Chapter 112 : Chapter 112
Chapter 112 : A Good Person (1)
“Jing!! The hand!!! The hand!!!!”
Ria, who burst into the cabin a step ahead of me, shouted to Jing while holding up her trembling hands.
Jing, who had already been informed of the situation by Ratel, looked at Ria with pitying eyes.
“I have already heard. Your luggage is still in the room, so go quickly, pack it, and come down.”
Jing said, calming Ria, who was pointing at her own hand in a panic.
Fortunately, Ria regained her composure quickly.
Though a bit of a sense of betrayal took the place of her fear.
“……Jing, you knew everything too. All of you knew. Ran, Ratel, and Jing all knew……, so that’s why you could be so calm.”
“So, are you going to stay here?”
Ratel asked the stunned Ria with a face that showed not even a shred of guilt.
Ria bit her lip and glared at Ratel.
She had a face that looked like she had a lot to say, but she soon let out a deep breath and calmed her anger.
“……No, I’m going to cross the river too. Actually, I don't have any other choice besides that.”
Ria, who muttered as if frustrated, pushed past Ratel’s shoulder and went up the stairs.
“……You know you didn't have to say it like that, right?”
Jing said, lightly tapping the shoulder of Ratel that Ria had bumped into.
“For that woman, this was the last chance to back out of our work.”
Ratel replied, taking his eyes off the stairs Ria had climbed.
Clicking my tongue at the guy’s twisted interior that insisted on saying good intentions in such a grating way, I followed Ria up the stairs.
Knowing Jing’s personality, it wasn't likely that he had searched my room without a word.
Besides, there was also a dim-witted squirrel sleeping upstairs, completely unaware of the world.
That was my plan, provided the guide and the cabin owner didn't block the path.
“W-what is going on?”
The cabin owner, sensing an unusual energy in the chaotic atmosphere, asked.
Perhaps having heard his father’s voice, his son, who had fainted, woke up just in time.
The boy, who blinked his eyes and looked around, seemed to regain full consciousness and quickly got up.
Then he ran to his father.
“Father, Father! we have to run away!”
“What? What on earth is happening?”
The cabin owner asked with a bewildered face.
“There are Orcs! And the river is drying up! If we stay like this, we’ll all die!”
The boy, having finished the calmest explanation he could manage, pulled his father, who hadn't even made it all the way down the stairs.
The boy, who barely managed to seat him in the kitchen, began to pack the house while making a clattering noise.
Considering he had seen a monster right before his eyes, that level of reaction was on the favorable side.
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about! There's no way Orcs would be wandering around in broad daylight!”
Compared to the guide of Lucha who was still talking nonsense, the boy's reaction was more than excellent.
Since the man, unable to accept reality, was just trembling and babbling bullshit.
But there was no one who listened to his words.
No, more accurately, no one among Ratel’s party.
“W-what does this mean? Orcs? Are you saying Orcs live on that island?”
The cabin owner, still unable to accept reality, grabbed Jing and asked.
“Did you not just hear? The Orcs are close, so you guys pack your valuables and run too.”
Jing instructed him quickly and clearly with a troubled face.
“No, where do you think you’re running to! You bastards have to do your job to the end!”
But once again, the guide’s bullshit, which was fired off without fail, stopped people's steps.
I looked at the guide who blocked the father and son trying to escape outside, while I was awkwardly positioned halfway up the stairs.
Unable to even push the guide away, the cabin owner was just stamping his feet in frustration.
“W-what are you talking about? Our role?”
At the cabin owner’s question, the guide checked outside with a terrified look, then soon grabbed the two of them roughly.
“I mean helping the winners of the Lucha Competition arrive safely at the Temple of Limis. Until those people arrive safely at Limis, don't you bastards have to at least act as bait?!”
The guide’s demand was simple.
One of the two should operate the boat, and the remaining one should stay in this cabin to continue monitoring the situation.
His logic was that they had to inform the people of the Temple of Limis that an urgent matter was happening here in that way.
“What kind of nonsense is that? That’s no different from just telling us to die.”
The man, enraged by his cruel command, argued.
“Are you going to talk back to me right now?”
The guide glared at him and shouted.
It didn't take long for the cabin owner, who was blinking his eyes in fear, to make up his mind.
“T-then I will stay. Please just let my son go.”
The boy’s father knelt and begged.
His crippled leg dragged on the floor, but he didn't care.
“What kind of nonsense are you saying? Did you forget the conditions that allowed you to live here in the first place?”
The guide spoke as if it were absurd.
“Of course I know. You said we must not leave this place no matter what. But……, but my son is still young. He’s at an age too precious to die.”
The boy, who regained his senses at his father’s desperate appeal, tried hard to raise his father up.
“Father, what are you talking about?”
He asked with a confused face.
It was the guide who displayed the kindness of explaining the situation on behalf of the father who couldn't continue his words.
“How shameless. Did you really think you could be exempt from all tribute just by welcoming guests here?”
The people who guarded the cabin until six years ago must have all died.
Whether they were eaten by Orcs, or even if they survived, the people of the temple probably wouldn't have left those who knew the secret alone.
At that, the guide narrowed his eyes.
“Then did you think you were fulfilling your duty just by comfortably treating guests?”
The guide roughly dragged the two out again, who were lost for words at the sharp point.
“Think of it positively. Even if you die from this, won't you be able to meet your wife and mother? If you die while performing the will of God, you will be able to meet in the same place.”
Despair flashed across the faces of the father and son as they heard the bullshit he offered as consolation.
“Or, what? Are you saying you won't follow the will of the temple because your life is too precious?”
The temple guide pressured the father and son, holding death and faith in both hands.
It was the moment the boy opened his mouth while his jaw was trembling.
Whack!
The guide collapsed to the floor with a heavy sound.
The blood on Ratel’s fist, which had smashed the man’s face head-on, proved who had just attacked the guide.
Ratel slowly grabbed the guide by the scruff of his neck and lifted him.
It was Jing who stopped him from trying to choke the man, who had lost consciousness without even being able to scream, as he hung limply.
“Ratel, stop! There’s no need to waste time unnecessarily.”
Ratel looked at Jing expressionlessly, then soon turned his head to look at the cabin owner and his son, who were still standing blankly.
The boy and his father were looking at Ratel with fearful eyes.
As Ratel roughly threw the guide onto the floor, the two screamed and distanced themselves from Ratel.
Well, they would have been out of their minds just from the sudden appearance of a monster.
An individual suddenly appeared and attacked a temple official right before their eyes, so it was natural for a scream to come out.
“Launch the boat.”
Ratel said to the father who was blankly looking up at him.
The terrified father couldn't say anything and looked back and forth between the unconscious guide and Ratel.
A slight hesitation remained in his eyes.
Ratel, looking down at such a man, drew his sword without a word.
Before the horrified man could even raise his body, Ratel’s sword pointed toward the fallen guide.
“I said launch the boat. Didn't you hear me?”
“Ah, that……”
Still, the cabin father was only hesitating.
Watching that frustrating sight, Ratel turned the tip of his sword elsewhere.
Following that slow movement, the blood drained from the cabin owner’s face.
“I will launch it! I will launch it right now!”
As the tip of the sword neared his son’s neck, the terrified man hurriedly got up.
And he rushed outside while making a clattering noise.
Dragging his crippled leg, he ran desperately.
Ratel, who was watching him repeat falling and getting up several times, slowly put his sword back into its sheath once the man completely disappeared from view.
Since it was a betrayal caused by coercion and threats, the God within him would probably take this much into account.
I turned my gaze to the kitchen where the man and his son were happily cooking.
From the furnace that had been lit in advance for meal preparation, smoke was rising along with a savory smell.
“Thanks to the Orcs, it seems we won't be able to eat a meal that would have been several times more delicious.”
Jing said in an intentionally playful voice.
“It's better to leave such things to the imagination. If we had actually tried it and the taste was a mess, wouldn't it have been embarrassing for both of us?”
At my answer, Jing laughed, saying that was true as well.
“But don't be too disappointed! Once everything is over, I will treat you to a very delicious meal.”
Because of his passion for always adding unnecessary words, my heart became cold again.
I stopped responding and chose to go check on the cabin owner who was launching the boat instead.
Ratel was caught at the edge of my vision as I turned my body to head outside.
It wasn't hard to tell which way his expressionless face was directed.
It seemed he didn't like Jing’s attitude, which still treated me like a member of the Imperial Family.
Jing’s attitude would probably soften once the holy object was destroyed anyway.
I would probably leave the group before all five holy objects were destroyed.
However, I knew very well that such an explanation was meaningless.
I ignored his displeased gaze and tapped his shoulder.
“Good work.”
“……Shut up.”
He muttered quietly as if warning me, with a face that showed my praise was uncomfortable.
How prickly.
Since the sacrifice of the guy who took on the role of the villain was quite large for me to needle him further, I turned away from him without another word.
Ria, who just then returned to the lower floor after packing all her luggage, looked at Ratel with a pale face upon discovering the guide sprawled on the floor.
“……It eventually turned out like this.”
“Don't imagine anything strange. He just freaked out on his own and fainted while making a fuss.”
I didn't have time for more explanations so I glossed over it, but Ria didn't add any words to my lie anymore.
Besides, strictly speaking, it wasn't a lie.
Because what the guide did was essentially no different from hitting his own head.
I left the cabin, taking Ria with me as she kept looking back at the guide lying on the floor.
Holding the fainted brat in one hand.
The cabin owner was diligently preparing the boat while leaving Ria with a bewildered face.
Ria was puzzled by his urgent movements and tried to ask something, but the man silently did his work with a pale face as if he didn't even want to talk.
“Mister, what’s wrong?”
Ria asked, but he didn't reply.
“Mister, it’s dangerous here, so let’s run away quickly. Take the child too.”
Ria grabbed his shoulder as if frustrated, but the man shook off Ria’s hand as if having a fit.
The startled Ria took a step back, and I slightly blocked her as she tried to say something to the man without giving up.
“These people are going to leave now. You don't need to worry.”
The man's gaze, which was checking us with a terrified face, landed on my right shoulder.
I handed him the brat I had draped over my shoulder.
“Take him and run. Once the river dries up anyway, you won't be able to live in that cabin anymore.”
He received his son with a dazed face.
“Y-you’re saying just go?”
“Why do you want to row for us too?”
“No, no! I don't!”
The man, who repeatedly rejected my offer three times, hurriedly picked up his son.
It didn't seem like he could move while carrying the brat since one of his legs was uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the brat who had only been shedding tears in fear stood on the ground with his own feet.
“Can you walk?”
The boy’s father urged without hiding his impatience.
The boy nodded once while sniffing.
As soon as the child nodded, the man pulled the child as if running and put distance between us.
They began to run as if we were chasing them.
It looked very uncomfortable to see him running with his crippled leg, and I wanted to tell him he didn't need to mind us, but it seemed nothing reached him right now.
Unlike him who ran without looking back, his son kept looking back with a face that looked like something was bothering him.
Since I wasn't in a position to wave my hand to say goodbye, I took my eyes off him and got onto the boat with Ria.
No, I tried to.
If it weren't for the guy who ran back with pitter-patter light and fast footsteps.
“You idiot, come back!”
The urgent voice of the man was heard from behind, and soon I felt a small hand grabbing my arm.
I looked down at the boy who had run back and was pulling on Ria’s and my arms.
The guy was desperately pulling Ria and me off the boat.