## Chapter 75 – Ogre Raid
The sun was rising in the distance.
Breaking over the mountain range, the sun painted the dark dawn sky with its light. It was already past dawn. The nightmarish night was over. The rain had stopped too. The dark clouds had lost their power and scattered, and rays of light descended through the gaps.
“Ohoht~hohohohohohoho!”
The young lady laughed endlessly, her hand covering her mouth. She looked so happy that I started to feel good too. Laugh, they say good fortune comes with laughter. I sat there on the muddy ground, grinning to myself.
Ah, my legs gave out.
ㅡkur…
The fierce battle was over. The ogre was still alive.
Barely, though, like a living corpse.
It looked like a gimbap roll that had burst open on the side, rather unpleasant but somehow appetizing. We had killed it. All that was left was to receive our reward and rest.
“I shall behead the ogre!”
The young lady declared, circling the fallen ogre as if she was having fun.
She raised her greatsword high, looking more triumphant than any returning general. A greatsword falling from that height could truly be called divine punishment. What a vicious monster needed was always the retribution of God.
ㅡkuuurrrr…
The ogre weakly raised its head and looked at the young lady. It seemed to be trying to communicate something, moving its mouth diligently in its final moments.
But words were useless, and even if they weren’t, there would be no conversation.
“Haaap!”
The young lady began to gather her energy as if showing off. A red aura swirled around the greatsword. It was the preparation for a strike imbued with destructive power.
I watched her in admiration, but what about the ogre?
ㅡwhoosh!
The greatsword fell like a guillotine.
ㅡthwack!
The ogre’s head flew into the air.
It was a propulsion that far exceeded the creator’s expectations.
The ogre’s head soared high before falling back down. Red Bull had given wings to the ogre’s head, but it could not overcome the power of gravity.
“Our victory!!!”
Zauros shouted. He hadn’t been very useful in the battle, but his shout was quite useful now. The twenty or so survivors cheered at his cry.
“Woo-oo-oo-oo!!”
“Waaaaaah!!”
But all you guys are getting is 3 silver per day, right? With a basic wage of 1 silver and a success bonus of 2 silver, that’s all it comes out to.
No, 3 silver a day is actually a lot, but today it feels like peanuts. That damn ogre killed so many people, we should be getting twice that much.
Ah. Come to think of it, those guys didn’t do shit.
Those guys who kept running away got a free ride.
“I will call out the names! Everyone, gather in front of the watchtower!”
We gathered in front of the ruined watchtower, and Zauros called out the names. Anyone who didn’t answer here would be dead. It didn’t seem likely that anyone who ran away would still be alive.
“Damn, I thought I was really going to die a minute ago.”
That was my honest feeling. I sighed and stood up.
“Hehehe, for someone who thought that, you sure stretched out your sword at the end?”
“I’d rather die saying something than die in silence.”
“You did well. You really did well.”
Cloudy snuggled into my arms. I didn’t know if she was happy that I listened to her, or if she was happy that I showed a brave side. I guess it’s probably one of the two. Kopson also came over and slapped me on the shoulder.
“I wonder if the Barbarian is going to gobble up 1 gold? If you get it, you’ll have to treat us.”
“I’m definitely treating, you son of a bitch. Tell me everything you want to eat.”
“Is that really true?”
“I’m lying.”
“Crazy.”
“Just kidding. Get ready to fall into a pit of alcohol.”
As the excitement of the battle faded, my body became languid.
I felt like I was floating in the air. I felt like I could fly away like this.
“1 gold, huh.”
As the young lady initially promised, I might get 1 gold since I made a big contribution. I hope she gives it to me, but if she doesn’t, well, she’s a bitch, but I can’t rebel, so there’s nothing I can do.
It’s not like I’m going to grab her by the collar and call her a bitch if she doesn’t give it to me.
Anyway, I felt like I could fall asleep happily now. Just as I was trying to feel the warmth of Cloudy in my arms, the young lady, who was standing on the ogre’s corpse, shouted.
“Barbarian!”
It was clear that she was calling me, so I went and stood in front of the corpse. The young lady looked down at me. Then, after looking at me, she jumped down and stood in front of me. I immediately bowed my head.
“Raise your head! Your bravery led to the ogre’s massacre! Highly valuing that contribution, I, this lady! Shall bestow the promised reward!”
“…!”
With tremendous energy, the young lady took out a leather pouch from between her breasts and pulled out a shining gold coin. I was shocked. I felt like I would be blinded by the dazzling golden light. The golden light reflected in the sunlight was more brilliant than the sun. It seemed utterly unreal.
“You did a really good job! You are an example to all warriors!”
With trembling hands, I accepted the gold coin.
The young lady gently placed the gold coin on my palm.
My hand trembled. Unable to control my emotions, I shouted.
“T, thank you! Thank you, thank you! Young lady! I am truly grateful for this grace! Ha, hahah, haha! Euhahahah! Ahㅡhah hahahahaha!!”
“Your laughter is hearty! Good! Let us laugh together! Ooht~hohohohoho!!!”
I laughed like crazy with the young lady. My tension soared like that of a madman. The young lady praised me, but I didn’t hear a word she said. After talking for a while, she disappeared with the soldiers. Zauros also followed her.
“Jyuwaaaaaaack!!!!!”
For a while, I couldn’t control my soaring tension and shook my body, screaming.
I grabbed Cloudy’s hand and danced around, and after making Kopson bend over, I jumped over him. By the time I got to the triple mid-air kick (a 3rd-degree Taekwondo technique), all I could do was admire it. I sprinted across the open space like a bizarre species.
“Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeick!!!”
1 gold. It’s 1 gold. Motherfucker, it’s 1 gold. 1 gold meant 100 silver coins. What could I do with this? As Cloudy said, I could get a good room, and I could upgrade my equipment.
More than anything, there was nothing I couldn’t do with this much money. It was like winning the lottery. Joy seized my whole body. I just let myself go with the flow and danced wildly.
ㅡThese shibal little kids, hello.
Then suddenly, the Teletubbies appeared and tossed me into the air.
I must have been hallucinating from being too happy.
Entrusting my body to them, I felt as comfortable as if I were immersed in a happy dream. Nice to see you, Tinky Winky. I watched you a lot when I was a kid. Dipsy, Laa-Laa, you bastards, how are you? How’s Po doing? Why haven’t you grown up yet?
“…Blackie, are you happy?”
“Huh?”
As I was doing that, Winia approached me. When I saw Winia’s face, the tension that had been rising subsided like a lie. The Teletubbies disappeared forever, turning into dust like a shattered illusion. I reached out my hand, but I couldn’t stop them from disappearing. As they disappeared, they waved at me.
I looked at her with a serious expression.
Winia also glared at me.
“Are you that happy? Are you crazy, Blackie? Don’t you know you almost died just now? Are you doing this because you don’t know? Ahㅡno, that’s right, you don’t know. The idiot Blackie doesn’t even know he almost died.”
“Huh?”
“Did that woman tell you to do it? Are you so horny that you’ll do whatever a woman tells you to do? What if you had died doing that? You’re so pathetic. You need to be able to tell right from wrong.”
Winia, who suddenly approached, began to argue with me. From the sound of it, the reason for her displeasure seemed to be that I had taken a risk at Cloudy’s word. Hearing that, my head started to heat up.
“I did it because I knew I wouldn’t die, you bitch. And what does it matter to you if I die or not?”
“…”
“Cloudy told me to do it, and I did it because I knew I wouldn’t die. Please shut your mouth and just go away. I’m in a really good mood right now, so don’t ruin it and just go away. I’m sick of seeing your face now.”
It was strange that Winia was arguing. Judging from the way she was talking about doing whatever I was told, it seemed like she didn’t remember any of the shit she had done to me so far. No, she probably knew, but she was doing it on purpose.
“Why aren’t you leaving, you bitch! Get out of here!”
I shouted.
Winia was silent for a moment.
She looked up at me with an unreadable expression.
“…Bastard.”
“What?”
“Son of a bitch. You fucking bastard. Idiot. Idiot, idiot. Idiot! A Blackie, a Blackie! Saying that to me, to me…!”
Winia, who had spat out those curses, lowered her head. Her body was convulsing. But what could I do? I had Cloudy. Even if this loser acted up, she would get her ass kicked in return.
“Annoying! It’s annoying! Why do I have to worry about a Blackie like you!”
After trembling for a while, Winia turned around and disappeared.
Just go back and forth a little, really.
“You pathetic bitch. Just disappear forever.”
Winia was no longer in my life.
I deliberately called out to Cloudy and Kopson in a loud voice. It was time to go down now. I had taken all the money I needed. I had spent the whole night fighting, so I just needed to go down, wash up, and sleep.
“Hmm…”
Cloudy made a strange noise while looking behind me.
“Why?”
“No, nothing.”
We went down the mountain. In many ways, I felt good, but I was also tired. I moved while leaning on Cloudy’s body. She kept touching my head and praising me. It was very nice to hear.
“Holy shit.”
As we were going down, it wasn’t long before we could see a gruesome sight.
Pieces of people torn apart were scattered everywhere. It was the ogre’s atrocities from the night before. Maggots had already bloomed like flowers on the corpses, and it felt like my SAN was dropping just by looking at them.
I thought of Eliza. She would have said that we should collect the bodies.
But in my opinion, the dead were dead, and the living were living. There was no God or afterlife in this hellish world. The god of this world was not a god at all in my eyes.
So I don’t believe in the god of this world.
The corpse of a stranger was just that, nothing more. Far from showing respect for the corpse, it was just to take anything that could be taken. That was this world.
I thought about searching the corpses for equipment, but it didn’t seem worth it to touch the scattered corpses just to take it. More than anything, I wouldn’t be able to carry much anyway, so I should just be satisfied with 1 gold.
In the first place, there wasn’t any equipment that looked intact. Just look at the torso of the middle-aged man hanging on the tree. His armor was ‘torn’. The helmet was also crushed along with his head.
“Barbarian, we have a tracker behind us.”
“…”
I clenched my teeth.
I already knew.
Winia was keeping her distance and following us from behind.
She seemed to have a lot to say. But I never looked back at her. I had no intention of talking to her, and I had no intention of seeing her face. There was no reason to understand her incomprehensibly depressed mood. Taking care of one woman, Cloudy, was more than enough.
It was over now. It was the longest relationship I had had since coming to this world, but it was time to end it.
“Cloudy? Why, what’s wrong?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing. I just have something to think about.”
Cloudy seemed to be thinking about something seriously since a while ago. It made my heart clouded because it seemed like she was worried about Winia. There was no need for Cloudy to worry about Winia.
Eventually, we arrived in the city in that state. Even though we were trying to pass through the city gates and head to the city center, Winia was still following us alone. No, it wasn’t us. She was following me.
“…”
I stopped walking. And. I turned around.
Winia flinched. The venomous look from before was long gone.
It somehow looked so fragile,
“Ah, fuck, really!”
I shouted in anger.
“Just go away! Just go away! Go away! Get out of my sight, you bitch!”
Winia couldn’t say anything.
“Why are you clinging to me! Do I look like a joke to you! Huh?! Do I look like a joke to you, you bitch!”
My anger had reached its limit, and I strode towards Winia. She didn’t say anything. It wasn’t like her usual self. Her proper attitude would have been to beat me with her staff, or to be sarcastic, or to curse at me.
But Winia didn’t do that.
She just hunched her small shoulders, as small as her small frame, and trembled with her head down. It was a sight that was no different from any other girl.
“You’ve beaten me to death all this time! You’ve cursed at me like crazy! You’ve ripped me off for so much money! Don’t try to cling to me and act friendly after all that shit! It’s annoying!”
For some reason, that sight made me very angry. I burst out with years of resentment. She shouldn’t have been like that. She had to be the same bitch who always gave me a hard time. I poured out curses with half of that wish.
But, Winia was just getting smaller in front of my roar. As if her usual confident appearance was just an illusion.
“You bitch, you bitch! If it wasn’t for you in my life…! Please! Just leave me alone now! Just disappear forever, you bitch!”
I couldn’t understand Winia’s heart.
Even if she had feelings similar to affection for me, it was impossible to accept that twisted thing. I just wanted Winia to disappear as my eternal villain, that’s what I wanted.
“Fuck, go away! Disappear from my life! Say something, you bitch!”
“…Hic.”
But Winia.
“Hic, sniffle. Sniffle, sniffle…! Fucking, fucking Blackie. Just a Blackie…! Fucking Blackie…! Hic!”
“Y, you crying?”
“Sniffle, waaaaaah…! Sniffle, hic! Sniffle, sniffle!”
I was flustered. I was so flustered that my head wasn’t working.
Winia bursting into tears was something I couldn’t even imagine.
She shed tears endlessly.
“F, fuck, I don’t know! You can cry however you want, you bastard!”
There was nothing more to see. I turned my body away.
My heart was wavering.
Then I approached Cloudy and grabbed her hand. The warmth of that hand seemed to illuminate my clouded heart. I pulled her along.
“Let’s go. I’m tired as fuck.”
“Katt.”
But Cloudy didn’t move.
She just looked at my face with a serious expression and called my name.
“Why.”
“Go. She’s crying.”
What?
“What does it matter? That girl has nothing to do with me.”
“Katt, I told you before, right?”
“What?”
“I’m a half. I can’t get pregnant because I’m a half.”
Shocking words flowed from her mouth.
No, why are you telling me that at this timing…? I looked at her face, wondering if it was some kind of joke. Her expression looked endlessly serious.
“W, what? Why are you suddenly saying that?”
“You have to have kids too, right?”
“?????”
“Go.”
Cloudy pushed my shoulder. I couldn’t think properly anymore because of those shocking words. What is this? Could it be that I had already died to the ogre, and I’m seeing a dream now?
“Cloudy, what… what do you mean by telling me that?”
To be honest, I had been suspicious since the Teletubbies appeared. My clenched teeth met. I asked her accusingly, but Cloudy just waved her hand.
“I’ll be waiting.”
“S, say something that makes sense!”
I pinched my cheek. It hurt. This was reality.
“Are you going to plant the seeds, or what?”
I was dumbfounded by those shocking words.
“I’ll only do it with you.”
“But I can’t receive the seeds?”
“…”
“Anyway, you’re as good as mine. So it’s okay. I’ll be binding you for life…”
Crazy.
“I know. What it means for a human to not be able to leave descendants.”
I underestimated the different races too much.
“So go.”
Cloudy’s way of thinking was not something I could understand.
The values of different races are different from humans. Even if it’s a half of a different race, it wouldn’t be strange if it was even more twisted. I remembered Cloudy’s past, where she had been pushed around between dark elves and humans and wandered the desert.
What was she thinking as she wandered the desert alone for so long?
She seemed to sincerely think that it was okay to ‘lend’ me to Winia. I could see a deep madness in those eyes. I felt fear. I felt a sticky, tar-like fear rising from my toes.
I took a step back.
At the same time, I felt an unknown sense of betrayal.
No matter how different our values were, was it even possible for her to try to send me to another woman? I felt betrayed, and at the same time, I felt anger.
All of it.
All of it.
It’s all because of Winia.
If it wasn’t for that girl, if it wasn’t for that girl, this wouldn’t have happened.
I looked at Cloudy. I couldn’t read her expression.
Annoyed, I turned my body around again.
“Winia.”
I went back and stood in front of Winia, who was crying.
“Sniffle…! Sniffle! Hiccup! Go away, just go away…! I don’t need a Blackie anymore… Sniffle!”
When I approached, she just sat down on the floor and burst into tears.
Winia’s way of thinking was also not something I could understand. Was it because I lived in modern times? The difference between the values of the people of this world and mine was enormous.
In the midst of the confusion, I knelt down on one knee and met Winia’s eyes.
“Why are you crying, you bitch. Stop crying.”
The fallen tears were soaking her cleavage. Tears gathered between her breasts.
Anger, hatred, pity, sadness. Emotions that even I didn’t know swirled within me. I reached out my hand.
“Have you ever seen me cry in front of you? I haven’t, so you can’t be crying. I should be the one crying, you bitch. Why are you crying? It’s so absurd.”
I reached out my hand and wiped her eyes.
“Sniffle, hic! Sniffle, waaaaaah…! Blackie, Blackie… Hic! You got a girlfriend while I wasn’t around, re, really. Really… Sniffle!”
I grabbed Winia’s hand and pulled her up.
Winia’s face, covered in tears, was something I had never seen before.
“Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Blackie is here.”
Why did Winia give me such a hard time?
If you imagine the reason, it’s simple. There was no need to say it.
I just didn’t want to admit it.
Winnia, with her small stature, tried to wrap her arms around my waist. Or, rather, she tried to. It just didn’t quite work because her chest was too large. I lowered myself to pat her back.
After crying for a while, Winnia looked up at me.
I knew that face was a woman’s.
I turned around.
Claudie waved as if nothing was wrong.
Winnia took my hand and pulled me along. Her touch was gentle; that soft hand, seemingly without any coercion, led me.
