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Chapter 89: Hermit of the Black Forest (2)

He narrowly dodged the arrow, but the whirlwind swept through the spot where he had just been standing and sent him rolling across the forest. After the storm died down, Crockta found Tiyo collapsed on the ground in the middle of the forest’s wreckage. Crockta and Anor froze up at the sight.

“Tiyo!” shouted Crockta.

Tiyo was lying on the ground as if he were dead. However, his fingertips began to move, and his eyelids trembled as he slowly opened his eyes. He wobbled a bit while trying to get up. Even amid all this, he was still tightly holding onto his General.

“Don’t interfere,” warned Tiyo.

Then he glared at the goblin, who was relaxed about the whole situation. The goblin beckoned Tiyo to make his next move, making it seem like he was cutting Tiyo some slack by letting him attack.

Tiyo gritted his teeth at the provocation.

“You seem quite confident, but I’m a member of Quantes’ garrison,” Tiyo said, raising the General’s muzzle. “I will make you regret making me angry.”

Nevertheless, the goblin didn’t care and just laughed at Tiyo. Goblins had a naturally vicious-looking face, so his laughter provoked Tiyo even further.

The goblin continued to spite Tiyo by imitating his voice and saying, “I’m a guard, you will regret it. Hahaha kyak! You are all talk, hahaha kyak!”

“You asshole!” Tiyo yelled.

He charged toward the goblin and fired his General.

Tiyo planned to approach the goblin while keeping him in check with the General and following up with hand-to-hand combat. However, the goblin didn’t fall for Tiyo’s tricks.

The goblin moved as if he was teleporting. One moment, he was behind Tiyo, and the next moment, he was beside him. After that, he was on top of a tree. Tiyo stopped firing the General for a moment, and the goblin shot his arrow at Tiyo. Although Tiyo was able to avoid a fatal injury by a narrow margin, the arrow grazed his arm and tore his skin. Each time Tiyo took a break from firing at the goblin, the goblin shot an arrow at Tiyo and increased the injuries on Tiyo’s body.

“Argh...” Tiyo groaned.

He had a fiery gaze as he caressed a wound on his arm.

“I commend you for recognizing your ineptitude and trying to engage in hand-to-hand combat, hahaha kyak!” The goblin continued laughing at Tiyo.

“...!”

“You suck at shooting kyak!” said the goblin.

Tiyo’s hand trembled in anger. He was the best shooter in Quantes and had been widely acknowledged as the best whenever he fired his General, so this goblin was hurting his pride.

“Fine, goblin,” Tiyo said with a nod. Then he spread his feet apart, placing them in line with his shoulders. He firmly stood his ground and stated, “I will overpower you with my shooting skills.”

“Don’t mistake foolishness for courage kyak!” exclaimed the goblin.

Tiyo aimed his General at the goblin, who raised his bow in response and aimed it at Tiyo.

“Don’t you dare interfere!” Tiyo warned his friends.

Seeing as the situation had escalated, Crockta had been about to intervene. However, Tiyo shook his head with a solemn expression, so Crockta had no choice but to step back.

Right then, a gust of wind suddenly shook the whole forest and caused a tree branch that was hanging over them to bend. A single leaf fell from the branch and drifted down in between Tiyo and the goblin. Like a twist of fate, the leaf briefly interrupted their field of vision when Tiyo and the goblin fired their arrow and bullet at each other.

Immediately after that, Tiyo and the goblin each twisted their waist to move away from the trajectory of the incoming projectile. The arrow narrowly brushed past Tiyo’s cheek, and the magic bullet flew far away from the goblin, splitting the trunk of the tree behind him in half horizontally.

Tiyo was shocked. His magic bullet failed to even graze the goblin. Meanwhile, the goblin smirked and showed a thumbs-down sign to Tiyo.

“This is the difference between your level and mine,” said the goblin with a giggle.

Right then, the upper section of the split tree began to tilt toward the goblin, casting a shadow over it. The goblin’s face froze up.

Tiyo said, “Goblin, you might have learned the universal language...”

Then he imitated the goblin and made a thumbs-down sign. Simultaneously, the upper section of the tree tipped over and fell onto the goblin.

“But it seems like you never learned physics,” finished Tiyo.

The painful moans of the goblin, now pinned under the tree, echoed throughout the forest.

***

Crockta and his crew ran into many monsters in the Black Forest—an ogre with martial arts skills, a goblin archer, a lich who controlled skeleton warriors according to his will, an axe-wielding troll, a dire wolf that ambushed them in the dark like a ninja, and a lizard spearman. They had to face a diverse range of opponents that were different from the regular monsters of their respective species. Each opponent had their unique skill like a master who had cultivated their craft.

“The Black Forest is a really bizarre place...” muttered Tiyo after defeating a kobold archer that created illusions.

The kobold was a bipedal monster with a dog’s head, and it shot arrows from hidden spots in the forest. This specific kobold that Crockta’s crew encountered had ambushed them with a barrage of arrows before going into hiding. It created illusions throughout the battle to make it seem like there was more than one kobold.

With his skilled marksmanship, Tiyo treated the illusions like the real thing and pierced all of them as well as the kobold. After being struck by the General, the kobold fell to the ground and admitted its defeat.

“Don’t you feel like they’re testing us?” asked Tiyo.

The level of the monsters seemed to be gradually increasing.

“I wonder what kind of creature the hermit is, seeing as he lives in a place like this,” remarked Tiyo.

“Watch out. Another creature is probably going to appear soon,” warned Crockta.

“...I’m scared,” said Anor.

Crockta’s party had been walking for a long time since they defeated the kobold. According to the pattern up to this point, new monsters would soon appear and block their path. What kind of creature would appear next? They felt a mix of anticipation and fatigue as they made their way through the forest, but they were met with an unfamiliar sight at the end of their path.

They heard a voice say, “You came a long way.”

Before them was a man reading a book in a rocking chair. He peered at Crockta’s party from behind his glasses. He was a beautiful young man with jet-black hair.

“I haven’t had a visitor in a while,” said the young man.

Crockta thought that his sense of beauty had elevated after seeing elves, but this young man had a flawless face like that of a Greek statue.

The tall and slender young man closed his book and rose from his seat, holding the book to his chest.

He said, “I have a question for all of you.”

Crockta and his friends looked at each other in surprise at the unexpected words.

The man continued, “I had a dream a long time ago.”

“...?”

‘Why is he suddenly talking about a dream?’

Crockta, Anor, and Tiyo were confused but decided to stay silent and listen to what the young man had to say first.

“In my dream, I was a father with a son. I had a lovely son, and I wanted to give him everything in the world. But one day, I learned that he had a disease. It was an incurable disease that would ultimately lead him to his death,” the young man said.

His face and voice were calm as he spoke.

He continued, “Because it was such a frightening disease, I referred to it as ‘promised death.’ Once a person develops the disease, they can’t avoid death. It felt like the child\'s death had already been set in stone. It was the worst kind of disease where one faced death with excruciating pain. So, I made up my mind to end my son’s life rather than let him die in pain.”

The man paused and closed his eyes.

Then he resumed, “But when I discussed this idea with others, they told me that I was mad because they did not understand the concept of a ‘promised death.’ I said everything was for the child, but they refused to listen to me and sent me into exile, so I wouldn’t be able to see my son. Thus, I was put into strict isolation. Now, I shall ask you.”

Crockta and his crew couldn’t predict what the man was about to ask. Crockta cocked his ear to listen closely.

The man asked, “What do you think about me in the dream?”

It was a thought-provoking question. The man wasn’t questioning what was right or wrong or what they would have done if they had been in his position; he was asking what they thought about it.

Crockta considered the question while caressing his chin. Like all of the fights they had experienced in the forest, this also felt like another test. Could this man be the hermit of the Black Forest, and was this the final test?

The first one to reply was Anor. “I think it was too extreme. You were too harsh. Even if the child was sick... he could have wanted to live a longer life. Killing him according to your will is a bit... Talk to the kid first...”

“My son didn’t understand what a promised death was at all. Is it wrong to hasten the process to spare him from a future only filled with pain?”

“What about your child’s will? He could have wanted to live longer even if he was in pain...” muttered Anor.

“A child cannot fully grasp such a situation.”

“What...”

“The pain would have been unbearable.”

“...”

“Is that all you have to say?” asked the man.

Anor wasn’t able to continue and fell silent. Tiyo was the next to reply.

“You were foolish in the dream!” exclaimed Tiyo.

“How so?” asked the man.

“Life is a solitary journey! If he had been diagnosed with ‘promised death,’ then that’s his fate. There’s no need for you to kill him or save him according to your will. Moreover, killing a child to end his pain is an unnecessary intervention!” replied Tiyo confidently.

“Hmm, is that so?”

“That’s right.”

“You don’t understand how desperate I was in the dream,” expressed the man.

“What are you saying?!” exclaimed Tiyo.

“If your son fell in the water, would you just let him be? If a child is thrashing in the water, are you just going to leave him as is, saying it’s his fate?”

“That’s a different story!”

“It’s the same.”

Tiyo shook his head. Crockta heard Tiyo muttering about how stubborn the man was.

Now, there was only Crockta left. The hermit of the Black Forest looked at Crockta, waiting for the next answer.

Crockta had been thinking intensely about the question. The concept of a ‘promised death’ was familiar to him. It was similar to the story of the despairing demon asleep inside his belt and the story of the nameless god that he had heard from Kaburak. The man’s dream felt like an allegory that expressed the same concept. They were all in despair for the same reason.

“...It must have been really scary for him,” remarked Crockta.

The hermit of the Black Forest shook his head. “No, the kid could not understand his disease and the concept of a promised death.”

“No, not the kid,” replied Crockta as he looked at the hermit.

The hermit had a blank expression without even a hint of emotion. His expression was so still that he looked like a lifeless doll at times. Crockta wondered whether there was any emotion he could empathize with beyond those pitch-black eyes.

“I meant you,” said Crockta.

He thought he saw the hermit’s face waver for a second, but it quickly reverted to being expressionless.

Crockta continued, “Only you resisted upon knowing the fate that awaited the child in a world that could not comprehend the concept of a promised death.”

“...”

“The only one who understood what it was, realized its truth, trembled in fear, and spent countless sleepless nights until they came to a tragic decision for the sake of the child...” Crockta said, closing his eyes, “...was you.”

During Yi-An’s time in the military, he had fought as a soldier on the front lines. Thus, he had grown accustomed to having his mental state assessed by a military counselor and had learned their counseling strategies. Counselors first focused on establishing rapport and forming bonds with their clients. They built a sense of mutual trust with their clients by exercising empathy!

Crockta began to tear up as he said, “You must have been really lonely. Truly...”

Then he glanced over at the hermit’s face and found there wasn’t any change in the hermit’s expression.

‘Damn it. Was it all for nothing?’ Crockta thought.

Crockta was about to change his strategy when a single teardrop fell from the hermit’s eyes.

“...!”

The hermit still had an icy expression, but teardrops were dripping from each of his eyes. Upon realizing what was happening, he touched his face.

“Ah...” he uttered.

The hermit wiped his tears with his fingers and then looked at his now-wet hand. Crockta thought that the hermit seemed lonely, even though his expression was still unreadable.

The hermit’s gaze shifted to Crockta.

Crockta felt like a soccer player standing in front of the goalpost after breaking through the goalkeeper. He knew he had scored and wanted to finish off his play with a nice closure.

“I can’t understand that thing called ‘promised death’ either, but I know that you were very lonely in your dream and that you had to make a painful decision. It’s a shame,” Crockta stated before looking up at the sky.

He had given a superb performance.

The hermit stared at Crockta and then agreed, “Yes, he must have been.”

He waved his hand, and the tears evaporated from his face. It was magic.

“He must have been really lonely and in pain,” the hermit said, with his lips softly curving upward into a beautiful smile. “I’m glad that someone understands.”

The hermit clapped, and the scenery changed. Crockta and his friends were taken aback. There was no longer a forest around them. Instead, there was a huge castle.

“My name is Xantimur. Welcome to my lair, travelers,” the hermit told them.

“...Oh, my,” muttered Crockta.

[Oh, my.]

Even Elder Lord’s system was impressed.

[I can’t believe my eyes, but I salute you for melting the cold heart of the black dragon, Xantimur!]