Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

The Return of Corpse the Adventurer 

I LEFT THE SALOON, slipped my skull mask back on, and took a deep breath. The crowd of customers waiting for the saloon to open had grown as Eris and I talked. As long as she worked there, the run-down saloon would always be a hit. People had no choice but to be attracted to her. 

At least I’d learned Lust was a skill that had the power to attract people, though I suspected that wasn’t all Eris’s skill was capable of. At first blush, Gluttony only seemed to make me unendingly hungry, but the dark truth of the skill—the reason it was a Mortal Sin—was the power it granted me through devouring souls. Lust had to be similar. Regardless of how Eris hid it, there was another, more sinister, side to its power. 

Another mystery was that Eris didn’t seem to carry a Weapon of Mortal Sin, or at least, not one I’d seen. Though I couldn’t say for certain, it seemed likely that she also wielded one, just as Myne and I did. 

“Hey, Greed,” I said. 

“What?” 

“Which Weapon of Mortal Sin does Eris wield?” 

“Beats me. She wasn’t lying when she said we hardly know each other. She wasn’t carrying a weapon the last time I saw her, either.” 

“Is it possible that she doesn’t have one?” 

Greed laughed. “No.” 

If Greed didn’t know Eris’s weapon, I didn’t have any other way to find out. However, as long as Eris held to her promise to remain an impartial observer, she wasn’t a direct threat to either Lady Roxy or me. I didn’t need to know what powers she was hiding. Not yet. 

I still had plenty of time before lunch, so I decided to finally get cracking on monster hunting. The process was no different here than it was in Seifort. First you felled monsters, then you gave proof of their defeat at the designated trading post. The proof for orcs was the same as for goblins—a set of ears. For gargoyles, it was horns. The trading post clearly defined the necessary parts to trade for bounties, so if you proffered any other random bits, you’d leave empty-handed. I’d looked up the details a day earlier, and a list was posted at the inn. 

The safest bet was to start with Galia’s most common monster, the orc. I’d fought orcs before, so I knew their tactics and could handle them on my own. A single squadron consisted of about two hundred orcs. That was a lot of ears and would make for a tidy sum, with which I could finally buy new clothes. 

With my mind made up, I finished exploring the Merchant Sector. As my last stop, I bought two sizable burlap sacks and headed for Babylon’s gates. “Time to put in a hard day’s work.” 

“You said it,” said Greed. “Get cracking on making money so that you can buy me a high-quality, custom-forged scabbard already!” 

“Don’t get any extravagant ideas, Greed.” 

“What are you nattering on about? Do you not respect my struggles? My hardships? Everything I do for you?” 

“Like what?” I asked, pushing down a laugh. 

“Who operates the auto-targeting system for your black bow? And who is the sole reason you can load and fire those elemental-magic-charged arrows everyone’s so impressed by?” 

Admittedly, those were very helpful feats. I couldn’t fault the sword there. He may have had a penchant for running his metaphorical mouth, but he always did his job. 

“Guess I don’t have a choice then, do I? We’ll get you that scabbard. But in return, I expect your full support, Greed!” 

Greed laughed. “Expect nothing less of the mighty black sword Greed!” 

I couldn’t describe him as anything but confident. Arrogant, even. Still, it was possible I had something to learn from his cocky attitude. Here in Babylon, I lived the life of an adventurer. I didn’t need to get bombastic or pompous, but I did need to project a certain level of confidence. Hunting solo had a way of drawing attention, and not necessarily the good kind. Groups who took umbrage with my loner tendencies were sure to sprout in my wake like weeds. If I kept acting timid, they’d target me, dragging me into an endless string of unnecessary quarrels. 

There was no better time to practice than now. As I headed for Babylon’s main gate, I straightened my back and tried to project an aura of confidence. 

The main street bustled with people coming and going that morning, just as it had the night before. Clusters of adventurers set off on new hunts, and merchant caravans delivered supplies. At first, I was surprised to see so many distinct groups of adventurers loitering around the main gate, but I quickly realized I was looking at the same practice I had grown familiar with in Seifort. Adventurers gathered here to find members for their hunting parties. None of that mattered to me, so I continued. 

However, as I passed the groups milling about the walls, a voice called out to me. I turned to see a man in his thirties, decked out in sturdy armor. 

“You there, in the skull mask!” he said. “You look like you know your way around a sword. Won’t you join us? Our usual front-liner is injured, and we’re in a bit of a bind.” 

“Sorry, but I hunt alone. I don’t do parties.” 

The man’s eyes bugged from their sockets, and he quickly stepped back to put some distance between us. I thought he’d treat me like an idiot, the way adventurers treated me in Seifort and Lanchester, but no. This man was terrified. 

“My humble apologies, sir. If you hunt solo, does that mean you’re a, er, former holy knight?” 

Ah, I get it, I thought. This adventurer assumed I was one of the banished. Then again, killing the holy knight Hado Vlerick had given me the Holy Sword Technique skill, so in a way, I was indeed a holy knight. 

I didn’t see any problem with playing along. 

“Yeah,” I said. “Something like that.” 

The man yelped. “I’m so sorry, sir. I mean, it’s just—with the way you’re dressed—I thought that, uh… Please excuse my ignorance!” 

Again, the man wasn’t completely wrong. In my burnt light armor, I really didn’t look like much of a knight. What’s more, the holy knights were a proud lot. Even if they were divested of their position somehow, I expected that they insisted on showy, high-quality equipment, not the black light armor I chose for my nighttime fighting. 

I took another look at the adventurers gathered by the gate. Three former holy knights stood among them. An intimidating air emanated from them, separating them from the other adventurers, and unique ambition filled their piercing eyes. 

“Those knights are probably trying to raise their status while the Seifort army is in disarray thanks to the Divine Dragon,” said Greed. “Your former master just arrived yesterday, and it will be a while before her forces fully mobilize.” 

“So, before Lady Roxy arrived, these ex-knights protected the city?” 

“Quite. Now that the army is here, they’ll look for another path to fame and fortune by helping out with the monster hunting.” 

Babylon really was a nexus where people from different walks of life met and intertwined. I’d met all sorts thus far, and they all interested me to a degree. Of course, my foremost concern remained Lady Roxy’s situation, but I was also curious about Myne’s investigation into the depths of Galia. 

I carried this swirl of half-formed concerns in my heart as I ventured out through the gates of Babylon for the first time. 

I adjusted the burlap sacks slung over my shoulder and headed directly south, to the border between Galia and the kingdom’s territory. In my current field of vision, the horizon was clear. It seemed no monsters had crossed the border since I’d returned. 

So, I crossed into Galia to look for them myself. 

“The stench of blood reeks here. I just can’t get used to it,” I muttered. 

“You will, in time,” said Greed ominously. 

The air of the Galian region had a unique slaughterhouse acridity. It seemed to kill the taste of any food I ate. I took a piece of jerky from my bag and chewed off a chunk to test that theory. The old meat stunk like I was chewing on a raw carcass. The act soon made me queasy. I stowed the rest of the jerky in my bag. I’d eat later. 

“Sure would like to be back in Babylon before lunch,” I said. 

“That’s up to you,” said Greed. 

He hit the nail on the head, blunt as always. My success depended on how quickly I moved. When I’d traveled through Galia with Myne, we’d encountered several orc hordes one after another, and we hadn’t even been hunting them. With that sort of luck, I suspected I wouldn’t have to search too long to find another. Right on schedule, a squadron came into view. 

“Orcs really do pop up everywhere around here,” I said. 

“Well, they have a lot of vitality, they breed like rabbits, and they mature quickly. They’ll even attack humans to breed. There’s usually something like twenty newborn orcs in a litter, and they eat through their mother’s stomach to get free. When the mother’s a human, the orc fetuses mature more rapidly as well.” 

Greed’s words made me queasier than the jerky. “I didn’t need to know all that.” 

“Hrmph. And after all the trouble I go through to educate you.” 

I’d known human meat was especially delicious to monsters, but I had not known some species could use humans for procreation. Truthfully, I’d been happier in my ignorance. On top of that horrifying information, it was gruesome to imagine the very orcs I slew daily born in a bloodbath, chewing their own mother open from the inside. The knowledge slowed my movements as the orc squadron approached, readying for battle. 

Had they seen me? I followed their line of sight. 

“Oh. Well, that’s unfortunate,” I said. 

A wandering party of adventurers had discovered the same squadron. I had been distracted by the awful facts Greed shared and the other party had beaten me to the chase. 

“What are you doing, Fate?! You fool!” 

“Oh, shut up.” 

It was an unspoken rule of monster hunting that whoever started a battle had dibs, so to speak. It was bad manners to steal someone else’s hunt after the battle started. That wasn’t a completely unbreakable law, but if you violated it too often, you’d quickly make a name for yourself as an untrustworthy outcast. Being a solo hunter, I didn’t necessarily mind that sort of reputation, but I wanted to avoid people talking about me behind my back where I could. 

Greed, on the other hand, encouraged that sort of misbehavior. “Fate, take their hunt. Take it! Take it for the sake of my high-quality, custom-forged scabbard!” 

“Don’t be ridiculous.” 

The hunting party fighting the orcs had the upper hand. It looked like it would be just a matter of time before they won the battle. I could stand around and watch, but that would get me nowhere. 

Guess I’ll look for another squadron, I thought. 

Then I noticed my new quarry. Two orc squadrons, approaching from the west—a huge group, comprised of at least four hundred orcs. Based on their direction, they were on a collision course with the very hunting party I was watching. This was a recipe for serious damage, and not in the adventurers’ favor. 

“Looks like there’s room for us after all,” I said. 

“Indeed!” 

I unsheathed the black sword from his scabbard and charged the horde of approaching orcs.