A Stuffed Cheonma in my Head - Chapter 43



Only Noblemtl

Episode 043. The Princess of the Underworld

* * *

A lakeside where the clear sounds of birds chirping fill the air.

The trees growing near the lake were reflected on the calm surface of the lake, creating hazy reflections.

The sight was like looking at a watercolor painting.

Two figures jumped around on the quiet painting, adding life to it.

A man dressed in black was running away from tree to tree with agile movements, and a man with red eyes was chasing after him.

The fugitive ran lightly up the tree, and the pursuer followed him, tearing the air as if he were a gust of wind.

Birds flew up in surprise at the two men’s wild chase.

“Huh! Huh!”

The fugitive in black clothes ran away, breathing heavily, then glanced behind him.

Our gazes met with bloodshot eyes flashing with murderous intent.

The devil was chasing me.

The devil smirked as his eyes met the man’s.

Wheezing!

A ghostly cry was heard from him.

“… … !”

The small-eyed fugitive was startled and desperately increased his speed.

I was confident that I could run like this.

He was known for being a quick-witted person even within the guild. That’s why he was mainly in charge of serving as a liaison.

But somehow, the gap between him and the devil was not widening, but rather narrowing.

Meanwhile, Ashvan performed lightness techniques while observing the man’s movements in a relatively relaxed manner.

“hmm.”

As a result of observation.

It was a fairly light movement, but it was nothing compared to Shushuruta.

Ashvan decided there was nothing left to see and took a coin out of his pocket.

Ashvan frowned when he confirmed that the thing he had taken out was a silver coin, and searched his pockets again to find the coin. Then he put it between his bent fingers.

I injected some energy into the coin and then snapped my fingers.

Teeing!

The coin flew with a clear clank and landed squarely on the inside of the knee and calf of the informant who was running away desperately.

The fugitive fell down from the branch with a loud groan.

Ashvan approached him with a leisurely gait as he fell to the ground with a thud.

The man was still, as if he had fainted from the fall.

The moment Ashvan approached and extended his hand, the man thrust out the dagger hidden in his sleeve with a murderous glint in his narrow eyes.

It was a great surprise though.

Tub.

The opponent was not good.

A rough hand suddenly approached me and was holding the sharp blade tightly.

The man opened his eyes wide at the strange sight of his bare hands, yet not a single drop of blood flowing out.

His hands were enveloped in a reddish aura.

“… …Black magic!”

Ashvan grinned and swung his fist with his other hand.

“It’s a martial art.”

puck!

The man who was hit in the chin lost consciousness.

* * *

I dragged the brave escaped informant back to the shabby shack.

Shushuruta was standing still on the lakeside, looking at the calm lake, as if lost in thought.

dump.

Shushuruta glanced back at the sound of the captured informant being placed on the ground.

“… … are you here?”

“okay.”

Even at first glance, her face looked like it had quite a complicated state of mind.

I sat down on the informant’s seat and watched Shushuruta’s back without saying anything.

Shushuruta, who had been staring at the lake in silence for a while, said:

“Ashvan.”

“why.”

“How did you know?”

“Betrayed me?”

“Yes.”

I answered, looking up at the sky as blue as the lake.

“What’s the big deal? When someone steps forward and offers to help, it’s like they’re going to hit you in the back of the head. Especially when you’re holding something valuable in your hands.”

“… … Is that so?”

“As I lived, that’s how it was.”

“… … Is that so.”

Betrayal is originally the privilege of those close to us.

How do you define someone close to you? It’s simple. Someone you believe, or rather, want to believe, will not betray you.

So the parties involved are more likely to be betrayed.

I was like that too. So was Shushuruta.

I lowered my gaze and looked at the round back of Shushuruta’s head.

“Did the entire guild betray you? Or just those guild members?”

“Only the death row brothers.”

“What makes you think so?”

“If the entire guild had betrayed us, we would have collapsed by now, having suffered in every way possible without even being able to sleep.”

“… … Is that all?”

“Force isn’t the only solution. The easiest way to catch strong prey is to weaken it.”

“… … Those guys were scary.”

The wind blew, shaking Shushuruta’s hair that was like the night sky.

She stared blankly at the lake, her hair blowing in the wind.

“… … .”

I observed that Shushuruta closely.

As before, this guy was too naive to steal.

There was no sense of life, and there was no smell of blood, characteristic of assassins.

On the topic of thieves, I feel like he’s a troublemaker who’s grown up nicely.

Come to think of it, he was a guy who played tag with Akhenaten’s mercenaries.

To begin with, it seemed like he had no interest in the act of killing people.

In conclusion, this guy was closer to a literal thief than an assassin.

I said while listening to the gentle sound of water and watching Shushuruta’s fluttering hair.

“Shushuruta.”

“Something.”

“Who is your inspiration?”

Shushuruta kept his mouth shut.

I waited in silence.

The answer came a moment later.

“… …He is the head of the Thieves Guild.”

“aha.”

Only then did I understand why the Acorn Man was so polite.

As expected, my guess that she would be the princess of the underworld turned out to be right.

I never thought I’d see through the essence so quickly. I felt a little scared of myself like this.

[Oh my… … .]

It seemed like I could hear Cheonma’s soft sigh, but it also seemed like I couldn’t.

Since it was a 50/50 chance, I decided to just ignore it, thinking I had misheard the sound of the rippling water in the lake.

“hmm.”

He is the direct disciple of the leader of the Thieves’ Guild.

When I thought about it that way, there were more than one or two strange things.

I don’t know much about the direct disciple of the leader of the Thieves’ Guild, but isn’t she really in a princess-like position?

Why would a princess of the Thieves’ Guild be playing thief in Akhenaten’s remote forest?

I stared blankly at Shushuruta with such doubts in my mind.

Shushuruta stood blankly on the lakeside, frozen like a statue. The only thing moving was her night-sky-like hair blowing in the wind.

What was he looking at? Standing alone, he suddenly looked lonely.

“… … .”

How much time has passed like that?

When the gentle sound of water sounds like a lullaby.

Shushuruta opened his mouth.

“I grew up among wolves.”

I felt my excitement drain away at the sudden confession.

“Yes. I am a wild and beastly boy who grew up among wild beasts. Wolves were my parents, and a pack of wolves were my family. I don’t know who gave birth to me or why I was abandoned. I was just with wolves from the moment I can remember. Until then, I thought I was a wolf.”

I found something in common between Shushuruta and me.

That he had never seen his parents’ faces. That he was a savage and beastly man.

The only differences are that I thought I was human and that I didn’t have a family when I was young.

“I ran through the mountains with a pack of wolves, hunting, biting into raw meat, and howling at the moon. I don’t know what you think, but when I look back, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than that time.”

I listened silently.

Her words came softly, like the rippling waves of a lake.

“Then one day. I encountered a demon beast. At that time, I didn’t even have the concept of a demon beast. It wasn’t that big, and its entire body was red. I couldn’t communicate with it, it was extremely fast, and its teeth were particularly sharp. Thinking about it now, I think it was probably a C-rank demon beast.”

Her voice trembled slightly.

“… … We were torn apart by the thing. I still remember it vividly. I was the fastest of the pack, so I barely managed to escape its attacks and survive. I managed to escape up a tree, but my leg was injured. The thing roared and tried to climb up the tree. When that didn’t work, it started banging its body against the tree, trying to knock it down. Just like the wolf pack, it was only a matter of time before I was torn apart by the thing. I was so scared that I shut my eyes tightly.”

Shushuruta swallowed once and continued his story.

“At that moment, I heard something being cut, and then it became quiet. I slowly opened my eyes, and there was a person looking up at me, holding a dagger soaked in blood. That’s how I met my inspiration.”

… … Even if you kill a C-class demon in one go, it’s still like that.

I had a feeling he would be a very talented person.

“My inspiration took me in and raised me as a human being. He taught me words and manners so that I could abandon my beastly nature and grow up as a human being. I am a person who learns easily, so I quickly learned human speech and imitated my actions by watching my inspiration.”

The mystery is solved.

That’s why his speech sounded like that of an old man.

“I learned quickly. This is because the inspiration praised me when I did well. I was happy about that and immediately mastered it as soon as I was taught. I quickly learned everything I could come across. Then the inspiration called me a genius and taught me more things. How to hide in the dark, how to handle a dagger, how to assassinate a target, how to kill a presence, how to make a light body, how to move the body, etc. In that way, before I knew it, I had become the inspiration’s disciple.”

The disciple of the Thieves Guild Master said.

“The old man had other disciples. Most of them were those who had been taught by the old man before me. At first, they were reluctant to me. They even threw stones at me, calling me dirty. This was because I ate with my hands and walked around on all fours like an animal. However, the old man made us brothers. At the same time, he threatened us. He said that brothers help and take care of each other. Unable to resist the old man’s words, they reluctantly became close to me.”

‘Reluctantly’… … .

I had a rough idea of ​​where the story was going.

“We learned together from the inspiration. At first, the other brothers were far more skilled than me, and compared to them, I was poor. It was natural. They had been learning from the inspiration for much longer than I, and I was just now learning to speak human language.”

That must have been it.

“But they were slower to learn than I was. I tried hard to catch up with them. I repeated what I learned day and night. I thought that if I could stand shoulder to shoulder with them, they would praise me like an old man. That’s how I soon caught up with them. The old man praised me as a genius, but the others did not. They looked at me like a monster.”

“… … .”

“I was a loner. I was that way from the beginning. Maybe it was because I was close to my inspiration, or maybe it was because I had something different about me, or maybe it was because of my birth… I don’t know. Everyone else had a hard time with me. When I got closer, they grew distant. The only ones who were close were my brothers.”

Shushuruta paused for a moment.

“… … They hated me. They pretended to take care of me in front of me, but they talked badly about me behind my back. They badmouthed me indiscriminately. I heard it all. Even if I didn’t want to hear it, I heard it all. Even if I covered my ears, I heard it all. Still, I pretended not to hear it and tried hard to get closer to them.”

“… … .”

“But… … things didn’t go as planned. It was my fault for being immature. When I left the prey in front of the door, they were frightened and blamed me, and when I tried to bring them water, they ended up pouring water on me instead. The gossip only increased and did not decrease. There were times when I thought I should have never learned human language.”

“… … .”

“I eventually left that place. I wanted to go somewhere where I couldn’t hear any voices. I started wandering aimlessly like that. Then, I arrived at a forest. That place was filled only with the sound of the wind. There were no words of abuse against me there. Only the sound of the wind… … .”

With those words, Shushuruta closed his mouth.

I looked at the back of Shushuruta, who was staring at the lake, letting the wind take over his body.

Her hair was flowing freely.

So, this guy was foolishly happy when his brother-in-law, who hated him so much, readily offered to help him.

He was trying to welcome with open arms those who came to him smiling in front and holding a cold knife in his hand hidden behind his back.

If it weren’t for me, I might have been stabbed in the back by the smiling faces of the dead men who approached me one day.

… …Because I’m stupid.

“Ashvan.”

Shushuruta asked without looking back.

“What should we do?”

I answered without hesitation.

“Of course they should be killed. There is no light for traitors.”

“… … .”

Shushuruta was silent.

I couldn’t see her expression because I was just looking at the lake.

After a while, she finally said with a sigh.

“… … Is that so.”