The Mask of Revenge
I dreamt I was adventuring with my companions. It was fun. Then, I woke up. It was morning. The room was quiet, inside a cramped, foul-smelling cabin. Cool air and the pale blue light of dawn seeped through the window. Outside, a rooster crowed. I lay there, blinking, silently accepting the reality that I was now alone.
“Ah…”
There was no point in clinging to the past anymore. Everything I had seen, everything I had heard—it was all crystal clear. All that remained was to carve out my path forward with cold, rational judgment.
“Umm…”
The woman lying beside me stirred, pulling the blanket. The quilt, which had been covering her chest, slid down. I was lying there completely naked. And the woman sleeping next to me was just as bare, without a single stitch of clothing on her. Her disheveled, reddish-brown hair still carried a sweet scent. The fragrance of a woman’s body was always comforting, no matter when I smelled it.
Her name was Yeni. She was the illegitimate daughter of the old man who owned this cabin, Kirondaer. I had become close with her after meeting her several times whenever I visited him. She was two or three years older than me. She was a very kind and gentle woman, living her life helping her father with his work every day. She also suffered from a disability—she couldn't speak. Her temperament was calm. Since her father’s work was quite dangerous, she knew how to handle a sword reasonably well.
“Yeni, are you awake?”
My sexual desire surged the moment I woke up. To forget this shitty reality, even for a moment, I needed to mix my flesh with a woman’s and feel pleasure. I didn't think I could just pounce on her while she was still asleep, so I simply reached out and gently kneaded her breasts.
“Uung…”
Yeni let out a moan and shifted her body. She turned to face me. Seeing that she didn't open her eyes right away, she must have been exhausted. Well, I had tormented her all night long. We had literally had a storm of sex. Because I had poured all my resentment and rage toward the Imperial Emperor and the Hero’s Party into her pussy, the sex had been incredibly intense. On top of that, the joy of reuniting with her made my cock stay hard, so I had kept thrusting into her.
Of course, it wasn't free. I had to pay her father, Kirondaer, for the nights I spent with her. It was proof that there was nothing truly romantic between Yeni and me.
“Aah! Aah! Ah!”
Once again, intoxicated by her skin, I forgot reality. I kneaded her disheveled breasts to my heart’s content and wildly rammed my raging cock into her pussy. Yeni’s pussy was a masterpiece; it felt like my cock was being squeezed tight. The sensation was incredibly electric.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
Every time I slammed my lower body into hers, her buttocks rippled like waves, and her moans echoed beyond the house and into the quiet forest.
“Haa-ut! Ah! Haaaaa!”
Yeni writhed in pleasure. Fluids kept pouring from her pussy. The sheets were soaked. Perhaps because it was morning, our bodies were both hypersensitive. I, too, felt the urge to ejaculate quickly.
“Kuh-ut…!”
I quickly pulled my cock out of her pussy and shoved it deep into her mouth. I ejaculated with all my might. Gulp, gulp. Yeni drank every last drop of my semen without leaving a single bit behind.
“You really are a good woman.”
A sense of conquest surged within me, and she looked lovely. I stroked her hair—matted and wild, with glistening semen smeared around her mouth as she smiled brightly at me—and then I thrust my cock back into her. The excitement that had bloomed in the morning didn't fade easily. I began to treat Yeni’s pussy like a masturbator, thrusting into her like a dog once more. Yeni let out animalistic, heat-filled cries for me again.
Once our pleasant tryst ended, Yeni fell asleep immediately. She must have been physically exhausted from dealing with a man after such a long time. I left the room and went out to the porch. Kirondaer was shelling beans while looking out at the scenery visible from the yard. I took a silver coin from my pocket and tossed it to him. He caught it in mid-air without even looking. He grumbled when he saw the coin.
“Is this all?”
“I couldn't bring much money because I was afraid of getting caught while escaping. Just a handful. I even had to abandon all the expensive equipment I’d bought over the years.”
“Good grief. Your life is truly peculiar.”
Kirondaer clicked his tongue and peeled a bean pod. Kirondaer, a man in his sixties. Thirty years ago, when he was in his thirties, he had been the captain of the Holy Knights representing the Sacred Kingdom of Messis, but one day, he had broken into the prince’s bedroom and assassinated him. He had personally executed the depraved prince for raping and murdering the daughter of his dead friend, with whom he had sworn brotherhood. It was such a shocking incident that the kingdom had been turned upside down. Kirondaer had been chased by the kingdom’s army, fled, wandered from country to country, and eventually became a bandit.
His current job was that of a courier. He delivered extremely secret letters all over the world through a network of contacts. He had been doing this for twenty years. Looking at his gaunt, deeply wrinkled face, you could no longer find even a trace of the dignified knight captain he once was. He was just a bandit old man doing bad things in secret with his illegitimate daughter.
“What are you going to do from now on? How do you plan to live?”
“I’m going to think about that starting now.”
I sat down comfortably next to Kirondaer and calmly surveyed the yard. The morning air felt refreshing.
“I… because I’m different from you people, it’ll be hard to live in hiding forever. Wherever I go, I’ll be noticed and controlled. Eventually, my existence will reach the Emperor’s ears.”
“The Emperor was foolish. Even if the Demon King has perished, the world still needs your help.”
Memories of the past flashed by. People suffering from evil. The moments I tried to save even one person. I took a deep breath and let it out. I spoke in a low, seething voice.
“I’m not that kind of person anymore. I’ve found a new path. Because I was betrayed. I’ve learned to the bone that no matter what I do for the Empire, it’s useless.”
I clenched my fist, and it trembled slightly. Kirondaer looked at me with pity before opening his mouth.
“I’ve had times when I was lost, just like you. If it hadn't been for Yeni’s mother, I might have committed suicide. Why don't you take on an apprentice?”
“An apprentice? Suddenly?”
“It’s better to have someone to talk to than to travel alone.”
“So I can be betrayed again?”
A laugh escaped my lips.
“You take them along for the fun of teaching them this and that. It will help alleviate your desire for revenge.”
“Kirondaer. This isn't the time for me to be teaching kids.”
I stood up and walked to the middle of the yard.
“If you’ve been wronged, paying them back comes first.”
After taking a refreshing breath and exhaling, I looked up into the distance. A massive weapon was faintly visible through the clouds in the distance. It was stuck diagonally into the ground with its blade exposed. It was a weapon said to have been plunged by a god long ago to destroy the corrupt human city of Sodom. It was a spectacular sight, visible from over 300 kilometers away.
“See that? Just like that Spear of Ruina stuck in the earth, I’m going to smash the heart of the Empire. Only then will a world open up where I can safely raise an apprentice and live.”
The work I needed to start immediately was clear. The vast amount of information provided by the Imperial Intelligence Agency during the ten years I spent with the Hero. I would synthesize and organize it, make a plan, and recruit the talent to pull off a big heist together. That was all I had to do. That information had been used to kill the Demon King in the past, but now, it would be used to eliminate the Emperor.
A few days passed. Life in the cabin was as comfortable as could be. Since Kirondaer was a man who was more thorough about security than anyone else, there was no risk of the cabin’s location being discovered, and thanks to that, there was no anxiety. The food was decent, and the nights were always enjoyable. Since I slept with Yeni every day, I could satisfy my sexual desires whenever they built up, without them ever piling up.
“Ha-ang, ah-ang! Aa-ang…!”
However, the one thing that was gradually decreasing was my money. Since I had recovered my body and mind by breathing the fresh air in the mountains, it was time to go back out into the world. But before that…
I wrapped my head in a long cloth, leaving only my eyes exposed, and headed to a nearby village.
“I want to have this made.”
I showed the blacksmith what I had drawn on a piece of paper.
“You’re a Lurker, aren't you?”
I thought I had hidden my face well, but I was found out immediately. I laughed without realizing it. But it was fine. It had been ten years since Earthlings appeared here, so while discrimination was severe in the aristocratic society that tried to protect territory, class, and hierarchy, the perception that it didn't really matter was widespread among commoners. As if to say, as long as they didn't cause harm, that was all that mattered.
“What did you come to order, Lurker? Let’s see… hmm?”
What was drawn on the paper was the design for a mask. It was meant to cover the entire head, including the hair, so it wouldn't be wrong to call it a helmet, but since it used a metal lighter than iron, it was very light. Naturally, the cost was expensive. I didn't have much money on hand, but I intended to pour my entire fortune into making the mask.
“No nose, no mouth, just holes for the eyes. It’s like drawing eyes on an egg. This is going to cost a lot, and it’ll take over a month to gather the materials. Are you sure?”
“Please do it.”
“Should I add some rich white tassels on the back, like a horse’s mane? It’ll be boring if there’s nothing. If you walk around like this, people will tease you for being an egg.”
“Hmm… do that. I hadn't thought of that.”
I finished my order and left the smithy. As I was walking along the mountain path, lost in thought, I happened to find an elf collapsed, poisoned.
“How did this happen…?”
“Cough! Ugh, ugh…!”
She was vomiting blood and dying. ‘I need an antidote. If it’s an antidote…’ I had one. A medicine that could cure any poison in existence.