Whoosh, a gust of wind shook my body and I woke up. I put my hands over my face, and tried to wake my body up.
I looked around the inside of my wagon.
ăThis isâŠoh yeah! The drug!ă
Thinking back about what had happened, I tried to get out of the wagon, but the things I wanted werenât there any longer.
ăAh, ah! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Those bastaaaaaards!ă
Gone, gone, gone!
The wagons with my things, gone!
I looked around, and the only thing remaining was the wagon I had slept in, and the horses connected to the wagon.
ăDamn, damn, damn,damn,damn,damn,damn,!!! Aghghhh!! Damn all this crap happening to me nowwwww!!ă
No idea about what happened, or how, or what was happening now, no ability to know whatâs going on, but one thing I knew, that all my money had been taken.
Not one penny left.
That horrific phrase clung to the back of my mind.
ăAgahh! Ah! No, noooo!!ă
And the darkness outside permeating everything.
What time is it? It felt like I took a road deeper and deeper into the thick blackness by mistake.
ăUhhhâŠwhat is this? Why? Why did this happen to me?ă
Even after trying to shake it off over and over, the darkness remained, almost laughing at me, and thenâŠ
ăNo, Iâm okay. IâŠcan still make it from here!ă
Grip, I squeezed the bag that was around my neck.
This may have been the reason that I lived.
That sweet flowery smell. Someone used a magical poison, and tried to take my life.
And also, the money in this bag is enough to easily start a new company I can make money from.
Just relax, just think about getting to the imperial city alive.
ăPhew, huff, for me to have to drive the wagon myselfâŠă
I got my senses back after breathing deeply, and hurried onto the driverâs seat.
I didnât have any experience as a driver, but it didnât seem like it took a lot of knowledge. Maybe I should have jumped on a horse instead of riding a cart, but that seemed more dangerous than riding this wagon.
ăLetâs go you horses!ă
ăăăWinnnnyyy!?ăăă
I let my instincts take over as I hit the horses harder than I should have and the horses ran off again.
I rode down the path with the rumbling sound of the wagon and a feeling like I had escaped.
I looked around me as I rode, and I could see the moon shine here and there.
ăTch, I was thinking of getting farther from the town before I rested, but now I should run until I get to the next boarding town.ă
There was no question if I could keep pushing these horses and this wagon too.
Because I had slept, and the anger that consumed me, I had no feeling of drowsiness whatsoever.
I did have a warm feeling of being drunk from that drug, as I whipped the horses again.
Just then.
ăăăKweeeeehhhh!ăăă
ăWhat? A group of magic monsters?ă
The horses cried right before a bunch of monsters jumped onto the road.
They had the special water-colored, transparent body.
ăăăHeeeheeeeeen!ăăă
ăSâŠslime! Why here?ă
The horses stopped moving, and the wagon stopped as well.
However, I didnât have time to answer the question I asked.
All of these emotions welled up in me as I screamed while running through the constantly rustling trees and shrubs within the forest.
ăAh, angâŠah, Iâm, Iâm, the GrondâŠtrading companyâsâŠhead, why theâŠă
How long did I run anyway?
I hid myself behind a tree until the monsters approached again and then took off once I heard them coming.
Doing that over and over, I was now chased deep into the forest.
Because of my lack of exercise, I couldnât catch my breath, and my legs were aching.
ăDammit! Why theâŠhellâŠă
And again, I put my back to a tree, and hid myself.
Slimes were way slower than what I heard in stories. If you run away from them, thereâs no way they can catch up to you.
Because the forest wasnât too deep, and since the moon lit most of the forest up, I could get away pretty easily.
However, there were a lot of magic beasts in the forest, and I didnât know how the others knew how to pursue me, because every time I turned back, they were still at my heels.
ăăBigggiiiiiihh!ăă
ăWhaaA? Why another slime!?ă
However, there was no time to rest before another slime found me.
ăEek, eek, eek, eek!ă
As soon as the slimes felt far away, I found another tree to hide behind to catch my breath.
ăHuff, wheeze, huff, wheeze.ă
(What now? I canât keep doing thisâŠ)
As soon as I got just enough rest to breathe again, the hurrying and fear started all over again.
I really regretted plunging into the woods like this without thinking.
The woods was the magic beastsâ territory. Even if I ran, it would have been easier to run down the old road than into the forest.
ăThat smokeâŠan adventurer?ă
As I looked up in the sky, I could see a plume of smoke rising up from the woods.
A gift from God!
I stood up like a bolt and began running!.
ăăBigggiiiiiihh!ăă
ăAnother slime!?ă
This time I ran directly toward the smoke.
Run, run, run.
And I finally entered into a clearing in the forest.
(IfâŠif I can just get there.)
I moved my legs as quickly as I could directly toward my target.
ăHelp, help meeeeeâŠhuh?!ă
The scene that I burst out into, was one that words simply couldnât describe.
The first thing I saw was a large hole with many burning buckets of fire.
They were all arranged around the hole, and they flickered as they crackled and released smoke.
What the fireilluminated were the many dead bodies.
Their faces were covered in anguish and terror as their bodies were filled with small pikes.
These bodies were hung upside down with their blood having covered them and the ground below.
The place reeked of blood as the many dead bodies remained as they were.
Almost like an unrealistic climax of someoneâs horrible fetish.
ăWha? What theâŠHuh?ă
ăâŠhey! Who were you planning to be saved by? Huh?ă
ă?!ă
I heard my heart hit the bottom of my stomach with the sound of that low, echoing voice.
I strongly turned to see who it was, and it was a man with an emotionless smile having one sword extended.
ăRemember, thereâs no one here left to save you.ă
ăWâŠwaiiiitttt?!ă
The sword was swung down and stuck through my chest.
â
ăgyaaaahhh, my head, guwaaaah, what the hell, I, you, adventurer? No, they said they drove you away, why? Whereâs Fegner? The contract with the imperial and emperor that lets me avoid taxes,âŠno no no, I ran from the imperialâŠgaahraaahhahhh?!ă
Grond was screaming in front of me.
The ăEight-Eye See-Through Swordăstabbed through him brought back all of his memories, as they disappeared into the air.
ăAh, huff, pantă
Grond held onto his head while falling to his knees.
ăâŠă
ăBastardâŠWhat, have you done to meâŠwhy am I like this?ă
Grond stared at me while grinding his teeth so loudly that I could hear them.
ăAnswer me! Adventureeeeeeeer!ă
His angry cry echoed unnaturally into the silent woods.
ăAgh, ugggghâŠă
Grondâs eyes looked up at me, and even in his confused look, it disappeared once he saw the hostility in my face.
ăWelcome, welcome back, Groooond! Iâve wanted to see you, so, so, so, so long! Over and over and over and over I wanted to seeeee you!!ă
I wanted to see him, to meet him.
Couldnât help it, couldnât help it.
ăAhah hah hah hah hah! Again and again and again and again and again I saw you in my dreams! I tried to hurry and hurry and hurry and hurry and hurry and see you again! And now I do, NOW I GET TO SEE YOU! AHAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!ă
Kill you, Kill You, KILL YOU!
ăDonât laugh at me, dammit, adventurerrrrr!!ă
ăHow could I see you without laughing?! How long do you think Iâve waited for this?! I canât hold back anymore! I want to see you dance on my stage here! So letâs dance, dance, dance dancedancedance!ă
Thatâs because, now,
ăâin the depths of your despair, you will go crazy and die.ă
Because Iâll laugh at you with my best smile.
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