The sun rose as usual, leaving behind the horrible night. It was a bright morning.
But despite the cheerful chirping of the birds and the refreshing mountain breeze, the village was filled with a gloomy atmosphere. The people who had suffered from a sudden and severe measles outbreak woke up to realize that their small peace had been shattered by the claws of a monster.
“Are you awake?”
Yan, who had a weary face, bowed his head when he saw Ruon coming out of the inn. Next to him, there were a few young men with pale faces, who also bowed deeply and politely following Yan.
Ruon gestured with his hand for them to stop and said.
“You seemed busy all night. Are you okay?”
Yan nodded weakly.
“I’m fine. But some people who didn’t lock their doors in time were attacked. Those houses were inevitably burned down. And many livestock were killed too… The damage is not small.”
He clenched his fist and added.
“It’s my fault. If I had known that those filthy human hunters would turn into horrible monsters after they died, I wouldn’t have dumped them in the back mountain. I would have burned them.”
They’ve changed.
Ruon bit his tongue lightly as he saw the hostility in the eyes of Yan and the young men.
They had witnessed the scene of the corpses they had killed coming back to life and turning the village into a mess, just after they had overcome the shock of their first murder. They might never be able to return to their previous lives.
Ruon shook his head.
“Don’t blame yourself. Who could have expected that?”
He turned his head as he felt a presence behind him. Tarwen was approaching. She was wearing a long-sleeved blouse and tight pants with leather boots covering her tattoos.
The elf, who had put on a thin cloak with a hood, said.
“I’m ready.”
“You’ve wrapped yourself up pretty well.”
“It’s for the sake of others.”
Then, the innkeeper came up to them with a large leather pouch and said.
“I thought you might get hungry on the way, so I put in some ham, cheese, and jerky. The ham was smoked with apple wood, so it has a fruity flavor and tastes good.”
Ruon took the pouch and exchanged a light bow with the innkeeper and said.
“Thank you. I owe you a lot.”
“We owe you more.”
After that, they had a brief and dry conversation, saying things like thank you, take care, and so on.
After finishing the talk, they walked straight to the stable. Tarwen, who was walking side by side with Ruon, asked.
“When I came out, I saw a gold coin on the table. Was that a mistake? I was going to take it, but I didn’t.”
“You did well.”
“It’s true that people with such a generous heart are rare in this miserable world, but didn’t you give too much? Are you rich?”
Ruon glanced at the innkeeper and Yan, who were still waving their hands, and said.
“It’s my choice.”
Tarwen muttered with a blank expression.
“I’m not used to this kind of fuzzy feeling, because I’ve been living with crazy women.”
What are you talking about?
Ruon didn’t answer and quickened his pace. He saw Nightmare standing tall in the distance. And the stableman, who was struggling next to him. He looked like he had come out on his own.
He gave a bland word of consolation to the stableman, who must have had a hard time, and then grabbed the reins of the black horse.
And so, the self-proclaimed mercenary, the tattooed elf, the cursed black horse, and the ego sword left the village.
***
Under the noon sky, where the warm sunlight fell vertically, a soldier in clanking armor opened his mouth to the man and woman in front of him.
“What brings you to Olbor?”
Ruon returned the blunt question without emotion.
“We just stopped by.”
The soldier nodded and turned his gaze to Tarwen.
“We’re checking everyone, so it would be nice if you could take off your hood. You can’t enter the city without that much cooperation.”
The soldier’s voice was still businesslike, but he unconsciously tensed his hand that held the spear, as if he was on guard.
“Oh, sorry.”
Tarwen quickly pulled back her hood. Then, her platinum hair flowed down her shoulders. The soldier looked at her pointed ears through her hair and murmured.
“An elf.”
“What’s wrong with an elf? Are elves not allowed to enter the city?”
The soldier shrugged his shoulders at her sharp voice and answered.
“Of course not. It’s just that lately, there have been many cases of elves being killed or disappearing in the city.”
He finished his sentence by saying, be careful, and flicked his hand inward, as if to tell them to go.
As soon as they passed the city gate, Tarwen furrowed her brows and said.
“What did I just hear? Be careful? Isn’t that like shifting the blame? Their security level is terrible, but this is like saying, protect yourself. Right?”
Ruon listened silently to her rapid-fire words and said.
“Have you ever seen anyone who works for Seongju and has passion for their job? I don’t think I have.”
The two of them crossed the bustling market as they moved forward.
Then, a flying apple caught Ruon’s eye as he walked holding the reins. He snatched it lightly and heard someone laughing next to him.
“Try it, it’s juicy and sweet. Why don’t you buy some if you like it?”
Ruon shrugged his shoulders and took a big bite of the apple at the merchant’s words.
“It’s not to my taste.”
He said that, but Tarwen muttered as he saw the apple peel left in an instant.
“You seemed to enjoy it…”
Ruon didn’t answer and walked ahead first. She gave the merchant an awkward smile.
After entering the inn, the two of them unpacked their luggage and sat down at the restaurant to order some simple food. As the soldier had said, there were no other guests in the inn’s restaurant because of the ominous incidents in the city.
Ruon drank some beer and asked.
“How much further do we have to go?”
“Far. Yoram is on the western edge of the kingdom. A little more from there and we’ll reach Ruanthal, right?”
Ruanthal was the name of another country located in the west of the kingdom. Unlike the barbarians of Andal in the north, who couldn’t kill each other, they had established a mutual interest with Aniara through trade and exchange. Of course, Ruon had never been there before.
“It’ll take at least two months to get there. You ran away far.”
Tarwen shook his head.
“I used teleportation. I messed up the coordinate system so that Yoram couldn’t easily chase me. Because of that, I had to risk my life to move without knowing where I would land…”
Ruon nodded silently, remembering what Amella had told him about the dangers of teleportation.
“Of course, that wasn’t enough to escape Yoram’s grasp. You know they’re the kind of bastards who don’t shy away from dirty work. They got my face and identity.”
He said that and rubbed his neck covered with tattoos as if to show them.
“No matter how careful I am, I end up like this and eventually get caught.”
Ruon put a piece of bread from the basket in his mouth and asked.
“You said there’s a demon behind the witches. So, is Yoram’s attempt to become a new demon also influenced by his will?”
Tarwen shook his head again.
“You mean the rotten one who cowers. He’s definitely close with Yoram’s witches, but he didn’t directly intervene in the birth of the new demon.”
She sighed lightly and said.
“There was an unidentified being who contacted Yoram long ago. He’s the one who created this magic circle implanted in my body.”
She said that and the table was filled with delicious ribs. Ruon cut a large piece and moved it to Tarwen’s plate and urged him to continue.
“So?”
“Uh, yeah?”
She looked at the shiny ribs and scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“I didn’t expect you to have such a tender side.”
“Shut up and finish your story.”
“…Okay. I’ll just eat one bite and tell you.”
Tarwen bit into the meat and mumbled.
“I don’t know exactly. He only contacted Fleur, the most powerful witch in Yoram.”
She swallowed the meat quickly and continued.
“I know two things. This magic circle can make direct contact with the abyss when activated. And at that moment, it devours everything around it and becomes a new being.”
Ruon nodded and pushed his glass forward.
“That’s why Hella was collecting corpses. To accumulate sacrifices for becoming a demon.”
Tarwen drank the water and sighed with relief and nodded.
“That’s right. Not only Hella, but all the witches of Yoram are accumulating sacrifices. To become the worst demon ever. They’re crazy… They don’t care about losing their selves.”
She said that and yawned. Her eyes became dull and cloudy.
“…Of course… they haven’t… found… the core… sacrifice… yet…”
Her face fell toward the table in an instant. Ruon reached out and caught it.
He laid the unconscious fairy against the wall and heard someone’s voice.
“What the hell are you?”
A man walked out of the kitchen slowly. He had slit eyes on both sides and was not the owner who had served the food.
At the same time, a group of men came down the stairs connected to the upper floor.
The men surrounded him, whether he liked it or not. Ruon sat back down and bit into the large piece of meat on the ribs.
The men frowned at his calm appearance. Then, the door of the inn opened and someone came in.
He locked the door with a key and approached. He was the merchant who had given him the apple at the market.
“I thought it was strange that you were fine after eating the apple with a lot of drugs, but I didn’t expect you to withstand the alcohol and meat too.”
Ruon licked the sauce on his fingers and replied indifferently.
“If you’re going to use sleeping pills, you should have used better ones.”
The merchant laughed incredulously at his words.
“If a normal person had eaten and drunk like you, they wouldn’t have fallen asleep, they would have never woken up. Did I try to take it too easy?”
He spat on the floor and muttered.
“I’ll have to ask for double the pay when this is over. Damn witch. Why didn’t you tell me that the warrior who killed the wyvern was your escort?”
At that, Ruon turned his head for the first time and looked at the merchant. He said,
“Do you know me?”
“Of course I do. How could I forget the face of the mercenary who slaughtered the wyvern in Nardam? Of course, you don’t know me.”
The merchant who spouted nonsense chuckled and covered his face with his palm. But his eyes, peering through the gaps of his fingers, were still watching Ruon’s every move.
Ruon also eyed the warrior disguised as a merchant.
His relaxed shoulders, his arms moving naturally to find an opening, his palms full of calluses, his waist and thighs tense and ready to move.
All his movements told him that he was no easy opponent.
Who is he?
The merchant, who noticed Ruon’s suspicious gaze, smiled slyly and said,
“It’s common knowledge among us that you killed the wyvern. You killed three of our brothers and sisters, so we have to be prepared, don’t we?”
Ruon narrowed his eyes at the word ‘brothers and sisters’. He remembered an assassin who had attacked him out of the blue before.
The bastard continued.
“Today is a happy day. I can take care of both the job and the revenge at once.
He stepped back half a step and added briefly, suppressing his laughter.
“The waning moon does not forget the vengeance.”
