Berserk of Gluttony (Light Novel) Vol. 1 Page 11

  We were doing the best we could, but at this rate…I didn’t know what to expect anymore.

  ***

  “Mama…”

  The boy’s hope hung by a thread as he called his mother in a voice little more than a whisper. Lady Roxy and I tried to encourage him, but he was less and less responsive.

  The sun was setting, and if we didn’t find his mother by nightfall, we’d have to call off our search. I shot Lady Roxy a glance while the boy wasn’t looking, and she nodded silently, reading my eyes. Our best course of action now would be to take the boy back to Hart Manor for the evening. Lady Roxy’s look of resolve relieved me. I could see she’d considered this option from the start.

  The boy pulled at my hand weakly. “I’m tired, mister,” he said. “I can’t walk anymore.”

  He’d reached the limits of his energy. I scooped him up to carry on my back.

  “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

  “Don’t you worry about it,” I said. “There’s a fountain up ahead. Let’s head over there and take a break.”

  “Okay.”

  The fountain was in the middle of the town square at the end of the main street. It constantly sprayed water pumped from streams deep belowground. Sometimes I drank from it when I was thirsty, since the water was so pure and clean.

  The three of us sat on the fountain’s edge and listened to the bubbling while Lady Roxy and I tried to determine how we should explain our concerns to the boy. He seemed to read from the awkward silence that something was going on.

  “It’s getting dark out, so why don’t we look for your mother again tomorrow?” I asked. “I know I said that I was sure we’d find her, but we didn’t. I’m sorry.”

  “No, I’m glad you guys were here. If I was all alone…I wouldn’t know what to do.”

  The rest was up to Lady Roxy. Hart Manor was her home, and if we were taking the boy there for the evening, it wasn’t my place to tell him.

  “You can stay with me tonight,” she said to the boy. “We’ll make sure you feel right at home.”

  The boy thought about it for a time. He was nervous, and it was understandable. He’d only met us earlier that afternoon. We were still strangers to him. But we couldn’t leave him alone on the streets, not if those kidnappers were lurking around.

  Eventually, the boy gave a tired answer. “Okay.”

  Even so, he remained seated at the fountain. While he was unable to move, we waited with him without saying a word. Though our intentions were good, we weren’t going to force him to come with us until he was ready.

  The boy turned his face toward the sky, like it might be his last time to see it, and he cried out for his mother. It was a helpless plea at the end of a long, long search, a message that could never hope to reach its destination.

  And yet…

  “Son?! Son!”

  A woman’s voice cried out from behind us, repeating over and over.

  “Mama!”

  The boy’s eyes opened wide and he took off, running straight into the arms of the woman who was no doubt his mother.

  Seeing them reunited, I couldn’t help but be warmed—even on the brink of despair, there had always been a chance of success. There was always reason to hope!

  Lady Roxy and I smiled in a quiet moment of celebration.

  “All’s well that ends well, huh?” I said.

  “Yes. I was really worried for a bit, but it seems to have all worked out.”

  At that moment, Lady Roxy’s left hand brushed my own, and inarticulable feelings flowed into my thoughts. They were too warm, too kind for a person like myself. I didn’t deserve them.

  After a time, the mother and son relaxed their hold on each other, relieved, and the boy started telling his mother something as he pointed in our direction. Wasn’t hard to guess what he was talking about. When he finished, his mother came over to us.

  “It seems you two looked after my little one when he got lost. I can’t thank you enough.”

  “Mister, miss, thank you!” the boy chimed in.

  “Just don’t get lost again, okay?” I said.

  “And don’t stray too far from your mother, please,” Lady Roxy added.

  “Okay.”

  According to the boy’s mother, she had been delivering some goods to a merchant when her son vanished. He left her sight for a mere instant, and then he was gone. Panicked, she ran everywhere searching for him, first on the main street, then through its connected backstreets. She’d been scouring entirely different alleys than we had, which explained why we had never crossed paths.

  Exhausted from her fruitless quest, the boy’s mother dragged herself to the fountain in the town square to quench her thirst…just as we arrived to take our break. Coincidence had brought mother and son back together, though I also wanted to believe the pull of their emotions had drawn them to the same place.

  As his mother showered us in thanks, the boy started to give in to exhaustion, falling asleep in her arms. We saw the two off on their path home, and at last, a load lifted from our shoulders. Trying to help a lost kid only to fail to find their parents would have felt pretty awful. Having to stretch the search to the next day wouldn’t have felt a lot better.

  Had I been acting out of character recently? Perhaps, being stronger than before, I was getting carried away. Or perhaps strength afforded me the luxury of generosity.

  In any case, I was grateful Lady Roxy had been with me. I might have been fine approaching the boy on my own, but I would have been clueless about what to do if we couldn’t find his mother. It was reassuring to know Lady Roxy would have looked after him at Hart Manor.

  Lady Roxy gazed for a long time at the path the boy and his mother walked, even after they faded into the distance. She was statuesque, and her eyes were glassy. A single tear dropped from her cheek, reflecting rays of light from the setting sun. Noticing my gaze, she turned and smiled.

  “All’s well that ends well,” she echoed.

  But I couldn’t say anything. Her figure in that moment captured my heart. I was embarrassed. Entranced. I had forgotten how to breathe, and I was certain my face was glowing red. I prayed that the setting sun’s colors hid it. It wouldn’t do for a servant like me to get caught looking at his master like this.

  “What’s wrong, Fay?”

  “I-It’s nothing. But if we don’t get home soon, the head servant is going to be furious.”

  “And we’ll face her together, won’t we?”

  “Ah…”

  I wanted to say no, but one look at Lady Roxy’s face, and it didn’t seem to matter anymore. After all, I’d roped her into helping that lost boy. If her secretary chewed her out for being late on top of sneaking away, half the responsibility was squarely mine.

  “Yes,” I said. “We’ll face her together.”

  “Very good. Well, let’s head home.”

  Lady Roxy led the way with a confident, dignified gait. She could wear whatever she wanted, but she was still a holy knight through and through.

  So we returned together: me and Lady Roxy, my master who deserved love and respect. She was a clever, determined, compassionate person, and from the bottom of my heart, I was glad to serve her. We’d been through a lot that day, and for me, it had been unforgettable.

  “Fay,” she said, “what is it? You look so happy all of a sudden.”

  “It’s a secret.”

  “But surely you can tell me, at least.”

  “That’s the one thing I can’t do.”

  “Fay!”

  Lady Roxy’s cheeks puffed up as she tried to get me to talk, but I pushed on toward home with a silent smile. All the way, I wished these days would last forever.

  ***

  My night hunts continued. Each time, I showed myself to a few adventurers. As a result, word began to spread from eyewitness accounts that somewhere in the fields was a lich, a monster of great evil. It was said that liches wore black hooded robes made of ragged cloth, and their bodies were fleshless
bones. It was a perfect match for my disguise.

  On this particular night, the sky was empty of clouds. Perfect weather for an evening hunt. Experienced parties of ambitious adventurers were out in the Goblin Grasslands and the Hobgoblin Forest. Among them was me, the evil lich, gliding through the Goblin Grasslands by the light of the moon.

  When I found a goblin, I beheaded it, and if an adventurer happened by, I allowed them a momentary glimpse of my silhouette. By doing so, I gradually made my existence a lurking nightmare for adventurers. And I was getting worse.

  After I killed my tenth goblin, I took a break and heard a scream from the bushes.

  “It’s the lich! The Corpse! Everyone get out of here!”

  The cry came from a rugged, tough-looking adventurer, who turned pale white and fled upon seeing my skull mask.

  People had recently taken to calling me the Corpse, likely on account of how I was most often spotted alone on a mountain of goblin corpses. Adventurers were growing fearful that the Corpse, a lich with a taste for goblins, would soon move on to people. This followed the lore; your typical lich was known to have a great fondness for human victims.

  At my local bar, an adventurer sitting next to me had said the Corpse was an unusual beast, but it would inevitably turn its attention to humans. He’d told me this with trepidation painted across his features as he drowned his sorrows in drink.

  The barkeep had said that because the Corpse only appeared in the middle of night, it wasn’t having an adverse impact on trade. However, he was anxious; rumor was that the situation might change if word of the Corpse spread outside the kingdom. If trade were delayed, it would incite inflation, which would make running the bar difficult.

  My heart pitied the barkeep and his predicament, but I needed to wait on movement from the holy knights.

  Just as the pieces started to fall into place, I was faced with work I couldn’t avoid. Lady Roxy was heading back to the Hart family estate, and as she had promised, she wanted to take me with her. Just a little more work, a little more time, and I would have had Hado Vlerick within my grasp.

  It was a great pity.

  ***

  “You look rather despondent, Fay. Are you not looking forward to visiting the estate?”

  Lady Roxy pouted slightly at me. I should have been excited to be alone in a horse and carriage with her, and yet my mind was elsewhere. I was dwelling on how my plans to trap Hado Vlerick were now on hold, but I had to shake off the frustration. Lady Roxy was looking forward to heading home, and I didn’t want to spoil her mood.

  “No, it’s not that,” I said. “I’ve definitely been looking forward to this!”

  “Really?” She peered at me with suspicion in her eyes. But you haven’t looked the least bit excited so far, they said.

  “Really! I mean, it’s harvest season, right? And that means we’ll get to pick grapes together, right? I can’t wait!”

  “Oh, you remembered.”

  “Of course!”

  Every year, when Lady Roxy returned home to the estate, she joined the villagers of the estate for the harvest. This was one of only a few events during which Lady Roxy could interact honestly with common folk. I could tell how important this was to her from the moment she boarded the horse and carriage; she was a bundle of joy and excitement.

  The Hart family estate was located before a ravine in the mountains north of Seifort. It was autumn now, but the geography brought harsh seasonal changes to the Hart territory, and in winter, snow blanketed the land. However, the locals had worked over many generations to develop the soil. As a result, the estate now boasted rich, fertile farmland. Not only were they able to stockpile enough produce to endure the winter, they shipped large quantities to the kingdom, too. The Hart family took great pride in this ability to provide for Seifort.

  “From what you’ve told me so far,” I said, “I can tell it’s an amazing place. I bet the food’s delicious, too!”

  Lady Roxy giggled. “Always so quick when it comes to food, aren’t you? Yes, it’s nice to have such fertile lands, but this season also brings monsters, I’m afraid. Around this time of year, they enter our estate to steal from the fields. One of the reasons I come back is to fend them off.”

  “Monsters…” I said, furrowing my brow. “They really are everywhere, aren’t they?”

  Lady Roxy covered her giggle with a hand. “Yes, they’re forever troublesome. But if we drive them out now, they won’t return until next year. And I am a holy knight, you know. They won’t cause me much trouble.”

  “As expected of a holy knight, I suppose,” I said. “By the way, what monsters are we talking here?”

  “Kobolds.”

  Kobolds… Dog-like monsters that walked on two legs, built much larger than the average human. They were a level up from goblins, and I’d heard that, even among adventurers, only experienced individuals could hunt them. Kobolds ran in packs, and when under attack, they howled for reinforcements. They also had a keen sense of smell, which meant hiding in the grass would get you nowhere; they’d sniff you out. They were also persistent and stubborn, which made them formidable foes indeed.

  Just thinking about them made my stomach rumble.

  “Fay, what’s wrong?” asked Lady Roxy. “You’re hungry again? Why, we just ate.”

  Recently, this had happened a lot in front of Lady Roxy. It was mortifying, but also a sign that my Gluttony hungered. It was tired of goblins, and so it urged me, in its own way, to feed on the taste of a new kind of soul.

  I gave a wry grin in reply. “Sorry, Lady Roxy. We ate so much, and yet…I’m hungry all over again.”

  “You really do have quite the appetite, don’t you, Fay? But it’s a good thing, I think. Not long until we reach the estate now, so I hope you can survive until then.”

  Lady Roxy turned to the window and stared outside. Fields stretched clear to the foot of the mountain; they were lined with vines dripping with fresh violet grapes. The carriage carried us ever further, toward a mansion easily as colossal as Hart Manor.

  Chapter 15:

  The Marked Girl

  W HEN THE CARRIAGE arrived at the mansion, a woman appeared, supported on either side by the two maids who accompanied her. She seemed frail and weak, perhaps ill. At the same time, she was strikingly lovely, and she looked just like Lady Roxy.

  Wait, is this…?

  “Mother!” Lady Roxy said. “Didn’t I tell you that you didn’t need to greet us on arrival?”

  So I was right. She was indeed Lady Roxy’s mother.

  Over tea, Lady Roxy had told me of her mother, and how she suffered from a terrible illness. I never would have imagined that same person meeting us at the front door of the mansion. Even now she looked unwell and fragile, as though she might cough blood and collapse at any moment. If her condition appeared so dire to me, then her daughter’s anxiety was more than understandable. This woman was the last parent Lady Roxy had. Of course she was concerned.

  I supposed some illnesses were so serious that even one of the five esteemed families, with all their status and wealth, could fail to overcome them.

  “Mother, please, I beg of you. Please don’t push yourself.”

  “I’m fine, Roxy. I feel much better than usual today. Hm?!”

  Lady Roxy stood before her mother nervously as the woman turned her gaze on me. Her face was…like that of a child who had just received a thrilling new toy.

  “And who might this be?”

  “This is Fate Graphite. He’s the new servant I hired. I brought him here because I wanted to introduce you.”

  In line with Lady Roxy’s introduction, I bowed before her mother.

  “You’ve come a long way. Welcome to our home, I am Aisha Hart.”

  “Thank you, Lady Hart. It is my honor.”

  “Ah, but the honor is mine. Please, come inside.”

  At Lady Aisha’s instruction, a few maids waiting in the wings appeared and more or less dragged me into the mansion. I guess t
his is what being welcomed feels like.

  Unfortunately, that left Lady Roxy standing outside on her own.

  “Mother, wait!” she shouted. “Mother! He’s my servant!”

  The maids brought me to a gorgeous living room and sat me in a chair next to a little table by the window. Only once I was seated did they release their grip.

  Sitting across the table was Lady Roxy’s mother. I gathered Lady Aisha was a woman used to getting her way. Lady Roxy arrived a moment later, her cheeks puffed up in anger. She was displeased with her mother for so abruptly taking the initiative.

  “Mother!”

  “Oh, you’ve come, too? Please, have a seat, my love.”

  Lady Roxy hmphed in dissatisfaction but sat obediently as directed. I got the feeling it was a Hart family tradition to start off Lady Roxy’s visits with a cup of tea. Perhaps Lady Roxy got her love for teatime from her mother. The thought made me smile.

  “Mister Fate,” Lady Aisha said, “Do you love my daughter?”

  The question caught me off guard, and it was all I could do not to spit out the entirety of my tea. I had absolutely no idea how to respond. This is the very first question she asks me?!

  Lady Roxy was furious, her face scarlet with rage. “What kind of a question is that?!”

  “Oh, was I out of line? I only wanted to inquire as to whether he loves you as the master of the manor. If you were forcing him to work, he wouldn’t say he was happy, would he?”

  I was still blindsided. Is that what she meant? It had sounded like such a different question to me. After all, I was a peasant and Lady Roxy was a holy knight. Our positions were just too distant. Even if we both felt such a thing, it would be an impossible dream.

  Lady Aisha smiled broadly and asked again, but I already knew what I wanted to say. I’d known for a long time.

  “I have nothing but adoration in my heart for Lady Roxy,” I said. “If she would let me, I would gladly serve her until the end of my life.” The words expressed my honest feelings.

  “Oh, my.” Lady Aisha put her hands together in an elegant display of delight at my loyalty.

  Meanwhile, Lady Roxy choked on her tea, and her face remained a brilliant crimson shade. “If you’ll excuse me,” she said, “I’m going to rest in my room.”