Chapter 5
Chirp. Chirp.
Tweet.
Crackle. Crackle.
The sounds of nature echoing from all around were quite pleasant.
I sat in front of the vigorously burning campfire, lost in thought.
‘It's finally starting to look decent.’
I had done quite a lot over the past few days.
I cleaned the dust-ridden office, organized the supplies provided by the Imperial Family, and prepared suitable lodgings for Rudine.
That wasn't all.
Suicide prevention signs made using modern knowledge.
I meticulously placed them in every conceivable dangerous location, just in case.
Hmm, not bad.
Thanks to this, the office, which had resembled a haunted house, now felt a bit more like a place where people lived.
‘The future is the problem, isn't it?’
I muttered in a barely audible voice.
This place where I currently reside is located in the northeast of Blackmore, attached to Kalbaron, also known as the Cliff of Death.
It was quite a distance from the West Side sectors, teeming with Phantasmal Species, strange creatures, and Labyrinths.
Blackmore, with its vast scale, had varying degrees of danger in each sector, but the West Side sectors were considered particularly dangerous.
Therefore, those sectors are commonly referred to as the depths of Blackmore.
“So, it gets more dangerous the further in you go?”
rudine asked, slowly savoring the well-cooked meat. The meat, adequately seasoned with salt, seemed to suit her taste.
“Yeah. It's dangerous.”
I casually answered Rudine’s question. Her eyes narrowed at my reply.
And then.
“Are we going?”
Her straightforward question. I momentarily fell into thought at her inquiry.
‘Are we going?’
Honestly, I don't want to go.
But I have to.
The administrative area designated by the Imperial Family includes the Forbidden Lands of the West Side.
Exploration is inevitable if I want to compile the monthly reports to submit to the Imperial Family.
Moreover, most of the fortuitous encounters in the original story are hidden in those areas.
A sigh escaped my lips.
Rudine, reading my sigh, nodded as if she understood, then lifted the corners of her mouth.
“Should I go too?”
Her gray eyes slowly moved to meet mine. She was smiling brightly when our gazes met.
A smile full of anticipation.
I fell into contemplation for a moment.
It was true that having her accompany me would be safer in many ways than moving alone.
‘She even underwent the Red Eyes Eye Opening.’
Red Eyes distinguish the world into the living and the non-living.
It penetrates the essence of life, and it's the most optimized ability for killing among the Three Eyes, which only those born with a fierce nature can awaken.
I still remember it clearly.
She bisected a Black Wolf Demonic Beast Species with a single stroke of her dagger.
It was clearly a feat beyond common sense.
Therefore.
“Come along, if you want.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
I pretended to reluctantly allow her to accompany me.
Of course, Rudine, oblivious to my inner thoughts, smiled brightly and rejoiced.
But before that, there was something I needed to make clear.
“But there's a condition.”
“Huh?”
I laid out the condition.
Directed towards her, who might bolt off at any moment.
“Refrain from impulsive actions.”
“Why?”
“Because your impulsive actions will put me in a difficult position.”
“…”
Rudine's eyes suddenly turned cold. It was an expression as if I had touched a sensitive nerve.
She still didn't show any hostility or Intent to Kill, but it was clear that our recent conversation had ruffled her feathers.
At least, the expression and gestures she showed me were clearly stemming from ‘discontent.’
‘But this is a necessary process.’
She's a time bomb.
A time bomb that could go off at any moment.
So, a safety device was needed.
To prevent her blade from turning towards me, and to prevent her from committing any slaughter outside of my intentions.
With those thoughts, I opened my mouth.
Recalling the lines the protagonist of the original story used to reform her.
“Madness.”
“!!!”
One word.
Just one word, driven into her mind like a stake.
A chilling silence descended.
After a moment, she muttered in a trembling voice.
“How did you…”
“I saw it before. Someone who suffered from the same madness as you.”
A lie.
But there's no way Rudine could know the truth.
“…”
As expected.
There's a reaction.
I continued in a calm voice.
“Don’t blame yourself.”
“…”
“Innate nature isn't something you can change just because you want to.”
It was true.
The fate the world had woven for her wasn't something that could be changed.
That's why I could say it with confidence.
“It’s your fate.”
She is a villain.
“You were born that way, and that’s how you’ll live.”
Craving blood and pursuing slaughter.
Unwelcomed by anyone, destined to be cursed for life.
A villain in a novel, just like that.
Living a life dominated by desire.
Ultimately becoming a corrupted seed, bringing about the End.
Therefore.
“It’s a miracle you’ve survived this long.”
A somewhat aggressive statement, but I didn't even bat an eye.
The lines I delivered were already proven through the protagonist of the original work.
“……”
Sure enough.
Rudine’s startled eyes shook wildly.
Her thoughts must be complex in many ways.
She accepted her innate nature while simultaneously abhorring it her entire life.
Continuing silence.
So far, it's the same as the original.
And.
Breaking the current silence, the words the original protagonist throws at her are:
“I want you to live.”
Yeah.
He definitely said this.
It’s a pretty memorable scene, so I can’t forget it.
“Why?”
After a moment, she slowly raised her head.
Her light gray eyes caught the light and softly fragmented.
“Why do you want me to live?”
I stared intently at her face.
She didn’t avoid my gaze either.
“Because I need you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. But it'd be a problem if you ran wild and died, right?”
Rudine blinked her eyes, seemingly taken aback by my answer.
She’d lived her whole life feeding on the contempt and disgust of others.
And now she's being told she's needed.
That she shouldn't die.
It’s a remarkably rude statement.
Of course it is. Who would take it positively when someone bluntly tells them not to act up because they’re needed?
But Rudine is different.
“…I see.”
Rudine, who had been silent, quietly opened her mouth.
Her voice sounded like it had been locked away deep inside.
“You want me… to live.”
She always wanted to be acknowledged.
She wanted someone to need her.
But everyone who encountered her true nature avoided her.
But finally, she met one.
Someone who needs her.
Not a fabricated version of herself, but her true self.
Therefore.
“Okay.”
“Good.”
“I’ll be a good girl.”
“…Good.”
Finally, she opened her heart.
She smiled brightly like a puppy that had been praised.
“As I said, your nature isn’t something you can change just by trying.”
“Yeah.”
“But mindless, mechanical killing will eventually lead to a big disaster.”
“Understood.”
…Did she really understand?
Hiding my uneasy feeling, I continued.
“Even if you kill the same kind of person, the weight of that act changes depending on who you killed.”
The history of mankind is a repetition of killing.
Then, are all humans evil?
No, they aren’t.
The reason is that they killed ‘things that are okay to kill.’
“Just kill the things that deserve to be killed.”
“Things that deserve to be killed?”
Kill a band of bandits, and you’re treated as a hero.
Kill an ordinary person, and you’re treated as a murderer.
Killing animals for food is called livestock farming.
Killing animals for fun is called animal cruelty.
It’s simple faction logic.
Killing an ally makes you trash; killing an enemy is self-defense.
No justification makes you trash; with justification, it’s self-defense.
Good and evil are like that from the beginning.
“You understand, right?”
“Yeah!”
A bright answer.
Now for the key point.
“Then whose side am I on?”
Gulp.
It’s a childish question, but there’s no helping it.
She blinks.
The answer that comes back after a moment is—
“My side.”
That’s right!
Exactly!
“Then who shouldn’t you kill?”
“You.”
“And?”
“…Innocent civilians, and—”
LRdine, continuing her words, looked straight at me.
“—people who’d make things complicated if killed.”
Grin.
It’s going according to plan.
****
The next day.
“I’m hungry.”
“…It’s only been 30 minutes since you ate.”
Rudine and I left the office as soon as the sun rose.
We were heading to the West Side for the investigation site survey.
‘What a shitty road.’
As if it had rained last night, the dirt floor squelched and clung to my ankles with every step.
The more I walked, the more the air became murky, and I couldn't help but sigh.
That's when it happened.
“Luke?”
Rudine stopped abruptly.
So I had no choice but to stop as well.
“Look over there.”
“What?”
I followed her gaze.
Squinting my eyes, I could see a dark figure.
“…?”
The figure was walking towards us.
The strange thing was that its gait was somewhat aggressive, like someone in a rage.
Moreover.
“It’s holding something strange in its right hand?”
It was holding something in its right hand.
That something was none other than.
“…A sign?”
It was a sign.
A horribly shattered sign.
The words written on it were:
[ Can you swim? ]
“!!!”
Huh.
I wrote that.