Chapter 4: Now I Get Why That Jerk’s Acting Like That

Sirin changed into the clothes she’d received.

She covered her face with her tangled hair and put on the crude mask again.

This way, her face wouldn’t be seen clearly.

She kept walking toward the square.

The freedom of speaking properly made her steps lighter than ever.

Now that her speech was back, she had to properly greet Marta.

She’d also prepared some sharp words for that kid, Vera.

Not too harsh, out of respect for Marta, but she couldn’t let that freckled, strawberry-faced brat off without a word.

Sirin was in a good mood.

She could even teach that annoying kid about the relationship between mud and skincare right now.

Her steps felt like they could fly.

But as she neared the square, her pace slowed.

Louder commotion, shouts, and what sounded like a woman’s tearful scream reached her ears.

The square’s scene came into view.

It was the mercenaries.

There were fewer than before, maybe some had left, but the worst of them remained, their behavior even more vile.

Heres was causing a scene in front of the bakery, gripping Vera’s arm.

“P-Please, don’t do this…! If it’s money, I’ll give it…!”

Marta tried to separate them, but the mercenary’s strong arm held firm.

The surrounding villagers kept their distance, whispering or looking away.

The empire’s peacekeeping force was nowhere to be seen.

Heres snickered.

“This village has that Salvation Church or Love Church or whatever, right? They say to love and date, so can’t I have some fun too? Huh?”

His words caught Sirin’s attention.

She knew Peter was with the Salvation Church.

But Love Church? They encouraged dating? Peter never mentioned that to her.

“Oh.”

Sirin suddenly realized.

Was that it?

When he kept suggesting prostitution, was he talking about dating?

She thought, That old man’s definitely nuts. To understand my crazy talk, he’d have to be a bit unhinged himself.

Satisfied, she nodded.

Ding!

[Your understanding of others has increased!]

[Partially met conditions for activating the Basic Insight System!]

What kind of crazy nonsense is this?

The system, after six months, felt oddly unfamiliar.

And Insight? It stayed silent despite her demanding an explanation.

As she mentally cursed at the system window, Heres’s voice grew harsher.

“Damn it. What, you think I’m some rapist? Fck, did I come to this backwater to risk my life hunting beasts for this? Am I a rapist? I just wanted to have some fun, and I get treated like this?!”

His grating voice dug into Sirin’s sensitive ears.

Her mood soured.

“Kyaa!”

A thud. Marta’s scream as she was flung to the ground.

“M-Mom…!”

Vera’s crying voice as Heres held her.

The murmurs of villagers too scared to approach.

The smell of crushed bread.

Unable to stand the shitty scene, Sirin looked up at the sky.

“Wow…”

For a moment, she forgot everything and marveled at the sight.

The sunset was a giant golden spear piercing gray clouds.

A majestic, clean scene she’d never see in her polluted homeland.

The spear of light faded as purple darkness stained the sky.

Sirin closed her eyes, feeling the breeze.

Her sharp senses told her it was the wind of twilight.

Soon, darkness would fully rise.

“…”

But she could also feel it.

The faint warmth lingering in the nearly vanished sun.

That faint warmth felt like the texture of the hard bread Marta had given her.

Sirin smirked.

There’s a saying: don’t take in a black-haired beast.

Contrary to common misunderstanding, it doesn’t mean not to help others.

It’s a proverb warning against becoming a beast by ignoring those who showed you kindness.

Right, debts must be repaid.

Whether it’s a favor or the warmth of a piece of bread.

“Die once, die twice, what’s the difference?”

Sirin muttered softly and chuckled to herself.

She couldn’t die.

That was the first thing she learned in this world.

Right after arriving, thinking it was a dream, she threw herself off a cliff.

The result was obvious: compound fractures, leaving her immobile.

A person dies without water in three days.

Sirin spent far longer at the cliff’s base.

The memory alone was agonizing.

She licked her own blood to quench her burning thirst, but it was futile.

Despite such pain, she didn’t die.

Sirin couldn’t die.

So what was there to fear? What should she fear?

Not pain.

What she feared was falling to the level of a beast?

What she should fear was giving up her humanity?

Sirin would never become a beast.

She stepped forward.

She had a way to handle this in the most civilized manner.

She shouted.

“Hey, Heres! You pathetic pedophile bstard!”

A curse no villager could muster struck Heres’s ears.

“Who the hell?!”

Heres turned, his face twisted with rage, but froze in shock when he saw who it was.

“The btch… speaking properly?”

Sirin was something of a celebrity.

In a backwater frontier village, a crazy beggar girl who only cursed was practically a reverse idol.

Enjoying his stunned look, Sirin said.

“Hey, Heres. What’re you doing twisting a kid’s arm?”

“…”

Heres was momentarily speechless, but soon sneered.

“Crazy beggar girl… I don’t care if you talk straight or not, but if you don’t want trouble, get lost. Wanna see blood on a festival day?”

But Sirin cackled and stepped closer, her laugh grating on his nerves.

“Heres, Heres, you dumb bstard. I know why you’re twisting a kid’s arm on a fine day like this.”

His face darkened, but Sirin didn’t care.

“You’re Heres, vice-leader of the Blade of the Herald mercenaries.”

His expression hardened. How does this girl know me?

But her next words made that irrelevant.

“Word’s out about you. You got kicked out of Wilson’s for hitting Mary, right?”

The puzzle clicked in Sirin’s mind.

Why did this idiot get kicked out for hitting Mary?

In her dear homeworld, there was a term.

[Je-kko-sam]

Please, let that jerk’s thing be three centimeters!

A phrase men—slightly above average, as standards are high on the peninsula—used with envy and jealousy toward muscular hunks.

Heres half-fit that bill. He was, as they say, a “decently hot” muscleman.

But only half.

His body was great, but his face was ugly. So, a bonus point.

His thing was likely 3.5 centimeters, not 3.

But 3 or 3.5, same difference.

“Now I get it.”

Sirin nodded, satisfied.

“It all makes sense. That tiny thing didn’t work on an adult like Mary, so now you’re going after an easy kid? You figured a small kid might work with your cute little thing, right?”

“Shut up, you fcking btch…!”

Heres’s face was now bright red. The villagers’ whispers stabbed like daggers.

Sirin continued smoothly.

“Must’ve been tough for Mary too. That… cute thing? Probably didn’t feel a thing. Poor girl, taking money but having to fake it with that tiny…”

A bolt of realization hit Sirin.

“Oh, is that why you hit Mary? She didn’t fake it well enough?”

Ding!

[Your understanding of others has increased!]

[Met conditions for activating the Basic Insight System!]

[Congratulations!]

Sirin swiped the system window away.

That wasn’t important now.

“…”

Heres silently released Vera’s arm.

His trembling hands, ragged breathing, and bloodshot eyes.

“Beggar girl.”

He spoke with murderous intent.

“Seems you’re thrilled to talk. Keep flapping that fancy tongue. Today’s the last day you’ll get to.”

His words made Sirin feel extremely pleased.

She could repay a debt.

She’d beat these thugs and repay Marta’s kindness.