The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon-Chapter 21. Who to Blame (8)

"What if he really dies? Shouldn't we have just beaten him up?"

"We've done that every time. That guy needs to be taught a lesson."

"But still, isn't killing him too much?"

"Let's sneak back in an hour and check."

"Idiot! An hour is too short! It should be at least two hours."

"What if wolves show up? What if they tear his throat out?"

"You don't know? There haven't been any wild animals around here lately. Even if you try to find one, you can't. Hunters from other regions have wiped them all out—that's what everyone's saying."

I followed the children for a bit to listen to their conversation. I went back to the buried boy.

Snore...

Incredibly, he had fallen asleep and was snoring. I hid in the bushes and called out to him.

"Shawn."

"Hiccup!"

Shawn hiccuped in surprise. He woke up and shook his head.

"Shawn!"

"Ugh!"

He'll probably vomit like this. Alcohol addiction at his age...

However, there was nothing I could do for this child. Shawn tried to look in my direction, but since he was buried, he couldn't turn his head.

He stuttered, "D-did you come back to get me out?"

"Yes."

"We're f-friends, right? Th-thank you!"

Shawn was completely drunk. He was so intoxicated he couldn't even differentiate between the kids who buried him and my voice. I wondered if his young brain had been damaged by alcohol addiction.

"Close your eyes."

I instructed Shawn to close his eyes. I had no intention of letting him see me.

Shawn asked in response, "Cl-close my eyes?"

"Yes. Close your eyes. I'm rescuing you secretly from your friends. It's a secret who I am."

Shawn nodded. I emerged from the bushes and pulled him out of the ground.

Even though my bony hands grabbed and pulled him out, he didn't seem to sense anything strange. Shawn thanked me with a slurred voice.

I wrapped a cloth around his closed eyes. Then, I asked him about the woman who had entered Yublam a few days ago. Without much effort, Shawn blurted out various things I wanted to know. The drunken kid surprisingly turned out to be helpful, and I managed to learn something crucial.

An inn...

The child said there was only one inn in Yublam, and it was special. Women traveling alone often disappeared from there.

"Traveler ladies go in, but they never come out..."

The innkeeper also owned a mill outside the city walls.

"The mill is... near the river?"

"Yes, we stole from it a lot, hic! Why are you pretending not to know? Hehe..."

Fortunately, I could approach that place and just wait near the mill.

I asked more directly about the bald guard captain, but Shawn suddenly sobered up.

"Hic! T-that's something you should never talk about! W-why are you asking about that?"

...

Is it a sensitive topic even among kids?

I sensed he was sobering up, so I decided to leave for now.

"Alright. Stay still. Count to a hundred slowly and reflect on your actions. Or else I'll bury you again. This time, I won't dig you out."

"Y-yes!"

Shawn nodded eagerly.

"One... two... three..."

Rustle.

After tricking the drunken kid, I headed straight for the river, following the bushes.

The innkeeper...

I would start questioning from there.

***

The wind slowly blew past the bushes. I thought the ground I was lying on was getting harder. But at 2 PM, the blazing winter sun denied the season for a moment. The ground that had frozen overnight had thawed and softened since morning. The feeling of the ground hardening was likely psychological.

Was I in a similar posture before?

A month ago, near the city gates, I waited three days and nights for Rubia. But instead, it was guards who came out instead of her, with the rattling cart.

Clatter.

I shook my skull to clear my thoughts. I looked ahead. The water wheel was turning. The millstone lifted, then dropped again.

Thud!

It wasn't the sound of milling grain. The pestle hit the bottom of an empty mortar.

It's empty.

The mill is owned by the inn. It wasn't functioning properly at all. Something was off.

Creak.

A man came out from the house attached to the mill. He looked to be around forty.

Is that him?

He must be the innkeeper. He didn't seem like anyone else. The man sat on a nearby stone wall and lit a pipe. The smoke dispersed into the air. The man's body was battered. His face was severely bruised, and thick, sticky blood dripped from his ear.

Those were signs of torture. But who could have done this? I recalled in a proper city, the guards would investigate him. Since there was an inn where travelers disappeared, he might have been treated like that by guards conducting an excessive investigation.

But...

The bald guard captain and the four guards following him had come out at night carrying a traveler's body. They abandoned it in the mountains. One of them had even planned to use it. They were a highly vicious criminal gang disguised as guards.

If that was the case, the innkeeper who kidnapped travelers would align well with them, not oppose them. The man stayed outside for a long while before going back in. I waited for two days to see if anyone would show up. It would be a problem if I targeted the wrong person. But no one showed up.

Clatter.

Is today the third day?

Rustle.

I quietly moved behind him through the bushes.

I aimed the crossbow at the man's neck and asked, "Are you the innkeeper?"

The man flinched.

Thud!

That reaction was enough. I knocked him out before he could turn around. I grabbed him by the nape and dragged him like luggage to the house beside the mill.

Creak.

The door was unlocked.

Thud!

I threw the unconscious man onto the floor and looked around inside.

What a mess.

It was the man's house. The furniture was thick with dust. Nothing was in its place.

What is this?

A set of plate armor was lying on one side. Helmet and gloves included. It looked recently purchased. After glancing around for a moment, I stepped on the unconscious man to wake him up.

"Ugh, urgh..."

The unconscious man groaned as he woke up. Then, he shrank back, pressing himself against the wall.

"Heek!"

His fear was understandable.

"Y-you look like a skeleton..."

But his words were a bit off. He thought he was seeing things. If he misunderstood, I would let him be. I had no intention of introducing myself.

"Yeah, what have you been smoking to think you're seeing skeletons?" I mumbled vaguely.

I had no intention of keeping this man alive anyway. The man trembled as he spoke.

"W-was it the opium? W-what more do you want from me? I-I really don't know anything!"

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He seemed afraid of something. And it didn't seem to be an unexpected intruder. What was he talking about, claiming he knew nothing?

I asked the man, "What don't you know?"

"I don't know what happened to the two agents from Erast or what happened to the guards! Why would I harm them?"

His hands were trembling. Agents from Erast... He must be referring to the men Rubia's uncle sent.

"Are you talking about the two Necron Brotherhood agents?" I said, referencing what was on the identification card.

The man nodded.

"Are you... from the organization?"

I shook my head. The man's body trembled again.

"T-then who are you?"

"I'm the one asking questions. Brown hair. Gray-robed woman. Do you remember her?"

The man flinched. It was an honest reaction.

"Could it be... you're with that woman?"

"Yes."

"Damn!"

Clatter!

The man tried to run. He wasn't in his right mind. He seemed deeply addicted to some narcotic, probably opium. Even seeing a skeleton, he thought he was hallucinating. In this state, he couldn't make proper judgments. He tried to run.

However, there was no way out because I was blocking the door. I might have complimented his attempt if it wasn't so futile.

Thud!

I struck his chest with my knee. The man clutched his chest and collapsed.

"Gah!"

Thwack!

At this range, I couldn't miss. I fired the crossbow at the man on the floor. The bolt pierced his left hand and lodged in the floor.

Rumble!

The end of the bolt quivered.

"Aaaah!"

"Shh."

I jammed my bony fingers into his mouth and locked eyes with the man.

"Ugh... Hic... Ugh!"

He wouldn't stop sobbing.

"Are you calm now?"

"Hic... Hic... Ugh..."

Apparently not.

The man continued to groan in pain. I began my interrogation.

"Why did you do it?" I asked.

Acting as if I already knew, I pressed on, and this man, addled by drugs, pathetically confessed.

"I-I had to cooperate with them, or they would close my inn!"

He was likely referring to the Necron Brotherhood. I asked again, pretending I knew more.

"They would close your inn just for letting a woman who stayed alone leave? How would they know? Are they some kind of Azura wizards?"

I stepped harder on the hand I had pinned to the floor with my foot and tapped the arrow stuck in his hand.

"Ugh... hic!"

The innkeeper suddenly became emotional. He cried out loud and had a sudden shift in mood. It seemed like a side effect of his drug addiction.

"Damn! Just kill me! I-I can't do it. I can't do it! I have to imagine what happens to those women to feel any satisfaction, hic!"

What is he babbling about?

I stepped back.

Clatter.

I stepped back half a step from his hand. The man kept talking as if he had gone mad, rambling on incoherently as he sobbed.

"It's over now, anyway. They say two members are missing, and they're putting the blame on me! Maybe it's just an excuse to take my inn. But... But they didn't have to torture me! They stuck some monster in my ear, hic, some monster... And soon, they'll confiscate my mill. It's over for me. It's over."

Various similar stories were repeated with slight variations. How long had I been listening?

Ding!

[A quest has been updated!]

[Information about the Necron Brotherhood has been added.

— The Necron Brotherhood is a human trafficking organization.

— They tortured the innkeeper of Yublam.

— They use special insects for torture.

— The guard captain of Yublam is associated with the Necron Brotherhood.

— The innkeeper of Yublam knows nothing more.]

I stared blankly at the status window. I had almost forgotten that this was still a quest. I had paid it no mind because it had been quietly there on the list, but it was still ongoing. The window that appeared the moment I pocketed the hammer wielder's ID, instructed me to find out about the Necron Brotherhood, a ridiculous quest.

I slowly read through each line of text hovering in the air.

The innkeeper knows nothing more? Is the trail cut off here?

Frankly, I thought it was laughable. But so far, that translucent blue window had never lied.

I picked up the crossbow. I slowly raised it and then put it down again.

I wanted to kill the innkeeper, but I didn't know whether killing him or sparing him and making him suffer would be more painful.