Chapter 36 – Port City (12)
“What, what is this all of a sudden…?!”
Pulver Nose is used to violence as he has been living in the harsh back world for quite a long time, but the unrealistic sight of a human body tearing like a piece of paper just by swinging a kitchen knife in the air is far from common sense.
“Eup! Eup! Eup!”
“I was summoned in the middle of cooking and I did something, but was it human trafficking? You scumbags…”
When he saw Marill tied with a rope next to her snub-nosed mouth and her mouth covered with a cloth up to her mouth, Roden, who grasped her general situation, strode towards her.
Sensing the other person’s icy intent to kill, the action taken to save the upturned nose is a preemptive strike.
“Fuck off!!”
The snub nose quickly drew out and swung the heavy ax with both hands. It’s a powerful blow that contains the tricks of burying countless scoundrels from competing organizations.
In an instant, when he saw Roden wielding a thin cleaver to block the thick axe, he sneered inwardly and imagined the scene where Roden’s head was split with the cleaver.
Spaw!
The split is your own weapon. Roden’s one-handed cleaver – clad in an aura – split the snub-nosed ax like tofu.
“Uh…”
Blindfolded nose stupidly staring at the ax that had been cut in vain, his mind went blank as he went through a series of events beyond common sense. He doesn’t even think about attacking again.
Puck! Roden thrust her fist into the face of her disillusioned opponent, completely flattening the nose of the already snub-nosed fellow.
Roden passed the guy who had fallen to her floor and moved close to her Marill, who in an instant cut the rope and ripped off the cloth that was covering her mouth.
“Huuuuu000! Thank you, Mr. Roden.”
“If it’s not too bad, I’m going to look at Roxia’s wounds first, is that okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Take care of Roxia first.”
It seems that a little while ago, he used a sword style that can only be used by those with a gold level or higher, but what the hell is Mr. Roden doing…
Marill had a mountain of things she wanted to ask, but in the current situation she decided not to ask.
Anyway, she ran to Roxia’s side, and Roden carefully pulled out the block of ice from her shoulder and checked her wounds. Fortunately, she didn’t hurt her bones.
Regardless of the extent of her injuries, her own heart broke as she watched with her own eyes the scars and blood she had spilled on the body of the girl she cared for like her daughter.
Roxia didn’t whine as much as possible to avoid causing concern, but a low voice that only her master could hear.
“Master… I’m sorry. I used the gift you gave me after a long time. It seemed like a valuable item…”
“There’s no need to apologize. It’s something I gave you to use at times like this. Rather, you should be praised.”
After rummaging through her inventory while gently cradling her Loxia, Roden lightly sprinkled the potion she had brought out on her wounds, then passed what was left of her bottle into the girl’s small mouth.
Naturally, Roxia accepted the medicine her trusted owner gave her without hesitation, and the wound on her shoulder naturally healed.
On the other hand, the thief-style gang member sent out by the snub nose witnessed the scene in the alley with the other gang members nearby.
The members of the organization frantically alternated between the figure of the upturned nose, the figure of the wizard neatly cut in two, and the figure of Roden, who had not been here before.
“I-that guy is definitely… The alchemist the boss said…”
When I was ordered to bring the women, I had heard rough information about Roden’s appearance in advance, so I wondered for a while why he came here, but the action they had to take had already been decided.
You have to deal with the man in front of you right away.
… These are the faces that are thinking. By the way, if you continue to use the kitchen knife you use for cooking in strict ways, you might be punished.
Roden put Loxia down on the seat next to Marill, put her kitchen knife in her inventory, and took out the bastard sword she bought at the smithy she and her twin sister had been to half a year ago.
This is the moment when the lump of metal, which was only wielded in the air for the rest of the time after impulsively purchasing it because it looked useful, finally fulfilled its original role.
The members of the organization who took out their weapons hurriedly took out their weapons at the sight of the opponent pulling out a sword out of nowhere, but Roden reached out and stopped them.
“I think it would be inconvenient to fight in such a narrow place, but I’d rather go from my side.”
Having said that, he jumped in ambush, slipped out of the narrow alley, gave up the advantage of the terrain for himself, and made the foolish act of being surrounded by enemies.
In the eyes of the organizers, that would have been the only reflection.
“Guys, fuck off!!”
Members of the organization who had surrounded Roden in all directions swung their weapons at them in unison.
Soongsoong-!
Roden’s sword strikes, which took a full-fledged stance, were divided into several groups, and when a sharp sound reverberated through the alley, the gang members who attacked him had his arms and head cut off with the weapons they wielded.
The bodies of the members of the organization were scattered all over the floor like puppets with broken strings, and blood gushed out loudly, albeit belatedly, from the cut surfaces where the heads and arms had been cut off.
The fight was over in an instant, without a single scream. It’s a fight to sound nice, but in reality it’s a one-sided massacre.
Moreover, not even a single drop of blood came out of Roden’s body and the sword he wielded.
“Whoa…”
Right before being summoned by the scroll, the corpses and blood of the organization members cut into small pieces like cuttlefish that Roden was grooming were scattered in the alley, creating a fairly hideous landscape.
Indeed, Roden took the lives of many people with his own hands for the first time in a long time, but he did not feel any particular guilt or remorse.
However, he scratched the back of her head as he watched the fight scene from beginning to end.
In the end, did he get caught by his younger brother one after another?
“By the way, Marill, it looks like you’ve been lying down… It looks like you’ve been poisoned with something like paralysis poison.”
“Not to mention… I can move my upper body, but it’s hard to get up right away.”
“Have you ever heard of whose orders these guys are moving?”
Marill and Loxia easily recalled the name of the boss whose nose was raised before the fight.
“Obviously… Brought up the name Petrog.”
“I heard that too.”
“Petrog…”
Roden silently chewed the names that came out of the mouths of the two women, and looked down at the three still-alive gang members scattered around him with a cold expression.
“I would have liked to interrogate you if the circumstances were relaxed, but since you never know when other people will come here, it would be less bothersome to deal with it quickly and leave here.”
Moreover, I don’t even want to show the torture scene in front of them.
“Mr. Roden… Those people…”
As she looked up at Roden’s name, Marill’s eyes showed an expression of wanting to reconfirm whether she had to kill even those who had already been subdued.
After staring at her eyes for a moment, Roden pointed her knife at the throats of the fallen gangsters and asked a question.
“Marilyn, there are two things that dead people do better than living people. Do you know what they are?”
“…”
Even as she continued her words, Roden struck the knife without hesitation and in an instant cut the throats of the gang members.
“Do not cause harm to others and keep secrets thoroughly. It’s always a good idea to get rid of sequelae early in any situation. If you’re an adventurer, you know that well.”
“…You’re right. I’m sorry I tried to say something useless.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about, and if you understand what I’m saying, that’s enough. Loxia, can you stand up on your own?”
“Yes, it’s okay, Uncle!”
Loden stood up from her seat and looked at Roxia, who was showing off her courageous figure, and with a quiet smile, Roden prescribed her potion to Marill as well, treated her wounds, and then she hugged her.
“I haven’t prepared an antidote for the paralysis poison remaining in your body, so I’ll excuse you until I get back to the dorm. Isn’t that unpleasant?”
“Ah…, Ah, no! I’m a shi, excuse me. Maybe it’s heavy… Isn’t it?”
It seems that even in this situation, he was concerned about weight.
“Just lightly, what? Let’s go back now.”
“Yes… Thank you, Mr. Roden.”
It was the first time in my life that I was held in the arms of a man other than my father. I feel very relieved, or what to say… I feel nostalgic and my heart is pounding…
This is not the first time, but the second time, that Marill has been held in the arms of a man, Roden to be exact.
As she was held by Roden in the same position she was in when she passed out in the dungeon, Marill’s heart began to pound as her body remembered what it felt like.
She accidentally entrusts her body to Roden in her princess hug position, and while she is unconscious, she slips into her arms holding him.
“Ugh…”
Roxia, who was watching her in real time from the side of her, didn’t express herself as much as she could, but from an angle her owner couldn’t see, she puffed out her cheeks and followed the two of them.
Just in time, it was late at night, and thanks to the gang members chasing passers-by a little while ago, the three of them sneaked out of the alley where the bodies of the gang members were strewn about.
* * *
Arriving safely at the inn, Roden, with the help of Merim, who was waiting there, laid her down on the bed and briefly diagnosed her physical condition.
“It’s a kind of poison that doesn’t have any particular effect other than paralysis, so if you let it rest overnight, it won’t be a problem. It’s bedtime, so lie down like this.”
“Mr. Roden, I’m really thankful for many things today… I’m sorry. I went out because I was talking nonsense, so even Roxia did that…”
Roxia, who shook her head vigorously at Marill’s words, hurriedly defended her.
“I-I’m fine! Marilyn sister. I followed you on my own! Don’t say that.”
“If you think about it, the start of this job was when I muttered something about vegetables in the first place. For now, don’t worry about it and get some rest.”
“…Yes.”
Marill fell asleep shortly after, as her drowsiness had been overcome by the battle that had just taken place and the venom that had lingered in her body.
“Whoa… I was surprised to see the old man disappearing without a word while I was going to the bathroom a while ago, but I can’t believe this happened…”
Merim took a breath as she calmly covered her brother’s body with a blanket and checked the story she had just heard.
“A petrog or something was targeting them?”
“Seeing as one of the thugs looked at me and said I was an alchemist, it seems we were all targets. Then only those two were aiming for the moment we fell.”
Then… There’s a good chance that there are watchers around here even now.
Having thought that far, Roden decided to leave the room again.
“It’s late enough, so let’s think about the future tomorrow. First, I’ll clean up the backyard and come back.”
“I’m going too. By the way, I put away the food while I waited by myself. I just need to organize some tableware.”
“I’ll join you too.”
After a while. After the three of them tidyed up the backyard together, Roden let the two women enter first, saying that she had something she wanted to think about for a while.
He closed his eyes and concentrated as much as he could, scanning all the creatures he felt around him.
The presence of other guests and companions in the immediate vicinity was excluded. Then, some passers-by and animals passing by from a distance… Finally, a sign of being closely watched was detected.
“Is Hanom sleeping… This way.”
After roughly estimating the location of the watcher, Roden’s body disappeared from the spot leaving only a faint afterimage.
“?!”
The watcher, who had been watching him through a telescope, was startled and tried to wake up his colleague who was dozing next to him.
Kwajik!
In the blink of an eye, Roden reappeared in front of the watcher’s face, and a long blow to the face shoved the telescope into the eye, dug deep into the watcher’s head, and killed him in an instant.
For interrogation, one guy is enough.
“Stop sleeping and wake up.”
Aww-!
Roden woke the remaining watcher by slapping him on the cheek so hard that his head turned.
“Ughhhhh?!… Eh…”
The watcher, who had been sleeping soundly and had a dumbfounded expression after being slapped on the cheek out of nowhere, barely grasped the situation while alternately looking at the dead body of a colleague next to him and the figure of Roden.
“There are some things I want to ask you from now on… It would be easier for both of us to answer in an obedient way.”
Roden touched the watcher’s cheek and pulled out a shiny nail clipper from his bosom.
Tick-click-click!
The nail clippers that crackled regularly in Roden’s hand were indirectly telling him that the interrogation would begin in earnest.
