Chapter 21

Goddess.

Aaaargh, damn it!
Captain of the Guard!

You mustn’t die!

Yes, once we were enemies.
The image of my siblings, roasted golden-brown, is still vivid before my eyes.
I should be hating this human called the captain of the guard.

…Should I really?

Honestly, I don’t have even a shred of affection for my siblings.
I had just been moved by the captain’s sacrifice.

Still… that was a bit much.
He swung his sword the moment he saw me.
It was thanks to the serpent’s reflexes that I survived.
I dodged and, as I brushed past, bit his arm.

Even so… didn’t he die too quickly?
Did I really kill him?

Ah… now that I think about it, it was like that back then too.
When my older brother (Little Green serpent lv3), who was fighting me, perished together with the Claw Bat.
I hadn’t personally cut off his breath, yet it counted as my kill.

Maybe this is the same thing.
It was the chimera that killed the captain.
Not me.
He probably would have died even if I had done nothing…
There’s no way I killed a captain with such a magnificent mustache.

• [Achievement ‘Killed the Captain of the Guard’ has been obtained.]

…But the message rang out far too clearly.
After traits, skills, and status, now even achievements?
It’s practically confirming that I killed him.
What? I’m the one who delivered the finishing blow?
Hmm…

【Achievement】

[Kill the Captain of the Guard]

Is it okay for a record like this to remain?
Isn’t this a violation of human rights?
What if someone sees it?

【Kill the Captain of the Guard】
You have killed the captain of a territory’s guard.
When fighting guards, you do not tire easily and your strength surges.
You will evoke a strange hostility from guards.

Well, it’s not like human guards would ever like me anyway.
It doesn’t seem immediately useful, but it’s not bad either.

Let’s be grateful.
This is the captain’s legacy.
That’s how I decided to think of it.

…Actually, that wasn’t his only legacy.
Excuse me for a moment.
I rummaged through the captain’s belongings.
I was, in fact, looting his possessions.
Even so, I couldn’t just leave everything behind.
It would be better for me to take and use them than to let beasts tear them apart.
The captain would be pleased, surely.

Wow!

This guy was seriously obsessed with fire attacks.
The captain had several more oil bottles tucked away.
They all seemed useful, so I took them.
Huh? This one isn’t oil?

A bottle sealed with a cork sloshed with a red liquid.
I barely managed to open it with my tail.

Pop—

A refreshing sound, followed by a sweet fragrance.
When I flicked my tongue to taste it, warmth spread through my body.
The wounds on my body began to heal.

【Consecrated Water】
Water blessed by a priest of the Goddess Church. Heals wounds and boosts mana.

This is a potion.
Both a health potion and a mana potion—how rare. This really is a fantasy world.
And does that mean a goddess exists? I used to be an atheist.

I searched the other soldiers as well.
Some were split clean in half at the waist, making things a bit troublesome.
Ugh… intestines.
I was careful not to get any brown fluid on me.

…Wait.
Come to think of it, this was my first time properly seeing people dead like this.
A human body cut in half—and instead of fear, I’m just worried about getting dirty.

Shouldn’t it be different?
“Ugh! A human corpse…!”
“The shock of killing someone…!”
Maybe that’s how I should be reacting.

But staying calm like this… it does feel strange.
Still… it’s kind of nice.
Much better than whining.
I feel like a proud serpent.

Long live Mental Strength 20.

The loot I gathered was varied.
First, a valuable potion. Then quite a bit of dried rations.
I took everything.
And arrows, blades—I collected them all.

If you’re wondering how I plan to use them without hands, I have my ways.
I stored everything in the subspace of my ring.

The chimera had taken about one and a half soldiers away in its jaws,
so including the captain, four and a half remained.

I decided to give them a simple funeral.
Not out of sentiment, but because I didn’t want the chimera to come back and eat the rest.
If it stayed hungry, I could lure it out and hunt it.

With my small body, gathering the corpses wasn’t easy.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the chimera had torn them into pieces, so I could drag them one by one.
The armored knight was too heavy to move.
The others I gathered near the intact captain.

I uncorked an oil bottle and scattered the oil.
Beginner elemental magic: Fire.

Whoosh!

Black smoke rose as the dead were cremated.
It might not be a proper cremation, but this should be enough.

Namu Amida Buddha.
Though you died in vain in this life, may you be reborn in a better place and find happiness.
Being reincarnated as a serpent like me… isn’t so bad either.

What remained was the knight the captain had saved.
Though it seemed his sacrifice had been in vain—the knight appeared dead.

As I was about to pour oil on him, I paused.

…He’s alive.

Slow, but definitely breathing.
Blood seeped from his mouth—probably internal bleeding.
His chest armor was caved in; no wonder.

【Knight Zain lv16】

【Traits】

[Knight], [Brat]

Wow, his trait is literally ‘Brat.’
Does he know that? That’d be pretty embarrassing.
Unlike the captain, I had heard his name, so his real name—Zain—was displayed.

As expected of a knight, he had several unfamiliar skills.
The ones that stood out were ‘Aura lv2’ and ‘Intermediate Swordsmanship lv5.’

The name ‘Aura’ makes my manly heart race.
Is that like sword energy or something?
If I could coat my fangs with aura, I’d have nothing to fear.

I tried to borrow it using Borrowed Horn.

• [Failed to borrow Aura lv2.]

I tried a few times, but only wasted mana.
Seems my proficiency with Borrowed Horn is too low.
Too bad, but nothing I can do.

Besides, I had already borrowed a skill from Paphnachia.
I almost burned him alive earlier.

……

To be honest, I did hesitate for a moment.
Wasn’t this a perfect chance to finish off the knight?
A light bite would be enough.
My neurotoxin would kill the wounded knight cleanly.

But…

I chose differently.

Didn’t the captain—the man I acknowledged—die trying to save this knight?
Whether saving this brat was worth it or not,
I decided to respect the captain’s will.

Well… I also felt a bit guilty for finishing him off by mistake.
And since I’m already at max level, killing the knight wouldn’t give me any experience anyway.

Still… it’s a bit of a shame…

Hm?

Something was glinting on his neck.

【Blessed Necklace】
A small amount of luck follows you. Perhaps that luck will save your life.

…Is this why the knight is still alive?

It probably isn’t because of that.
Still, taking this much as the price of a life should be fine.
As the victor, I decided to boldly claim the spoils.

Why is this thing so tough?
Since I couldn’t unfasten the necklace with my tail, it wasn’t easy to take.

And then I flinched in surprise. The knight’s eyes were half open.
I was so startled I almost sank my fangs into his neck.

The knight remained still, seemingly unaware that he had just nearly died.
It didn’t look like he had regained consciousness—he seemed out cold.
That scared me.

The necklace came off.
I’ll make good use of it.

That was when—

Chuup.

The knight kissed my ring.

“…Ugh… G–Goddess….”

This lunatic.
Without thinking, I smacked his nose with my tail.
Even as blood streamed from his nose, he grinned foolishly.

Ah, Captain of the Guard.
You gave your life for someone like this.

After offering my respects to the captain once more, I left the place.
Next time I meet the chimera, I’ll hunt it and evolve.

***

Zain’s armor had been custom-made in the capital of the kingdom.
On the day Gunter accepted him as a squire, he personally commissioned a full plate mail set from a workshop.

Not every knight could wear such armor.
Properly made full plate mail required several sacks of gold coins.

Because of that, it was a gift of grace from his lord.
And that grace had saved Zain’s life.
If it had been ordinary chainmail, the chimera’s slash would have split him in two.
The plate armor had merely caved in.

Zain had been flung away and lost consciousness.
It had been unbearably painful.
Painful enough to make him think of death.

The knight, whose training was still incomplete, dreamed within his sinking consciousness.
And it was clearly a nightmare.
It was a dream he had often seen since becoming a knight.

A dream of dying.

One where he joined an unwinnable battle,
or fought a monster he could not defeat—and died.

In the end, he would always collapse, blood spilling from his mouth.
Even in the dream, it was the same.
It felt as if a hole had been pierced through his abdomen; all strength drained from his body.
Blood continuously poured from his lips.

He couldn’t tell whether this was a dream or reality.
It felt like he was truly dying.

Zain tremblingly raised his blood-stained hand to his neck.

There was a necklace there.
Zain was a believer in the Goddess of the Brazier and Flame.
The priest had told him that when he died, he would return to the Goddess’s embrace.

Would that happen to him too?

He swallowed back the tears threatening to fall.

Saaa—

Somewhere, a chilling wind could be heard.
Had the reaper come to take him?

Saaak!

Something brushed softly across his face.
It was at that moment that Zain opened his eyes in his hazy state.

‘Goddess?’

Flames were rising everywhere.
The dead were burning.
Whenever he visited the temple of the Goddess of the Brazier and Flame, fires like these always burned.
This pungent smell—it was the scent of the temple.

…Am I dead?

Zain thought so.

His body wouldn’t move.

“Goddess…”

In his dazed consciousness, Zain called out to her.

Then, something cold and slender brushed across his forehead.
A finger wearing a ring.

Zain realized—it was the Goddess’s hand.

“Goddess…”

It felt as though the dying ember of faith in his heart had been rekindled.
Zain willingly pressed his lips to the Goddess’s ring.

Saaak!

The wind blew.

And something slapped across Zain’s face.

His consciousness sank once more.

***

After a long time, Zain opened his eyes.

“Gasp…! Ugh!”

Unlike in the dream, his body felt unbearably heavy.
His mouth was smeared with blood.
His chest throbbed—seeing the dented armor, it was a miracle he had survived.

“…Ah, Captain of the Guard!”

Only then did Zain recall what had happened before he lost consciousness.

But when he looked around, his face turned pale.

“Everyone… ngh!”

Everyone was dead.
Moreover, their bodies had been gathered in one place and burned to ashes.

“Who could have done something like this…”

He vaguely remembered dreaming of the Goddess.
But why were the others cremated like this in reality?

Zain had no clues to deduce the truth.

He clenched his fist tightly.

It was defeat.
An undeniable failure of the mission.
There was no choice now but to return to the territory of Greyrim.

And on top of that—the disgrace of being the only survivor.
His heart grew heavy.

“So, when you woke up, everything around you was on fire?”
“…Yes, that is correct.”

At the lord’s question, Zain answered with a haggard face.

“The captain of the guard and the soldiers were all dead?”
“Yes. I confirmed it before I lost consciousness.”
“Could they not have survived?”
“Their heads were severed, their waists split, and their chests pierced.”
“…Hmph. So the chimera was that strong. Even with an Appraisal Scroll, you couldn’t tell?”
“At first, it wasn’t that strong. But it suddenly molted, and its speed increased tremendously.”

The lord let out a deep sigh, clearly troubled.
“This is troublesome. Very troublesome.”

“Shamefully, I alone have returned alive. If you grant me another chance, I will surely hunt down and kill that chimera.”

Zain dropped to one knee.
His figure was solemn and resolute.

“Rise, Zain.”

The one who gave the order was not the lord.

The towering man standing beside him—
the true master of the halberd,
one of the Eight Heroes,
known by the title “Steel .”

Gunter Frihansen had returned to this place.

“Interesting. Both the story of the chimera… and the story of the Goddess.”

He had only just returned to Greyrim, yet it seemed Gunter was already preparing to depart again.

“You will depart with me to that place. How much time do you need?”
“I’m ready!”
“Then prepare.”
“Yes!”

Zain responded loudly.