A Stuffed Cheonma in my Head - Chapter 36



Only Noblemtl

Episode 036. Children are not guilty.

* * *

Everything was on fire.

The house, the street, the town.

It was falling, breaking, and collapsing, emitting acrid smoke.

Everything that touched the eyes was howling, spewing blood and flesh.

A terrible scream, accompanied by flames, rose from all directions.

Hell was unfolding before my eyes.

Finding the culprit who started the fire wasn’t that difficult.

They were all wearing loose-fitting, unfamiliar clothing, with the word “oath” written in large letters on their chests.

They were waging a frenzy, carrying swords and spears.

They were stabbing to death women, children, old people, and men who were screaming and begging for their lives in the flames.

While doing so, he would steal goods and put them in his bosom, and he would also grab a screaming young woman by the hair and drag her somewhere.

Some people laughed out loud at the sound of their screams, as if it were a beautiful melody. They even created many unnecessary wounds to continue listening to it.

It was a terrible sight.

I was standing on the main road, watching the blazing hell on both sides, when I noticed a little boy standing next to me.

I couldn’t see the guy’s expression, but I could see blood dripping from his clenched fist.

At this moment, a loud noise was heard from across the street.

They pointed this way, shouted something, and then quickly rode off on horseback.

The little boy glared at them, then quickly turned around and ran away.

The boy ran bravely without falling. Men with swords and spears chased after him and passed me by.

Doo doo doo doo―

Men in uniforms swept past like the wind, kicking up a cloud of dust. As the last one passed me, a man stood behind him with his hands behind his back.

In the midst of all the chaos, a clear sound of a flute could be heard from somewhere.

I looked at the man who suddenly appeared next to me with the sound of a flute.

He was as calm and natural as if he had been standing there from the beginning.

He didn’t feel any particular discomfort. At some point, he was just there. In the spot where the little boy had been standing.

The atmosphere itself was dark and the man was dark. As soon as he appeared, clouds suddenly seemed to block the sun.

He looked ahead, his pack on his back. The wind rustled the hem of his clothes.

The dark man opened his mouth.

[Children are not guilty. Adults are guilty.]

The man looked at me.

[Isn’t that right?]

“… … .”

I stared at the strange man for a moment, then looked around.

As time passed, the fire died down and only black ash remained.

Among them, black figures rose from the ashes one by one, and moved their bodies to the sound of the clear flute. They had the form of children.

The man said to me.

[Get up, you poor thing. Aren’t the children following the sound of the flute?]

I turned my head and looked at the man.

“Who are you?”

The man grimaced and hit the back of my head.

Bam!

I suddenly came to my senses and woke up.

I must have fallen asleep without realizing it.

As I was leaning against the wall, blinking blankly, I heard a melody in my ears.

The clear sound of the flute echoed throughout the village.

As soon as I heard it, my body lost all strength and my mind became hazy.

As I quietly listened to the sound of the flute, my eyelids grew heavy and I began to feel sleepy.

Cheonma spoke in a tone that sounded like he was slapping my cheek.

[It’s a sound source. Protect your ears with your internal energy.]

As soon as I heard Cheonma’s words, I slapped myself in the face.

match!

I couldn’t tell if it was me or the devil who had hit me. My mind had become hazy in that short an instant.

Anyway, I came to my senses with a slap and, as Cheonma said, raised my internal energy to protect my ears.

Then I ran straight to the window and looked outside.

There were things moving around in the pitch-black darkness. Children were walking out of their houses in a line, as if possessed by something, and were walking somewhere.

The locked house fell apart through the windows.

The sight was like looking at a drunkard.

“Master. How long has it been?”

[You mean the sound of the flute started? It wasn’t even an hour.]

I decided to wake up from Shushuruta.

When I looked back, Shushuruta was fast asleep, leaning his shoulder against the wall.

“Hey, hey. Shushuruta. Wake up.”

But I grabbed her shoulders and shook her roughly.

Slurp-

She just slipped out of my hand and flowed down, sinking further into the swamp of sleep.

I had no choice but to slap her cheek mercilessly.

“Now is not the time to sleep, you thieving cat.”

Clap! Clap!

I hit him so hard that his head spun around, but it didn’t help.

Even when he was slapped in the face, he slept as if dead and did not open his eyes.

“Tsk.”

In the end, I got up from my seat, leaving Shushuruta with only his cheeks swollen.

I sneaked out the window like a thief and listened to the sound of the flute.

The sound of the flute was coming from all directions.

Finding the source wasn’t easy.

Cheonma said.

[Follow the children. He’ll be there.]

“check.”

I followed the children without making a sound.

There were quite a few little kids following the sound of the flute.

I think that’s probably all the children left in the village.

It had been disappearing little by little for a while, but today it was all in one lump.

Could it be related to the arrival of the lost saint, who received the will of the goddess of the night, Ketel, to the village?

I still couldn’t figure it out.

I gathered my thoughts as I quietly followed the kids.

It is thought that the sound of this flute has two effects.

It fascinates children and lures them somewhere. It has a strong sleep effect on adults.

How strong must the magic be for Shushuruta to not come to his senses even after being hit until his cheeks were swollen like that?

No, I thought that maybe it was because my hearing was exceptionally good that the effect was stronger.

In any case, it was clear that he was a pretty strong wizard who could rule over an entire village.

I am not a real person, and I am not even from here.

He is just a stranger passing by. He is someone who will have to leave soon.

But I can’t just let it go like this. No matter how urgent it is, I’m not so corrupt that I can ignore this and just ignore it.

Because deep inside my mind, in a dark alley where no light reaches, a little kid was glaring at me with murderous eyes.

Then what do we do?

You have to pull out the sprouts and leave.

It is not enough to simply scatter the plans of this flute-playing wizard.

This psycho kid should just come back to town and play his whistle after I leave.

The poisonous weed must be uprooted and then burned.

The flute-playing wizard must be killed for sure.

Cheonma said in a low voice.

[These guys should have their limbs cut off.]

“That’s not bad either.”

I followed the children quietly, my murderous intent sharpened like a well-honed blade.

The children left the village and entered the forest.

The sound of the flute was coming closer and closer.

The moment I could pinpoint the source of the whistle, I was ahead of the squirming brats.

Then he spread his sword wide and thin in all directions to find the bastard.

One particularly black flag caught my eye.

“… … found it.”

After capturing the bastard’s location, I approached him stealthily.

The man was blowing his flute loudly with his hood pulled down low, not even dreaming that the grim reaper was right in front of him.

“This won’t work. I’ll beat that little brat up with a whistle.”

[That’s not bad either.]

The moment I tried to approach him with that determination.

Pong-

Like a drop of water falling into a calm pond, subtle waves of mana spread out from beneath my feet.

I realized intuitively that it was some kind of detection magic. It was installed in advance to prevent any unexpected approach.

The sound of the flute immediately stopped and the bastard turned his head this way.

I shot the new gun straight at the bastard.

The wind that started from my toes hitting the ground enveloped my entire body.

I rushed at him, still holding the sword hilt.

The moment the blade came out of its scabbard and drew a ray of light as if cutting through the darkness, a blue light burst out from it.

“Where!”

I slit the bastard’s throat, not caring about the bursting light.

But when the light died down, there was no one there.

Only the magic circle drawn messily on the floor was glowing softly.

Cheonma asked in a bewildered tone.

[What happened?]

I sighed deeply and stepped on the magic circle that was emitting a faint glow.

“It’s teleportation magic. You well-prepared brat.”

[magic?]

In preparation for any unforeseen circumstances, I placed detection magic around me and installed a teleportation magic circle under my feet. So that I could escape at any time.

As far as I know, teleportation magic is a pretty high-level magic… … .

I can’t give up like this, so this is the moment to broaden my horizons once again.

From a little distance away, the frightened cries of little children could be heard.

“Hey, where am I?”

“Mom! Dad!”

“Eww!”

As soon as the sound of the flute stopped, the spell seemed to be broken.

I wanted to continue tracking down the wizard, but I couldn’t leave the kids in this dangerous forest, so I decided to take them back to the village.

When I thought about it carefully, I realized that this was all part of the flute-playing wizard’s countermeasure.

“… … Is that why you weren’t caught until now?”

One of the guys who was really good at being prepared was him.

* * *

The day has dawned.

People began to wake up one by one.

As soon as the sun rose, I took Shushuruta out of the village with her swollen cheeks. Shushuruta muttered that her cheeks felt cold, but I ignored her.

I wandered around here and there looking for traces of the wizard, but there was no significant result.

The precious time passed by so quickly. Noon passed, and the sun gradually set in the west.

Shushuruta said.

“Ashvan. How long will you stay here? We cannot delay any longer.”

“… … .”

I bit my lip hard.

This thorough bastard. Where on earth did he hide? If this continued, I would feel uneasy and have trouble sleeping at night.

Criminals are always on the lookout for trends. It’s only natural. They don’t want to get caught. It’s likely that they know about the Devil in the Red Eye, a fellow criminal, and the dagger he carries.

When I ran up to him, I wasn’t blindfolded.

Well then, did he look into my eyes?

In that case… …will he run away? Or will he come back to take the dagger? Even though he is a wizard, would he still covet the dagger?

If I overestimated my strength, there was a high chance that I would return, but if not, there was a high chance that I would run away.

He was so thoroughly prepared even for a simple task like playing a flute, so I had a feeling that if he were to return, he would be thoroughly prepared.

I would have liked to stay here until I caught and beat the bastard, but reality is not easy. There is no perfect answer. Reality is a place where the moment when you have to compromise and choose always approaches like a robber.

Shushuruta spoke urgingly.

“Ashvan.”

“Let’s look for it until the sun sets, otherwise we’ll go our separate ways.”

“……i get it.”

Shushuruta nodded reluctantly.

The sun set completely in the west. As expected, there was no harvest.

“Ashvan.”

I said with a sigh.

“Okay. But let’s at least say hello before we go. We can only hope that the real real name will come.”

The moment I entered the village to say hello before leaving, I had no choice.

As if it had been waiting, the elegant sound of the flute echoed through the village. I instinctively raised my internal energy to protect my ears.

“Ah… … Schwann.”

Shushuruta staggered and fell down, and the villagers who were wandering around the village also began to fall down one by one. This time, even the children did the same.

“… … This kid.”

The sound of the flute was not coming from many directions like the day before. It was coming from one place.

A situation that is clearly calling me.

I immediately started to perform light exercises in the direction where the sound of the flute was heard.

A clearing in the forest that we arrived at like that.

I found a wizard with a dark hood pulled down deep.

As soon as he saw me, he put down the flute he was playing and smiled, showing his teeth.

“Are you here, devil?”

It was the voice of an old man with a hoarse voice.

I also responded with a snicker.

“Yeah, you old bastard.”