Chapter 38

Chapter 38: A New Destination (1)

“Oh, you’re alive?”

Three minutes after smashing through the city gate and throwing the log.

Anagin headed to the small room at the top of the castle where the log he’d thrown had landed—or more precisely, to the pile of rubble that used to be a room.

There, Kigos was just crawling out from between the stones on all fours.

“Y-You…!”

Kigos shouted in shock when he saw Anagin.

But Anagin was just as surprised.

He hadn’t thrown it intending to kill, though he also hadn’t cared if it did. Yet here the man was, alive. Maybe it was because he did such rough work—his life force was stubborn.

‘Though that’s about all he’s got…’

Anagin looked down at Kigos, who was a mess beneath the rubble. No matter how he looked at it, the man had no strength left to fight.

“Hah…! Hah…!”

Whether it was exhaustion from squeezing through the gaps in the rubble or sheer terror, Kigos was gasping for breath.

But his eyes were darting around busily.

Look around. Look around. Rustle. Rustle.

He was trying to assess the situation.

Anagin read his intentions and spoke up.

“Don’t get your hopes up. All your men’s legs are broken. All twenty-three of them.”

Kigos flinched.

He flinched as if he’d been struck by lightning.

Anagin didn’t know why. No—more accurately, it was because the number was too high.

Anagin’s monstrous strength, smashing the gate and throwing a log, was shocking enough. But the fact that he knew their exact headcount was terrifying beyond measure.

Were Giants usually this meticulous?

They were not.

Giants, by their innate monstrous strength, had a tendency to solve everything with force. But this one was different.

The way he spoke, as if he could see right through their situation, was proof of that.

How on earth had he found out?

“Your men were a big help. What was it called again… Ah, seven something or other? I got your numbers, your positions, your roles, and your equipment from them. So it was a lot easier to take you down, yeah.”

It was no coincidence that Anagin had thrown the log straight at the room where Kigos was the moment he entered the castle.

He’d struck the head first, based on the information he’d gotten from the Seven Hunters.

After all, when the head falls, the limbs can’t move properly.

His prediction was spot on.

When Anagin burst in out of nowhere and the log crushed even the room where the boss was, the Watchers of the Old Castle crumbled helplessly.

Their attention was split, they couldn’t coordinate, and they exposed openings everywhere, making them far easier to take down. On top of that, he already knew their positions.

All Anagin had to do was run around swinging his club based on what he’d heard.

“There were some who used interesting toys, though…”

Anagin mentioned the man-catching net, the pride of the Watchers of the Old Castle.

A convenient yet powerful magic tool that, when thrown at a person, automatically tracked them for several steps and bound them on its own.

Having already been informed, Anagin had neutralized it by throwing other men into it, then broke all their legs.

Kigos, half-entranced, listened to Anagin’s words in a daze before snapping back to his senses.

‘Wait, what am I doing?!’

Defeat on the road meant death. To survive, he had to act.

“W-What is it that you want?!”

There were generally two types of people who explained how they’d caught their prey instead of just killing it.

The idiot drunk on a desire to show off, and the cunning one who wanted something.

Kigos bet on the latter.

“I like how quick you are.”

Correct!

Kigos answered with inward relief.

“Thank you! First, please just know that we bear you no ill will!”

“…Is that so?”

Anagin asked in a voice full of doubt.

Kigos shouted even more desperately. What ill will, when they’d already been crushed?

“It must have been a mistake on our side! The Seven Hunters! Those bastards must have made a mistake! Right?!”

It was said out of a will to live, but it was also the correct answer.

They’d recruited the Hunters for their skill, but given their notorious aggressiveness and competitive streak, trouble had been anticipated.

Just as Kigos said, if those bastards hadn’t shot that arrow, Anagin would never have come here.

“And you had nothing to do with it?”

“Not entirely nothing! We heard you were passing through and told them to keep watch for now!”

Remembering that the Seven Hunters had betrayed him, Kigos readily confessed the truth. Clumsy lies shortened your life. What he needed now was a cunning lie. One where truth and falsehood were mixed convincingly.

“However, I never ordered an attack. I only told them to see if you were doing anything dangerous… W-We Watchers of the Old Castle are the ones who keep the peace around here!!”

Kigos, laughably, asserted their legitimacy.

That they weren’t just bad men chasing money, but a necessary presence in their own way.

And it wasn’t entirely wrong.

Wanted criminals, obviously, but runaways and escaped slaves would eventually become bandits too. Someone had to catch them.

Kigos appealed to that point.

At first glance it was a laughable response, but sometimes it worked. Especially against someone reasonable.

Anagin fell into thought, and Kigos cheered inwardly.

It wasn’t what he wanted, but he’d made clear that they weren’t a threatening presence, that they bore no ill will, and that they weren’t evil beings—so there was a chance he’d just let them live.

No, the odds were fairly high. If he’d meant to kill them all, he would have smashed their heads instead of breaking their legs.

‘I thought he was some crazy murderer, being called an Ascetic killer, but maybe he’s actually pretty soft…’

Seeing a hill to lean on, Kigos grew more hopeful by the moment.

The damage was severe, but still within the range of recovery. As long as he survived, he could plan for later.

“Who put the bounty on me?”

Whether the persuasion had worked or not, Anagin revealed what he wanted.

The first step to eliminating the root cause.

He demanded information about those who had posted the bounty.

“Everyone around here posted one. Aio, Lakis, Neus…”

“Who are they?”

“Ascetic Families in this region. The amounts differ, though.”

They’d posted bounties, but the amounts differed…

“Explain it so I understand.”

Perhaps because his life was on the line, Kigos explained concisely and accurately.

What it came down to was that multiple parties had placed a bounty on Anagin’s head.

The key point was that they hadn’t pooled their intentions and money—each had posted separately.

When asked why they’d do something so inefficient, Kigos answered.

“There are many people, but only one head, aren’t there? Each of them posted separately to claim your head for themselves.”

Simply put, they didn’t want to punish Anagin for destroying the Dolos family—they wanted the head of Anagin, who had committed the crime.

Bring the head of a villain called an Ascetic killer to the temple, and you’d accumulate considerable karma.

Anagin let out an involuntary chuckle. Something about it was funny.

Sensing his unease, Kigos reasserted his position.

“We don’t particularly have any thoughts on the matter.”

“For people who don’t, you sure know a lot.”

“It’s our line of work, so…”

“Then you’d have records of related information, right? Hand them over.”

Kigos looked at the collapsed pile of rubble.

“It’s in there…”

“What are you doing? Go get it.”

Kigos hesitated for a moment, then forced himself up and began clearing the rubble.

If he’d said he couldn’t get it out or asked for help, it seemed like that club would smash his head.

Fortunately, the rubble was shallow, and he found it faster than expected.

“B-Boss…?”

“Quiet.”

Kigos said a word to the chef, who was on the verge of death beneath the rubble, then pulled out a box and opened it.

Inside were a list of those who had posted the bounty on Anagin and a self-made map marking the location of each Ascetic Family.

Essential materials for bounty hunting.

Kigos offered it to Anagin.

“H-Here it is.”

Anagin checked the list and the map.

Only after watching him did Kigos grow curious about what he intended to do with it.

‘Surely he’s not thinking of striking first?’

It was a insane thought.

He’d known the man was no ordinary opponent, but even so, taking on all of them alone was beyond crazy—it was the kind of idea only someone who wanted to die would have.

That was what it meant for an individual to take on a group.

Thinking rationally, simply fleeing elsewhere was far better.

The title of Ascetic killer was, at most, something printed in a regional newspaper. The bounty had only been circulated here, in western Anapic.

Frankly, if he just left for another region, it would likely fizzle out.

There was no shortage of people who actually did that.

But what if he was a lunatic who wouldn’t?

Suddenly, Kigos had an ominous premonition. And that premonition hit the mark.

Crack—!

Having gotten what he wanted, Anagin swung his club without hesitation and cleanly broke one of Kigos’s legs.

“Kraaaagh—!!”

Kigos screamed, clutching his leg.

“Alright, now the other one…”

“W-Wait! Killing us all doesn’t necessarily make an example of us!!”

Having lost his composure, Kigos’s words grew short.

Anagin didn’t care enough to mind.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m saying killing us all won’t make an example!! It might even make things more troublesome for you?!”

“Ahh… I get what you mean.”

“Y-You do?! Then…”

Just as Kigos was about to continue, Anagin broke his other leg.

“Damn it—!! Why?!”

Furious and wronged, Kigos shouted loudly.

You said you understood, so why break my leg?! You’d have to be insane!

“I understood, but that’s not why I broke your leg. I broke it for a different reason.”

“What reason—”

“—I heard you kidnap people and sell them, too.”

“…?!”

Kigos was startled. Those Seven Hunters bastards. Did they really blab about that too?

Crack—!

The sound of bone breaking rang out again.

Anagin had broken Kigos’s arm.

“What’s it to you?!?!”

Kigos shouted in pain and indignation.

He was the one who killed Ascetics!

“It’s got nothing to do with me. I broke it for a different reason.”

Anagin swung his club again, breaking Kigos’s last arm as well.

With that, all four limbs were broken.

“Kuaaaagh…!! Fuck, what reason?!”

The question: if it wasn’t about the kidnapping, why break his arm?

Anagin answered.

“For knocking over my precious stew. The boss has to take responsibility.”

With that, Anagin left.

As if his business there was done, cleanly.

---

The abandoned old castle’s dining hall.

Having broken the legs of Kigos and every last Watcher of the Old Castle, Anagin stopped by the dining hall to eat the stew he’d spotted earlier.

Sure enough. The stew he’d noticed before was still there, pot and all.

Anagin naturally sat down and began ladling the stew into a bowl and eating.

Slurp.

It was a little worse than what Sphinx made, but still pretty good.

He’d left the chef pinned under the rubble because it was too much hassle, but at this rate, he figured it was a good thing he hadn’t broken the man’s legs.

“Ah, here you are after all.”

While he was eating, Sphinx came looking for Anagin.

She wasn’t empty-handed like him.

She’d brought the money the Watchers of the Old Castle had gathered over time.

Through magic that detected wealth.

She set the money she’d collected on the dining table and spoke.

“I heard you caught wanted criminals enough to improve the local security—guess that wasn’t a lie? They’d saved up quite a bit.”

The Seven Hunters had also appealed to their legitimacy to survive. That they weren’t villains. That they were, rather, people who caught villains.

“Well, even so, they can’t deny they dabbled in human trafficking. How’d you figure it out?”

Sphinx asked Anagin how he’d known these men also dealt in human trafficking.

The scene where the bounty hunters spewed out their own dirty secrets at a single question he tossed out was still impressive.

He seemed simple, but there was a strangely sharp side to him.

“Because there were too many of them for bounty hunters.”

“Is that so?”

“Big bodies eat a lot, and that makes them greedy.”

“Heh… That sounds just like a sage.”

Sphinx pretended to mock him outwardly while genuinely admiring him.

It was a bit of a know-it-all way of speaking, but it was also a reasonable point. It felt like wisdom and experience beyond simple knowledge.

Anagin agreed. It was something his Master had taught him. He’d forgotten it for a while, but it suddenly came back to him. He had no idea why it came back, though.

“Anyway, I let all the people go. The kidnapped ones. But is that okay?”

“What is?”

“Some of the people I released were kidnapped, but some looked like genuine wanted criminals too?”

“Don’t care. That’s on them for not being able to protect themselves.”

Anagin thought it was laughable to distinguish between who he should and shouldn’t release, so he ignored it. It was also a hassle.

Sphinx hadn’t asked seriously either, so she let it go.

“Well, I don’t mind either way, but… Ah, I only took half the money. I left the rest. Told them to use it as travel funds to run away.”

“Why?”

“Just because? It’d be hard to run away penniless, wouldn’t it?”

Sphinx answered vaguely with a shrug.

It was an arbitrary way of handling things, but whether it was enough or not, Anagin didn’t press her.

“Anything else to say?”

“No.”

“Then you eat too.”

Anagin ladled an appropriate amount of stew into a bowl and held it out to Sphinx. Whether it was Anagin or Sphinx, they’d both gone hungry equally.

Sphinx smiled faintly at the stew he offered.

“Hmm~ Not bad. Having someone else make you food.”

“Enjoy it. It might be the last time.”

“Oppa, you’d do well to pick up the habit of saying one less word.”

Sphinx pointed out his way of speaking while gladly sitting across from him and putting stew in her mouth.

It was passable.

“Um…”

While they were in the middle of eating, a voice came from the hallway.

Looking over while eating, there were eight girls. Among them, a black-haired woman who seemed to be their representative walked forward.

“Who are you?”

“They’re the ones who were captured.”

“Ah. Want to eat?”

Anagin naturally offered the stew.

Honestly, it was barely enough for one, but seeing how skinny they were, he figured he should feed them.

The woman shook her head.

“No. Instead, there’s something I’d like to ask of you.”

“You’ve got something to ask of the person who saved you?”

When Anagin said that sarcastically, the woman flinched, but seeing her more frightened younger companions, she mustered her courage.

She held out a few coins she’d barely managed to keep in her bosom and made her request.

“This is all I have, but please, I beg you, hero. Please take us to our village. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. Please…”

The woman’s hands were trembling.

Anagin thought it over for a moment, then unfolded the map. It was the one he’d gotten from Kigos.

“What’s the village called?”

“Huh?”

“The village name.”

“I-it’s called Pond Village.”

Pond Village…

Anagin soon found it on the map. It was a fair distance away, but the Aoi family—an Ascetic Family—was there too.

“Do you know anything about the Aoi family?”

“Not well… but the elder in our village would know.”

“Good.”

Anagin nodded. He’d been wondering where to visit first, so this worked out nicely.

“We’ll head out as soon as I eat… If you’re hungry too, eat with me.”

The girls, who had been frozen stiff, hesitated for a moment before gathering around Anagin and starting on the stew.

“Pinku Pinku. You’re going to have to make more stew.”

“Ah, come on.”