Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Decision (1)

Thud. Thud. Thud…

A softly lit evening, the sun already set.

A group of people approached.

As they drew closer, their appearance came into detail.

Fifty-four in total. All armed with spears.

The sudden appearance of an armed force would have startled anyone, but Robe Girl wasn't all that surprised. Anagin, too, simply drank some water and rose calmly from his spot.

"Stop."

Once they were close enough to see each other's faces, Anagin spoke.

All fifty-four of the spear-wielding men—no, all fifty-five—halted.

"That's him!" "That's the bastard who wouldn't cooperate with the inspection!"

A few among the armed men pointed at Anagin and shouted.

They were the perverts who'd been checking women's faces on the road earlier.

"Greetings."

A man wearing a helmet adorned with a red feather stepped forward and greeted Anagin.

One look made it clear he was the captain.

Anagin returned the greeting.

"Hello there. Got some business with me?"

"We're chasing a thief. We heard she was smuggled out from your side, so we came to confirm with our own eyes… I ask for your cooperation, briefly."

Those words were the signal—the spear-bearing soldiers began to close in on Anagin.

Anagin raised a hand to stop them.

"Come any closer and I'll hit you. Don't come."

Anagin warned.

One man with a single sword dangling at his hip, against over fifty soldiers. An absurd situation—yet laughably, the fifty-plus soldiers actually flinched at his words.

His attitude was so confident it defied common sense, and it stirred in them a wariness that perhaps he had something to back it up.

Of course, it wasn't just a feeling.

They'd already heard that Anagin's strength was far from ordinary, which added to their caution.

If he had a grip that could crush a wrist, he was no ordinary strongman. He might even be a Giant.

The very fact that they'd assembled this many people was itself proof that they were on guard.

"Why won't you cooperate? At this rate, we can't help but misunderstand."

Red-Feather Helmet Man pressed Anagin with logic.

"Misunderstand, my ass—how am I supposed to trust anything you people say? We met today for the first time… For all I know, you might really be catching a thief, or you might be bandits pretending to catch a thief while kidnapping people. What do I know?"

"…We simply wish to confirm her face once. That's not difficult, is it?"

When words failed to persuade, Red-Feather Helmet Man tried a different approach. Just let us see her face once. It certainly wasn't a difficult request. However…

"Fine. If you grant me one condition."

"A condition?"

"You all answer at the same time—what did this thief steal?"

"…!"

The people were startled. Anagin loosened up his body and continued.

"I don't know what village you're from, but if this many people came swarming out, it must've been something pretty valuable, no? Tell me what was stolen. Not a hard request, is it?"

Red-Feather Helmet Man, the spear-bearing soldiers, even the ones who'd done the inspection earlier—none of them could answer.

Naturally, they couldn't. Because they weren't actually chasing a thief.

No matter how prosperous a village was, the manpower it could mobilize was limited.

People always had to work to make a living.

Even a wealthy village could only spare seven or eight able-bodied men at most.

Yet they'd mobilized fifty-five and handed out spears?

That made no sense.

Even if it were possible, deploying this many people just to catch a single thief was strange.

Anagin sneered.

"You don't even know what was stolen?"

"…All units, prepare to attack."

Red-Feather Helmet Man ordered his subordinates.

He'd just admitted that everything he'd said was bullshit.

The soldiers, receiving the order, raised their long spears and charged at Anagin.

Or rather, they tried to charge.

Because they saw Anagin grab a tree and rip it out by the roots, and every one of them stopped in their tracks.

Craaack…!

"Eee, eeeek!" "W-what, what is that?!!" "The tree??!!"

The soldiers who'd been running at Anagin froze in place, terrified.

This was far beyond just being strong. He was a Giant. A Giant who could wield the power of giants.

Their morale shattered in an instant.

Anagin swung the tree wildly, sweeping through the soldiers in front of him.

Whoooosh—!

As the massive tree swept across the ground, dirt and dust billowed up, sending the soldiers within range flying far away.

Like trash swept by a broom.

Even the soldiers who hadn't been hit felt the overwhelming gap in power and immediately turned and fled.

"W-we can't!" "How are we supposed to fight a monster like that?!" "Even if it's the Witch's order…!!"

Voices burst out alongside screams.

Amid it all, Anagin precisely caught the word "Witch."

Robe Girl, who could use magic, and the Witch. And the people who'd been ordered by that Witch and chased them all the way here…

'There's probably more.'

Anagin pieced the information together in an instant and made a guess, and the guess was exactly right.

"Kkeueok…!" "Grrrrk!!" "…I-I can't breathe…?!"

The fleeing soldiers clutched at their throats, crying out in pain, and collapsed.

A sudden and unnatural phenomenon.

Then the air around Anagin warped, and invisible transparent ropes formed, binding him in an instant.

Kkwaaang…!!

Anagin, who was quite tough, dropped the tree he'd been holding.

Tramp. Tramp. Someone walked out from the darkness.

Having hidden himself behind eighty-four soldiers…

"A mage?"

Anagin asked the man who'd revealed himself.

The man, having judged that he'd won by binding Anagin, answered confidently.

"Heh heh, you're quite clever."

"I am clever, actually. If I were even a little dumber, I'd have looked at your getup and just figured you for a lunatic."

The mage flinched at the provoking remark, delivered without a shred of hesitation. He was displeased.

But Anagin hadn't said it to insult him on purpose.

The mage's attire was, as Anagin said, abnormal.

The black cloak covering his entire body was one thing, but the black feathers arranged atop his head like a crown were, by anyone's measure, not something a sane human would do.

If he'd shown up without using magic, Anagin would've taken him for a man with something wrong in the head.

"Honestly, you don't look so great either."

A back bent like an old man's, sunken cheeks, a hooked nose, and excessively large eyes…

The mage's appearance was visibly different from an ordinary person's.

But the mage himself didn't seem to think so—he ground his teeth and moved his gaunt hand.

Clink—!

As the bracelet on his wrist rang heavily, the transparent ropes binding Anagin tightened even further.

"You're a man who needs a lesson in manners. To run your mouth so insolently even while captured."

Craaack…!

The transparent ropes squeezed Anagin as if to crush him.

Enough force that an ordinary person would already have been snapped in two.

The soldiers who'd been scrambling to flee saw Anagin captured and came back, picking up their weapons.

The mage looked at those soldiers and clicked his tongue.

"Tsk tsk tsk…! Useless lot. What are you all doing?! Hurry up and seize that ungrateful wench!!"

At the mage's roar, the soldiers, frightened, hurried toward Robe Girl.

As Robe Girl wondered what she should do, Anagin warned.

"One last warning—don't come. I really will hit you."

Anagin, bound by invisible ropes and unable to do anything, warned them with the exact same attitude as before.

The soldiers, the image of Anagin ripping out a tree still fresh in their minds, flinched—but the mage merely laughed loudly.

"Heh heh heh! Giants and their bluffing even at death's door…!!"

"Oh, so you know a lot about Giants?"

"Of course I do. You think I've seen a Giant like you once or twice?"

His tone was irritating, but it didn't seem like a lie.

"Fools who got lucky and were born strong, strutting around like they've become gods…!!"

"Ahh, hard to deny that."

Anagin agreed that Giants were fools. Pleased, the mage's voice grew excited.

"Right?! Heh heh… But it's too late! If you'd cooperated obediently, I'd have let you go—but it's too late!! Know your place, you insolent—your price—"

Fwoomph!!

Anagin flexed both arms and snapped the translucent ropes binding him.

With sheer strength alone.

"…!!"

The mage staggered, blood dripping from his nose. It was the backlash from the magic being forcibly broken.

"I think you've got the wrong idea. I am a fool, but not because of you. It's a fun trick, but it's just that—a trick."

Anagin walked toward the mage and picked up a spear lying on the ground.

It was one dropped by the soldiers who'd been sent flying by the tree earlier.

"H-how…?"

The mage muttered, covering his bleeding nose with his hand.

He seemed genuinely shocked that his magic had been broken.

Anagin explained how he'd done it.

"I gave it more strength."

"D-don't lie to me! Magic is the power of the higher mind! It cannot be undone by the lowly power of the flesh!!"

'This guy's a fool… Well, I already figured that out when I saw him using people as materials.'

Anagin recalled Master's teachings.

He'd only heard them in bits and pieces, so his memory was hazy, but he roughly remembered the part about how there was no superiority between magic and Giants.

As the fool mage said, magic had its source in the mind and Giants in the body—but in the end, the strong were strong.

Anyone who claimed one was superior was just a fool.

As if to prove that teaching, Anagin snapped the spear in two.

The sturdy shaft broke with ease, and the mage flinched, then reached his hand into the air.

"Grrrk…!"

A soldier in the direction of the mage's fingertip cried out in pain.

Just as the soldier, his energy drained, was about to collapse—

Snap—!

Anagin threw the broken spear shaft and struck the mage's arm dead-on.

"Kuaaaagh—!"

The mage clutched his dangling arm and screamed at the top of his lungs.

His arm was clearly broken.

"Kghhh… What are you doing?! Protect me!! If I die, your village won't be safe—"

Kwak!!

Before the mage could even finish speaking, Anagin threw the broken spear again, piercing clean through the mage's mouth.

He'd thrown it with such force that the spear smashed through the mage's mouth and poked out the back of his head.

The soldiers froze in horror at the carnage unfolding before their eyes.

Anagin hadn't intended to go this far either, but there was no helping it.

"Talk too much."

He talked too much.

---

"So let me get this straight."

Anagin, having pierced the mage's mouth with a spear, drank some water and then told Red-Feather Helmet Man to explain what was going on. Helmet Man, staring blankly at the mage's corpse, gave up and told him everything obediently.

"You're from a village ruled by the Witch, and that mage was the Witch's disciple?"

Red-Feather Helmet Man nodded.

He and everyone here were natives who'd settled in Anapic during their grandfathers' time.

From before Hellas took control of Anapic.

Their ancestors had asked the nearby Witch for protection in order to survive the harsh Anapic, and in exchange, they agreed to obey the Witch's commands.

They offered food, cloth, alcohol, medicinal herbs, and did odd jobs like chasing down runaway disciples—in return for guaranteed safety.

"So that's how you could use magic."

Anagin looked at the Witch's disciple, the one he'd been calling Robe Girl.

"Hmm, I could use magic from the start, you know, big brother."

"Then why'd you become the Witch's disciple and cause all this mess?"

"I thought I'd learn something more amazing."

"And the reason you ran?"

"Because there was nothing to learn. Plus, she was always scheming to devour me."

"You? Why?"

"Beats me. Maybe she's trying to rejuvenate herself. The Witch has gotten really old lately, so she's sensitive."

Robe Girl said it playfully, but Red-Feather Helmet Man and the soldiers couldn't laugh.

Because, just as Robe Girl said, the Witch—eccentric for ages—had grown even more eccentric recently.

Countless rumors circulated—that she was ill, that she'd gone mad—and the Witch's rule grew harsher by the day.

And amid all that, the Witch's disciple had died.

This was a catastrophe.

If only the disciple had died, it might have been fine—but if they failed their mission too, it was over.

Not just those involved in this mission, but the entire village would surely be punished.

They had to succeed, sink or swim.

'But still…'

Red-Feather Helmet Man muttered inwardly as he looked at Anagin.

He simply couldn't picture completing the mission.

How were they supposed to beat a monster who ripped out trees bare-handed, swung them around, and broke magic with brute strength?!

And the way he'd casually thrown a spear through the mage's mouth still made his blood run cold.

He was certain that if Anagin so chose, he could kill everyone here.

'O-or else… should I ask for help?'

Red-Feather Helmet Man seriously considered it.

The Witch was both the village's protector and a tyrant who demanded enormous taxes and forced labor.

Lately, her tyrannical side had grown even stronger.

To the point where he wondered if it might be better to just get rid of her…

The problem was whether it could succeed, and whether this man Anagin would agree.

Would he really help us, the ones who came after him—

"All right, decided."

"…?"

"What did you decide?"

"To go smash that Witch."

"…Why?"

Robe Girl's eyes went wide with disbelief.

Anagin explained simply and clearly.

"She'll probably keep chasing us, and it's a hassle. So I'll just go smash her."