"Village Chief, it's Yugo. I've come to deliver the investigation report."
The following day, Yugo visited the Village Chief's house to brief him on several matters.
When his knock and greeting went unanswered, he initially thought the house was empty. However, he soon noticed that the door was unlocked.
He slowly turned the handle and pushed the door open, only for an eerie silence to wash over him.
While it was possible the man had simply been careless and left without locking up, a sickening premonition took hold of Yugo. He stepped inside, calling the Village Chief's name as he went.
"Village Chief? Excuse me. Are you home?"
He moved deeper into the house, following the silence. As he neared the back room, his ears caught the distinct sound of a pained groan.
"Village Chief! Are you in there?"
He felt a momentary twinge of guilt for intruding, but the sense that someone was in desperate need of help behind that door overruled it. As an aspiring Hero, he could not simply walk away. He threw the door open, and the sight that greeted him was the Village Chief sprawled on the floor, blood trickling from a wound on his forehead.
"Village Chief!"
"Ugh... n-ngh... Yugo-san...? Is that you...?"
Yugo rushed to his side, relieved to find him conscious.
The blood loss did not appear severe; though he had clearly been struck, his life did not seem to be in immediate danger. Yugo immediately asked what had happened.
"What happened? These injuries... who did this to you?"
"The truth is... I was robbed... They took the money from the safe..."
As Yugo provided basic first aid, he pressed for more details. The Village Chief looked devastated as he spoke.
"They must have learned that danger was closing in on the village and tried to run... but they had no funds. It seems they remembered there was money set aside for your Request Fee... and they forced their way in."
"I see..."
"It wasn't just your fee... they cleared out every coin I had in that safe. I never dreamed anyone from this village would stoop to such a thing..."
Yugo muttered a soft response, his heart heavy as he considered the old man's feelings. To be betrayed by the very people he cared for—the disappointment and sorrow on the Chief's face were palpable.
"I never thought it would come to this. How did we reach this point...?"
Yugo found himself at a loss for words. The man’s shock was so profound it made Yugo’s own chest tighten with sympathy. But suddenly, a chaotic commotion erupted outside.
"That noise... what was that?"
"I'll go check it out. Maybe the culprits were caught."
Giving the Village Chief a quick nod, Yugo bolted from the house.
He ran toward the source of the sound, and when he reached the scene, he gasped.
"What...? What happened here!?"
Three Men lay on the ground ahead of him.
Every one of them was gasping for breath, barely clinging to life. Yugo rushed to the men—their bodies mangled by signs of an incredibly violent assault—and desperately tried to rouse them.
"Hey! Wake up! What happened? Talk to me!"
"Ngh... uuuu..."
"H-help... please... no more..."
As Yugo reeled, wondering who could have inflicted such damage, he noticed something chilling: the trauma patterns on the men's bodies were virtually identical to the ones he had seen on the Arachlaw corpses.
Which meant the one who did this was the same person who had been exterminating the Arachlaws. As Yugo processed this new shock, his hand brushed against something cold and hard on the ground.
"Is this... a silver coin? Wait, then these guys...!"
Noticing the silver coin, Yugo scanned the ground and searched the men's belongings. Inside their clothes, he found a pouch stuffed not just with silver, but with Gold Coins and Copper Coins as well.
These were the men who had robbed the Village Chief's house. Understanding dawned on Yugo, and he quickly reorganized the facts in his mind.
(The vigilante who did this is the same person who killed the Arachlaws. Both actions were theoretically for the sake of the village. But—)
Exterminating Magic Armor Beasts that threatened the people, and stopping robbers who had preyed on the Chief—both were noble goals.
However, the execution was excessive. These men were critically injured; bones were shattered, and one was unconscious, spitting blood. The damage to their internal organs was likely severe. Yugo clenched his fists. Even if they were criminals, there was no justification for this level of brutality. It looked less like an attempt to recover stolen money and more like a systematic, ruthless beating.
As he stood there in the grim silence, a sharp crack—like a branch snapping—rang out nearby.
"Wh-who's there!?"
"Gamba...!"
Yugo looked up to see Gamba standing there, his face drained of color.
His expression wasn't one of surprise, but of pure, unadulterated terror. When their eyes met, Gamba jumped and tried to bolt, but Yugo lunged forward and grabbed his arm, his own expression hardening into a look of grim determination.