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Chapter 36: Wanted (1)
“You came?”
The outskirts of Dolos Village.
The Robe Girl, crouched on the bare dirt, greeted Anagin.
“Your clothes are torn up something weird.”
She said, looking him over.
She wasn’t wrong—his clothes were in a bizarre state. The right sleeve was ripped and scorched, as if it had been burned through.
Anagin pulled a shirt from his subspace bag and put it on.
“Why are you here?”
“I waited. For you, Oppa.”
“Why?”
At his blunt, open-ended question, the Robe Girl smiled wryly. She didn’t know what to say either.
“…Because I was worried?”
Because she was worried. That was the answer she’d finally managed to produce after thinking for a long while. Even to herself, it sounded like a stupid reason.
She changed her answer.
“Because I’m curious. Why you saved me.”
It was a careless thing to blurt out, but surprisingly, the Robe Girl felt something inside her clear out. Like the saying that simplicity is the answer—the words she’d tossed out so casually came closest to what was actually in her heart.
That was it. She was curious. Why Anagin had saved her, and why he’d saved a Monster.
“Are you insane? I saved you and now you want my whole bundle too? Why the hell would I tell you that?”
But nothing ever came easy with him—Anagin simply ignored her.
“Ngh… Can’t you just tell me? You saved me, so it’d be nice if you told me the reason too.”
“Well, it’s not nice for me.”
The Robe Girl felt a surge of emotion she hadn’t experienced since she’d left her mother and set out on the road. How could every single word out of his mouth make her want to throw a punch…
She muttered without realizing it.
“Honestly, if it weren’t for the transformation magic, I swear…”
“Is that your vow?”
Anagin caught the mutter and asked.
“That you take a human form.”
“…How do you know that?”
The Robe Girl was so startled that it took her a long while to reply. Could he actually know about the vow?
“Beats me. I’m surprised too. How do I know this? Master’s words just suddenly came back to me.”
She wondered if he was joking, but she was impressed all the same. She’d thought he was just a man of many talents and left it at that, but apparently he really did know a great many things.
To know about a magic “vow.”
“That’s right, that’s my vow. To maintain a human form semi-permanently, in exchange for never harming people.”
A vow. It was a kind of magic.
The principle was extremely simple. You wished for a specific outcome and imposed a matching restriction on yourself.
Basic magic that anyone who’d studied magic to any degree would know. That said, actually using it wasn’t easy. No—using it wasn’t hard, but the conditions were tricky and dangerous.
“You have to offer a restriction that matches the outcome you want, or you can’t get the result. If the balance between outcome and restriction doesn’t match, it’s useless, and if you break the vow, you pay a price.”
“But why are you in that state, then?”
Anagin asked.
The Robe Girl. At a glance she was just a woman, but look closely and she wasn’t. She’d nearly been caught at the Dolos family estate, hadn’t she?
She looked almost human, but put another way, traces of Monster remained. Sharp fingernails and toenails, a tail hidden beneath her robe, and so on.
“I almost fooled them. I think they peeked at me in the bathhouse.”
It wasn’t an idle excuse. She recalled the unpleasant sensation she’d felt when she entered the bathhouse. There was a good chance a magical device had been monitoring the interior.
A mistake born of not knowing the Dolos family had a mage, perhaps.
When she’d stepped into the bathhouse it was already too late, and she’d hoped for the best—but in the end, this was the result.
“I couldn’t hide a few parts, but there was no helping it. Transformation magic is hard to begin with, and maintaining it continuously like I do is extremely difficult. Especially when the size difference is big…”
“Size? How big are you originally?”
“…Don’t use the word ‘size’ on a woman.”
“You’re the one who brought it up.”
Ahh… The Robe Girl felt something boil up inside her once again.
“Haah… Well, seeing you talk, I guess you’re fine… What happened to the Dolos family?”
“They won’t have the mind to chase you.”
“Is that light from earlier related, by any chance?”
She brought up the flash she’d seen in the distance earlier. It had been intense enough to be visible even from the village outskirts, and afterward the village had grown noisy, and then Anagin arrived.
Probably an exchange of final blows during the fight with the Dolos family.
“Not your concern.”
Instead of answering, Anagin cut it off flat. Because of that, the Robe Girl couldn’t press further. All she could do was—
“Thank you. Really.”
“…”
“I’m saying thank you for helping me. Monseu—”
“—Ever killed anyone?”
Anagin suddenly thrust in. Whether she’d ever harmed and eaten people, like other Monsters.
His intuition told him she hadn’t, but separate from that, he wanted to hear it from her own mouth. Whether she’d eaten people or not.
Beneath the robe, her deeply hidden face smiled wryly.
“You care about that kind of thing too, Oppa? Monsters harm people, save people, that kind of rigid—”
“—Cut the crap and just answer the question. Have you ever harmed anyone, yes or no?”
Beneath the robe, her golden eyes glared at Anagin. He met those eyes with a look that said he couldn’t care less.
After a moment passed, she spoke.
“No. But not because I like people—only because I’m keeping my vow.”
“Got it.”
To her curt answer, horns and all, Anagin responded placidly. Without a shred of doubt. The vibe of, ‘Huh, really? Then that’s fine.’
The Robe Girl grew flustered.
“That’s it?”
“Should there be more?”
Anagin asked in his usual tone. Which made it clear he meant it even more.
“…Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you save me?”
The question he’d ignored earlier.
But this time he didn’t ignore it. Anagin looked at her for a moment, then answered.
“I hate shitty things.”
“What’s ‘shitty things’?”
“Beasts ruining fields. Corpses left to rot. Worthless trash acting big. People screwing around with beasts. Kids crying… And shitty bastards acting shitty.”
“…Being framed?”
“Something like that. Looking at it puts me in a shitty mood too.”
“I’m a Monster, though?”
“So what?”
Anagin shot back in a bothered tone. There wasn’t an ounce of consideration in it, but that was precisely how she knew he meant it. That indifferent attitude gave her a strange sense of comfort. The kind of comfort where you didn’t have to overthink things.
“I still don’t really get what a Monster is, or what an Ascetic is. What I’ve seen since coming here all looks the same. So I’ll keep dividing things the way I always have.”
“Which is?”
“People, beasts that ruin fields, and everything else… What, you got a problem with that?”
The Robe Girl shook her head.
“No, I like it. Simple and clear. Where are you headed?”
“The wind blows this way, so this way… Why are you following me?”
Anagin, having walked a few steps, looked back at the Robe Girl trailing behind him.
She put on a brazen face.
“What? What’s wrong? I’m following the wind too. The road here isn’t yours, is it, Oppa?”
“Are you insane?”
“Even if you did save me, you shouldn’t be rude. I may not look it, but I was raised like a princess.”
“Ah, got it. You’re insane.”
Anagin said it sincerely. She really was insane.
“Or is it that you’re embarrassed? Walking with a beauty like me?”
Just as Anagin was about to say, ‘What the fuck are you on about,’ the Robe Girl pulled off her robe and revealed her bare face.
Jewel-like, glossy brown skin, catlike golden eyes, lips red as blood and a pert nose, long golden hair cascading in waves, and hidden beneath that golden hair—cat ears.
“What’s this?”
Anagin touched the cat ears hidden under her blond hair.
“Kyahahak!?!”
The Robe Girl recoiled and smacked his hand away.
“That hurts.”
“What are you doing!!”
“It’s fascinating.”
“If you saw a poison you’d never seen before, would you drink it?”
“I’ve tried most poisons.”
“Kyahahahak!!”
The Robe Girl screeched in fury at how differently things had unfolded from what she’d imagined. She’d worked up the courage to take it off, and this…
“Anyway, I guess you’re not embarrassed.”
“About what?”
“Your looks. You’re not my type.”
“…Who asked if you had a taste, Oppa??”
The Robe Girl barely swallowed the string of curses boiling up her throat.
“Nngh… Anyway, if we’re headed the same direction, I’m saying let’s just travel together quietly. If we end up going different ways, we part then. I can’t even defend myself, so I’d like a companion like you, Oppa, and you’d also—”
“—You do the laundry.”
Anagin said as he started walking again.
The Robe Girl stood there blankly, then hurried after him, nodding.
“Sure, that much is fine.”
“And you do the cooking too.”
“Wait, cooking too?”
“If you don’t like it, don’t.”
Anagin’s pace quickened.
“Okay! I got it! I’ll do it, the cooking!”
Anagin slowed his pace without a word. The Robe Girl felt the urge to hit someone for the first time in a very long while.
“Haah… But I have a condition.”
“What?”
“Hey, you. Not ‘you’ or ‘hey’—call me by my name. I have a name too.”
Her name…
“What is it?”
“Sphinx.”
“That’s a long name. From now on, you’re Pinku Pinku.”
“…”
Murmur murmur murmur murmur…
Disis Polis, the city built in the west of Anapic.
It was enjoying an unprecedented boom.
It had always been a place where refugees with nowhere to go flocked, but most had failed to adapt and left for elsewhere—this time, though, it was different. A fair number were settling in the city.
The exploiter known as the Bander Peddler Band was gone. And they got to keep the full fruits of their own labor.
“And that’s not all, is it? There’s also the Market’s judgment in investing every last bit of profit into developing the city’s industries.”
A short, stocky butcher named Karnos spoke at an outdoor tavern in the market. Across from him sat Riotess, the Market of Disis Polis.
The two of them each had a glass of wine as they exchanged pleasantries.
“You only have to look at how boldly you provided carriages so our Ruins Butcher Guild could come to this city, lent us buildings and land, and even reduced our taxes.”
The Ruins Butcher Guild.
A temporary organization formed by the butchers who had been in the Ruins Village built by the Monster Merchant and Diodia. Unable to process the enormous Monster carcasses they’d received from Anagin within any short span of time, they’d banded together for profit—agreeing to cooperate at least until every carcass was processed.
Word of them spread, and naturally it reached Rio, the Market of Disis Polis.
Rio mobilized the city’s merchant caravans to make contact with the Ruins Butcher Guild and made an offer: use carriages and magic tools to move the Monster carcasses to the city, and we’ll provide workshops and even lower your taxes—so why not come work in Disis Polis?
Safety, workspace, and tax benefits. Karnos, the guild’s representative, had no reason to refuse.
“More merchants are visiting the city and jobs have increased, so I’d say I’ve come out ahead too.”
Rio showed humility toward the man who was gilding his face for him.
Honestly, it wasn’t entirely a lie.
Rio had his own calculations behind being so generous.
Frankly, cutting taxes stung, but he’d given that up for the sake of immediate growth. To boost jobs and draw more merchants to the city. Reduce the margin and increase the sheer volume of trade—that sort of thing.
Fortunately, he’d achieved his goal.
“Heh heh, then may I ask why you’ve come to visit? A man who could use ten bodies wouldn’t have come all this way for nothing.”
“It’s nothing much. I just wanted to know whether you plan to leave once the Monster carcasses you brought run out, or whether you intend to settle here for good. I hear you’ve been buying Monster carcasses from outside merchants.”
Anapic bordered Babaland, and Disis Polis had it worse than most. Perhaps that was why there were Babaroi merchants who came to sell Monsters from Babaland.
“To be blunt—if you intend to put down roots, I’m afraid we can’t keep the tax exemption going.”
“Well, that’s fair.”
Karnos admitted it readily. For someone just passing through, granting a tax exemption might be easy, but for someone putting down roots, it was different.
For both sides’ sake, taxes had to be paid. Karnos himself was starting to think about settling down. However…
“Could you give us some time to think? Our guild is called a guild, but it’s closer to a temporary alliance. There are people who just want to take their share and leave.”
“If there are those who’ll stay, let me know. Butchery will be taxed, but I’ll grant a five-to-ten-year tax exemption for the processing business.”
Karnos grinned. This was no ordinary shrewdness.
Butchery made money, but the real profit came from processing butchered Monsters. Naturally, the taxes owed were greater on that side too.
Yet five to ten years tax-free? It was a hard offer to refuse. Enough that even those planning to leave might reconsider.
“I’ll do my best to produce the most positive result possible.”
“Good.”
Pleased with the decent business talk, Rio extended his glass. Karnos had no reason to refuse and extended his as well, and the two toasted.
“But did he really hand them over on credit, just like that? All those Monsters?”
“It sounds insane, but it’s true.”
“It sounds insane, but I believe it. On a smaller scale, I’ve been through something similar…”
“So that’s why you’ve been working so hard.”
“From the way you talk, Guild Representative, you too—”
—Jingle, jingle. Jingle.
The market floor was bustling and noisy. They were in the middle of a lively conversation there, yet a bell’s sound rang clearly into Karnos and Rio’s ears.
Though the bell wasn’t loud, it was sharply distinct and drew the eye.
“Could this be…?”
“Ho, so this land has come under Hellas’s domain after all.”
Karnos and Rio reacted to the familiar bell.
Sure enough.
At the end of their gazes, a man walked swinging a staff with a bell attached.
Astonishingly, the man could not see ahead and could not speak—his eyes and mouth were covered—and yet he walked as skillfully as if he could see.
“One newspaper, please.”
Karnos raised his hand with practiced ease.
Though the man could not see, he walked straight over to Karnos, pulled a newspaper from the bag at his waist, and held it out.
“Thank you.”
Karnos took the newspaper, then handed over a single olive silver coin.
The man nodded, then disappeared into the crowd, shaking his bell once more.
“To think the deliverymen come even here. Before long, a temple might be built too. Perhaps.”
“Yes…”
Rio answered. And it was true—the fact that a newspaper deliveryman had made it this far was a clear sign that Hellas’s domain was expanding.
Not merely a physical expansion, but a spiritual and cultural one.
Perhaps the name Anapic would vanish, and this place too would be replaced by the name Hellas.
“…You should see this.”
Midway through reading the newspaper, Karnos held it out.
“What is it?”
Rio took the newspaper and read it, and soon stopped at one spot.
【Regional News】 “Breaking—The Ascetic Killer Appears!”
A short and clear headline. The Ascetic Killer.
And beneath that headline was a portrait of a familiar person.
“Anagin……!”
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