Lingering Regrets
I let out a long sigh and sat down on a nearby rock to catch my breath. The number of goblins had been far higher than I expected. Now I understood why the villagers had put out a request to have them exterminated.
“Whoa… how many are there?”
I counted the goblin corpses one by one. There were easily over a hundred.
“Way more than I thought… I should split half of them with the villagers.”
I stored the goblin corpses inside my Item Box. Thanks to my good deed, the married men of the village would be forced to participate in a mandatory defense drill tonight.
“Oh my… Adventurer, you’ve returned.”
When I got back to the village, an elderly man who appeared to be the village chief greeted me. He glanced sideways to check my condition. Seeing the numerous small bruises covering my body, he sighed and spoke.
“You’ve worked hard… Since you came all this way for our village, I’ll give you half of the request fee.”
The chief spoke as if he already knew I had failed the subjugation.
“There’s an inn nearby, so why don’t you stay there for the night…”
“Wait, wait a second.”
I cut the chief off.
“Do you think I lost to the goblin horde?”
At my words, the chief stammered in obvious panic.
“W-well… those wounds on your body, and… you came back empty-handed…”
The chief trailed off and avoided my gaze. The reason he was treating me this way was because of the terrible image adventurers had built up over the years. Not all adventurers were like that, but the occasional hot-tempered ones—no, the outright thugs—had committed crimes like threatening or even murdering their clients. Because of that, adventurers were now seen as both objects of fear and problem-solvers. The chief was acting so subservient simply because he didn’t want to offend me.
“Don’t worry. I’m not that kind of person.”
“Pardon…?”
I eased the man’s tension and reached into my Item Box.
“Ah~ If it had only been one or two, I might have brought them right away, but there were over a hundred, so I left them in the Item Box. Just wait a moment.”
I rummaged around inside the Item Box. After a short while, I pulled my hand back out.
“Here are all the goblins I subjugated today.”
When I stretched my arm into the air, a massive pile of goblin corpses appeared.
“Th-this is…”
The chief stared at the mountain of goblin bodies I had summoned, his face frozen in shock. At the loud commotion, villagers poked their heads out of their homes and stared at us.
“Mommy! Are those goblins??”
“Shh!!! Be quiet, dear.”
The mother who had been covering her child’s mouth met my eyes and quickly looked away.
Come on, do I really look that scary?
Once again, I had been misunderstood. I turned my gaze to the child.
Wow…
The boy’s face sparkled as he stared at the pile of goblin corpses. When our eyes met, he shouted.
“Mister!!”
“No!!”
The boy came running toward me.
“Mister! Did you catch all of these?!”
The little boy’s eyes were shining brightly. His mother came rushing after him. I lowered myself to his level and placed a hand on his head.
“Don’t you dare!!!!”
The mother’s scream echoed through the village. But the boy…
“Hehe!”
When I ruffled his hair, he laughed brightly. The mother, who had thought I was about to harm her son, stopped in her tracks and simply stared at me. I took my hand off the boy’s head and said,
“Of course. This big brother came because the chief over there asked for help. You haven’t been able to go into the mountains for a while, right?”
“Yeah. Mommy said there are scary monsters in the mountains and wouldn’t let me go.”
“Well, I’ve taken care of all the scary monsters in the mountains, so you don’t have to worry anymore.”
“Wow! Really?? You’re the best, mister!!”
The boy jumped up and down with joy. One of the village’s young men cautiously approached me.
“U-um… Are you the ‘adventurer’ the chief hired?”
The man looked up at me with a trembling voice. I put on my friendliest smile.
“Yes. I’ve just finished the quest the chief requested.”
I gestured toward the pile of goblin corpses.
“There were more than I expected, but you won’t have to worry about goblins coming down from the mountain anymore. I made sure of that.”
To the villagers, my words sounded like a noble declaration that I had eradicated every last one for their safety.
But each and every one of these is money. Only an idiot would leave them behind.
In reality, I had simply gone on a massive slaughter because I was blinded by the profit.
At my words, the man dropped to his knees right there, deeply moved.
“Thank you so much!!”
Startled by his sudden action, I quickly helped him back to his feet.
“Please, there’s no need for that. I only did what needed to be done.”
Making money is my job, after all.
“Sob… sob…”
Then, the man who had knelt before me suddenly began to cry in front of everyone.
What the—why is he crying??
I desperately tried to comfort the man who was pouring out tears right in front of me.
“Sir, may I ask why you’re crying?”
When I spoke in a gentle voice, the man answered through his sobs.
“I… married my childhood friend at a very young age and lived a happy life. We went everywhere together, and she always cheered me on no matter what I did… That day, we were climbing the mountain together. I went ahead to pick mushrooms. I never should have done that…”
“My wife suffered a severe wound from a goblin ambush. She was in so much pain from the poison… I still remember it clearly…”
“But I… as her husband… I couldn’t do anything for her. All I could do was carry my injured wife down the mountain…”
The man looked at me again.
“Thank you… Thank you so much…”
He broke down into heavy sobs. After listening to everything he said, I spoke softly.
“Has your wife recovered yet?”
“No…”
The man shook his head and continued.
“It seemed like poison, so I asked famous priests and doctors for help… but her condition never improved…”
The man collapsed on the spot in despair. I grabbed his shoulder.
“Please take me to where your wife is.”
“W-what…?”
“It might be reckless, but… I’d like to take a look.”
“N-no, adventurer… You must be exhausted from fighting all those goblins…”
“Sir.”
I whispered into the husband’s ear.
“If you miss this one chance… there may never be another. A very long time ago… I let that chance slip away.”
“From the day I missed it, I resented myself endlessly. I kept thinking I should have at least grabbed onto even a fragile branch that looked like it would snap.”
“Will you live the same life I did? Or…”
I smiled brightly.
“Will you try to hold on to even that fragile branch that looks like it might break?”
As soon as I finished speaking, the man let out a wail far louder than before.
Following the husband’s lead, I headed to his house. He stopped in front of a shabby dwelling in the corner and knocked softly.
“Honey, I’m back…”
He opened the door. The moment I saw his wife, I couldn’t hide my shock.
This is… Magi.
The instant I saw the woman’s face, I instinctively knew this was the result of Magi poisoning. A faint but unmistakable demonic energy wafted out when the door opened. It was completely different from the aura ordinary goblins gave off.
“Can you… heal her, sir…?”
The husband held his wife’s hand tightly as he asked. I reassured him.
“I’ll do my best. As far as my abilities allow.”
Just a little more…! Just a little…!
I searched through the woman’s body, eradicating every trace of Magi I could find. The poisoning had gone on for so long that it had spread to her arms, legs, and even her kidneys. But—
There’s none in her head… Then…
Because there was no Magi clinging to her brain, a faint ray of hope bloomed in my chest as I began the treatment. One wrong move and her life could flicker out, so I poured every ounce of my concentration into locating the main gathering point of the Magi.
“Found it!”
The moment I discovered where the Magi was concentrated, I unleashed every holy spell I possessed to purge it from her body.
“Haa…”
“I-is it… over…?”
When I removed my hand from the woman, she began to stir weakly.
“H-honey…!”
At the husband’s loud cry, the woman—who had been unconscious until just moments ago—opened her eyes.
“…Impal…”
The wife and husband stared at each other for a long moment before they embraced fiercely.
“Honey… Honey!!!!”
“It’s okay now… Impal…”
The two clung to each other with desperate passion. I quietly opened the door and slipped outside.
“Take your time and enjoy this moment together.”
In a voice so soft that even the husband couldn’t hear, I wished them happiness.
“Well then, I should head home too.”
I turned my stiff body forward. I now had a family I needed to support.
“This time… I won’t have any regrets.”
I gazed at the sun slowly sinking behind the mountains and made my vow. So that I would never repeat the pain of that day again…