After taking the leftovers from the kitchen from the previous day, I have a late lunch outside the guest house.
It was a cold snack, but I didnât care. If one has tasteless food every time, it will feel like proper food from time to time.
I accumulate the tasteless food in my stomach. As I mumble with the cold meat in my mouth, a man comes running.
Tatak
I watch the man approach as I continue to chew.
ââŠ.â
Why was he running like this in broad daylight? Well, I donât know. His clothes arenât native to this area, and it feels like he is being chased but he soon disappears. Itâs because of Ghost Demon and Pervert Demon who spent the night here, but I feel like my throat is clogged, so I drink a little of the strong alcohol that Sword Demon brought.
âKuak!â
I had a simple lunch consisting of the pork sirloin and two sips of alcohol. I donât like washing dishes, so I simply look up at the sky in a position where I could fall off the chair.
If I take a nap after this, it would be hard to find any other server who is as pathetic as me. At that moment, I heard a short scream in the direction of the guy who was running. I canât tell if it was the scream of the one who was running or if the guy who was running was hitting someone.
After a while, a man in a familiar outfit comes to me with someone on his back.
âSect Leader, are you good?â
Sam Bok, carrying the fainted man on the back, greets me and continues to run left and I answer him.
âYou have been through so much.â
Well, why is Sam Bok even running this way? it would be better to head north if one wants to stay in a crowded place.
After a while, Sam Bok reappears as if he had chosen to move back down the road. Did he run for more than an hour or what? I could see his hair all wet with sweat. His expression was also worth seeing. I couldnât tell if he was crying or smiling but as soon as I met his eyes, I smiled.
âHahaâŠ. I passed by.â
I nod my head.
âRight. You worked hard.â
I canât help but look at the man whom Sam Bok was carrying. Just as I am turning my head, the guy who has dark circles under his eyes, and must be poisoned, opens his eyes. As if he hadnât lost consciousness, I hear him mumbling.
âLet me down. Better to die than move.â
At the words of the third young lord, Sam Bok shouts,
âShut up for a while!â
I applaud him for the act.
âYah, being able to tell the young lord of the Demonic Cult to shut up takes a lot of guts. You brat. You are moving past your role huh.â
Past the role isnât the right word for this situation, but it did seem right. And he did succeed in breaking past the chains.
Subsequently, the group of people dressed in various costumes appear from the left side and run towards where Sam Bok had fled.
It is good news for Sam Bok that their attire wasnât that of the typical uniform. After all, that would mean they werenât from the Demonic Cult.
However, chances are high that they are clinging to a Demonic Cult member. This means that he wasnât out of the weeds completely, so this wasnât entirely good news either.
Thanks to that, I was able to see a rare scene in which those belonging to the Cult were being chased.
It seems that even the Demonic Cult isnât impervious to the laws of this world. If one is weak, this happens. Still, looking at Sam Bok risking his life like that to save the third young lord, it didnât seem like they were the ones who got the right escort.
In the meantime, the sound of bones being broken, and screams being shouted could be heard. I was no longer looking at the sky, but at the people.
Sam Bok, who appears for the third time running, is smiling this time as he asks,
âSect Leader?â
âWhat? Why did you call?â
âCan I have some water? I am a bit thirstyâŠâ
Sam Bok, holding the young lord on his back, stops in front of the guest house and coughs in a dry manner.
I point to the guest house.
âThere is water inside. Go in. There are people sleeping, so go quietly.â
With the young lord on his back, Sam Bok bows.
âThank you. Sect Leader.â
Sam Bok enters the guest house with the guy on his back and I just look around with a puzzled expression.
âHe⊠is having it tough.â
Giving water to the thirsty is a serious thing.
As I let out a few sighs, various groups of people whose identities one couldnât be sure of, came rushing in. Some were limping and some had their faces wounded. While chasing, it seems like they got attacked back by Sam Bok, but the number felt too high.
I thought I would be used to these guys by now.
I was going to give them water if they asked, but one of them yelled,
âWhere did he go!â
âDid you not see? There is a guy on his back!â
I point north. Those who try to move to the left shout at the top of their lungs and move to the north and I smile silently.
âSuch funny ones.â
At this time, one guy turns his head and sees my expression and then he says,
âSmiling? Everyone stop.â
The guys, who are flocking in, talk to each other while catching their breath.
âHe smiled after he pointed in this direction.â
âActually, there is no reason for all of us to move north, right?â
âSo odd. Shall we divide in half then?â
âNo. Check the guesthouse. This guyâs expression is surely weird.â
It wasnât just my expression that is weird, I am weird as a whole.
Those who were moving to the north, slowly moved back to the guest house. And looking at them approach, I say,
â⊠are you approaching the place to die? Just stop right there.â
Taking down my smile, I glare at them.
Those coming closer go still.
ââŠâ
Since this wasnât something a server would say, everyone looks at me like I am absurd.
They believed in their strength and talked.
âNow, server. Do you know what you are intervening with? This is a matter of our Cult. Think carefully and speak.â
I nod.
âYou people, first lower your voices when warning. There are people who are sleeping inside. And what kind of crazy server would interfere in the work of the Cult?â
ââŠâ
âBut I will.â
I chuckled as I picked up the chopsticks.
âGuys, be it a Cult or something else, stop making a mess in this inn. And you are not of the Demonic Cult. You must be the idiots who were commissioned. The ones after money, just another henchman.â
And one speaks in a gentle tone,
âLook, the person you are hiding is the young lord of the Demonic Cult. I promise that you will have no problems if you give him up. Are you going to intervene in the battle of the young lords?â
âThe two of them who went are the ones I spared. I cannot just let them live and then tell you it is alright to kill. And they shouldnât die here. You people donât know because youâre paid to kill, but because of his origin, there is a huge difference in the situation which will happen later, so step back. Do you want to get involved in the fight of the young lords just for the sake of money? Even if the Sect Leader is a bystander, he wouldnât have expected a fight like this.â
And now, I hear a sigh from the inside of the guest house. Like I thought, Pervert Demon appears with a seriously angry expression.
âAh⊠I cannot even sleep.â
When a personâs sleep is disturbed by such things, it is the law to become angry 20 times more than usual. Pervert Demon takes a deep breath and shakes his head as he drinks from the bottle on the table.
â⊠Master told me to keep him alive, if not he would be dead in my hands.â
After drinking alcohol, he suddenly runs to them and leaps into the air as he kicks one of them.
He flies off with a puak- sound, spins in the air and then falls headfirst on the ground.
Pervert Demon moves to the table before I know it and eats a piece of the pork sirloin as he says,
âIf you donât leave, I will kill everyone this time.â
I look at him.
Is there any person in the world more evil than this? To kick without a warning.
As the people step back, they say,
âWe will see you again.â
âWhat?â
In an instant, I throw the chopsticks at them.
Swish!
The flying chopsticks pierce the shoulder of the guy who acted smug. And then comes the scream along with a rumbling sound and they vanish.
I look at Pervert Demon, but we have nothing to say, so I turn my gaze to the outside.
ââŠ.â
And Sam Bok was the first to speak by bowing.
âSect Leader, young lord Mong. Thank you. We will leave once the young lord drives out the poison. It seems like a warrior of the First Heavenly Alliance is close by.â
I ask along with Pervert Demon,
âFirst Heavenly Alliance?â
âWhy would they come here?â
Sam Bok explains,
âA person of their alliance was mixed in the group that attacked the safe house. There should be others. It seems like the other young lords had hired famous unorthodox swordsmen. We did too, so we cannot speak much about that.â
âIs that so?â
Sam Bok and Pervert Demon look at me.
I take out a bag from my pocket and say to Sam Bok.
âSam Bok.â
âYes, Sect Leader.â
âI understand, so go buy some meat while you are here. We didnât get to eat properly.â
When I hand the money over, Sam Bok receives it with both hands and asks with a serious expression.
âWhy eat meat all of a suddenâŠâ
I roughly point to the guest house with my finger and say,
âThe weather outside is nice to grill meat. And buy various drinks too. A variety of meat pieces. Put them on the fire and heat the wood, you understand what I am saying right? Buy vegetables too. Whether you fight or run, shouldnât your stomach have its share?â
Sam Bok mumbles.
âIt is hard to buy, but the young lord should cultivateâŠâ
âI understand so go out and shut up already. With fresh ones and delicious meat. Let us do that, okay?â
âYes.â
After receiving the money, Sam Bok, stares blankly at the guest house before saying,
â⊠do cultivate. I will run the errands.â
ââŠâ
As Sam Bok spreads his footwork and runs, Pervert Demon asks me,
âWhy are you suddenly saying that you want to eat grilled meat? Is this even the time?â
I nod my head while observing him.
â⊠without casting out the needy. We need to give water to those who are thirsty.â
âWhy?â
âTurning a blind eye twice is fine, but a third time is difficult.â
âWhat do you mean?â
âSam Bok carried that guy on his back, four times or so.â
Pervert Demon smiles.
âAh⊠that is absurd.â
âThree times is hard for me too. If we drive out the needy and turn away from those who are thirsty, we are no different from the Demonic Cult. Even though he is the son of the Cult Leader, I can do this, and you can too, give water and feed him. I donât know if the Cult Leader knows that his son is running away looking for shelter. Even if he knew, he isnât the kind to care.â
After a momentâs silence, Pervert Demon speaks in a quiet tone.
âCome to think of it, I am craving meat.â
I nod.
âConfirm.â
Three tables are put close together and a large stone is placed next to them as a stove. There, Sam Bok grills meat in various ways. He grills it on an iron plate, brings in kitchen utensils, and makes stir fried meat. Looking at it, it seems like Sam Bok seems to have the qualities of a great hostess. I wasnât sure why he was acting like an escort.
The vegetables are spread out on the table, the drinks are placed, and the grilled meat is brought to share. In the end, Ghost Demon, who couldnât hold back at the smell of meat, gets up and joins us with his ugly face and begins to eat the meat.
Demonic Cult members come rushing in. It is a situation where a group of unorthodox swords and those who were hired would come.
We grilled and ate the meat while smearing the oil off of our mouths and, after a while, Ghost Demon began to skewer thin pieces of meat over the flame. Suddenly he snaps his fingers and nods.
âNice.â
As if he was done with his experiment, he begins to put the various types of meat that Sam Bok brought onto the thin skewers.
I speak to Ghost Demon who is standing next to Sam Bok and Pervert Demon.
âWow, seems delicious.â
Pervert Demon nods his head.
âThe second one is a genius.â
Sam Bok, who is paying attention, asks,
âSecond one? Is there a hierarchy?â
When Pervert Demon doesnât answer he turns to me. I say,
âIf you ask us about our identities, then it is natural for us to answer. We are the Four Great Evils who have occupied a historic place in the central plains.â