Chapter 09
The Village Rogue (4)
Plink.
Drip… drip…
The sound of sweat droplets falling felt unusually clear.
A deathly silence where even the sound of an ant crawling might have been audible.
Time, which had felt like a slowly stretched rubber band, began to return—bit by bit—to its proper flow.
I slowly rolled my eyes.
The ground.
For the first time, I saw a floor made of sand. Crushed fallen leaves rolled across it, snagging on sharp stones and tumbling over.
As I stared blankly at the scene, I slowly lifted my head. And then…
“…!”
I locked eyes with a person standing right in front of me.
A man with a vertical scar across one eye, his deep gray irises staring straight at me. A scream tried to climb my throat, but—
“Shh.”
His hand covered my mouth.
Even in confusion, I still wanted to live. I gathered what little reason I had left.
I swallowed deeply and turned my head—
“…!”
Where did it go?
That’s strange, strange?
On the deeply sunken ground, a shadow stretched out.
Something with sharp, digging claws—like it was instinctively searching the earth—moved like a mole.
Its round body was encased in a beetle-like hard shell, with insect-like legs dangling from both sides.
Its elongated snout kept twitching as it sniffed the air.
‘It… it’s looking for me.’
But then—
‘…Why can’t it find me?’
As I wondered that, I noticed the reason.
The house of David—now my house—contained baskets filled with sausages and cured meat, along with large amounts of herbs. They were masking our scent from the creature.
Just as I relaxed and tried to stand—
“Don’t move.”
“…!”
A rough voice spoke, like that of a middle-aged woman who had smoked for decades.
Startled by hearing a human voice after so long, I froze—but she didn’t care. She grabbed me firmly with her rough arm.
Seeing my raised eyebrow, she whispered softly:
“That thing can’t hear, but it’s sensitive to movement. Move slowly. Understand?”
“….”
“Good. Looks like you get it. Move slowly and head inside.”
I nodded and moved—slowly, like a turtle.
Carefully bending my knees.
Sniff sniff.
Slowly rising.
Sniff sniff.
Taking a step toward the door.
Sniff sniff sniff.
Breathing heavily, I gradually avoided the approaching monster… slowly, slowly, slowly.
Creeeeak.
Rustle…
A moment that felt both instant and endless passed.
Thud!
I managed to get inside the house.
“Haaah…”
My breath came out awkwardly.
‘I… I really thought I was going to die.’
Even though I technically had extra lives, that didn’t mean death wasn’t terrifying.
I wasn’t a game character, after all.
After catching my breath for a while, I walked toward the table. Fortunately, the water I had drawn earlier was still there.
Glug—
I poured myself a glass.
Just as I was about to drink—
Tap!
“…?”
A strange hand snatched the glass from me.
Gulp.
It drained it in one go.
My mind went blank for a moment.
Then it refilled the glass and drank it again.
A middle-aged female mercenary—who had just casually saved my life—stood there, shifting her weight with a lazy stance. Her gray hair fell messily as she tilted her head.
“Hey, after I saved your life, you gonna get stingy over two cups of water?”
“N-no! Please, drink!”
“Good, good. Got anything to eat?”
Aside from life-recovery items, not much.
But…
‘…She did save my life.’
Feeling guilty about not offering food, I rummaged through my bag.
There were many options, and I pulled out Chef Poko’s Special Fish Steak—
Then I paused.
It was still warm thanks to the inventory effect. Fresh as if just cooked.
That was nice… but—
‘…The gills are still there, like it’s breathing. Why is it like this?’
It looked like leftovers dumped into a drain grate.
A flaw in the perfect Chef Poko: his terrible sense of aesthetics.
So I moved on.
<Chef Poko’s Wild Vegetable Salad>
‘The dressing makes it look like poisonous weeds. Pass.’
<Chef Poko’s Ratatouille>
‘Why are the tomatoes black…? I didn’t care when I ate it, but for a guest…’
<Chef Poko’s “THIS IS REAL CURRY YOU IDIOT!”>
‘Why is this curry so red… it looks like blood…’
After eliminating them one by one—
“….”
I looked at what remained in my hand.
<Chef Poko’s Special Apple Pie>
This actually looked good.
The crust hid the filling, so it looked normal enough.
But—
I glanced at her again.
A middle-aged woman with a scarred eye, rough demeanor, and disheveled clothes dusted with sand. A teal scarf wrapped carelessly around her head.
If I remembered correctly, she was Peritas—the former mercenary and town security officer NPC.
‘In the original story, she helped Davide. Her backstory was only hinted at.’
But that wasn’t the issue.
The problem was—
‘…These apples.’
They were stolen from her house.
…And I had even returned them once before. I wasn’t even sure if she had received them properly.
‘This is awkward…’
As I mentally punished my conscience, Peritas suddenly leaned in and grabbed the pie.
“Isn’t this made from apples you stole from me?”
“…N-no, no, no! It’s not, it’s not!”
“Yeah it is. I can tell. Apples here only come from my place.”
Cold sweat ran down my back.
Before I could respond, she suddenly leaned back, smirking.
“Relax. I don’t care.”
“…?”
“Didn’t I tell you before? Your family is always welcome. Next time, just come without the weird disguise.”
At that moment, I stiffened.
‘Right.’
Davide had a brother.
His twin brother—the high priest of the church—was supposed to appear later in the story.
But there was a problem.
‘He’s the one who betrays Davide in the original.’
Not directly, but he drags him into a semi-boss fight and leaves him behind under the excuse of guiding him.
‘And he barely shows up again until near the ending… annoying guy.’
I massaged my stiff neck.
Then I thought about Peritas and the mentioned man—Desiderius, also called Deus.
What exactly were NPCs in this world?
How human were they? Or were they not human at all?
And then—
‘…I haven’t triggered the story yet.’
Normally, a message would appear the moment I interacted with a resident.
But it hadn’t.
A chilling thought rose in my mind.
At that moment—
Ding!
A mechanical sound echoed in my head.
[Chapter 1: The Beginning of Tragedy]
“Was this Lētum Village?”
“No matter how you look at it… expecting one person to handle missing persons and monsters is too much.”
Ding!
map #001. Lētum Village
The origin of all incidents. A place filled with childhood memories.
A remote mountain village, but still populated.
Recently, there have been rumors of disappearances.
Ding!
[As a holy knight of the Imperial Church, you were ordered to investigate the disappearances and strange phenomena in this village.]
[You were dissatisfied, but you did not refuse.]
[No—you could not.]
[…Because this is your hometown, and among the missing are your parents.]
[…]
[“If I hadn’t heard those reports, I wouldn’t have come.”]
[“Still… I guess it’s better that I’m from this village.”]
[…]
[“I should look around… and I also need to meet my brother.”]
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[Enter the village and interact with a person. 0/1]
[Enter the village and interact with a person. 1/1]
[Enter the village and interact with a person. 1/1] [COMPLETED!!]
[M I S S I O N C O M P L E T E !]
[T H E P E R S O N Y O U M E T S A I D !]
At the same time, Peritas’s tightly closed mouth was forcibly pulled open, as if something had grabbed it.
And then—
“Wel come!”
“Let me guide you!”
“to the vil lage! now”
