Folke, Haman, Paulo, Doris.
These four were originally part of the same Mercenary Band, but now, they were criminals on the run after killing their client.
A horde of monsters appeared during a merchant escort mission.
It wasn’t a place where such a number of monsters should have appeared, but the unexpected attack brought devastating losses to the Mercenary Band.
In the midst of it, Doris and the three mercenaries who followed him made a quick decision.
Their destination was still far away.
Expensive goods and riches, inversely proportional to their dwindling number of escorts.
For them, killing the client and the remaining mercenaries in the dead of night and escaping with the valuable goods was an obvious choice that required no hesitation.
Doris was a rather clever man.
He thought there would be no problems since they had killed everyone, but with a little investigation, the missing goods and the names registered with the Mercenary Band could be traced back to them.
So, they ran without rest, as far as they could.
While on the run, they stumbled upon a rural village.
Though technically part of Count Dalton’s Domain, that was just a formality.
The Count’s family would surely pay no attention to a tiny village like this, so they planned to lay low here for a while.
A village so small it wasn’t even marked on the map.
In some ways, it looked like a slash-and-burn settlement—perfect for hiding, and so, they had no plans to cause any big trouble here.
But then…
“You jerks! Don’t you dare hit Hio!”
A red-haired girl came running down from upstairs, shouting at the top of her lungs.
She looked to be just barely an adult.
Even with her frowning expression, her radiant looks were on par with a noble family’s young lady raised with care.
Doris, who had been stunned for a moment by the appearance of a girl he’d never expect to see in such a small village, soon flashed a sly grin.
“Well now… this changes things.”
He’d planned to just flaunt a bit of force and loaf around in the village, but after seeing that face, how could he resist?
A bit of commotion might arise, but that girl was well worth it.
Just her presence alone seemed to brighten the gloomy interior.
“Ahhh.”
The three mercenaries following Doris seemed to have similar thoughts, their eyes darting up and down as they grinned lecherously.
“Boss. That’s a real catch, huh?”
“What an unexpected windfall.”
Unaware of their exchange, the girl, Claire, came down from upstairs and stood beside Hio, gripping his shoulders and peering into his face.
“Why do you just stand there and get hit like an idiot!”
Then she whipped her head around to glare at Doris.
“Who are you people! We don’t need customers like you, so get out of our shop right now!”
But Doris’s smile only deepened at her fierce gaze and sharp voice.
“Hehehe… Are you his wife or something? Why don’t you come with us instead of that weakling? We can really show you a good time.”
“Yeah! We’re way better than a guy who can’t even act like a man!”
“And there’s four of us.”
“That means four times the fun!”
Even as Claire tried to kick them out, their nasty grins only grew as they slowly approached, making Claire flinch at last.
“D-Don’t come any closer!”
Of course, Doris’s gang paid her no mind.
“I told you not to come any closer…!”
As Claire kept backing away, a small flame suddenly sparked from her fingertips.
Doris stopped in his tracks, startled by the sudden flare of fire.
“Stop! Unless you want to be roasted right here!”
It wasn’t big enough to actually roast someone on the spot, but still—she could use a skill.
That hot fire was real, and if they approached carelessly like before, they could get badly burned.
“This just makes me want her even more. A skill user, huh.”
“What should we do, boss?”
“Let’s just take her? She looks like she just awakened her power and can’t control it well anyway.”
Despite the urging, Doris was cautious.
“Hmm.”
He could hear many footsteps heading toward the shop from outside.
Haman and Paulo must have heard it too, as they quietly looked at Doris.
***
After a moment’s thought, Doris looked at Claire and flashed a nasty grin.
“Let’s just go for today.”
If they really wanted to, they could force it.
There were a lot of people outside, but they were just unarmed villagers.
If they quickly subdued the two in front of them and dragged them outside, stabbing a few as a warning, the rest would lose their will to resist and scatter in no time.
“Tch… lucky.”
“If only she wasn’t a skill user…”
“Hehehe. We’ll see you again, right?”
The real problem was Claire, the skill user.
Doris’s goal wasn’t to kill her, but to take her alive.
If she put up a fierce resistance, it would take time and they might get hurt.
If that happened, dealing with the crowd outside would be tough.
There were easier ways, so there was no need to rush things right now.
“See you soon. ᄒᄒᄒᄒ.”
With that, Doris’s gang opened the shop door and walked outside.
***
[What are you looking at! Never seen a former mercenary?]
[Haman, don’t say it like that. Wouldn’t it be better if we all got along? Got along.]
[We didn’t do anything, alright? We were just talking, so why’s everyone crowding around…]
Through the open door, Doris’s gang could be seen casually chatting with the villagers as they disappeared into the night.
“Kids! Are you alright?”
A middle-aged woman burst through the door.
This was Selly, the owner of the shop and Claire’s mother.
“I was about to come in when I heard someone getting hit, so I called people over… Oh my! Hio! Look at these injuries! What are we going to do!”
Selly finally spotted Hio, whose cheek was swollen red and his lip was split, and she rushed over in a fluster.
“Claire! Go pick some Ssoi Flower Petals, quickly!”
“Haha… Ma’am, I’m fine.”
Hio scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward smile.
Of course, he was pretty annoyed, but it wasn’t all for nothing.
[Hidden Trait: Violence is Forbidden! (Endurance: 734 / 1000)]
Just from their visit, his Endurance had gone up by 12.
That’s a number that would take months of teasing from the village kids to achieve…
It meant he’d put up with a lot, but at least for now, he was feeling pretty good.
“You call this fine! Claire, what are you doing! Hurry up and go!”
Of course, Selly, who didn’t know any of this, gave him a smack on the back.
“Idiot.”
***
If you grind up Ssoi Flower Petals until they’re juicy, they’re actually somewhat effective on wounds.
“Pathetic.”
This was something you’d never know just playing the game—it really drove home that this was a living, breathing world.
“Don’t you feel wronged, always just taking it? Even if it doesn’t work, you should at least fight back!”
Claire grumbled as she smeared the medicine around Hio’s mouth.
Thanks to her, his lips were now covered in Ssoi Flower Petal juice.
“This… isn’t this a bit much for the size of the wound…”
“Shut up! What’s so great about getting beat up without even trying to resist!”
“Claire.”
Looking at the fuming Claire, Hio spoke seriously.
“Violence is forbidden.”
“Don’t make excuses!”
“Okay.”
As she rubbed the remaining Ssoi Flower Petal juice on Hio’s red cheek, Claire spoke in a calmer tone.
“I made up my mind again. I’m definitely going to the Imperial Academy.”
For some reason, she sounded more resolute than usual, and Hio just listened quietly.
“I know it’ll be hard. But I’ll save up money and keep practicing my abilities. I think I’m getting pretty good at it now.”
Claire was ambitious.
She definitely didn’t fit the mold of a girl from a rural village.
For most people, the small village where they were born and raised was their whole world, and anything beyond it was truly unknown territory.
It would be natural to be afraid, but Claire only thought and acted for the sake of her chosen goal.
“I don’t know exactly how much money or skill is needed. Do you… know, Hio?”
“…Imperial Academy, huh.”
Of course, he knew the rough idea.
For those who were transmigrators, it wasn’t really a necessary step, but overall, it was an important institution with many big-shot NPCs.
Probably, that transmigrator who became a professor there did so to make connections with those big shots.
Just as Hio was about to answer after a moment’s thought—
“Never mind. There’s no way you’d know, Hio.”
Claire cut off his answer first.
She hadn’t really expected a reply.
Selly and Claire had never once asked about Hio’s past.
‘They guessed he must have a story, but who doesn’t?’
With that in mind, they took Hio in without any questions.
But the Imperial Academy was so far away from this remote village that Claire naturally assumed Hio was also from a nearby rural area.
“Alright, all done. Don’t move until the swelling goes down.”
As Claire gathered up the bowl and started to leave the room, Hio called out to her.
“Claire.”
“Yeah?”
He hesitated for a moment, then just shook his head.
“It’s nothing.”
“…You’re so bland.”
After Claire left, Hio flopped down on the floor.
“They’ll definitely come back.”
Those four mercenaries didn’t seem like proper mercenaries at all.
The way they looked Claire up and down was so blatant, it was impossible not to notice.
Well, Claire, who’d never experienced anything like that, seemed completely oblivious.
“Guys like that are always the same.”
They were so obvious, it was as if he could read their thoughts.
They’d be camping somewhere near the village, sneaking back in after dark.
“Guess I’ll have to be ready by evening.”
He planned to deal with them before they could come back to the village.
Of course, he couldn’t use violence, so he’d just scare them a little.
Even Hio himself found his skills intimidating, so those bottom-feeders would surely turn tail and run.
The more people who’d killed before, the more they knew how easy and close death really was.
“If I can raise my Endurance a bit more before driving them off, that’d be great.”
It was really hard to raise Endurance.
Just putting up with the kids’ teasing day by day barely made a dent.
Endurance only increased by truly holding back violence and suppressing real anger.
There was no way these kind villagers would ever do something like that to him.
And moving to another village wasn’t an option, either.
“Hmm. Guess I’ll use those guys to boost my Endurance a bit before kicking them out.”
With that thought, Hio slowly closed his eyes.
***
When he opened his eyes again, the sun was setting outside the window.
Hio peeled off the dried Ssoi Flower Petal juice from his face and stretched.
“Time to get going.”
He had a few guesses about where those guys might be hiding.
He knew the terrain around the village like the back of his hand.
“Ma’am, I’m going out for a bit.”
Downstairs, Selly and a few village elders were sitting around chatting.
It seemed tonight’s dinner would be handled here.
It happened often enough that Hio just walked past them without a second thought.
“Oh? Hio, weren’t you out already?”
“I just dozed off upstairs after applying some medicine.”
Hio gave a vague answer to Selly’s question and headed for the shop door.
“Really? I thought you and Claire were both out playing since I didn’t see either of you.”
At that moment, Hio froze.
“Claire… isn’t here?”
“Yeah. I went to her room earlier and she wasn’t there.”
A bad feeling crept up on him.
‘Wasn’t Claire determined to go to the Academy, practicing her abilities all day, even as she was treating his wounds?’
But Selly hadn’t asked her to go out for anything, and yet she’d left?
The village kids weren’t a match for her, so she always stayed in her room—she never even went out to train.
After all, only Selly, Hio, and Claire herself knew about her abilities.
Selly and Claire were unusually aware that it was best not to let it be known she was a skill user.
But why would Claire go outside at a time like this and not come back?
It could really just be a walk…
But then, what was that black smoke rising in the distance?
The main character is pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger…
but the tiger is just paper! Hahahaha.