other is treated like a piggy bank? It’s not like I didn’t do enough! I gave you everything! I gave you my body, my heart, I went to the army, and I earn all the money! All I wanted was for you to just… love me by my side—!!!”
She was like a madwoman; it was impossible to tell who she was talking to or who she was blaming.
She went from anger to laughter to tears to madness. I could tell Arasen’s mind had completely fractured.
She was repeating the same words over and over.
“Arasen.”
“Don’t come any closer!”
Dammit, she wouldn’t let me get even a single step closer.
She was backed into a corner.
In this situation, having judged that there was no way out and no hope of being loved by the man who abused her, she had let go of everything.
She was, quite literally, a cornered rat.
“Let’s go down.”
“It’s all over now. Do you think there’s a ‘next time’ for me?”
If that’s the case…
“Go down, finish the investigation regarding this outburst, and then go home. Or we can go to the Lord’s Castle. It’s cold out, so let’s have some warm soup, sleep in a soft bed, and think about what comes next after you wake up.”
“Don’t act all half-heartedly kind! I’ve already assaulted this man and caused this whole mess. Do you really think there’s a ‘next time’ for me?”
“Arasen.”
“Do you think there is?!”
Sigh.
Hey, Hunting Dog.
Life really never goes according to plan.
I had no intention of doing this here, but I don’t dislike Arasen.
Even her calling me ugly just now was just a desperate scream from a broken mind.
“I promise you, Arasen. Nothing will happen to you.”
“Don’t make me laugh. Who are you? Are you really that great?”
I think she was just lashing out, even though she already knew who I was.
She probably didn’t expect me to do this.
“Phew… Everyone, listen!”
My voice rang out across all of Dakuren.
“Who am I? I am Alto Bertrand, the No. 1 National Merit Recipient! I am the last member of the Bertrand Unit who fought two of the Four Heavenly Kings on the right wing of humanity during the Final War! I am the veteran who faced and defeated Vulcanus of Mad Laughter!”
“Bertrand?!”
“I knew it…! I knew that strength was unusual!”
Murmurs began to drift up through the sound of the rain.
“He speaks the truth! I, Dakuus, the No. 5 National Merit Recipient, vouch for him! He is the No. 1 National Merit Recipient we have brought here for the sake of our Hus! That man is the hero of the Final War, Alto Bertrand!”
The quick-witted old man immediately verified my identity, silencing the minor commotions.
I shouted again before this silence could be interrupted by new chaos.
“The carriage driver before me, Arasen! She was driven to despair after being exploited by the lover she has been devoted to since childhood, leading her to this act. I have seen this woman myself and worked alongside her; she even contributed to the clearing of this dungeon. Therefore, as a National Merit Recipient and by my honor as a war veteran, I will personally grant her a special pardon for this incident!”
“A-Alto, you brat! You can’t just grant a total pardon!”
“I’ll handle the rest later! Count!”
After snapping at the old man, I held out my hand.
“Let’s go down.”
“……”
“Don’t cry over a man who doesn’t cherish you. Let’s go down and find someone good. I’ll help you find him myself. Or is there already a man you’re interested in?”
“…Why are you going this far?”
Arasen asked blankly.
“I don’t know. Maybe because you reminded me of how I was back in Lukart. Or just…”
I answered honestly.
“It’s too cruel not to lend an ear when a woman who has lived a hard, honest life is crying, isn’t it?”
“…Ugh.”
“Arasen, first, hand Fran over to me. Stay right there, and I’ll come and take him from you, okay? I know you’re anxious, so I’ll take him from right here. Do you understand?”
“Uuuuuu…! Why are you…!”
“Arasen, it’s okay. Just hold the knife and hand Fran over to me.”
“Why this much…!”
This was bad; she wasn’t listening to me at all.
I seemed to have talked her out of the murder-suicide, but Arasen, consumed by her emotions, was gasping for air, unable to bear the weight of her sorrow.
That meant the strength restraining Fran was weakening.
As the knife pulled away from his neck, blood—which had been thicker than expected—clotted around the wound.
Fran was in a total panic, and he had been watching for any chance to escape.
When Arasen’s arm went limp, Fran finally shoved her away.
And then, with gritted teeth, he pushed the dazed Arasen with all his might.
“You crazy bitch, if you want to die, die alone!”
They say the world slows down in a decisive moment.
Don’t make me laugh. It doesn’t.
“…Huh?”
Like a ball being dropped in mid-air, Arasen’s body was pushed into the void and plummeted.
Without even realizing what had happened, the carriage woman flailed her arms as she fell.
“Arasen!!!!”
To save her, I sprinted to the edge of the statue’s arm and threw myself into the air.
I was accelerating as much as I could, but I wasn’t reaching her.
“Arasen, grab my hand!!!!”
I reached out toward her, contorting my body into an awkward pose.
Arasen reached out too.
As we both struggled with everything we had, just as our fingertips were about to touch—
THUD!
Arasen landed head-first, and a thunderous sound erupted.
But her head didn’t explode.
I landed instinctively, but what met my eyes was Arasen’s frozen face, her nose bleeding and the whites of her eyes filled with blood.
“Arasen…?”
Slide.
The arm she had reached out while falling slumped to the side.
At the same time, her eyes rolled back, and dark red blood began to crawl across the rain-soaked plaza floor.
So much blood that it seemed endless.
What was the cause of this blood?
“FRAN!!!!!!!!!”
I glared at the culprit at the top.
I could see it clearly.
The face of a coward.
The man who had killed his only protector with his own hands.
I simply stared.
I don’t know how Arasen would feel, but that bastard wasn’t even worth hunting.