#006. The Demon Hunter (5)
The nights of Javelin were gloomy.
Particularly the western edge where the cemetery lay was worse.
The cawing of crows never ceased, and there were even rumors that the cries of ghouls could be heard from time to time.
These days, every day was night.
Thus, the cemetery was eerie each and every day.
Yet there was someone who resolved his meals and sleep here daily.
None other than Roman, the gravekeeper of Javelin.
He was currently patrolling the cemetery.
“Just let me catch you…. I’ll skin your face and wipe shit with it.”
He was in a very foul mood.
Because the corpses he managed kept disappearing.
Today, another one had vanished.
And it was a corpse he had his eyes on.
He had thought it was definitely the work of those damned ghouls.
But according to rumor, a Demon Hunter from out of town had hunted the ghoul broodmother yesterday.
Roman felt annoyance surge within him.
Then who the hell was doing this?
Did that mean there was another corpse trafficker besides himself?
No, more than that, a ghoul broodmother had been living beneath the city!
People jokingly called the ghoul broodmother the “Ghoul Queen” or the “Ghoul Whore.”
The ghoul broodmother, which resurrected corpses to make them its kin, was both the queen of the ghouls and their breeding tool.
How a ghoul broodmother had ended up in the city’s sewers was unknown, but it was no ordinary matter.
For one reason or another, being a gravekeeper felt like the worst possible condition for scraping by.
“Khack, ptui!”
Imagining the disgusting form of the ghoul broodmother, Roman loaded his medium crossbow.
He swore to blow apart the head of whatever it was.
But the dull-witted Roman failed to notice a guest entering through the cemetery’s main gate just now.
“Pardon me.”
“Wh-who’s there!”
Startled, he dropped the crossbow.
Thud.
The impact of the fall discharged the bolt, which happened to fly toward the guest’s face.
Swhaack!
A whistling sound that seemed capable of easily shattering a human skull.
The bolt fired from the medium crossbow split the air at high speed.
Roman expected the guest to die.
Avoiding it in this darkness was impossible.
However, his expectation was completely off.
Clang!
The freakish man didn’t move a single step and batted the bolt aside.
In his faintly visible hand was a silver dagger.
“Huh….”
Roman couldn’t close his gaping mouth and slowly approached the guest.
As his lantern drew closer, the figure was revealed.
The first thing he saw was a massive greatsword slung diagonally across the man’s body.
Next was a helmet shaped like a beast’s head.
Due to the shadows, his face could not be seen.
“Quite the welcome.”
“The Demon Hunter!”
Roman had heard the stories and knew.
The one wearing black armor and carrying a greatsword was the Demon Hunter who had slain the ghoul broodmother.
And he had heard something else as well.
If you meet the Demon Hunter, don’t say a word.
It was an order from the Dark Sorcerer, his regular customer.
“Ahem!”
He couldn’t defy the order of his best customer, the one who kept him fed.
Roman pretended to have seen nothing and suddenly began digging a hole with a shovel lying nearby.
Thud. Thud.
‘Shameless.’
Virgil watched Roman shoveling and sat on a nearby nameless gravestone.
Roman didn’t give him so much as a glance.
Of course, this was expected.
Now it was time to carry out the several requests issued by him in order to win back Roman’s trust.
At first, he started small.
Digging holes, fetching water. Buying things from the market, cleaning corpses.
Once somewhat emboldened, Roman slowly revealed his true colors.
Chopping up corpses, extracting organs, pickling fresh corpses in salt and loading them onto carts, dragging them outside the city.
Finally, he issued serious orders.
‘There’s no work these days.’
‘What to do? I’ll have to make some myself.’
‘I used to do this often. Nothing to fear.’
‘Kehe, I have much to do, so of course you must handle this.’
‘What? You refuse? I suppose you don’t care to know where to sell the corpses?’
And here, the Player must choose.
First, kill the requested target.
Second, coax Roman by other means.
The second option was no easy matter either.
The methods were diverse. One could threaten him, grovel endlessly, or satisfy his various desires.
Virgil shook his head and rose from the gravestone.
“Roman.”
No reaction.
“I’ve had something on my mind since yesterday, and I believe you’ll need to resolve it for me.”
Again, no reaction.
“I wonder what would happen if I killed someone I was supposed to kill later. I need the answer to that.”
This time, there was a reaction.
An expression asking what nonsense this was.
“Anyway, you’ll be killed by the Dark Sorcerer soon. It won’t be long now. So don’t feel too aggrieved.”
“What?”
“It’s karma.”
This was the first and last conversation between Virgil and Roman.
***
West of Javelin, a crack in the city wall known only to those in the know.
Beyond it lay a small hill.
Standing atop it were nine men and a freakish figure cloaked entirely in black robes.
Among them, a man with a large axe slung on his back stepped forward.
Blood was caked on his axe.
“Six in total. See for yourself.”
At the man’s words, the robed figure approached a nearby cart and slightly lifted the tarp covering the load.
Then the loud buzzing of flies filled the air, and simultaneously, a fishy stench of blood rose up.
“Fresh.”
The figure’s voice was exceedingly bizarre.
Whether it was a woman or a man, an elder or a youth, was impossible to tell.
The man with the axe, knowing the figure was a Dark Sorcerer, nonchalantly held out his hand.
“Pay up double as promised.”
“Tsk. Killing fellow humans and acting so proud.”
“They were leaving their hometown anyway. Doesn’t matter.”
“Hmm… Very well… Good. I have another request for you.”
“The price first.”
“Three times what these cost combined.”
“Hoo… Let’s hear it.”
“Kill the Demon Hunter who entered Javelin.”
***
“Mister, I’m here.”
The Player said, opening Jake’s door.
Jake was sorting through clothes stained red.
“Where are the other brothers?”
“We parted ways at the main gate. But what’s that?”
“I got them stained doing volunteer work in the slums. There might be germs, so I need to burn them quickly.”
“Ah… That must have been tough.”
“It wasn’t hard. Butler Sherman helped, so it went much more smoothly.”
“This time too? He really is a good person.”
“Yes, if it weren’t for him, we would have been caught by Countess Sophia….”
“Ah! By the way. Mister, did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“There’s a group robbing residents who are leaving the city. And if they have nothing, they kill them and sell the corpses….”
“Huh, what a strange rumor… Is that why? There weren’t many residents leaving today…. Tsk, no, it’s probably just a rumor. There’s no way such villains live in Javelin.”
“Hmm, I suppose?”
“Yes. Anyway, did you get the items?”
“Yes, here.”
The Player had been on her way back from outside the city, having fetched a small basket at Jake’s request.
Thinking of the cold, eerily wandering eyes of the old woman who had handed it over gave her goosebumps again.
“But what is this?”
“It’s something this city desperately needs.”
“Can I open it?”
When Jake nodded, the Player opened the basket without hesitation.
There were about ten bottles containing an orange liquid.
She quietly spoke in a voice Jake could barely hear:
“Item check….”
Having identified the contents, she looked at Jake with trembling eyes.
“This is….”
Jake answered nothing, smiled slightly, and put on a mask.
The mask was also smiling.
“Today we’re going to the commercial district. You should get ready too.”
***
The stables of Javelin’s commercial district.
Virgil sat upon a saddle, swinging his greatsword this way and that.
Bwoong— Bwoong—
“Oh dear! W-we don’t have such strong horses here….”
The owner grimaced and tried to dissuade Virgil.
—Hiiiiing!
Eventually, the horse Virgil was riding collapsed weakly.
It couldn’t bear the weight of the greatsword he was swinging.
“Pity.”
“Th-then if you’re looking for such a horse, try the Count’s castle. There should still be some strong warhorses left there.”
“Hmm, very well.”
Virgil hung the greatsword on his back and headed for the Count’s castle.
Shortly after, Jake and the Player arrived at the stables.
“Why the long face, brother?”
Jake asked the stable owner.
“Ah! You’re here. It’s just that my horses’ knees nearly broke.”
“How so?”
“The Demon Hunter came and….”
“Oh! Is he nearby?”
At the mention of the Demon Hunter, the Player’s eyes sparkled.
Finally, she could meet him!
“He went to the Count’s castle.”
“Hmm, what a shame.”
The Player grew sulky.
“But why does he want a horse?”
“I heard he’s heading to the eastern forest.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“By the way, what brings you here? This is the commercial district; you shouldn’t need relief supplies here.”
“I know. We have business over there.”
Jake pointed to the well next to the stables.
“The well, why…?”
Jake took out a bottle containing an orange liquid from his bosom and shook it slightly.
“Today, I shall bring salvation to Javelin.”
***
Virgil was leaving the city to meet the witch of the forest.
It wasn’t something he urgently needed to do, but since he had quickly wrapped up Roman’s business, he had plenty of time and decided to stop by.
—Hiiing!
Controlling the horse was surprisingly simple.
It hadn’t been difficult from the start.
It was as easy as drawing out a sensation engraved in his body through long practice.
The only problem was that finding a horse capable of withstanding the rider’s weight plus the greatsword’s weight was difficult.
Fortunately, one of the few remaining warhorses in Javelin was strong, and he had rented it using the Count’s authority.
‘Such a precious stallion!’
There had been some interference from Sherman, but when Virgil jingled the Elixir at his waist, Sherman quickly backed down.
He could roughly guess who it was intended for, but he still had no intention of selling it.
Because his plans might go awry.
“Whoa, whoa.”
Virgil reined the horse to a stop.
A few steps away, crude traps were visible.
No wonder the surroundings had been so quiet.
There was a reason the mountain birds and insects couldn’t be heard.
Virgil dismounted and kicked aside the crude traps set before him.
Then, sounds of movement came from the surrounding trees.
“Heh….”
A large man carrying an axe emerged from behind a tree.
Starting with him, people appeared one by one from the trees.
Nine in total.
“How’d you know?”
“Your breathing is rough.”
“Kahaha! Look at this guy’s bluff.”
“Bandits?”
“Yeah. If you don’t wanna die, start by unloading the gear from your horse.”
They hadn’t even held torches while hiding.
Thus, the only light here was the lantern hanging in front of the horse.
Perhaps that was why the greatsword hung at the horse’s side looked like a bundle of luggage to their eyes.
It helped that Sherman had wrapped it tightly in cloth, for fear the horse might get scratched.
Virgil tilted his head and spoke.
“If you wish.”
He approached the horse and was undoing the metal clasps on the saddle when he heard the sound of a bowstring being drawn from behind.
A cowardly trick by the ambushers, trying to attack the moment a gap was revealed.
But it didn’t work on Virgil.
Before the man could release the bowstring, Virgil drew a throwing dagger and swiftly flung it.
Swhaack!
“Kuk!”
The moment the dagger embedded in the throat, Virgil grabbed the greatsword’s handle at the horse’s side.
He immediately hurled it at the axe-wielding man.
Bwooong!
The strong recoil even made the horse stagger.
Puaack!
The man’s body was split in two; his upper half flew off and his lower half fell backward.
The greatsword flew further and embedded itself in a tree.
“Wh-what!”
The surrounding men startled and drew their weapons.
Having lost two comrades in an instant, their blades trembled with a mixture of panic and fear.
Virgil extinguished the lantern hanging in front of the horse.
Darkness settled over the forest, and even moonlight was blocked by the trees.
Complete darkness.
“You brought this upon yourselves.”
Virgil drew his silver dagger and dashed forward as if bouncing.
Swhaack!
After that, death throes echoed through the forest.
Once, twice, thrice….
After seven screams in total, Virgil relit the lantern.
The forest scenery revealed along with the reddish glow was horrific.
Nine corpses lay strewn about.
Because of the body cleaved by the greatsword, blood was scattered everywhere, while the remaining eight corpses were relatively clean.
Virgil, who had created this brutal scene, wiped the blood from his dagger with an indifferent face.
“I feel like shit.”
Killing monsters and killing people were completely different.
Reminded once again of the strange boundary between game and reality, Virgil swept back his fallen hair and reined in his dark emotions.
Then he rummaged through the corpses’ pockets.
Whether he liked it or not, money was more important than humanity to someone who had to survive here for the time being.
From the axe-wielding man, he found a purse of silver coins and a notebook.
A quick read revealed detailed records of money obtained from ambushing travelers here, and how much their corpses had been sold for.
And on the last page.
Traces of frequent turning were visible.
[Who exactly is the Dark Sorcerer?]
Several names were written below, most marked with an X.
Three names remained unmarked.
[Elder Jake.]
[Head Butler Sherman.]
[Countess Sophia.]