Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Suspicious Gazes
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Gazes
-Whish!! Thud!!!
"Kieeeek!!"
A quiet forest.
With a sharp whistling sound slicing through the air, a goblin wandering the woods met its instant end.
"....This is insane."
Emerging from between the bushes, I looked down at the goblin I'd killed in one throw and clenched and unclenched my fist repeatedly, thrilled.
'Even if I hit it with a hand axe before, it never died right away....'
From the start, I'd chosen a combat style of throwing hand axes from afar.
But that wasn't because I was confident in my throwing skills.
It was just that I lacked the ability to fight up close, so I'd been forced into it.
'Plus, it served as training for my 'Replication' ability.'
My skills were far too lacking to swing a sword up close, and the risk of getting killed was too high, so I'd gone with throwing....
But objectively speaking, my accuracy was downright abysmal.
Out of ten throws, three or four would miss, and even if I landed a solid hit, my strength was too low to finish it off in one go.
That had been my skill level up until now....
"That's ten with this one, right?"
Casually slicing off the goblin's ear, I reflected on the day's haul.
Compared to my usual one or two goblins at best, this was absurd.
And considering most of those kills had been one-shot instant deaths, it was truly astonishing.
"My strength... it's gotten ridiculously high. And I'm not tired at all."
After being discharged from the hospital and getting fitted for new gear, I'd come to this familiar forest to test the changes in my body.
And the results from hunting goblins were shocking.
Not only had my overall physical abilities improved dramatically, but my stamina itself had surged, so I hadn't felt the slightest fatigue.
On top of that...
-Rustle.
'Over there.'
I caught the sound of bushes rustling and the foul stench tickling my nose, then quietly moved toward the source.
Sure enough, I spotted a goblin right away—one that used to be hard to find even after scouring the woods.
'Hearing, smell, sight.... Even taste has sharpened.'
With all my senses honed sharper than ever, I could see farther, hear from greater distances.
Thanks to that, I quickly located the goblin, activated Replication once more to duplicate my new hand axe, and hurled it.
-Whish! Thunk!!!
"Grrk...."
This time, it died without even a death rattle, its skull exploding on impact.
I looked down at it calmly and cut off its ear.
"Tch.... It's good and all, but."
I used to be on the weaker side among average E-rank Adventurers, so suddenly getting this strong felt pretty great, honestly.
But the fact that these changes came from using that Evil God's Black Sacred Object or whatever rubbed me the wrong way.
'Even when I tried looking into it, there's no info.'
I'd done my best to dig into that Black Sacred Object and the sword called 'Gula,' but in this backwater town, as an E-rank Adventurer, there wasn't much to find.
The most I got was that 'Black Sacred Objects' were divine artifacts the Evil Gods had personally infused with their powers in the past.
That was the limit of what I could learn.
I had no clue what kinds existed or what abilities they had.
'Time to head back for now.'
Having confirmed all the changes in my body, I gathered the spoils from the hunted goblins and prepared to return to the city.
Before that...
"Sigh. What a pain."
By the riverbank, I scooped up mud and smeared it over my new gear, deliberately scratching it up to make it look worn and ragged.
And since my body was spotless from the clean kills today, I deliberately splashed some goblin blood on myself.
'No need to draw unnecessary attention.'
I used to struggle like hell just to bag one or two goblins, so coming back pristine with over ten would definitely raise eyebrows.
Especially in this small town where rumors spread like wildfire—I had to be extra careful.
'Already got plenty of people watching me with bad intent.'
Especially since not long ago, I'd boldly snatched(?) that sweet commission right in front of everyone, so there were even more unfriendly gazes on me.
'At least publicly, it's known I only took the job for one day. Dodged a bullet there.'
The silver lining was that my commission had involved Evil God Cultists, so the guild report had been slightly fudged.
It was logged as me taking Laila's job for just one day.
Luckily, no one knew I'd done two days' worth, since on the second day, I'd met Laila at the city gate, not the guild.
"Still, too many guys picking fights for no reason..."
Having disguised myself as ragged and battle-worn from tangling with goblins, I headed back to the city.
By the time I reached the guild, a few adventurers who'd been desperate for Laila's commission recognized my face.
"Tch. What the hell. Isn't that the guy from back then?"
'Talk about the pot calling the kettle black—they got rejected for stinking.'
It was ridiculous seeing those guys who'd tried hitting on Laila without even brushing their teeth get rejected, now glaring at me with malice, but I held my tongue.
Instead, I handed over just the four goblin ears I'd brought and collected my reward.
-.....Ziiing..
'Again.'
The moment I finished collecting my pay and turned to head back to my lodging, I felt that familiar unpleasant sensation again and scanned my surroundings.
The same sickening gaze I'd felt after leaving the hospital, while rushing to get new gear at the blacksmith.
Envy, jealousy, and greed—all of it hit me full force.
'Not just one person.'
With all my senses enhanced, some kind of intuition had sharpened too.
I could instinctively tell multiple people were watching me with strange looks.
'Sure, others glare too, but...'
The guys who thought I'd stolen their commission were glaring, but the emotions in these gazes ran far deeper.
Thicker, more insidious... dangerous feelings, you might say.
"Hey, Yuseong. Quest done?"
"....Jacob."
As I scanned the guild interior trying to pinpoint the gaze's owner, a familiar voice called out, and a rough hand landed on my shoulder.
The presence vanished at the same moment, so I clicked my tongue and turned to the man.
"What now?"
"Quit acting like that. Word's already out that you snagged that 5-silver quest. Don't you think it's time to buy your buddy a drink?"
"Haaa...."
This guy—was his face made of steel plating?
Ever since he learned I was the one who'd hooked Laila's commission, he'd been sneakily pressuring me to buy him drinks.
Normally, I'd have slapped his hand away and spat in his face by now.
However...
"Fine. Let's go."
"....Huh? For real?"
When I accepted his offer without protest, even Jacob—who'd been clinging—looked genuinely surprised.
"You? Seriously? What's the occasion?"
"I'm telling you now—no more than 1 silver tonight."
"That's plenty! Let's go!"
Jacob grinned ear to ear and threw an arm around my shoulder as we headed out of the guild.
As we stepped outside, I glanced back one last time at where the gaze had come from.
'That guy.'
In that direction, I spotted the man I'd met at the blacksmith the other day while getting fitted for gear.
And even him talking with a few others.
"...really.... the gear.... temple...."
The guild was too noisy for me to make out what he was saying.
But I pretended not to notice a thing, slipped out with Jacob, and headed to a cheap tavern.
"Fried devil fish and two beers here!!"
Jacob, never shy with someone else's coin, ordered booze and snacks without hesitation, beaming as he praised me.
"Man, what's gotten into you? Me freeloading drinks off you...."
"I bought you one last time too."
"That was once! You haven't since."
"...Remember how much you scarfed down then?"
I shot Jacob—who'd once downed 2 silvers' worth—a glare, but he whistled innocently and averted his eyes.
Truth be told, I had zero desire to buy this jerk another round...
But tonight, I had my reasons.
"Whatever. Got some questions."
"Oho? Shoot. What do you wanna know? Can't tell you my underwear color though? Not wearing any! Kahaha!!"
"....Fuck off."
I desperately wanted to deck Jacob for sharing info I never asked for, but I reined myself in with superhuman patience.
The reason I'd bothered buying him drinks...
"Jacob. You said you came here from somewhere else, right?"
"Yeah. Worked in Revel, hit E-rank, then transferred here."
Among my few acquaintances in this city, Jacob was the only one who'd come from outside.
"Revel... Close by?"
"Yep. Just cross the small mountain to the west. Three days on foot."
"How's it there?"
"Worlds apart from here! Ten times bigger than this podunk town, guild packed with real adventurers, merchants, temples.... Oh, and the back alleys have brothels...!!"
Jacob, who always bragged about not being some country bumpkin and coming from a proper city, lit up when I showed interest and rambled on about Revel.
"Man.... If that girl hadn't dumped me, I'd still be working there...."
"How's the road from here to there? Dangerous?"
"Nah, not really. No bandits.... Monsters aren't tough either."
Refilling his mug, I started extracting the info I needed bit by bit.
Routes from this city to Revel, what kind of place it was, and so on....
"Phew...! Shouldn't have come here. People gotta swim in big ponds, y'know...."
"Couldn't agree more."
I calmly agreed with Jacob as he started whining drunkenly.
'Can't investigate jack in this town.'
The bizarre changes in my body.
To understand them, I needed info on the Black Sacred Object.
But there were limits to what I could learn in this backwater.
And besides...
'Too busy scraping by day to day to worry about it till now, but...'
I'm a transmigrator from another world.
I'd been living an ordinary life on Earth when one day, out of nowhere, I was summoned here.
I don't know why I was summoned.
And the alien power dwelling in me—this 'Replication' ability—I don't fully understand it either.
'I want to know.'
Why I transmigrated here.
What this 'Replication' power grafted onto me truly is.
'Originally planned to build skills and money here, then move to a bigger city...'
Ever since the weird changes hit my body, my combat prowess had skyrocketed.
Plus, though I hadn't touched them yet to avoid attention, my pouch was fat with gold coins.
'Now's the time... to head to a bigger city.'
I felt the moment to bid farewell to this city where I'd operated for two years was fast approaching.
Well, so...
"Here, one more round."
"Whoa! What's this?!"
...a farewell of sorts to the closest thing I had to a friend in this city.
I kept pouring drinks for Jacob.
.
.
.
.
And the next day.
"This should be enough."
Using the info from Jacob, I'd bought rations and camping gear from a general store without telling a soul, then headed to the city's west gate.
"Said the path to Revel is paved... Tch. A compass would be nice."
Still, he mentioned climbing that small western mountain would let me spot the city, so I probably wouldn't get lost.
"....Farewell."
I gave a small parting wave to the city I'd leeched off for two years and left.
To learn about the Black Sacred Object.
And to better understand why I'd transmigrated and the nature of the Replication power within me.
And.
"........"
Several hours after Yuseong left the city.
-Swish.
Numerous shadows slipped out of the city after him, heading west...
but no one had noticed yet.