Chapter 6

Chapter 6
## Chapter 6: Goblins, Demons, Children (2)

It was premature to lose his composure. Kadim meticulously inspected the interior of the cabin. His immediate concern was verifying whether any additional predators remained inside.

The stagnant air was thick with drifting particles, caught in the dim evening light filtering through the wall’s fissures. Smashed jars and dehydrated produce were strewn across the floorboards. Silence filled the space, save for the stale, pungent odor typical of such primitive dwellings. Fortunately, no further monsters appeared to be hiding in the shadows.

However, the room was not entirely vacant.

“Mmgh… mmph, mmgh… ”

Cowering beneath the table was a young girl, perhaps seven or eight years of age. Her limbs were bound tight, and a cloth wad was stuffed into her mouth to silence her.

A deep crease appeared between the barbarian’s eyes.

“They just trussed up the youngster and fled…”

The situation was nonsensical. Unless the child had been abandoned as an offering to the goblins—which seemed unlikely given the circumstances—the scene defied logic.

There was clearly a complex backdrop to this, though he felt no inclination to untangle the politics of it. Kadim resolved to liberate the girl and seek an explanation.

The cords had been tightened with such force that her skin was rubbed raw. The gag was saturated with fluids. Lowering himself to her height, Kadim spoke.

“Answer me this. Where have your mother and father gone?”

“Hic, snff… waaah, M-Mommy, waaaah…”

Rather than responding, the child dissolved into a fit of weeping and retreated into the furthest corner. Kadim stood up unhurriedly and tried again.

“Look, just give me an answer and I won’t touch you. Quit the crying…”

“Waaah, Mooom, M-Mommy, hic, eek, waaaah…”

Setting her free had changed nothing. In her eyes, he was merely a different kind of monster. Kadim hissed a low oath and made a sharp sound of frustration with his tongue.

“…Hell.”

The situation only stabilized when the merchant finally caught up.

Duncan stepped into the shack after a delay, his eyes darting about in terror of finding a beast or a fiend. He turned ghostly pale when he saw the goblin with the ruined skull, but he took solace in the fact that it was no longer breathing.

Kadim signaled for him to quiet the child. Duncan gave a serious nod.

He fished out a piece of licorice root and tucked it into her mouth, then began shaking a small metal rattle with great energy.

“Clatter-clatter, there now, little lady! If you keep leaking tears like that, the local creek will burst its banks! Look at me—dry those eyes! That’s it, clatter-clatter!”

“Hic, huff, huuu…”

Anxiety still clouded her face, but the sugary flavor on her tongue and the merchant’s practiced soothing eventually brought the hysterics to an end. Kadim watched from the corner of his eye.

“You have a talent for that. Did you work as a nanny before you took up trade?”

Duncan stammered at the bluntness of the remark.

“Ah, ahaha… No, lord. It’s simply that I have a daughter near her age back at home…”

Kadim gave a disinterested nod, as if the detail was irrelevant. It was time to get the girl’s account.

“Listen, kid. What went on here? Where are your folks, and who bound you and left you behind?”

“Mommy and Daddy. Sob, Mommy and Daddy threw me away…”

“…”

“Wh-What?!”

Duncan’s jaw dropped at the jarring confession, his eyes wide with shock. Kadim narrowed his gaze—and at 그 moment, the door to the shack swung open violently.

A group appeared in the doorway: a man with a beard gripping a small handaxe, a woman in tattered clothes, and several children who appeared to be their offspring.

The woman cried out in a panicked state.

“Lenny! My baby! My baby!!”

“Blast it! Be quiet! Goblins might still be lurking in there…”

The man attempted to hold her back, but it was no use. She wrenched herself free and scrambled toward the girl.

“Lenny! Are you unhurt, Lenny? Oh heavens, my baby…”

“M-Mommy…”

The woman pulled her into a fierce embrace. Yet, even held by her mother, the girl looked far from comforted. While the woman sobbed and whispered frantic prayers of gratitude, the child remained stiff, her tiny frame shivering with uncertainty.

Meanwhile, the man with the handaxe recoiled at the sight of the massive, grim-looking barbarian. He shuddered again when he noticed the goblin’s head split in two.

Swallowing his fear, the man managed to ask,

“D-Did you… do this?”

“No, my blade did.”

The villager stood there, looking utterly baffled. Kadim walked over to the table, drove his sword into the wood of the floor with a thud, and sat himself on a small stool.

“I want the story. Were you under a demon’s influence, handing over your child as a gift?”

The stool groaned under his weight, and every person present—inside the room and gathered at the door—held their breath in unison.

The woman led all the youngsters outside. The small hut soon filled with the village elders.

By the light of a flickering candle, bowls of pea stew and chunks of coarse bread were served. They offered this humble meal while recounting their plight to the barbarian and the merchant.

“This region was once infested with goblins. When our previous land failed, we cleared this area with fire and settled. The smoke and flames sent most of the creatures running.”

“…But then things turned sour. Recently, the remaining goblins began raiding us. They fought with a new madness; people were getting mauled. This man’s arm was shattered by a club, and that one nearly lost his life when his scalp was shredded.”

The speaker gestured to a youth with a makeshift splint and an older man wrapped in rags. Their faces were etched with misery.

“We didn’t just take it lying down. We organized the men to hunt them. But then… we encountered ‘it’ among them.”

Bulging eyes, teeth like a saw blade, and ears sharper than any goblin. Its skin was a deep, bloody red. Its limbs were thin, yet its hands and talons were unnaturally large.

It carried an aura that felt foreign to the natural world.

The most terrifying part: it spoke the tongue of men.

—Humans… I see?

The memory of that freezing voice seemed to drain the life from the room. The villagers looked haunted. Kadim, who already suspected the nature of the foe, remained stoic.

“How many horns grew from its head?”

“…Hm?”

“How many horns did it have?”

“Uh… none. It had a smooth brow.”

“…”

The standard method for measuring a demon’s power was the horn count.

From what Kadim knew, zero horns indicated a lesser demon. The emergence of horns marked the transition to middle or upper tiers of power.

He inquired about any strange magic or characteristics. The man mentioned that the goblins, already vicious, became completely frantic whenever the demon was near.

That was to be expected. Creatures that linger near demons or consume their discarded flesh become warped—corrupted by demonic essence into fiends.

Kadim processed the information.

“A lesser tier. Pureblood type, no unique mutations. …It shouldn’t be much of a struggle.”

The villager hesitated, looking at Kadim with uncertainty. The others nodded in grim agreement. Finally, the man spoke with a trembling voice.

“We… didn’t have the strength to fight that thing and its pack. We held them off as long as we could, then we gave up.”

“…”

“To our surprise, the demon didn’t kill us all. It made a decree: it would return in a week. Each household had to surrender their most useless child as a tribute. So we… we tied them up and hid.”

The goblins had reached the man’s home last, leaving his youngest daughter alive. But others had already seen their children taken. A heavy grief hung over the fathers in the room.

Hearing this, Duncan, who had stayed quiet, jumped up in a fury.

“What?! Have you all lost your minds? Surrendering children to a demon? You call yourselves parents?!”

The villagers’ faces darkened instantly.

Had the massive barbarian made the accusation, they would have looked at the floor in shame. But coming from a soft merchant? They snapped back.

“…What choice did we have? We are outcasts living beyond the King’s law—no lords protect us, no holy knights come here. Should we have stayed to be slaughtered like cattle?”

“Hah, you didn’t have to stay! You’re nomads—burn the shacks and find a new forest!”

“We can’t! This soil is rare, and the crops are already in the ground! The last season was a failure—if we leave these fields, we starve anyway!”

“Even so, how could you give up a girl who hasn’t seen ten winters?!”

“Damn you, you think we wanted to? The demon gave the order! Hand over the useless ones!!”

“Well, who would you have picked? The son who helps in the fields? The daughter who can be married off for a dowry? Tell us—who?!”

Their voices rose to a roar, veins standing out on their necks. It looked as though a brawl was imminent; the air was thick with hostility.

Duncan, realizing too late that he had pushed too far, began to shrink back. The shouting echoed through the small space, the candlelight throwing jagged, angry shadows against the walls.

*Bam—!*

The noise was cut short by a thunderous crash.

The table split apart under the force of Kadim’s fist. Stew and the candle tumbled to the floor. He watched the falling flame with a cold eye, crushing it beneath his boot before it could ignite the wood.

Absolute silence followed. Every person held their breath. Fearful eyes darted around the darkened room. Some were afraid their own hearts were beating too loud; others bit their lips to keep from making a sound.

Kadim looked over the terrified faces. He had no interest in being their judge. He wasn’t exactly a paragon of morality himself.

He simply wanted the noise to stop. And one more thing.

“Where is the demon hiding?”

One of the villagers managed to find his voice.

“…In a cavern deep within the woods. The goblin pack nests there with it.”

“Lead the way. I’ll eat when I get back.”

The villagers’ eyes widened. A mix of hope and dread crossed their faces.

“R-Right now? Going after a demon in the middle of the night—is that wise? Perhaps wait for daybreak…”

Kadim tilted his head as if the suggestion was absurd.

“If you want the remains to be fresh, we go now.”

He didn’t specify whose remains, but the implication was clear. The villagers began scrambling for torches, preparing to guide him.

However, the owner of the hut seemed less than enthusiastic.

He was focused on a different problem, looking between his ruined table and the barbarian. With great hesitation, he stepped forward and spoke up.

“That being said, we have no coin to pay you. As you can see, this village barely survives—we have no gold, and we can’t offer much more than a meal…”

“I’d take pay if you had it, but it’s fine. I’m doing this for my own reasons.”

“Oh, truly? Ha, haha! You have our thanks! May you be blessed, uh… mercenary sir!”

Parts from a demon were worth a fortune, even on the black market. He had heard of wandering blades who hunted demons just like the church’s warriors. The man stroked his chin, a small, greedy smile forming.

The loss of his table felt less painful now. His daughter was safe, and if there had been a fee, he would have had to pay his share. A free hero was a relief.

But Kadim hadn’t finished.

“In exchange, I’m taking this. I only have one blade on me.”

Kadim picked up the man’s small handaxe. The villager’s expression soured slightly.

“Uh, that’s just a tool for clearing brush… It’s not meant for fighting demons. Another family has a proper heavy axe—take that one instead…”

*Thwack—!*

The handaxe blurred through the air, silencing him instantly.

“…G-Gasp!”

The blade was buried deep in the wall, inches from his temple. The force of the throw had nearly sent it through the wood. Had it been a fraction of an inch off, his head would have been split open. A cold sweat broke out across his skin.

Naturally, the aim was perfect. In his previous life, he had thrown axes thousands of times to kill. The throwing technique of a barbarian warrior could strike a fly at a hundred paces without looking.

His physical strength had diminished, but the muscle memory remained. Reclaiming the weapon, Kadim said quietly,

“No. This will work just fine.”

The man’s knees gave out, and he slid to the floor.