Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 140

A week after the meeting ended, Hilde went to Workshop 3 alone.

“There it is, take it.”

Zepetia pointed at the Executioner’s Axe leaning against the wall.

“Thank you.”

Hilde picked up the axe.

“Oh…”

She noticed immediately when it touched her hand.

The Executioner’s Axe was different from before.

What was once just a powerful piece of metal now contained an indescribable magical power, making it stronger than before.

“This is… really amazing.”

Hilde momentarily forgot everything else, absorbed in the strengthened weapon.

She could finally utilize the secret techniques to enhance weapons using the moonstone and bloodstone brought from Vile’s old laboratory.

If she had known it would become this powerful, she would have come earlier.

No wonder Eugene emphasized its importance.

“Yes.”

However, Zepetia, who had performed the enhancement, didn’t seem particularly moved.

It wasn’t just a lack of enthusiasm – she appeared completely disinterested.

“Ms. Zepetia.”

Seeing this, Hilde regained her composure.

“What?”

“Well…”

Though she spoke up, Hilde wasn’t sure exactly what to say.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Zepetia spoke first when Hilde hesitated.

“Ah, no! I wasn’t talking about enhancing the weapon…!”

“I know. It’s about Eugene, right?”

Zepetia smirked.

“You like Eugene. I like him too. But not as a man like you do. So you don’t need to worry.”

“That’s…”

“He’s quite the troublemaker, isn’t he? Eugene is just too… kind, that’s the problem. And he doesn’t even realize how much that troubles the people around him.”

“…”

Blanc’s maniacal laughter flashed through Hilde’s mind.

“We’re nothing but moths drawn to that warm light of his heart. Even knowing there’s no good future ahead… Yet Eugene is surely living for what he believes will be a good future. Ha, isn’t that funny?”

“That’s not what I came here to say.”

“Then what?”

“I came to apologize to you, Ms. Zepetia.”

“What?”

The smile vanished from Zepetia’s face.

“Thinking back now, Senior kept telling me to look after you. But I didn’t listen. I was just… just so blinded by Senior that I refused to see anything else. And that led to all this…”

“Hey…”

Zepetia’s voice trembled slightly.

“Yes?”

“You call that… an apology? So what?! Are you saying you want to be friends now?! Huh?! Until now, no one! No one except Eugene was there! And now after everything’s over, after I’ve become this kind of person going through that filthy experience, you think just apologizing makes everything okay?!”

Her voice and demeanor grew increasingly agitated.

“Ah, that’s…”

“Why?! You think saying ‘sorry’ this late fixes everything? Is that how Eugene treated you?!”

“…!”

Hilde took a step back.

“It’s too late. Everything’s too late! I’ve already given up. I don’t care about other humans anymore! Don’t apologize. Don’t come near me…!”

As Zepetia screamed hysterically, Hilde hesitated before bowing her head and turning away.

After Hilde left, Zepetia remained alone, continuing to breathe heavily before collapsing as if drained of energy.

“Why… why did things turn out like this…”

* * *

“It’s all thanks to Brother.”

Gerda said as she lowered the wooden swords in both hands.

The words were so remarkably similar to Hilde’s that it gave me déjà vu.

“It’s not because of me but Ms. Pieta. I didn’t expect her to help you too, not just Hilde.”

I said while massaging my left shoulder.

Recently Gerda’s dual sword technique had been developing further.

Her growth rate was incredible to begin with, but since Pieta personally came to instruct Gerda, the improvement was visibly different from day to day.

“But she’s coming because of you, right?”

“Well…”

That wasn’t wrong…

After all, it started when I saved her in Hameln when Snow White attacked.

At least this much makes risking my life worth it.

Gerda is also a special talent, so she needs to be guided properly.

With Hilde, higher-ranked hunters would occasionally come to provide technical instruction, but nowadays higher-ranked hunters are busy, and since I taught Hilde well, they’ve completely entrusted Gerda’s training to me.

But Gerda wasn’t the protagonist but an NPC, and unlike Hilde, we couldn’t go outside to hunt suitable Beasts.

It was even difficult to properly teach her main weapon, dual swords.

While I could somehow teach her how to use dual daggers, Gerda used swords not daggers, so I had to rely heavily on her natural talent while teaching.

That’s why Pieta’s occasional guidance was tremendously helpful.

“Anyway, at this rate you could soon be assigned as a mid-ranked hunter.”

“Mid-ranked hunter… is that okay?”

“You can feel how much stronger you’re getting too. Someday you might become a higher-ranked hunter and go rescue Kai.”

“Kai…”

Gerda lowered her head, seemingly thinking of her brother.

“Yes. I’ll get stronger. Strong enough to bring Kai back.”

“Right. Until then, I’ll help you.”

“Yes…”

Gerda answered awkwardly.

Both in Blue Paper Moon’s setting and here now, Gerda and Kai had no parents.

Though I don’t know the details, those two barely survived in Lasso Village since they were even younger than now, and they were finally able to get by when the factory opened.

That environment made Gerda mature far beyond her years.

If you can’t receive help from anyone, survival instinct alone would do that.

I know well since I was in that kind of environment when I was young.

Though I had an advantage then since my mind was adult-like thanks to my past life memories, allowing me to calculate various things well.

“And about the salary.”

“Salary? Ah right, hunters get paid.”

“Yes. When you become a mid-ranked hunter, you’ll receive 300 Order Silver coins per month.”

“What?”

“300 Order Silver coins.”

“Th-three hundred…!”

For a girl who’s lived her whole life either begging or as a factory worker, even for a short time, it must be an unimaginable amount.

Does factory work even pay one Order Silver coin per day?

No, was it five coins per week?

They tend to try to underpay when it comes to kids after all.

“With that much money…”

“But you won’t be able to save all of it. There will be lots of expenses here and there. Though meals at the dining hall are free, you can’t always eat there. Sometimes you’ll need to eat out, or like before, you might need to grab something quick from the general store. There will be many other unexpected expenses too.”

“I don’t really understand…”

“I’m sure you don’t. So… since I’m officially your cousin brother now, right? If you’re okay with it, you can leave your salary with me. Only if you want to, of course. I won’t force you to hand it over.”

Though I spoke carefully, this was a very important matter.

Though Gerda has earned money working at the factory since she was young, she probably couldn’t earn even 50 Order Silver coins a month, let alone 300.

Suddenly earning that much money could make her lose her sense of financial responsibility and become reckless.

I’ve seen several hunters like that before.

Especially people like Gerda who originally couldn’t earn much money tended to be that way.

“Hmm…”

“Like I said before, I won’t force you. But as your brother, I’ll tell you clearly – it will be difficult for you to manage all that money. It would be better if I helped you.”

“But, that…”

Hmm… I guess it’s inevitable to feel uneasy when suddenly asked to entrust money.

“I don’t want to burden you anymore…”

“It’s okay. You can rely on me as much as you want. You’ve worked hard taking care of your brother until now. So it’s okay to ask an adult for help sometimes.”

I knelt on one knee to meet Gerda’s eye level.

Gerda is an important talent.

I really hope there won’t be any ridiculous failures like having her personality ruined because of money.

“Th-then… p-please… help me…”

Gerda managed to squeeze out the words.

Come to think of it, this might be the first time Gerda has asked for help with anything other than Kai.

Living together as her guardian, I often notice how mature Gerda is.

But that’s a personality formed out of necessity due to harsh circumstances.

The reason Gerda fought Kai to near suicide in Blue Paper Moon was probably due to guilt and despair at having to kill her brother with her own hands – the one existence that had helped her endure such an environment.

If… if by any chance that future repeats in this world, I hoped Gerda would make a different choice then.

When it’s not just a game but right before my eyes, how could I not worry about a child bearing such a difficult future?

“Alright. Leave it to me.”

I placed my hand on Gerda’s shoulder.

Though I’m not really Gerda’s brother… at least as an adult, I felt ordinary pride in this child’s growth.

Well… hmm… should I give her some kind of reward?

“Let’s end training here for today and go to the general store. I’ll buy you something tasty.”

“B-but…”

“It’s fine. I’m your brother after all.”

“…! Y-yes, B-brother…”

“Ah, but outside…”

I was going to caution her about calling me brother too much in public lately.

But seeing Gerda’s relaxed expression, I couldn’t bring myself to say it.

Right… This is how children should be normally.

This world is just too harsh.

Besides, Gerda’s brother Kai… probably… can’t be saved…

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Ah, nothing… Let’s go.”

Hiding my complicated feelings, I took Gerda to the general store.

“Brother…”

* * *

And as time passed, the day approached to begin the Behemoth Tracking Special Department’s mission.

“Then we’ll depart.”

Said Sephira, our leader.

Me, Dominic, Oscar, Zepetia, and Hilde.

Thanks to having one more person, we rode in a slightly larger carriage than usual toward Ridel Village.

Ridel Village, about five days by carriage from Order headquarters, while not large enough to be called a city like Cranion, was quite sizable with many people.

With a large stream nearby it was good for farming, and having a small forest meant they could gather mushrooms and hunt small creatures, so food wasn’t scarce.

Thanks to the relatively stable environment, many children came from there to work as errand runners for the Order.

When I was young, I envied Ridel Village so much.

Come to think of it, the Vanitas village where I lived was near Ridel Village too.

Though Vanitas wasn’t a particularly good neighborhood, it must be better off than Ridel Village now.

Because just like in Blue Paper Moon, the whole village has probably already been devoured by Vile.