Chapter 148
Chapter 148
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: A Friend Like That (3)
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The aftermath of the slap lingered, but there was no tearful reunion to follow.
"Waaah... Hic, waaah..."
Yulia sat collapsed on the dirt floor, sobbing her heart out. Duncan floundered about, unsure what to do, while Kadim stared off at the distant mountains in silence.
"Yu-Yulia, calm down a bit. Just calm down first... okay?"
"Waaah... You think I can calm down right now, you awful man...? Hic... I thought you were dead for sure... Where the hell have you been, showing up out of nowhere like this...?"
"Th-that would take too long to explain... More importantly, where's our son, Densen?"
"Waaah, wh-where's Den-Densen...? Right, Densen's right now..."
Before he could even hear the full story, Kadim pieced it together.
"Looks like the boy ran off outside the village."
"...Pardon?"
"About ten minutes north, there's the sound of small footsteps. He's been calling out someone's name nonstop since earlier, so it has to be your son."
Yulia wiped her tear-streaked face and looked up. Who was this man? Why was he traveling with her husband? How could he hear sounds from so far away? Suspicion and wariness flooded her instantly.
But Kadim paid her attitude no mind. It was a reaction he was all too used to by now, no matter where he went.
"No demons or monsters around, but it's still not a good time for a kid to be wandering alone. We can catch up later—let's find the boy first, Duncan."
"...Y-yes! Right! That sounds best, sir!"
Kadim and Duncan turned their backs on the bewildered Yulia and hurried into the woods.
Tracking the child was no trouble at all. Kadim's senses had transcended mere human perception, bordering on omnidirectional magic. He pinpointed the distant boy as if he were right in front of him and dashed ahead without hesitation.
Of course, it wasn't just Kadim who'd improved. The merchant could now keep pace with the group to a decent degree. Considering how he'd chased after Kadim on the Golden Highway only to end up puking his guts out, this was a monumental leap.
"Huff, huff..."
"..."
Kadim considered it a stroke of luck. If he'd found the boy alone, the kid might've been so terrified he'd have a fit. With his father there, he wouldn't be quite so on edge.
But that turned out to be overly optimistic.
"Densen! Densen! Th-there you are! Daddy's back!"
"Ah... Aaaahhh!!"
They finally caught up to him deep in the woods, only for the boy to bolt again immediately.
"...Huh?"
Duncan stared in bewilderment. Kadim furrowed his brow, quickly realizing why the child had fled.
In the boy's eyes, they must have looked like this: a father he'd thought dead, appearing out of the blue in the dead of night, trailed by a savage brute who looked every bit the demon.
'...Can't blame him for running.'
And there were suspicious marks on the boy's body besides. Angry red welts covered his skin—marks that were unmistakably...
Not something a father returning after half a year would want to see. Kadim needed to get the story first. He narrowed his eyes sharply.
"Duncan, I'll fetch the boy and bring him back alone. You go ahead and comfort your wife."
"...Pardon?!"
Duncan's eyes flickered with unease. He agonized over whether he should obey.
Still, he nodded in the end. From his experiences so far, Kadim wasn't the type to say something like that without good reason. And... he didn't seem mentally unstable at the moment either.
"...Understood, sir. I'll head back first. B-but if you need any help, please call for me."
"..."
Kadim gave a slight nod and resumed the pursuit.
The boy knew the terrain well and had quick feet for his age, but outrunning a master tracker like the savage was impossible. In less than a minute, Kadim caught up and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. Dangling in midair, the child thrashed wildly, tears and snot streaming down his face like he was about to die.
"Aaaah!! Hic-aaah!! I-I'm sorry!! Don't eat me!! Please don't eat me!!"
"...I'm not going to eat you. I don't have a taste for human flesh."
Kadim then explained calmly. That man really was his father, he was someone his father knew and trusted, and he'd come to bring him back at his father's request.
But the boy's struggles didn't let up. If anything, he seemed to realize those were classic lines from a kidnapper.
"Aaah, hic-aaah!! Hic-aaah!!"
"..."
Kadim clicked his tongue. Dealing with kids was always such a pain. Human scum picking fights? Piece of cake by comparison...
So he gave up on coaxing and went straight to interrogation.
"Just one question, kid. Answer honestly, and I'll take you straight back to your parents. Who the hell beat you black and blue?"
"...!"
The battered boy froze at the words. No answer came, but Kadim pressed on, turning it into a multiple-choice.
"Never mind. Adult or kid? Answer that much at least."
After a long hesitation, the boy finally spoke.
"...Wh-what if it's an adult...? Wh-what if it's a kid...?"
"If it's an adult, I'll hunt them down and kill them right now."
"...!"
"If it's a kid, maybe half-kill them or find some other way."
Chirrup, chirrup. Crickets filled the sudden silence.
It was a solution no child could have imagined, even in their nightmares. The boy, rigid as a stone, finally shook his head vigorously once the night breeze brushed his neck.
"N-no, you can't do that, mister... M-my daddy said... even bad friends, don't hit them, get along instead..."
"..."
Ah, right. Now he remembered—this was the son of that overly moralistic merchant.
Pitying the holy knight who'd tracked him, feeling guilty for stabbing a mage and losing his appetite... All of Duncan's antics flashed through Kadim's mind. But those days were gone now. Kadim let out a quiet chuckle inwardly.
"...Your father's probably changed his tune by now. Anyway, sounds like it was your 'friends' who did this to you."
"...!"
"There's a precept from the Atalan wilds: 'He who does not fight after losing a finger will soon lose his toes as well.'"
The boy gaped in shock at the chilling proverb, his eyes wide like a rabbit's. Kadim stared into the bruise-marred face and spoke clearly.
"Friends shouldn't hit each other, of course. But do you really think the ones who beat you so mercilessly are your 'friends'?"
"..."
"...Tell me what happened, kid. I'll teach you how to keep from losing those toes."
*
Duncan, who returned home first, was getting an earful of half a year's pent-up nagging all at once.
"How can a person just vanish for half a year without a word! I told you so! Don't get greedy, just do honest work and make a living..."
"And who's that guy with you? Why are you hanging around someone who looks that scary? You didn't join some weird gang or bandits, did you?"
"What?! You left our son with him?! You lunatic—"
"Uh... Yulia, come here a sec..."
When words failed, Duncan's strategy was a hug. He wrapped her in his arms out of nowhere and said he'd missed her so much. Astonishingly, it worked—the wife's volcanic rage paused for a moment.
But not for long.
"...Don't think you can gloss over this with cheap tricks. So who is that guy you brought? Some famous mercenary or what?"
"Ahem, kinda... But more precisely... He was the one who kidnapped me half a year ago."
"...What?!"
He realized his slip too late. Yulia grabbed a poker and started rampaging like she was about to charge out. Duncan thought her fury rivaled even Kadim in berserk mode.
"No, wait! Yeah, he's a kidnapper! But before that, he saved my life, I swear? He's not a bad guy like you think..."
"Quit spouting nonsense! Have you lost your mind? Let go before I yank out every last whisker! Move, you idiot!"
"...Aaaah!! Ow! Let go, let go!"
Neither persuasion nor hugs worked. Duncan was at a loss, forced into a precarious beard-wrestling match with his fuming wife.
Thankfully, before she could rip it all out, Kadim returned with the son in tow.
Creeeak—
"...Den-Densen?"
"Mommy...? Daddy...?"
"Densen, are you okay? You're not hurt anywhere?"
"Densen!! Daddy's back... Huh?"
There was some initial misunderstanding over the boy's battered state, but things settled down eventually. The Duncan family, reunited after half a year, embraced tearfully at last, while Kadim hung back with arms crossed, watching.
Still, rescuing the boy didn't erase all suspicion. Yulia hastily wiped her tears, hugged her son tight, and backed away.
"So... who are you? Who are you to drag off my husband willy-nilly and turn a perfectly fine woman into a half-widow for half a year?"
"...Just a passing mercenary. Sorry about that. Needed a guide for the journey, so I borrowed your husband for a bit."
"..."
"A bit" was putting it mildly for half a year. Yulia said nothing, but her displeasure was obvious. Unlike the clueless Duncan, though, Kadim had a rough idea how to calm her.
He set down the black bag and pulled out chest after chest.
Thud, thud, thud!
"Payment for borrowing your husband half a year. This enough?"
"...!!!"
Moonlight streamed through the window, glinting off the piles of gold coins. The glow melted away complaints and wariness like snow. Yulia's eyes sparkled brighter than the pure gold as she hesitantly spoke.
"Um... any chance you'd like to borrow my husband for a few more years?"
"..."
"..."
"...Yu-Yulia?"
Watching her, who looked just like someone he knew all too well, Kadim thought to himself:
Duncan had truly found his soulmate.
*
Moltana was a backwater village with no sights to see and scant travelers. Naturally, the residents craved any scrap of entertainment. In that sense, the two sudden bits of news were enough to electrify the whole place.
One was that the merchant Duncan had returned.
"Duncan’s back? That wandering peddler who ran off to pay his debts?"
"Heh, figured he'd croaked in some nameless hole..."
"That fool... Abandoning his wife and kid to gallivant who-knows-where."
"Dunno, maybe the edge of the continent or something. But word is, he made a fortune."
"No way? How much?"
The other was that Duncan had brought along some mystery savage.
"Who's that brute? Caught a glimpse from afar—looks meaner than the bailiff's guards, makes them look like priests."
"If he made that much coin... Probably hired him to scare us off. Thinks we'll shake him down?"
"Makes sense... Pfui, pfui. If he's rolling in it, he should spread the wealth without us asking..."
"Yeah. All that 'nice guy' act, but he's just as greedy as the rest."
The villagers were abuzz over both. Hardened adults fixated far more on Duncan's money, while kids obsessed with playing mercenary fixated far more on the mystery savage.
"My dad said that guy's the 'Demon Slayer'."
"Demon Slayer? What Demon Slayer? Why would a big-shot merc come to this dump?"
"Yeah! And Uncle Nokel said the real Demon Slayer's way scarier, twice the size!"
"Twice the size? That's an ogre, not a man!"
The kids forgot their role-play, diving into debate. Not everyone, though. The leader, Huruk, sat sullenly in the corner before suddenly standing.
"...Hey, you guys seen the 'Fatherless Goblin' around?"
"Huh, boss? You mean Densen? Nah, haven't spotted him lately. He's been weirdly scarce."
"But boss, his dad's back now? So no more 'Fatherless Goblin', right...?"
Thwack!
"...Ow!"
"Shut it. His dad's a drifter—gone again soon enough. Once a fatherless runt, always a fatherless runt."
The ambushed kid burst into tears. Huruk paced the woods' edge, bristling with discontent—like a boy who'd lost his favorite toy.
How many days passed like that?
As Huruk had secretly hoped, Densen did return to the group.
But the crybaby kid they knew was nowhere to be found.
"Heyyy... you, big dumb lump..."
"...?"
"Y-yeah... you, Huruk, you punk... Follow me over here... Or else, I'll, uh, smash your skull into two..."
"..."
"..."
Huruk and the kids were utterly speechless before the pint-sized brat's unheard-of taunts.