Chapter 42: Just Take One Hit, You Little Punk (2)

“

Wheeze

... Ha...”

Keter, who reached the second floor, looked down at the trembling village chief.

“You won’t even feel the pain.”

Keter’s voice echoed down to the lower floor.

Crack! Thud.

Everyone heard the sound of something breaking and collapsing.

“Keter!”

Luke, in a fit of rage, grabbed Keter by the collar as he descended the stairs.

Keter, expressionless, calmly said, “Looks like you’ve got some energy left. If that’s the case, why don’t you go handle that corpse? Dump it in the basement.”

“Did you really kill the innocent village chief?!” Luke shouted.

“Innocent? There’s no one in this world without sin. Dig deep enough, and you’ll find plenty of people worth killing.”

Luke glared at Keter before rushing back up to the second floor in a panic.

“Ah...”

The village chief lay motionless on the ground. Though he appeared unharmed, his heart had already stopped. Luke held back his tears and carried the village chief on his back as he descended the stairs.

“Wait.”

Arbold blocked Luke's path and motioned to one of his subordinates, who then placed his hand on the village chief's neck to check for a pulse. He nodded, confirming that the chief was dead.

Then, Arbold turned to Keter.

“He seems fine on the outside. It seems like you haven't learned archery.”

“I’m from the lawless city.”

“Ah... I see!”

Arbold smiled subtly, as if realizing something else. Meanwhile, Luke pushed past one of the Bydent knights blocking his way.

“Move.”

“Hold on. Where do you think you're going?”

“An innocent person is dead. The least I can do is give him a proper burial.”

Arbold clicked his tongue.

“Didn't Lord Keter tell you to leave him in the basement? Why are you disobeying your master's orders?”

“Master? Keter's not my master. Keter is my...”

Luke was about to call Keter his partner, but bit his lip.

“...We're strangers now.”

Arbold looked at Keter, as if he was asking what he was going to do about this dog barking at its master.

“Sefira is really stubborn. That's why there's no progress. Don't you think?” Keter said.

“I don’t know why one would stay on a sinking ship. Perhaps it’s time for you to escape, Lord Keter.”

”...What are you two talking about?”

Luke, who hadn’t fully grasped the situation, or perhaps had just now understood it, glared back and forth between Keter and Arbold. Keter, looking bored, pulled out a pocket watch from his coat and checked the time.

“Well, we're short on time. Just lock this frustrating fool in the basement with the corpse.”

“Are you sure? He is a knight of Sefira.”

“Don't kill him. He’s not even worth that.”

Keter's merciless words seemed to disturb even Arbold. Luke, unable to believe what was happening, clenched his jaw in silence. Two of the Bydent knights approached him.

“If you're going to resist, do it quickly.”

Luke was ready to fight, but it was only in his mind. He couldn’t move his body—not even a finger, as if he were paralyzed.

Please... move. Just this once, I beg you.

Luke pleaded inside, but the curse that bound him didn’t release him, not even in this critical moment. As Luke stood trembling in silence, the Bydent knights assumed he was simply terrified. Dragging a frightened person away was a piece of cake.

“You truly are a villain, Lord Keter.”

After the knights dragged Luke away, Arbold finally understood the kind of person Keter was: a villain from Absinthe—an opportunist, looking to plunder the sinking ship that was Sefira.

He’s simple-minded, which makes him easy to use. What a perfect chance.

Arbold felt a strong sense that things were going to go well. His guard relaxed, and his confidence returned, even though they hadn’t yet located the flying wolves.

“I'll go fetch the captain.”

“How long? Be precise.”

“You really are thorough. No more than thirty minutes, even at the latest.”

“If you don't return, I’ll consider it a betrayal.”

“Of course, my lord.”

Arbold glanced at his subordinates, signaling them to watch Keter while he brought the captain. Seeing them nod in understanding, Arbold quickly left, leaving them behind.

* * *

“

Sigh...

”

In the basement of the village hall, which was also a wine storage, Luke let out a deep, crushing sigh. The weight of his incompetence, Keter's betrayal, and the shame of tarnishing his father’s name weighed heavily on him. The guilt of disappointing Besil coursed through him, seeping into every part of his being.

To be honest, he still hadn’t fully grasped what had happened. Everything happened so suddenly, and he had never experienced anything like this before. Luke, though titled a knight, was naive and sheltered; he found everything utterly confusing, from the strange things Keter said to how Arbold responded, who responded as if he already knew everything.

What were they talking about?

He wasn’t sure, but one thing seemed clear.

“Did Keter... really betray Sefira?”

It was hard to admit, but it seemed to be the only explanation. If so, Luke needed to escape and inform the patriarch as soon as possible. But that was nearly impossible. Two Bydent knights were guarding the exit, and they were not the kind to let their guard down. Breaking through purely with skill was the only option, but he doubted whether he even had that kind of ability.

Even if he did, the curse that bound him made it impossible to even throw a punch.

“I’m a fool and useless.”

Thud. Thud.

Luke pounded his fists into the ground. Blood welled up on his delicate hands as his skin split. Then, a trembling sensation overtook him again. Even this small act of self-harm was hindered by the curse.

“Leave me alone... I’d rather just die here.”

Luke had always been afraid of the curse, as when the curse worsened, it would become difficult for him to breathe. But now, none of that mattered. If he had to live a life where he needed the curse's permission even to condemn himself, then suffocating to death seemed like a better alternative.

After a moment, his trembling hands finally moved.

Thud!

He had overcome it. He defied the curse and managed to slam his fist into the ground again. His hands began to soak in blood again. As they turned red, something startled him. Suddenly, he felt the presence of someone nearby. Luke shot to his feet.

“What is it? Who's there?”

It couldn’t be the Bydent knights. He had been thoroughly searched by them just before being locked in here. Also, it hadn’t been long enough for them to bring him food, so they had no reason to come down. Yet, it wasn’t the scurrying of rats or insects; it was unmistakably a human presence.

But there shouldn’t be anyone else here. The only human-like thing in the room was the village chief.

“Ugh...”

”...!?”

The corpse moved. The chief had come back to life.

Luke’s eyes widened in shock. He had confirmed with his own hands that the chief was dead. He had stopped breathing, and his heart was no longer breathing. Yet now, he was moving.

For a moment, Luke thought the village chief had returned as an undead, but the color slowly returning to his face showed that he was coming back to life. It was, quite literally, a resurrection.

“Are you... are you conscious, sir?” Luke asked hesitantly.

“Ughhh...”

The chief, still groggy and disoriented, just twisted and turned on the floor, groaning.

Then, suddenly...

Thud!

The door flung open. Luke, startled, shot up in panic. If the Bydent knights realized that the chief was alive, things would spiral out of control fast. He had to hide him somehow.

However, the person who entered wasn’t a knight from the Bydent family.

“The smell of wine here is sweet... I like it.”

“Keter...!” Luke shouted as he grabbed Keter by the collar the moment he walked in.

The Bydent knights, standing just outside, clicked their tongues at the scene and closed the door behind them.

“How dare you show your face here?” Luke growled in anger.

He didn't reveal to Keter that the chief had come back to life.

“Calm down. It’s not like I killed anyone. Look, the old man is alive and well,” Keter said coolly, pointing toward the chief.

“...”

The chief was lying there again as if he was dead, yet Keter knew he had come back to life. Even someone as dense as Luke could figure it out by now.

“Wait, did

you

do this? How?” Luke asked, astonished.

“Would you even understand if I explained? Just think of it as me being competent and moving on,” Keter replied nonchalantly.

“...Sorry. I really thought you’d betrayed us,” Luke admitted.

“Of course you did. I was the one who deceived you, ” Keter said, shrugging.

“Next time, give me a heads-up. I almost had a heart attack.”

“If you hadn’t been fooled, neither would those idiots. Anyway, do you feel like fighting?”

“I do... but...” Luke hesitated.

He didn’t want to talk about his curse and his inadequacy. But his curse was too big of a presence to hide forever. If it was going to be discovered eventually, it was better to confess now.

“I'll be honest. I’ve been cursed since birth. Every time danger arises, my instincts stop me. I can’t do anything. Some people say it was protecting me, but to me, it’s nothing but a curse,” Luke confessed, his voice heavy with shame.

“Oh, you're

that

type? Interesting... this is rare,” Keter mused.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, you might be more of a big deal than I originally thought.”

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“What?” Luke blinked in confusion.

Luke couldn’t keep up with Keter, no matter how hard he tried.

“Alright, request accepted.”

“Wait, what request are you accepting?”

“I’ll lift that curse of yours. In return, you’ll do me one favor. How does that sound?”

“You’ll lift my curse? I mean, I call it a curse, but it’s not really one. Even priests and mages couldn’t figure it out.”

“I don’t care about that. The deal is, you’ll do me one favor, no matter what. Are you in or not?”

Luke sighed.

“If you can actually lift it, what’s one favor? I’ll do it three times, or even ten.”

“Ten times, huh? Give me ten favors.”

Keter, with no hint of modesty, changed the conditions. Realizing his mistake, Luke quickly corrected himself.

“N-no, wait. That was a joke. Let’s stick with one favor.”

“

Tsk

, fine. One favor it is. But swear on it.”

“A vow? Seriously?”

Luke wondered if Keter could really break his curse because he seemed so confident, but Luke didn’t have much faith. Keter could actually just be trying to deceive him. Still, no one had ever made such a bold promise to break his curse before. So, even if it was a lie, Luke wanted to believe it.

“I swear. By Queen Lilian and—”

Keter cut him off before Luke could finish the usual oath.

“Swear on your ancestors, not Lillian.”

“Keter, are you teasing me? I don't even know who my real parents are. How can I swear on my ancestors?”

“Then that makes it easier, doesn’t it? You don’t know them anyway.”

“Fine. I swear on my ancestors. If you lift my curse, I'll do whatever favor you ask, no exceptions.”

“Okay. Request accepted.”

“So, how are you going to lift it? You can tell me now, right?”

“First, aren’t you curious about what’s going on? It’s simple. Those guys came here looking for beastfolk.”

“Beastfolk...?”

Even though he heard the answer, Luke still couldn't make sense of it.

Luke wasn't exactly uneducated. Because he was weak in combat, he made an extra effort to study theory and knowledge. He knew more than most people, and he certainly didn’t fall behind.

“That long-haired pervert said they were offering a bounty, right? The reward was ten thousand gold. There are only three things in this world that would give ten thousand gold just for providing information.”

Keter held up three fingers.

“First, discovering ancient ruins of a god. Second, sighting the missing elven goddess. And the last?”

Luke picked up where Keter left off.

“Reporting the sighting of the Seven Cursed Species, which rebelled against the emperor...”

“Among them?”

“The Flying Wolf Tribe, the Moon Rabbit Tribe, the Soul-Stealing Crow Tribe... That's all I know.”

“There are more, but I’ll give you it since those are the only ones assumed to still be alive.”

“So... one of those three is hiding in Hacose Village? And the Bydent family came here to find them?”

It was an unbelievable story. It was astonishing how a significant beastfolk like the Seven Cursed Species could be hiding in such a small village. Moreover, it was a mystery how the Bydent family, as well as Keter, knew about this.

Luke started to see Keter as even more mysterious than before.

“Now do I seem impressive?”

“No, you seem more suspicious.”

“This profession of being a Solver tends to suffer from a lot of prejudice.”

“Okay, so the Bydent family is after beastfolk. Then we can just take the money and quietly leave, right?”

“No, we have to stop them.”

“Why? Wasn't it fifty thousand gold? That's a lot. If we take that to the patriarch, he'd probably hug you and dance. And if we’re going to stop them, why didn’t we just set off the signal flare?”

“Luke, you must've saved a country in your past life. It’s pretty difficult to get lessons from me. Be sure to treat Gramps Jacques well when we get back, seriously.”

”...Am I missing something here?”

“Plenty. Anyway, lesson one.”

Keter pointed at the village chief, who was pretending to be dead, and smirked.

“There are no such things as coincidences in this world.”