“Shall we have some serious talk now?”

Positioning his dagger at the neck of the person, Mrit simply smiled.

Just hearing Mrit’s voice from the darkness behind him, the person gulped in fear. All over his body, hairs stood crazily.

“Now tell me. Who are you all people, and what are you doing in this forest?”

Having a dagger pointed at him and on top of that, getting threatened by an unknown bastard, the leader felt humiliated. But he still kept his calm and proceeds to answer the unknown man.

“W-we are people of the holy kingdom and the empire who work for them. We are here to get rid of a problem that poses a threat to the kingdom and the empire.”

Without revealing much of the details, he told Mrit just basic of the basic things, but sadly, Mrit already knew enough about this.

“That I do know. I am asking who you all really are.”

“!”

Shocked that the unknown person knows about them, the leader, along with the other one, looked into each other’s eyes after hearing the question.

Not getting any way out of it, the leader then told Mrit the truth.

“W-We are the adventurer guild known as the Boulders. We are here on the orders of the two nations to look after the people who they transport here and decide to either kill or send them back to the nations.”

“Oh, that’s also something I knew. But I didn’t know that you all spare the people you all consider ‘trash’. I cannot hear it from that big guy completely. Too bad he died too early before he could say anything more.”

“Feel yourself lucky. Because of him, I didn’t have to kill you this instant.”

The leader who heard Mrit got a little confused, not because Mrit knew about what he told, but because he heard him mentioning a big guy.

“Who are you-”

“That big grunt, you know. The one living underground in the forest. You must know him.”

Mrit interrupted the leader, as he knew the leader got the gist of who he was talking about.

“He was a pain in the ass to handle, but still died with just his legs remaining. Poor guy.”

Mrit arrogantly described the death of the big person he met underground. Listening to Mrit, the man trembled.

“Oh, are you crying or lamenting for him? Tell me, who was-”

Just before he could finish his words, a violent aura erupted from the leader, pushing Mrit away meters behind.

“He is my brother. And you killed him? How dare a rat coward assassin like you can spout that nonsense?!”

With rage pouring out of his body, he turned around and looked at Mrit with bloodshot eyes.

“I would have forgiven you if you would have simply left, but to ridicule my brother and, on top of that, you spout such gibberish.”

“Hahaha!! You both really are brothers. The way you walk to the way you talk, all matches.”

“Shut your damn mouth!! Now, there is only one punishment for you and that is death!!”

Picking up his sword, the man then walked towards Mrit with heavy steps and a murderous gaze, with his aura overflowing.

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“Hah... death? Nice joke, but do you know how death even feels?”

“Ask this question to yourself after dying!!”

The leader then lifted his sword and tried to slash Mrit in half. But before he could do that, something pierced his chest from behind.

Stab!

“Khukk...!!”

A bloodied sword out from his chest was in his vision.

“W-What?!!”

“Crackle!”

Turning back, he found that behind him, the man who got killed was standing, holding the sword that pierced his chest. Slowly, the skin fell off and then the muscles, revealing a skeleton.

After that, the skeleton drew back the sword as blood spurted from the cavity.

“Blurgh...!! Y-You c-coward...!!”

The raging aura disappeared, and the leader kneeled heavily, vomiting blood.

Mrit who then got up then walked in front of him, smiling, and sat in front of him.

“I would like to apologize to you after knowing that you are the brother of that big grunt, but after I looked at his memories, I don’t think you even deserve an apology.”

Nearing the dagger covered in the aura of death near his neck, Mrit looked into the person’s eye.

“It was nice meeting you. I will use your karma well.”

And with that, Mrit slashed his throat. Blood spurted in Mrit’s face, but Mrit still looked at him until the man died, writhing in pain. The stigma of death then absorbed the soul of the leader.

After that, Mrit stood up and looked at the other living person in the room.

“From your conversations earlier, you must be his advisor or something. Care to give me some advice?”

“Hiik!! M-Monster. Somebody HELP!!”

Looking at death approaching him, the man then tried to crawl out of the room.

Out of fear, he shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping that someone will come to his rescue, but from the gate, something else entered. Someone little.

“Topa?”

Totopa, who too was covered in blood, entered the room like an innocent child and looked at the man in front of him before looking at Mrit.

“You arrived late, Totopa. You missed the fun.”

Picking up Totopa and putting him on his shoulder, Mrit got near the advisor and looked down at him.

“Now, let’s have some friendly talk, shall we?”

***

“So you are saying that because of the prophecy, many people are planned to be dumped here by the empire and the kingdom?”

“And after they prolonged your stay here, that guy’s brother thought of smuggling even more exotic species out of the forest? But his plan failed because of this little friend of mine here and was forced to stay there underground?”

Mrit asked the advisor as both of them sat on the ground, facing each other.

“Y-Yes. Some days ago, we also received a message from the holy kingdom that the goddess has dumped another one here.”

With fear in his eyes, the advisor stole a glance at Mrit, but Mrit was already looking at him with a devilish look.

Knowing that he got caught, the advisor then garnered all his energy as looked at Mrit.

“A-Are y-you the one the h-holy kingdom talked about?”

Because they encountered no one else in the forest besides the little creature who was sitting on Mrit’s shoulder, the advisor suspected that the person in front of him is the one they were ordered to watch.

“Hahahahah... Right!! I am the one they talked about.”

Laughing, Mrit revealed his identity without even hesitating. From his answer, the advisor panicked even more.

“T-Then what a-are you going to do now?”

Knowing that they were all going to eventually kill or torture him, the advisor feared that the person in front of him would not leave him alive too.

Getting his question, Mrit remained silent for a bit before getting up from the ground with a still face. Then he looked at the skeleton that was standing behind him.

“Skeleton, finish him off.”

Getting his master’s order, the skeleton approached the advisor as he unsheathed his sword.

“W-Wait. Do not kill me!! I-I will h-help you. Please do not kill me!! I haven’t done anything.”

With a desperate plea, the advisor then smashed his head and bowed to Mrit, begging to spare his life.

“It was the kingdom and the empire and the guild master and his brother that did everything. I was just following their orders. P-Please!! I have a family to l-look after.”

Hearing his desperate call, Mrit turned back and looked down at him. The skeleton also stopped approaching, lighting hope inside the advisor’s heart.

“You think I cannot tell what you have done or not? If you were that innocent, you would have left this guild after knowing their atrocities.”

Grabbing the advisor by his collar, Mrit looked at him with an expression that sent chills down the spine of the advisor.

“You preach of your innocence, yet you are the one who never even listened to the people you killed. You didn’t spare the innocent animals. You and your family ate with the money you got by separating the animals and killing people, so they too will face the consequences.”

“Do not hide your wrongdoing behind that of others if you think you have done nothing wrong. That is the principle one should stick with. Oye, what are you waiting for? Kill him already.”

Throwing the advisor down, Mrit then glanced at him for the last time, not with hatred, but rather pity in his eyes.

“N-No Plea... GAhhhh!!!”

“Creak Creak!!”

The advisor tried to reach Mrit, but the skeleton ruthlessly stabbed the advisor continuously, eventually killing him.

The soul of the advisor got absorbed in the stigma of death as silence then descended there.

Mrit then turned back and came near the dead body of the guild leader.

“Let’s check the memories of this guy.”

***