Chapter 30

Clop-clop, clatter.

How much time had passed...

With darkness shrouding everything, only the sound of hoofbeats echoed clearly.

Ethan twisted his body that felt like it weighed a thousand pounds and barely managed to lift his heavy eyelids.

"......"

People packed tightly in the shabby cargo wagon.

Among them, the most weasel-faced laborer was looking at Ethan and grinning weakly.

"Oh my, our little worker must be bored."

...Little? Is he talking about me right now?

Ethan blinked blankly and moved his head to look down at his body.

The hands that entered his vision were much smaller than he remembered.

No, it wasn't just his hands.

His arms, legs, and even the clothes he wore were all considerably smaller and childlike in form.

...Just like when he'd been sold to a merchant company and worked as a laborer.

"......"

It was the moment Ethan froze, engulfed in confusion.

The increasingly distinct sound of hoofbeats pierced his ears and shook his mind.

...Clatter, clatter, clatter.

Ethan trembled and realized with a start.

Ah, I'm inside a nightmare right now.

'Because this scene is from the moment my ability first manifested.'

Urgency surged. He wanted to escape this place somehow.

Ethan bit his tongue and pinched and twisted various parts of his body.

...But it was useless.

As if proving it was a dream, he felt no pain, but even so, he couldn't wake up.

"Hey, mister! The stories about other merchant companies and whatnot are boring! Tell us something more interesting!"

"We work ourselves to the bone and barely get paid a few coins. Who cares if some other place is good or not!"

Complaints burst out one after another from the children sitting beside him.

Ethan moved his eyes to look at the grimy faces and raised his hands to cover his ears.

...The current situation was definitely a fragment from the past.

Then the story that would follow was surely content he really didn't want to hear.

"Then... right! I'll have to tell you about a truly terrifying and horrible monster. The story of a legendary magical beast that lurks in the extreme winter, the most brutal land in the world!"

Ethan covered his ears harder and shook his head.

But the laborer's heated voice only became clearer.

"The so-called White Demon! Its snow-white body is so massive it could cover an entire towering iceberg, and the legs extending below its creepy golden eyes number twenty. Each leg has power matching the kingdom's finest weapons. And how violent is it! It tears apart every living creature that enters its sight... But do you know what's even more terrifying than that?"

Gulp.

All the children swallowed. The laborer looked around, building suspense, then leaned his upper body toward Ethan.

As his lifeless pupils glistened like dead fish, his inflection rose higher and higher.

"...No matter what you do, you can't kill it! Cuts, lacerations, bruises. Nothing works. Everything heals. It comes back to life... Life and death that all living things naturally share. An existence that alone escaped the natural order. A monster horrifying and disgusting because it transcends common sense...!"

Crack!

The laborer's neck snapped and blood sprayed. The wagon came to a sudden stop, and magical beasts burst through the curtains.

Ear-splitting screams filled the air, and wounded people began falling one by one.

The inside of the wagon became a hellish scene in an instant.

"......"

Ethan felt his neck and sides burning with pain and curled his body tighter.

New flesh rising over the agony pushed death away.

Death throes that flowed down clung like tumors and patched up the torn body piecemeal.

...Ethan let out a sobbing breath.

If he was human, he should have died here.

He absolutely had to die. He should have. So why. Why.

Ethan—!

In this hellish scene.

For what reason did only I survive...

Ethan—!

At the voice cutting through his thoughts, Ethan whipped his head up.

A familiar voice was shaking the air like a downpour striking the ground.

"...What?"

Ethan blinked blankly. Had there been such a moment in the past? Even questioning it, the answer was no.

Then suddenly, the voice shaking everything around stopped.

Rummmble...

The mindscape blocked by the unknown writhed as if pouring out anger, carving an even clearer past onto Ethan's corneas.

Spraying blood surged backward as if trying to suffocate the other.

Echoes from the past began ringing in his ears.

'Wh-what did I just see? You, you... your arm was clearly torn. It was cut this much and blood was even dripping! But why is it fine? Why...! M-monster. You're a monster!'

'Honey, this is too creepy. Let's sell that brat to some troupe or somewhere. Or even to hunters... They'd use him as bait or entertainment, wouldn't they?'

At the sensation of his throat being squeezed, Ethan gasped for breath and grabbed his neck.

He pressed down on the annoyingly racing pulse. Then suddenly, the pulsing touching his fingertips seemed to quiet down...

—Smack!

Light flashed before his eyes. His deeply submerged consciousness surged upward. Ethan rolled across the floor, clutching his cheek.

"Kugh!"

"Ah, you're finally awake."

Ethan's eyes flew open and he bolted upright.

What immediately entered his vision was Mikhail standing at a distance with his left hand raised.

...In the process, his palm was swollen red.

Just how much force had he put into that slap?

"...You crazy."

"What was I supposed to do when you wouldn't wake up?"

Ethan snarled, his seething insides showing, but Mikhail calmly replied and lowered his hand.

He then turned his head and, leaving Ethan behind, jumped out of the wagon. He tossed out a word in an indifferent tone.

"Come out. We should rest a bit."

Pat-pat. Mikhail's footsteps moved away from the wagon.

Ethan followed the point where Mikhail's back disappeared, then raised his hand to wipe his face.

"Hah..."

...Come to think of it, what had caused the crack in his dream was none other than Mikhail's voice.

To be awakened by the voice of his mortal enemy. At such an absurd situation, a hollow laugh burst out.

Ethan grumbled for no reason, muttering.

"...What a stupid dream."

The sediment that had been clouding his mind settled down in waves. His foggy head gradually cleared.

Ethan raised his head.

His thoughts that had been wandering in fragments of the past returned to reality and began spinning rapidly.

"......"

...He recalled the situation just before he'd dozed off.

Mikhail had said the wound on his arm was from rescuing the sky foxes.

Combined with the timely appearance of the sky foxes, it was a seemingly plausible statement.

That's why even Ethan himself had let his guard down for a moment.

...But he knew.

That the conclusion doesn't prove all the process.

'So I shouldn't completely lower my guard. I might catch something that could be a lead.'

He'd find a clue about the eradication ability by any means necessary.

Ethan shook his head and clenched his hand tight.

He inhaled as if making a resolution and stepped outside the wagon.

---

In the forest where gentle moonlight illuminated the road surface.

The place where the convoy had stopped was near a stream. They'd decided to rest for the night in a place where drinking water and washing were guaranteed.

"Ugh, my back. My whole body feels completely wrecked."

"It feels way more tiring than usual. ...Is it because it's a mountain road?"

While the horses drank water and complained, passengers exchanged words and descended from the wagons.

Bonfires were lit everywhere and large pots hung over them. Food supplies and bedding were distributed.

Crackle.

While Ethan left to receive food ingredients, Mikhail poked at the fire he'd just lit.

The flickering flames soon began burning steadily.

"......"

Mikhail put down the kindling and mulled over previous events.

Though he'd somehow avoided the interrogation, he probably hadn't completely escaped the web of suspicion.

The sky foxes' existence appeared as a plausible result, but it wasn't a definite alibi.

Ethan clearly knew that much too.

But the reason he didn't press further was partly psychological, and also because he knew that arguing over the same topic would only be an unnecessary war of attrition.

'So now I just need to avoid giving him anything to catch me on.'

Without evidence, suspicion would remain just suspicion.

He'd kept secret the identification ribbon issuance date that could trace the sky foxes' history and all the items he'd used as Maxwell.

The proper course now was not to use magic that would manifest the eradication ability and not to create unnecessary confrontations.

'If I stay quiet on the story's periphery, eventually Ethan won't chase the eradication ability anymore.'

According to the main storyline's progression, Ethan would overcome his loneliness through companions who accepted him.

The fundamental reason to search for the eradication ability would disappear.

'Let's just be careful until then. Don't create more things to worry about. That'll be the best result for everyone.'

Clatter.

A pot was placed over the fire he'd been staring at. Ethan, who'd approached, poured in ingredients with a rush.

Bubble-bubble. Soup boiled up with a savory smell.

While laborers hovering nearby gathered one by one, Ethan cut bread and held out a bowl of stew.

"Here."

Mikhail glanced at the bowl with steam rising from it and raised his head toward Ethan.

"What are you doing? Just take it."

At Ethan's urging, Mikhail reached out and received the bowl. He scooped up what was inside and chewed slowly.

...It was cream stew. The taste and doneness were quite decent.

"......"

Mikhail was munching on the stew.

Laborers from the surroundings gathered at the bonfire where the two sat, and it quickly became noisy.

Voices of people asking about each other's journeys echoed boisterously into the night sky.

Mikhail moved his lowered head to look at the tent set up on the other side of the road.

While everyone else had received only cheap potatoes and meat, it was where the most expensive ingredients and bottles of alcohol had gone.

A system message appeared before his eyes as he gazed at the scene.

【Quest: [Sub] Make an Unexpected Connection】

• Quest Reward: Shop Currency +1

---

About an hour passed from then.

While other passengers were cleaning up their spots, the escorts gathered in the tent were still eating and drinking.

As glasses passed around and frivolous laughter continued, the tent's entrance opened smoothly.

Rustle.

Lloyd had slipped out from inside. After briefly checking the surroundings, he walked briskly toward the stream.

"Ugh..."

Lloyd, walking over the bushes, soon stopped with a groan.

The stinging alcohol smell and the endless flattering words that had come and gone lingered like afterimages. His head throbbed.

[We didn't recognize such an honored person! We thought there were only worthless brats, but Lord Cloelle was here! Of course it's an honor! Young master, don't worry and just stay comfortable before you leave!]

[Ahem, actually we have scoring authority. We could even give all the other brats minimum scores, so if you'd like...]

[Oh my, want something? What could nobodies like us want from an honored person... But we'd like you to remember this Gold Tooth at least. You never know what'll happen in life, so we might end up owing you... By the way, you don't have much of an appetite?]

'Why do I feel so sick?'

Lloyd let out a long sigh and tilted his head back to look at the night sky.

In truth, their behavior was natural.

Chasing after advancement or profit, trying to use another's value—these were common sights.

So he'd just played along a bit.

'I thought I'd leak information they'd salivate over, let them grovel, then cut them off. I can make up any reason to drop them.'

Lloyd shook his head and moved forward again.

Before long, the clearly shining water surface appeared in his vision, and with it, someone's silhouette entered his eyes.

Clatter, clatter.

It was Mikhail.

The boy sat alone by the stream, rinsing dishes that seemed just used in the water.