Volume 3 Chapter 22 ACT.58 The Monster Among People
──According to the teachings of the Holy Church, Reincarnators are evil.
They are mischievous outsiders who disrupt the order of this world, illegal aliens.
Their existence was once hidden, but after the great Aldra Rebellion, their presence and danger became widely known.
However, it also meant that another side of Reincarnators was *revealed*.
──Reincarnators are *valuable*.
* * *
The Kingdom of Saint Ruvous is the largest nation on the continent.
It's fair to say that its abundant human resources and advanced civilization set it apart from its neighboring countries.
But that doesn't mean it's a paradise.
Just as a giant whale harbors many parasites, and just as termites silently erode the pillars of a house,
there are blind spots in this vast nation, shadows where the light doesn't reach.
And in those shadows, weak but insidious pests threaten to undermine the country.
In a medium-sized city, some distance from the second city of Benetonash,
there lies a town, almost as an afterthought.
Perhaps calling it a town is too grandiose.
Its existence is less like an appendage and more like a parasite.
It's a dumping ground for society's failures, those who couldn't fit in, immigrants, and the poor.
A dustbin, commonly known as a slum street.
It's a place the country would rather ignore but can't, because it still holds value.
Such slum streets, beyond the law yet with their own unspoken rules, are scattered throughout the nation, and this is one of them.
In the slum streets, there are no laws, but there are understandings.
Don't pry into others' business, solve your own problems, and stay out of each other's territories.
It was a town always teeming with people, but one where familiar faces were few──a town where even if someone disappeared, it wouldn't be a big deal.
That's why it was the perfect hunting ground.
On a moonless night, someone cried out from within the dust heap.
It was a scrawny little man.
Thin to the point of his bones showing, wrapped in a tattered rag barely covering his hunched, curved spine.
The vagrant who had snuck into the dust heap, a place that belonged to someone else, in search of something valuable, found a monster.
It towered over 2 meters tall, its limbs thick as giant trees, its entire body covered in short, black fur.
This giant, ape-like thing wore a simple loincloth and a stern mask covering its face.
But it exuded an atmosphere different from that of a mindless beast.
"──."
The monster stared down at the trembling little man without making a sound, its gaze piercing beneath the mask.
Clearly abnormal, and undoubtedly dangerous.
At the monstrous figure that had silently appeared before the dust-searching man, a scream erupted.
But who would come to save this man?
In this slum town where non-interference was the rule, he had snuck into someone else's territory.
If he were seen, he would deserve to be killed for breaking the rules.
So, no one would help him.
Yes, no one could help him.
The monster's giant arm swung down in a wide arc.
Facing certain death, the man couldn't move.
He closed his eyes, resigning himself to the impending blow, the shape of the fist-shaped death.
──In an instant, a silver flash streaked through the darkness.
A sickening thud, like flesh being crushed, echoed through the night.
Following that sound came a voice, wholly unexpected in this slum.
"Oh my, I was aiming to chop off your arm completely! But it seems you're tougher than you looks!"
A lively, youthful female voice.
Taken aback by the unexpected turn of events, the little man cautiously opened his eyes.
What he saw was 2 figures.
One was the giant figure, stumbling backward, clutching its left arm which was broken and twisted at an unnatural angle.
The other was a lone knight, shielding itself.
The black armor, catching the starlight, formed a slender, feminine silhouette.
In each hand, 2 unyielding axes were gripped.
The Black Knight──no, the Purge Knight, brandished a gleaming white-silver axe, its blade and haft both crafted of pure metal.
"I am Leone Godwin, ranked 4th in the Purge Knights, under the Holy Church! In the Goddess's name, I shall now uphold order!"
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