Book 6 Chapter 23
**Chapter 147**
“Whoa, stop! Whoa!”
After riding for a full half-day, I arrived at <Landkief>, located at Imperial Crossroads 4-3.
It was a castle about five days' journey from <Halardgate>, the southern border. The number of merchants passing through day and night was large, making it quite prosperous despite its small size.
I handed over an adventurer's identification tag in place of a pass and identification card. The gatekeeper looked me up and down, then raised an eyebrow.
“A bronze rank is fine, but you have quite an ominous name.”
The name engraved on the adventurer's identification tag was Rain.
However, the Rain the world remembered—the future divine successor of the Ludwig family who died in the Black Spot Incident—was a boy with black hair and red eyes.
“Why?”
“What are you asking? Most adventurers with this name died.”
“I was lucky to survive.”
“Hmm.”
In contrast, to prove Aki’s identity, at least in appearance, I had dyed my hair red.
Moreover, my clothes, drenched by the rain, were moth-eaten and tattered, and an unpleasant odor emanated from my unwashed body.
Selesia’s presence was mysteriously beautiful, but aside from that, it would be hard to mistake me for a noble.
“What about that baby?”
“My late-born sibling.”
“Ah-baat!”
“A complete spitting image. What’s your purpose in coming here?”
“I plan to stay for a night, buy some clothes, and most importantly, get a wash.”
The gatekeeper scratched the identification tag with his fingernail to check its authenticity.
Soon, a halo of light arose, proving it to be a genuine magic artifact issued by the Alliance.
This was the primary inspection process and could be manipulated with fakes, but most people found it too troublesome to continue beyond this point unless it was a strategic or classified zone.
“Hmm.”
For the duration of three slow heartbeats, the gatekeeper sharply stared at the boy.
Just as I started to think something was wrong, the gatekeeper said, “Pass,” and waved his hand once.
Immediately, the guards, who had been holding their spears crossed in front of the castle gate, lowered them, allowing me to enter the castle.
‘It looks like I won’t be able to use this much… Someday, I’ll have to register as an adventurer again and get a different identification tag.’
Of course, since I can no longer use my noble status, this would be a story for when I have comrades who can vouch for my identity…
“Listen carefully, Aki. We’re going to the Alliance branch now, okay? Don’t make a sound. You can’t do anything that stands out.”
“Out!”
“Don’t worry, you say? Even if you want to, I don’t trust you. Pipi, just stay inside Selesia.”
“Pipi, Pipi, Pipi.”
In the shadow of the battlement, the three-eyed crow secretly looked down at the boy, then ominously cawed and flew up into the rain.
It was half an hour after entering the castle that the boy found <Landkief>’s adventurer branch.
It was located in the center of the castle, but with the Alliance flag drooping in the rain and the streets turned to mud, signs of human presence were extremely rare.
Inside the guild, there were quite a few people. About a dozen tables were full, probably with adventurers guarding merchant caravans. As times became more turbulent, the demand for adventurers and mercenaries exploded.
“Hmm?”
As the door opened and a cold draft blew in, the boisterous adventurers drinking at their tables glanced towards the door.
A red-haired boy… It was a face they hadn't seen in this area before.
He was slightly above average height, and his face was delicate, making him clearly look like a youngster. Yet, for some reason, he exuded a presence that made it impossible to approach him carelessly, causing the skilled individuals to silently keep their mouths shut.
“This isn’t a place to bring your daughter.”
“Right, there are lots of bad uncles here.”
“Hahahahaha! Did your wife run away?”
All the ones who made suggestive remarks as the boy, holding the baby, crossed between the tables toward the counter, were bronze-rank rookies.
“……”
There were also some who, with their hoods pulled down, gave the boy a strangely ominous glance, yet their faces were strangely expressionless. Had I seen wrong?
‘Being hunted makes everything seem scary.’
The boy intentionally ignored those gazes and faced the branch employee at the counter.
The employee had tired eyes and, in the middle of a yawn, abruptly held out a hand.
Wondering what it was, I stared at the palm for a moment before handing over the identification tag. The young man checked it roughly and then flicked it back.
“What can I get you? Alcohol? Sorry, but we don’t offer childcare services.”
“Meal and bath, a set of everyday clothes for me and this child. And an iron room.”
The reason for choosing the Alliance branch instead of a regular inn was precisely this.
Whether one had acquired valuable gold and treasures during a journey, or made enemies, or simply couldn’t trust anyone…
For such individuals, most branches offered Iron Rooms, also known as secure rooms, to adventurers. These were extreme havens with oak doors reinforced with iron bands, and guild employees even provided round-the-clock guard duty.
“22 Black Tortoise silver coins.”
The employee said this without any change in expression. One silver coin was a common laborer’s daily wage.
I took out my money pouch and poured the silver coins onto the counter. Instead of carefully counting them, he roughly swept them up and handed over a heavy key.
An iron key about a handspan in size… As I carefully took it, the employee pointed upstairs with his thumb.
“Third floor. Unpack your bags and come down to the first floor. I’ll have the bathwater ready.”
The room was secured with no less than three layers of locks. It prioritized safety over convenience, with a low ceiling and narrow width.
A faint, unpleasant smell of urine lingered from the feather bed. I sighed softly and then slightly opened the window.
‘This is 22 coins? What a bunch of highway robbers…’
After unpacking, I picked up Aki and was about to head downstairs to the first floor when I paused.
‘Selesia…’
Selesia, hanging on the clothes hanger, was bothering me. More precisely, it was Mirngardia’s dragon egg, nestled within its subspace.
Would it be okay to leave it here?
Well, it would be much safer than putting it in the bathhouse locker… In fact, that's why I chose the iron room.
Still, perhaps I should be extra cautious.
It would get wet, but I should just take it down to the bathhouse with me. And one more thing, just in case, I should set up an alarm spell to signal if anyone intrudes into the room.
As soon as I rolled up Selesia and headed down to the bathhouse, both of them made a fuss.
“Awooo!”
“Awooo, awooo.”
Aki, perhaps because her body temperature was higher than a human's, like a sun parrot, initially eyed the hot water with bared fangs, but quickly grew to love it.
Before entering the tub, I scooped hot water with a dipper and poured it over her to wash off the grime, but she kept laughing and causing a ruckus, completely overwhelming me.
“Come here! No, don’t eat the soap! Don’t shake off the water, oh for goodness sake! Are you a dog? Just, just stay still. Please.”
“Still, still, still.”
“Aki, sit, sit! Please sit!”
“Ah-sit.”
“Yes, yes, good Aki. Is it warm? Does warm feel good? Just stay still.”
“Ow, ah, oof!”
“It’s amazing how there isn’t a single bug like this. Is it because it’s too hot and they all die?”
The battle, more fierce than the fight with Mage Lord Saygun, only settled down after Aki was finally placed in the tub.
“Raising a child is harder than saving the world, is this right…?”
And someday there’ll be one more? What does Karenden want from me, anyway…?
I sank deep into the hot water of the tub and pondered the journey ahead. I needed to cross the border into Republic territory soon…
My consciousness felt pleasantly weary in the warm steam, and I must have dozed off. When I opened my eyes, Pipi and Aki were also sound asleep.
“……”
I put on the cheap tunic that the attendant had prepared outside the door, and carefully dressed the sleeping Aki in rough woven clothes. As I stepped out of the bathroom, a chill ran down my spine.
It was quiet.
Excessively quiet.
Even if it was late at night, it was strange that no one was in the hall… And above all, the faint smell of blood made me swallow dry.
“……”
I focused intently to detect any presence, but no human presence registered in my detection… Instead, a dark blue mist was eerily writhing at my feet, though I hadn't noticed when it had appeared.
I bloomed a pure white flower from my pupils and looked into the structure of the mist coiling around my feet.
01010101001… A combination formula of Incantation-type Altigma and Forbidden-type Orbios…
‘Forbidden-type Orbios, black magic?’
When I rushed into the lobby, what I saw was an unbelievable sight that made my hair stand on end.
All the adventurers… no, not just the adventurers, but the branch employees as well, were lying unconscious.
Someone had their face buried in a plate of soup, and an attendant who had been moving between tables with a food tray had fallen amidst spilled food and broken dishes.
A sharp jab.
And a sensation of something sharp piercing my mind… The barrier had sent an alarm.
‘I had a bad feeling even before coming to the city, but it seems nothing ever goes smoothly…’
With Aki and Pipi tucked under my arm, I hastily summoned the Staff of Flame and immediately rushed up to the third floor.
An unidentified rotten stench, more repulsive than the smell of blood, grew thicker… And from somewhere, hushed groans of men could be heard.
Through the gap of the door, where two branch employees lay unconscious and all three layers of locks had been neatly sliced off.
I urgently pushed open the door and stepped inside, letting out a tense breath.
“……”
“……”
Seven burly men were writhing on the floor. All had knife wounds in places that avoided vital spots, but strangely, blackish, clotted blood flowed…
‘Those expressionless guys from earlier.’
Taking Selesia to the bathhouse was the right call. Bad premonitions are never wrong. Just like now.
“More complacent than I thought.”
At that moment, as I turned around and raised my staff, a blade that had approached without a sound clashed against it, letting out a chilling screech of metal.
“No, are you pretending to be complacent? To lure me in like this? If so, that’s quite impressive.”
I recognized it at once. This was an assassin of incredible skill. And that the surprise attack just now had no killing intent. Was he trying to test my abilities?
“Who are you?”
Instead of answering, the swordsman lowered the blade aimed at my neck and threw something.
It was the adventurer’s identification tag, the item I had left on the side table.
“Rain Ludwig… right? I received a request to bring you in.”
For a moment, I wiped the cold sweat from my brow and turned my head.
I saw a swordsman in lightweight armor made of chains and leather, with only partial iron greaves.
A short sword, suitable for free movement in confined spaces, hung from her waist, and the shield on her left arm was also small. Moreover, she carried daggers, short swords, and even a shortbow tucked away in various parts of her body.
From the vague contours visible through the armor, I could tell it was a woman, but her helmet had a full face guard, making it impossible to see her face.
One more peculiarity, perhaps, was that she carried a single-edged sword wrapped tightly in old bandages on her back. The blade seemed to be somewhere between a short sword and a long sword in length.
“I’ve been looking for you for ten days. There’s no time to explain who I am, so just know this. Now, the real ones are coming, not those rabble.”
“Who’s coming?”
“Look closely at their hearts.”
The moment I glanced at the burly men the swordsman indicated with a tilt of her chin, cold sweat streamed down my face.
Crows, they were crows.
Crows, with their heads emerging from the men’s hearts, gnawed at rotten flesh and cawed ominously. These were monstrous crows made not of black feathers, but of blackish-blue miasma.
“The Black Church…?”
“Follow me. I’ll help you get out of this castle.”
“No, wait.”
Her credit was somewhat established by the fact that she hadn’t finished me off when she had a clear advantage, but I still couldn’t relax.
“How can I trust you? You’re not with them?”
The swordsman, who had been walking ahead in the corridor, replied in an emotionless voice, as if the question was not even amusing.
“My helping you isn’t about benevolence, so rest assured.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s about money. The Witch Association hired me. To bring you back safely.”
The Witch Association…
That was the Republic’s unified organization. You could think of it as serving a similar role to the Empire’s Magic Alliance.
My wariness surged. The Witch Association and I were complete strangers, so why me?
“If you really can’t trust me, look at this. But if I were you, I’d choose to follow right now. Don’t you have a sense of who’s after you?”
What the swordsman took from her pocket was a small scroll that looked like some kind of contract.
A seal was stamped on it. A magical seal that only the Witch Association could use and no one could forge.
Just then, the crows cawed loudly with tearing, guttural sounds, and the magical mist felt like it was growing thicker.
‘No choice, then…’
After slipping my arm into Selesia’s sleeve, I carried Aki on my back in the carrier Selesia had automatically formed, and followed behind her, running down the stairs.
“Alright, I’ll follow for now. A quick introduction, perhaps? I’m Rain.”
“Goblin Slayer.”
Goblin? Goblin Slayer?
It seemed more like a derogatory term than a distinguished name, a ridiculous prank, but at that moment, I couldn’t laugh at all.
Because the Water Dragon Yelisarika’s advice was fluttering in my mind.
— _Returned one, go south and find the little goblin._
Goblins are also called "little demons" (소귀). A blank gasp caught in my throat, and I stopped for a moment on the landing.
‘Could the little goblin Yelisarika spoke of really be this person…?’