The lodging that Zich was residing in was for travelers. Since the village was not large, there was only one shabby lodging for travelers. Overall, it was a mediocre place to stay.
A boy was staring intently at their lodging. He looked to be around ten years old. His clothes were oversized and shabby and his face was dirty. Judging by his appearance, it didn’t seem as if he was living a comfortable life. The boy squirmed around as if he was trying to make a decision, but Zich suddenly appeared behind him. Like a cat catching his prey, Zich hid his presence and moved towards him. The boy did not notice Zich at all, and the corners of Zich’s mouth moved up.
“Hey!”
“!!!”
Zich tapped the boy’s shoulders. The boy was so surprised, he jumped up in the same place. He couldn’t even scream and turned his head back while choking. There was even a tear on his pale-stricken face. It was an understatement to say that the boy was overcome with shock.
“What are you secretly looking at?”
“Mister, y-you surprised me!” The boy cried out to Zich; he tried to make his voice tough, but his small, shivering frame betrayed him.
Zich messed up the boy’s hair and put one hand forward. “Here.”
There was a large piece of bread in his hand. The boy’s eyes widened. As his appearance indicated, the boy’s family circumstances were difficult. To him, a soft and savory bread that was the size of a male adult’s arm was like food from heaven. However, because of that, it was harder for him to just take it from Zich.
“…I didn’t come here for this…”
“Then what did you come here for?”
The boy had nothing to say since he did expect to get some free food. Zich forcefully grabbed the boy’s hand and made him take the bread. “A kid shouldn’t refuse an adult’s gift.”
“…My mom told me to not take stuff from strangers.” Since the boy felt like he was causing trouble, he tried to refuse once more.
“She was talking about bad adults.”
“Then are you a kind adult?”
“No, I’m a bad adult that is trying to live a kind life.”
“What is up with that?” The boy smirked.
Zich sat down with his back against a wall and patted the spot next to him. The boy cautiously sat down next to Zich and took a big bite of the bread. Then, the boy quickly gobbled down the bread; the soft bread tasted completely different from what he was used to.
“Hey, eat slowly. You are going to get indigestion.” Zich handed the boy a water bottle.
The boy quickly gulped down the water, as his throat was parched. Then he quickly stuffed more bread into his mouth. But the boy did not completely finish the bread. Instead, he packed half of the bread into a sack he brought.
“Are you going to bring some to your family again?”
“Yes. My mother and my father are also suffering. I want to at least give some of this bread to my parents.”
“That’s nice of you. But your parents don’t say anything? Didn’t your mother tell you to not take food from strangers?”
“Ah, that…” The boy slurred his words at the end; it seemed as if he was scolded by his parents.
‘Well, I would do the same thing as his parents.’
There were few people who were kind to others for no reason. In the first place, Zich was only doing kind acts because of Glen Zenard’s “kind” suggestion.
“My parents used to scold me, but now they don’t. There’s a lot of rumors going around in this village that you are a kind and impressive person.”
“A kind person…”
Zich felt pleased that his acts of kindness were being recognized, but he couldn’t get used to being called a ‘kind person.’ Zich felt like he was going to break out in hives from disgust.
“But if a stranger approaches you with more friendliness than usual, don’t trust them. The world is not that beautiful.”
Moreover, the world would become more dangerous as it reached the Era of Demon People.
The boy replied, “I understand.”
Small talk passed between the boy and Zich.
“I have to go now.” The boy saw that the sun was setting and quickly got up.
“Head home safely. And next time, just come directly to the lodging and ask for me. Don’t just stare from the corner of an alley like some kind of criminal. In the first place, I’m not at my lodging most of the time.”
Zich was usually outside helping out a villager or defeating monsters, so it was fortunate that he found the boy today.
“But if a dirty person like me went inside a place like that, I would get scolded.”
“I already told them about you beforehand, so it doesn’t matter. Also, that place shouldn’t scold anyone about cleanliness, so don’t worry about it.”
Zich’s lodging was not a place of luxury, and travelers usually didn’t wash well and went around like beggars. There was no way a lodging for travelers would reject someone for their dirtiness. Moreover, Zich was a frequent customer of that lodging, and he was now famous around the village.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Zich asked this as the boy continued to stare intently at him.
“…Mister, why are you so nice to me?”
“As you said, isn’t it because I’m a kind person?” Even though Zich said this, he felt a shiver run down his back.
The food inside his stomach threatened to come back up, but he managed to keep it down. However, the boy shook his head as if he couldn’t agree with Zich’s words.
“Even the people who are rumored to be kind don’t want to get involved with us.”
The boy’s family was one of the poorest in the village. They were so poor that they couldn’t even afford to live inside the sloppily structured wooden fences around the village. Even though the village was on the wealthy side due to its vast plains and fertile soil, the commoners didn’t live in much comfort. The boy, who had experienced subtle discrimination from everyone, was amazed by the kindness shown by a traveler like Zich.
“It’s because I’m a kinder person than those kind people.”
“But didn’t you just tell me that you are a bad person who’s trying to live a kind life?”
“Then let’s just say that I’m a bad adult who is trying to live a kinder life than a kind person.”
“What the heck is that?” the boy laughed. He looked poor and starving, but his smile was the same as any other boy.
“There are all kinds of people in this world.”
“I wish there were more people like you.”
“If that happened, the world would become a much cooler place.”
“I think so too.” As the boy strongly agreed to something he said half-jokingly, Zich felt embarrassed.
He was still not used to other people treating him as a kind person. As a result, the boy had successfully achieved the almost impossible task of embarrassing Zich, who could be said to be the manifestation of shamelessness. Zich looked up at the sky. The sun looked a bit brighter than before.
“I’m really going now! See you again, mister!”
“All right. Goodbye.”
The boy ran. He moved his short legs with a lot of effort and ran straight until he reached the front of some alleyway. Then, he waved his hands at Zich one more time and disappeared into the alley.
‘He asked me why I was so nice to him…’
Zich thought about the question that the boy asked him. He had jokingly said that it was because he was a ‘bad adult who wanted to live kindly,’ but that wasn’t the only reason.
‘It must be that.’
He recalled what Timmy told him when he fought those Bellid guys with Lubella. Timmy said that he couldn’t hate Zich because Zich was the first one who helped him for no reason at all. Those words had shocked Zich when he first heard them, so it left a deep impression in his mind. They were the reasons why Zich had reached out his hand toward the boy who walked around while clutching his stomach in hunger, and why he had continued their relationship since then.
‘I feel like I have really become a kind person.’ Zich laughed and thought that even to him, this sounded like bullshit.
* * *
Kuuah!
A monster screamed; it was a sound terrifying enough to make all the hairs of a person’s body stand.
Kiiieeeeh!
The monster shrieked again. However, it didn’t sound like it was shrieking to intimidate its opponent or celebrate from feasting on its victims’ flesh. It was simply crying in pain.
Crunch!
At Hans’ swing, a troll’s forearm easily fell off its body. The troll clutched its severed arm and cried out, but Hans’ heartless sword showed no mercy.
Slice!
Hans’ sword sliced through the troll’s neck, passing its thick skin, stringy muscles, and hard bones in one chilling blow. The troll collapsed helplessly to the ground.
Thud! Thud!
Hans turned around to finish off the other trolls when he heard two heavy sounds. From a distance away, there were two trolls on the ground with boulders on top of their heads. The pool of blood collecting beneath the rocks indicated that the trolls would not survive from the impact no matter how good their regenerative abilities were.
Then, Hans saw Snoc go to the trolls that he defeated and nudged them with his feet. Even Nowem jumped off Snoc’s shoulders and tapped the trolls; they were making sure that the monsters were dead. The trolls looked dead, but since trolls had amazing regenerative abilities, there was no harm in making sure.
‘It’s over now.’
Hans sheathed his sword. When he turned around, he saw Zich. As if he was satisfied with something, Zich squinted and stared at the trolls.
“We have taken care of all of them, sir.”
“Good job,” Zich said plainly.
“Is there something wrong, sir?”
“It’s strange that there’s this many trolls here.”
The total number of trolls that Hans and Snoc had finished off was seven. It was not a small number—no, considering the dangers of trolls, this was an incredibly high number; especially in a wide, open plain that wasn’t too deep into the mountains.
‘Since the orcs also tried to settle around here, there must be something going on.’
Zich couldn’t pinpoint a specific cause.
‘The monsters could be just a group who lost a power struggle in their herd or migrated after they ran out of food. Or they could just be strange monsters trying to make some trouble.’ Zich stared deep into the mountain. ‘Should I stay here for a while and hunt monsters for now?’ Since the mountain wasn’t that big, it didn’t seem like it would take a long time.
“Let’s go!” Zich shouted to Hans and Snoc.
* * *
Zich and his companions continued their travels and searched through half of the mountain. Fortunately, there weren’t as many monsters as they thought there would be. They didn’t see another orc or troll settlement and just saw a couple of wandering orcs from time to time. Zich decided to search through the rest of the mountain after resting in the village for about a day.
Grab!
Even today, Zich gave his bread to the boy whose name he didn’t know and watched the boy eat. The boy ate only half of the bread and put the rest of it in his pocket like usual.
“Are you done eating?”
The boy cleanly licked the breadcrumbs around his mouth and answered, “Yes!”
As usual, they chatted. It wasn’t a very meaningful conversation—the boy talked about how he was doing, and Zich told him all kinds of stories about the world.
“Ah, before I forget. Try to stay home as much as possible if you can.”
“Why?”
“Did you hear about dangerous monsters in the mountains?”
“I heard about it.” Zich had already told the village chief about the situation, so this was old news now. “I am working hard to get rid of them, but I might have missed some. So, don’t wander around for the time being. Especially outside of the village at night.”
“I won’t wander around.”
“Also, if there’s anything unusual going around, tell me.”
“Okay!”
Then, after talking a bit more, the boy ran back to his house.
‘Ah, come to think about it, I didn’t ask for his name.’
This thought suddenly struck Zich while he saw the boy run off. Since all they did was talk for a bit while sharing food, Zich hadn’t been interested in the boy’s name.
‘I was able to talk to him so well without even knowing his name. Should I ask him what his name is next time?’ Zich returned to his lodging while thinking these thoughts.