Chapter 8

Solemnly walking through a dark and sinister forest was a hooded youth.

He could be seen donning a worn-out, dull black cloak that covered all sides of the body.

The young man walked in silence while studying his surroundings with gloomy eyes, as if bored.

After a while, he stopped, as if he heard a faint noise.

Not even a few seconds later, something jumped out before the young man.

{Grrr-woof!}

A pack of unusual large wolves had appeared.

And, 'unusual', they were indeed.

They looked like a type of Grey Wolf that no one would see on Earth.

They were too large, almost completely black, and each had one sinister-looking horn protruding from its skull.

They gave off a frightening aura that could give a grown man have nightmares, and they all had unsettling and pulsating, dark crimson ‘veins’, running along the surface of their ink-black fur.

The young man knew. These were monsters called 'Hellfiend Wolves'.

{Grrrrrrr!}

{Grrrrrrrrrrr!}

{Grrrrrrrr!}

{Grrrrrrrrr!}

“......”

They seemed to be hesitating whether or not to attack the young man, as they only kept their distance while growling.

Taking a further look, the young man realised there was a pup at the back of the pack.

Not only that, but the Alpha wolf at the front, a wolf with two horns, seemed to have been heavily injured in its forelimb and side.

There was a sizeable laceration in its side, as if attacked by a much predator.

“........”

The young man stood still for a moment before continuing in the original direction he was heading.

He walked straight past the defensive wolves who cautiously watched his every move.

They seemed a little confused at first, as the wolves had thought this human-like creature to be an enemy, but thankfully, it seemed to not necessarily be the case, and so they hurriedly scarpered.

It didn’t take long before the young man saw the ‘thing’ that almost certainly gave the wolf its wound.

Calling it a ‘creature’ would be bold, as no man would willingly fight it from its appearance alone.

The ‘creature’ in question, appeared to closely resemble a black bear, except a few things.

For starters, it had six limbs and sharp, yet armoured, fur, that glistened slightly under the moonlight like poisonous barbs.

The bear was larger than an elephant even with all limbs on the ground, and on its head one could spot four large, demonic horns, similar to those of the wolves.

Jae could even spot that some of the sword-like claws were drenched in something red―they were dripping with fresh blood.

What attacked the wolves..... is this thing, huh.

As well as this, the bear had the same ‘veins’ crawling all over it as the wolves did, with the exception of the fact that this bear’s aura was an uncountable number of times more menacing and malevolent than that of the wolves, giving off infinitely more pressure.

Nevertheless, the young man stood before this creature that seemed to crawl out of hell itself, without issue.

In fact, his expression did not differ in the slightest after its appearance, and instead kept his apathetic expression. The man, like the wolves, knew the name of this monstrous beast as well.

―Hellfiend Goliath Bear.

A simple naming sense, though who named the creatures is obviously unknown. If there was one issue the young man had, it was that...

......This thing doesn’t belong here...? What happened to it to end up in this part of the forest? It's too far out.

{GRRRAAAAOOOOWWWHHHH!!!}

The bear bellowed like thunder as its enormous, razor-sharp claws started shining a bright white and the air began to swirl around, creating a vicious vortex centered around the bear.

It swung down at a speed phenomenal for its size, and when it did, numerous trees collapsed from the power of the massive, razor-sharp air blades that shot out from its claws at lightning speed.

Surprisingly however, the young man wasn’t there.

He had disappeared before the bear could’ve noticed and, before it could realise where the young man had gone―

*CRASH!!*

The bear, just like that, had collapsed onto the ground, and the young man was standing behind where it had just been standing, holding the head of that very bear.

"Hm."

[It's completely fine if you destroy nature, you know.]

Not even sparing a glance for the headless bear, the young man... no―Jae took a large bite out of it without reservation.

*Gulp*

".....Tch. Nothing. Really, an annoying skill, ya know."

[Not my fault you found the wrong dungeon, pal. Should've eaten the wolves too, if you ask me.]

A peculiar, light-tone distorted voice, as if someone was speaking underwater, made its reply.

"Shut up."

[By the way.....ha--aaaaah~~.... It's okay to take a break once in a while, yeah...?]

Another voice, mature in tone, but not in contents.

"You bastard. Didn't you just wake up?"

Haa......At least, the forest’s atmosphere seems to be easing up ever since I made it past the barrier..... maybe, could this mean that....

Jae paused momentarily.

....Maybe....

Jae's inexpressive face slowly warped into a disconcerting, broad grin, and his eyes gleamed in anticipation as they emitted a cold, light blue glow.

Suddenly, he disappeared.

Sometime later, Jae spotted something in the sky as he traversed the forest, whilst slaughtering and eating any hostile monsters along the way.

He stopped when he saw it.

Smoke?

Obviously, he wasn’t the one who created this smoke.

It was definitely man-made, too, since it was only a singular column of smoke, and yet goes fairly high as well.

If it was a forest fire, then there would be much more than a single column by this point.

That, and the fact that the young man could 'see' the presence of two children standing by the source of that fire. Quickly, he arrived at the origin of the fire. There he saw...

An injuried little girl with a blanket and an impression of simply 'white', along with a slightly older, enraged-looking boy?

Jae realised something surprising upon first glance of the two children.

Wait, what....? Just what the fuck happened here?

Immediately, Jae began to walk towards the kids with a hint of fury rising within him.

I held tightly onto my precious, snow-white fur blanket, that was identical in colour to my impure, white hair, as the older boy next to me, Bailey, yelled at me loudly.

“You damned demonic brat!”

It hurts.

*Whack!*

…Help.

“It’s all your fault!”

*Whack!*

......Someone. Please.

“If only you never arrived at our village…!! We would’ve never gotten attacked by that Demon Beast!”

*Whack!*

Please, anyone.....

“Haa…Haa…Haa… shit... don’t think you’re off the hook yet… I still need to punish you for everyone else’s sake… Damn it! If only…!

“…..”

…...No....Don’t...

“If only you didn’t exist…!”

“…”

Please don’t do it.

“God damnit, why!? Why didn’t the chief want to get rid of you…!?!”

“…”

“TELL ME!!!”

*Whack!*

“Eek!”

I then heard a voice.

It was familiar.

…..That voice again...… Maybe I deserve it…

“......Haaaa...... Fucking….. demon..… tell me..… Why did the chief look at you that way..... Why did Father look at you more than me!?”

“I--”

“SHUT UP...!!”

*Whack!*

“…”

.....He always says it is my fault, so it must be true, right…?

“Don’t speak to me like you are equal to me.... You hear me?!"

…I’m sorry… it’s all my fault. I brought the monster to the village… I-I… I killed everyone…… Huh?

――That was when I first laid my eyes upon him.

At first, I didn’t notice because I had learnt to shut everything out over the years, but it was someone I had never seen or heard of in the village before.

.…Who.…

Although I am sure I had never seen this person before, he seemed..... strangely familiar.

It was a young man, who only seemed to be about 20 from what I could see under the hood, standing at the edge of the opening of trees we were in. He gave me strange feeling of comfort I'd never felt before.

On his back, I spotted the hilt of a weapon that could only be described as a greatsword, as the total length was bigger than the stranger's entire body.

…is that?

Normally, you see, I only ever get a feeling of discomfort and inquietude when around others, and yet, this person was the complete opposite of that.... The young man seemed to glance at the campfire beside us before looking at me.

“…..―”

I wanted to call him for help, but my body, including my throat, wouldn’t budge, only letting out the sound of miniscule gasps of breath. Apparently my muscles were too stiff from constant tensing. I don’t know how the body works, but it felt like there was ‘something’ stuck there.

Normally, I wouldn’t even imagine of asking someone for help, but this person felt different from all of them.

Maybe it had something to do with the peculiar familiarity I felt?

I blinked in confusion.

When my eyes were open again, the young man was gone.

My mind was blank for a moment and my body froze as my heart sank into despair once more. I envisioned the worst.

…..It was..… an illusion.....?

The minuscule spark of hope I had, was gone in a literal blink of an eye, and I felt cold and alone.

―Suddenly, I heard something behind me.

“Who the fuck are yo―mmph!?”

The young man was there, clutching the face of the smaller boy, Bailey, who had been beating me. Bailey was held in the air like a small animal. He used to be the son of the village chief, but now the chief was dead, Bailey should've become chief, as his successor. Not like it mattered though, since the village was...…

Anyway, I stared in astonishment at the scene. Bailey glared at me in desperation and constantly made strange noises in the young man's grasp, as if commanding me to help him, causing me to reflexively flinch.

But it didn't change the fact I was helpless, no matter the favourability of the situation. It didn't seem like the young man intended to hurt me, but even if he did, it's not like I could do anything.

“......Oi.”, the young man spoke in an ice-cold voice, befitting of his mysterious and dark appearance.

“HHMGHH!?!? MMHMMMPPHHH!!!”

“You....”

“MMMPH!”

Bailey frantically tried to free himself from the young man grasp, to no avail. The difference in status was way too much for a mere boy with few skills to overcome.

“Oh right, you can’t answer like this.”, spoke the young man as he dropped Bailey carelessly, and Bailey, who was now like a stone on the ground, quickly started spluttering, coughing and backing away with trembling, fearful eyes.

The young man then muttered under his breath as he seemed to hold his head in one of his hands.

“....How has this managed to happen two times......”

I have an acute sense of hearing, so I heard what the young man said, but he said something I couldn’t quite understand and walked towards the terrified Bailey.

At this point, I was still too stunned with what was happening and could only watch what was unfolding from a distance.

“Bailey.”

“!?!??!”, Bailey was incredibly shocked.

What…? How does he--!?

“W-W-Who are you!? H-How do you know my name!”, he managed to chuck out a question, albeit with some difficulty.

“This girl―”

The young man glanced at me, completely ignoring Bailey’s cries,

“What happened to her?”

This seemed to calm Bailey down a bit and made him frown in displeasure.

“......What’s it to you, creepy bastard--”

“Answer.”, spoke the young man briefly.

In an instant, many peculiar-looking flames appeared in the air surrounding him and floated around. They were flames of a myriad of colours, and all had various...'auras' around them them. It was strange, yet truly wondrous.

I'd never seen--no, I'd never even heard of such magic before. The most beautiful magic imaginable was before my very eyes in the form of a threat to Bailey.

“”!?””

We were both astounded.

And not just because we saw magic.

Magic...! And, without a chant...?!

It was magic casted without an incantation at that. Of course, common sense dictates that such a thing is impossible.

But I thought he was a physical fighter from his body’s build and the massive sword on his back!? Was it a magic item? Or, don't tell me!! Could he actually be a magic swordsman?!, I thought.

Still though, it is rare to see someone who is both physically strong and, at the same time, magically proficient, as usually it is one or the other so as to not waste time training one's strong points.

The young man had used magic, and yet was built like a fighter.

Not only that, but he carried a truly huge sword on his back, that looked like a sharp tooth.

Of course, I'd never heard of such a creature that would have a tooth as large as that before.

It made it impossible to tell what class the young man was.

...…This stranger...! He really is different from everyone else…!

I could feel it.

My heart fluttered.

Obviously, not in the common way as in the feeling of 'love', but in simple, pure elation, and happiness. My eyes lit up, too.

It was the first time I ever saw someone use magic other than the few adventurers that occasionally stopped by at the village, and not only that, but this stranger used it without chanting the skill name―something that was taught to be impossible.

I could just feel that this person.... was incredible.

I was naturally and subconsciously drawn to the young man.

At this time, I had no idea that it might've been because of my race.

Obviously, as Bailey was taught the same as me, this resulted in him complying with the young man out of pure respect, since he, too, knew that what had occurred was in all ways absurd.

Even if he wasn't threatened, he would answer the stranger purely because of the real myth that was chantless incantation.

“....I punished her for her wrongdoings, and for everyone in the village.”

Thus was Bailey's reply.

The words that exited his confident and courageous(?) mouth...

"I only did what was right, of course. A criminal should be punished rightly, after all."

'Criminal'.

.....The words caused my expression, and thoughts, to freeze altogether.