HEO 96

He wasn’t a fool. You could tell just by the way he spoke. His wit wasn’t the kind you usually found among the underclass. And yet, he’d gone and done the most idiotic thing imaginable.

What? “They’re all my precious brothers”? Are you kidding me? Do I look like such a fool that I’d just swallow that line?

You. There’s something going on with you.

Silver’s brain started turning for the first time in a long while. He retraced every situation he’d experienced since finding Stuffy-Nosed Mouse on the beach. The clue came to him immediately.

The guy had said that becoming the captain of a pirate crew was his lifelong dream. At the time, Silver had dismissed that as nonsense. He had brushed it off as some flimsy excuse the guy had cobbled together on the spot just to get into the pirate crew.

It might have been an excuse back then.

But maybe not now.

People act to pursue their own interests. An assassin kills to collect his final payment. A merchant sells goods to make a profit.

Conclusion: Stuffy-Nosed Mouse’s goal is to become the captain.

In other words, the Shark Teeth Gang was a means to an end for him. A resource and workforce to help him achieve his own interests. When that asset was in danger of being slaughtered, he pretended to be a foolish man of honor in front of Silver and then scrambled out in a panic.

This was the only framework where all the pieces fit together. Silver leaned against the wall and chuckled. So that bastard was an ambitious guy after all?

He’d calculated it all out in his own way. Controlling the Shark Teeth Archipelago would give him a power base rivaling that of a decent-sized tribe. As for the junkie pirates, ​unauthorized copy​he could just replace them with capable personnel when the time was right. Building his own maritime kingdom!

At this point, Silver began to doubt whether “Die Quickly You Little Rat” was even his real name. When asked his name, the guy hadn’t answered right away; he’d hesitated. What if he’d deliberately given this ridiculous name to lower the pirates’ guard?

〔Ƨᴉɼʌԍʁ. Are you feeling better now?〕

Silver was brought back to reality by Starry Eyes’s voice.

“Sorry. You must have been worried.”

As he opened his belt pouch, Starry Eyes fluttered right up to Silver’s face. His long green legs rubbed against Silver’s forehead.

〔That’s a relief, Ƨᴉɼʌԍʁ. Your fever’s gone down. But why did you leave the lodging and wander around outside? For almost a whole day, no less.〕

“Well…”

Silver trailed off. Starry Eyes had only overheard a few words that night and hadn’t seen what had actually happened. The body heat and the closeness. That confusing, queasy experience.

“Well, I just thought that bastard was about to kick the bucket.”

His voice came out slightly awkward.

“If he died while I was asleep, it’d be like sleeping with a corpse. That’s gross.”

It wasn’t a lie. The more he listened to Wolf’s labored breathing, the more he was overcome by an intense visit our site sense of unease. The image of his breath suddenly stopping, his skin turning ashen, and that stiff, eerie expression unique to corpses etched onto his handsome face kept burning into his mind. When he came to his senses, it was pouring rain outside.

〔But Ƨᴉɼʌԍʁ, even though he’s noisy, he seems decent enough. He took care of you when you were sick.〕

“Yes, he’s useful. Better than those junkies.”

〔But he seems dumber than the junkies here. He went out alone to rescue the pirates, calling them his brothers! Didn’t you say there are around thirty prisoners?〕

“It’s just a number. They’ve been locked up in that pigsty for days without proper food, so their actual fighting strength is probably less than the headcount. Ten at most?”

〔Is it easy to take on ten people alone? Of course, it’s easy for Ƨᴉɼʌԍʁ!〕

“As for me, I could easily kill a hundred of them in their prime.”

Silver fell silent and frowned. Even with superior skill, one can still lose a fight. Because of arrogance, complacency, or bad luck. Didn’t Black Weasel end up losing his head in an instant after underestimating Wolf?

That Stuffy-Nosed Mouse was pretty cocky too.

He’s handsome. Clever. Judging by the way he handled the prisoners, he must have grown up winning almost every fight since he was a child.

Wait a minute, whether that guy lives or dies is none of my business…

…

…

Right, he nursed me back to health. I have to repay that debt.

Silver tucked Starry Eyes into his belt pouch and stood up abruptly. The pouch bulged.

〔Ƨᴉɼʌԍʁ. You’re not actually trying to go out, are you? No! How long has your fever been gone? You can’t do this!〕

“Forgot? I’m a Thunder.”

〔Rain doesn’t care about that! Thunder can catch a cold too!〕

“Don’t worry.”

Silver pulled the hood of his robe and stepped outside. Rain poured down. With every step, muddy water squelched beneath his feet.

With his head bowed, Silver walked slowly while checking his surroundings. Left and right. Between houses. The dim entrances to alleys. Scattered everywhere were carts, crates, ropes, and nets, lying about like a child throwing a tantrum. Several corpses, members of the Shark Teeth Gang.

The first prisoner appeared at the corner where the slope ended. It was a corpse. Silver observed the angle of the wound, the depth of the cut, and the shape of the severed bone. A clean strike. The axe had driven into the crown of the head and exited behind the ear. The force of the blow had severed half the skull like an apple, sending it into the muddy water, while the body was pushed back about five paces before falling.

The second victim lay next to a wine barrel near the corner. Another single blow. Striking the vital spot with precision.

Silver walked along the trail of blood. Over the course of thirty-five paces, he encountered five more corpses. They must have been part of a group that usually stuck together. They probably scattered in all directions to escape the attacker and were taken down one by one.

Exceptional peripheral vision. Combat skills far surpassing expectations.

And in this weather, no less.

When it rains, the ground gets slippery. Your grip on the weapon slips, and your vision blurs. It’s the perfect condition for a strike to miss. Yet the bodies had been dispatched as cleanly as geese on a cutting board.

Above all, strength. Now he understood that the guy’s claim to be worth five men was a remarkable display of modesty. The axe finished its job with unyielding force, without hesitation, and without needing a follow-up strike. It was rare to find someone who possessed both strength and speed. Stuffy-Nosed Mouse was a well-honed warrior.

He remembered his keen eye. He had gauged his skill from the slightest movement of Silver drawing and aiming his dagger. In a tone that made it sound like nothing, he prodded, “Fancy a little brotherly sparring?” In that moment, he had actually assessed his opponent’s skill, and perhaps even their level of training.

With skills like that, he could probably establish a maritime kingdom. King Stuffy-Nosed Mouse.

“Hah! Hahahaha! That’s fucking hilarious!”

He burst out laughing for the first time in a while. Just then, someone suddenly darted out from the back of the alley. A greatsword clenched in both hands was aimed at Silver.

“Die…!”

The voice, filled with rage, cut off abruptly. The greatsword clanged against the dirt floor as it plunged into the ground. The opponent staggered a few steps before falling.

Silver flipped the corpse over with his foot. A dagger was buried deep in the corpse’s chest, with only the hilt protruding.

“Damn. At least wash up before you attack.”

He had noticed it even before the opponent burst out of the alley. A pungent stench had announced the attacker’s presence like a trumpet. Silver pulled the dagger visit our sitefrom the corpse, wiped it on his sleeve, and tucked it inside his robe. He started walking again.

He circled the village completely. He found a total of twenty-seven bodies. Every single one had been killed with a single blow. However, there was no sign of Stuffy-Nosed Mouse anywhere.

Before he knew it, he was in an alley near the communal dining hall. The downpour had subsided to a drizzle, but the sky remained gloomy. Smoke rose from the chimney of the kitchen at the back of the dining hall. The thread-thin, ashen smoke was quickly scattered by the wind. It wasn’t exactly a suspicious sight. The kitchen’s hearth always held embers and sent smoke up the chimney.

But…

He was certain. He had skipped breakfast and killed dozens of people. After expending so much energy, he must be hungry. Stuffy-Nosed Mouse, in particular, was the kind of person whose physique alone suggested he was sensitive to hunger.

Silver circled around the dining hall and headed toward the kitchen at the back. As expected, a pair of big footprints was imprinted on the muddy path leading to the kitchen. The steps were deep and even. The person had walked without haste, as if he were taking a stroll into the nearby forest.

The door was slightly ajar. The warmth flowing from inside carried the faint scent of flour dough. Silver peered through the crack in the door.

The kitchen walls were blackened by soot from the hearth. Iron pots and pans hung in clusters from hooks on the low ceiling. Embers in the hearth at the far end cast a red glow over the heavy oak workbench in the center.

Behind that workbench stood Stuffy-Nosed Mouse.

He was kneading flour.