Episode 6
Deep within a dark and dense forest.
"…Hah!"
Histon opened his eyes.
He let out a startled scream and thrashed about.
But he could not move his body.
"Kuaaaah… what is thissss? Where am I…? Could it be… a, a dream?"
Histon thought he was having a nightmare.
In that nightmare, everything had already ended. It was a dream where he lost his arm and both legs to a terrifying demon.
Histon's eyes darted about.
He groaned at the pain coursing through his body, his mouth working feebly as he barely managed to produce a voice.
"…Is anyone… there?"
"……."
Then, a familiar man appeared, hanging upside down in his line of sight.
Blond hair and blue eyes, a crushed nasal bone and broken teeth. It was the slave, Hans.
"O-oh, Hans! Ha…ns! Thank goodness. Hans!… Save me. Save… me!"
"……."
Hans simply looked at Histon with an indifferent face. Then he tapped Histon's cheek a few times.
It was an act that seemed to check whether he was conscious or not.
Histon's anger boiled over at Hans's absurd behavior, but he could not move his fist.
So he tried to kick him with his feet… but he could not feel where his two legs should have been.
"……!"
Sensing something was wrong, Histon's eyes darted about.
And realizing it was not Hans hanging upside down, but himself, he couldn't help but flinch in shock.
"Wh…at…!"
"…Because of you, I lost everything."
"Ha-Hans! What… are you saying!"
"…What am I saying?"
Hans picked up a nearby stone and swung it hard at Histon's head.
Thud!
Histon's body, hanging like a sandbag, swayed.
"What am I saying?"
"Kuaack! H-Hans, you bastard! You want to die…"
"Are you in any position to say that right now!"
Hans gritted his teeth and continued to strike Histon's head with the stone.
Thud!
"That's right. Remember! What you did!"
Thud!
"What you did to me…!"
Thud!
"And what you did to my family…!"
Thud!
For a while, a sound like mincing meat with a stone echoed through the forest.
Histon hung there, bleeding thick blood, and as Hans looked at him, he gritted his teeth and stared down at his own hand.
The stone he had been gripping had shattered. Even his fingers were dislocated, as if broken somewhere.
With no more strength to swing, Hans glared at Histon with frustration.
"Damn it…! Is your face made of rock? If it's this hard…!"
"S-save… me!"
"Save you? Ha!"
Hans pulled a leather pouch from his waist.
He smeared the purple powder inside it onto Histon's blood-covered face.
"That's right, we begged! Not you, but me and my family…!"
Histon groaned, and upon realizing what the powder on his face was, he thrashed about.
He desperately wanted to get away from that powder.
"But what did you do? You killed my father before my very eyes, and used my younger sibling as bait for monster hunts…!"
Hans forcefully stuffed the leather pouch into Histon's gaping mouth.
"You killed them! What did I do wrong? Because I was a noble of the south? But even though I was a noble, I lived for the kingdom, for the people! Yet because of a false accusation… I was plundered by you lot, made a slave, and my precious family…!"
And as if the leather pouch stuck in Histon's mouth were a target, Hans kicked it several times with his foot.
"I lost them! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Thud!
Thud!
Hans kicked, and Histon flinched and trembled.
"You monstrous bastard! To think you're fine after being beaten so much with a stone. But that's even better! Because you're so strong, because of your vitality tougher than a cockroach, I can have my full revenge!"
Hans looked around.
Seeing a strange movement in the bushes, he quickly distanced himself from Histon and mounted the horse he had prepared in advance.
"…Die slowly, in the same way you killed my family."
He spurred the horse and left that place.
Histon tried to struggle, shaking his whole body, but he couldn't move at all, as if firmly secured.
Histon looked at the dark shadows with swollen eyes.
Slowly, something walked out.
Green skin, a long nose, and a short stature like a dwarf. A monster wearing beast-leather clothes and holding a stone spear.
Goblin.
They looked at the immobile Histon and sniffed toward the purple powder on his face. Then, as if they had found delicious prey, they bared their teeth and grinned.
Thick drool dripped down, and Histon's face turned pale.
"Ugh… Ha-Hans! Hans…! S-save… uwaaaugh!"
"……."
Hans tightened his grip on the reins at Histon's screams coming from afar. Then he blankly looked up at the sky.
Histon's screams echoed endlessly in the forest. And those screams gradually faded, and before long, ceased.
"…Is it over?"
A weight lifted from his chest.
Some said revenge was futile, but that was a mistaken thought.
Nothing felt better than hearing Histon's despairing voice.
To think revenge could be this exhilarating!
The only regret was that he couldn't inflict even greater pain.
Hans smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"Now what… am I supposed to do?"
'…Should I die?'
With revenge complete, his purpose in life had vanished.
Having lost even his most precious family, he no longer had the will to live.
Even if he wanted to live, he had no confidence he could escape this frozen land alone.
Even if he returned to the kingdom, he was already in a status no different from a 'slave.'
"Come to think of it, that demon… would it kill me?"
It had freed him and given him the chance to kill Histon with his own hands. So… he had to repay that debt.
Hans had lived his whole life hating to owe debts more than anything.
"…In old tales, I think I've heard that demons like human souls. Then… should I offer my soul?"
After hesitating for a while, Hans gripped the reins and headed toward Balhal Palace.
***
After meeting Histon, Loki had learned several interesting facts.
Abilities akin to game skills.
These supernatural abilities existed for the people of this world, designated as [Divine Skills].
The people of this world seemed to believe that these abilities arose from receiving blessings from the gods.
It was a rather interesting concept, but what was even more interesting was the behavior of this world's inhabitants directed at him.
Loki looked ahead.
Hundreds of people had gathered before him, and they were all bowing toward Loki.
With their heads to the ground and hands clasped together, they appeared extremely pious, worshipping as if toward a god.
Most among them were Ragna tribesmen, but there were others.
The warriors in brass armor who had been killed by Loki not long ago.
The Partas tribesmen were also showing the same behavior.
"What does this mean?"
At Loki's question, the high priest of the Nod tribe, Shaman, who was beside him, answered.
"The Nod tribe is a world where the strong rule. Those who are plundered become slaves, and those who plunder become masters. O Throne of Sin."
Shaman gently bowed his head and continued.
"The Nod tribe has served the Throne of Sin for generations. Since its master has awakened, we shall serve our master in accordance with our original duty."
The Nod people who had sinned through plunder.
For them to wash away their sins and be saved, they must pledge loyalty to and serve the Throne of Sin.
This was written in the Nod scriptures.
"Ragna and Partas tribes. All of them."
It also meant that the monarch, now awakened from his slumber, would show mercy and accept those he chose not to judge.
"We swear on this spot to follow our master."
Loki too had to find a way to return home.
If he couldn't find one, he would have to live here.
Then, it would be good to establish a base.
And for that role—.
Those before him would fulfill it.
As the Throne of the North, it was the moment a new power was being born.
***
Loki blinked his red eyes at the man who had come to Balhal Palace.
The visitor was not only a Nod tribesman.
Long, dry golden-blonde hair and blue eyes.
Swollen, bruised skin as if he had been beaten by someone.
A man who looked to be in his mid-forties, or at most early fifties, stood there.
It was Hans, the slave who had taken Histon, whom Loki had tried to kill not long ago.
Looking at Hans standing in the center of the great hall on a red carpet, Loki shifted his gaze to Shaman, expressing a silent question of 'What is this now?'
"Well… he says he came because he wants to repay a favor."
Loki looked at Hans.
"A favor? What do you mean…"
Loki trailed off.
Somehow he looked familiar.
"Ah, that's right! The one who came to save that screaming fellow—Histon! Hmm, I thought I wouldn't see you again?"
Every time Loki spoke, Hans flinched and trembled.
Hans had come here prepared to abandon everything and die, but now that he was face-to-face with the demon, his courage to die vanished, and he wanted to flee without looking back.
"Surely you didn't come to repay a favor for saving him? Truly a loyal one."
Loki looked at Hans with interest.
"So, that human… is he still alive? If by chance he is still alive…"
Loki reached his hand into thin air.
Space distorted for a moment, and a red bottle was caught and pulled out by his hand.
Loki looked at it, shook it, and threw it to Hans.
Hans caught it reflexively and staggered.
"It's a healing potion. I don't know how effective it is… but it should be enough to save one who's dying."
'…Probably.'
In fact, his desire to test it was great.
But with no suitable subject, he had intended to use Histon as a test subject.
"I… apologize."
Then, Hans spoke.
"Histon is dead."
"I see."
Well, he had wounds that would have been difficult to survive.
"I… killed him."
"……."
'This is another surprising turn of events.'
Loki was seized by a sense of emptiness.
"Wasn't your intention to save him?"
"I took him to kill him."
"……."
'This world truly seems complicated….'
Not knowing Hans's circumstances, Loki wondered if this world wasn't insane.
As if plundering, stealing, enslaving, and even killing were taken for granted.
'Well, I'm not exactly sane either.'
"Then…"
Loki raised his finger.
The finger wrapped in a sharp, hook-like gauntlet pointed at Hans.
"You drink it."
"What?"
"You seem badly injured… drink it."
"But…"
Hans smiled bitterly.
Because no matter how excellent a potion's regenerative power, old wounds could not be healed.
"If I drink it, it would only be a waste of a precious potion…"
"Drink."
"……."
As Loki spoke firmly, Hans hesitated, then opened the potion bottle and drank.
When the last drop entered his body, a change occurred in Hans's body.
"Kuaaaack!"
"……."
He vomited blood and collapsed forward. His body flinched and trembled due to the convulsions running through him.
And…
Crack!
The sound of bones rang out.
Dislocated bones returned to their proper places. Some bones pierced through the skin and jutted out, but soon regenerated rapidly.
Bones broken by Histon and never properly treated found their places, mending and hardening.
Gradually his body's balance adjusted, recovering to a visibly noticeable degree.
Watching this, Loki stroked his chin in surprise.
When the recovery finished, Hans lay prostrate, catching his breath as he looked at his hand.
"It's healed…?"
The hand shattered from beating Histon… had returned to normal.