Ch. 28
There were three of them, and every single one had a sneer in their eyes when they looked at me.
A sharp-eyed, gray-haired man.
A black-haired guy with an unpleasant air about him.
And a blue-haired girl who had a bow on her back—most likely an archer.
The girl looked the youngest of the three.
“You’re a noble, aren’t you? Acting all high and mighty.”
“No! I’ve always been high and mighty!”
Rai squirmed beneath the black-haired man’s boot, his head pinned to the ground.
Without my permission, he couldn’t use his strength—when I wasn’t there, Rai was nothing more than an ordinary, albeit durable, snake.
“So there was a noble girl keeping a snake as a pet. That explains it.”
“What a disgusting hobby.”
What! I am a noble, so what’s the problem?!
I was about to scowl and yell at them when Hansen and Philo stepped in front of me, blocking my path.
Uh, excuse me? I can’t see past you two.
Why are you suddenly acting like bodyguards?
“Consider this a warning. I suggest you drop your insolent attitude.”
“I don’t care who you are. Return the lady’s pet snake.”
“Yeah! Give him back!”
Since Hansen wouldn’t let me move forward, I ended up clinging to the back of his leg.
This was definitely overprotective.
“Well, well. Even has knights following her around?”
“If it’s a noble’s order, then this changes things.”
“Ugh.”
Then, without warning, the black-haired man spat on Rai.
And while looking me dead in the eyes, he drew his sword.
The bright silver blade gleamed under the light.
For a brief moment, I found myself staring—swords really did have an unnerving kind of presence.
And then—
Before I could even react, the man stabbed Rai with the tip of his blade.
Clang.
“Huh? Pretty tough, aren’t you?”
If Rai had been a normal snake, his body would have been sliced in two.
What kind of psychopaths were these people?!
“I was gonna be nice and split it in half before returning it.”
“That snake’s kinda weird. Try it again.”
“Maybe we should skin it first?”
The way they glared at me was unsettling.
The sheer hostility felt unreasonably intense—like they weren’t just dealing with an enemy, but with someone they absolutely despised.
Why did these three hate me so much?
It was as if they saw me as their sworn enemy, and I had no idea why.
“Step back, my lady!”
“Something’s not right about these people!”
“…No way.”
It couldn’t be.
No way.
I wasn’t that unlucky, was I?
“They might be from The Swarm.”
Damn it. Just my luck.
To run into The Swarm on my first visit to the marketplace in years.
Being targeted by one of the most notorious criminal groups wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience.
[Let go of me, you bastards!]
Especially when they were holding my pet hostage.
“I’ll warn you once—put away your weapon.”
“And if I don’t?”
The gravity of the situation finally dawned on me, and I instinctively took a step back.
[Rai, get out of there.]
[I don’t have mana…]
[Then use it!]
If he couldn’t escape by force, then he just needed to become heavier than the pressure keeping him down.
Rai didn’t change shape, but I could feel mana shifting.
Slowly, he sank out from under the man’s boot, as if his body had suddenly become dense as lead.
I could tell that he had become heavier to break free.
The moment he was loose, Rai flicked his head, slithering toward me.
As he moved, I could feel him lighten again—he was making himself faster.
But before he could reach me—
Thwack!
An arrow slammed into the ground right in front of him.
The speed was terrifying.
Before I could fully process what happened, Hansen had already drawn his sword.
The unease I felt twisted into something deeper—something worse.
“My lady!”
It wasn’t until I felt an arrow graze past my ear that I realized the archer had aimed at me next.
A warning shot.
“…”
Arrows were this fast?
This was the sound they made?
The air ripping apart in their wake?
I hadn’t even realized I had dropped to the ground until I snapped back to my senses.
The skin beneath my ear burned.
“Pfft, look at that. In the end, she’s just another human, isn’t she?”
“I really hate nobles. The world would be better off without them.”
“My aim was off. But I won’t miss next time.”
So.
These three were definitely from The Swarm.
A group infamous for murdering nobles for sport.
And I?
I was a noble.
They had already fired an arrow at me.
The why didn’t matter anymore.
The question had already twisted into something else.
Rage.
My hands trembled.
Not from fear.
From sheer, boiling anger.
“You bastards!”
Both sides unsheathed their weapons.
“Are you alright, my lady?!”
[Master!]
I slowly pushed myself back up, eyes fixed on Hansen as he clashed blades with the gray-haired man.
Hansen was injured—he wasn’t able to push back as easily as he normally would.
“Tell me her name.”
The black-haired man pointed at me with his sword, smirking.
“I want to know who I killed before I brag about it.”
“You arrogant—!”
Steel met steel with a sharp, earsplitting clash.
“Seems like even your knights are just commoners. What’s the point of protecting her? Killing her would be far more meaningful.”
“Shut up, you psychopaths!”
“Think about it! What have nobles ever done for us? They treat us like animals, use us like toys, and slaughter us like livestock! Haven’t you ever been on the receiving end of that?”
The situation was spiraling into chaos.
Yet, all I could hear was the whoosh of that arrow slicing past my ear.
Everything else felt strangely slow in comparison.
Philo lunged at the archer, but she was fast—too quick to catch easily.
“Killing a noble girl with knights guarding her? Our reputation will soar.”
“Exactly. That’s what we take pride in.”
Hansen and Philo fought back desperately, but they were outnumbered—three against two.
And worse, they had to protect me while fighting.
It was a bad situation.
I was dead weight.
I was prey.
And that—more than anything—disgusted me.
Feeling lightheaded, my gaze drifted toward Rai, still caught in the black-haired man’s grip.
Rai struggled against the man’s grip, but on his own, he couldn’t break free.
[Give me permission again, Master!]
I didn’t blink.
I just stared at Rai, watching as he twisted his long body around the man’s rough hands.
Then, suddenly—
A brilliant idea came to me.
“Rai.”
[Master.]
I whispered, and Rai answered immediately.
The feeling of absolute control made me smile—just a little.
“What can you do for me?”
[Anything you allow.]
“Then take revenge for your master.”
The thought of that arrow almost killing me made something bubble up from within.
Something dark.
Something that festered and grew.
My heartbeat quickened.
A fear from long ago resurfaced, now reborn as pure rage.
I won’t die like that again. Never. No one will take my life.
[Understood.]
Rai didn’t need me to explain.
When I wanted something badly enough—when I truly desired it—he just knew.
Crack.
Crunch.
“A-AAARGH! M-MY HAND! AAAHHH!”
So human hands could break that easily.
At the very moment Rai answered, his entire body tightened—and the man’s hand caved in like dough being crushed under a rock.
The sharp, wet crunch of bones being ground into pulp rang painfully clear.
The man’s fingers twisted into a shape I had never seen before.
It was no longer a hand—just flesh and splintered bone mashed together.
And in that moment—
I snapped back to my senses.
“Stop!”
Rai, now unsupported, dropped onto the ground with a dull thud.
He immediately slithered toward me, leaving behind a dark, wet trail of blood.
The path he had taken—the smeared remains of that man’s hand—turned my vision red.
The color wouldn’t fade, no matter how much I blinked.
“Aaaaaaagh!”
The black-haired man screamed.
It was a raw, agonized sound, one that made my chest tighten—
[Master! I did well, right?]
“…This is—”
Disgusting.
Horrifying.
The fact that I had wanted this.
Even for a moment, I had wanted him dead.
I was the one who ordered it.
My heartbeat was so loud that the rest of the world had gone silent.
The only thing I could still see clearly was the gray-haired man’s face as he charged at me, sword raised.
A face twisted in rage.
A demonic expression.
Anger.
Hatred.
Because of me.
That face—his head—was suddenly severed from his body.
And no matter how tightly I shut my eyes, I knew I would never forget the sight of it spinning through the air.
Thud.
The severed head landed on the ground and rolled toward me, splattering blood in its wake.
And only then did I realize—
His eyes were dark brown.
They glared at me even in death.
When I turned, I saw the marketplace—people staring at me like I was some kind of monster.
“I… what did I do?”
I turned my head again—
And there she was.
The blue-haired archer.
Her mouth dripped blood, and Hansen’s sword was buried deep in her chest.
Everything had happened too fast.
None of it felt real.
[Instant kill.]
“Urk…”
[It’s better this way. No one suffers when they die quickly.]
“Stop…”
The nausea hit me like a tidal wave.
[Why? You didn’t care when we killed those orcs back at the camp. What’s different?]
“…They were people.”
[From my perspective, humans and orcs are the same.]
“They’re not.”
[Why not? I don’t understand. Humans make things so complicated. The dead are dead. The living are living. That’s all there is to it.]
As I listened to Rai’s indifferent voice, my gaze fell on Hansen and Philo—
They were calmly cleaning the blood from their swords.
No matter how much I tried, one thought kept repeating in my head.
They died because of me.
I barely managed to clamp a hand over my mouth, but I couldn’t stop it.
I bent over and threw up.
“Uurrgh.”