Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

A Village Suspended in Time 

IN THE END… Well, at least I was used to having my hopes dashed. 

Set promised to be a bridge between the villagers and me, but the village elder outright rejected me. Not long after our awkward reunion, I found myself surrounded by the inhabitants of the whole village. Murder burned in their eyes. They looked at me the way other people looked at monsters. Set positioned himself between me and the mob, pleading for us to make peace. 

“Everyone, please listen! Fate is here to fight the monsters for us! He’s not here for anything else!” 

The villagers hesitated at Set’s words, but they kept their hoes and axes gripped tight, and their eyes remained threatening. Deep in the crowd, I heard muttering that I was back for my revenge, now that the village was at its lowest. Others suspected that I was only here to steal the reward money. 

“For starters,” someone cried from the back of the crowd, “isn’t this useless deadbeat’s skill just hunger? How is hunger going to slay monsters? He’s nothing but a bald-faced liar!” 

On and on the villagers went, hurling insult after insult. Our meeting had started because a poor village was terrified of monsters, but quickly ended because their hearts were sullied by another feeling entirely. It seemed their attitudes had only worsened since I fled. 

The villagers had somehow convinced themselves that Set could hire a seasoned adventurer with their measly ten silver. Instead of returning with their savior, however, Set had fetched them the very piece of trash they’d kicked out five short years ago. 

In truth, no adventurer-for-hire would travel to a mountain village this remote for less than ten gold, a princely sum equal to one thousand silver coins, but these villagers were too hysterical to listen to reason. They were furious, and not just at me, but at Set for his late return. 

“You took all that time, and this is all you have to show for it?! All we asked was that you hire an adventurer. Can’t you even do that right?!” 

“Do you really have what it takes to be the next village elder, Set?” 

“We don’t even know when the monsters will return! You march right on back to Tetra this instant, and bring us a real adventurer! Do you have any idea what terror we have to live with?! It’s like you don’t have a single thought in your empty head!” 

They lowered their weapons, but to the last man, every villager in the mob groaned, whined, and complained. The village elder waved them silent, then gave a long apology to all of them. He wasn’t on his own son’s side either. 

“I’m so terribly, terribly sorry, my people. I was careless. Foolish. Perhaps it was still too early to send my son out on a task of such great importance. Pathetic, really. I’m disappointed myself. But fear not. Tomorrow morning, I will head straight to Tetra myself, and I will seek out their most powerful adventurer.” 

Someone piped up from the back of the grumbling crowd. “But what if the monsters strike again while you’re gone, Elder? We heard their horrible shrieking from the forest yesterday. We may be attacked before your return!” 

“Hm… I see, I see. Yes, you raise a valid point. The very worst could occur… Well, at least Set did retrieve a man fit to serve as bait,” the village elder said, and he pointed at me. “Perhaps he’s not as useless as we thought! Yes, we’ll buy ourselves time by throwing him to the monsters.” 

Wait a second, I thought . You want to use me as bait? For monsters? 

All I had wanted to do was kill some monsters and visit my parents’ graves. I could had never anticipated this fiasco. I was beyond disbelief—I was exasperated. 

Greed, however, roared with laughter. “You hear that, Fate? To these guys, you’re just monster bait.” The black sword burst into another round of raucous laughter, which he followed with a chant: “Fate, monster bait! Fate, monster bait! Fate, monster bait!” 

“Shut up!” I snarled as I grasped the black sword’s hilt. I didn’t care how I looked. I needed to intimidate the villagers. Send them a message. Shut them all up—even for a second. 

“Wait,” said Set, bowing. “Please, just bear this for a little longer, Fate. I beg of you.” 

I was beyond sick of this whole show—the insults and pleading and crowd-pleasing and mocking laughter, all of it rang in my head, leaving me with a splitting headache. These people wouldn’t even let me hunt monsters in peace. Why had I ever thought they could change? 

“So, we’re agreed, yes?” asked the village elder. “Set, you’re on guard duty. Make sure that deadweight doesn’t try to escape. If monsters attack while I’m away, he’s our sacrifice. And don’t you dare let him flee, you hear me? I won’t take responsibility for whatever happens next if you do.” 

The village elder nodded, satisfied with his own cleverness, and trudged back to his house. The villagers looked similarly pleased with the plan and trickled into their homes one by one. To them, I was no different than the Fate I’d been the day I left. I was still the starving loser they kicked around to keep in his place, a dirty stray. I meant so little to them that they were all too happy to band together and make me their victim. 

In this place, I was utterly, entirely alone. I had no relatives who would curse the villagers when I died. By coming back here, I’d been little more than a moth drawn to the flame. I had invited my own demise. 

The village returned to the cold silence of the moonless night. Only Set and I still stood, alone, in total darkness. 

“This isn’t what we discussed, Set. It’s a bit of a twist to go so quickly from monster exterminator to monster food, isn’t it?” I couldn’t keep the bitterness from my voice. 

“I’m sorry, Fate. I’m so, so sorry.” Set buried his face in his hands. A gust of wind whipped strands of his thinning hair. 

I considered visiting my parents’ graves and leaving the village to fend for itself. Regardless of how I felt, however, my Gluttony was beginning to hunger. I didn’t think it would forgive me for simply visiting the graves and leaving. I felt that familiar, creeping itch in my right eye. A tired sigh escaped my lips. No, I needed to hunt, and soon. 

“For the time being, please stay with me,” said Set. “After all, I’m supposed to make sure you can’t run away. And your old house, well…” 

We both knew what had happened to my childhood home; the villagers burned it to the ground when they drove me out. Perhaps the frame remained, but in the unlikely event that it did, that charred husk could no longer offer shelter. 

“Fine,” I said. “Do you live by yourself?” 

“I have a daughter. My wife, she…she was eaten by the monsters in the forest.” 

Ah. Perhaps that explained Set’s terror in Tetra. He would bear any torment to protect his daughter. In that small way, he reminded me of my father. 

“Follow me,” Set said. “My house is just a little ways from here.” 

“Fine.” 

Set led me to a small, ordinary house. It was half the size of his father’s home, but big enough for a family to share. Set pulled the door open. 

A girl of about five years old leapt into his arms with a happy shout. “Papa! You’re home! I was on my best behavior while you were away!” 

“Oh…that’s wonderful. What a good girl you’ve been.” 

The cute little girl’s face creased as she noticed something off about her father. She pointed at his head. “You’re losing more hair, Papa! Was your trip okay?” 

“Oh, this? It’ll grow back soon enough. I’m…I’m sure of it.” 

“Mm, okay!” Having sated her interest in that subject, the girl turned the force of her curiosity on me. “Papa, who’s this?” 

“Uh…” Set stammered. 

According to the girl’s grandfather, I was monster chow. But how would Set explain that to his daughter? I watched him carefully. At last, I learned my caution was misplaced. 

“This is Fate! He’s really strong, and he’s here to fight the monsters for us!” 

“Really?!” The girl stared up at me in awe. A moment later, she burst into tears. 

Perhaps the conversation had reminded her of her late mother’s gruesome death. Set took the time to calm her, and then we sat down for dinner. I watched the two of them chatter back and forth while we ate. Set’s daughter told him that she had eaten at the village elder’s house while he was away. She seemed terrified of her grandparents, confessing that it was scary sharing their table. 

“I’m so sorry,” said Set. He sounded sincere. “From now on, we’ll always eat together.” 

The little girl cheered. “I love you, Papa!” 

I glanced sideways at Set. “You’ve changed.” 

I’d finally managed to put my thoughts into words. As a boy, Set had just been one more village lowlife willing to pelt me with rocks. Yet, despite the people surrounding him, he had grown into a genuine, caring father. 

My words sent an apologetic expression across Set’s features. “I was a child, Fate. My father…I mean, the elder, I just… I always believed everything he said. I thought everything he said was the absolute truth. But…I think when I had my daughter, she helped me realize I could think for myself.” 

Set was starting on a path toward goodness, but it wouldn’t mean anything if the village held him back. Perhaps this village needed rebirth—to be remade from nothing. A fresh start. 

Dinner was vegetable soup with the bitter foam skimmed off the top, boiled into a thin grain porridge. It was nothing special, and I couldn’t have said it was delicious, even if I wanted to be polite. However, it was also a dish my father had often cooked. The simple taste brought back a flood of memories. 

“You still eat this, huh?” I asked. 

“It’s been like this since you left. We’re as poor now as we were then. The village has always been in a bad way, you know? Both the food and…the people.” 

The villagers’ souls had crumbled under the weight of their impoverishment. It made me glad to have left. While I sipped at my bowl of vegetable mush, Set told me everything he knew about the monsters tormenting the village. 

It was strange to realize that I was only now hearing the full details of my task. I should have asked long before we left Tetra. I should have asked about the conditions in the village, too. But somewhere in my heart, I suspected that I had needed to see everything for myself rather than merely hearing it from Set. Would I even have believed him? 

Past grudges, old memories, my father… Perhaps I’d been looking for an excuse to come back. Now that I could finally relax and think, my true feelings had the space to make themselves known. As an adventurer, this kind of nostalgia was pitiful. Pathetic. I was certain Greed, at my side, was already laughing at me. 

Set described the monsters as winged creatures who navigated the skies with ease. Flight alone made them dangerous. I hadn’t fought anything winged before. They were about the size of goblins, but they had wicked talons, and horns that sprouted from their heads. 

“How many of these creatures are there?” I asked. 

“I don’t know,” Set said. “But, from what I’ve heard, there’s definitely more than one.” 

I put my hand on the hilt of the black sword. “What do you think, Greed?” 

“Sounds to me like gargoyles. They’re a crafty sort. In the beginning, they attack in fits and starts, scoping out their prey. They pick off the weak, observe, and wait. Then, when the time comes, they strike in an enormous swarm.” 

“Pretty nasty,” I muttered. “How do we know when they’ve decided it’s time? When do they usually swarm?” 

“They like the night. Gargoyles love the shroud of a pitch-black evening, when clouds smother the moon.” 

“Wait a second…” 

It was overcast tonight. We hadn’t once seen the moon on the walk to the village. And one villager said they’d heard something earlier the previous day. Monsters—more than one—shrieking from the nearby forest. 

Are you kidding me? 

To anyone in my proximity, my Telepathic conversations with Greed made me look as if I was talking to myself. Set and his daughter frowned at me in awkward confusion, as though they weren’t sure whether they should answer my mumbling. Please don’t look at me like that, I thought. It’s distracting. This is important. 

My worst fears were realized before my hunch had a chance to congeal. From outside Set’s house, human voices began to scream, both in rage and pure panic. We were in trouble. Greed, however, seemed to think it was hilarious. 

“Well, how about it, Fate?” he said. “Ready to assuage those nasty monsters as a sweet little human sacrifice? Fate, monster bait! Fate, monster bait! Fate, monster bait!” 

I brushed aside Greed’s mockery. “Don’t be stupid. We’re going outside.”