Chapter 5

The outside of the cave was deep within a forest.

Tō couldn't help but take a deep breath, savoring the rich scent of earth and wood, which he had never experienced in the city.

The vegetation was lush, making it quite difficult to see ahead.

However, Tō had a vague sense of which direction he should go.

It was an eerie feeling to know where to go in an unfamiliar place.

"Maybe it's the memories of the previous person."

The memories of the previous owner were still faintly lingering.

Tō tried to read these memories.

The memories he could read were minimal.

They were mostly fragmented and lacked coherence.

As he persistently read through the memories, tears suddenly welled up in Tō's eyes and spilled over.

"Ah... what? What's this?"

The tears flowed like a broken faucet, one after another.

Tō himself wasn't feeling emotional or sad.

His body was reacting to something in the memories.

(Crying this much... I wonder what sad thing happened to the owner of this body...)

After the tears stopped, Tō organized the information he had read from the memories.

First, this world was called "Ealgard."

The body's owner was named Ridd.

Ridd lived in a small, unnamed farming village.

And the cause of Ridd's death.

Ridd's parents had already passed away.

After losing his parents, Ridd lived alone. He helped with farm work sometimes, but mostly he hunted in the forest to make a living.

Ridd was isolated in the village.

The reason for his isolation was his appearance.

"...A cursed child."

Muttering this, Tō touched his own bangs.

Tō's hair was black, and his eyes, though he couldn't see them, were also black.

In contrast, there was not a single person in the village with black hair and eyes.

Just because his hair and eyes were a different color, Ridd was called a "cursed child" and kept at a distance by the villagers.

Going to the village didn't feel like a good idea.

However, Tō's back was covered in blood, and he had the body fluid of a caterpillar on him. He was also starting to feel hungry.

Even if he were to go to another place, he needed to secure a change of clothes and food.

"Well, it'll be fine!"

Life is a gamble.

Tō threw away all his worries and headed toward the unnamed village where Ridd had lived.

The village where Ridd lived was less than a thirty-minute walk away.

The village, surrounded by a simple fence, had twenty houses arranged around a large central house.

All the houses were wooden and looked as if they would fall apart if a rugby player tackled them.

The main product of the village was wheat.

The villagers lived here and worked in the fields outside the village.

The male workers were outside the village. Those left behind were women, children, and elderly people who couldn't move.

When they saw Tō, they all averted their eyes as if they had bitten into a sour persimmon.

The villagers hurried back to their homes, avoiding Tō.

Within a minute of entering the village, all signs of people had disappeared from Tō's view.

"Wow... this is bad. Ridd must have really struggled here."

Tō felt a deep respect for Ridd, who was no longer in this world.

If Tō had lived here, he would have decided to leave the village within a week.

Tō's feet moved without hesitation toward Ridd's house.

Entering the even more dilapidated house, he noticed a hatchet, a bow, and some arrows.

There was no furniture, no futon.

It was almost like an abandoned house, lacking almost everything needed for daily life.

In a corner of the house, there were scraps of cloth.

The scraps were all sewn together, forming a rather shabby patchwork.

Ridd had used this patchwork as a substitute for a futon.

"Ridd... you really lived well..."

Tō couldn't help but feel a bit teary-eyed.

Tō took a bucket with many repair marks and headed to the communal well in the village.

When Tō approached the well, the villagers, who had reappeared outside, hurried back into their houses as if fleeing.

"At this point, it's kind of funny..."

If Tō deliberately approached and then moved away, would the villagers repeatedly enter and exit their houses?

If so, it would be a gag.

Tō almost burst out laughing at the absurd image in his mind as he drew water from the well.

Returning home, he washed his body thoroughly with the water and changed into new clothes.

"Ah... I feel refreshed."

The sticky, dry feeling on his back was gone, and Tō stretched widely.

He felt as if he had come back to life.

Unfortunately, there was only one set of spare clothes.

After staring at the blood-soaked clothes for a moment, Tō decided to leave them behind.

Since Ridd lived by hunting, he had a stock of meat.

Tō took a piece of dried meat hanging from the ceiling and bit into it.

"Wow, the taste is decent. I wish I had some pepper, but that's impossible, I guess."

The taste was quite wild, but not bad.

Tō bit into the dried meat and threw the rest into the <Ethereal Storage>.

He also threw in the bow, arrows, and hatchet. Although Tō, who had a [Magic Sword], didn't need these weapons, he had no money. Ridd, of course, had no money either.

Money can't be created out of nothing. Although it was unfortunate for Ridd, the weapons would be used to make money.

Even if they sold for a pittance, it was better than nothing.

After finishing the dried meat, Tō looked around the house. He closed his eyes and prayed.

Tō prayed in Ridd's place.

He directed Ridd's thoughts toward the house and the parents who built it.

"Thank you for everything."

○

Clement, who had returned from the fields for lunch, was startled to see a familiar black-haired, black-eyed boy.

"...No way."

The boy was a villager, the one called a cursed child—Ridd.

He was also the person Clement and the others had pushed off the cliff of the cave that morning.

The cliff was about ten meters high and not climbable.

Moreover, Ridd's head had been split open by the fall.

—At least, it looked fatal to Clement.

Yet, why was Ridd wandering around here?

"Hey, isn't that Ridd?"

"Why is he alive...?"

Robert and Tack, who had returned with Clement, trembled as they spoke.

"Wasn't he dead?"

"His head was bleeding, right?"

"Yeah. So why is he alive...?"

Clement and the others had pushed Ridd off the cliff because he was a cursed child.

Black hair and black eyes brought disaster to the village, the village elder had said.

In fact, since Ridd was born, the wheat yield in the village had decreased, and the village was attacked by monsters more frequently.

Whether the yield had actually decreased or the attacks had increased, Clement and the others, who were uneducated, couldn't tell.

But if the elder said so, it must be true.

The bad things happening in the village were Ridd's fault.

If Ridd were gone, everything would be fine.

This was the common belief among the villagers.

Clement and the others stood up for the village.

First, they eliminated Ridd's parents, who had brought the cursed child into the village.

The sin of bringing a cursed child into the village was great.

Ridd's parents would have to pay with their blood and lives!

Clement and the others lured the parents to the cave, said to be inhabited by spirits, and pushed them off the cliff.

The news of Clement and the others' actions against Ridd's parents spread quickly throughout the village. However, they faced no punishment.

Because it was for the village.

They were the ones with justice.

Their actions were entirely correct.

That's what Clement and the others believed.

The murder of the parents was successful.

Next, it was the cursed child himself.

Clement and the others lured Ridd to the cave in the same way and pushed him off the cliff when they had the chance.

Ridd's head was bleeding.

They thought he was definitely dead.

But now, Ridd was standing before them again.

"...He must be cursed."

One of the three whispered this, his voice trembling.

The possibility that he couldn't be killed chilled Clement's heart.

"He's a demon. He shouldn't be alive."

"Yeah, this time we'll kill him for sure!"

"We'll kill him and bring peace to the village!"

Clement and the others felt like heroes.

However, it was rare for a hero to openly talk about killing.

Was this really the right thing to do?

Such doubts were quickly erased by the "voice" that rose in their hearts.

Clement and the others had their target.

With bloodshot eyes, they headed toward Ridd's house.

They burst through the door and beat Ridd, who was inside, with all their might.

When he stopped moving, they covered his head with a cloth.

"We have more field work this afternoon. Let's quickly take him to the cave and dump him."

"Okay."

"Sure."

Robert and Tack carried the motionless Ridd, with Clement leading the way.

"Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill"

As they ran to the cave, the words "kill, kill, kill, kill" spilled from their mouths, mixed with foam.

But none of them realized what they were saying.

They were only thinking about killing Ridd for sure.

They arrived at the cliff of the cave.

All that was left was to push Ridd off.

Just as Clement thought this,

"Seeing you try to kill me the same way again, you really don't learn, do you?"

Ridd's voice echoed.