That human was really strange. Even though I was so curt with him, he never once showed a displeased expression.
He always smiled and brought me something. I thought he wanted something, but apparently not. He just gives things, and if I don’t want to receive them, I don’t have to.
Of course I took everything. Why would I refuse free stuff? He was a strange human, but everything he brought was good. Enough to make my eyes go wide.
I thought about selling some of it, but damn annoyingly, selling wasn’t easy. Anyone could see it was a scam, but they only offered ridiculously low prices. Or they just tried to steal it outright.
Those damn bastards. Trying to squeeze blood from a flea. If they’d offered even half the value, I would’ve sold it reluctantly.
I don’t know why. Before, I would’ve given it up if I could trade it for a few coins and some bread. But somehow it felt precious. I found myself thinking, This doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.
Maybe I didn’t want to sell it. I know that’s a stupid thought.
But that’s just how it was. I felt like I should keep it. The thought that it was better to keep it if I couldn’t get a fair price dominated. I don’t even know why I was so stubborn about it. So the things he gave me piled up one by one in my shack.
Even knowing it was strange and stupid. I just wanted to have them. Because he gave them to me, because they were mine. I didn’t want to give them away, I think. Even knowing they were items that didn’t suit me.
‘I heard you hooked some naive noble lately?’
‘Damn it.’
In this cramped rat-hole gutter, there’s no way word wouldn’t spread. That human’s appearance was so flashy. Maybe the rumors spread faster because of my recent attempts to sell what I got from him.
Gellan’s gang found out about it too. They raised the protection fee even higher.
‘Hey, you bastards! Where would I get that kind of money?’
‘Why, doesn’t that noble lord give you money?’
‘You see how I look and you ask that?’
Gellan swept his eyes over me once and openly mocked me.
‘Well, I guess. What fun would there be with such a worthless brat? If he really liked you, he would’ve picked you up. He should’ve taken you away, washed and dressed you to use as a pet at least.’
It’s true, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t piss me off. Gellan mocked me like that and let me off with just a 10% increase. I couldn’t say a word. If I upset him and he raised it even more, there’d be no answer.
After that, Gellan’s words kept bothering me.
You said I was pretty. Then why don’t you take me? Why do you just come and look? I’m grateful you bring so much stuff, but if you really like me and I’m pretty, shouldn’t you take me?
Oh no. I must’ve been bewitched by that crazy bastard too.
It was a completely insane thought.
Right, life is meant to be lived alone. That human who keeps coming and giving me things is the strange one. He’s the crazy one.
***
When it gets cold, earnings inevitably get worse. Because the idiots worth robbing don’t come outside. On top of that, those damn Gellan bastards raised the tribute. The prey decreased, but the money I had to cough up increased.
I tried my best, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought. I couldn’t just accept getting beaten up a few times. It’s winter of all times. If I unluckily collapse, I’ll freeze to death right away.
I know I’m crazy too. To think I’d extend my hand to this human of all people.
‘Do you happen to have any money?’
I never had pride or anything from the start, but I really didn’t want to say this to this human in particular. But contrary to the words I barely squeezed out, they were completely useless.
He babbled a bunch of nonsense, but to cut to the conclusion, he doesn’t have any. He says he’s never used money. Damn it, he must be someone even higher up than I thought.
I heard that real nobles among nobles never touch money directly themselves, and I wondered if this was that kind of bastard. I’m speechless that he doesn’t even really know what money is.
He really was a young master who knew nothing about the world, not joking.
But how strange. I actually felt relieved by his words. I felt an inexplicable relief at the fact that he couldn’t give me money. I don’t really know why. No, I know, but I couldn’t admit it.
Yeah, even if I’m a gutter rat, this was too much. He’s already giving me more than I deserve, and asking for more would make me a real bastard.
Damn it, I feel like I’ve just confirmed once again that I’m trash.
‘Don’t come for a while.’
Can’t be helped. It’s my job anyway. It’s true I’ve been slacking off a lot, so I should work hard. That’s why I told him not to come for a while. To come back in a few days.
And he really doesn’t come. Like a lie. Damn human.
You really don’t come just because I said not to? When you never listened to anything else I said. No, it’s good that he doesn’t come. It’s like I was waiting for him. Damn it, let’s not act pathetic for no reason.
On the night of the third day. Gellan came. I shoved the money I’d barely scraped together at him. But something’s strange today. Gellan isn’t taking the money right away.
‘What, why? Is there a problem?’
‘That noble lord, just as I thought.’
‘What?’
‘I wondered if he’d quickly take you away if we scared you a bit….’
What are you talking about? Wasn’t that story already over? Why is he babbling like this, trying to get something out of pissing me off?
‘Seeing that he didn’t take you, it doesn’t seem like there’s money to be made.’
Those damn bastards. What are they trying to do? Gellan suddenly drew his knife.
‘Huh?’
My arm was cut off. No, not completely cut off. Either the knife was dull as hell, or Gellan’s skill was terrible. That wasn’t the important part. Just as I wondered what this was, blood spurted out like a fountain.
I couldn’t even scream. My breath caught. The money pouch I was holding rolled on the floor with a pitiful sound.
Gellan looked down at me collapsing with an indifferent face.
‘I kept thinking about it. I put up with it because your earnings were good.’
Put up with? You? With what exactly? Ridiculous talk. I don’t know why this crazy bastard is suddenly slashing an innocent person’s arm when I’m giving him money.
But I couldn’t even get properly angry. I didn’t know what he was trying to do, but there was nothing I could do anyway. Let’s survive for now. Humor him a bit. You need to be alive to try something, don’t you?
But for some reason, Gellan didn’t seem to intend to end it here.
Gellan’s gang approached me and held me firmly. The half-severed arm dangled, attached only by skin.
‘Huk, ugh…. I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but there really isn’t more. I can’t give you more right now.’
‘Nah, well. It’s not like I’m doing this to get more coins.’
Why are these guys suddenly acting like this? I struggled to escape, but what strength do I have? No matter how worthless Gellan’s gang looks, they’re all adults. It doesn’t make sense that they can’t catch one fourteen or fifteen-year-old kid.
In the midst of this, Gellan shrugged his shoulders, then trudged over, grabbed my face and examined it this way and that.
‘Certainly, if we feed and wash you well, you might be worth looking at… but I don’t think you’re tempting enough. You’re decent for a street rat, but not at the level where a distinguished person would personally pick you up.’
‘Urgh… Why does my face, of all things, matter now.’
‘I was just checking. If that noble lord cared enough to take you away, it’d be dangerous.’
What would be? Before I could ask what, Gellan’s hand dug into my eye.
‘Still, it’s fortunate your eyes are pretty. There’s a bastard who wants to buy them.’
It was instantaneous. I couldn’t even properly say it hurt. Those rough, thick fingers mercilessly dug into my eye. Crack, crunch, horrible sounds rang through my skull. My throat screamed until it was burning and raw, but I couldn’t do anything.
What is happening to me right now?
My eye was gouged out while I was alive. After that, I couldn’t see anything. I think I crawled and fell on the floor. I can’t be sure. I couldn’t see anything.
I think that was the last memory.
***
I don’t know how much time passed.
Absurdly, I woke up again. I didn’t die. That human saved me. And he said he brought me here. But I can’t see. I think I’m moving both hands, but only one actually touches things.
‘Why did you save me?’
‘Because you’re pretty.’
It was absurd. I wondered if I’d gone deaf too. Or maybe I already died there and went crazy. No, I’m not crazy. No matter how you look at it, he’s the strange one.
Are you really insane? What’s pretty about a cripple with no eyes and one arm that makes you keep saying that?
Even without eyes, tears came. It’s a fact I really didn’t want to know. But this human says he can fix me. Just give permission, he says.
I don’t know why that’s necessary. If you can fix it, can’t you just fix it? I don’t know. But he says it’s necessary. When I asked how, he said something out of the blue.
Just pray to him. If I ask for power, if I ask for a miracle, he’ll just give it.
‘…Were you really, not human?’
‘I’ve said it many times, but I’m not human.’
‘Were you really, a god?’
‘I’m not a god either.’
He says he’s not a god, but no matter how I think about it, that’s a god. If it’s an existence that hears prayers, receives faith, and bestows power.
Thinking about it, he never lied. He already told me his name too. I just couldn’t believe it. But who would think he was really a god? This is really absurd.
If we’re talking about absurd, me being alive right now is the most absurd.
The method he told me was also absurdly easy and simple. Just kiss his hand and repeat what he says. I asked if he wanted something in return, but he said that’s not necessary either.
He doesn’t need to receive that kind of thing. He’d be happy if I gave it, but it doesn’t matter if I don’t, he said. Because these are trivial things to him so it doesn’t matter either way, he said.
I know it’s strange, but I’m both happy and scared. I wonder if I can really receive this. I thought about whether I could repay it. Even though the other party said he doesn’t need anything.
He said I just have to receive it. Just be happy, that’s all. What kind of thing is this? I did as he instructed. I kissed what I thought was his hand and repeated what he told me.
‘O progenitor of the oak, proof of all nature. Grant me your miracle.’
As soon as I finished speaking, I heard laughter. He seemed genuinely happy that I said I would receive his miracle. Something swept over the pitch-black darkness.
Something flashes. Light that shouldn’t be visible comes in, but it was eerily warm. I don’t think it was even blinding. The sound of something rustling and colliding in the wind filled all directions. And gradually, as if fog was lifting, I began to see what was in front of me.
