Chapter 14
Chapter 14
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: All of Them Must Die
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"It appears that someone has managed to beat us to our destination."
"......"
Shiron let out a dry, mirthless chuckle as he reached down to lift the stiffening corpse.
In this desolate region where the heavens wept snow almost every day of the year, a body would typically be buried deep within hours.
The fact that this man remained partially visible meant that his demise was a very recent affair.
"Hold this for me for a moment," Shiron said, handing his longsword to Lucia.
Lucia took the blade in silence, her golden eyes fixed intently on the dark, yawning mouth of the cave entrance.
"What exactly are you doing right now?" she asked, her voice tinged with a mix of curiosity and caution.
"What else could I be doing? I need to gather a rough idea of what kind of filth is lurking inside before we commit ourselves."
Shiron, who had just marked his eleventh year with the recent passing of the sun, showed not a shred of hesitation as he began to handle the dead man.
Once he cleared away the clinging frost, the form of a sturdy, adult male came into full view.
The man was clad in a rugged leather vest over simple cloth garments, and his wide-soled boots suggested he was well-acquainted with this unforgiving terrain.
'The body appears completely intact on the surface.'
Yet, despite the lack of visible wounds, the man had died with an expression of utter, soul-crushing despair.
His eyes remained frozen wide in an eternal scream of agony, as if he had witnessed some horrific force beyond human comprehension.
Despite that gruesome mask of death, his clothes bore no marks of steel, and his skin was pristine, without a single bruise or cut to explain his passing.
"A simple merchant done in by common bandits?" Lucia guessed, though her tone suggested she didn't quite believe it herself.
"No, I suspect it is quite the opposite; if anything, this man was the bandit," Shiron dismissed her theory outright.
"A bandit? You truly believe a bandit could remain this clean, without a single scar to show for his life of crime?"
"......"
Shiron offered no verbal response to her retort, choosing instead to continue his silent, methodical search of the remains.
"Furthermore, there is a faint, unmistakable whiff of alcohol drifting from that cave, accompanied by the sounds of rowdy chatter."
"If they didn't just dump a raided merchant's corpse out here, then what exactly are we looking at?"
"Look closely at this," Shiron said as he pried open the corpse's jaw with a small stick.
Lucia leaned in, her eyes catching the sight of rotten, crumbling teeth nestled within a swollen, inflamed jaw.
"His mouth is an absolute mess; someone who took even a modicum of care of themselves wouldn't rot like this."
Shiron then lifted the man's hand, revealing palms that were thick and hardened from years of labor.
"There are no calluses from holding a pen, but these tough palms tell me he has swung a sword plenty of times."
"The lack of scars simply means he was skilled enough to never let an opponent touch him."
"......!"
Lucia narrowed her eyes, scanning the surrounding shadows for any hidden threats, but she sensed nothing but the distant signs of life within the cave.
"It seems that whatever killed this man without leaving a single mark is currently holed up inside."
"Then..." Lucia began, her mind racing through the dark possibilities of what they might face.
Techniques that could fell a target without a physical wound were rare and terrifying: poison, spirit possession, or perhaps a lethal curse.
Just the thought of it made her skin crawl, her every nerve set on high alert as she recalled the cowards she had faced in her past life.
'This situation is remarkably dangerous, isn't it?'
Even back when she was Kylie, the masters of poison and curses had been a persistent thorn in her side.
They were fundamentally cowardly and untrustworthy, forcing her to maintain a level of vigilance that was utterly exhausting.
How could they hope to take them out if they were indeed waiting within the darkness of the cave?
Lucia's face hardened as she swallowed hard, her mind jumping to the only logical conclusion: they had to kill them before they could act.
But in her current, youthful state, she knew that some walls simply could not be overcome by talent alone.
'And besides... Shiron is with me.'
The weight of responsibility for the only boy she could call family since her reincarnation crushed her chest like a physical burden.
'We need to pull back and slip away before they notice our presence.'
Lucia felt her fist clench involuntarily, but then she realized with a start that her hand was empty.
The longsword she had been holding for him was already back in Shiron's grip.
"......Hey. You aren't seriously thinking of going in there, are you?"
Lucia reached out to stop him, but Shiron brushed her hand aside with a casual, confident step backward.
"Are you actually scared, Lucia?"
"......"
Shiron flashed her a playful, almost reckless grin, but Lucia was in no mood for games.
"Don't mess around; this is the time for us to pull back and regroup."
"No, I don't think so."
"We have no idea what is waiting in there! We can always come back later with more preparation."
"We don't have that kind of time."
Before she could argue further, the boy took her hand firmly and began leading her toward the flickering light of the cave.
His footsteps were steady and unwavering, devoid of even a hint of doubt or hesitation.
'Has he completely lost his sense of fear? What could he possibly mean by "no time"?'
Under normal circumstances, she would have shaken him off, but for some reason, she found herself unable to defy his iron will.
Her own hand felt strangely weak, as if her power had been siphoned away by his sheer conviction.
Then, a sudden, jarring memory from five hundred years ago surfaced in her mind.
Long before the final expedition, back when she wandered the world with her very first companions, Yura had said the same thing.
- Kill him, Kylie.
- Yura... do we truly have to do this? He seems truly repentant...
- Sometimes, you must do the very things you hate to survive.
Even back then, Yura had been physically weaker than Kylie, yet Kylie could never bring herself to defy her friend's cold logic.
"Ugh."
Lucia's stomach churned at the unwanted memory, and she bit her lip as she shook her head to clear the fog.
She stared blankly at Shiron's back, a hazy, incomprehensible feeling tangling itself within her mind.
Yet, the warmth of his hand in hers was undeniably real, and his expression remained as calm as a frozen lake.
"By the way, you actually scare me far more than that mysterious guy in the cave ever could."
"......"
"So, stop worrying so much."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean...?"
At Shiron's unexpected joke, Lucia couldn't help but snort with a sudden burst of laughter.
The knot of tension in her chest eased instantly, and the overwhelming fear began to melt away under the heat of his confidence.
As she allowed herself to be led along, Lucia found herself wondering if Shiron might actually be some sort of shaman in disguise.
Soon, they reached the narrow entrance where the faint, flickering light of a fire leaked out into the snow.
Whether it was born from overconfidence or sheer, drunken stupidity, there wasn't a single sentry posted to guard the way.
Shiron paused, his ears straining to catch the rowdy voices echoing from the depths.
"What do you think, Lucia?" Shiron whispered into her ear.
"What do I think? It looks like a band of bandits throwing a drunken party after a successful raid."
"My thoughts exactly."
Without a trace of visible tension, Shiron began to stretch his limbs, preparing his young body for the coming storm.
Then, he crouched down and began to pack a firm snowball with his bare hands.
"What are we going to do next?"
"What else is there to do?" Shiron answered without a second's hesitation.
"We are going to kill every single one of them."
Deep inside the cavern, a fire flickered in the distance, perhaps twenty meters from where they stood.
No sentries meant they could slip deeper into the shadows and strike from the dark before the enemy even realized they were under attack.
He would cut off their light, leaving the fools to flounder in the pitch-black darkness while he delivered justice.
It was a generous plan, given the stench of alcohol that suggested they were already thoroughly sloshed.
He would give them all an equal taste of his blade.
The prospect of his first kill felt oddly serene to him, far calmer than he had ever expected it to be.
'I suppose I have the legendary Prien valor to thank for this composure.'
Shiron nodded to himself, aware that Lucia was right beside him, watching his every move.
There was no point in dragging this out or showing weakness; he had to act now.
He closed one eye in advance, allowing it to adapt to the darkness to give him the ultimate edge.
"And what about me? What am I supposed to do?" Lucia asked.
Her blank expression showed she had no idea why he hadn't given her a specific task in this "treasure hunt."
"Do you want me to punch them all to death?"
"No, that won't be necessary."
Her grim, violent suggestion didn't even cause him to flinch.
"Just stand back and watch me."
"It's too damn noisy in here."
A man with patchy stubble and bloodshot eyes rose from the deepest, darkest corner of the cave.
He had been sleeping soundly until his idiot sentries had failed at their one and only job.
The sounds of the slaughter reached his ears without him even trying to listen, and he scowled in annoyance.
Slash—
Gack—
Kraaaagh—!
Stop! Grrrk—
The variety of death rattles was almost impressive. The man yawned lazily and scratched at his thigh.
"Hmph."
As he blinked away the remnants of sleep, he noticed that even the distant, flickering firelight had been extinguished.
"An ambush? Damn, why is my luck so shit today of all days?"
He sparked a small flame from his fingertip and used it to light a nearby lantern.
The warm light spread through the dark chamber, revealing a small child standing amidst the carnage, drenched from head to toe in blood.
"Listen, kid. Why don't you drop that thing? Don't you think we should talk this out like civilized people?"
"......"
"Quit now, and I might actually find it in my heart to let you live."
The man's attitude held no trace of tension; he was playful, as if he were talking to a naughty puppy.
The blood-soaked boy simply spat on the ground in pure, unadulterated irritation.
"Cut the bullshit."