A Disaster-Level Assassin Has Been Freed

Chapter 73: Godok (3)

“I met Hagio.”

“Hagio?”

“You mean Rank 11? So that guy was alive too. But, why suddenly……”

Mets asked back with a puzzled voice.

Of course, he was curious.

It wasn't the story about the village or the group that attacked the village, which he was most curious about, but information about other Godok who could become enemies or allies in the future was equally important.

‘But, isn't this a story that shouldn't come up in the current context of the conversation?’

It was when he thought that.

From Harang's mouth, a truly unexpected story popped out.

“He was raising children at an Orphanage.”

“……!”

“……!”

Everyone was startled.

It couldn't be helped.

The Hagio in their minds was like a model Godok, a being for whom working at an Orphanage was impossible even in imagination.

An Orphanage?

Are you talking about the place they imagine, which accepts, raises, and teaches children without parents or guardians?

Why on earth, how did he end up doing such a thing?

The Godok, who had been pondering with bizarre expressions, soon nodded their heads and simultaneously reached a single conclusion.

“Perhaps, is that guy also trying to raise Godok to create his own faction?”

“Hmm. That could be. It's not easy to stand against the village alone. And as for trusting Peers…… It's not something to say while we're gathered like this, but honestly, it could be even more dangerous.”

“But, raising children from now on? How long will that take? It'll take too much time……”

“The risk is also too high. The possibility of his actions being exposed while raising Godok……”

“Hahahaha.”

“……?”

“……?”

“What is it? Why is he suddenly laughing?”

The Godok made puzzled faces watching Rank 1 suddenly burst into laughter.

But Harang couldn't help but laugh.

Seeing his Peers thinking the exact same thing as him, he felt a sense of camaraderie he hadn't been able to feel while meeting beings from the outside world until now.

‘That also means we're that much more twisted.’

It was truly so.

Who in the outside world, upon hearing that ‘an acquaintance works at an Orphanage,’ would think, ‘Ah, he must be trying to protect his own safety by training assassins himself!’

Something was very wrong, and he wanted to talk sufficiently with his Peers about this as well.

Of course, now was not the time for that.

Harang abruptly stopped laughing and looked around.

At this, the Godok flinched.

One way or another, they were still afraid of Village Rank 1, and the sudden change in atmosphere was enough to create tension.

But he didn't care.

Harang, having organized his thoughts, slowly, meticulously, and carefully recounted the story Hagio had told him.

A few minutes passed like that…… and then, silence fell again.

Harang, savoring it for a moment, opened his mouth again.

“It's not that surviving isn't important. Rather, it's more important than anything else. We've all struggled desperately, haven't we? Even as the number of people dwindled from 1,000 to 30, we endured that hellish process because we wanted to prolong our lives somehow…… because we wanted to survive.”

“…….”

“…….”

“But, the expression Hagio showed, that smile…… I don't think it's a look that could come out if he only focused on ‘surviving.’”

He was sincere.

If ‘preserving one's life’ was the top priority, Hagio shouldn't have gone to the Orphanage.

Rather, he should have hidden himself in shadows darker than the village and lived as if dead.

But he didn't.

He adapted to the outside world in his own way, understood the outside world, realized, and enjoyed it.

As a result, he was able to show a beautiful smile that he could never have shown in the village.

“It's the same for me. I'm feeling joy, pleasure, and happiness that I could never have felt in the village. By blending into the world in my own way. I…… think this is also as important as ‘surviving.’ If we only focus on prolonging our lives without such feelings, if we spend every day just hiding in the shadows for that purpose……”

Harang, pausing for a moment, looked around at everyone once more, then finished his words in a slightly stronger tone.

“……We still haven't escaped the village's influence.”

“…….”

“…….”

Silence fell again.

It wasn't simply because it was Rank 1's words, or because they were crushed by his presence.

Harang's words delivered a considerable shock to the Godok gathered here.

‘He's not wrong.’

Aratus nodded faintly.

It was good at first.

After being liberated from the village he thought he'd never escape, for about a week, happy days continued as if he owned the world.

But what about after that?

Days not much different from those in the village awaited him.

It couldn't be helped.

Living in hiding in the shadows to avoid the village's eyes was no different from the stealth and infiltration training he had practiced tirelessly in the village.

The life of cleaning up those suspected of being the village's lackeys was also no different from an extension of assassination training.

‘In a way…… I might have been wasting away in a slightly ‘bigger village,’ without feeling true liberation.’

It wasn't just his thought.

The other Godok too, with hearts similar to Aratus', were looking back on their own 8 months.

“……Harang.”

“Yes.”

One of the Godok, who had been lost in thought for several minutes, called Harang's name.

It was Grizel.

His complexion, which had shown the sharpest attitude, was clearly calmer than at the beginning when it had been fiery red.

“I still can't agree with your words 100 percent. I…… am afraid of the village. If I live hiding like this, it's the same as still not having escaped the village? No. That probably only applies to you. Even if I live hiding in a dirty back alley, I definitely like it better now. Unlike you, who is Rank 1 confirmed and whose life is guaranteed as long as there are no major variables…… who is fully qualified to be the ‘talent the village desires,’ if I hadn't escaped the village, I would have obviously died soon. That's the only future that would come for me, who is merely Rank 19.”

“That's……”

“But.”

Grizel cut Harang off.

His face slightly flushed, as if his temper had flared up again.

However, in the midst of a moderate heat that didn't feel as intense as before, he grinned and said this.

“The foods you mentioned, enjoying them a few times before I die…… I think that would be alright.”

“……Certainly, I was curious too. It must taste incomparably better than the feed they gave us in the village, which was worse than dog food, right?”

“What, you guys. It's as if you've never eaten food from the outside world…… Even if you've been hiding, it wouldn't be like that, would it?”

“That's true, but…… I've never had a proper formal meal like you mentioned.”

“Really? Then……”

Was it thanks to Grizel's extremely prickly smile?

The atmosphere of the meeting softened in an instant.

The Godok, who had been busy seeking only ways to survive with stiff expressions and tense faces, began to talk one by one about what they wanted to eat, what they wanted to enjoy, what they wanted to do, and what they wanted to become.

Naturally, the one who spoke the most in the group was Harang.

Because no other Godok had enjoyed the outside world as richly and busily as he had.

“I don't know much about Viscount Kilkearn's domain. I mostly lived in Marzen. Why don't you come visit if you're curious? There's a place to the left of the central plaza there that has incredibly delicious beef……”

“The sculptors of Ruibil? Their skills are definitely good. Even though they haven't learned Aura like us, their hand sensitivity is amazing. What? You want to try it? I didn't know you were interested in sculpting.”

“I haven't done much Mercenary work either, but it seems pretty good. First, the fact that you can roam around the world freely? And yet you don't run out of money? That's good. Of course, at first, you have to do menial jobs, and the culture among Mercenaries? Unspoken rules? Things like that are a bit annoying to adapt to, but if you keep at it……”

A natural smile spread across Harang's face as he continued to speak.

At this, the Godok were surprised once again.

He was the one whose face had shown no expression for the entire 15 years in the village, yet in just 8 months, he had become able to show such diverse emotions.

Moreover, those emotions were not negative ones like anger or hatred, but positive ones like joy, pleasure, and hope.

‘It's as if…… he has truly become a part of the outside world.’

Aratus muttered inwardly with a surprised expression.

When he heard Hagio's story from Harang, something hot welled up in his chest, yet he couldn't shake off a sliver of doubt.

He had thought it impossible for himself, who had lived isolated from society for 15 years, for the Godok who had experienced nothing but killing people, to adapt to a new environment.

But.

Now.

He confirmed the evidence before his eyes.

Harang himself was the evidence.

Watching him talk about his experiences in the outside world with an expression of pure joy he had never shown in the village, his own life, future, and possibilities, which he had half given up on, began to slowly raise their heads.

‘I was not born a Godok.’

That's right.

He was not born a Godok from the start.

Even though he had been raised as a killing doll for most of his life…… just like Harang and Hagio, he still possessed the possibility of living a new life again.

Aratus, finally realizing that fact, delved into Harang's story with an even more serious expression.

He didn't just listen; he occasionally asked questions he was curious about, and sometimes voiced his own opinions from his perspective.

Thus, the nature of the meeting completely flowed as Harang wished.

The fiery Grizel, the cautious Aratus, and the relatively timid Mets continuously bloomed with conversation.

When they brought up various things they had been curious about but had no one to ask and had been holding back, Harang would answer based on his own experiences; half of it was correct, but the other half was content that ordinary people would find absurd.

But it didn't matter.

The Godok, who had lived their entire lives without ‘their own lives,’ returning to the appearance of ordinary 20-year-old young men for the first time in their lives and chatting happily.

That was the most important part of the current meeting.

And that moved the hearts of Rank 7 Cecilia and Rank 10 Verner, who had maintained their silence until now.

“…….”

“…….”

The two fraternal twins exchanged glances.

Though their appearances were Worlds Apart, their hearts were similar; they nodded simultaneously and rose from their seats at the same time.

And.

Swoosh

Shwaaaak-!

From Cecilia's bosom, without any warning, a sharp sword was drawn.

The target was singular.

The king of Godok, Harang.