Volume 1 - CH 26

Translated by Lickymee

Edited by General Napoleon

“You can’t solve a problem, that you don’t even understand by taking part in it.”

I had heard of this sentence somewhere before, and had written it down in my diary thinking it was useful.

With Wolfgang in the lead, we ran frantically into the street. 

We weren’t alone. Just beside us was the stable boy with the reins of six horses in his hands, a farmer with a basket of veggies on his back, and a middle-aged woman with a basket of fruits in her hand… 

It’s as if watching a scene, where we were refugees running from a storm or a flood.

I couldn’t help but start to feel even more nervous from the surroundings. Coupled with the fact that Xifu’s hands weren’t in mine and with both of us squeezing through the panicked crowd, a fear of the unknown started growing in me.

As we ran, we passed by the giant bell that was being hit repeatedly by Simon. We split up with the crowd here with Simon joining us.

Before all this, I was able to keep my head clear in any situation, but I just couldn’t calm down right now. Everything was just a big confusing mess.

A few minutes later, Wolfgang stopped at a small normal-looking house. As I tried to open the door, while panting heavily, Simon stopped me and pointed downwards. 

Following his hands, I saw Wolfgang lying on the floor.

“Don’t move.”

Wolfgang’s claws were scraping the sides of the walls, as if he was searching for something.

“Found it.”

As his claws reached into a small crack along the walls, a deep roaring sound could be heard from inside the house, and the heavy wooden door that had no handle opened on its own.

Walking into the home, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary other than it was mostly made out of stone, which obviously meant that it was much sturdier than the wooden cottages. 

It’ll probably be able to withstand even a hurricane.

As I stood there dazed wondering what was going on, Wolfgang huffed as he started pushing the stone stove.

Werewolves must have immense strength, as the stove was at least 300 kilograms. 

Beneath the stove was a tunnel with stairs in it. Beckoning for me to follow him, Simon entered the tunnel.

However, Wolfgang only stood beside the entrance in place.

“Wolfgang, how about you…”

“I’ll be here.”

“Why?”

“You’ll know soon enough, and look…”

He grinned as he compared the differences between the small entrance and his large body.

However, his grin was by no means a relaxed one, as even his eyes filled up with a determination unbefitting that of a wolf.

Without a sound of protest, I grabbed Xifu’s hands and headed down the stairs. As Wolfgang once again pushed the stove over the entrance, the entire tunnel became as dark as night.

Even though Medusa’s night vision was supernaturally good, I was totally blind as a bat here.

“Only one way.”

“Yes…”

Giving us instructions, I followed Simon along the pitch black tunnel . As we stumbled along, Xifu placed her hand on my shoulders for balance.  

The tunnel was so cramped that only one person could fit along the tunnel at a time. Not having any way to tell how far we had progressed, I started counting my steps to have an idea on how far we had gone.

At long last, I could make out a door at the end of the tunnel. As Simon knocked on it 5 times, it slowly creeped open, filling the pitch black tunnel with candlelight.

Behind the door were two familiar faces——Parker and Lia.

Other than those two, I could see thousands, no… Hundreds of thousands of gold coins glimmering with the reflection of the candlelight.

“This is…”

“Take a seat.”

Simon coldly ordered, as I managed to make out a few worn out chairs beside the basement wall.

“What is this? Why are we…”

I nervously broke the silence in the room, but the three of them only glanced at each other as no one seemed to be interested in explaining the situation.

These passionate faces of yesterday now only showed a deadpan expression. It didn’t help ease my nerves as I glanced at my Xifu, getting ready for any conflict that might happen any moment.

As I quietly observed the basement, it was evidently simple but sturdy, with the entire ceiling made out of stone slabs, supported by a thick wooden frame. Other than the smell of smoke from the candle, there was a musty smell in the air only found in basements.

“Let him see.”

“He’ll know sooner or later.”

“……”

The first one to speak was Lia, with Parker objecting to her  suggestion. I could only wonder what they wanted to show me.

As his thick and burly hands dug away the soil located near the ceiling, a small crack appeared. As it was too high up, I had to stand on a chair in order to peek through it.

Yet, before I could see anything, countless noises entered my ears.

The neighing of horses, screams of men, sobbing sounds of women, and sounds that sounded like things clashing against each other.

I immediately wanted to stop looking, but my eyes could  only grow wider.

In the distance was a woman kneeling, with the wooden basket beside her destroyed, and the contents sprawled out everywhere. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but the piercing sobs of the woman were met with angry voices of men. 

Suddenly, a man was carried over. He looked exactly like the farmer I saw this morning, just his jacket he had on was missing…

The ones carrying the farmer were a few men clad in a blue and white uniform, as if they were soldiers of an army. They mercilessly kicked at the man on the ground as he struggled to stand up.

Soon, they used the butt of their rifles instead as they continued hitting, smacking and knocking the farmer down  each and every time he tried to get up.

As the muddied farmer’s actions slowly got sluggish, a heavy-looking fanged horse was brought over by the soldiers, which they made to step on the farmer. Any part of the body that the hooves connected with had a deep hoofprint imprinted on it.

Soon, the farmer stopped moving altogether.

As the sobs of the woman grew louder, the soldiers’ laughter grew in course, as if they were demons clad in human skin. Gunshots echoed throughout the sky as they fired their guns, as if they were celebrating a festival. The woman was scared witless, as she stopped her sobs and cowered beside a wall.

Then, their hands reached for her…

BANG!

I was grabbed by Parker and slammed back with my butt onto the chair.

“LET ME GO!”

I screamed as my hands gripped the revolver Parker gave me tightly.

“No.”

As Parker glared into my eyes, I couldn’t move as his strong grip firmly held me in place on the chair.

“Hubby!”

“Mdm Lao Wu……”

As Xifu got up from her chair, Simon almost immediately aimed the barrel of the rifle he was always carrying with him at her head.

In this distance and space, even if she used her petrifying magic, there was almost no guarantee that Simon wouldn’t pull the trigger first. Even more so, there was Lia here, who just sat quietly.

“Why?! Why won’t you let me go!”

“We don’t need another Caleb!” Strongly exclaimed Parker.

(T/L note: Changing Krifey to Caleb, rip my naming sense)

“Then why… Did you give me this gun…?”

“Even with it, you wouldn’t become Caleb anyway.”

With a soft mutter “Caleb’s dead…”, Simon put down the rifle and slowly sat back down into his chair.

“Yeah, he’s already dead.”

I understood what Lia meant as she repeated Simon’s words. At that moment, I realised that Caleb was none other than the human that Lia had loved. 

Even in an alternate world, couldn’t I even become a man who defends the weak against the strong?

Yeah… I should have realized long ago, that I should stop having these delusions of being a hero…

“Then, what about the gold coins?”

“These are the last things left by the Black Merchants… Other than Nightfall Town, we’re only left with these…”

“Wolfgang…”

“He’ll be fine.”

Grabbing Xifu’s hands in mine, is only when my heart calmed down a little.

“Then why, are you all, not fighting against them…”

“The Kingdom’s men are numerous, even more so than these numbers of gold…”

“I see…”

I stopped asking questions, as the scenes of the soldiers that were a hundred times more crueler than that of the town guards, and the screams of the residents that kept replaying in my mind.

……….

At long last, the surface became quiet again. When we returned to it, the scene that I saw in that basement could be seen everywhere throughout the town. The only thing that I was glad about was Wolfang was still alive.

I found the farmer and woman I saw when I was down in the basement. 

He was barely alive as he sat against a wall. There were glass shards everywhere from windows that were shot by the soldiers. Still, he even waved his hands at us, as we approached him.

“Cough, Wolfang, you’re fine, hehe, even… Mr Lao Wu…”

“Big Hans, are you xxxxx?”

Wolfgang squatted beside the man called Big Hans and assessed his wounds.

“I-I’m fine, as long you guys are safe…he..hehe……”

The farmer laughed, as fresh bloodied saliva flowed out from the space between his teeth.

As I kneeled down beside the man, my glasses started fogging up from my tears.

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry…I’m sorry……”

I covered my mouth, as I repeated the words that weren’t enough to express my feelings right now.

T/L: Shit hitting the fan! Time to wait another year for another chapter xD. I’ll do my best to translate more, so stay safe and FOR THE LOVE OF SWEET GOD WEAR YOUR GODDAMN MASK!