novelraw Chapter 110 : Apology
Chapter 110 : Apology
Chapter 110: Apology
The blood lingering on the tip of his tongue tasted salty.
Black smoke bored into his nose, and as his control began to fade.
Robin bit down on his tongue.
The salty taste mixed with the scent of blood, and along with a sharp pain, his mind cleared.
‘Can demon worshippers use magic too.’
He had turned his body transparent and driven him into a state of confusion.
It wasn’t a direct attack, but it was threatening enough.
‘This isn’t something I can let slide.’
Cruel was not dead yet.
Blood was pouring out of the hole pierced through his abdomen, but he was still alive.
“Tell me everything you know about demon worshippers.”
The bastard didn’t answer.
‘I thought so.’
He pressed down firmly on the wound in the bastard’s stomach with his foot.
“Gyaaaah!”
“Are there other demon worshippers besides you.”
Maybe some information about the demons would come out.
“I, I’ll talk! I’ll talk, so please stop……!”
When he withdrew his foot, Cruel stopped struggling.
“A mercenary wearing a helmet… I followed him and discovered it.”
“More details.”
“I don’t know his face. I secretly tailed him and saw that he’d gathered magic stones. So…….”
A leftover mercenary who had barely survived a war he’d joined with insignificant skills.
After the war ended, Cruel happened to see a man moving purple stones.
At the time, he didn’t know, but they were magic stones.
Driven by curiosity, Cruel stole the magic stones and never let them out of his sight.
Once he grew accustomed to demonic energy, there was nothing left to fear.
‘The old woman’s words were true.’
When Cruel finished speaking, Robin picked up the candlestick.
The magic stone embedded in the center gleamed slickly.
“Did you make this candlestick yourself.”
“That’s… impossible…….”
He aimed the candlestick at Cruel, but nothing happened.
‘This is my first time seeing an object embedded with a magic stone. Would it be fine to just break it.’
He worried that if he destroyed it, the demonic energy might be absorbed into Cruel.
Just as he decided to deal with it after Cruel died.
Someone crawled up from behind.
It was a woman.
‘She was alive.’
Robin had thought the woman was dead, but she was alive.
Wearing scraps of cloth too pitiful to even be called clothes.
She dragged her body, beaten countless times, and looked down at Cruel.
Her vitality drained away, her gaunt hand reached toward Cruel.
“Ghk……!”
Cruel, grabbed in the groin, screamed at Robin.
“I told you everything you were curious about! Hurry up and kill me!”
Before Robin could answer, the woman viciously tore at him.
Rippp.
Where did she find such strength.
Her blood-soaked hand tore him apart as if pulling weeds.
Cruel couldn’t even let out a sound at the pain he had never experienced before.
He hadn’t known he would suffer such agony right before death.
‘It’s reaping what he sowed, but… I can’t bear to watch.’
Even Robin, accustomed to suffering, turned his head away.
Cruel gagged and spat out blood.
A small pool of blood formed around his groin.
Blood tears welled up in his dimming eyes.
“I should’ve pretended not to know…….”
The diligent guard captain of Old Town.
The friendly neighborhood man to everyone.
A criminal who had successfully laundered his identity.
A vicious rapist.
A demon worshipper.
The last words he left as he died made Robin doubt his ears.
“Brandok… kr.”
“What?”
“…….”
“Say it again! Brandok?”
Robin shook Cruel and barked at him, but it was too late.
From the start, it was a wound he could hardly survive.
Even if left alone, he would have died, but the woman’s outburst was decisive.
“Brandok… why would Brandok……?”
Before he could even process his confusion, the woman collapsed with a thud.
When Robin carefully supported her, the woman looked longingly at something.
“The candlestick? Should I bring the candlestick?”
There was no reply.
She was forcing her half-closing eyes to stay open.
Robin placed the candlestick into the woman’s hand.
Hwaaaat.
Without a moment to stop it, the demonic energy was absorbed into the woman.
It was a considerable amount.
Robin flinched and instinctively grabbed the back of her neck.
Hiss—hiss.
She barely clung to life, continuing her faint breaths.
Her skin, dyed purple, reminded him of a demon.
As he seriously debated whether he should kill her, her trembling lips moved.
“Sorry… husband…….”
“…….”
With that, the woman breathed her last.
Two words that didn’t even form a complete sentence.
Just two words were the woman’s last testament.
Psssss.
Robin’s arms grew light.
The woman’s corpse scattered like ashes.
Not even a single bone remained.
The scrap of cloth, no better than a rag, was the woman’s only trace.
“…May you rest in peace.”
Even the villain left behind a body, but the victim departed the world like that.
Blood was probably still seeping from his tongue.
His mouth tasted bitter.
Sigbard headed to Cruel’s house.
Even after quite some time had passed, Robin hadn’t returned.
Inside the house, a familiar man lay collapsed.
“What happened in the guard captain’s house.”
A newlywed groom, not even a day into his marriage.
Traces of beatings were left all over him.
When Sigbard shook him awake, he opened his eyes with difficulty.
“P, please stop…….”
“Stop what.”
The groom shrank back, taking a defensive posture.
Just as Sigbard was about to calm him down, not knowing what was going on.
Step—step.
Footsteps approached.
“Robin?”
Robin, who had returned with small injuries, stopped short when he saw the groom.
The groom showed no reaction, as if he didn’t even realize Robin had arrived.
“He was collapsed in the corner of this room.”
“I see…….”
“Just what the hell happened. Tell me.”
Robin hesitated over what he should say, then let out a deep breath.
“Marlen is… dead.”
The groom, who had only been reacting defensively, turned his head.
“What did you say……?”
“Your wife is dead.”
The groom gaped blankly, his face unable to accept it.
“Guard Captain Cruel is the main culprit.”
Robin told him everything that had happened.
A crime so vicious it was hard to believe a human had committed it.
He relayed it as gently as possible, but even Sigbard frowned.
“…My condolences.”
“Hic… ahh…….”
The groom clutched his chest and sobbed.
“She said to tell you she was sorry. That was her last will.”
A hollow scream filled the surroundings.
The groom wailed at the top of his lungs and then fainted.
Robin’s heart felt heavy as he looked at him.
“You did well, Robin.”
“I didn’t expect it to turn out like this.”
“You saved this village.”
Sigbard patted his shoulder in praise, but the unpleasant feeling didn’t go away.
“What will you do now? Will you leave as planned?”
“There’s still something I need to do.”
Leaving the groom behind, they went outside.
In the backyard, the ominous aura spewing from the magic stones flickered vividly.
“Let’s bury it before dawn.”
“Alright.”
There were too many to move, and if destroyed, the demonic energy would scatter.
If that scattered demonic energy leaked out, another person like Cruel might appear.
‘It might even affect me.’
It didn’t take long to seal the entrance.
What was difficult was making the place look as if nothing had been there.
The ground, where grass had grown sparsely, clearly showed signs of being dug up.
‘If Cruel’s words were true, then Brandok created this place…….’
A mercenary wearing a helmet.
A man who had gone missing without a word after they parted in the war three years ago.
When that name came out of Cruel’s mouth, Robin had been more than a little flustered.
‘Where is Brandok now.’
Sigbard thoroughly churned up all the surrounding land.
“That’s enough. Now it’ll be hard to tell where the entrance was.”
The entire area was dug up as if clearing farmland.
Crude, but the most effective method.
‘Brandok isn’t the type to commit evil deeds, so what in the world…….’
“Robin, what are you thinking about so hard.”
“Ah, my head’s just a mess.”
There was no end to the things weighing on his mind.
Whoosh!
A fist shot toward Robin.
In an instant, he erased his stray thoughts and his body reacted.
“Sigbard?”
“A spar.”
Startled by the sudden declaration, he quickly corrected his stance.
After one minute passed, Sigbard stopped.
“Feeling better now.”
Only then did Robin realize Sigbard’s intention.
By focusing on the spar, his mind had cleared.
“Thanks to you.”
“Then I’m going to sleep. Sleep on it and think again after.”
He couldn’t help but agree with the simple, straightforward words.
He had expended a great deal of mental strength in an unexpected place.
When he went inside the house, the groom still had his eyes closed.
Across from him, Robin leaned his back.
The next day, Old Town was turned upside down.
The guard captain’s death and the crimes revealed shocked everyone.
Some didn’t believe it, but fortunately the victim was alive.
After barely regaining his strength and getting up, he recounted everything he had suffered without omission.
“Cruel did such things……?”
“And even his subordinates were involved… We have to investigate the guard unit!”
The guard unit that had maintained public order until now was thrown into emergency.
The arrow of anger was directed at them.
“Now that you mention it, women from outside used to disappear from time to time. Don’t tell me that too……?”
From when had it begun.
Events that had seemed unrelated suddenly surfaced one after another.
It was truly a cauldron of chaos.
Robin watched the scene with a bitter expression.
“Um… thank you. I had no idea such a criminal was living in our village.”
A few villagers offered their thanks.
Thanks to the groom speaking well of him, Robin wasn’t suspected.
They were also less worried about the underground space where the magic stones were buried.
People even avoided approaching Cruel’s house.
Some suggested burning the entire area down.
“Our work here is done.”
Sigbard came with his backpack.
Since they had already finished preparing to leave, there was nothing else to get ready.
There was no grand send-off.
Only the anger of the villagers, filled with confusion, remained.
“Wait.”
As they tried to quietly leave Old Town, a hoarse voice stopped them.
“…You should still be resting. Are you really all right.”
The man who had lost his wife staggered over.
In just a single day, his face had grown gaunt.
“Take this.”
Without warning, he held out a pouch of money.
Startled, Robin accepted it and opened it to find 5 gold inside.
“Don’t feel burdened. It came out of that bastard Cruel’s house.”
“…….”
Robin hesitated for a moment, then tucked the pouch into his clothes.
“The man in the helmet. It was a long time ago, but he went west.”
“How do you know that……?”
“I was the one who prepared his travel gear.”
As if he had noticed what was troubling Robin most, he gave him the information he was most curious about.
“Thank you. That helped a lot.”
“Are you going west.”
“Yes. More precisely, we’re heading to the northwest.”
“When you reach the west, be careful. There’s a great forest there where no human footsteps reach.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Even after finishing his words, the man didn’t leave.
As if he had another matter.
The man hesitated, then muttered.
“My wife… Marlen’s final moments…….”
“I can tell you in detail, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
After hesitating for a long while, the man bowed his head deeply.
Sigbard, who had been watching quietly, stepped forward.
“Your wife was brave.”
“What do you mean……?”
“If it weren’t for your wife, I wouldn’t have gone to your house. If that had happened, you two would have died there immediately.”
“…….”
“Was it Marlen. I pay my respects to the courage she showed in resisting to the very end.”
Sigbard struck his chest twice and bowed his head.
After smacking his lips for a while, the man wiped away his tears.
“Th-thank… you…….”
Robin and Sigbard left Old Town just like that.
Heading toward a city adjacent to the Demon Realm.
The man stood frozen in place, unable to move for a long time.