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After giving Setsuna and Freya plenty of love, I take my own independent actions. Changing into the kingdom soldier that tried to take Setsuna at the tavern by using【Transformation Heal】, I headed towards my acquaintance from the village who was crucified. On top of purposely choosing this appearance, I wore a hood low over my eyes.
I was properly carrying the identification papers I stole from the kingdom soldier because it"s my insurance for when the time comes.
The place I arrived at was one corner of the town. The villager was strapped onto a wooden pillar with soldiers keeping guard in the surroundings. The villager had marks of violence remaining on his body and was unconscious.
They have done an atrocious thing. Because he"s knocked out, it"s not possible to hear his story from the person himself. Although even if he was conscious, the soldiers keeping guard would be strict.
Now, how should I go about information gathering? While searching through the memories I obtained from using【Recovery Heal】on Muruta, the guy I killed with poison, I checked if there was an easy mark within the soldiers keeping guard. Alright, there was one. Adjusting my timing and angle so that only he would see, I show my face. He"s caught the bait.
"Oi, is that you Muruta? What are you doing there?" (TL Note: There"s a ! mark but it doesn"t make sense in English)
With a cheerful voice as a friend, he called out to me. … He"s Muruta"s drinking friend, and he"s quite close. That"s why I put my eye on him.
"Molrett. It"s been a while." (Kearuga)
Coming closer to him while returning a smile, I whisper into his ear.
"You might have heard from the rumors, but there was a monster swordsman at the village of the ice wolf race, and so I ran away. It will result in a death penalty if someone is found deserting under enemy fire. Tonight at the bar, can we talk about that?" (Kearuga)
When I say that, the guard on lookout, Molrett nods with a serious face. This guy, at least in Muruta"s memories isn"t a guy that would sell his friends out for breaking the rules. Therefore, I was able to call out to him with a piece of mind. There"s also no way of the real Muruta appearing, because after all, he"s dead.
His corpse was thrown away in this town"s morgue. This town is crowded with unidentifiable people, so abandoning dead bodies is terrifyingly easy. Even if it increases by one or two bodies, no one takes notice of it.
"… So that"s what happened. I got it. There"s a small shop that"s my favorite, so if it"s there, we should be able to have a complicated talk. So that you can return, I"ll lend you my wit." (Molrett)
"Sorry about that Molrett." (Kearuga)
He also understood that this talk should be done in a private place. Well, once it just becomes the two of us, I"ll get information about the kingdom soldiers out of him. To think I would get a duck this easily. This also must be because my habitual deeds are good. I should be thankful to the G.o.ds. Thanks Molrett, I"ll make sure to take out all the necessary information out of you.
I arrived at the shop that Molrett showed me to, but I didn"t enter the shop immediately. While being careful of the surroundings, I search. And from a blind spot of the shop, I observe.
Even after making sure that Molrett entered the shop, I still checked if there were any suspicious people in the surroundings before entering.
Although he is a trustable person in Murata"s memories, people"s memories unexpectedly happen to be useless. It wouldn"t be weird if he thought of taking soldiers along with him to capture the traitor who escaped under enemy fire.
First off, there"s no indication of that. Besides, when Molrett entered the shop, he was carefully checking if he was being tailed. I should be able to trust him.
"Sorry about this Molrett. I"m a bit late." (Kearuga)
"It"s ok. I only just came too." (Molrett) (TL Note: … is this guy on a date or something?)
With a smile, he greets me. Molrett then orders the recommendations on the menu one by one to the employee and has alcohol brought over.
The alcohol is local alcohol. Considering this alcohol was made from wheat, it"s quite good. Although the food is simple, the price is inexpensive, there are plenty of nutrients and it has volume. I can understand why he says this place is his favorite.
"This stew is delicious. As expected of your favorite shop." (Kearuga)
"Right? I figured Muruta would also like it. First just eat, and then I"ll listen to your story." (Molrett)
He"s unexpectedly a good guy. I"ll make sure not to proactively dispose of him. While having foolish talk, we drank alcohol and ate food and the place started warming up. Of course, I didn"t make any blunders that will make him think I"m not Muruta. I carefully chose the topics.
At fixed intervals, I was drawing out the alcohol inside me with【Recovery Heal】. Although I act like I"m drunk, I can"t let my thoughts become less capable. And now, we finally get into the main topic.
"Muruta, I heard that it was hard at the village of the ice wolf race." (Molrett)
"An outrageous monster swordsman appears. Just by himself, he ma.s.sacred almost everyone there. Just thinking about it gives me the chills." (Kearuga)
"What sort of sword style did he use?" (Molrett)
"He was of the Claylet school. I"ve seen it a few times in martial arts meetings. There"s no doubt about it." (Kearuga)
Since there"s no point in hiding it, I talk to him with honesty. He should also know about that too, and he was making a difficult face.
"Why did you run?" (Molrett)
"I also have confidence in my sword arm, but… I would have definitely died if I challenged that. Thanks to his slice accidentally being too shallow, I was able to keep my life and ran away from fear." (Kearuga)
Even in Muruta"s memories that was what happened. My sword that was aiming for his neck only just missed his artery. Having his life saved, by that point of time, he realized the difference in strength and Muruta ran away.
It was a smart decision. However, the actions he took after escaping wasn"t smart. He would have lived a long life if only he didn"t reach his hand out to Setsuna…
"Well whatever the case, I"m relieved that you"re safe. After all, I did lose quite a lot of war buddies from that battle. Do you have a job or something?" (Molrett)
"I"m doing an adventurer-like job at Ra.n.a.litta. Hey, do you think I can return to the kingdom?" (Kearuga)
"… I think it"s impossible. Because it"s me, I can overlook it, but deserting under enemy fire results in a death penalty. Since we will stay in this town for a while, I think it would be better to move to another town. It would be better to not meet with people you know." (Molrett)
"Is that so…" (Kearuga)
"Don"t be so sad. It"s on me today. You must be worried about money right? Let"s at least enjoy ourselves with alcohol for today." (Molrett)
Molrett requested a second cup of alcohol from the employee and placed it right in front of me while smiling at me.
"Thanks. That reminds me, what was that man you were watching over?" (Kearuga)
"Ah, he was from the village that the hero of healing lived in." (Molrett)
I know that, but the problem is ahead of that. So that I can get it out of him, I"m doing this play.
"So you a.s.saulted the village just because they lived in the same place as the hero of healing?" (Kearuga)
"Well yeah, and it was a fun hunt after a long time. Demi-humans are good, but humans are definitely better. It"s easy because they"re weak and they have more money than demi-humans, so the profit from looting is better. Violating demi-humans are good in their own way, but human woman feel the best." (Molrett)
I feel like my smile is going to cramp. The person I thought was a good guy ends up being this. It seems the kingdom"s soldiers really are rotten. Well it"s just as expected though.
"But the other party is a human, so isn"t it bad? Does your conscience not feel anything?" (Kearuga)
"I could ask the same thing to you. You"ve thoroughly killed, stole and raped plenty of demi-humans. Just because it"s a human, what change is there?" (Molrett)
I continue my forced smile. I was quite surprised in my mind since I thought the reason they did what they want with the demi-humans was because they didn"t recognize them as their own race, but to think he has no hesitation even to a human. And that has become common sense throughout the soldiers. Terrifying. They"ve grown accustomed to robbery this much.
"That being said, I"m perplexed since they were humans from my own country. After all, we are supposedly in the position to protect people as the kingdom"s soldiers. I don"t think the people from other villages would stay quiet either. Even if it was the hero of healing"s village, it was quite overkill." (Kearuga)
"That wouldn"t happen, because our captain kept insisting that it was a heretic village. The word heresy is quite convenient. If you just say heresy, you"re allowed to do anything you want after all. Our captain really is quite smart." (Molrett)
Heresy? They fabricated it by using that? What a careless false accusation. I"ll definitely make him pay for that.
"… Haha, I want to follow his example too." (Kearuga)
"Oh yeah, about our captain, he monopolized the best woman in the village. She was a married wife, and was super beautiful. Apparently, because she was an acquaintance of the hero of healing, he said that he would personally make her realize her sins." (Molrett)
That moment, I desperately tried to not let my smile crumble. That person… she was the one who continued supporting me even after I lost my parents and became isolated.
"It was a masterpiece, having his fun in front of her husband. While crying, she was gasping for breath as she said he could do as he pleases, and in the middle died after biting her tongue. Even then, the captain continued violating her. The face her husband made after being shown that was incredible. Ahh, that was a good laugh." (Molrett)
b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are you intending to be human. … I see, so you killed her. That person.
That person was probably my last hope. Thanks to that person, I was able to not fall in despair. She was my only ally in this world. Someone who gave me love without any self-interest. She was my first love. The very last blood and tears that remained inside me started flowing down.
I"ll become a demon. I"ll kill. Just killing is unsatisfying. I"ll give him more despair and pain than what that person received. Unless I do that, that person can"t rest in peace. Because he doesn"t know the fear of being violated, he can do these things so easily. I"ll let the strong soldiers savor the fear of being violated at least once.
"Hey, I have a request. I certainly ran away from the enemy, but I"ve brought information. Can you directly…" (Kearuga)
Like that, I guided the thoughts of the drunken man. Getting him drunk until his judgment becomes non-existent; I blew in a convenient thing to him. Everything is for the sake of accomplis.h.i.+ng my true revenge.