Chapter 64: Rank 11 (4)
Hagio’s life was a cursed one.
At five, an age when the warmth of parents was desperately needed, he was abducted to the village.
At six, 500 of the 1,000 children he was with lost their lives.
He couldn't even shed tears.
He had to conserve even that little energy to see the sun rise the next day.
At eight, half of the remaining ones passed away again.
Children were no longer friends.
To survive, Hagio had to plunge a sword into a Peer’s neck with his own hands.
At ten, he no longer remembered his mother’s face or his father’s voice.
At thirteen, he no longer felt guilt about killing someone.
Despite such desperate days, he tenaciously survived to become twenty-one and safely escaped from the horrifying village.
He couldn't know what would happen in the future, but he had gained freedom, even if only for a fleeting moment.
However, the reason he wasn't happy was that the outside world was too bright for him, already stained by darkness.
The countless possibilities that should have unfolded for him too.
The numerous opportunities that should have been rightfully given.
And watching the people outside the village living with smiling faces, having actualized such opportunities without any misfortune…… he could find no way to quench the boiling anger in his heart.
That was why Hagio felt no guilt even while committing assassinations.
However.
When he received the request to take the life of a baby who had just passed its first birthday, to point a blade at a pitiful being who had not yet been given any opportunity…… even a Godok stained with blood couldn't help but have his heart shaken.
“I hesitated. For quite a long time.”
Hagio said softly.
His eyes were looking obliquely at the ceiling, as if recalling that time.
Watching him, Harang also remained silent.
And he racked his own brain.
He probably didn't accept the request.
If he had, he wouldn't be in the orphanage now, he thought.
However, it wasn't an issue that would end just by not accepting the request.
Once someone had become a target, the child couldn't survive.
Even if it wasn't Hagio, the world was overflowing with skilled assassins.
If he didn't accept the request, it might seem fine on the surface, but the more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable his heart would become.
In many ways, Hagio’s choice became a matter of curiosity.
Nevertheless, Harang did not press for an answer, and Hagio stared silently at the ceiling for quite a long time.
The words that then flowed from his mouth completely shattered Harang’s expectations.
“I kidnapped him.”
“Kidnapped?”
“Yes. I lied to the client, saying I had dealt with it without leaving a trace, and then hid the child in my house.”
That was right.
That was the best Hagio could do.
He was a heinous assassin who had killed countless people so far, but he just couldn't bring himself to kill a child.
Even he, who thought he had lived the unhappiest life of anyone, had lived an untroubled life until he was five.
To break the neck of a young bird, only one year old, that hadn't even spread its wings, was absolutely unthinkable.
Of course, he didn't have the luxury to keep the child with him continuously.
Money was plentiful, but the gazes of those around him were a problem.
The combination of an assassin and a one-year-old child was enough to attract the attention of those around, and Hagio agonized over it again and again.
And he finally came to a conclusion.
To disguise the child as an orphan and entrust him to an orphanage.
“……At first, I just watched from afar.”
It couldn't be helped.
Separate from having lived an unhappy life, he was now nothing more than a horrifying Monster with a lot of blood on his hands.
He was not a suitable being to be near a child like a blank canvas.
Fortunately, there was no problem in secretly going to see the child.
For the first time in his life, Hagio was grateful for the stealth and infiltration techniques he had learned in the village.
However, around the time a month had passed like that, he felt something that could no longer be resolved by just secretly watching the child filling his chest tightly.
Was it because the child might still be under threat of assassination?
That wasn't wrong.
Was it because the child might be mistreated at the orphanage?
That thought wasn't entirely absent either.
However, the most important point was separate, and that was…….
“There were many.”
“……Many what?”
“Children. Children who would fade away without grasping the many opportunities that would unfold before them, saplings that would wither away…… Perhaps, numerous beings who could become beings like ‘me’ in the future…… were there.”
It was true.
Though it was called an orphanage, the place where he had entrusted the child was not a very good one.
The basic support funds from the church seemed to be going entirely into the orphanage director's pocket, and the children were not properly cared for, often roaming around looking shabby.
Poor hygiene meant they were often sick with minor illnesses, and children who were a bit older had to make a living by begging or pickpocketing.
Even then, more than half of what they earned was extorted by the orphanage director, so they never had a day where they ate even one full meal.
He watched them from afar.
He also watched them sleep up close, and realized that their present and his past were not so different.
He could no longer stand by and watch.
Hagio, having made his decision, threw off the mask he had used as an assassin and headed to the orphanage barefaced.
“After that, well…… it’s as you see. I gave the orphanage director some money and kicked him out, and hired a few new teachers. They’re not upright, but they’re not trash like the former director either. At least they know that parentless children are pitiful. More importantly, they’re good at things I can’t do. Like feeding, or patting backs to make them burp…… I can’t control my strength, you see. I feel like I’d hurt them if I touched kids that are too young. Ah, but I can definitely handle washing dirty diapers. Cleaning too, and cooking, um……”
Hagio grimaced and trailed off.
It seemed cooking was not his forte.
However, as if that wasn't all, he soon talked about the things he could do.
Disciplining the older kids so they wouldn't misbehave.
Skillfully carving wood to make toy swords.
Giving piggyback rides so the short girls could feel proud.
Besides those, watching him chatter on about all sorts of things with an unfitting expression…….
‘……Hagio, you’re no longer a Godok.’
Harang felt envious.
He was cool.
He had dismissed his own life as cursed, and in a way, that was true.
Who would envy a Monster who had only honed the art of killing from a young age when he couldn't even run properly until he became an adult?
If one thought that the rest of their life would be stained with the blood of others, anyone would inevitably feel frustration and self-loathing.
However, the Hagio of now was not like that.
‘An orphanage teacher, huh.’
Harang looked at Hagio.
As an orphanage teacher, he certainly wasn't as talented as he was during his assassin days.
It was natural.
How could one say someone who struggled even to feed a child or pat its back to make it burp had an aptitude for it?
But that wasn't important.
He had overcome.
And he had grown.
He had broken away from the path of an ‘assassin’ he thought he could never escape, from the ‘village’s’ way…… he had newly pioneered his own life and shown another possibility.
He had seized a brilliant opportunity that was unimaginable just a few months ago.
Now, at this moment.
Hagio was not the Godok of Rank 11, ten ranks below Harang, but a cool adult, sitting gallantly, who had grasped his dream one step ahead of him.
Therefore.
“Hagio.”
“What is it.”
“Aren’t you frustrated?”
“Hmm?”
“Uh, you wouldn’t understand if I start with this. So, where should I begin……”
Unlike in the village, Hagio was looking at him from a higher place, so Harang was less hesitant to seek guidance.
He managed to barely bring out the stories he couldn't confide in others because he was confused, scared, and afraid.
The events in Marzen flowed out.
The connections in Marzen flowed out.
And disorganized words rambled on about his own situation of yearning for freedom while being bound by connections, about his wavering heart.
“……Haha.”
Hagio, who heard his words, made a momentarily dazed expression, then burst into low laughter.
It wasn't because Harang's story was funny.
Rather, there were many situational similarities with himself.
He too was unable to go out into the wider world because he was bound by connections.
The reason he laughed was simply due to a sense of relief and joy at the fact that he, Harang, no…… Godoks, whom he had only thought of as human butchers who killed people, possessed unexpected possibilities.
“Why are you laughing?”
Shaaaa-
Flinch!
Did he think he was being mocked?
A sharp energy flowed from Harang's body, and at this, Hagio flinched.
He had momentarily forgotten.
This guy was Harang, Rank 1, a being who boasted unparalleled skill even among a thousand carefully selected, talented children.
As could be understood from the current conversation, he wasn't a bad-natured fellow, but it was better not to provoke him.
Ahem, Hagio cleared his throat.
And looked at Harang.
With deep eyes.
With the same sincere eyes he used when looking at children sparkling with untainted, infinite possibilities.
Eventually, a voice full of sincerity flowed from his lips.
“I do not think that roaming all over the place is freedom.”
“Being where I want to be.”
“Being where my heart should be.”
“That itself is freedom…… and that is why, even in my current situation of being tied down every day in the back alleys of Ruibil, in an orphanage far narrower than the ‘village’, I feel free.”
“Is that an answer?”
Harang's eyes, upon hearing the answer, seemed to flash open, then he closed his eyes and fell into silence.
This time, Hagio quietly waited for his Peer's thoughts in the stillness, and after 10 minutes, the meditation ended.
“Thank you.”
No other words were needed.
Sitting upright, Harang bowed his head deeply to his life Senior.
* * *
“You’re leaving right away?”
“Yes.”
“A pity. You could stay a bit longer.”
“Well, Marzen and Ruibil aren’t that far apart. I plan to visit occasionally.”
“If that’s the case, well……”
“Anyway, thank you.”
“Yeah.”
After finishing a story that was short if short and long if long.
Harang exchanged farewells with Hagio just before leaving the orphanage.
Hagio also smiled faintly as he watched his departing Peer, no, now a friend.
A warm atmosphere permeated, and the tension from their first meeting was hard to find anymore.
It was then.
Kkiiiiiik-
The orphanage door burst open with an unpleasant sound, and two men entered with a slouching demeanor.
Harang had a hunch.
Those bastards…….
‘Thugs!’