[EN] Episode 1 - Bloody dinner show 1

One evening ten years ago, in the early winter.
It was around the time the sunset was fading, its glow flickering.


Back then, this restaurant was still just an ordinary mercenary eatery called ‘The Boots of the Brave’.


Mercenaries chattered noisily, while in the central clearing, two mercenaries locked in a fight were engrossed in grabbing each other by the collars and beating each other up.


Amidst this, a figure entered as the restaurant door opened, instantly freezing the atmosphere inside.


Thud.


The figure who walked in, making footsteps that sounded like horse hooves, was wrapped in a robe that was little better than rags.


The problem was, more than half of that robe was stained red.
As he approached, the mercenaries grimaced at the familiar scent wafting from him.


The smell of blood.
And it was clearly human blood, not that of a monster.
In fact, the scent even carried a subtle warmth...


The mercenaries watched him out of the corner of their eyes, debating what to do.
Whatever he'd been doing outside, the fact his robe was soaked in blood meant this wasn't an ordinary incident.


While they were sorting their thoughts, the figure strode purposefully with a click-clack of footsteps and plopped down at a seat near the kitchen.


A waiter cautiously approached and handed over the menu.
He had wanted to take a little more time, but he saw the figure abruptly clang a heavy money pouch down on the table.


“...Let me know when you've decided...”
“Six servings of meat soup, eight steaks, twelve cream pasta...”
“Eh, eh?!”


Startled by the sudden flood of orders, the waiter hesitated, wondering if this was really okay.


“We'll eat it all, so just do whatever you can.”
"Ah, understood! "


After he frantically jotted down the entire order and dashed off to the kitchen, the mercenaries' eyes grew even hotter.


A money pouch that looked heavy at first glance.
That pouch, incongruous with his shabby appearance, screamed that he had surely obtained it through illicit means.
If that was the case, picking a fight to snatch it away probably wouldn't be a big problem.


If there was that much money inside, even if they snatched it and pocketed a few coins, there might be no problem returning the rest to the original owner.


One mercenary, nicknamed ‘Barrel Head’ for being a regular who always drank himself into a stupor, rose from his seat, his face flushed.
With that money, he and his two companions could drink themselves silly all night long.


And with premium liquor, at that.


웨이터는 서둘러 고기 수프 한 접시를 가져와 테이블에 내려놓았다. 접시가 놓이자마자 테이블 옆에 있던 배럴헤드가 손으로 접시를 쾅 내려쳤다. 


"이봐! 이봐! 피 냄새가 진동하는데… 혹시… 어디 가서 부자 귀족이라도 털어먹었어…? 그런 건 아니겠지? 그렇지?" 


이미 반쯤 취해 말을 더듬는 남자를 동정 어린 눈으로 내려다보며, 가운을 입은 남자는 그저 고개를 살짝 저으며 숟가락을 들었다. 


자기가 무시당했다고 생각한 배럴헤드는 짜증스럽게 눈썹을 찡그렸다. 


"이봐! 너한테 말하고 있잖아! 대답해, 이 자식아!" 
"…밥 먹고 있단 말이야. 시끄럽게 굴지 말아 주면 좋겠는데." 


그의 체격은 다부져 보였지만 목소리는 놀랍도록 듣기 좋았다. 
독특한 울림이 있었고, 무엇보다 부드럽고 깊은 저음이었다. 


“나중에 밥 먹으면 어쩌라는 거야! 그 돈뭉치는 어디서 났어?! 이 가게 단골손님이잖아!” 
“네 알 바 아니야. 좀 비켜주면 밥 먹을 수 있어.” 


그가 말을 마치자마자 숟가락에 수프를 떠서 입으로 가져가려던 찰나, 
통머리가 드디어 행동에 나섰다. 


“이 망할 자식-! 내가 누군지나 알아? 감히 나한테 그런 식으로 말해?!” 
“……!!” 


그는 팔을 마구 휘둘러 숟가락을 든 손목을 내리쳤고, 수프가 사방으로 튀었다. 


조금 떨어진 테이블에서 이 광경을 지켜보던 사람들은 낄낄거리며 무슨 일이 벌어질지 몰랐다. 
통머리의 행동이 어떤 결과를 초래할지 전혀 예상하지 못한 것이다. 


“그냥 눈이나 똑바로 뜨고 그 돈뭉치가 어디서 나왔는지 말해… 으윽?!” 


시끄럽던 통머리는 갑자기 죽어가는 듯한 신음 소리를 내며 조용해졌다. 


용병들은 배럴 헤드가 결국 술에 취해 테이블에 토할 거라고 예상하며 지켜보았다. 


하지만 예상과는 달리, 테이블에 앉아 있던 한 인물이 긴 팔을 뻗어 옆 테이블에서 와인병을 집어 들었다. 
그 인물은 재빨리 팔을 위로 휘둘러 배럴 헤드의 머리를 내리쳤다. 와인병이 산산조각 나는 


소리가 울려 퍼졌고, 유리 파편이 배럴 헤드의 얼굴에 박히며 피가 솟구쳤다. 그의 표정에는 무언가 이상한 기운이 감돌았다. 


하지만 그 순간, 배럴 헤드가 쓰러지자 그 인물이 그의 머리카락을 움켜잡았다. 


"흐, 흐!" 
"배럴 헤드!?" 


깜짝 놀란 용병들은 벌떡 일어나 달려갔다. 
하지만 이미 상황은 돌이킬 수 없었다. 
도포를 입은 인물은 깨진 유리병의 날카로운 모서리로 배럴 헤드의 목을 무자비하게 찔렀다. 


"꾸르륵…?!"


Foamy blood poured from the Barrelhead's mouth, his consciousness barely clinging on. Only then did the mercenaries scramble to their feet, grabbing their weapons.


Simply picking a fight? To actually kill someone so easily?
That figure in the robe was undoubtedly a habitual murderer.


“You murderous bastard!”
“How dare you, thinking this is someplace you can just kill people!”


Two of the Barrel Head's teammates rushed over, grabbing his clothes, trying desperately to drag his limp body to the priest.


“Damn it! You stupid Barrel Head! We have to get to the priest now!”
“Do something about that murderous bastard! We...!”


They still didn't know.
Why that figure's robe was soaked in blood like that.


Glancing at the mercenaries rising and drawing their weapons, he suddenly raised both fists and slammed them hard onto one side of the table he'd been eating at, sending the table flying into the air.


“Wh-what?!”
“What the hell... Aaah!?”
“What?!”


Unluckily, a knife from the table flew up, spun around, and plunged into the shoulder of a mercenary standing in front.


Startled mercenaries moved to surround him.


“Surround him and chop him to pieces!”
“Die, you murderous bastard-!”


Ducking to avoid a mercenary's forcefully swung axe, his robe was torn off.


Swish! What sprang out from beneath the robe was a head of Wildly tangled black curls.
Such hair was uncommon here on the Western Continent.


“Wh-who the hell is this?! Where’d he come from?!”
“Don’t know! Just kill him!”


The mercenaries, just about to bring their weapons down again, had to clasp their ears the next instant.


From his mouth, which moments before had spoken calmly in a low, soft voice, erupted a scream—or was it a roar?—that sounded like a soul being torn apart.


“GRRRRRRRRRAAAAAA!!”
“WAAAH?! My ears! Oh my ears!?”
“Damn bastard!?”


As they scrambled to cover their ears and move to restrain him, he was already smashing another bottle over the head of a mercenary who had been surrounding him, knocking him down.


“Aah!?”
"Wait, you bastard, you wouldn't...?!


As he suddenly took a stance to throw the broken glass bottle, one mercenary, seemingly catching on to something, swung his club to block him.


But the sensation from the club hitting his back wasn't the soft impact felt when striking human or beast flesh.
It felt like... swinging a club against a solid, solid lump of metal, the sensation stinging his palm.


“Guh!?”


The next instant, the glass bottle clutched at the end of his extended arm flew at tremendous speed.
Its target was...


“Huh?!”


Blood began trickling from the neck of one of his comrades, who had just started dragging the Barrel Head away, where the bottle's mouth was precisely half-rammed into his throat.


“Gurgle…!”
“H-h-hey?! Hey?! Are you okay?!”


No, he wasn't okay.
Before the colleague who was about to pull out the glass bottle could even reach him, the man in the robe, clutching a chair in one hand, charged forward fiercely and kicked the glass bottle embedded in the neck with his massive toe!


With a satisfying crunch, the glass bottle drove deep into his neck, and simultaneously, the comrade let out a final, agonized scream before collapsing to the floor, spilling blood.


“Gwaaah?!”


The black-haired monster, who had knocked down his panicked comrade by slamming him with the chair he was holding, now glared at the two mercenaries lying sprawled out, each with a glass bottle lodged in their necks, nearly dead.


The culprits who had disrupted his meal.
They had to pay the price.


Paying no heed to the weapons swinging wildly around him, he spent a moment repeatedly stomping his foot down on the glass bottles piercing the two mercenaries.


As the crunching sound of cracking bones echoed like music, a grotesque smile spread across the man's face, even as he was struck by weapons.


The last remaining Barrel Head comrade, who happened to be beside him and witnessed this, fainted. The expression of the black-haired monster watching him slowly began to twist again.


Just how long did these damn vermin plan to keep pounding his body?
How much longer did they intend to ruin his precious meal time before they were satisfied?


He snatched the mace flying toward his head and turned his head to stare at its owner.


“What, what the hell?! Drop it! You damn murderous bastard!”
“…….”
“……!”


The next thing the mace's owner saw was the monstrous figure's jarringly unsettling smile, staring down at the sharp end of the chair leg he'd broken while swinging it earlier.


The chair leg flew in, tracing a concise arc, and was thrust deep into his screaming mouth.


As he frantically tried to pull the chair leg out with his bare hands, the monster took a step closer, as if daring him to choose, and kicked him squarely in the groin, forcing him to choose between excruciating pain above or below.


“Guhh?!”


Driven by human instinct, he dropped the mace and covered both his mouth and groin with his hands.
As if waiting for this moment, the monster swiftly spun the seized mace around, gripping the handle.


“……!”
“…A fine piece of work.”


With a dull thud, the mace struck precisely the end of a chair leg.
엄청난 괴력을 실은 일격에 의자 다리가 피해자의 목을 꿰뚫고 들어가 결국 죽음을 초래했다. 


상황이 이 지경에 이르자 용병 측에서도 숙련된 전투원들을 투입했다. 
상대는 평범한 살인마가 아니었다. 


"비켜! 내가 처리하겠다!" 
"으악!" 
"당신이 있으니 안심이 되네요! 마무리해!" 


2미터가 넘는 키에 다부진 체격을 가진 숙련된 용병이 비좁은 식당 안에서 거대한 대검을 뽑아 들었다. 


그의 대검에서는 희미하게나마 기운이 뿜어져 나왔다. 


"크아아아-!" 


검 끝이 식당 천장을 스치더니 엄청난 힘으로 내리쳤다. 


용병의 입에 박힌 의자 다리, 이미 죽은 것이 확인된 의자 다리를 철퇴로 내리치고 있는 살인마를 정확히 겨냥했다. 


-계속-