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Chapter 4: Serpent (2)
“Well… I suppose so?”
Caught off guard by the sudden question, the man answered hesitantly.
Having heard what he wanted, Anagin immediately headed toward the Merchant.
Startled by Anagin’s sudden movement, the Old Man flinched, and the people sitting on the ground, blocked by the road, one by one turned their eyes toward Anagin.
When Anagin reached the Merchant, the Merchant and the armed guard looked at him.
“A volunteer?”
The Merchant, who had promised gold coins to whoever defeated the Serpent, pointed at Anagin and asked loudly. He shouted as if driving in a nail.
“If you would just defeat the Serpent blocking the road—”
“Do I just keep going straight from here?”
Anagin cut off the Merchant’s useless rambling.
The Merchant briefly furrowed his brow in displeasure, but soon, ever the trader, smoothed out his expression.
“That’s right. It’s a single road, so there’s nothing to look for!”
“Ah.”
The moment he heard the answer he wanted, Anagin let out a short sound and walked toward where the Merchant had pointed.
His gait was calm to the point of indifference. It almost made one wonder if he even understood the situation.
The Old Man grabbed Anagin’s arm.
“What is it?”
“Shouldn’t you think for a moment before moving?”
The Old Man, whom he had met for the first time today, spoke with concern.
“I’ve thought about it enough.”
People’s attention focused on them. Especially the Merchant’s.
The Old Man glanced around, then leaned close to Anagin’s ear and whispered quietly.
“That Merchant might not actually want you to catch the Serpent.”
Ah, I see. But Anagin wasn’t particularly surprised. He’d heard something that sounded like scheming. Still, he was curious about what the man’s real intentions were.
“Then what does he want?”
“Perhaps he wants you to be eaten by the Serpent. Feeding someone to a monster blocking the road and slipping past in the meantime is a common trick on the road.”
“Oh, sharp thinking. But it’s fine. Even if that little snake is dangerous, it’s still just a little snake.”
His curiosity satisfied, Anagin pried the Old Man’s hand off his arm.
The Merchant, who had been watching and reading the room, pulled a sword from his bundle of luggage and cut in.
“Take this with you. You look like you’re empty-handed.”
Anagin took the sword the Merchant handed him and examined it.
It was an ordinary sword. Not old and rusty, but nothing special either—just a plain, common sword.
Well, that was only natural. No mad merchant would hand out a magic-imbued sword for free.
However, some of the people stuck on the road clicked their tongues at the sight of the sword.
They had seen the Serpent with their own eyes, and they knew that against a serpent that huge, a sword like that was no better than a toothpick.
The Serpent’s hide was as large and thick as its body, and a sword like that couldn’t even scratch it.
Only Anagin showed any interest in the sword, swinging it through the air with a whoosh.
“Well, this’ll be handy.”
Anagin muttered an ambiguous review, then slung the sword over his shoulder and walked forward—paying no mind to anyone else’s stares.
The people looked at Anagin as if he were some reckless fool about to get himself killed for nothing. Only one person was different—the Old Man.
It was because Anagin’s skill at swinging the sword was far from ordinary.
Tramp. Tramp…
Anagin walked forward with the sword resting on his shoulder.
His steps were calm to the point of indifference. He didn’t look like a man on his way to catch a giant monster serpent.
Was he being careless? It wasn’t as if that was entirely untrue. When it came to snakes, he’d caught so many since childhood that he was sick of them—they weren’t particularly frightening.
The reason he’d been about to go empty-handed before the Merchant handed him the sword was simply that he figured he could catch it bare-handed.
Well, it seemed like it’d be easier, so he took the sword, but still.
“Where the hell is it supposed to be?”
Shhhiiiii…
After walking a bit further, the sharp hiss unique to snakes reached his ears.
Judging by the sound, it seemed to be quite large. Sure enough, a giant serpent came slithering out from between the bushes.
A giant serpent with gray and brown scales mixed together. Its head was the size of a pig, and its body was as thick as a tree. Because of its size, the Serpent’s hide looked as sturdy as armor that couldn’t be pierced.
Perhaps the Serpent was confident in its own armor, for it leisurely slithered and stared intently at Anagin.
Shhhiiiii…
The Serpent circled around Anagin in a ring.
Before he knew it, the Serpent’s massive body had surrounded Anagin on all sides—front, back, left, and right.
For an ordinary person, it would have been a situation to make their knees buckle, but Anagin simply watched the Serpent calmly.
Among the snakes back in his hometown, there were some of this size, so it wasn’t particularly frightening.
Still, something felt different. The size was similar, but the aura it gave off, the emotion in its eyes…
“Ah, so something like you is called a monster? You eat people to grow stronger?”
Anagin asked, recalling the monsters his master had told him about in the past.
Beasts that devour humans and break free from the bonds of beastkind, was it? He’d heard they were connected to Ascetics in some way. Seeing one in person, it was kind of fascinating…
Shahaaat—!
Perhaps displeased with Anagin’s attitude, the Serpent let out a sharp hiss and lifted its head off the ground.
A massive shadow fell over Anagin, and the shadow opened its enormous maw, poised to lunge.
Thwack!
Just then, a dull sound of flesh being pierced rang out.
Anagin had hurled the sword from his shoulder, driving it straight into the Serpent’s maw.
The Serpent’s eyes went wide from the sudden, searing pain, and it shook its head up, down, left, and right in agony.
However, perhaps because of its size, it didn’t die.
As if it were nothing, Anagin lunged at the Serpent and wrapped both arms around its flailing neck. The neck was quite thick, but he could encircle it in one go.
In this unexpected turn, the Serpent—despite the pain of its pierced mouth—thrashed wildly to throw Anagin off, and Anagin, just as he had with the snakes he’d caught endlessly since childhood, put strength into his arms.
Krrrreeeeek…!
The sound of bone and flesh being crushed rang out, and the Serpent’s neck visibly constricted.
The Serpent thrashed like mad to escape Anagin, but it couldn’t break free.
Even as great trees snapped and the earth caved in from the Serpent’s thrashing, Anagin’s arms silently squeezed its neck…
Crack—!
At last, the sound of something snapping rang out, and the Serpent went limp.
Its neck had broken completely. And it had happened in an instant.
When he released the Serpent’s neck, the massive head slammed into the ground without resistance, and Anagin, as if nothing had happened, grabbed the Serpent’s neck and headed back the way he’d come.
As if it really had been nothing at all.
“Huh…? Huhhh?!”
When Anagin returned, the people’s reactions were more or less the same.
A stunned reaction of disbelief even after seeing it with their own two eyes. It was entirely understandable.
A man had appeared out of nowhere, declared he’d go catch the Serpent, and before long came back dragging a house-sized snake—how could anyone not be shocked?
The man himself, Anagin, acted indifferent, as if it were no big deal.
“This the one?”
Anagin tossed the Serpent he’d caught in front of the people and asked.
When the limp Serpent hit the ground, several people nearby flinched and backed away.
Only a few with strong curiosity drew closer to examine the Serpent.
“Y-yes… Ah. No. Yes, it is!”
The Merchant’s tone shifted instantly, as if addressing a superior.
Seeing Anagin, who had caught the Serpent, he had judged that this was not someone to treat carelessly.
Whirr. Whirr. Just as the sound of gears turning became almost audible, the Merchant cautiously asked.
“M-may I ask your name?”
“Anagin.”
Anagin answered briefly, wearing an expression of annoyance.
Reading Anagin’s mood, the Merchant went straight to the point.
“If it’s all right with you, would you consider selling this Serpent to me? I would never—”
“—You’re a Merchant, right?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking if you’re a Merchant. Someone who buys and sells goods for profit.”
“Ah, yes. That’s right. But why…?”
“From what I’ve heard, there are two kinds of Merchants. Merchants who value profit, and Merchants who value trust. Right?”
Both were important. It depended on the situation, but the Merchant nodded for now.
Anagin asked again.
“So, are you a Merchant who values profit? Or a Merchant who values trust?”
“T-trust, of course.”
It depended on the circumstances, but the Merchant answered as his intuition dictated.
Anagin pointed at the dead Serpent.
“This is a monster, right?”
The Merchant nodded. Monsters that devoured humans were terrifying beings, but they were also worth a great deal.
“Which part is the most valuable?”
“…The head.”
The Merchant hesitated for a moment, but answered honestly.
The man before him looked somewhat like a naive country bumpkin, but beyond that, he had a strong feeling that he must not try any tricks.
Hearing the Merchant’s answer, Anagin gave a single nod, then grabbed the Serpent’s head from where it lay on the ground, stepped on its body, and tore it off just like that.
Crunch…!
Anagin had separated the Serpent’s head from its body using nothing but brute strength, without even a sword.
The people were startled once again by that shocking sight. The Merchant, in particular, thought he had truly done well not to try any tricks.
“Will you take this?”
Anagin, who had ripped off the Serpent’s head bare-handed, asked the Old Man who had given him a ride in his carriage.
“You said you wouldn’t take money. This isn’t money.”
The Old Man paused at the offer, as startling as the action itself.
The head of a monster like that was worth as much as a lump of gold. No—given the scarcity, it might even be more precious than gold.
The Old Man paused for a moment, unable to say anything. Then, before long, he nodded.
“I’ll gratefully accept it.”
Anagin shrugged as if satisfied. He’d felt a bit bad about getting a free ride, so having the Old Man accept actually put his mind at ease.
“Got a sack?”
Anagin asked, needing somewhere to put the Serpent’s head.
The Merchant brought out the largest and thickest sack, and Anagin put the Serpent’s head inside.
“Ah. I’ll sell the body to you. But can you pay?”
The Merchant answered skillfully.
“I can’t pay you right now, but once we reach the city, there’s a way to dispose of it. I’ll give you the payment there.”
“Fine.”
The city was his destination anyway, so Anagin agreed.
“I need to appraise the value, so if you could wait a moment—”
“—Just handle it reasonably. You gave me a sword, and you didn’t lie to me, so take a reasonable cut.”
Interpreted, it meant the other party could take a generous share. The Merchant bowed his head in gratitude. At the same time, he heaved a sigh of relief.
If he had tried any tricks earlier, he didn’t even want to think about what would have happened.
“Ah! And here! Take this! It’s the reward I promised.”
As if only just remembering, the Merchant held out three gold coins to Anagin.
It was a pittance for catching a monster Serpent, but since he hadn’t done it for money in the first place, Anagin didn’t argue and simply took what was given.
Tucking the now noticeably heavier coin pouch into his clothes, Anagin climbed back onto the carriage.
The woman holding the child flinched slightly at the sight of Anagin, but he ignored her, set the Serpent’s head down in a suitable spot, and returned to where he had been sitting before.
“Whoaah…!”
The Old Man’s grandson, as if he’d forgotten that he had called Anagin a liar earlier, watched him with sparkling eyes. The older sister, too, looked at him with a mix of slight fear and admiration.
However, Anagin’s interest lay not with these two, so he withdrew his gaze and looked toward the Old Man.
“…Thank you for the expensive gift.”
“It was luggage anyway.”
“Still, it’s more than I deserve.”
“Then, will you help me out a little?”
“……”
“As you can see, I don’t know much about the outside world. I’d appreciate it if you could teach me a thing or two.”
The Old Man’s eyes changed. His soft gaze turned sharp.
“I’m just an ignorant bumpkin myself.”
“For someone like that, you seem to know a lot about what happens on the road.”
“That’s because I’ve traveled here and there. It’s nothing special.”
“Doesn’t seem like nothing…”
Trailing off, Anagin glanced sideways at the Old Man. The Old Man asked.
“…If I refuse, what will you do?”
“Well, that’d be a shame.”
Anagin shrugged. It was a shame, but what could he do? He couldn’t threaten someone who didn’t want to with force.
The sharpness in the Old Man’s eyes softened.
“You said you came to become an Ascetic, didn’t you?”
“More precisely, to become a God.”
“A God… Doesn’t that sound like an unreasonable dream?”
“Doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m going to do it.”
“Can you tell me why?”
“Pardon?”
“The reason you want to become a God. For an Ascetic, the reason matters.”
The reason, huh… In Anagin’s mind flashed his family and the villagers who had died from the plague, and the prayers he had offered. Explaining it all one by one would be a hassle. A big hassle.
How could he boil this down to one word…
“Because something shitty happened.”
“What?”
“Something shitty happened, so I’m going to become a God.”
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