Chapter 20. Who to Blame (7)

The dying man groaned, "

Urgh... Ugh... Guhhh!

"

He had thought he could smash me with the club. On any other day, his judgment would have been correct, but I had dodged this time. He hadn't known how agile I was.

I believed I could stab him to death with the sword, and that attempt had worked. He hadn't brought his shield because he hadn't come to fight—he had come to defile a corpse. No one would bring a shield to do such a thing.

Isn't a shield a guard's essential gear?

If he had brought his shield, this corpse-loving fiend might have successfully blocked my attacks and slowly crushed me. He might have succeeded in breaking me apart. Then, I could have returned to the grave again, but it was impossible to know for certain.

Tap.

I took one step back and slowly pulled the sword out of the guard's heart.

Squelch!

Fresh blood spurted out like a fountain. The guard's face turned ghostly pale.

My white skull was stained red with the blood spurting from him. The blood sprayed my empty eye sockets, painting the inside of my occipital bones bright red. It was the same spot where Rubia had hit me with a snowball in a previous life.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The guard staggered back three steps.

"

Guh

... Wh-what... kind of... skeleton is... this?"

Swoosh!

Blood spurted from the pierced heart like a fountain.

Thud.

His expression seemed to be filled with unspoken thoughts, yet he never finished his sentence. The guard fell, leaving with questions unanswered. It was a clean death and an unexpectedly peaceful demise.

I failed to capture and torture him. I didn't possess that kind of overwhelming power. Even after ambushing a careless opponent, I barely managed to stab him in the chest.

Clatter.

I shook my head to fling off the dirty blood. At that moment, a notification appeared, and letters densely filled the air.

[Quest Activated]

[Sub Quest – Guard Murder Activated.]

[You have killed a guard for the first time. Well done. Smash the corrupt authority! Not corrupt? Well, that's okay, too. Try killing guards in other cities. Kill the guards of twelve cities, and you might receive something. At the very least, you could become a wanted criminal.]

[Current Cities Where Guards Have Been Killed: 1/12 (Yublam)

Expected Reward: ???]

[Enjoy destroying public authority!]

A quest... What nonsense.

I waved my hand to dismiss the quest without reading it properly.

Thud!

I kicked the guard's corpse. The lifeless corpse rolled over into the flames created by the torch.

***

I had failed again. I let the woman named Rubia die a terrible death once more. If I had abandoned her from the start, I might not have felt so powerless. But I had taken the lead this time. I had tried to stay with her, yet I couldn't even protect her for two days.

It was pathetic. The image of my master I couldn't protect seemed to cling to me again, wrapping around me. The guilt was heavy and difficult to escape.

Clatter.

If I stayed here, Rubia's body would also burn. The image of my master's dead body overlapped with her corpse. I picked up her body and moved into the mountains. I aimed at the ground with my sword and swept away the snow.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

I struck the frozen ground repeatedly. It didn't budge easily, so I had to keep forcing it. I felt my shortcomings for not even being able to dig into the frozen earth properly. I continued to dig deeper and deeper until it was around two meters deep.

Fwoosh!

Even though I thought I had walked quite a distance, the fire had spread far, and I could feel the heat. I wrapped Rubia's body in fur and carefully laid her at the bottom of the pit. I slowly covered the body with the dirt I had dug up.

The earth slipped between my fingers. The soil had clumped into hard frozen chunks. I swept the dirt with the back of the sword, gathering it to cover her. The pile of dirt was too humble to be called a grave. I couldn't even set a small gravestone because the other guard might dig it up. I had to hide it.

Whoosh!

The wind blew, cold and sharp, between my bones.

Clatter.

All I could do now was press down on the dirt to pack it tightly. I had to endure. I had to survive.

If I die and return now, can I protect Rubia again?

I shook my head fiercely.

I lacked confidence. Right now, I couldn't protect anything properly, not from nature or humans. I picked up my belongings and moved deeper into the mountains, far enough not to be seen by human eyes.

After going deep enough, I opened the guard's notebook.

Rustle!

On the first page was a list of people's names, prices, and descriptions of how they were sexually abused. It seemed the notebook had been used as a ledger for buying and selling people. The last page was blank. I took a pen and started writing names on it, one line at a time.

Guard Captain and His Gang (Yublam).

Lord (Erast).

Hammer and Crossbow (First Grave).

I made a small mark next to Hammer and Crossbow. It was a completed task, after all. The lord of Erast was supposedly Rubia's uncle. There was a high probability that he was involved in all these events somehow. The lord had likely sent the hammer and crossbow hunters after Rubia. There was no need to mention the guard captain and his gang. They had murdered Rubia inside the city and probably tortured her as well before taking her life.

I discarded all other supplies like emergency rations, water bottles, and coats. They were all useless now, with no one left to eat the emergency rations, drink the water, and wear the coats. I only took the hammer, sword, and crossbow. All I needed were weapons.

I should head to the cave for now.

The natural labyrinth guaranteed a bit of safety, at least. It was a familiar and advantageous place. I would stay there for a while. The troll incident and sending her into the human village alone had all happened because I wasn't strong enough.

From the beginning, all this started because I couldn't protect my master, the Succubus. Right now, I needed more strength, and that was all I thought about.

I looked beyond the place I had buried Rubia, gazing at the flames blazing brightly.

There was no sign of the fire dying down. Winter was a dry season. Even if I spilled a lot of blood, it would dry up quickly.

***

Drip, drip, drip, drip.

Water droplets fell from the sharp stalactites.

After entering the cave, I had a lot of time. I thought about my next target.

What happened after Rubia entered the city?

I needed to ask around. Of course, I wanted to immediately interrogate the Grassmere guard captain and his gang because they needed to pay the price. However, having watched the guards for three days after Rubia entered the city, I knew they wouldn't be easy targets.

The guards patrolled in groups of two or more and always carried whistles. Moreover, when the bald guard captain and the guards emerged to dump Rubia’s corpse... that had been the first and last time I saw them. Those who looked like hyenas didn't work outside.

Do they work inside the city?

I had no intention of taking a pointless risk. If I died here and my skull was shattered again, I would have to witness Rubia's death in some form again during the next return. I wanted to be with her, but since I did not have sufficient strength, I would rather be alone.

After experiencing this cycle repeatedly in a short time span, I had developed a strange attachment and obsession with Rubia. I didn't want to see her die again.

I looked around the city perimeter, trying to grasp the situation from what I could hear. I didn't know much about the city Yublam.

In fact, I knew almost nothing except for its location. The lord's castle was small, and many people lived outside the city walls. That was about it. There was a lot to learn. I thought about catching a passing human and politely asking them some questions. However, I had killed a guard, so things would be noisy for a while.

Just from a glance, the guards seemed like a suspicious bunch. If one of their own died, they would be eager to find out what had happened. I needed to see how things were going first.

Let's wait for a bit.

***

I quietly spent about a month in the cave. Time didn't mean much to a skeleton. It passed surprisingly quickly while I sat quietly and reflected on my memories.

Maybe enough time has passed now.

Starting near the entrance of the cave, I carefully surveyed the outside. It was unexpectedly quiet.

I wonder if the fire burned the guard's corpse well.

I didn't see humans specifically searching the mountain for anything. They might think that the guard I killed had just burned to death in the forest fire.

It seems like it's time to go out.

I left the cave and went out to the mountain path where people were passing by. I lay down in the bushes by the roadside, waiting for people who might provide information. Fortunately, it wasn't long before I heard footsteps.

There's quite a few of them.

One, two, three...

There were six people. They were all young and looked around sixteen years old. They were dragging someone along.

What are they doing?

Five of them were dragging one boy. I lay in the bushes, quietly observing the young humans.

The oldest-looking boy among the five grabbed the collar of the boy being dragged. He handled the younger boy quite roughly.

"Shawn, today is really your last day. Stealing liquor again? Making our employer suspect each one of us? Today, it won't end with just a beating."

Shawn, the younger boy, huffed. "No, it wasn't me!"

He protested while hanging from the older boy's grip on his collar. Nevertheless, the older boy didn't even pretend to listen.

"You bastard, liquor goes missing every time you're on duty. I saw it clearly. A guy like you should just be buried underground."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"We don't care. Because of you, the orphans from the orphanage are about to lose their jobs, so today, you're dead."

I looked at the kid hanging in the air. His face was flushed red for some reason. Even his eyes were completely unfocused.

Has he been drinking?

Humans tended to look like that when they were heavily drunk. Their skin turned red, they couldn't walk properly, and they couldn't speak properly.

"Let's dig here!"

The kids with shovels started digging a pit on the hillside.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

As they dug in unison, the pit deepened quickly. Despite the cold winter, the ground was relatively soft, as the dirt being shoveled out looked quite fine.

Shawn wailed, "I-it was a mistake! It was a mistake!"

Despite his wails, he was so drunk that he did not seem sincere at all.

Thud! Thud!

"You're really good at digging!"

"How is it? This is where you're going!"

I watched them quietly. Frankly, the pit wasn't deep enough to kill and bury someone.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I-I will never drink again!"

"You won't drink again?"

The children around him burst out laughing.

"You've been stealing Mr. Wyne's wine for a whole year, you bastard. He thought we were sharing it."

"Let's bury him quickly! Let the wild beasts gnaw at his head."

"Look, I-I'm—!"

Shawn seemed to be no older than thirteen, and he could barely keep himself upright. The human children buried Shawn up to his shoulders. They stomped on the ground to pack the dirt.

"Let's go! We don't need a guy like this. He's a disgrace to our orphanage."

The five children slung their shovels over their shoulders and left. Shawn wept, buried in the ground with a face red as a beet. The children whispered to each other as they descended the mountain.