Dark Fantasy: Magical Eye Knight – Chapter 65

Chapter 65: The Black Barley Inn (2)

TL: Potato-tan

Proofreader: Asianpotato

 

The crowd’s stunned faces turned up and down. Russell freed Robin from the orc’s grip and lowered him to the floor.

 

“Clack, clack! Clack!”

 

Bang!

 

As the choking Robin knelt down and coughed, the pigtailed orc fell to the floor of the inn with a mighty roar. A small sound rang out as a broken molar fell to the floor.

 

“”Kai!””

 

The two beastkin shouted. Then they drew their swords and charged at Russell. It was so smooth and quick that it almost seemed like one motion.

 

The rat beastkin and the cat beastkin swung their swords with the agility unique to beastkin. Their speed was astonishing thanks to their bone density and muscle quality, which were far superior to those of a human body.

 

If they had been ordinary people, they would have been decapitated without being able to react, even if they had known that the two beastkin were attacking.

 

However, Russell moved a beat ahead of them. Two months ago, he had already fought an overwhelmingly powerful wolf beastkin to a standstill.

 

He used the backs and palms of his hands to flick away the blades aimed at his neck and back, respectively. Russell’s resistance caused the blades to snap in half.

 

His hands, which he had raised high and low, respectively, returned to their original position, curving as he clenched his fists.

 

Then he shot forward like a cannonball towards the beastkin’s exposed chests, which were still swinging their swords.

 

With a loud bang, the rat and cat beastkin flew in opposite directions, hitting the inn’s walls and falling forward. The broken blades clattered to the floor.

 

It was so sudden that all the inn’s patrons could see was a flash of steel and the beastkin being thrown backward.

 

The unknown man effortlessly defeated the strong men who had dared to attack.

 

“Ugh, cough, khak. . . . . .!”

 

“Kekekek, cough. . . . . . .”

 

After taking a direct hit, the rat and cat writhed in agony, struggling to breathe.

 

They weren’t unconscious. Beastkin’s unique toughness held on to their consciousness.

 

However, the two beastkin would have rather fainted. Russell’s fist hit them, causing an electric shock to run through their bodies.

 

Their nerves tingled, causing their muscles to alternately expand and contract. Their eyes flashed, and they couldn’t control their drool.

 

Laura, Robin, and the old dwarf turned their heads towards Russell. Their eyes were filled with disbelief. A groan echoed at that moment.

 

Kai, the orc, was getting up.

 

Kai raised his hand and wiped his mouth. Kai then realized that he had broken his right molar. Kai, who had been touching the broken surface of his tooth with his trembling hand, soon screamed.

 

“Y-you-son-of-a-bitch!”

 

The orc’s large fist swung. It was a fist larger than Russell’s head. Russell’s response was the same as when he had fought the two beastkin earlier.

 

Russell either blocked Kai’s fist before it could swing or deflected it while it was swinging. Russell’s hand had just enough force to deflect Kai’s fist, and every time he punched, he thrust his own fist into Kai’s torso. Kai’s body shook violently each time.

 

“Kwahk!”

 

Russell, who had dodged Kai’s wild punches with just a nod, punched Kai’s right side and left shoulder in quick succession.

 

The orc’s ribcage, which was harder than stone, cracked, and his left shoulder blade dislocated. Kai’s waist buckled involuntarily from the pain and shock. Drool dripped from his wide-open mouth, and his left arm dangled.

 

Russell, who had turned his body around with his left leg as the bent Kai’s axis, delivered a roundhouse kick to his head. Blood gushed from the orc’s mouth as if it had burst, and he rolled around, smashing tables and chairs.

 

The first floor of the inn was starting to turn into a complete mess because of the fight between the two. It had gone from being a mess five minutes ago to being a complete mess in its own right.

 

Laura and the dwarf let out a scream as the furniture began to crumble.

 

“Aahhh. . .! T, The tables. . . . . . . . . .!”

 

“Hey, guys! If you’re going to fight, why don’t you go outside?! You’re going to wreck my house!”

 

As Russell glanced at them, Kai, who saw it as an opportunity, charged forward, his mouth dripping with blood.

 

Kai ignored his dangling left arm and grabbed Russell’s waist with his right arm alone, then flexed the muscles in his entire body. He shouted.

 

“Vul- kan-!”

 

Like a flame, a red aura began to flicker around his brown skin. It wasn’t magic. If anything, it was closer to divine power. However, it was weak.

 

Nevertheless, Kai’s strength increased threefold in an instant. Kai was convinced that he would be able to land a blow on Russell this time.

 

However, Russell didn’t even budge from Kai’s increased strength. It would have felt lighter than pushing a stone wall.

 

Russell’s elbow slammed into Kai’s back, and his left knee slammed into his abdomen. The shock, transmitted up and down, left Kai unable to regain his senses. The red aura that had been flickering over his skin also disappeared.

 

As Kai’s legs gave out and he staggered, Russell grabbed the back of his neck and threw him outside.

 

Bang!

 

The inn’s door shattered, and Kai rolled on the floor. People passing by the alley screamed and backed away when they saw the orc with blood all over him.

 

Outside, Aellasis looked a little surprised, but Kry seemed used to it. The girl questioned Russell, who was in the process of leaving.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Russell nodded. Aellasis shrugged and leaned on Kry. Neither of them showed any concern for Russell.

 

Kai staggered to his feet. He spoke with a slurred voice, blood and drool flowing from his mouth.

 

“What are you? Where did you come from? Did Gollid send you? Or Heltrophy?”

 

“No.”

 

“Then?”

 

“I’m a guest.”

 

Kai had a blank expression at the unexpected answer. Did that mean another guild or gang hadn’t sent him as a fixer or assassin? Despite his striking appearance, he didn’t seem like an assassin.

 

He was finally able to get a good look at Russell. When he first saw Russell, he had turned his head away, and he hadn’t been in the right frame of mind to look at him after the hit.

 

It is as tall as an orc with a black coattail. Solid muscles.

 

However, what caught his attention the most were his strangely colored eyes. The purple eyes, which sparkled in the bright sunlight, had a power that made it impossible to look away.

 

Russell walked slowly towards Kai. There was no need to run, and Kai gritted his teeth again at a leisurely pace. Then, with his trembling right hand, he grabbed his drooping left bicep.

 

Kai took a deep breath and popped his dislocated shoulder back into place.

 

“Ughhhhh. . . . . .!”

 

A sharp pain shot through his head. However, Kai shook off the pain and turned his shoulder.

 

There was a creaking sound from his bone, but the human in front of him was too strong to care about such pain. He might even be stronger than the chieftain.

 

Russell chuckled at the sight. Only a few people would not back down from pain. There were also people who were fun to hit on.

 

He invoked the name Vulcan, which gave him a bit of divine power, and he had a tremendous strength that was even stronger than a troll. This orc was no ordinary being either.

 

Kai put strength into his trembling legs. Still, he couldn’t stop shaking. He was afraid. The human wasn’t like a human. Still, Kai didn’t back down. His comrades were still inside the inn.

 

He prayed and followed the god he believed in.

 

“Vul- kan.”

 

Then the red aura began to revive a little bit. Russell watched Kai and snapped his fingers. It was a light gesture, as if he was provoking a beast.

 

The orc charged forward with a roar.

 

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

 

The orc, rat, and cat beastkin worshiped the sky and the earth in a strange way.

 

Their heads, which had been facing the sky, bowed down to the hard ground, and their hips, which had been lying on the ground, displayed their size towards the sky. They crossed their two arms behind their backs, their wrists tightly clasped.

 

The sight of the huge, brown-skinned orc and the two beastkin, their heads bowed and sweating profusely, was eye-catching in itself. In front of them, a black-haired man was squatting.

 

People were whispering.

 

“Isn’t that Kai? Why is he acting like that?”

 

“Oh my god, Tom and Jerry are the guys next to him! What are they doing now?”

 

“Ah, I saw it. That black-haired guy brutally beat him. That’s why he’s like that.”

 

“Pfft. They were being nosy, so they deserve it!”

 

The last one was a drunken voice that had been drinking since early in the day. He hiccuped and ran away when he received the sharp gazes of the orc, rat, and cat beastkin at the same time.

 

Russell, attentively listening to the whispers of the people, pondered. He thought that the people in the territory were not as bad as he had thought. If they had really been so hostile that they wanted to kill each other, they wouldn’t have said such things.

 

Russell spoke to the rat and cat beastkin.

 

“Who is Tom, and who is Tom?”

 

The cat beastkin, who had his head bowed, said it in a suppressed voice.

 

“I, I am Tom.”

 

The rat beastkin said the same thing.

 

“I, I am Jerry.”

 

Russell chuckled, stretched out his legs, and stood up.

 

“Get up.”

 

Kai, Jerry, and Tom stood up with a start.

 

The broken bones and injured muscles here and there sent signals of protest at such a drastic movement, but the three were more afraid of the human in front of them.

 

In front of them and behind Russell, the people of the Black Barley Inn were busy moving around. They were cleaning up the broken door, tables, and chairs, as well as sweeping away the dust with brooms.

 

Robin took Kry to the stables, filled the water trough with water, and served Aellasis, the inn’s famous dark beer, in a beer mug. Aellasis sat at the bar, gulping down the dark beer, immediately hooked on its taste.

 

Robin glanced at Russell from time to time, but he didn’t say anything, sensing that it wasn’t the right time to talk. Instead, he took revenge on the three who were standing at attention by pretending to feed them potatoes.

 

“Why did you try to collect more protection money? I heard they already paid last month.”

 

At Russell’s question, the three rolled their eyes. The way they kept their mouths shut seemed to indicate that they couldn’t speak carelessly to him, who wasn’t even a party to the matter.

 

So Russell silently raised his index and middle fingers together. The electric light danced and crackled.

 

There was a gasp. Tom and Jerry had already tasted electricity. Their mouths tasted like iron.

 

Their muscles contracted and expanded throughout their bodies, unlike any pain they had ever felt before. It was so bad that they thought they would rather die.

 

However, even though they were trembling, they didn’t open their mouths. Instead, they looked at Kai. Kai, who had been silent, opened his mouth, noticing his subordinates’ gazes.

 

“To get the holy water.”

 

“Holy water?”

 

Why would guys who looked like back-alley thugs need holy water? They didn’t have faces that would make them friendly with human priests.

 

“Why holy water?”

 

“It’s good for treating wounds.”

 

Russell pointed out that Kai had left out another use.

 

“It’s also useful against evil things.”

 

“. . . . . . .”

 

In fact, the latter was more evidence of the need for holy water. For wound treatment, the Matop and Alchemy Guilds sold healing potions and elixirs. They were also cheaper than holy water.

 

Mercenaries who bought holy water didn’t use it to fight evil spirits or curses, but rather to heal. Not many people would pour holy water, which was much more expensive than healing potions and elixirs, on their wounds. Of course, they would use it if their lives were at stake.

 

Kai said something else.

 

“The church suddenly doubled the cost of holy water. That’s why we tried to collect a little more protection money.”

 

“What church?”

 

“The Church of Acarsus. The god of justice. The priests don’t seem to be like that, though.”

 

Russell recalled what the guard had said when he passed through the city gate earlier. He was sure that the church and the central fountain had been fine.

 

“Don’t change the subject. Why do you need holy water?”

 

Kai hesitated for a moment but finally opened his mouth, which had only one molar left.

 

“Strange things have been happening for three weeks. Corpses have started to appear in the back alleys here and there. Most of the corpses were vagrants, homeless people, and thugs.”

 

Russell took out a cigarette from his coat pocket and lit it.

 

“So.”

 

“It’s happening somewhere in the back alley right now. But what’s unusual is the state of the corpses. They’re all like mummies. They are so dry that they crumble with just a little bit of force.”

 

Kai shivered, as if he remembered the feeling at the time. Russell’s face wrinkled, as it wasn’t a very pleasant sight.

 

“So.”

 

“Until now, we’ve been able to get along well in this territory, maintaining our own ecosystem. We collect a little protection money and catch unruly guests. The Lord also knows that he can’t completely root us out, so he turns a blind eye to us as long as we don’t go too far.”

 

Kai sighed.

 

“But ever since the dungeon appeared, things have started to change. We’ve been getting busier with the influx of mercenaries, adventurers, and relic excavators. But in the meantime, we keep finding more and more mummy corpses. Some of them were members of our family.”

 

“What about the guards? Have you reported it?”

 

Kai growled.

 

“I did! But I was ignored! No matter how much money I collected and gave them, they didn’t do anything! They just threw me out when I brought them the mummified corpses! The lord is only interested in the dungeon and the relics inside! Damn, guys like us aren’t even human beings to them. . .”

 

Kai, who had been growling, soon sighed deeply again.

 

“That’s why we tried to come up with a self-help plan. Since the thing that’s making the corpses into mummies is probably taking away their life force or blood, the guys who are doing it must be wizards, chimeras, or undead. We were going to use holy water on them. It should be like rat poison.”

 

He wondered if it was okay to say that in front of the rat beastkin next to him, but Jerry seemed used to it.

 

“What about the church? If wizards are involved, as you said, the priests or paladins should be stepping up.”

 

“They are the same as the Lord. They’re not doing anything. They’re just raising the price of holy water and selling it.”

 

Russell stroked his chin, lost in thought. The dungeon’s appearance and the influx of people caught his attention. People are dying openly in the back alleys. Corpses that crumbled like mummies. A lord who didn’t care. The silence of the church.

 

Then he shook his head, annoyed. He felt a little thirsty after fighting as soon as he entered the city. Russell spat out his finished cigarette butt and stepped on it.

 

“Whatever. Go.”

 

At Russell’s words, the three blinked.

 

“G, Go? You’re letting us live?”

 

“Do you want to die? I don’t really care either way.”

 

The three, who were very concerned, waved their hands frantically.

 

“N, No! W, We’ll go.”

 

“Before you go, apologize to the people inside.”

 

“We understand.”

 

The two beastkin, led by Kai, apologized to the people of the Black Barley Inn. They bowed their heads and waists deeply.

 

Despite their surprise, the dwarf, Laura, and Robin accepted the apology. It seemed that their relationship had not been bad before.

 

Kai, who came out after apologizing, spoke carefully.

 

“Then. . . . . .We’ll be going.”

 

“Are you just going to leave?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Hand over all the money you have. You guys broke all the furniture here.”

 

“. . . . . .”

 

Russell had broken half of it, but no one was brave enough to admit it. Kai, Jerry, and Tom silently took out their money bags from their arms and handed them to Russell. Russell measured the weight of the hefty money bags and expressed his thoughts.

 

“Is this all?”

 

“Y, Yes. That’s all.”

 

“Then go.”

 

Tom and Jerry walked away with sullen faces. Kai, who was following them, suddenly turned his head.

 

“Are you going to stay here?”

 

“What? Why? Are you bringing your friends?”

 

“No. . . . . . Thank you for saving my life.”

 

“If you’re thankful, keep your head clean from now on. It smells.”

 

“. . . . . .I understand.”

 

Kai walked a few steps and turned around again. He gazed directly at Russell, posing an inquiry.

 

“What’s your name? I’m Kai.”

 

Russell caught his eye and said,

 

“Russell.”

 

“Russell. . . . . . . Thanks again.”

 

Kai bowed his head to Russell as well and disappeared into the alley. His braided hair on the back of his head swayed with his steps.

 

Russell watched them disappear into the crowd and turned around to enter the inn. And he handed all three money bags to Robin. Robin looked at the money bags in her arms and at him with surprised eyes.

 

“M, Me? This is?”

 

“Use it to fix the place. And━.”

 

“Two glasses of dark beer! . . . . . .Huh? What? Why is it such a mess?”

 

Russell turned his head towards the intruder, who had interrupted what he was going to say.

 

With bewildered expressions, two elves in smooth, curved steel armor stood at the entrance of the inn.

 

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• Yo, What If China Invaded Japan? Would Yokai Help Out?
• Who’s Your Waifu? Why Choosing Your Anime Spirit Animal Is Deeper Than You Think (And Who I’d Pick)
• The Social Isolation Speech Impediment: How Being a Shut-In Can Make You Sound Like a Robot
• Aqua Hoshino: The Ultimate Husbando?
• Auntie’s Posting Passive-Aggressive Prayers Again: How to Survive Your Family on Facebook (Without Committing Seppuku)