Chapter 31: Stained Hands (Part 2)

*WARNING: This chapter may contain violance, gore and any other 18+ rated*

A scream rang out loudly throughout the dark place.

"AAAGHHHHHH!!!"

Rei woke up in the middle of nowhere after he heard that loud noise.

"Huh? Where...am I?"

Rei asked to himself as he looked around, but finding nothing...only a dark space that stretched out far and wide, who knows where it could end.

Rei began to walk and wandered around the place cautiously while calling someone.

"Houston!!"

His voice didn't echo and no one's answering...however, another voice came out instead.

"D-don't come near me!! You Monster!!"

When Rei turned around, he saw a person standing behind him. His face deathly pale and his eyes were filled with fear.

"You are..." He recognized that face.

It was the bandit that he fought not too long ago. The man looked frail with one his hand chopped off and his blood fall down to the floor like waterfall, forming a blood pool that quickly spread throughout the floor.

"I'm gonna kill you...you bastard!! You're...gonna...PAY!!"

Rei took a step back, horrified, "N-no..."

When he looked down, he noticed that he was holding a sword on his hand and wearing his helmet, just like back then.

"I-i didn't mean to–"

"You took my hand! And now you're gonna take our lives with that sword of yours!"

"No, wait–"

"How does it feel to hurt someone now? Does it feel good~? It's good isn't it? 'Cause eventually..."

When Rei looked up to see the bandit again, his body started to rot...his skin began to melt as he walked towards him, like a walking dead.

Rei was frozen in fear, feeling suffocated and helpless. He couldn't think of anything but the horrid view that was slowly approaching.

When that bandit eventually stood in front of him. His face melted down, leaving nothing but his skeleton....

"Sooner or later, you're gonna have to spill more blood...for the sake of others."

"Haaa...haa...haaa..!!!"

He dropped to the floor, shutting his eyes tight as he clutched against his head, screaming.

"AAAAGGHHHH!"

Rei sat up straight from his bed in the middle of night, eyes blown wide as he panted heavily and his whole body was drenched in cold-sweat.

"Haa....haaa..."

He slowly took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment.

'Kiritsuka.'

"Houston?..."

'Yeah, it's me...is it a nightmare again?'

Rei nodded as he laid his back down on the bed again.

The words spoken by the man in his nightmare echoed inside his head. He could feel his hands still trembling ever so slightly. The feeling of cutting someone's hand...no, just the thought of hurting others struck fear deep in his conscience.

'Kiritsuka, I know you don't want to hurt anybody...but you need to know that for the sake of others, you need protect them with all your might.

'Half-assed effort is not going to protect them and slight hesitation could get you and others killed.'

"I know that." Rei answered flatly.

Ray sighed, he had been like this ever since coming to this village four days ago.

'Okay, how about we do some training to clear out your mind.'

"Mhm." Rei nodded and closed his eyes once again.

******

In the morning, Rei went out from a small house he was staying.

Right now, he's in the village called Rubal. It's where the family he saved before lived in.

"It's been 4 days, yet I still feel unfamiliar with this place."

Rei spoke while walking with his equipment on and wearing his helmet to hide his face.

'Heh of course, since I'm the one who know this place better.' Ray replied smugly.

"It's so peaceful, unlike our village. They're not surrounded with monster infested forest."

'Our village is near the border between the demon world and human world, so there's more monsters living there.'

"Yeah, they doesn't seems to be having any trouble at all."

Rei spoke as he looked around. He could see many kids were playing with each other and the adults were doing their job, like farming, gardening and handling their cattle.

'You are looking from the outside...but from the inside...'

"From the inside? What do you mea– Hm?"

When Rei was about to ask about it, he halted when he noticed several kids were standing right in front of him.

"Woah!" They looked at him in awe, well...mostly towards his equipment.

Despite still being 8 years old, his body was a lot taller than the other kids, making him look more like an adult.

"Mr. Warrior! Where did you come from?" One of the kids asked.

"Hmm? I came from somewhere far away~" Rei said in a sing a song tone, somewhat amused at their excitement.

"I heard from Litia! That you saved her!"

'Litia? Ahhh, that little girl that I saved.'

Rei nodded his head with a smile from behind his helmet.

"Woahh! that's so cool!" One of the kids exclaimed, their eyes seemed to sparkle.

Rei couldn't help but smile warmly at their compliments but then...

"Then does that mean, you're gonna save Litia's older sister?"

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Those words broke the nice fluffy and warm atmosphere around him, making him looked more serious.

The kids were looking at each for a moment but then they nodded, as if coming to an agreement.

"The truth is...Litia's older sister was kidnapped."

"What?!–"

Rei quickly shut his mouth before he could make more noise, disturbing the adults who were still working.

"Can you tell me the details?"

As soon he asked that question, the kids start explaining the situation.

******

Back into his small house, Rei was deep in his thoughts after he hearing the kids' explanation.

"About a week ago...3 days right before we left our village huh, Litia's family was on their journey back home, but in the middle of the road they were caught by the bandits' eyes and among the family...

...Litia's older sister was kidnapped."

'Not only that...Litia's family was running away from them without resting and the bandits eventually caught on to them.' Ray reviewed

"And that's why that old man said...[I'm not going to let my daughter taken away again] huh."

Ray blinked his eyes for a moment after hearing of what Rei said just now, 'Oh? You heard of what he said?'

"Well...I did use my aura to hear their conversation first."

'Haha, you are getting good at it.'

"I can't slack off with my training right?"

'Yeah.'

Rei stared against the ceiling above him as he sighed.

Ray stared at him in his head, 'So what are you gonna do now?'

At first, Rei was silent for a while and closed his eyes...recalling the words coming from his previous dream.

"[Sooner or later you're gonna have to spill more blood...for the sake of others.]"

'Huh?'

"That's the exact words that I heard in my dream last night...and I know from the bottom of my heart that I need to do it. Since this world is..."

'Kill or be killed.' Ray continued his words.

"...that's why, Houston...will you teach me–"

"...How to kill someone."

When Rei asked such a favor, Ray was silent for a while.

Ray remembered that he told Rei to kill that bandit, but he couldn't do it. Eventually, he gave up on making him do that ever again, cause he knew Rei is soft-hearted, he couldn't even control his emotion, his guilt, for hurting someone.

However, ever since that day...when Rei chopped that bandit's hand, made him realize how cruel he was for forcing this kid who haven't seen the real world to kill someone in his stead.

Which why...

'No.'

Ray refused.

Rei widened his eyes and get up from his seat,

"What?! Why?!"

'Because you're not ready yet. I had my conclusion from the past few days.'

"B-but–"

'No buts Kiritsuka...I don't want to see you stained your hands more than that.'

Rei gritted his teeth, knowing full well that he was right all along. He couldn't even handle his own nightmare these past few days.

"I-...I understand" Rei looked down, clenching his hand to a fist.

Ray who heard his answer, sighed.

'Don't feel down...you already did your best on trying to save that girl.'

"Mhm." Rei nodded his head.

Ray sighed again and rubbed the back of his head,

'Fine...I won't teach you how to kill but...

I will teach you [How to protect others by using your sword].'

"Huh?" Slowly, Rei's expression brightened up a bit, "What do you mean?"

'Like I said, I will teach you how to protect others from getting hurt...but you might have to hurt others for it, but it's better than killing them right?'

"Y-you sure about that Houston?!"

'Yeah, I am sure. But you need to resolve yourself, cause in this training, you must not hesitate to hurt me.'

"Y-yes! Understood."

Ray smiled seeing Rei finally got his spirit back.

"What should we do now?"

'Hmmm, first we need to get more information about these bandits and their hideout.'

"Who do you think we should ask about that?"

'Hmmmm...I guess we don't have any choice but ask the parents first.'

"You mean–"

When they came into an unspoken understanding, Rei went out from the small house and walked outside towards the house of the family of three he saved not too long ago.

******

When Rei arrived at their front porch, he knocked at the door.

The door clicked open and he was greeted by a little girl, Litia.

"Mr. Warrior! Good Afternoon!" Litia greeted with a smile, she seemed to be happy to see him.

Rei smiled behind his helmet as he nodded his head, "Good Afternoon, Litia. Are your parents home?"

"Yes! Mommy! Daddy! Mr. Warrior is here!" Litia shouted with glee.

Soon, a man came out from the door and greeted him happily.

"Oh! Mr. Warrior, thank you for coming all the way out here to our house."

"It's fine, and I should be the one who should apologize for disturbing your time."

"No no no, you didn't disturb us at all. So how was your stay?" The man asked with kind smile.

"It was great, the atmosphere around here is refreshing and is hard to believe it's so peaceful."

"Well yes, it's peaceful but...this village have something else to worry about..."

"Is it about the bandits around this village?"

"H-how did you–"

"I have good ears."

Rei tapped the side of his helmet, on his way to here he didn't stop using his aura to enhance his hearing.

He heard almost everything about it from the villagers' conversation with one another.

"I-i see...Litia, can you help your mom with dinner? I have something important to talk with Mr. Warrior."

"Eeehhhh, but I want to be with him! " Litia pouted

"Litia, i will be here until dinner okay? So go help your mother." Rei spoke in his stead as Litia's face lit up.

"Okay! Wait for me! Mr. Warrior!" Litia said AS she went back inside.

Rei and the man walked to the backyard where no one's around to hear them.

"Okay, you can tell me now." Rei spoke to him.

The man sighed,

"I understand, the truth is...this village had a connection with those bandits."

"A connection?"

"Yeah...a connection of...human trafficking."

"....!?!" Rei went rigid as soon as he heard it, including Ray who was listening quietly in his mind.

'Human trafficking?!' Ray shouted in anger.

But Rei kept his calm, trying not to make a fuss about it,

"How come the guards doesn't know about this."

"....."

The man looked away nervously, avoiding his eyes as cold sweat trailer down his back, after a while, he spoke again,

"We were...threatened by [him]."

"Who?"

The man clenched his jaws, "His name was...[Banzana]."

'....?!'

Rei didn't react towards that name, but on the other hand Ray seems shocked after hearing that name.

'[Banzana]?!' Ray shout in surprise

'Houston? Do you know this guy?' Rei asked.

'Of course...I know him. He is the most wretched and the worst scum of all...[Banzana, The King of Bandits]'

'He was a legend for being infamous in my previous life...terrorizing almost the whole kingdom. From kidnapping, raiding, killing, stealing and even human trafficking...he is the worst of the worst.' Ray explained through gritted teeth.

'How come such guy like that haven't been caught yet?'

'He will became a legend after another few years, not only that...he is also stronger...strong enough to be par with a [Knight].'

'He's that strong?!'

Ray silently nodded then spoke grimly, 'Yeah...that's why they couldn't caught him...but this is just my speculation.'

'He is probably even stronger than the [Unique Boss] we fought and Uncle Nel as well.'

"....?!"

'Heh, seriously...we just got out from the village and now we are going to face such a being as our first mid boss.'

'Well the world has never been fair for us after all.' Ray replied.

'So? What are we gonna do now?' Rei asked.

'I'll leave the choice to you.'

'Is that so? Then...don't mind if I do.' Rei said while smirking.

"I see...so can you explain how Banzana know about this village? How exactly did he threatened you all?" Rei asked while folding his both arms together.

"Mr. Warrior...are you planning to help us?" The man asked him instead of answering his questions.

"I owe this village for giving me a place to stay for a few days, and so I want to repay it as soon as possible...just so you know, I don't like owing something to someone." Rei replied proudly.

"I-i see! Thank you very much, Mr. Warrior!"

"Don't thank me yet...cause we don't know where they are and how many forces this Banzana has"

"Yes...but what I know is that...his lackeys will come to this village to take our money for the compensation and...they want us to give them our children for them to sold."

"I see...I think understand...thank you for answering and so...can you entrust your daughter to me?"

"W-what do you mean by that Mr. Warrior?"

"I have a plan to save the village but it all depends on your daughter."

When Rei spoke those words, the wind started picking up a bit, enhancing the tense atmosphere around them.

******

Afterwards, in the middle of night.

The people were standing in the middle of the village with their kids behind them.

Soon, a loud horse steps approaching from the front of the village, getting louder and louder the closer it got.

*DREP* *DREP*

They could make out the figures of a few man riding on it while carrying a torch on their hands.

When they finally came to a stop, one man came down and walked towards them.

"We're here."

An frail old man stepped forwards with a pouched with to the brim with something. The old man was the chief of the village.

"The money now."

The man said with a wolfish grin and when the chief was about to hand it over, the man took it by force and then pushed him down.

"Dear!" His wife ran towards the chief as she held onto him tightly

"Hmmm, good~ you guys earn well...and now for the kids. Since you gave us enough money, I would have you all gave us your [most beautiful one]~ that should be enough for us to keep you all alive for few months."

When the man spoke, the villagers shifted in fear but...a little girl with beautiful blonde hair stood in front of them and walked towards the man.

It was Litia.

The man looked down towards this little girl as he observed her for a moment.

"Hmmm, good good~ you came without resisting at all...hmmm~ you will get us a good price~" The man grin creepily but Litia didn't flinch, she remained unfazed and just blinked at him quietly.

The man's grin went stiff, feeling disappointed at her lack of reaction.

"Whatever, c'mere."

Litia followed the man, riding the horse with him. She looked back towards the crowd of the villagers gathered in front of the bandits. She could see her parents crying helplessly, unable to stop her.

But they believed...they believed someone will save them all.

Yes...

A man stood above a tall tree with his red scarf in the dark, fluttering around due to the chilly night breeze blowing around the village, his black armor and a helmet that looked like a beast in the night preparing to prey its victim gleamed dangerously under the moonlight.

The casted shadow from his surroundings made his red and yellow eyes that were slightly visible on each slit of his helmet looked as if they're shining brightly.

'Finally...it's time.' Ray spoke.

"Yeah." Rei replied

Then afterwards...Rei leapt down from the tree he was standing on and dived into the darkness of the forest using his equipment skill.

Finally...Kiritsuka Rei, commencing his plan to save this village.

To be continued...