Of course, the ability to summon items from another world was convenient.
But there was no reason to pour affection into an inn that had neither the money nor the power to send me back. I’d just earn as much as I could while I could, and later live quietly somewhere safe. That would be enough.
“There are no customers anyway, so why didn’t you come down and look around?”
Ahjussi casually tossed out a remark.
His tone was light, but there was a hint of concern in his eyes. It seemed vegetables weren’t selling well these days. With customers being scarce, I had also reduced my ingredient orders.
I shrugged my shoulders awkwardly and scratched my head.
“Haha, right. I didn’t even buy anything. I’ll definitely go shopping today.”
The truth was, I could summon vegetables anytime with magic. Still, I deliberately answered that way. It felt wrong to abuse that ability for no reason.
Seeing Ahjussi’s face brighten a little at my words, I felt relieved inside.
I disliked arousing suspicion, but what I disliked even more was the thought of people who came all the way here stopping their visits.
If even those things disappeared, I felt like I’d truly be alone.
“It’s fine. I’ll bring them to you.”
“No way~. That’s elderly exploitation. I’m young and healthy, so I’ll go down myself. More importantly, why did you come all this way?”
Ahjussi made an expression that seemed caught between finding it absurd or funny to be treated like an old man, then shook his head and plopped down on the chair next to him.
“That big guy asked me to look after you.”
Gilbert did?
“Why would he worry about me when he’s going off to a dangerous subjugation…?”
I said that with my mouth, but the corners of my lips twitched upward on their own.
Ahjussi glanced at me and chuckled.
“Former boss, do you like that big guy that much?”
“I-It’s not like that!”
I raised my voice defensively for no reason, then quickly turned around, not wanting him to see the tips of my burning ears.
“What are you doing? Let’s go already!”
“Alright, alright. So impatient.”
And so, I went down to the village, bought vegetables until my arms were bursting at the vegetable shop, and was on my way back to the Inn on the Boundary.
Because my hands were so full, I barely managed to grab the inn’s door handle, but I didn’t open it right away. I just froze in place.
“……”
Something was strange.
The silence was nothing new, but today’s silence was unusually deep. My breathing settled heavily in an odd way, and even the wind seemed to have died, as if lifeless.
Human instinct exists for a reason. Especially for someone like me who’d survived by reading the room my whole life—my body recognized how ominous this chilling atmosphere was before my mind did.
I clutched the bundle of vegetables in my hands tightly.
Should I go back to the village? Just as I was considering that—
A voice came from behind me.
“Are you open?”
Damn it, I should’ve just bolted.
Cold sweat formed on my palms, soaking the paper bag holding the vegetables. I could feel the paper growing damp, but I forced myself to steady my breathing and turned my head, trying to act like nothing was wrong. My face wore the same bright smile I always put on.
And then.
“Ah, welco—”
Thud—
Thud thud thud……
The vegetables spilled from my weakened grip onto the ground. Even the sound of them rolling seemed excessively loud.
The man quietly looked down at the scene.
With a puzzled expression, as if he couldn’t understand why I was surprised.
My mouth went bone dry. My tongue stiffened and wouldn’t move properly, and I could barely force myself to swallow. The thought that I should run had already been crushed by the instinct that it was too late, leaving not even a trace.
“You……”
Why was I this frozen?
Because this man looked like a troublemaker? Because among people who throw around casual speech from the get-go, sane ones are rare?
No.
If that were the reason, I wouldn’t have frozen like this.
“Hm? You know me?”
Because I recognized who this man was in an instant.
“How curious. I don’t know you.”
“……”
Even at the man’s leisurely voice, I couldn’t say anything. I just stared at the being before me with a frozen expression.
Then the man tilted his head. His faded green hair slid to one side. Among the softly falling strands were fine scale-like textures. Each time light touched them, they faintly reflected, making it seem like a snake’s shed skin was gleaming.
Beneath that were pale green eyes. Though it was a fresh color, strangely, when I met his gaze, a chilling sensation ran down my spine.
As I was looking him over, something brushed against my ankle. Numerous leg-like things tickled my skin as they passed, and I belatedly registered the sensation of a hard shell scraping by.
Reflexively lowering my gaze, I saw a centipede.
“Agh…! Ugh—!”
A scream burst out reflexively, and I staggered backward. The man looked down at the centipede that had passed by my ankle, then smiled gently as if it were nothing.
“Seems my child has taken a liking to you.”
He slowly bent down and picked up the centipede.
The centipede’s legs brushed between his needlessly pale, long, and smooth fingers—like delicate jade hands. Seemingly pleased with the sensation, the man’s lips slowly curved upward. Through the gap between his lips, sharp fangs were slightly visible.
“Isn’t it pretty?”
“……”
At the man’s smiling words, I couldn’t respond. It wasn’t simply because I was overwhelmed by his presence.
It was because of who this being before me was.
In 《The Saint Wants to Live Peacefully》, the final mastermind and King of Monsters.
Vasha.
[Vasha, the King of Monsters.
He commanded centipedes as his familiars and could reveal the form of a serpent whenever necessary. His battlefields were always silent. There were no blades, no battle cries—just a single gesture that stilled all life.]
The original story was always told from the Saint’s perspective.
So no one knew why he fought or what he desired. But the records were written like this:
[His movements were quiet, and when silent poison spread, thousands of screams bloomed within that silence.]
Among monsters, those who used poison were rare.
Poison was slow. It wasn’t as immediate as brute force.
That slowness was considered a disadvantage on the battlefield, and among monsters who believed physical strength was the measure of power, poison was often treated as a cowardly means.
But who could dare call him a coward?
Vasha’s poison was the most certain terror. A calamity that seeped in unseen and unsmelled, leading all who breathed to death.
With a single gesture, armies in the fields collapsed, and what he left behind was always only silence.
…And such a being was now before my eyes. The King of Monsters who had opposed the protagonist’s party to the very end.
So there was no way I couldn’t be tense facing him.
“Why won’t you answer me?”
His tone was gentle. But strangely, that languid voice held no warmth.
A voice closer to indifference than composure.
Somehow, looking at him reminded me of Jeffrey.
People of similar temperatures. Even though hot blood clearly flowed through them, their expressions were cold, and a lukewarm warmth lingered awkwardly, neither completely cooled nor heated.
People who had become bored with everything simply because they were alive.
Perhaps that’s why. No matter how soft his tone was, I felt a chilling sensation creeping beneath my skin.
When I unconsciously took a step back, Vasha watched me for a moment before turning his indifferent gaze to the vegetables scattered on the ground.
At that moment, ssshhhhh—
Before I knew it, they had approached—the centipedes moved with a rustling sound like brushing through grass. As countless legs scraped the ground with a faint sound, the scattered vegetables gathered before him as if being swept together.
Vasha picked up one of the carrots. Then, as if it were nothing, he held it out to me.
“Food?”
That gesture seemed less like offering and more like a command demanding I cook.
I took it with trembling hands. When his fingers brushed mine, my breath caught again.
…It was cold.
Not the body temperature of the living, but a chilling coldness like a corpse.
No, his true form was a snake in the first place, so being cool might be natural. Snakes are cold-blooded animals, after all. That realistic thought crossed my mind but didn’t lessen the fear.
The thought that I should run and the thought of whether I could actually escape collided dozens of times in my head. In the end, I grabbed the door handle with trembling hands.
Rattle, rattle.
The door made sounds in sync with my shaking hands. Feeling like the sound echoed too loudly, I bit my lip hard. And without any more time to hesitate, I pushed the door open and went inside.
Vasha followed behind me all too naturally.
And then, flames erupted.
“……!”
Massive flames surged up as if to engulf Vasha in an instant. I too reflexively trembled at the suffocating heat and dropped the bundle of vegetables. Thud, thud— The vegetables that had escaped my arms scattered on the floor again with dull sounds, but I couldn’t care less right now.
Each time the flickering firelight swept across his face, his expression became clearer instead.
A cool, ruthless light.
Even standing in the middle of flames fierce enough to burn skin, his face showed not even a blink.
Looking at that coldly menacing face, a memory flashed through my mind like lightning.
‘If someone crosses the threshold with bad intentions, flames shoot up. It burns away all intruders.’
