Chapter 153
Chapter 153
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 153
Chapter Title: Such a Friend or Two (8)
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It wasn't some grand idea. All he had to do was hurl his body backward with every ounce of strength he had.
But the aftermath was anything but laughable.
――――――― KWA-BOOM!! RUMBLE…….
The wall caved in deep. A crater formed right in the center of the luxurious wallpaper, spiderweb cracks spidering out around it. The entire frame shuddered with massive vibrations, forcing everyone in the mansion to stagger for a moment.
The one who came out of it unscathed was the man who'd hit the wall. Kadim strolled out casually, clicking his tongue in amazement.
"Impressive power. That's no human strength. How exactly did you come by such force?"
The man in question was Aluben, captain of the mercenaries.
Duncan and his son stared at him in bewilderment. His underlings gawked at their leader with bulging eyes like rabbits.
"C-Captain, did you really...?"
"H-How'd you send that massive brute flying with one swing of that club...?"
"Why... why hide power like that until now...?"
"N-No... I-I didn't... It wasn't me..."
Aluben stammered excuses under his breath. He couldn't make heads or tails of the situation. No damage at all, not a single hair out of place, so why was he suddenly pulling off this insane stunt all by himself...?
Before he could gather his thoughts, a iron grip clamped down on his shoulder.
"Gah!"
"But it still wasn't enough to take me down. I'll give you another shot. Swing that club harder this time."
"Urk! What are you talking about... This wasn't me...!"
"Otherwise, you'll be eating one of my fists next."
It was less a fist and more a savage's sledgehammer or boulder. One hit from that, and even the toughest skull would shatter to pieces.
No room for choice. Aluben clamped his mouth shut and pretended to swing the club with all his might. Before it even connected, Kadim threw himself at the wall again.
――――――― KWA-BOOM! RUMBLE…….
This time, the wall outright shattered, sending him flying outside. And yet he calmly returned to repeat the divine act.
When a wall meets a man, the man shatters. That's what most people think. But that's wrong common sense. When a wall meets a man, whatever's weaker breaks. Kadim proved it personally, slamming into walls time and again.
――――――― KWA-BOOM!
――――――― KWA-BOOM!! RUMBLE…….
Holes punched through everywhere like siege rams had battered the place. Fine hardwood furniture and priceless paintings crumpled into trash heaps. At first awed by their captain's hidden superhuman strength, the mercenaries soon shifted to marveling at the savage's durability—taking hits like that and walking away fine.
Some couldn't marvel so carefree.
"Wh-what is this racket! No, Aluben! Did you do this to my mansion?"
The mansion's owner, the steward. He'd been cowering with his son until the crashing grew too loud to ignore. Aluben tried to protest his innocence, but...
"N-No, sir! It wasn't me...!"
"Trashing a mansion with just a club... Such power's wasted on a frontier mercenary. Why not head to the wilds or demon lands and hunt some demons?"
"……."
...Kadim's mutter from the side only deepened the misunderstanding.
Beams and load-bearing walls crumbled, leaving the mansion on the verge of total collapse. The ceiling and pillars groaned warnings of their short remaining life. The mercenaries snapped out of their daze.
"R-Run!"
"The mansion's coming down! Everyone out!"
"Wait, the gold's still in the basement...!"
"Screw you, you lunatic! Save your skin first!"
Kadim glanced up the stairs. Duncan and his son had slipped out amid the chaos. He grabbed the still-useful mercenary captain, tossed him aside, and bolted from the mansion himself.
――――― RUMBLE-RUMBLE!!
The moment everyone escaped, the mansion collapsed in a heap. Thick dust clouds billowed from the rubble, darker despair clouding the steward's face.
"N-No... N-Nooo... M-My maaansion!! My home!!"
Villagers gathered, drawn by the noise. Puzzled at first by the steward wailing in the yard, they widened their eyes at the wreckage.
"What? Did... did the steward's place just crumble?"
"Oh my, looks like it. What's with all the commotion this morning...?"
Whispers about the cause and the steward's misdeeds shifted with one remark.
"But... aren't our debt notes all in that mansion?"
"...Huh?"
"If they're buried and gone forever...?"
The mood ignited. Villagers grinned slyly, buzzing with heated talk of possible debt forgiveness.
Anyone under the rubble? Did Duncan go there? Should we dig? Such concerns were irrelevant. As always, they hung back, treating misfortune like someone else's problem.
Kadim decided to give them a chance to join the misfortune. He hauled Aluben up from the dirt.
"Lucky you escaped just before it fell. Nearly got crushed. Right?"
"Sh-Shut your damn mouth, you monster! Someone who smashes walls barehanded ain't getting crushed by... Mmph!"
"Quiet. Keep swinging that club like before. Unless you want your jaw torn to your ear."
"……."
No figure of speech. Mouth sealed, Aluben meekly swung the club without protest.
Soon, the same scene replayed on a grander scale. The stage expanded to the whole village, targets shifting from the steward's mansion to villagers' homes.
――――――― KWA-BOOM!KWA-KABOOM!
Houses were far less sturdy than the mansion. Homes shattered in sequence on impact with the savage. Dust clouds rose like smoke, horror spreading like flames.
"Wh-what...? Th-That's... our house?"
"Oh no, oh no, oh no!"
"Oh gods, oh gods! What do we do? That's right behind our place!"
Villagers, smug until it hit home, paled. They stared blankly between the flying giant and captain. Then they scrambled to the culprits—or who they thought were—clutching pant legs.
"M-Mercenary captain, sir! What... what did you do? How'd you fling that boulder of a man...?"
"Is that even the issue now? Hey, what the hell! Our homes are getting smashed one by one! Stop this instant!"
"We... we can't pay debts without houses... Please fight somewhere else, or just hold off a bit..."
"No, this... N-No, I didn't... It wasn't me...!"
Excuses blocked again. By the returning savage.
"You're truly merciless. You'll trash this village just to kill me?"
"……."
"Makes sense. More hits, and even a nation couldn't endure. At least destroying homes in a row earned that."
Aluben stared at the bloodied, brazen Kadim, face crumpling like he might burst into tears.
He shot desperate pleas to stop here, but they were ignored. He kept patrolling the village, swinging the club, as Kadim obliged by smashing buildings without mercy.
――――――― KWA-BOOM!!
――――――― KWA-KABOOM!!
Deafening crashes echoed, overlaid with wails.
"No, no, no, no, not my home... Nooooo!!"
"Th-This can't be... Remillion... Our home...!"
Villagers weren't fools. Seeing the savage return on foot after smashing homes, they sensed something off. Those whose houses still stood rushed to Kadim.
"Hey! Stop this! Why throw yourself into our homes on purpose?!"
"...What're you on about? Can't you see I've been getting pummeled?"
"Don't spout nonsense! You rammed that wall with your shoulder on purpose! Don't feed us lies kids wouldn't buy...!"
"...So I can't tell one lie, but you lot spinning hundreds with your tongues is fine?"
Villagers froze. Eyes darted wildly. Kadim fixed them with a gaze laced with cold contempt.
"No law says tongue-sins weigh lighter than blade-sins. Get lost. Before I smash not just your nests, but your bodies too."
"……."
Come to think... this guy was brought by merchant Duncan.
Plenty of guilty hunches. They blanched and backed away mumbling.
After that, the savage's body-slams proceeded uninterrupted. An hour later, nearly every house lay in ruins. The only intact one: merchant Duncan's home.
Kadim called it there. He brushed off crusted blood-dust from his skin, caressing his cracked shoulder and ribs. Heal with blood arts later, he thought, approaching Aluben.
"Good work. Impressive strength, but a bit short. You've taken enough hits—my turn to strike back."
"Wh-what...? Hrk!"
Veins bulged on the sledgehammer fist. Aluben's face turned ashen. In desperation, he made a final plea.
"D-Don't kill me! I got backers in Galentana's underworld! I'll get 'em to fetch money or anything—just spare my life...!"
Underworld, huh—a name he hadn't heard in ages. Kadim reminisced on the massacre there, asking casually.
"When'd you last visit that underworld?"
"Uh? Oh... a y-year... N-No, about half a year ago...?"
"Then your backers are probably all dead by now. I culled so many last time."
"...What? Y-You're that rumored 'Demon Sla...'?"
No time for shock. The fist flew.
CRUNCH!
His face caved inward. Skin folded into the skull, brains and bone exploding out the back. Just a ragged hole where features were, the captain now more surreal statue than man.
"Aluben!! No!! This can't...!"
"Damn it, everyone ru—"
SPLAT!
"...Guh!!"
The steward and remaining mercenaries met similar ends. Brains pulped by fists, slashed by blood arts, or struck by thunder. The last stragglers breathed their last.
By cleanup's end, Duncan and son returned from the nearby woods.
Duncan had braced for catastrophe with Kadim involved. Yet the sight outdid his worst fears.
"S-Sir... Th-this... Merciful Remillion...!"
Mercenary corpses mashed to pulp, villagers' wails, homes reduced to dust mounds.
Fearing shock, he covered his son's eyes. Kadim blinked not, surveying flatly.
"My apologies. Their leader was stronger than expected. Things got rough, and this happened."
"……."
Duncan's face went soul-less blank.
His son, Dunsen, slyly removed the hand. Startled at first by the ruins, he soon composed himself, bowing to Kadim.
"...Th-th-thank you, m-mister... Y-You kept your promise... s-saved me and D-Dad...!"
"……."
Kadim stared at the bold kid, then flicked eyes to the father.
"Your son's got more guts than you, Duncan."
*
The entire region of Maltana was a house of mourning.
Villagers huddled at the outskirts. Sighing at ruined homes, they'd rather have debts left if the steward's kin survived. They could've borrowed food and rebuild funds...
Then a woman shot up, shouting.
"If you think about it, isn't this all Duncan's fault?"
"……."
Strictly, the culprits were the mercenary captain and savage mercenary. But the captain was dead, and blaming the savage scared them. Madam Medel huffed, pressing on.
"That savage was brought by Duncan, right? So Duncan bears full responsibility! The steward's dead—no one to help us now...!"
"...And what do you plan to do, ma'am? Confronting them won't rebuild houses...!"
"No! It will! Didn't Duncan say he made a fortune? He should cover all our homes and belongings!"
"……!!"
A ray pierced the gloom. Villagers stampeded to Duncan's house, pounding the door. But they froze.
Not Duncan, but the grim-faced savage burst out.
"...What is it."
"“…….”"
"Here to get your bodies smashed too?"
They edged back, shoving forward the first speaker. Dragged-out Madam Medel quavered pitifully.
"N-No, uh... W-We have business with Duncan...!"
"...Is that so?"
She halted mid-sentence. Duncan too was bloodstained and fierce from the day's mess. Hadn't someone mocked him this morning and suffered badly?
Madam Medel switched targets hastily.
"Ah, actually! Not Duncan—Mrs. Wheeled! We need to speak to Mrs. Wheeled! Uh... Could she come alone...?"
"……."
Calling only the softest woman? Intentions reeked foul. Veins throbbed on Kadim's forehead. Should've exterminated the vermin with the nests...
Then Yulia politely intervened.
"...M-Mercenary sir. It's fine. Nothing serious—go inside. I'll handle it."
Her weary face, having just settled her son, wanted no more fuss. Respecting that, Kadim stepped aside. Yulia faced the villagers alone.
"...So, what is it."
Air hung heavy. Madam Medel donned a fake smile.
"Oh, Mrs. Wheeled! You look pale—are you okay? Morning must've been rough with your son taken, then all this village chaos. Lucky your house is fine though! So jealous!"
"……."
"W-We called because, well, your mercenary wrecked our homes. Thought maybe some compensation...?"
"...That's why you summoned me?"
"Yes? Y-Yes, of course!"
"...Nothing else?"
Madam Medel forced a grin, nodding eagerly.
Bitter amusement curled Yulia's lips. She'd planned to help a little if they apologized sincerely now.
"Sorry, ma'am. No compensation possible. Best I can offer is this."
Yulia grabbed Madam Medel's hair, slapping her cheek hard.
SMACK!
"Kyaa!"
The blow stung so fierce, Madam Medel tumbled across the dirt like she'd taken a punch. Yulia gazed politely, bowing.
"If you need more, just say later. Might not have much else, but this? Plenty to give."
"Wh-what... Huh...?"
As Madam Medel gaped dumbfounded, Yulia returned home and slammed the door shut.
BANG!
No matter how desperately they stared, the door stayed firmly closed.