“Y-You people are the ones who’ve been doing all kinds of bad things! Anton and you too—do you even know how much damage the people of Rodelus Village and Hines Village have suffered because of you?”
Even while continuously moving his hands to loosen his restraints, Naro shouted loudly. What Ray did to Anton was, objectively speaking, not something that would be welcomed. But Naro knew well what kind of feelings Ray had when he acted that way, and above all, these people had caused hardship and harm to many. Seeing them reproach Ray despite all that, he couldn’t stand it.
“Who doesn’t know that? Of course I can do that. Why? Because I’m a noble, on a different level from lowly commoners like you!”
Naro’s face crumpled.
“You commoners who have nothing, living hand to mouth—it’s only natural for you to kneel before nobles like us. We can harm you, but the opposite can never be tolerated!”
That was just tyranny. It was despicable behavior, looking down on and trampling people just because he was a noble. He knew there were many good nobles in the world. But there were just as many nobles of poor quality who wielded their power as a weapon, like this man before him.
“But that bastard touched my underling. Do you know what the villagers are saying? They’re all laughing that the young master of the Viscount Kailey family finally got what was coming to him. Me! How dare insignificant bastards like you laugh at me, the son of Viscount Kailey!”
The people of Hines Village despised and hated Noah. It was already famous that Noah went around tormenting people using underlings like Anton. Then one day Anton was badly injured, and people didn’t feel sorry for him at all. Rather, they pointed fingers at Anton—and furthermore at Noah—laughing that he got what he deserved, saying it was satisfying.
“You have to pay the price for making me a laughingstock, don’t you?”
Noah signaled to another man with his eyes. The person beside him drew the sword sheath from his waist and tossed it in front of Ray.
“I could send you to the guard, but I won’t do that. I’m going to make you pay a definite price.”
Naro looked back and forth between Ray and Noah, his eyes filled with anxiety.
“Draw that sword and cut off your arm. If you do that, this guy and you can keep your lives. Of course, you’ll have to live with one arm cut off.”
Anton threw his head back laughing, delighted.
“W-Wait a minute! Do you really think you’ll be okay after doing this? Aren’t you afraid of the guard?”
“Ah, I have someone I know well in the guard, you see.”
Noah picked at his ear indifferently. Naro let out a hopeless breath. Now he understood why no one could stop these bastards even though they committed such tyranny in this village. They probably used the name of a noble family to blind the guard’s eyes.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and cut it. I’m going to show your severed arm to the stupid villagers as an example. So hurry up and do it. If you don’t follow my words, I’m thinking of leaving the treatment of this friend you cherish to Anton. Anton seems to quite like this boy. Is it because his face is pretty?”
Noah smiled fishily. It was clearly speech harboring vile intentions. Anton looked at Naro like a pervert, raising the corners of his mouth sinisterly.
Ray clenched his fists tightly. Dark red veins stood out on the backs of his hands.
Naro anxiously watched Ray, who had been standing quietly. Ray tended to react a bit oversensitively when it came to matters related to him. So he might follow those absurd words.
It was when Ray was about to pick up the sword. Thanks to Naro busily moving his hands, the cord binding his wrists came loose. Actually, when Noah’s group came inside earlier, he’d picked up a sharp wooden fragment that had fallen on the floor while being pushed against the wall.
As soon as the cord came loose, Naro immediately moved.
“Ray! Run away!”
Naro grabbed the sword pointing at his neck tightly with both hands and shouted. At the sudden situation, Noah panicked greatly and yelled, “What are you doing!” Naro furrowed his brow. He got goosebumps from the cool sensation of the blade felt in his palms.
“……”
Ray stood one step away, watching the entire scene. Naro grasping a sharp object with his bare hands. Blood flowing from his palms dripped down, wetting the floor. The men shouted and touched Naro’s body with rough hands, trying to pull him away from the sword.
Ray froze in place. Naro was in danger. But why was he just standing still, unable to do anything? Naro had tried so hard to somehow save him when he was dying from severe wounds, so why couldn’t he protect that boy?
Even in the midst of this, Naro looked only at Ray with an urgent face, shouting for him to run away, that he was fine. Ray’s expression changed completely. At a glance it was a face devoid of emotion, but Naro felt a chill in that instant.
It was the same as that time. When they encountered the beast resembling a wild boar in the mountains. As soon as Ray stepped forward, that beast had fled with its tail between its legs. At Ray’s face, the same as what he’d seen then, Naro felt fear without realizing it.
Whether human or animal, there are primal emotions they possess. Joy, sorrow, anger, and fear. Ray’s current expression was enough to evoke that primal fear just by looking at it.
In the chaotic situation, Anton, already out of his mind, picked up a sword lying nearby and rushed at Ray. After all, he harbored strong hatred toward Ray, who had injured him.
“You bastard, have a taste… urk!”
But Anton’s swung attack never reached Ray. Though Anton rushed forward vigorously even while limping, his throat was caught helplessly in Ray’s hand.
“Ugh, gak…!”
Anton’s two legs gradually lifted off the ground. Ray was so composed it didn’t look like he was holding a person with one hand. The look in his eyes as he gazed at Anton was no different from looking at an insignificant ant crawling on the roadside.
“S-save me…”
Before Anton could finish his words, his body was lifted and flew rapidly to the side.
Thud—!
Anton, hitting the wall, let out a groan and rolled on the floor. At the sudden incident, Noah and the other men who had been focused on Naro all turned to look at Ray.
“Wh-what!”
Noah shouted. But those words he spat out were his last. The lips of everyone who faced Ray’s expression trembled, and their faces turned deathly pale. The only things that could be heard inside were Ray’s footsteps and the sound of saliva being gulped down.
“Ugh…”
The men who had come as Noah’s escorts began to tremble. The moment Naro was about to call Ray’s name, the space shook greatly. The walls trembled and stone fragments fell from the ceiling.
This was something a human couldn’t do. Confronted with a spectacle close to a supernatural phenomenon, the men all screamed and tried to run out.
“You guys! You should be protecting me—where are you running!”
Noah shouted, his face deathly pale.
“Ray… urk…”
When the warehouse shook greatly once more, Naro reflexively closed his eyes. And when he carefully lifted his eyelids again, an unbelievable scene had unfolded.
The men who had tried to escape from this place were all sprawled on the floor groaning, and Noah, who had been constantly sticking by Naro’s side threatening him, was struggling with his throat caught in Ray’s hand.
“Urk…! Gak!”
“I’m the one asking you, human.”
Naro flinched at Ray’s voice. That spine-chillingly creepy voice, that face devoid of any expression, those eyes that regarded humans as merely inferior creatures—it was like looking at a different being.
“Do you even know who you’ve touched, who you’ve dared to touch what belongs to?”
Even the atmosphere emanating from Ray was completely different from usual. Naro felt the dignity felt from one who reigns, standing above and looking down below, coming from Ray.
“Ugh… p-please stop…!”
When Noah struggled violently, only then did Naro snap to his senses.
“You humans are always like that. Pay the price for what you did today.”
Ray put even more strength into his hand. It wasn’t simply choking his throat but a powerful grip as if he would grasp and burst it.
Ray’s green eyes flashed as if emitting light. His pupils split vertically into long slits, and veins bulged on the back of his hand as if they would burst. The only thought in his head was that he had to kill this human.
“Ray! Don’t!”
At that moment, Naro rushed over and clung to the arm gripping Noah’s throat, struggling. Ray’s brow furrowed deeply. The moment Ray, having already lost his reason, raised his hand to brush even Naro aside, a tearful voice rang in his ears.
“Huk… Stop, Ray. Let’s go home together, okay?”
That was when it happened. A faint voice was heard from inside his head, filled entirely with bloodlust.
‘You must not harm humans. You are a child who will lead… from now on. So always remember.’
