BSS 28

Chapter 28

There were three of them, and every single one looked at me with a crooked, hostile glare.

A gray‑haired man with sharp, narrow eyes; a black‑haired guy who radiated an unpleasant vibe; and a blue‑haired woman carrying a bow—so probably an archer.

The woman looked the youngest.

“You—judging by that arrogance, you must be a noble.”

“No! I’ve always been arrogant!”

Rai was flailing on the ground, his head pinned under the black‑haired man’s foot.

Without my permission, he couldn’t use his strength. When I wasn’t around, Rai was just a very sturdy snake.

“I was wondering why a snake was slithering around the city—turns out it’s a noble lady’s hobby.”

“Keeping a snake? What a rotten taste.”

What! I am a noble—got a problem with that?
I was about to snap back with a scowl when Hansen and Philo stepped in front of me.
To be exact, they shielded me.

Um, I can’t see anything, you know? Why are they suddenly doing this?

“A warning. You would do well to stop that disrespectful attitude.”

“We don’t care who you are. Return the young lady’s pet snake.”

“Yeah! Give him back!”

Because Hansen kept blocking my path, I had to cling to the back of his leg like a child.
This… is starting to feel like overprotection.

“Well, look at that. She even walks around with knights?”

“If it’s an order from a noble, that changes things.”

“Tch.”

It happened so suddenly it left me stunned.

The black‑haired man spat on Rai—deliberately, for me to see—and then drew his sword while staring straight at me.

The gleaming white blade tip filled my vision.

For a moment, my eyes were drawn to it. A sharpened blade had that kind of gravity.

And then something incomprehensible happened.

Even though he was already stomping on Rai, the man suddenly rammed his sword straight into Rai’s body.

Clack.

“Huh? Pretty tough, isn’t he.”

If Rai had been an ordinary snake, he would have been sliced clean in half.

What kind of lunatics were these people?

“I was going to slice him neatly in two and return him to you.”

“That snake is weird. Try again.”

“Maybe she’ll like it more if we peel the skin off.”

Their murderous glares stabbed into me.
The hostility was so massive I couldn’t even guess why it was directed at me.
Since when had they known me to hate me this much?

Why did they look at me like I had killed their parents?

“Step back, my lady!”

“Something is very wrong with these people.”

“…Could it be—”

No, no way. There’s no way I’d be that unlucky—

“They might be members of the Swarm.”

Damn it. My luck is disgusting. I come out to the marketplace for the first time in years and run straight into the Swarm.

Being threatened by notorious scum wasn’t exactly the outing I wanted.

[Let me go, you bastards!]

And the fact that they were using my pet snake as a hostage made it even worse.

“Last warning. Put away your weapons.”

“And if we don’t?”

I finally understood how serious the situation was and backed away quickly.

[Rai, get out of there.]

[My mana…]

[Use it!]

To slip out from under that foot, all Rai had to do was become heavier than the force pinning him.

He didn’t change shape, but he took in mana—and slowly slipped out from under the man’s foot.

He had gotten heavier. I could tell.

As he shook his head and slithered toward me, he grew light again.
At this distance, I could roughly sense what Rai was doing.

He made himself heavy to escape, but he hadn’t gotten more than two steps away before—

A single arrow shot down in front of him at incredible speed.

Before I could process anything, Hansen had drawn his sword.

A bad feeling surged in my gut.

“My lady!”

The archer who shot at Rai had now aimed at me—
I realized it only when the arrow grazed my ear.

Their answer to Hansen’s warning.

“….”

So arrows were this fast.
This was the sound they made.
Air tearing apart.

I somehow regained my senses while sitting on the ground.

My ear stung sharply.

“Pfft, look at her cowering. In the end she’s human just like us.”

“I really hate nobles. Be nice if they all disappeared.”

“Small target, so I missed. I won’t miss again.”

Right. They were definitely from the Swarm—
the group whose life goal was killing nobles.

And I was a noble.
And they had just shot at me.

The question of why an arrow was aimed at me twisted into something else.

Rage.

My hands trembled—not from fear, but from anger.

“You bastards!”

Both sides drew weapons.

“Are you alright, my lady?”

[Master!]

I stood up shakily and saw Hansen clashing swords with the gray‑haired man.
Hansen was already injured, so he was struggling to push back.

“Tell me that girl’s name. Before I kill her. I should at least know who I’m bragging about.”

“You insolent—!”

Steel screamed against steel in my ears as they pushed each other with brute force.

“From the look of it, you’re just a commoner knight! Why protect scum like her? Huh? Killing nobles means something!”

“Shut up, you lunatics!”

“Think! What have nobles ever done for us? They treat us like beasts and kill us like beasts! Never happened to you?”

It was clearly a dire situation, yet all I could hear was the whoosh of the arrow passing my ear.

Everything else felt slow—painfully slow.

Philo jumped toward the blue‑haired archer again, but as expected of an archer, she was agile and kept slipping away.

“If we kill a noble brat with her own knights, our reputation will skyrocket.”

“Exactly! That’s our pride.”

Hansen and Philo were desperately blocking them—but it was three against two, and unlike them, the enemy only had to focus on attacking, while they had to protect a kid (me).

It was clearly a losing fight.

I was baggage—a hunting target.

And that infuriated me.

In a dizzy, detached haze, I stared at Rai, still held in the black‑haired man’s fist.

He struggled, but he couldn’t escape on his own.

[Please allow me again, Master!]

Without blinking once, I stared at Rai twisting his long body around that rough hand.

And suddenly—
a very good idea came to me.

“Rai.”

[Master.]

I whispered softly, and he answered.
A strange confidence made the corners of my lips twitch upward.

“What can you do for me?”

[Anything. Anything you permit.]

“…Then avenge your master.”

The thought that that arrow could have killed me stirred something dark from deep inside.

My heart beat faster.

A familiar fear turned into living anger.

I would not die helplessly ever again.
No one—no one—gets to kill me.

[Understood.]

Rai didn’t need my words sometimes—when my thoughts were sharp and burning enough.
Just like now.

Crack—

Crunch—

“U—uuaaaagh! M‑my hand! Aaaagh!”

Human hands… could be crushed so easily.

The moment he received permission, Rai tightened his entire body.

The man’s hand, tangled around Rai, buckled like wet dough.

The sound of bones being pulverized rang horrifically loud.

His hand twisted into a ghastly, unnatural shape—
barely even a hand anymore.
Just flesh with splinters of bone.

My mind snapped back.

“Stop!”

With nothing left to hold him, Rai dropped to the ground with a thud.

He slithered toward me, his body slick with blood, leaving a red trail behind him.

Following that red smear to the man’s destroyed hand made my vision pulse red.

A crimson afterimage clung to my sight no matter how many times I blinked.

“Kraaaagh!”

The black‑haired man screamed and screamed, his voice so soaked in agony it made my breath hitch.

[Master! I did well, right?]

“…This is…”

I feel sick. Goosebumps everywhere.

The fact that I—even for a moment—wanted this man dead…

It terrified me.

My heartbeat was so loud everything else faded.
Through my distorted vision, I saw the gray‑haired man rushing toward me with a weapon raised.

His face twisted in a scream.

A demonic expression.

Hatred—created by my command.

And a moment later—

His head separated from his body and flew into the air.
Even squeezing my eyes shut wouldn’t erase that sight for a lifetime.

Thud—roll roll roll…

The severed head tumbled toward me, spraying blood.
Only then did I notice his eye color—dark brown.
Those eyes glared at me.

When I turned, marketplace people were staring at me as if I were a monster.

“I… what did I even do…”

When I looked back, the blue‑haired archer was coughing up blood with Hansen’s sword buried in her chest.

Everything happened quickly—without a shred of reality.

[Instant death.]

“Urgh…”

[Killing in one strike is mercy. Less suffering for everyone.]

“Stop!”

I had to hold my breath against the urge to vomit.

[Why? When that group of orcs attacked the camp a while ago, you weren’t bothered at all. How is this any different?]

“…These are people.”

[To a spirit like me, orcs or humans are the same.]

“They’re different.”

[How? Humans complicate things too much. The dead are dead. The living are living.]

Listening to Rai’s bored tone, I watched Hansen and Philo flick blood from their blades.

No matter how hard I tried, one thought looped again and again.

Someone died because of me.

I clamped my hand over my mouth, but it wasn’t enough.

My stomach turned violently—

And I vomited up the disgusting fruit I’d eaten earlier.

“Uwek.”