Chapter 116: The Price of Slaughter (3)
The next morning.
I had to go to the farm earlier than usual.
It was to finish the work that I couldn’t finish yesterday, before anyone else came.
There were still traces of the black mage I had killed yesterday on my farm.
It was the first time I had ever used a knife on a person, even though I was Daniel.
The dead black mage was still hidden in a corner of the slaughterhouse.
I had to clean up his traces before anyone found out.
“This is a mess.”
I said as I entered the slaughterhouse and saw the leather in the corner.
I had brought the black mage I killed last night and covered him with it.
The slaughterhouse was a place where I had forbidden anyone else to enter.
I had hidden the black mage there with the door locked, but I didn’t know when someone would come.
If someone found out the truth under the leather, it would be the end of me.
Not only the inquisitors of the holy land, but also the Cloud of the empire would come to investigate me.
“I have to hide this somehow.”
I fiddled with the tools on my waist, and then turned my head when I felt a presence outside.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
From beyond the closed door of the slaughterhouse, I heard heavy footsteps.
The footsteps that reached my ears were getting louder.
The footsteps stopped right in front of the door of the slaughterhouse.
Someone had come to the slaughterhouse.
Bang.
A heavy hand shook the locked door.
I took my hand off my waist and leaned my back against the door.
“Who is it?”
I asked the person behind the wall, sticking to the door.
I wanted to find out if he was an inquisitor by his voice.
When he heard my voice, the man on the other side made a rustling sound with a hoarse voice.
It was not a familiar voice to me.
He shook the door for a while, and then spoke to me inside.
“Huff, is this… where Daniel lives…?”
“I’m Daniel.”
I admitted my identity to the voice that was looking for me, breathing heavily.
He must have known exactly who I was and came for me.
I didn’t know why he came, but he looked very urgent.
Bang. Bang.
The man banged on the door again after hearing my answer.
He spoke louder so that I could hear him.
“I’m Elliot, sent by the order. I came to see you.”
“Is that so.”
“Can I come in and see your face, please? Can you open the door?”
Order.
The unexpected word made my eyes harden.
I had told Archbishop Roan the location of my farm at the last meeting.
If Roan had sent someone to contact me, it wouldn’t be strange if he arrived now.
But to face the order in this situation…
It was the worst situation for me.
“Wait a minute.”
I couldn’t just leave Elliot waiting at the door.
If the inquisitors saw a follower of the cult standing at the door, it wouldn’t be strange if they blew up the whole village, not just me.
Even if it meant exposing myself as an ordinary farmer, I had to hide Elliot in the slaughterhouse.
Clank. Creak.
I unlocked the door and opened it, looking at Elliot who was standing at the door.
He was bleeding from his forehead, looking at me.
“You can come in.”
“The smell of blood…”
“It’s a slaughterhouse. The smell must have lingered.”
Elliot immediately covered his nose as he entered the slaughterhouse.
The peculiar smell of the slaughterhouse was hard to bear.
And the stench of the black mage and the leather I had brought in at dawn was also mixed in.
I asked Elliot to be careful and locked the door of the slaughterhouse.
The door was closed as tightly as before he came in.
He pulled back his hood and spoke to me.
“You can speak freely. Besides, you have a ring on your left hand.”
“A ring?”
“It’s a ring that only those chosen by the order receive. Everyone in the order will respect your words as their priority.”
I looked at the gemstone ring on my left hand.
It was the cause of dragging me to the regular meeting of the order.
It seemed that this ring had a tremendous power hidden in it.
I nodded and accepted Elliot’s suggestion.
There was no reason not to speak freely if he said so.
“Let’s do that.”
“Yes. That’s fine.”
“Do I have to do the same to others?”
“Of course, you can speak freely to anyone else in the order… Ah, ah!”
As he tried to get closer to me, Elliot stepped on the leather.
Swish.
He slipped forward as he stepped on the leather.
He tried to regain his balance, but some of the leather under his foot slid forward.
As the leather slid forward, it revealed the black mage that was covered by it.
Elliot panicked and backed away as he faced the dead black mage.
“Ah, ah, ahhhh…!”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know that’s what you meant by a slaughterhouse…”
“…”
“This person must have been your target yesterday. You did a good job, worthy of your name as the silent butcher…”
Elliot tried to make excuses under my glare.
I sighed and rubbed my forehead.
I had covered him with leather to avoid the eyes of the inquisitors, but I ended up exposing him to someone from the order.
It seemed that Elliot had a huge misunderstanding after seeing that.
Daniel spoke to Elliot, who was backing away with a scared expression.
“This thing… it’s not what you think.”
“Oh… I’m sorry. It seems that wasn’t your full power. If you used your full power, you would have dealt with the target much more cleanly.”
“Huff…”
“Anyway, I’m so glad to meet you like this! I think I can trust and ask you for a favor, since you are the renowned Daniel!”
As Daniel made an awkward face in the growing misunderstanding, Elliot started to talk about his request.
A request for Daniel himself.
Daniel looked at Elliot with a doubtful expression.
What kind of request could the church have for him, who was nothing more than a farmer in the frontier?
Daniel couldn’t easily imagine what it was.
“A request…?”
“Yes! I have a desperate request for you, Daniel, the Silent Slayer!”
“What is it?”
“My subordinates who were traveling with me to this place were ambushed by the heresy inquisitors and scattered in all directions!”
“What did you say?”
“I barely escaped and came to ask for your salvation! Please, save my subordinates who are in danger!”
Daniel felt suffocated when he heard Elliot’s request.
Asking him to save his colleagues who were chased by the heresy inquisitors meant that he had to fight against them.
They wanted me, a mere farmer, to fight off the heresy inquisitors.
That was an absurd request, even if they were desperate.
Did they really think I was some formidable assassin?
I felt cold sweat on my palms as I thought that.
“Did you say you were ambushed by the heresy inquisitors?”
“I’m ashamed to ask you this favor on our first meeting, Daniel. But you are the only one I can rely on right now!”
“I…”
“Please, I beg you! They are loyal followers of the Great One! You have to save them!”
Elliot quickly approached me and grabbed my pant leg.
Squeeze.
I looked at him with a bewildered gaze as he held onto my pants.
I had no power to kill the heresy inquisitors and rescue the church’s believers.
That was something only the evil god in the sky could do.
I grabbed Elliot’s hand that was holding my pant leg.
And as I tried to pull it off, I spoke to him.
“Listen carefully. I can’t do that…”
“Help me! Daniel!”
“…”
“Daniel! Please, I implore you! You are the only hope we have from the Great One!”
The more I tried to shake him off, the more he clung to me.
This was troublesome.
I couldn’t do anything for them in this situation.
I was not their savior.
I didn’t have the ability to perform miraculous feats like the others in the church.
All I could do was slaughter weak beasts.
I had killed a careless black mage on impulse, but that was nothing but a fluke.
“Don’t count on me.”
So I had to reject him harshly.
I had to reveal my pathetic identity, even if it meant crushing his hopes.
I glared at Elliot who was hanging onto my pant leg.
I wanted to make him face reality.
“Daniel…?”
“All I can do is turn living meat into dead meat.”
“What do you mean…?”
“I can’t accept your request–”
Thud.
My words were cut off.
I hastily got up and looked at the locked door outside.
There was a voice echoing from outside.
A voice that was familiar to me.
“Landlord! Are you there!”
It was the voice of a heresy inquisitor.
As I heard the powerful voice of the heresy inquisitor, a chill ran down my spine.
My eyes, frozen cold, looked at the scene of the slaughterhouse.
There were a dead black mage and a church believer hiding in the slaughterhouse.
If the door of the slaughterhouse opened.
And if the heresy inquisitor saw this sight, what would happen?
It was obvious that it would be the end.
“I don’t think we have much time to talk. For now, we need to hide…”
“Landlord! We know you’re here! We have some questions for you, so come out for a moment!”
“Damn it, that heresy inquisitor bastard.”
I pushed Elliot away and checked the lock of the slaughterhouse.
Thankfully, the lock of the slaughterhouse was firmly closed.
If I pretended to be absent, maybe the heresy inquisitors would give up and go back to the village.
As I held my breath and tried to endure, I heard Albert’s voice again from outside.
“There are footprints on that building. Could it be that the landlord is there?”
This time, his voice sounded like he had pinpointed my location.
It seemed that Elliot had left his footprints when he came in here.
If they followed Elliot’s footprints, it was natural to guess that I was here.
I glared at Elliot with cold sweat dripping from my forehead.
Elliot was also trembling after hearing the word heresy inquisitor.
“Landlord! Are you there?”
Bang! Bang!
The door of the slaughterhouse shook with the rough knocks of the heresy inquisitor.
I grabbed the lock with my shaking hand as I saw it shaking.
I couldn’t let them discover Elliot and me.
The moment this door opened, Anna and I would be as good as dead.
The lock that I held with my stiff hand kept shaking from the violent knocks.
“Maybe you can’t hear me because the knocks are too quiet!”
Crash!
A louder noise rang out.
A small crack appeared on the door that collided with the heresy inquisitor’s fist.
If this continued, the door would eventually open.
There were armed heresy inquisitors in front of me, and behind me were the believers of the evil god sent by the church.
It was a situation of being trapped on all sides.
“Ah…”
And when that moment came, those weak humans would suddenly realize something.
The final moment.
There was nowhere to lean on,
Only their pitiful human flesh remained below.
All they could do was shout out the name of God.
“Oh God…”
Chapter 116: The Price of Slaughter (3)
The next morning.
I had to go to the farm earlier than usual.
It was to finish the work that I couldn’t finish yesterday, before anyone else came.
There were still traces of the black mage I had killed yesterday on my farm.
It was the first time I had ever used a knife on a person, even though I was Daniel.
The dead black mage was still hidden in a corner of the slaughterhouse.
I had to clean up his traces before anyone found out.
“This is a mess.”
I said as I entered the slaughterhouse and saw the leather in the corner.
I had brought the black mage I killed last night and covered him with it.
The slaughterhouse was a place where I had forbidden anyone else to enter.
I had hidden the black mage there with the door locked, but I didn’t know when someone would come.
If someone found out the truth under the leather, it would be the end of me.
Not only the inquisitors of the holy land, but also the Cloud of the empire would come to investigate me.
“I have to hide this somehow.”
I fiddled with the tools on my waist, and then turned my head when I felt a presence outside.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
From beyond the closed door of the slaughterhouse, I heard heavy footsteps.
The footsteps that reached my ears were getting louder.
The footsteps stopped right in front of the door of the slaughterhouse.
Someone had come to the slaughterhouse.
Bang.
A heavy hand shook the locked door.
I took my hand off my waist and leaned my back against the door.
“Who is it?”
I asked the person behind the wall, sticking to the door.
I wanted to find out if he was an inquisitor by his voice.
When he heard my voice, the man on the other side made a rustling sound with a hoarse voice.
It was not a familiar voice to me.
He shook the door for a while, and then spoke to me inside.
“Huff, is this… where Daniel lives…?”
“I’m Daniel.”
I admitted my identity to the voice that was looking for me, breathing heavily.
He must have known exactly who I was and came for me.
I didn’t know why he came, but he looked very urgent.
Bang. Bang.
The man banged on the door again after hearing my answer.
He spoke louder so that I could hear him.
“I’m Elliot, sent by the order. I came to see you.”
“Is that so.”
“Can I come in and see your face, please? Can you open the door?”
Order.
The unexpected word made my eyes harden.
I had told Archbishop Roan the location of my farm at the last meeting.
If Roan had sent someone to contact me, it wouldn’t be strange if he arrived now.
But to face the order in this situation…
It was the worst situation for me.
“Wait a minute.”
I couldn’t just leave Elliot waiting at the door.
If the inquisitors saw a follower of the cult standing at the door, it wouldn’t be strange if they blew up the whole village, not just me.
Even if it meant exposing myself as an ordinary farmer, I had to hide Elliot in the slaughterhouse.
Clank. Creak.
I unlocked the door and opened it, looking at Elliot who was standing at the door.
He was bleeding from his forehead, looking at me.
“You can come in.”
“The smell of blood…”
“It’s a slaughterhouse. The smell must have lingered.”
Elliot immediately covered his nose as he entered the slaughterhouse.
The peculiar smell of the slaughterhouse was hard to bear.
And the stench of the black mage and the leather I had brought in at dawn was also mixed in.
I asked Elliot to be careful and locked the door of the slaughterhouse.
The door was closed as tightly as before he came in.
He pulled back his hood and spoke to me.
“You can speak freely. Besides, you have a ring on your left hand.”
“A ring?”
“It’s a ring that only those chosen by the order receive. Everyone in the order will respect your words as their priority.”
I looked at the gemstone ring on my left hand.
It was the cause of dragging me to the regular meeting of the order.
It seemed that this ring had a tremendous power hidden in it.
I nodded and accepted Elliot’s suggestion.
There was no reason not to speak freely if he said so.
“Let’s do that.”
“Yes. That’s fine.”
“Do I have to do the same to others?”
“Of course, you can speak freely to anyone else in the order… Ah, ah!”
As he tried to get closer to me, Elliot stepped on the leather.
Swish.
He slipped forward as he stepped on the leather.
He tried to regain his balance, but some of the leather under his foot slid forward.
As the leather slid forward, it revealed the black mage that was covered by it.
Elliot panicked and backed away as he faced the dead black mage.
“Ah, ah, ahhhh…!”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know that’s what you meant by a slaughterhouse…”
“…”
“This person must have been your target yesterday. You did a good job, worthy of your name as the silent butcher…”
Elliot tried to make excuses under my glare.
I sighed and rubbed my forehead.
I had covered him with leather to avoid the eyes of the inquisitors, but I ended up exposing him to someone from the order.
It seemed that Elliot had a huge misunderstanding after seeing that.
Daniel spoke to Elliot, who was backing away with a scared expression.
“This thing… it’s not what you think.”
“Oh… I’m sorry. It seems that wasn’t your full power. If you used your full power, you would have dealt with the target much more cleanly.”
“Huff…”
“Anyway, I’m so glad to meet you like this! I think I can trust and ask you for a favor, since you are the renowned Daniel!”
As Daniel made an awkward face in the growing misunderstanding, Elliot started to talk about his request.
A request for Daniel himself.
Daniel looked at Elliot with a doubtful expression.
What kind of request could the church have for him, who was nothing more than a farmer in the frontier?
Daniel couldn’t easily imagine what it was.
“A request…?”
“Yes! I have a desperate request for you, Daniel, the Silent Slayer!”
“What is it?”
“My subordinates who were traveling with me to this place were ambushed by the heresy inquisitors and scattered in all directions!”
“What did you say?”
“I barely escaped and came to ask for your salvation! Please, save my subordinates who are in danger!”
Daniel felt suffocated when he heard Elliot’s request.
Asking him to save his colleagues who were chased by the heresy inquisitors meant that he had to fight against them.
They wanted me, a mere farmer, to fight off the heresy inquisitors.
That was an absurd request, even if they were desperate.
Did they really think I was some formidable assassin?
I felt cold sweat on my palms as I thought that.
“Did you say you were ambushed by the heresy inquisitors?”
“I’m ashamed to ask you this favor on our first meeting, Daniel. But you are the only one I can rely on right now!”
“I…”
“Please, I beg you! They are loyal followers of the Great One! You have to save them!”
Elliot quickly approached me and grabbed my pant leg.
Squeeze.
I looked at him with a bewildered gaze as he held onto my pants.
I had no power to kill the heresy inquisitors and rescue the church’s believers.
That was something only the evil god in the sky could do.
I grabbed Elliot’s hand that was holding my pant leg.
And as I tried to pull it off, I spoke to him.
“Listen carefully. I can’t do that…”
“Help me! Daniel!”
“…”
“Daniel! Please, I implore you! You are the only hope we have from the Great One!”
The more I tried to shake him off, the more he clung to me.
This was troublesome.
I couldn’t do anything for them in this situation.
I was not their savior.
I didn’t have the ability to perform miraculous feats like the others in the church.
All I could do was slaughter weak beasts.
I had killed a careless black mage on impulse, but that was nothing but a fluke.
“Don’t count on me.”
So I had to reject him harshly.
I had to reveal my pathetic identity, even if it meant crushing his hopes.
I glared at Elliot who was hanging onto my pant leg.
I wanted to make him face reality.
“Daniel…?”
“All I can do is turn living meat into dead meat.”
“What do you mean…?”
“I can’t accept your request–”
Thud.
My words were cut off.
I hastily got up and looked at the locked door outside.
There was a voice echoing from outside.
A voice that was familiar to me.
“Landlord! Are you there!”
It was the voice of a heresy inquisitor.
As I heard the powerful voice of the heresy inquisitor, a chill ran down my spine.
My eyes, frozen cold, looked at the scene of the slaughterhouse.
There were a dead black mage and a church believer hiding in the slaughterhouse.
If the door of the slaughterhouse opened.
And if the heresy inquisitor saw this sight, what would happen?
It was obvious that it would be the end.
“I don’t think we have much time to talk. For now, we need to hide…”
“Landlord! We know you’re here! We have some questions for you, so come out for a moment!”
“Damn it, that heresy inquisitor bastard.”
I pushed Elliot away and checked the lock of the slaughterhouse.
Thankfully, the lock of the slaughterhouse was firmly closed.
If I pretended to be absent, maybe the heresy inquisitors would give up and go back to the village.
As I held my breath and tried to endure, I heard Albert’s voice again from outside.
“There are footprints on that building. Could it be that the landlord is there?”
This time, his voice sounded like he had pinpointed my location.
It seemed that Elliot had left his footprints when he came in here.
If they followed Elliot’s footprints, it was natural to guess that I was here.
I glared at Elliot with cold sweat dripping from my forehead.
Elliot was also trembling after hearing the word heresy inquisitor.
“Landlord! Are you there?”
Bang! Bang!
The door of the slaughterhouse shook with the rough knocks of the heresy inquisitor.
I grabbed the lock with my shaking hand as I saw it shaking.
I couldn’t let them discover Elliot and me.
The moment this door opened, Anna and I would be as good as dead.
The lock that I held with my stiff hand kept shaking from the violent knocks.
“Maybe you can’t hear me because the knocks are too quiet!”
Crash!
A louder noise rang out.
A small crack appeared on the door that collided with the heresy inquisitor’s fist.
If this continued, the door would eventually open.
There were armed heresy inquisitors in front of me, and behind me were the believers of the evil god sent by the church.
It was a situation of being trapped on all sides.
“Ah…”
And when that moment came, those weak humans would suddenly realize something.
The final moment.
There was nowhere to lean on,
Only their pitiful human flesh remained below.
All they could do was shout out the name of God.
“Oh God…”
