Chapter 4: The Innocent Prisoner (3)

Kadim started massacring the prisoners just like he did with the soldiers.

There were more of them, but they weren't much harder to deal with. Their arms were all chained up, so they couldn't move around freely.

“Hah, hah, w-why are you doing this?! What did we do wro—urk!”

"Aaaahhhhh!!"

"Ugh, kghhh... please spare me..."

Shunk!

The buff was wearing off, so beating them to death with bare fists wasn't gonna work anymore. Kadim stabbed spears through the prisoners' hearts or smashed their heads with rocks to finish them off. Corpses littered the plain like broken statues.

Kadim killed the prisoners not because they were shameless criminals. Hell, if you're talking about the weight of sin, his was way worse after butchering over a dozen soldiers.

Having a bigger sinner judge lesser sinners? That was just ridiculous no matter how you looked at it.

He killed the prisoners for the same reason he killed the soldiers—to leave no loose ends.

‘If I let these prisoners go... they'll definitely run around blabbing about what they saw.’

No amount of threatening or intimidating would shut them up. A drunk man's mouth opens as easily as a whore's legs. Give them a few drinks at some tavern and they would undoubtedly get carried away and start telling heroic tales about a certain barbarian who drank a demon’s blood and slaughtered Paladins and soldiers.

Kadim didn't know much about this world yet. But in a place where you get arrested just for being a heathen, it wasn't hard to guess what would happen if rumors like that started spreading.

Getting wanted posters or bounties put on his head would be the good outcome. Worst case scenario? A high-ranking Paladin's unit might come hunting for him.

‘...I can't risk that kind of danger yet.’

He had to eliminate the witnesses who saw what happened. Kadim went about hunting down the prisoners mechanically, like a clerk stamping documents or a butcher slaughtering livestock.

All the other prisoners were dealt with. Now, it was time for the last one, the man cowering and trembling under a bush. Kadim leveled his sharp spear and slowly approached.

“I-I really didn't do anything wrong, my lord! Please, s-spare m—hork, blech, hork!”

The extreme fear and tension made the prisoner vomit. Bile kept rising from his stomach and tears streamed down his face. The front of his pants had been soaked through for a while now.

Kadim didn't stab the prisoner right away, not because he felt pity seeing such a pathetic sight. He just remembered that this guy had given him some useful information earlier.

Killing him now or after getting more information wouldn’t make much of a difference. Kadim lowered his spear for a moment. The merchant sobbed miserably and bowed his head.

"Thank you, thank you so much for sparing me, my lord. Sob, sniff..."

"I've got a few questions. What's your name?"

"Duncan, Duncan Wheelred. I'm from Moltana in the Free Cities Alliance and I'm a traveling merchant who goes around selling goods. Hic, I was wandering near the border when I got falsely accused and wrongfully arrested. If you just let me go, I'll never come near this place again..."

“No, I’m not interested in your life story. From now on just answer what I ask."

"Y-yes sir!"

Kadim continued questioning him.

"Tell me more about what you said earlier."

"Wh-which part...?"

"About Lucania becoming an empire. In my memory, Lucania was definitely a kingdom. Has the Lucania here been an empire since it was founded? If not, when did it become one?”

For a moment, Duncan forgot his own plight and couldn’t help but give the barbarian another puzzled look. Just how long did this savage live under a rock for him to ask something like that?

Then, Duncan found the answer to his own question.

Right, barbarian. This guy might really be a barbarian from the wastelands beyond the mountains. Unlike the barbarians who'd fully settled on the continent, contact with the barbarians beyond the mountains might have been cut off hundreds of years ago.

But he'd been told to only answer questions, so he couldn't ask about the situation. Duncan just obediently gave his answer.

"This year is 248 in the Imperial Calendar... so about 248 years have passed since the founding emperor established the Lucanian Empire. Before that, Lucania was definitely a kingdom."

"...Imperial Calendar? What year would that be in the Solar Calendar?"

"Uh, well, I'm not sure? People don't really use that old calendar system anymore... maybe around 1130?"

The barbarian’s eyes twitched.

The most commonly used calendar on the continent had become an old calendar?

He couldn't maintain his composure. Kadim clenched his fists and fired off a series of questions.

“What’s the current political situation on the continent? What happened to the Order of Elga? What about the Demon Scape?"

If Duncan had been just some ignorant brute, he wouldn't have been able to answer all those questions. Fortunately, the well-traveled merchant could give at least shallow answers.

About 300 years ago, the Lucanian Empire unified the continent. But now the continent was effectively split into three parts. The Order of Elga had grown in power due to the demonic outbreak and had become what it was today. As for the Demon Scape, no one who went there had ever returned, so no one knew what it was like…

Kadim frowned.

No one had returned alive from the Demon Scape? Sure, he'd disappeared through the rift, but what the hell happened to his other companions who helped defeat the archdemon?

"Gale, Melissa, Gordon, Cyril. Have you ever heard these names?”

"...No? Never heard of them, my lord. Uh... the name Melissa does sound familiar though... I think the First Master of the Mage Tower was named Melissa...?"

Kadim closed his eyes and pressed a hand to his forehead.

The heroes who conquered the Demon Scape and defeated the Archdemon had been forgotten? This didn't make sense. He was starting to wonder if this really was the same world as his first playthrough.

But there was one more important question.

"Then why the hell are demons overrunning the continent?"

As he kept talking, his tension eased somewhat. Duncan calmly recited his answer.

"Nobody knows, my lord. Some say it's divine punishment from Elga for the world's corruption. Others say some crazy archmages opened a door to another world. Some say it's a sign that some terrible evil will descend upon the world soon. But nobody knows which is true. The truth lies only behind the eyelids of the almighty gods above the clouds."

"..."

Kadim clamped his mouth shut for a moment. He'd gathered enough information. Putting it all together, he came to this conclusion:

‘This place... is probably the continent about 300 years after my first playthrough.’

No matter how he flipped the information, there was no other conclusion.

Kadim stared blankly at the ground.

His face, reminiscent of a barren wasteland, twitched convulsively.

Not only had he been kicked out of his original world, now he'd been kicked out of his era too. All the knowledge in his head had become centuries-old junk. He had to accept the fact that all the people he remembered, whom he had parted with only a short time ago, had returned to dust.

An exile from reality, a straggler of the times, a stranger among strangers.

Kadim raised his head. An immense weight crushed his chest.

His eyes fell on the corpses he had so compulsively slaughtered. Fundamental questions scratched at his mind.

Was there any reason to live like this again? Living a life of slaughter, drinking filthy demonic blood, and haunted by a mind-eating madness?

What’s the point of moving forward when there was no guarantee he could return to reality no matter what he did?

If he somehow reached the end of this world, he might just be met with a ‘New Game ++’. And after that, by the grace of some goddamn god, maybe a ‘New Game +++’.

A truly fresh, never-ending cycle.

Kadim's people, the Atalans, had this legend:

In the afterlife, the brave warriors who spent their lives sharpening their axe blades with blood are granted the chance to fight the Great God of Wasteland and Strife, Atala. If they can inflict even the smallest wound on Atala in that battle, they can finally enter the warriors' heaven where war and feasting never end.

Kadim didn't know whether it was Elga, Atala, or some other absolute being that had trapped him in this world. But if he got the chance, he wouldn't just inflict a small wound—he'd tear off that bastard's limbs, crush their skull, devour their heart, and rip their guts to shreds.

Alas, it was nothing but a distant wish.

Kadim gritted his teeth hard. Then he pointed his spear at his own throat. Duncan panicked and shouted.

"Wh-what? My lord! What are you doing?"

If he started another journey, countless lingering attachments would hold him back. There was no better time to die than now.

The barbarian, exhausted from his endless journey, slowly closed his eyes, hoping that what he'd face in the afterlife wouldn't be an inescapable room with "Game Over" written on it.

But just as he was about to thrust deep into his throat...

‘What will I do after we defeat the Archdemon? Hmm, I don't know… Maybe build a tower to teach mages?’

It came from a conversation he overheard in his first playthrough.

Kadim's eyes snapped open and he asked Duncan.

"You said you've heard the name Melissa?"

"Y-yes. I'm not sure, but I think the first Tower Master's name was Meli, Meliza? Melissa? Something like that."

"Where can I find this Mage Tower?"

"The Mage Tower is in Vestana, the easternmost city of the Free Cities Alliance. From here in the Imperial Territory in central plain... without a horse, it'd take at least two months to get there, my lord..."

Duncan felt a sense of foreboding. Two months was a generous estimate; with all the variables, it could easily take three or four. He sent a desperate look, praying the barbarian wouldn’t ask him to be his guide.

Kadim smiled bitterly. He'd hoped to leave no regrets behind, but his ankle was already caught. He let out a small grumble toward the mage girl from the distant past who used to carry around a book as big as her torso.

‘Damn brat. Why'd you have to say something like that... Now I can't even die in peace even when I want to...’

Melissa had a habit of recording everything down to the smallest detail. If she is the same person he remembered, she would have surely left a detailed record of what happened after he disappeared.

Now he couldn't close his eyes peacefully without checking that out first.

The barbarian warrior lowered his spear. Then, he finally made the request the merchant had been dreading.

“As a merchant, you must know the way, more or less. Guide me to the Mage Tower. By the fastest route possible.”

"What? B-but my lord, I have a family waiting for me back home. I can't waste so much time on being a guide..." Duncan trailed off.

Kadim stared at him blankly. He could understand the merchant's situation. If he was going to give him a job, he should offer proper compensation.

"Is that so? Then, as payment, I'll give you the most precious thing I can offer."

"Wh-what would that be, my lord?"

"Your life."

Hic! Duncan hiccupped with a completely pale face.

He'd forgotten for a moment while answering questions. If this barbarian got pissed off, he really could snap his neck as easily as a reed. At this point, he had no choice.

Before setting out, they took some time to pack and find necessary items. Duncan retrieved his bag, which the Paladin had confiscated, and breathed a sigh of relief. Kadim rummaged through the corpses looking for usable weapons.

The most tempting weapon was definitely the Paladin's spear. That frost-imbued spear would probably be rated as "Rare" if you put game rankings on it.

The problem was, that spear was a "Blessed Armament."

Blessed Armaments consecrated by Elga's priests could only be used by the Paladin who received the weapon. If someone else tried to use it, they'd get a rejection phenomenon like before. Unfortunately, he had to give up on taking that spear.

‘...Would've been nice if I could've brought the axe I used in my first playthrough.’

Even if he'd brought it, it would've disappeared the moment he crossed over anyway. After resetting his physical abilities, no way in hell they'd let him keep his equipment. Kadim clicked his tongue briefly and moved elsewhere.

Soon, he found a decent, intact sword from the sergeant's belongings. Kadim roughly tied the sword to his waist with leather straps. Tonight, when the moon was completely hidden, he could use his other Unique Trait to hone this sword into something quite useful, maybe not as good as a Blessed Armament, but close enough.

He didn't forget to collect blood from the demon's corpse either. Even if it was less effective than fresh blood, it was better than nothing. He hoped he wouldn't need to use it, but he had to be prepared.

His preparations were done. Duncan came running over with his bulging pack. His clothes were still stained with vomit and urine. Kadim wrinkled his nose slightly.

"How about changing those clothes? There's plenty to choose from over there."

His thick finger pointed at the corpses. Duncan shook his head with a haggard face.

“N-No, thank you, my lord… I-I’m comfortable in these clothes… I can just wash them in a stream…”

"Really? Well, whatever."

With that, the two set off.

The merchant led the way, constantly glancing nervously at the barbarian. The barbarian followed with indifferent steps. The day was already fading, and the sun, which had been peering at the world with half-closed eyes, was slowly lowering its gaze below the horizon.

Long shadows stretched out before the two men as they walked with the sunset at their backs.

 

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