By Zephyria 
I could hear more stories when it was just Hugh Benson and me awake at night.
In the dark night, I brought up the story I had shared with Elvin to the guy who grumbled, poking at the embers, wishing he had brought more snacks.
Instead of his usual loud, high-pitched voice that had chattered all day, Hugh Benson replied in a small voice. It was obvious he was being careful not to wake the other children.
“How can I trust you to sleep when you’re barely a month old? I’d rather be more tired. You need to be able to tell if it’s an owl or a griffin hooting at night before I can trust you with anything.”
“…Ah.”
“…And, Elvin isn’t ignoring you and saying nothing.”
“…What?”
“He’s not quiet because he’s ignoring you, he’s quiet because he has trouble speaking.”
It was a strange statement. I blinked and looked at him curiously. Hugh, letting out a huff, poked the embers again, scattering the ashes. After confirming that none of the sleeping children had woken up, he continued, his voice like a sigh.
“That bastard is from Felix. He lived as a nomad in the Shatun Desert, and after becoming a Sword Master, he naturalized into the Sierran Empire. He came to the Academy late to get a title.”
“…Ah.”
“I, damn it, went through some shit because of those bastards… I somehow managed to get into the Academy to become like them…”
Hugh Benson glanced at me, then casually tossed a few grains of sand into the campfire. When I watched him in silence, he continued in a slightly softer voice.
“He probably felt sorry for me. Or maybe he thought I was similar to him. We ended up sticking together somehow.”
“…”
“So, if you don’t know anything, ask me. I’m damn good at the Siaren Imperial Language.”
After watching him quietly for a moment, I jokingly asked,
“What’s your ideal type?”
“Not that, you punk. You damn unexpected bastard…”
Hugh Benson laughed emptily and made a motion to punch me. His fist was far away, but his shadow, lengthened by the campfire, lightly punched my shadow. The flickering shadow swayed far into the distance.
The wind was cool, but I didn’t feel cold.
Whether it was thanks to the Artifact, the campfire, or the newly sprouted friendship, I couldn’t tell.
❖ ❖ ❖
On a day in late May, we went out to hunt a pack of Orcs.
Orcs were small monsters, about 2 meters tall when fully grown, and lived in packs. They had boar-like heads with tusks that reached their ears, and their size and appearance varied by tribe.
The Orc villages we had exterminated so far were small in height and build, with few hunters, so we killed them from a distance with fire attacks. However, the ones we were facing today were all hunters and resistant to fire, so we were told we had to kill them with our swords.
The children standing here had already cut down dozens of Goblins. I nodded without hesitation.
Hugh Benson’s briefing was fast and accurate. He quickly outlined the village’s structure, strengths, weaknesses, and the opponent’s physique and how to counter them. Hugh Benson added at the end.
“I know you’re good, but today.”
Hugh Benson’s gaze deeply fixed on Ruben, then Benjamin, Marianne, and finally me.
“Kill them, even the young ones. Orcs breed faster than rats. Think of it as three children in the Sierran Duchy dying if you spare one young Orc. Understand?”
“…”
“Don’t you dare spare them, no matter how much they cry or beg. I’m telling you in advance. I won’t spare them. Not a single one.”
“…”
Since entering the Yuil Mountains, no one had made loud noises. They simply nodded in response.
Seeing him emphasize this point, it was clear there had been similar issues before. Hugh Benson’s particularly sensitive topics usually showed a similar pattern, so the children were all accustomed to such pledges.
After looking into the children’s eyes again in reverse order and making them pledge repeatedly, Hugh Benson took out two heavy swords, shaped like strange hooks, and gripped them.
“Let’s go.”
Everyone quietly followed behind him.
The entrance to the Yuil Mountains was flat, yet the sun did not shine. Dense Mana pooled like fog, forming clouds before dissipating. Beyond the hazy vision, the cry of a Keruk could be heard.
We drew our swords and charged into the midst of the beasts, who were chuckling amongst themselves and digging at the ground playfully.
I had long since become numb to the sensation of slicing through fabric.
In this life, it had only been a few months since I started killing, but in my past life, I had slain thousands over decades. With each wide slash aimed at the gaps between bone joints, Orc heads flew through the air and rolled on the ground. I shot forward, not looking at the severed ends, cutting down everything that blocked my path.
I wasn’t the only one.
Everyone gathered here was skilled enough to cut down five or six small monsters alone in an instant. As I glanced sideways at the children dispatching monsters with grim expressions, I turned my gaze after seeing Elvin Brooks cleave a monster in two with a single sword strike.
In less than an hour, just over ninety individuals had fallen.
Feeling a sense of suffocation, I exhaled. Suddenly, something flickered in my Qi sense. As soon as his gaze met mine, I whispered with my lips.
“Senior.”
“Huh? What?”
“One is escaping. I’ll go catch it.”
“What?”
There was no need to wait for a reply. As long as I didn’t leave his line of sight, it was fine. I immediately shot off.
My Light Footwork had greatly increased with the lengthening of my limbs. I had never run at full speed since coming to this land, but in my past life, it took half an hour to cross a few mountains. It was no problem to chase after one escaping Orc.
The one that fled was small in stature. Upon seeing me, it was greatly startled and buried its tear-soaked face in the ground, sobbing loudly. I swiftly cut off its head. The footsteps of the group, who had been chasing after me breathlessly, stopped awkwardly.
I shook the blood off my sword.
Amidst the hesitant group, Hugh Benson strode forward and tapped me on the middle of my back with his palm.
“Well done.”
“I merely saw it first.”
As I turned, Ruben looked at me once, then at the fallen Orc carcass, before grabbing my arm. I leaned my head on his shoulder and caught my breath for a moment.
It was utterly ridiculous. Did they think I would be tormented by this? Of course, it wasn’t pleasant, but it was necessary.
After a long, long time, a day from my past life came to mind.
Among the Evil Sects of the Central Plains, there was the Black Serpent Sect.
They would pick up young beggars and make them their pawns, and when children grew older, they would steal money from commoners. Then, when they seemed to have grown in power with many armed men, they would break the signboards of nearby small sects, kill people, and take over their estates.
When officials pursued them, they would bribe them to escape punishment, and when Martial Artists pursued them, they would flee far away and then expand their territory again. It was a time when such bandits swarmed all over the Central Plains.
This was shortly after I joined the Martial Arts Alliance. A man in a shabby purple robe pounded on the main gate of the Martial Arts Alliance until his fists bled. Seeing the gatekeeper flustered, I asked for his story. The man pleaded with a voice boiling with rage.
“I am Jang Homyeong, the third son of Jang Family. I have lived my life with a clear conscience, looking up at the heavens, and my ancestors have held grudges against the Martial Arts Alliance for four generations, paying their dues faithfully. Therefore, please avenge me. Rip apart the enemies who killed my parents and kin, and offer their limbs at the ancestral altar.”
So, I went.
While the leaders of the Black Serpent Sect were seasoned Martial Artists, either Second-rate or First-rate, those below them were barely beyond the basics of Geomancy. They were the kind of people who found it easier to live by being thugs, kicking people and swinging swords, than by begging on the streets.
Those men, too, clung to me, weeping and begging.
“Great Hero, you must protect us. We didn’t want to live like this. It’s the fault of the world that made us this way, not ours. If being born unfortunate is a fault, then that’s our fault. Please spare us just this once.”
But does everyone who suffers misfortune live wickedly?
They were filled with malice, resented the world, learned Martial Arts, and slaughtered the weak and plundered. The young ones were so cruel and vicious that they treated disemboweling people like skipping rope with intestines, and they didn’t know their sins.
So, I killed them all.
The courtyard where I cut down all of them originally belonged to the Jang Family.
Jang Homyeong, at that spot, recited all their crimes and then bought fruits and wine from the market to set up an ancestral altar. Staring at their corpses with bloodshot eyes, he wailed to his father, mother, siblings, children, and all his lost relatives, announcing his successful revenge.
Jang Homyeong, a Martial Artist of at most Third-rate skill, hugged me with blood-stained hands and thanked me. So, I thought I had done the right thing. There might have been better ways, but at that time, it was the best I could do.
I don’t know how different it is to kill someone who has harmed people versus killing monsters that harm people. Compared to the memory of that day, today’s events were nothing. I straightened Ruben, who was trying to support me, and gently stroked his shoulder.
Marianne crept closer and clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention.
“It’s all over now, so before other monsters come, we’ll erase the traces. Right? Please help me. We need to gather them to burn them.”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
“Everyone did well, so why the long faces? Are you already sleepy? What’s for dinner tonight?”
“What else? It’ll be stew with jerky and potato powder again.”
“Add a lot of pepper today. I’m not really in the mood for meat.”
“That’s why you nobles are like that.”
“What?”
As I followed them, bickering, it was amusing how Rubel kept glancing at me with concern. Who exactly was worried about whom? I gently smoothed his hair and asked.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, of course, I am.”
“Before, with Ruben… we had a lesson about monsters and benevolence.”
“…Yeah.”
“I feel like I’m doing something I shouldn’t to Ruben.”
“No, that’s…”
“But I also want you to know that I am like this.”
“…”
“This is who I am.”
A bitter smile touched my lips. But what could I do? This was also me.
As Ruben had told me once, I wanted to show both my kindest and my wickedest parts. Ruben didn’t pursue this topic further and quietly closed his mouth. I didn’t press him either.
We cleaned up, ate, set a watch, and went to sleep. As always.