Morhan Village (2)

Three jars of liquor sat before me.

I dipped a pinky into one and tasted it.

A fierce burn of alcohol hit the tip of my tongue.

Even a great general would get drunk off this.

"This should be more than enough."

I started packing to leave.

Henry began preparing as well.

"Henry, you stay here."

"It's dangerous if you go alone!"

"Someone has to stay behind. If goblins or boars come down, who else is going to stop them?"

I clapped him on the shoulder.

"I'll be back."

With Henry and the villagers' pleas to return alive ringing in my ears, I set out on the road.

"This should be far enough."

I hadn't stopped between the goblin settlement and the village. I'd gone even farther out on purpose.

The reason was simple. I didn't want whatever I was about to do to become the very thing that led the goblins to discover the village.

I arrived at a spot near the settlement, deep in the middle of the forest, and thought of a single word.

Inventory.

My held items appeared.

First, the cart.

I pulled out a large cart, then began taking out the rest one by one.

Two wild boars. Three jars of liquor.

The dead boars and the liquor settled into the cart. I opened the lids of the jars and drew my dagger.

A thin film of green poison began to coat the blade. I grinned at the sight, then slowly brought the dagger to a jar and plunged the edge deep into the liquor.

The poison seeped in gradually. Before the color could change, I pulled the dagger free and did the same to the other jars.

If I put in too much, they'll notice the poison in the liquor right away.

A reaction that came too fast would be just as bad. Once I confirmed a moderate amount of poison had spread, I sealed the lids and took hold of the cart's handles.

Time to put my back into it!

I started hauling the cart. A short stretch of road and I'd be at their den. I kept pulling.

"Heave…"

The cart was heavier than I'd expected. I drove power into the soles of my feet and barely managed to drag it along. Then their den began to show through the trees.

This is far enough.

I let out a long breath and opened my mouth.

"Aaaah!!! Goblins!!!"

"Kkeuk?"

The goblins in the settlement turned toward me beyond the trees.

"Kyaek!"

They came charging. I immediately let go of the cart handles and ran.

They kept coming after me.

You think short-legged bastards like you are going to catch me?

I lengthened my stride and ran even faster.

"Stupid goblins. I may not look like much, but I took silver in the national track meet back in the day!"

"Kke-kek… kek…"

My superior running and endless stamina left them gasping in place, unable to keep up. I sprinted to safety, waited a while, then returned to where the cart had been.

"Nice."

The liquor and meat that had been loaded on it were all gone.

Preparations were finished. Now all that remained was to wait for night—and for the reaction to hit them.

The sun set and the forest darkened. The goblin settlement was another story entirely.

Bright bonfires. Strange songs in their tongue. They had started a party.

Just a little longer.

I kept watching their condition from the woods. Goblins opened the jars and began ladling the liquor down their throats.

With the dose I mixed in, the reaction should hit in about thirty minutes.

A few of them flinched at the odd taste, but in the end they all shared it companionably. Twenty minutes later, the effects began to show.

Goblins clutched at their throats. Paralysis had started. It wasn't poison injected straight into a wound, but the effect was still solid—and layered on top of the drunkenness from Morhan Village's special brew, it hit twice as hard.

Respiratory distress set in. They clawed at their necks, foamed at the mouth, and began to collapse one after another.

"Kkieek?"

The ones who caught on dropped their drinking gourds at once. But it was already too late. The reaction would hit them soon enough.

Goblins kept falling. Still, there were those who had drunk less—or not at all.

No choice. Time to start.

My poison still wasn't strong. If they'd only taken a little, I couldn't rule out the chance they'd fight it off. I stepped out from between the trees and showed myself.

"Kkieek?"

They spotted me. Some saw me and still collapsed without doing a thing; the rest charged. Even those weren't fully right. Some of them, drunk on Morhan special, tripped while running. A few even mistook each other and cracked skulls together.

All I had to do was deal with the handful still coming at me cleanly.

My body lightened. I cast Poison Coating as well, then slipped past their clubs and blades and began carving into their flesh.

"Kkeuek…"

The ones who'd had even a little of the strong liquor moved strangely and were easy to catch. Even the ones still functional were only strong when they clustered together. More than half already lay on the ground, and half of those still standing weren't right either.

I cut them down one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and two at a time.

Shhk—

Monsters fell under the blade. By the time I'd cut down about three of the functional ones, I no longer even needed Acceleration. I started finishing the rest.

From there it was a one-sided slaughter. Every goblin still in its right mind was already dead; all that remained was to snuff out the rest.

Thud! I sent the suffering goblins to the next world one by one. The twenty of them were cleaned up. I drove my blade into the last one's throat.

Thud.

A system alert rose.

I opened my status window.

"Two?"

Crossing level 10 had given me two stat points. Lately even exercise barely moved my stats, so this was a relief. I split them evenly between Agility and Strength.

Ohho, dual-wielding now?! Before, using both hands felt so awkward I couldn't manage it.

Another alert chimed.

I hurriedly closed the alert and checked my skill window again.

"Uh… well…"

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't hoped for an offensive skill. But I already had an attack skill for poison. Looking at it that way… it seemed fine.

Honestly, I hadn't even known whether I had any resistance to my own poison. There was always a chance I could coat a blade and end up getting hit by it myself. With this skill, that worry looked a lot smaller.

I searched every corner of the settlement.

"Anything worth taking?"

I stepped into the tent at the center. Goblins had a habit of collecting shiny things. All sorts of objects were piled there—glittering armor, stones, gems, even gold coins. One item in the middle caught my eye.

What's this?

A brown square pendant. I touched it; the brown wasn't rust. It was made of some material I'd never seen, and a strange design was set into it—a brick-pattern background with the shape of an eye carved in the center.

"Weird-looking thing."

I appraised it.

An ancient relic? It sounded cool, but no special effect was attached.

Nothing special, then?

That was the thought in my head when I jerked in shock and dropped the necklace.

"Hiek!"

I stared at it. Just now… for certain…

"It moved."

The eye carved into the necklace had moved. I stared at it for a long time. It had. It definitely had moved. But the necklace gave no further reaction. After twenty minutes of watching it in silence, I carefully picked it up again.

"Did I imagine it?"

It left a bad feeling. But the appraisal result—an ancient relic—made it impossible to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠throw away.

"Fine. I'll just keep it."

I put the necklace into my inventory. After collecting every scrap of loot, I started slowly back down toward the village, checking for stragglers as I went.

By the time I was descending, dawn was already breaking. The village came into view in the distance. Behind raised barricades, the residents stood waiting.

They were all on edge.

Old men, women—everyone in the village stood tense along the barricade, gripping spears carved from wood or farm tools, ready for monsters. I shouted for them.

"Hey!!! It's me!!"

When they saw me waving from afar as I approached, a cheer rose from the villagers.

"Waaaaah!!!!"

The joyful roar of people who'd been wound tight reached me, and I ran the rest of the way. As I neared the village, they came out one by one to ask.

"Lord Ki-seok, did you defeat all the goblins?"

"Are you all right, hyung-nim?"

The village chief and his son Henry were the first to speak.

"The goblins are all gone. It's our victory!"

Another wave of cheering answered. The men threw arms around each other's shoulders in excitement; the women wept. They must have been terribly worried.

"Lord Ki-seok, truly… truly! Thank you. Tonight we'll bring out the finest liquor in the village. Please stay and enjoy yourself."

"That's right, hyung-nim. Tonight is a festival!"

We slept off the night we'd missed, and that evening we held the festival. We barbecued the boar meat we'd brought, and the chief produced the village's finest honey wine. Under the firelight we celebrated even harder than the goblins had.

"Hey, Henry—is that her? The one who turned you down?"

"Hyung-nim! She'll hear you. Yeah, that's the girl."

There she was—a brown-haired girl with her hair in twin braids. Plain-looking, but pretty in a quiet way.

"Why not try confessing? You looked pretty cool today. You helped protect the village too, you know~"

"Not yet, hyung-nim. I'm going to become a knight first, then confess!"

"And if someone steals her first?"

Henry's eyes still didn't waver. The kid had some backbone after all. Thinking that, I walked forward.

"Hyung-nim?!"

I approached the brown-haired girl and held out my hand.

"My lady, would you honor me with a dance?"

She shyly laid her hand on mine.

"Hyung-nim?!"

"What, punk! That's why I said she'd get stolen! If you don't like it, get over here!"

Henry's face went scarlet as he came closer.

"It seems my dear little brother would like a dance with the lady."

Henry fidgeted with his hair, then stepped up and offered his other hand.

"Ca… Camilla. Would you dance with me?"

A flush rose in Camilla's cheeks as she set her hand on Henry's.

"Yeah… okay. Henry."

And so Henry, wearing a happy expression, began to dance with Camilla.

Sigh. This punk is hopeless unless someone helps him out.

Whistles and teasing jokes poured in from the villagers around them.

"Henry! Look at that grin from ear to ear!"

"Camilla's too good for you, you punk!"

Even under the villagers' good-natured ribbing, Henry only pulled Camilla closer by the back and met her eyes. The kid was better at this than I'd expected.

While I was thinking that, the chief came over.

"Heh heh heh… our Henry's grown so dependable…"

He wiped at glistening eyes with a finger, then raised his cup.

"It's all thanks to Lord Ki-seok. Everyone—a toast to Lord Ki-seok!"

We all raised our cups and celebrated happily late into the night.

"Uuugh…"

The next day I didn't wake until noon, clutching a throbbing head. When I left the room, Henry and the chief were already up. We sobered up with a stew of boar meat and prepared to leave for Tebe.

"We are truly grateful. Lord Ki-seok, and Henry."

"Not at all, Chief."

"I have something for you, Lord Ki-seok."

The chief drew a small ring set ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with a gem from his pocket and held it out to me. A ring with a green-tinged jewel.

"What is this…?"

"A ring forged from a monster's magic stone. It was my older brother's keepsake."

"Why give something so precious to me…"

"My brother was a strong adventurer. But he passed away."

The chief looked at the ring as he continued.

"I never went on adventures myself, so this thing never found a master. Consider it a small token of thanks for clearing the goblins alone even though it was so dangerous."

"Even so, something this valuable… Henry, are you all right with me taking it?"

"He gave it to you, hyung-nim~ And I want you to have it too."

I looked down at the ring in my hand and muttered inwardly.

Appraise.

I slipped the ring on. Suddenly the birthmark behind my shoulder burned hot.

What?

I reached under my clothes and touched the mark, but nothing seemed wrong. Just my imagination? I looked at my hand with the ring on it again. It suited me better than I'd expected.

"I'll make good use of it. Thank you, sir."

Henry and I said our farewells and climbed into the carriage. The chief and the villagers waved until we were out of sight.

Truly warm people.

Thinking that, we waved back as we headed for Tebe.