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Chapter 9.
The Petty Criminal of the Village (4)
Drip.
Driip….
The sound of sweat droplets falling was unnervingly clear.
A dreadful silence, so complete that it felt like even the sound of an ant crawling could be heard.
Time, which had been stretching out sluggishly like a strip of tape, slowly—very slowly—began to return to normal.
I cautiously moved my eyes.
The ground.
For the first time, I noticed the sandy earth beneath me. Crumbling dead leaves rolled across it before snagging on sharp stones and tumbling over.
I stared blankly at the scene, then slowly raised my head.
And—
“…!”
I found myself staring directly into the dark gray eyes of a person whose left eye was marked by a vertical scar.
A scream shot up to my throat, but—
“Shh.”
The hand of the person in front of me stopped it.
Even amid the confusion, I still wanted to live, so I desperately gathered what little composure I had left.
Taking a deep breath, I turned my head.
“…!”
Where did it go?
That’s weird, that’s weird?
A shadow loomed over the grotesquely gouged-out ground.
The sharp claws digging habitually into the earth looked almost like a mole’s.
Its round body was covered in a hard shell resembling a beetle’s carapace, while insect-like legs dangled from its sides.
Its long snout twitched continuously as it sniffed the air.
I-it’s… looking for me.
But then—
…Why can’t it find me?
The answer became obvious when I glanced to the side.
This place—David’s house, and now my house—contained things that hadn’t originally been here: baskets overflowing with sausages and salted meat, along with bundles of herbs.
They were masking our scent from the creature.
Just as I started to relax and get up—
“Don’t move.”
“…!”
A rough, gravelly voice, like that of someone who had spent decades smoking, spoke up.
Startled by hearing a human voice for the first time in so long, I froze.
The woman paid no attention to my reaction and wrapped a sturdy arm around me.
When I raised an eyebrow in confusion, she whispered softly.
“That thing can’t hear sounds, but it’s sensitive to movement. So move slowly. Got it?”
“……”
“Good. Looks like you understand. Move slowly and get inside.”
I nodded.
Slowly.
At a pace that would make a turtle look fast, I rose to my feet.
Bending and straightening my knees as gradually as possible.
Sniff, sniff, sniff.
Slowly lifting my body.
Sniff, sniff, sniff.
One step toward the doorknob.
Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff.
Avoiding the monster that was drawing ever closer as it exhaled hot breaths.
Slowly.
Slowly.
Slowly.
Creeeak—
Shrrrkkk…
It lasted only a moment, yet felt endlessly long.
And then—
Click!
I succeeded in getting inside the house.
“Haaah…!”
The desperate breath I sucked in felt strangely awkward.
H-honestly… I thought I was dead.
Sure, I technically had extra lives.
But that didn’t mean death wasn’t terrifying.
Of course it was.
I wasn’t a game character.
After spending a while catching my breath, my throat began to sting, and I headed toward the table.
Fortunately, there was still some water left from what I’d drawn earlier that morning.
Pour…
Tilting the bottle, I filled a cup.
The moment I grabbed it and was about to drink—
Thunk!
“…?”
An unfamiliar hand snatched the cup away from me.
Then—
Gulp.
The owner of the hand emptied it into their own mouth in a single swallow.
For a moment, my mind went blank.
Perhaps the adrenaline from being chased by the monster had finally broken something upstairs.
As I simply stared in a daze, the person refilled the cup themselves and drank that one too.
Having downed two full cups of water in an instant, the middle-aged mercenary shifted her weight lazily and smirked.
She tilted her head, one eyebrow raised, causing her dark gray hair to fall messily around her face.
“What? I saved your life and now you’re upset over two cups of water?”
“N-no! Please, go ahead!”
“Good, good. Got anything to eat?”
Not much besides Life-recovery items.
But—
…She’s my lifesaver.
It would’ve weighed on my conscience if I didn’t at least offer her some food.
So I rummaged through my bag.
There were plenty of options.
I started to pull out <Chef Poco’s Special Fish Steak>, then paused and looked down at it.
The fact that it was still warm, as if freshly cooked, thanks to the inventory’s preservation effect was wonderful.
Hot food without a microwave.
But—
…Did the gills really have to stay puffing and moving like they were breathing?
It looked like fish scraps abandoned in a storm drain.
Once again, I was reminded of the one flaw in Master Chef Poco’s perfection:
his terrible sense of presentation.
Calmly, I reviewed the menu.
<Chef Poco’s Wild Vegetable Salad>
Sorry, Poco, but the dressing makes it look poisonous. Pass.
<Chef Poco’s Ratatouille>
Why are the tomatoes black…? I never thought much about it while eating it, but serving it to a guest feels…
<Chef Poco’s “THIS Is What Real Curry Looks Like, You Idiot!”>
Why is the curry so red…? It looks kind of like blood…
After eliminating the options one by one—
“……”
I silently examined the dish left in my hands.
<Chef Poco’s Special Apple Pie>
This one’s genuinely delicious.
Maybe it was because the filling was hidden beneath the pie crust, but it even looked reasonably presentable.
But…
I discreetly glanced at the woman.
A middle-aged woman with a scar over one eye and the demeanor of a street thug.
She didn’t even bother brushing off the sand that had gotten on her worn clothes while rolling around outside.
A turquoise scarf was wrapped carelessly around her head.
If my memory was correct, she was Peritas, the village sheriff and former mercenary NPC.
She definitely… helped David in the original story. Her backstory existed too, though it was only hinted at.
That wasn’t the problem.
The problem was—
…this apple pie.
It was made from apples I’d stolen from her house.
And…
I’d even left one there before.
Though I wasn’t sure whether she’d actually received it.
I feel guilty…
At the exact moment I mentally whipped my conscience once more—
Peritas suddenly leaned in and grabbed the pie.
“Isn’t this made from apples you stole from me?”
“W-w-w-w-w-what?! N-no! I-I-I-I wasn’t—!”
“Come on. Of course it is. It’s obvious if you look. In this village, nobody else grows apples.”
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
Embarrassment dried out my mouth, but the mercenary was still holding the cup, so there was nothing I could drink.
I’d promised myself I’d repay everything by solving the horrors behind the village.
But…
When the actual victim confronted me like this, it was difficult to shamelessly make excuses.
My conscience wasn’t that far gone yet.
So I stayed silent, only darting my eyes around nervously.
The middle-aged woman’s eyebrow lifted slightly.
As I stiffened and started backing away—
Grin.
She flashed a rough smile and leaned against the wall.
Then, sighing, she continued.
“Relax. I don’t care about something like that.”
“……”
“Really. Besides… didn’t I tell you before?”
“W-what…?”
“You and your brother are always welcome here. Next time, skip the weird disguise and just pick them normally.”
The sudden mention sent a sharp pain through my shoulders.
Apparently I’d tensed up without realizing it.
…Right.
David had a brother.
A twin brother, no less.
The bishop of the cathedral.
Desiderius, usually called Deus.
He was scheduled to appear later in the story.
The only problem was—
That bastard basically gets David killed in the original.
Not directly.
But he guides David to a semi-boss under the pretense of teaching him the ropes, then abandons him.
And after briefly poking his nose into things, he doesn’t properly reappear until near the ending. What a jerk. He knew the cathedral layout too—he could’ve come along.
Sure, he had his reasons.
His own story.
I knew that.
But still.
If that’s your younger brother, maybe help him a little.
Rubbing the stiff back of my neck, I thought about Deus and Peritas.
What exactly were NPCs in this world?
How human were they?
How inhuman?
Or were they truly people existing somewhere in some alternate reality?
How was I supposed to interact with them?
Then, suddenly—
…I never entered the story.
In the original game, a message was supposed to appear the instant I spoke to a villager.
The game was unique—and annoyingly unfriendly.
It didn’t begin the story automatically.
Instead, the moment the player met and interacted with a villager, they were forcibly dragged into the narrative.
The instant that unsettling realization struck me—
Ding!
A mechanical sound echoed in my head.
[Chapter 1: The Beginning of Tragedy]
“So this is Letum Village?”
“No, seriously… how am I supposed to handle all the disappearances and supernatural incidents alone? There’s a limit to workplace hazing.”
Ding!
Map #001. Letum Village
Your hometown—the origin of every incident.
A place filled with childhood memories.
Though it’s a remote mountain village, quite a number of people live here.
However, rumors say that several villagers have recently disappeared.
Ding!
[As an honorable Holy Knight of the Imperial Church, you have been ordered to investigate the disappearances and supernatural phenomena occurring in this village.]
[You weren’t exactly happy about the assignment, but you didn’t refuse.]
[No—you couldn’t.]
“…After all, it’s my hometown. And among the missing people are my mother and father.”
“Sigh. I guess someone from the village is better suited for this than anyone else. Yeah. Let’s think of it that way.”
[Had you never heard the news, you might not have come.]
[But now that you had, there was no choice.]
[You had lived alone in the capital since childhood, training as a Holy Knight, so you hadn’t seen them often.]
[But they were still your parents.]
“Anyway, I’d better look around! I need to see my brother too, so let’s get moving.”
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[Enter the village and interact with a person. 0/1]
[Enter the village and interact with a person. 1/1]
[Enter the village and interact with a person. 1/1] [Complete!!]
[MISSION COMPLETE!]
[THE PERSON YOU MET SAID:]
At the same time, Peritas’s tightly shut mouth seemed to be forcibly pulled open by an unseen hand.
Her lips stretched unnaturally wide.
And then—
