Chapter 112 :

Episode 112 - Good Person (1)

"Jing!! The hand!!! The hand!!!!"

Lia, who had rushed into the cabin one step ahead of me, raised her trembling hand and shouted at Jing.

Jing, who had already heard the situation from Ratel, looked at Lia with pitying eyes.

"I have already heard. Your luggage is still in your room, so hurry and pack it before coming down."

Jing spoke, calming Lia, who was panicking and pointing at her own hand.

Fortunately, Lia quickly regained her composure.

Though a slight sense of betrayal had settled in place of fear.

"Jing knew too. All of you knew. Ran, Ratel, and Jing all knew......, that’s why you could all be so calm."

"So are you going to stay here?"

Ratel asked Lia, who was dazed, with a face that showed not even the slightest guilt.

Lia glared at Ratel while biting her lip.

She looked as if she had quite a lot to say, but soon she let out a deep breath and calmed her anger.

".....No, I’ll cross the river too. In fact, I don’t have any other choice besides that."

Lia muttered as if frustrated, then shoved Ratel’s shoulder aside and went up the stairs.

“....”

"......You know there was no need to say it like that, right?"

Jing said, lightly tapping the shoulder Lia had pushed past.

"For that woman, this was the last chance to step away from our work."

Ratel replied, taking his eyes off the stairs Lia had gone up.

Clicking my tongue at the fellow’s twisted nature, deliberately saying something with good intentions in such a grating way, I followed Lia up the stairs.

Knowing Jing’s personality, I doubted he would have searched my room without saying anything.

Besides, upstairs, there was also one clueless squirrel sleeping without a care in the world.

That had been my plan, had the guide and the cabin owner, who had come down after hearing the commotion, not blocked my path.

"W-what is going on?"

The cabin owner, sensing something unusual in the chaotic atmosphere, asked.

Perhaps hearing his father’s voice, his son, who had fainted at just the right time, regained consciousness.

The child blinked and looked around, then seemed to fully come to his senses and sprang to his feet.

Then he ran to his father.

"Father, Father! We have to run!"

"What? What on earth is happening?"

The cabin owner asked with a bewildered face.

"There are orcs! And the river is drying up! If we stay like this, we’ll all die!"

After giving the calmest explanation he could manage, the child grabbed his father, who had not yet managed to come all the way down the stairs, and pulled him along.

After barely seating him in the kitchen, the child went upstairs with a clatter and began packing their belongings.

For someone who had seen a monster right before his eyes, that level of reaction was fairly good.

"What nonsense are you spouting! There’s no way orcs would be wandering around in broad daylight like this!"

Compared to the Lucha guide, who was still saying stupid things, even calling the child excellent would not be an exaggeration.

The man, unable to accept reality, was trembling and babbling nonsense.

But no one listened to him.

No, to be exact, none among Ratel’s group did.

"W-what does that mean? Orcs? Are you saying orcs live on that island?"

The cabin owner, still unable to accept reality, grabbed Jing and asked.

"Did you not just hear it? Orcs are nearby, so you should gather your valuables and flee as well."

With a troubled face, Jing gave him quick and clear instructions.

"No, where do you think you’re running off to! You lot must do your duty until the end!"

But once again, the guide’s barking nonsense, fired without fail, stopped everyone in their tracks.

With one foot awkwardly caught on the stairs, I looked at the guide blocking the father and son as they tried to flee outside.

Unable to bring himself to push the guide away, the cabin owner could only stamp his feet in place.

"W-what do you mean by that? Our role?"

At the cabin owner’s question, the guide looked outside with frightened eyes, then soon roughly dragged the two of them.

"I mean helping the winners of the Lucha competition safely arrive at the temple of Limis. Until those people arrive safely at Limis, shouldn’t you at least serve as bait?!"

* * *

The guide’s demand was simple.

One of the two was to steer the boat, and the remaining one was to stay in this cabin and continue watching the situation.

His logic was that by doing so, they had to inform the people of the temple of Limis that an emergency had occurred here.

"What kind of nonsense is that? Isn’t that no different from telling us to just die?"

The man, enraged by his cruel order, questioned him.

"Are you talking back to me right now?"

The guide glared at him and shouted.

It did not take long for the cabin owner, who had been blinking with fear-filled eyes, to steel himself.

"T-then I’ll stay. Please just let my son go."

The child’s father knelt and begged.

His bad leg dragged across the floor, but he did not care.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Have you forgotten the condition that allowed you to live here in the first place?"

The guide said as if he found it absurd.

"Of course I know. You said we must not leave this place no matter what. But......, but my son is still young. He is far too young to die."

At his desperate plea, the child, who had come back to his senses, tried hard to help his father up.

"Father, what are you saying right now?"

He asked with a confused face.

The one who kindly explained the situation on behalf of the father, who could not continue speaking, was the guide.

"How shameless. Did you really think all your tribute would be waived just by receiving guests here?"

The people who had guarded the cabin until six years ago must have all died.

Whether they had been eaten by orcs, or even if they had survived, the people of the temple probably would not have left those who knew the secret alone.

At that, the guide narrowed his eyes.

"Then did you think your duty would be fulfilled just by comfortably serving guests?"

At that sharp point, the two lost their words, and the guide dragged them roughly again.

"Think of it positively. Even if you die doing this, won’t you be able to meet your wife and mother? If you die carrying out the god’s will, you should be able to meet in the same place."

Despair flashed across the faces of the father and son as they heard the nonsense he offered as comfort.

"Or what? Are you saying you value your life so much that you will not follow the temple’s will?"

The temple guide pressured the father and son, holding death and faith in both hands.

It was the moment the child opened his mouth, his jaw trembling.

Thud!

With a heavy sound, the guide collapsed to the floor.

The blood on Ratel’s fist, which had struck the man squarely in the face, proved who had just attacked the guide.

Ratel slowly grabbed the guide by the collar and lifted him up.

The one who stopped him from grabbing the neck of the limp man, who had lost consciousness without even being able to scream, was Jing.

"Ratel, stop! There’s no need to waste time for nothing."

Ratel looked at Jing expressionlessly, then soon turned his head and shifted his gaze to the cabin’s father and son, who were still standing there blankly.

The child and his father were looking at Ratel with fearful eyes.

When Ratel roughly threw the guide to the floor, the two screamed and backed away from him.

Well, just the sudden appearance of a monster was already enough to throw them into chaos.

A human who suddenly attacked a temple official had appeared right in front of them, so it was natural for screams to come out.

"Launch the boat."

Ratel said to the father, who was staring up at him blankly.

The frightened father could not say anything and only looked back and forth between the unconscious guide and Ratel.

A faint hesitation remained in his eyes.

Looking down at the man, Ratel silently drew his sword.

Before the horrified man could even rise, Ratel’s sword pointed toward the fallen guide.

"I said launch the boat. Can’t you hear me?"

"Ah, that......"

The cabin’s father was still only hesitating.

Watching that frustrating sight, Ratel turned the tip of his sword elsewhere.

Following that slow movement, the blood drained from the cabin man’s face.

"I’ll launch it! I’ll launch it right now!"

When the sword tip drew closer to his son’s neck, the horrified man hurriedly rose.

Then he rushed outside with a clatter.

Dragging his limping leg, he ran desperately.

Ratel watched him repeatedly fall to the floor and push himself back up, and once the man had completely disappeared from sight, he slowly put his sword back into its sheath.

Since it was betrayal caused by coercion and threats, the god within him would probably take that much into consideration.

I turned my gaze toward the kitchen where the man and his son had been cooking so joyfully.

Smoke rose from the hearth that had been lit in advance for preparing the meal, along with a savory smell.

"Thanks to the orcs, we won’t be able to eat that meal that was supposed to be several times tastier."

Jing spoke in an intentionally playful voice.

"Things like that are better left to the imagination. If we had actually eaten it and it tasted awful, it would have been awkward for both sides, wouldn’t it?"

At my answer, Jing laughed and said that was true too.

"But you need not be too disappointed! Once everything is over, I’ll treat you to a very delicious meal."

My heart only grew cold again at his enthusiasm for adding something utterly unnecessary.

I stopped replying and instead chose to go check on the cabin owner launching the boat.

At the edge of my vision as I turned to head outside, Ratel was caught in view.

It was not difficult to know which direction the fellow’s expressionless face was turned toward.

It seemed he did not like Jing’s attitude of still treating me as imperial family.

Once the holy relic is destroyed anyway, Jing’s attitude will probably soften too.

And before all five holy relics are destroyed, I will probably leave the group.

But I already knew well that such an explanation would be meaningless.

I pretended not to notice the fellow’s displeased gaze and tapped his shoulder a few times.

"Good work."

"......Shut up."

The fellow muttered quietly, as if warning me, with a face that said my praise made him uncomfortable.

How prickly.

Since the sacrifice of the fellow who had taken on the role of villain was fairly large, I turned away from him without saying anything more to needle him.

Just then, Lia, who had packed all her belongings and returned downstairs, spotted the guide collapsed on the floor and looked at Ratel with a pale face.

".....So it ended up like this after all."

"Don’t imagine anything strange. He got frightened, made a fuss all by himself, and fainted."

I roughly glossed over it because there was no more time to explain, but Lia no longer added anything to my lie.

Besides, strictly speaking, it was not really a lie.

What the guide had done was practically the same as smashing his own head into something.

I took Lia, who kept looking back at the guide collapsed on the floor, and left the cabin.

With the unconscious brat in one hand.

The cabin owner was diligently maintaining the boat while Lia looked puzzled.

Lia seemed confused by his frantic movements and tried to ask something, but the man silently did his work with a pale face, as if he did not even want to exchange words.

"Mister, what’s wrong?"

Lia asked, but he did not answer.

"Mister, this place is dangerous, so hurry and run away. Take the child too."

Lia, seemingly frustrated, grabbed his shoulder, but the man flung her hand away as if having a fit.

Startled, Lia took a step back, and I subtly stepped in to stop her from trying to say something more to the man without giving up.

"These people are leaving now. There’s no need to worry."

The frightened man, who had been watching our reactions, fixed his gaze on my right shoulder.

I handed him the brat I had slung over my shoulder.

"Take him and run. Once the river dries up, you won’t be able to live in that cabin anymore anyway."

He accepted his son with a dazed face.

"Y-you’re just telling us to go?"

"Why, are you planning to row for us too?"

"No, no! No, I’m not!"

After rejecting my offer three times for no reason, he hurriedly embraced his son.

It did not seem like he would be able to move while carrying the brat with one bad leg.

Fortunately, the brat, who had only been shedding tears in fear, stood on the ground with his own feet.

"Can you walk?"

His father urged him, unable to hide his impatience.

The child sniffled and nodded once.

As soon as the child nodded, the man grabbed the child and pulled him away from us as if running.

They began running as though we were chasing after them.

Running with his bad leg looked terribly uncomfortable, so we wanted to tell him there was no need to mind us, but nothing seemed to reach him in his current state.

Unlike the man, who ran without looking back, his son kept looking back with a face as if something weighed on him.

Since I was not exactly in a position to wave my hand in farewell, I took my eyes off the child and climbed onto the boat with Lia.

No, I tried to climb on.

Had it not been for the fellow who came running over with light yet quick footsteps.

"You idiot, come back!"

The man’s urgent voice came from behind, and soon after, I felt a small hand grab my arm.

I looked down at the child, who had somehow run back and was grabbing and pulling my arm and Lia’s.

The fellow was desperately trying to pull Lia and me off the boat.