How long had it been like that? The energy to pick up the dropped hoe did not come back. While I stayed on my knees, simply trembling, several footsteps suddenly broke into my ears—trampling through the underbrush.
When I turned back, several torchlights were swaying and approaching through the dark woods.
“W-Who is it?”
It was a few of the men who had stayed in the village. They each gripped hoes and sticks in their hands.
For the past few days, the dogs had been barking every night. That beast might come down to the village—younger sons who didn’t inherit the house were not in the village, having gone out to work in these times of war. The eldest sons and old men who sweated in the fields during the day still seemed to take turns patrolling the edge of the village at night.
The torch at the front illuminated a black lump on the ground.
“…What in the world is this?”
“It’s a monster.”
Another man groaned as he strained his eyes at the black fur and the overly long limbs.
“…No. This black thing is a Shadow Hound. Every few years, they stray down from the mountain around here… Was this the one tearing up chickens and dogs?”
“It’s dead… It’s been beaten to a pulp.”
Then, another torchlight turned straight toward me. I couldn’t help but narrow my eyes. I knew the men’s gazes were piercing into me all at once.
Still gripping the blood-stained hoe, I had collapsed onto the ground. The cheeks that were probably dirty, the fingers that wouldn’t stop trembling no matter how much strength I put into them, and the splatter of blood that had just bounced off that beast and stained the sleeve of my school uniform black—everything was exposed under the light, with no way to hide it.
“…This monster. Did you do this all by yourself?”
One of them said in a raspy voice. It sounded like he couldn’t believe it. Yet, right before his eyes, the slain Shadow Hound, the hoe that had beaten it, and this blood on me—the answers were all rolling right there. Whether I admitted it or not, the picture was already painted.
I tried to open my mouth—but in the end, words didn’t come out right. My throat was parched dry.
“…I-I just came to check the path. Then this thing noticed me… and I fought for my life.”
Half of it was true. The other half—this ball of fur that had been quietly glaring at the woods from atop my shoulder, and that pressure that felt like it grabbed the bottom of my stomach—I couldn’t say it. Even if I told them, nobody would believe it. Since I still couldn’t fully believe it myself.
For a while, none of the men moved. In the torchlight, they just compared me with the carcass of the monster. An outsider who looked completely unreliable and empty-handed had taken down that Shadow Hound all by himself—at that “how,” everyone was left speechless.
Then, the one who broke that tense silence was Giles, the son of village chief Oldo. He was a prime-working-age man who led the torch-bearing men night after night. …Until last night, he was just like the others, looking at me, an outsider with an unknown background, from afar as if trying to figure me out. That same man stepped forward with a firm stride and patted my shoulder with a thick hand.
“…You did well. You really did well, kid!”
That single word seemed to break the dam.
🇦🇷 “Oh, absolutely…! Thanks to you, the village is saved.”
“Chickens, dogs… wondering whose child would be next. Neither our granny nor the kids could sleep peacefully night after night… Thanks to you, we can sleep with peace of mind starting tonight.”
The men who had kept me at a distance until just moments ago, looking at me like I was something unfathomable, now came up to me one after another, saying those words.
Village chief Old also parted the crowd and stepped forward. He was a shrewd old man who managed everything in this village. It was also this person who had reluctantly decided to let me stay even though my background was unknown. He let out a “hmph” with his sunburnt, wrinkled face.
“…Not bad at all. Barehanded, taking down a Shadow Hound…”
Scolding, amazed, yet an undeniable relief lingered in his hoarse voice.
“Can you stand? If you stay collapsed in a place like this, you’ll catch a cold. …Go back and put something warm in your stomach.”
When we returned to the village, hearing the news, women, old folks, and even children came pouring out of their doorways. The monster had been defeated. At those words, sighs of relief and murmurs rose up everywhere.
Before I knew it, I was seated in the best spot by the fireplace in the largest house. Someone poured hot liquid generously into a wooden bowl and shoved it toward me, someone else handed me dried meat, and yet another person offered roasted potatoes one after another.
“Here, eat, eat, Yu! Aren’t you shaking?”
“Drink, drink. Tonight you’re our savior. Don’t hold back.”
Those people who had handed me a bowl yesterday as if appraising me with “food is only for what you work for” were now competing to fill my bowl tonight. Honestly, I couldn’t settle down.
Because I wasn’t the one who truly stopped that Shadow Hound. It was this ball of fur pretending not to know anything right here in my clothes. I had just swung a hoe with trembling hands. Yet everyone was looking at me, offering words of thanks, and handing me bowls. It tickled, and I felt a little bit guilty.
Still, the hot thing passed down my throat and slowly warmed the core of my chilled body. …It’s unfair, I think. Even while thinking that, I couldn’t possibly push that warmth away.
That night, when I finally regained my composure and lay down in the assigned bed, I couldn’t sleep for a while. When I closed my eyes, the window floated behind my eyelids just like always.
“Daily Reward—Experience Points +2”
…Is it 2 today? Yesterday it was 1. Just whimsical changes day by day, and my level remains at 1 as always. Only the numbers piling up in the corner of the window had increased just a little bit more than last night.
Whether I worked or didn’t work, whether I slept, the numbers in the corner of the window simply and faithfully increased by two. Killing a monster, and this village counting me for the first time tonight—probably neither of those things had anything to do with this number. It just got dark, and it increased on its own. …It was a carefree number, completely contrary to what was in my heart tonight.
It was a lively night. My stomach was warm, too. Even so, that sensation still remained in the palms of my hands. The dull weight that traveled up the handle into my arms, and that moment when the light faded from the murky eyes. They kept coming back to me at random moments.
—I killed a living creature. The me from the world I came from had never taken a life, nor did I ever need to take one. I lived in a world where someone, somewhere, always did those things for you. Tonight, with these no-matter-how-many-bowls-of-food-I-stacked hands—I just couldn’t wash away this weight.
Even so, that village, which hadn’t even counted me among the living until last night, “counted” me for the first time tonight. The weight left in my hands and the warmth at the bottom of my stomach—those two things didn’t blend into one very well, but both of them were things I had truly grasped tonight.
Inside my clothes, Maro felt small and warm. This perfectly round ball of fur, in such a tiny body that had just hatched, had stopped that Shadow Hound from moving just a moment ago. …What on earth are you? Even when I asked, there was no reply, just warmth.
Tomorrow will probably be just another day of usual chores. Yet, it felt like the color of that “usual” was just a tiny bit different from last night.
—Holding onto that small difference, I gently closed my eyes.