novelraw Chapter 108 : A Hobby
Chapter 108 : A Hobby
Chapter 108: A Hobby
The feast continued long after the sun had set.
Leaving behind hearts full of regret, people dispersed to their respective homes.
Like clouds that had drifted slowly vanishing from sight.
The feast ended without any major incident.
Past midnight.
The night air had grown cold beyond mere coolness.
Robin perched on a roof untouched by light, watching a single spot.
‘There’s no sign of movement. Is he asleep.’
Cruel’s house was ordinary.
A size suitable for living alone.
Neither too large nor too small, and set apart from the village center, it was quiet.
‘It’s so ordinary that it’s suspicious.’
Once suspicion toward something arose, it was not easy to put it to rest.
‘I just have to hope he’s asleep.’
By the hour, it would have been strange for him to be awake, but Robin remained cautious.
Even after watching for a while, the surroundings stayed quiet.
He stood up as is and leapt down.
Thud.
After landing lightly, he surveyed the interior of the house.
Not a single candle was lit.
Robin checked the sword at his waist once more, then grasped the doorknob.
It wasn’t locked.
‘I tried opening it just in case, and it’s open?’
The door that opened without resistance seemed to whisper.
Come inside.
Melting into the shadows, Robin stepped into the house.
‘Why is it so dark.’
Even after adjusting his eyes outside, there was nothing immediately visible.
Relying on the faint light slipping in through the crack of the door, he slightly opened a window.
Only then did the interior come into view.
As was typical of a man living alone, the house felt empty.
Step. Step.
He made footstep sounds as he headed toward the room.
He made no effort to hide his presence.
From the moment he opened the door, Robin sensed that something was off.
When he pushed open the door presumed to be the bedroom, it slid open smoothly.
“Cruel.”
There was no answer.
He hadn’t expected a scream of surprise upon seeing an intruder.
Even so, wouldn’t it be normal to ask what was going on in a fluster.
“Come out.”
There was no one in the bedroom.
He opened the remaining room as well, but Cruel was nowhere to be seen.
Stepping back outside, Robin searched the surroundings thoroughly.
There were footprints stamped into the ground, but they were hard to distinguish.
‘Where on earth did he go.’
In the dark night, he lowered his head to examine the haphazardly imprinted footprints.
Anyone seeing him might have thought he was observing a moment of silence.
‘Why are there so many footprints.’
To find Cruel’s among the countless traces, Robin furrowed his brow.
Looking at the chaotically tangled footprints, he let out a long breath.
‘Should I have investigated more.’
He wondered if he had underestimated Cruel too easily, but there was nothing to be done.
Wishing the moonlight were just a little brighter, Robin followed the trail.
Sigbard waited for Robin, yawning repeatedly.
Contrary to the claim that it wouldn’t take long, Robin did not return right away.
With nothing to do alone, Sigbard hooked his backpack onto the end of his rod and slung it over his shoulder.
In that state, he began strolling through the village.
‘It’s quiet.’
As he wandered the silent road, a faint moan caught Sigbard’s ear.
It was the home of the bride and groom, the main couple of the wedding held just hours earlier.
Thinking he might have heard something he shouldn’t have, Sigbard turned his back.
“P-Please stop……!”
It was faint, but unmistakable.
Though it didn’t continue to the end, as if someone’s mouth had been forcibly covered, it was a desperate voice.
Sigbard immediately pounded on the door.
“What’s going on!”
In an instant, it fell silent.
Even so, Sigbard wasn’t the type to ignore a situation that might be a cry for help.
“Open up!”
Contrary to his expectation that it would be locked, the door opened smoothly.
Lowering his head that nearly brushed the ceiling, he looked around the interior.
No one was there.
Like any other household, it smelled of people living there, but the bride and groom were nowhere to be found.
“Hng……!”
Another sound came from within the empty house.
He looked toward the source of the sound, but again, there was nothing that caught his eye.
Sigbard stared at the spot without moving.
Five breaths in and out passed.
“There you are.”
Gripping his rod, Sigbard swung it straight away.
Neither fast nor slow.
The rod, swung horizontally with a whooshing sound, cut through the air.
Crash.
Outside the range of the swing.
A cabinet shook, and the candleholder displayed atop it fell.
Amazingly, the candleholder stopped in midair before touching the floor.
It was the candleholder Cruel had gifted to the bride and groom.
Shit!
Sigbard hopped backward.
Something invisible brushed past his side.
The attack didn’t end with just one strike.
Something flew at him three times, and after dodging them all, Sigbard reached a conclusion.
Someone was swinging a sword.
“Interesting. What did you do that you’re invisible to my eyes.”
What came in response was an attack filled with killing intent.
Sigbard clenched his fist, timed it, and thrust it forward with all his strength.
Thump!
What his heavy fist struck was unmistakably a human.
The unidentified assailant rolled across the floor before being flung out through the doorway.
Though he couldn’t see them, it wasn’t hard to tell.
The half-open door rattled and flew wide open.
In case another attack came, he did not lower his guard.
“Did you run away.”
No sooner had he spoken than attacks aimed at his lower body poured in.
There wasn’t just one enemy.
At least three.
“You can’t defeat me.”
Bracing his legs, Sigbard did not evade the attack.
When he met it head-on, he collided with a blade.
When a sword swung with force meets flesh, cutting is common sense.
Sigbard’s legs ignored that common sense.
As if striking tough leather, the blade failed to bite in, leaving only faint marks.
A large hand seized the neck of the unseen foe.
“Ghk, ghuuk…….”
“Speak. Who are you, and what happened to the homeowner?”
The weight of a person was conveyed through Sigbard’s hand, yet the figure still did not reveal itself.
He had vaguely grasped the nature of their ability.
The body of the choking, gagging foe was transparent.
“So that ominous candleholder was the cause. Where did you stash it.”
While Sigbard was fighting them, the candleholder disappeared.
He poured more strength into his grip.
The foe struggled, tapping frantically against Sigbard’s arm.
“I told you to speak.”
After struggling for a while, the foe went limp.
Even then, Sigbard only loosened his grip after quite some time had passed.
With a dull thud as it fell, the figure was revealed.
It was a subordinate who had followed Cruel.
Seeing the man sprawled on the ground with foam at his mouth, a hollow laugh escaped him.
There was clearly an accomplice, yet he had fled without any loyalty.
“Did he pass out.”
He nudged the man with his foot to wake him, but it was futile.
He slapped his cheeks, pried open his eyelids, and even flicked his forehead, but there was no response.
While replaying the situation to think of what to do, he realized his mistake.
When he had twisted the man’s neck, the man had urgently tapped his arm.
Perhaps that had been a signal saying he would talk if released.
When that thought reached him, Sigbard broke out in a cold sweat.
“I didn’t intend to kill a guard…….”
The goal of Robin and Sigbard had been only Cruel.
They had never intended to harm an innocent person.
“No. Just looking at this, he’s clearly suspicious, so he must be a bad guy.”
Being in someone else’s house in the middle of the night with a transparent body was not normal to begin with.
This fact should be made known to the residents.
But he soon stopped in his tracks.
Would people really believe Sigbard’s words.
Doing the right thing didn’t mean everyone would support you.
It was a fact he had learned painfully after being expelled from his tribe.
On the contrary, he himself might be mistaken for a criminal.
“Robin, what should I do in times like this.”
Robin had told him to handle things himself and wait quietly.
After much deliberation, Sigbard reached a conclusion.
‘Pretend it never happened.’
Fortunately, there were no witnesses.
Sigbard lifted the fallen guard with one hand.
It was as light as grabbing a cat by the scruff of its neck.
“I’m sorry, homeowner.”
He stuffed him straight into the bride and groom’s bedroom wardrobe.
Perfect disposal of evidence.
As the wardrobe door kept trying to open, he folded the body himself.
The guard’s body, folded among the clothes, fit perfectly.
“This should do.”
Stepping outside the house, Sigbard looked around.
The door’s hinges had been torn off, and the yard had been dug up.
“…….”
After hesitating only briefly, Sigbard moved his feet back to where he had been.
To the place where Robin had told him to wait.
“The house was weak.”
The barbarian brushed his hands together lightly, his expression noticeably relieved.
Robin could not determine where Cruel had gone.
The footprints he examined closely did not belong to just one person.
Chasing with only footprints tangled from several people was beyond Robin’s ability.
He gave up cleanly and inspected the house once more.
In the process, there was an unexpected discovery.
‘To think there’s a place like this in the backyard.’
Compared to the house, Cruel’s dwelling had a wide plot of land.
After waiting while searching the house without Cruel returning, Robin wandered the yard.
When his foot caught on what felt like a threshold, he examined it closely and found a passage leading underground.
At the end of the long corridor, a spacious cavity appeared.
‘Demonic Energy?’
Countless purple magic stones were piled up.
Though there was no separate light source, the magic stones emitted light on their own.
The glowing stones, accompanied by a creeping malice.
Rather than beautiful, they were chilling.
Shing.
Robin drew his sword.
It was an instinctive action to stand against malice.
Gripping the sword eased the tightness in his chest somewhat.
The closer he got, the thicker the Demonic Energy became.
‘I’ve never seen this many magic stones.’
He had seen them often enough when he was in the snowy mountains with Sigbard, but he had never collected them.
There was nothing good to come from getting close to Demonic Energy.
Still, the magic stones before his eyes had clearly been gathered by someone with intent.
Magic stones could not naturally occur in land that was not part of the Demon Realm.
‘What kind of person is Cruel, to have set up a place like this?’
The question naturally followed.
This was absolutely not a space an ordinary person could possess.
Step.
Someone entered from the entrance.
Holding his sword, he pressed himself against the wall and listened.
The footsteps that had been drawing closer stopped midway.
Tadadadad.
‘Damn it, did they notice me.’
Robin chased after the retreating footsteps, but he was too late.
The door through which they had entered closed.
Thud. Thud.
On top of that, it didn’t budge at all, as if heavy stones had been placed on it.
Robin sheathed his sword and rolled up his sleeves.
After taking a deep breath, he pushed the door with all his strength.
“Grrrrh.”
It shifted slightly, but that was all.
‘So brute force won’t work.’
He immediately drew his sword and unleashed his fighting spirit.
A rectangle was traced through the air along the doorframe.
Slice.
The wooden door was cut cleanly and smoothly.
Then stones as large as a human torso fell down.
Not just one, but several.
He tried to go out, but the entrance was blocked.
‘How did they pile up stones in such a short time.’
Robin was not one to give up here.
‘I wanted to get out as quietly as possible, but it can’t be helped.’
Robin took a stance, gripping a sword in each hand.
Fwoooash!
He cut straight through the ceiling.
Earth and debris poured down over his head, but even that was cut apart.
Gravel became sand.
Sand became even finer particles.
Though he was covered in dust, he made it out.
‘Let’s see your face.’
Given how desperately they had tried to hide this, there was clearly something dirty behind it.
He slowly approached Cruel’s house.
As soon as he stepped inside, a foul stench stabbed at Robin’s nose.
‘This smell is…….’
Thinking no way, he opened the door.
“…….”
No one was there.
No, it looked as though no one was there.
He gripped his sword.
Swish.
A sword draw too fast to be seen by the eye.
What caught on the sword’s tip was a woman’s wrist.
“Gyaaaaaaah!”
With a dull sound, a candleholder rolled across the floor.
The candleholder Cruel had gifted to the bride and groom.
What appeared before Robin was a guard.
“What is this…….”
The figures that had been invisible were now revealed.
They were guards of Old Town.
Among them, those who fervently followed Cruel.
Robin’s hunch had been right.
One of them rolled around, clutching his severed wrist.
“Cruel……!”
Robin growled the name.
Cruel turned around calmly.
Not far from him, a woman lay collapsed.
A bride who had not even been married for a full day.
Bluish bruises stood out here and there on her body.
“You shouldn’t barge into someone else’s house like that.”
“You… what have you done…….”
Cruel asked back with a face that truly looked as if he knew nothing.
“What have I done?”
“You bastards, just what are you…….”
“Oh, you mean this?”
Cruel smiled as he looked at the bride stained by violence.
A textbook villain who despised and oppressed the weak.
The captain of the Old Town guard was a criminal who delighted in murder.
“I just thought I’d play around a bit, but I didn’t think it’d turn out like this.”
“…….”
“It’s a hobby. Want to join?”
The guards beside him snickered.
Each of them babbled something, but none of it reached Robin’s ears.
Hoo.
Killing intent burst forth.
He leveled his sword at the guards who had fallen silent, their chatter rendered meaningless.
“Shut up and die.”
They were not worth sparing.
Robin swung his sword.
A crack formed in the once-composed expression on Cruel’s face.