Translator: Nox

56 - Marquis Maron

Episode 56

Next was an old man. He was so frail and walked so weakly that even if he regained his sanity, he didn't seem particularly dangerous.

I Purified the old man as well.

"Heh heh… What young people we have here. If I peel off their skin and drink their blood…."

"Reikart!"

The old man collapsed before he could finish his sentence, abandoned in the middle of the Taint. I remembered the story of the 'serial killer who craved youth' that I had read on the list and stopped, thoroughly frightened.

It was too scary at this point.

When they were zombies, it wasn't scary at all, but now that they were back to their senses, it was terrifying. People are scarier than monsters, after all. Living people are the scariest beings in the world.

I cautiously stopped walking and asked,

"Should we… go back?"

"I'll protect you."

"I know, but just encountering them has become scary."

"Then let's go to Enif now."

Reikart held out his hand to me. I grabbed his hand tightly as if it were a lifeline and hurried on again.

Purification could wait until Asta investigated the authenticity of the list. I needed to know who was a real killer and who was an innocent victim.

As we approached the Kasnatura border, where Enif was located, in the deep forest between the canyon and Floodwood, the Tainted appeared more frequently. Greatly intimidated by the two failures, I shouted at them to go away, careful not to Purify them by mistake.

But on the way, we met a boy who didn't seem to be of age yet, and a man whose whole body was covered in scars. There was also a woman who couldn't move, stuck in one place because she couldn't remove her restraints.

Maybe some of them are innocent victims?

Ugh, damn it.

"My heart feels heavy."

"Don't worry about it. You don't have any obligation to save them."

"It's just that I'm the only one in this world who can do this. If someone else could do it, I wouldn't care, of course."

But that didn't mean I could Purify them all and then arbitrarily hold a people's trial to decide who was good and who was bad.

"Let's go. Grocery shopping."

Reikart grabbed my hand again and pulled me along.

We passed through the Demon Church in the canyon and went straight to Enif, where we once again used the names Zeus and Hera to book an inn.

Since there were so many small items to buy, it seemed difficult to return in just one day.

And why were their tastes so picky? If I didn't get them properly made items, I would surely be nagged to buy better ones next time we went out.

I felt like a errand girl living with twenty mothers.

Reikart asked,

"Are you going to meet Asta, that princess, too?"

"No?"

"You came all the way here, aren't you going to meet her? She seemed to like you a lot."

"We have a destiny where we shouldn't meet often. Do you know that? A destiny where we're drawn to each other, but we're bound to become enemies. It's a common trope in romance novels."

"What's romance? Are there novels like that?"

"Love novels."

"I've never read one."

"How dry."

"I don't think we'll become enemies either."

Reikart laughed. My Omnivore, who had been laughing a lot lately, was blooming with beauty, probably because he was eating well and living well in Maron Keep.

Come to think of it, he was one of the male leads. Originally, he deeply loved Asta and despaired at his own existence, which was in contrast to her light, leading to a tragedy.

"Let's go out."

Reikart, who left the inn and went out into the street, seemed to be in a very good mood. Seeing him twirling the inn key on his finger and humming, it seemed unlikely that he would dig his own grave and head towards tragedy like in the original story.

Watching him show no emotion even after meeting Asta, I wondered if this story had already gone off the rails beyond repair.

"Reikart, what did you talk about with Asta?"

"Me?"

"I heard you two had a secret conversation."

"Ah…."

Reikart stopped laughing and stared at me intently. Then, instead of answering my question, he asked me.

"If Cyril Vandision apologizes for what happened, will you accept it? No, it's not a matter of accepting it or not… If he apologizes, will you feel a little better?"

"Your heart?"

"No, you."

"Me?"

When I pointed at my face with my finger and asked, Reikart nodded firmly.

"Yes, you."

Wasn't Reikart the one Cyril should apologize to, not me? As I was about to ask that, I had a feeling that this conversation would never end in this way, so I just answered honestly.

"I don't care whether he apologizes or not."

"Really?"

"It's annoying."

"Annoying?"

"I told you before. It's best not to run into Cyril Vandision, Mikelan Holt, or Eugene Widemark if possible. Actually, it's the same with Asta. They have to risk their lives to fight against the crisis that will befall this world from now on, and if I keep getting involved, only my precious life will be ruined?"

Reikart, who understood the meaning of 'ruined' this time through context, burst into laughter again and said.

"Don't worry. I'll protect you."

I used to scoff when he said that, but now I felt quite reassured. It seemed to be because of his words that he was getting stronger.

Even though he didn't become a Half-human Half-demon of the Demon King class like in the original story, such a strong warrior was my Omnivore. I didn't regret the strawberries and potatoes I had fed him.

I felt good and said,

"Let's go quickly. The uncles said it would be difficult to find good furs in Enif. We have to go quickly to have a chance."

The lumberjacks started preparing for winter as soon as autumn arrived. Originally, autumn wasn't a season to enjoy the harvest, but a season to prepare for winter, they said.

When I asked if they worked hard only during autumn and played during winter, they said that there were many things to do in winter as well.

I felt unnecessarily ashamed because my laziness seemed to be more highlighted by the much more diligent people of the territory than I had thought.

We walked around the shops in the streets of Enif, looking at goods. Perhaps because it was a trading city in the southern granary of Kasnatura, there were plenty of agricultural goods.

But as the lumberjacks had said, it was difficult to find good furs.

"Where are you from that you're asking for this? Enif is warm even in winter, so not many people are looking for such thick furs…. Are you going somewhere far?"

"We're planning to go to Nieve."

"Oh my, then you have to buy thick ones."

The merchant, glancing at Reikart, who looked like he had been raised preciously, clicked his tongue with a regretful expression. Then, he made a sound of 'Eing' and pointed to a large jewelry store across the street.

"Go over there, over there."

"Isn't that a place that sells jewelry?"

"They handle all valuables. This place is secretly a tourist destination, and nobles often come to escape the cold in winter, and those precious nobles must be more sensitive to the cold than us, right?"

"Ah."

"The prices will be high, but you might find something there."

"Thank you."

When Reikart politely bowed his head in greeting, the merchant laughed heartily and handed him a large candy.

"I was scared for nothing, thinking you were a noble. Take this and give it to your girlfriend. You don't know how famous Enif candy is, do you?"

"……."

Girlfriend?

I, who was looking around at various things in the corner of the store, quickly took the candy that Reikart awkwardly approached and handed to me, put it in my mouth, and smiled.

"Thank you, boyfriend."

"Don't do that."

I don't know why he's so serious about jokes like this when he's not even a child. I laughed like an old man, 'Eheheh,' and after pestering the merchant to get one more candy in the end, I went to the jewelry store.

And there, I met Asta's older brother.