Berserk of Gluttony (Light Novel) Vol. 1 Page 2

  “Ah, I see. Very well. I’ll do as you suggest.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No, please, I should be thanking you . If you hadn’t told me about those bandits, I would’ve been the laughingstock of the holy knights.”

  It seemed there were power struggles even among the highest echelons. But, being of such low status, I had no way of knowing how demanding those struggles were.

  “Then you must let me show my gratitude,” Lady Roxy said.

  “No, no. I couldn’t let a holy knight do such a thing…”

  Lady Roxy wasn’t a fan of my dogged modesty, and her cheeks puffed up into a pout. It surprised me. She usually never let her chivalrous mien drop. I felt as though I’d grown just a touch closer to her.

  “Ah, I’ve got it!” Lady Roxy clapped her hands, though the gesture felt somewhat forced.

  My heart pounded. I knew she intended to reward me, whether I liked it or not, but I didn’t know what was coming. I never could have imagined what she said next.

  “Would you consider working for the Hart family? If I told my father about what happened here, I’m certain he would agree to hire you.”

  “What?! But…I don’t even have any skills, and I’m…I’m not worthy.”

  “That isn’t true at all. Did you not just now defeat a bandit by your own hand?”

  That had been little more than dumb luck. If I were made to do it again, I would certainly fail.

  “But I…”

  Frustrated by my indecisiveness, Lady Roxy spelled it out. “If you’re worried about the Vlerick family…allow me to take care of them. Or do you intend to work under them for the rest of your life?”

  She saw right through me. She knew I was concerned about what the Vlerick family might do to enjoy themselves at my expense. Even then, she still wanted to hire me. I could have cried.

  In front of me lay two paths: a future in which Rafale and his siblings used and discarded me, and I died of overwork, and beside that, a brighter life, a brighter future, under the kind and beautiful Lady Roxy.

  I didn’t need to think twice. I was already one of Lady Roxy’s devotees. This was like a dream come true.

  “Lady Roxy,” I said, “I accept your offer!”

  “Excellent. Well, it’s late, so you should go home. Come to Hart Manor at noon the day after tomorrow. I’ll be waiting.”

  I was so happy, I could have exploded, but I held it in. I bowed over and over with gratitude until finally I headed home. When I was far enough away that the castle gate was no longer visible, I jumped for joy. Luck had finally turned my way. I felt as if I were floating. It was all too good to be true.

  I bounded home to prepare for the day after tomorrow.

  Chapter 3:

  Skill Study

  U PON RETURNING HOME, I soaked an old rag in water to wash my body. I hoped that would be enough to clean me up for going to Hart Manor in two days’ time. Then I lit a precious candle to examine myself in my fractured mirror.

  Nothing much had changed. My clothes were still a patchwork mess, and washing myself wasn’t going to change that, so I gave up. I rolled onto the bundle of straw I called a bed, stared up at the ceiling stains left by leaking water, and reflected on what I’d just been through.

  The day had started with Rafale’s brutal notion of self-improvement. But that very night, I’d fought bandits with Lady Roxy, and now there was even a chance I could start working for the Hart family. It was like a dream.

  Then I remembered the metallic voice I’d heard after killing that bandit. It said my stats had increased. It also told me I got new skills: Identify and Telepathy. Laughable. Identify was a rare skill. It gave its user detailed information about things that existed in the world. If I’d really acquired it, it would make my life a whole lot easier. Ha ha.

  I muttered the word “Identify” and, against all my expectations, the following information appeared in the air over my head:

  Fate Graphite, Lv 1

  Vitality: 121

  Strength: 151

  Magic: 101

  Spirit: 101

  Agility: 131

  Skills: Gluttony, Identify, Telepathy

  “Whoa! What the hell?!” I exclaimed. Okay Fate, calm down .

  I checked my stats first. They had always been a clean sweep of ones across the board, but now they were all triple digit. With these stats, I could fight low-level monsters.

  Next, skills. I used to have Gluttony and only Gluttony, but now I had Identify and Telepathy, too.

  This is unbelievable…

  But the fact that I could check my own stats and skills was proof in itself; I now possessed Identify.

  Wait, wait.

  If I had Identify, I could quit gatekeeping and become an appraiser. They made good money, because their skills were highly specialized.

  What on earth is going on here? All right, calm down, Fate. Be practical.

  I used Identify to more closely examine my other skills.

  Telepathy: Read the thoughts of those you come in contact with.

  I had experienced this skill already, when Lady Roxy held my hand. I heard her thoughts because the skill had activated.

  But why was this happening? I racked my brain for an explanation and finally arrived at an answer. It lay in the words the metallic voice had spoken: Gluttony skill activated.

  Whatever was going on was a result of the Gluttony skill, which I’d long thought to be completely useless. But now I could use Identify to examine Gluttony.

  Gluttony: You are eternally hungry.

  Well, that much I already knew. It was exactly what the appraiser had said when they visited my village during my childhood. This meant the Gluttony skill contained a hidden, unidentifiable power. As far as I could tell, that power was the ability to devour the essence—the soul—of what I killed, thereby stealing their stats and skills. As a side effect, my empty stomach filled.

  I had the potential to grow exponentially stronger, depending on how I used Gluttony from here on out. But I wasn’t about to just start murdering people, either.

  What to do? The answer was simple: monsters roamed the wilds just outside the Kingdom of Seifort. If I killed them, I could take their skills and stats. With my stats where they were now, I stood a good chance of defeating low-level monsters. I could make a new start as an adventurer.

  Then, one day, I would be stronger than a holy knight. When that happened, Rafale and the Vlerick family would have to crane their necks to look up and see what I had become. Just thinking about it made me want to dash out of my hovel and start monster hunting. But it was too dangerous to go after dark, even for someone of my new stats, so I decided to get a good night’s sleep and head out in the morning.

  Actually, I was supposed to gatekeep for Rafale early the next morning. But you know what? I wasn’t going to go. I would take Vlerick orders no longer. I had a new boss, and her name was Lady Roxy. If the meeting with her father two days from now went well, he’d hire me. An honest, decent life awaited me.

  For now, I’d focus on tomorrow: get equipped, go monster hunting, and grow stronger.

  I closed my eyes, and my consciousness quickly faded.

  ***

  I woke to the sound of cawing birds. I fixed my bedhead in my broken mirror, brushed my teeth with a tree sprig, and dressed. Then I took a small leather pouch from where I’d hidden it in a crack in the wall. In the pouch were my life savings: two silver coins, painstakingly earned over five years. A silver coin was equivalent to one hundred copper coins, and one hundred silver coins converted to a gold coin. I’d never even touched one of those.

  Others might have laughed at my two silver coins, but I’d gone through multiple hells to earn that money. It was my getaway savings, for the day when Rafale was done with me and I feared for my life. But that worry was gone, at least for now. Instead, I would use this money to invest in monster-hunting equipment.

  With my two coins in hand, I bounded out the door
.

  The Kingdom of Seifort consisted of four districts. The castle sat in its center, and around the castle were districts to the north, east, south, and west.

  The holy knights’ training grounds were located in the northern Military District, and special weapons and armor were developed there.

  The kingdom’s high-ranking holy knights lived in the Holy Knight District to the east.

  The southern Merchant District was packed with stalls and shops selling all manner of goods, including weapons, daily necessities, and food.

  The western Residential District was where the common folk like myself resided.

  From the allocation of the districts, one could see how well the holy knights were treated—their business took up a full half of the city.

  I headed to the kingdom’s busiest, most bustling district: the Merchant District.

  I pushed past the Residential District’s crowds and into the Merchant District, which was lined with redbrick buildings. From there, I slipped into a back alley filled with stalls and ringing with spirited voices calling to passersby.

  This was the other side of the Merchant District. I’d come here because I only had two silver coins; I’d be lucky to get my hands on a worn-out secondhand weapon. With what I was wearing, I didn’t stand a chance of getting into an establishment for high-grade weapons. In other words, I’d come to the marketplace for everything people didn’t want anymore.

  I was searching the stalls selling secondhand weapons when a chubby middle-aged man called out to me. He threw me a friendly smile and seemed kind enough. “Are you looking for a weapon, my friend?”

  “Yes. How’d you know?”

  “I’ve been doing this a long time, and I watched you work your way down the row. You don’t have eyes for anything but weapons.”

  I was a little taken aback—he was spot on. This salesman was a smooth one.

  “Well? Won’t you take a look at my selection?”

  Numerous weapons—the most I’d seen so far—were laid out along his table.

  “And what’s your budget today, my friend?”

  I told the merchant of my two silver coins, and his friendly attitude melted away. Not a sliver of his earlier kindness remained. There were only his hard eyes looking down on me, like those of Rafale and his siblings.

  “I knew it,” he said. “Just another one of the poor. I can’t believe I even tried. With two silver coins, you can buy any of the scrap from that corner. That trash should suit you just fine.”

  He knew I didn’t have the money to purchase a serious weapon. But even if I got mad, and even if I stormed off in a rage, it would be no different at any other stall. My best options were still here, where I at least had an abundance of junk to choose from.

  I took each of the old weapons in hand and analyzed them with Identify. They were all right on the brink of their durability levels. A few swings, and they’d shatter. Lost in despair, I rummaged through the weapons until I found an old black sword. As I laid my hand upon it, a voice flowed into me.

  “Buy me. You will not regret it.”

  It was a husky male voice, speaking through my Telepathy.

  Chapter 4:

  The Greed of the Black Sword

  “W HOA! This sword talked!”

  I dropped the sword to the ground, dumbfounded by its sudden comment. The merchant and nearby customers narrowed their eyes and glared at me. Their gazes said it all: What the hell are you doing? If you’re not going to buy something, scram.

  But I was far from caring about any of them.

  It talks. The sword talks. What is this…? I’d never heard of a sword with a personality—a soul?

  I analyzed it with Identify.

  Greed

  Type: One-handed sword

  What? That’s it?

  Identifying other weapons showed me information like durability and attack stats, but for the black sword, all I could see were its name and type.

  I carefully examined the mysterious blade. It was filthy, caked in oil and dust. Honestly, it was just like me, especially in the way it was regarded as trash. When I thought of it like that, I felt a kind of affinity for the sword.

  And I’d definitely heard a voice. “Buy me,” he’d said.

  There was an arrogance to his tone, but I didn’t sense bad intentions. And if the sword was going to do something troubling to me when I touched it, it would have done so already. I didn’t see any immediate risk in handling it again, so I gripped it decisively.

  “I thought you’d run away. My, you are an interesting one. So what’s it going to be? Will you buy me?”

  I took a last glance at the other old weapons. The only worthwhile blade among them was this black sword, Greed. A sword that could speak. I could make that work.

  “We’re not too different, you and I,” I said. “Consider yourself sold.”

  “Is that so? Well, pay the fat man his money. Looking at his face makes me sick.”

  I took Greed to the merchant, who was talking to another customer, and I placed my two silver coins on the counter. The merchant’s eyes flickered toward the coins. Then he shooed me away like I was a mangy stray. Horrible, right to the end. I left the stall, and I would not be back again.

  I took a rag from my pocket to wipe down the newly purchased Greed. However, the blade’s oily residue was stubborn, and it wouldn’t come off. If I’d had some soap… But I no longer had the money.

  “I’m counting on you, Greed!”

  “Our meeting is fortuitous,” said Greed. “Or is it…fate, I wonder? What is your name?”

  Come to think of it, I still hadn’t introduced myself.

  “I’m Fate Graphite.”

  “Hm. Fate indeed. I will not forget it. Well, what now?”

  I had known the answer to that question since last night.

  “I just got a weapon. What do you think?”

  “Hunting?”

  “That’s right! Monster hunting!”

  With my new partner Greed by my side, I headed from the Merchant District straight to Seifort’s southern gate. That gate was much larger than those of the other districts. A great deal of cargo and produce passed through it to the Merchant District, and it was wide enough for ten caravans to roll through simultaneously side by side.

  Not far from the southern gate was a territory called the Goblin Grasslands. Numerous goblins called it home, and spent their days attacking passing caravans to steal food. As far as monsters went, goblins were the bottom of the barrel, which made them perfect for rookie adventurers.

  There was one thing you had to be careful of when it came to goblins: they liked to attack from tall grass. Sometimes people chased one goblin down only to find themselves surrounded by others that had been hiding. That was a death sentence. This tactic was so well-known, it was a proverb: “A goblin in the open means a hundred in hiding.”

  I’d heard all this from an old adventurer who sometimes forced me to drink with him at the local bar. I never imagined his advice would ever actually be relevant to my life.

  My path to becoming an adventurer would begin with a goblin hunt. Thanks to the stats I’d earned from the bandit I killed, I would be able to slay a goblin, devour its soul, and make its power mine, too.

  Weaving between caravans, I made my way to the gate, where I found a sizable crowd of adventurers. Men and women alike were equipped with armor and weapons. I’d stumbled on a meeting place for adventurers, all of them looking to join impromptu hunting parties.

  A hunting party… That sounded nice. I had always been alone in my village; the only time I wasn’t by myself was when I was bullied. Even since arriving in Seifort, Rafale had worked me so hard I never had the chance to make any friends.

  Hunting parties were like the groups of heroes my father had told me about in his old stories. Fighting side by side, cheering each other up in the hard times and shedding tears together in the sad. As a young boy, listening to those stories always brought enraptured
light to my eyes.

  “Friends,” I said without thinking. “That sounds nice.”

  “You’ve got me,” said Greed.

  “Uh, yeah… Yeah, I do.”

  However, Greed was an object. What I wanted were bonds with real, living people. The difference felt pretty stark. So I took a deep breath, plucked up my courage, and walked into the crowd of adventurers.

  It’s okay. I’m no longer one of the forsaken , I thought. After all, now I knew the truth about Gluttony. With that, I could make a monster’s power my own. Surely I belonged here in this circle of brave fighters. Surely a group would accept me.

  Right as I thought that, an adventurer about my age approached me.

  “That sword’s telling me you’re ready for a goblin hunt!” he said. “How about it? Wanna team up?”

  “Would that be okay?!”

  I was so happy I could have burst. I barely knew what it meant to be needed by another person. Merely being asked made me happy beyond belief. I was helpful, useful!

  “Well, you see, my usual hunting partner can’t make it today, so I’m stuck. What level are you, anyway?”

  “Level 1!”

  The young adventurer flinched. He scratched his head and said he’d just remembered some errands he had to get to, at which point he slowly backed away and skittered off. I was left with a strange, awkward emptiness.

  “Fate,” Greed said, “give it up. While you’re Level 1, everyone will be like him. Would you want to go into a life-or-death battle with someone you thought wouldn’t have your back?”

  My breath caught in my throat. I’d thought I was strong because I’d gone from all ones across the board to stats in triple digits. But really, I was just starting out. I was so used to being treated like trash that, for a moment there, I’d lost touch with what “normal” even meant.

  “I had my head in the clouds, didn’t I?”

  “Indeed. And, in any case, Gluttony isn’t a skill you should be showing to other people. That is as much as I can say.”