Chapter 8 TRG Vol. 1 Chapter 3 Part 1

Chapter 3 (The Public Story)

So, after ditching Thorn, I set off to find my next ‘hero’s egg.’ Since then, I’ve just been… wandering. Drifting aimlessly from one place to the next, continuing my journey. I mean, I did hunt all those squirrel and horse monsters back in that town, so my level must have gone up a bit, right?

“Status Open.”

I muttered it, but just as always, no cliché status screen popped up. Just as I was thinking that, the wagon hit a rut—CLUNK!—and my body went flying.

“You really are a strange one, brother,” a voice said. “It ain’t an official request or nothin’, but here you are, hitchin’ a ride with an old merchant like me.”

The speaker was the bearded man on the driver’s seat. He looked back at me over his shoulder with a grin. He’s a kind-hearted guy who found me walking alone after I left Thorn’s town. He said “it must be fate” and let me ride in his wagon to the next town.

“Speakin’ of which, I used to be an adventurer myself, back in the day. Now my old body’s all banged up, so I’m stuck ridin’ this wagon. Still, I can chase off a wild animal or two!”

Even when I stayed silent, the old guy just kept on telling me his life story. To be honest, I was so overwhelmed by his cheerful aura I couldn’t get a word in. This guy never stopped talking.

“Ah, by the way, I’m gonna make a quick stop at a village before we hit the main town. It’s right on the way, won’t take long. Just be patient, yeah?”

I just nodded at his words, clutching my sword and closing my eyes. Sitting on these sacks of what smelled like wheat, the wagon’s rocking was making me sleepy. I was technically his guard, but this ex-adventurer was probably way stronger than me, so I figured I could relax. I started to doze off.

“…Hey, hey, what in the world is that?”

My comfortable nap was interrupted by his voice and the wagon lurching to a stop. Still half-asleep, I looked where he was pointing. Black smoke was rising from beyond the trees.

“A forest fire?”

“If it is, that’s a disaster! There’s a village in that direction!”

At my words, the old man’s face went pale. He whipped the horses, and the wagon shot forward. A fire… yeah, in a world without fire departments, this was really bad. As we got closer, we could see the village. Smoke was pouring from every house.

“My god…!”

The merchant climbed down from his seat, putting a hand to his forehead and looking at the sky. I figured I couldn’t just stay in the wagon—it wouldn’t look right—so I hopped down to stand next to him. I couldn’t see far past the smoke, but… maybe there were survivors?

“I’ll go look for survivors.”

“Really!? Thank you! I can’t leave the wagon with all my goods!”

He probably knows people here, so he couldn’t just abandon the village. Plus, I owed him for the ride. I should at least do this much. And… my own hometown was a remote village just like this. It didn’t feel right to just ignore it.

I grabbed my sword from the wagon and stepped into the village. “Hello? Anyone alive?” I called out, looking around. But… something was very wrong. This wasn’t a forest fire. There were… bodies… scattered everywhere. Bloody remains of what used to be villagers. This was much, much worse than we thought.

I was wondering if beasts had attacked when… things started to move in the shadows. Wolves. A pack of black-furred wolves. I counted at least ten. And at their head, a massive, silver-furred wolf that seemed to absorb the moonlight, with a contrasting reddish-black horn on its forehead. A Wolf Monster. It was clearly in command, and it looked way stronger than the squirrels and horses.

I was immediately chased by the pack, herded like prey until I was forced into the village center. I’d pretty much given up. I didn’t even have the will to run anymore; I was just… shuffling toward the village square, which had now become my execution platform.

“Sob…“

“Why… why is this happening to us…!”

And, of course… of course… there were survivors in the middle of the burning square. Two girls, one with black hair, one with white, huddled together crying. They looked identical, aside from the hair. Must be twins. Huh, albinism exists in this world. Still in my resigned daze, I got closer. They saw me and immediately clung to me.

“H-Help… please, help us!”

“We’ll do… anything!”

Shut up! I’m the one who needs help! I almost screamed it out loud, but I held it in. Why did I ever have a moment of kindness and say I’d look for survivors?! This is the worst!

Panicking now won’t help. My one-in-a-million chance of survival is to somehow fight them off—to kill that leader. I peeled the girls off me and faced the monster, which looked like it was smirking at me. You damn dog, you’re laughing at me! I’ll show you!

Wolves are pack animals. They’re cunning hunters, ruled by an alpha. A pack led by a monster alpha will be even more relentless. That’s why I have to kill the leader first. That’s the only way. Maybe the pack will get confused and I can scare them into retreating. Okay, I can do this! I can do this! Get pumped!

My hands were shaking so bad, I let out a massive, throat-tearing war cry to cover it up, gripped my sword, and charged straight for the silver monster. Just the leader!

The monster just kept smirking and glanced at its pack. Three normal wolves immediately broke off to intercept me. I didn’t have time for them.

I punched the first one in the snout as it lunged. I dodged the second one’s bite. I could feel the third one at my back as I finally reached the leader and slammed my sword into its silver fur. CLANG! My sword bounced right off.

I knew it, but dammit, that’s hard! The monster smirked and backed away. At the same time, a sharp pain shot through my left arm. The third wolf had latched on. Thank god for the ridiculously tough body of an isekai protagonist! I smashed the wolf in the head to get it off me and charged the leader again.

The monster clearly didn’t think there was any chance it could lose. It kept its distance, toying with me, sometimes letting me hit it just to laugh as my sword bounced off. Then it would send in more of its pack. But my isekai-physique, or maybe just adrenaline, was on fire. When a wolf bit me, I’d punch it in the eye. I’d cut down the softer bodies, and just keep charging the silver one.

Before I knew it, all ten of the regular wolves were dead on the ground. The silver monster… finally… stopped smirking. It bared its fangs and glared at me.

“Took you long enough to get serious, you overgrown mutt,” I taunted.

I was just getting back at it for toying with me. It can’t understand words, but it understood the tone. It snarled and leaped at me with terrifying speed.

It was as tall as I was on its hind legs. I knew a single clean hit would be fatal, so I just… pathetically rolled around on the ground, scrambling to get away. The twin girls are watching? Who cares! I’m trying not to die!

It snapped at me. I smashed its jaw with the pommel of my sword to deflect it and swung at its neck again. It bounced, but the ‘armor’ of fur was starting to get torn up. Ha! You’re going bald! Serves you right. After who knows how many exchanges, I failed to dodge a swipe. Its claws tore open my right arm… but in that same instant, my sword finally cut through its hide. Blood dripped onto the ground. The monster froze… then started circling me, wary. Please just go home… please just go home…

My hope was crushed. It roared and charged again. It really, really hated me. My knees were shaking… and then they just… gave out. I stumbled, and my posture collapsed. In front of me was the monster’s open mouth. Ah, crap.

I couldn’t dodge. It was like I was offering it my head. Everything went into slow motion. Ah, this is the ‘desperate situation’ trope, isn’t it? This is no time for that, I’m gonna DIE!

I’m not dying here! I haven’t even gotten to enjoy my ‘master’ role yet! In that last, desperate, slow-motion moment, I jammed my sword forward. Aim for the one place that’s open: its mouth!

Luckily, my sword plunged right into its throat and… out the back of its head. Ugh, I can’t look. Its fangs were on my shoulder, but I didn’t feel any pressure. It wasn’t biting down. Oh thank god, if it was still alive it would have bitten my arm off. That is not a joke.

I waited, terrified, and the monster finally went limp. I shoved its weight off me and staggered to the side. It’s finally dead! But… I was at my limit, too.

I looked back. The twins were still there, shaking. Okay, they can go get the merchant. I dragged my battered body over to them and checked… they weren’t badly injured.

“You’re okay? Good. Go get help.” I’m bleeding all over, the adrenaline’s gone, everything hurts, and I’m pretty sure I’m about to pass out. I want to cry more than you two! The pain was so bad that tears were actually welling up. I pulled them into a hug to hide my pathetic, crying face. Not that it matters… my voice is a hoarse, tear-choked mess. They know. Ah, crap… I’m… done…

The next time I woke up, I saw a blur of black and white fluff. Oh. The twins.

“H-He’s awake!”

“He’s alive!”

…And then they both jumped on me, crying. Ow! OWWW! I’m a wounded man, stop jumping on me! I wanted to yell, but my throat was parched and I couldn’t move. All I could do was scowl in pain. Somebody… help!

“You two, give the injured man some space.”

That voice… the merchant. I couldn’t move my neck, but I looked over. He was poking a campfire.

“You’re awake, huh? For a minute there, I thought you were a goner.”

He said, bringing a spoon to my lips. “You’ve been out for a whole day. Eat this, it’s easy on the stomach.”

I opened my mouth, and he fed me a warm, salty soup. It’s so good… his kindness is saving my life…

After I finished, he told me what happened. The twins had run for help and found him. He’d used his own valuable merchant supplies to patch me up.

“I… I never thought it was monsters,” he said, looking down. “I’m so sorry, brother.”

He looked so dejected, but I told him not to worry about it. If anything, it was my fault for being so weak I could barely handle a wolf. Seriously, what kind of talentless hack struggles this much against a beginner-area monster?

“But still…”

He still looked guilty, so I insisted, “You used your own supplies to save me, so we’re even!” I have to make sure he doesn’t charge me for the medical fees… my wallet is already on life support! I have to talk him out of it while he’s still feeling bad!

“Um… c-can I… ask you something…?”

As I was trying to convince the old man, the black-haired ‘fluff’ spoke up timidly. The merchant, taking the hint, got up. “Well, I’m going to… go bury the villagers.” He walked off, leaving just me and the black-and-white sisters by the fire.

“W-Why… why did you go so far to save us…?”

That’s what she asked. I mean, it’s not like I could have just run away. That monster clearly looked at the two of them, thought “that’s not enough,” and then saw me as a perfectly timed ‘second course’ arriving right on cue. I almost said that, but… I wanted to sound cool. So, I just muttered something vague about “not being able to leave them behind.”

“More importantly, why didn’t you two just abandon me and run?”

“We would never do that,” the white-haired one answered. “You’re the one who saved our lives.”

What good kids. I would have seen my chance and been out of there in a heartbeat. After that, I just had to wait for the old man to get back while the girls took care of me, changing the bandages on my wounds and wiping my back.

If only they were, you know, a bit healthier and slightly older sisters… I thought. They were both so scrawny I could only barely tell they were girls by their voices, which… kind of ruined the ‘being nursed’ fantasy. No, wait, that’s a horrible thing to think while they’re taking care of me.

After a while, the merchant returned from burying the villagers and started preparing dinner using supplies that hadn’t burned. As for me? I was seriously injured, so I just lay there and watched.

“I really am grateful to you, brother,” the old man said, his face grim as he stirred the pot. He’d sent the twins to go find firewood. “But… the only survivors are children. And one of them… an ‘abominable child’…”

Abominable child? What was he talking about?

“You don’t know? White hair is a sign of misfortune. They say it draws monsters. I’d never seen her in this village before. She must have been hidden… or locked away somewhere.”

He explained that there was an old legend in these parts: if a child with white hair was born, that village would be attacked by monsters. Huh. To me, it just looked rare, but I guess some people have these superstisons.

“‘Just rare,’ eh? Hah! You’ve got guts, brother.” My comment seemed to hit his funny bone, but he quickly turned serious again. “But… it might have been better if those kids had died here with the others. I know that’s a hell of a thing for me to say, when I did nothing…”

He said the superstition about white hair was strong in the town we were heading to. Life would be too hard for two children alone. What a cruel world. But… they had saved me, too. I couldn’t just abandon them. That would be too cold. I proposed to the old man that I’d look after them for a while, just to ‘repay the favor.’

The old man was so shocked he dropped the stick he was using to poke the fire. Huh? Was it really that surprising?

“Brother, why would you go that far? You just happened to be in the village, you saved them from being eaten. You’ve done more than enough.”

“Maybe,” I said, “but they saved me, too. And… I mean, abandoning them now? Wouldn’t that be just… heartless?” The old man’s face soured. Ah, no! I wasn’t trying to call him a heartless, penny-pinching demon!

“Of course that’s the best thing to do,” he sighed. “But it’s a rare person who can afford to. I can’t. I can’t be a merchant traveling with an ‘abominable child.’ I’d be attacked by monsters, or maybe towns would refuse to trade with me.”

He was right. For a merchant on a fixed route or a settled townsperson, taking in a ‘cursed’ child would be impossible. But for a bottom-tier, wandering adventurer-wannabe like me… it was, in a way, perfect. I could just look after them until they could stand on their own.

I asked him if he’d take all three of us to the next town. The old man just stirred the pot, looking embarrassed.

“If I say ‘no’ after all that, it just makes me the cold-hearted bastard, doesn’t it?” he sighed, resigned. “Fine. You were coming with me anyway, and I’ve got room for two kids. I’ll take you to town.”

This guy really is a saint. The stew was starting to smell good, and I was just thinking about food when I saw the twins returning with the firewood.

Their eyes were red and puffy. Of course… they’d just lost their whole village. As I was watching them with pity, they saw my face, dropped the firewood, and ran toward me. Uh, wait, hold on…!

“Waaaaaaaaah!“

Owww! My woooounds!

And so, without even trying, I had ‘ranked up’ from a ‘bottom-tier adventurer-wannabe’ to a ‘bottom-tier adventurer-wannabe with kids.’ The kind-hearted merchant took us all to the next town.

“This is a pretty big town for this region,” he said. “If you’re an adventurer, you should pay the fee and register at the guild. You’ve got those monster materials from the village; that should help. And… this is your guard fee. It wasn’t a formal request, so it ain’t much, but… take it. A little parting gift from me.”

A saint to the very end. He gave me the materials and the money, and I took the twins to find an inn. This town was bigger than Thorn’s; the main street was even paved with stone.

“…Ngh… Arche…”

“It’s okay, Norn.”

The two of them, black-and-white, were trailing behind me, gripping my shirt, terrified of the strange looks from the passersby. The black-haired one was Arche, the white-haired one Norn. Arche was the older sister. Because of her white hair, Norn had been ostracized, and Arche had been the only one to secretly care for her. She was terrified of the sharp, staring eyes.

I couldn’t stand it. I put my hand on her fluffy white hair to calm her down. “It’s okay, it’s okay. They’re just looking because it’s rare. It’s beautiful hair, you should be proud of it.”

While comforting her, I got us a room at an inn. Just one. Why? Because it’s cheaper, that’s why! I ordered baths for three, and while I was out back, hissing in pain as I washed my own raw wounds, the innkeeper came out to find me, looking furious.

“What do you think you’re doing, brother?” he snarled. “Bringing an ‘abominable child’ into town is one thing, but letting one stay at an inn…?”

He said it was unheard of. Ah… right. The merchant had them wear hoods on the way in. Apparently, passing through is fine, but staying is a problem. “What’s the big deal?” I said. “If a monster shows up, I can handle it. The town adventurers can, too.”

“…If something happens, you’ll be in danger, too. I’m just warning you, for your own good.” He must have decided I was a lost cause, because he just stomped off. Great. Now my bath water’s cold, thanks to you.

The next day, I didn’t want to drag the twins through town after that, so I left them with some food and went to the Adventurer’s Guild to sell the wolf materials. My wounds weren’t healed, so I couldn’t hunt. I was counting on this payout.

“Ah, yes, we were told you’d be coming,” the receptionist said. “We were instructed to give you the reward.”

To my shock, I got a huge sum of money, no questions asked. This was… way different from my experience at Thorn’s guild. I asked why, and they explained the merchant had come by the day before and vouched for me. He’d used my deed as a guarantee, giving me a temporary ‘adventurer’ status, so they were paying me the full, official bounty for the materials. They also said they’d happily buy any other materials I brought in.

That old man… what is he, a saint? He’d already left town, so I couldn’t even thank him properly. I just bowed deeply to him in my mind.

With this unexpected windfall, I dropped my battered gear off at the blacksmith for repairs and went back to the inn. I’m home! And I’m rich!

“W-Welcome home…!” The black-and-white sisters greeted me at the door. Man… I’m not married, don’t even have a girlfriend, and I already feel like a father. I handed them some small souvenirs and looked around. The room was… spotless.

“W-We… we thought we shouldn’t just do nothing, so we cleaned…” Arche said, noticing my look. They’re such good kids.

“You don’t have to worry about that, you’re just kids.” When I was their age, I was slacking off on my chores to go play swords with the old hunter. I couldn’t help but pat them both on the head.

“…!?” Norn flinched violently and looked down. Ah… right. She was an outcast. She’s still terrified of adults.

“I… I’m sorry…” She shrank in on herself.

“No, no, it’s fine!” Except it’s not fine! I’m the one who feels terrible now! This is actually depressing! I guess she’s okay approaching me, but not okay with me approaching her.

After that, we fell into a routine. As long as I was healing, Arche did the shopping, and Norn did the chores.

Me? I had nothing to do, so after my daily training, I’d just laze around… until the innkeeper put me to work chopping firewood. Once I was healed, I went back to hunting monsters.

This town was big enough that there was a steady supply of monsters; mostly squirrels. I’d see other rookie parties of four or five hunting them. I’d just kill them, cash them in, kill, cash, repeat.

Then, one day, Arche and Norn came to me. “We want you to teach us how to fight.”

“We can’t just be protected by you forever,” Arche said.

“We have to be able to stand on our own,” Norn added, her voice hardening. “…And more than that… we can’t forgive the monsters.”

They both stared at me with such determination. A word flashed in my mind: Revenge-Type Protagonists. That’s a trope, too! And it’s a double-protagonist setup!

It’s a classic: the hero whose family is killed, who endures hellish training to get revenge and accomplish great deeds.

If Thorn was the ‘underdog’ hero—the classic fantasy protagonist rising from nothing—then Arche and Norn were the ‘dark backstory’ heroes.

Female protagonists are popular, too. This is perfect. I can teach them my fake sword style and slide right into the master role.

But… could they handle the ‘training’ I put Thorn through? It’s the only way I know. I warned them, “My training is so hard you might literally die. Are you sure?”

“We’re prepared.”

“It has to be that hard, or it’s not enough.”

They looked up at me, their faces set. Yep. That’s protagonist-material, all right. More candidates! I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across my face as I agreed to take them on as my disciples.

I immediately bought Arche and Norn swords and took them hunting. The monsters here were just squirrels, and I’d apparently leveled up, because I could kill them much faster now. It took fewer hits to their necks. I figured I’d get the girls used to seeing monsters.

“Eep…!”

Arche was terrified, but that’s fine. Thorn and I were the same. “It’s just a squirrel,” I told them. “I can kill it before it gets near you, so don’t worry.”

“Master’s sword… it’s beautiful…”

After I’d taken its head and was butchering the corpse, Norn came over and said that. …That’s a first. My sword style is just weak chip-damage… She must be looking at me with ‘he-saved-my-life’ goggles on.

After the hunt, I put them on the same ‘swing ’til you collapse’ routine as Thorn.

Unlike Thorn, however, they actually trained until they passed out. I was shocked. Aren’t they… too serious? I felt a little guilty about putting them through my fake, ‘spirit-and-guts’ training.

I taught them the same forms the old geezer had taught me. Most of what I was saying was pure nonsense, but I was just trusting that the geezer’s basics were at least somewhat useful.

After a while of this, the light in their eyes, which had started as determination, began to dim… and they started looking at me with the exact same ‘this guy is a psycho’ look that Thorn had.

This is not the ‘Before and After’ I wanted. And I started to feel them staring at me more often… Crap, are they figuring out that I’m just making this up?!

But, because they were taking it so seriously to a ‘do-or-die’ level, they improved fast. So, I started sparring with them.

Unlike Thorn, they had the ‘twin advantage.’ They had to use it. I wanted to see those perfectly-synced combo attacks, the kind where they cover each other’s blind spots! I had no idea how to teach that, of course, so I just… made stuff up.

By the time they could keep up with my swings without collapsing, their bodies had changed. They’d gone from scrawny kids to slender, but clearly feminine, young women. Their hair had grown out, too. Norn was going to cut hers, but I said, “It’s so pretty, that’d be a waste,” and she’d kept it long ever since. Now both of them have this fluffy, ‘poofy’ hair down to the middle of their backs, and sometimes I just… pet it.

One day, as I was finishing my new daily chore of chopping firewood, Arche came up to me. She wanted me to… explain… something about my sword philosophy. Crap! She’s finally calling me on all my bullshit!

“Huh? You don’t understand what I said on the first day? …What did I say…?”

I’d just said whatever popped into my head, so I had no memory of it. I think… I think it was something about “a true master can cut a rock with a wooden stick.” I, of course, am not a master, and cannot do that.

While I was trying to figure out how to respond, Arche held out a branch. “Can you cut this firewood?” Of course not!

She’s got me! She’s not just calling my bluff, she’s cornering me for proof! I just stood there, silent, as she held out the branch, her face dead serious.

“Master? Arche? What are you doing?”

And just when I was trying to figure out what to do, Norn showed up. I was trapped, holding this stupid branch. How do I get out of this?!

A single, desperate plan flashed in my mind. This was my only shot! Please, please be fooled…!

I stood in front of the firewood, closed my eyes as if to ‘focus,’ slowly raised the branch, and then swung it down with all my might… intentionally grazing right past the wood and hitting the ground.

This, I hoped, would give the impression that I had cut it. My excuse was ready: “The cut was so perfect it re-fused instantly!” I had to be careful not to actually hit the wood, or it would just bounce off and I’d have no excuse.

I call it: Operation “This Level is Still Too Advanced for You”!

Trying my best to look like a true master, I turned back to Arche and Norn… and they were both just staring at me, their mouths wide open. Ah. My trick was seen right through. Yep.

I mumbled my lame, pre-planned excuse—”a cut… too fast… for you to even realize it was cut…”—and just… fled. I am a loser who couldn’t stand the awkward atmosphere.

It’s over! I thought, bracing myself for the ‘you’re a fraud’ looks. Tomorrow they’ll look at me like I’m garbage! …But the next day, they still called me ‘Master.’

I see. So, even that pathetic performance yesterday actually worked. That ‘Savior of Our Lives’ filter they have is doing some heavy lifting. Man, these two are gullible.

Having successfully fooled them, I kept up my ‘training’—which was really just my personal stress relief. I’d mutter a bunch of random nonsense as if it were profound, and sometimes, I’d even pull the whole ‘lion tossing its cubs off a cliff’ routine, dumping them outside of town and forcing them to find their own way back.

You know, I had this same thought with Thorn… I’m a pretty terrible person, aren’t I?

But maybe because of all that, they actually grew quite a bit. They don’t freeze up in front of monsters anymore, and they even work together to run rings around them. It looked like they were even trying to come up with their own secret finishing moves. I was telling the young guy at the guild desk about it while cashing in some materials, but…

“What am I supposed to do with that information?” he grumbled, getting the wrong idea. “Are you trying to get me to solve the whole town’s prejudice against the ‘abominable child’?”

I had no idea what he was talking about. Anyway, Arche and Norn were coming along nicely. It was about time I started preparing to ‘release them into the wild,’ just like I did with Thorn, by registering them as adventurers. “Hey,” I asked, “if I’m the one paying the fee, is it possible to make them adventurers?”

“It’s not impossible, if you’re paying,” he said. “But even if you register them, they’re still going to suffer. That prejudice isn’t going away. If you’re just planning to dump them like that, you should take responsibility for them to the end.”

He didn’t look much older than me, but he’d just stabbed me with such perfect, undeniable logic I was speechless. No, but, I can’t! If they keep getting stronger like this, they’re going to find out I’m just a crappy, small-fry adventurer! And if I’m still nearby when that happens, that ‘hero-worship’ filter is going to flip, and they’ll probably hate me a thousand times more, right?!

I obviously couldn’t tell him that, so I just stayed vague and tried to give off a strong “I-have-my-reasons” vibe. “Come on, you’ve seen them when they come here with me. You’ve looked out for them, too. Can’t you just help me out here?”

“…You must have some pretty big reasons, then, to be pushing this hard.”

The clerk said, giving me that flat, suspicious stare. Yep. I’m not lying.

“…Haaaaah, fine. I get it. If you pay the fee, I will personally sponsor them. We’ll call it… an investment in their potential.”

He’s a guy who gets it! Man, first that saint of a merchant, and now this clerk… is this entire town populated by saints, or what?

And so, I paid for their registrations, and in the dead of night, while they were fast asleep, I slipped out of the inn. I had to bow and scrape to the night-shift gate guard, but I managed to secretly get out of town.

I’ll be praying for the day a rumor reaches me… something like, “Those black-and-white twin sisters fought some kind of ancient Vampire Lord that suddenly appeared, and won!”