Bear School Astartes

After the Demon Hunter finished dealing with the day spirits, he returned to the village.

No one slept in the village tonight. Precious firewood and lamp oil were lit, just to give the frightened humans huddled together a sense of safety.

The return of the Demon Hunter greatly boosted the people’s spirits, and the villagers began to cheer and rejoice.

But Lann, upon entering the village, did not stop to enjoy this rare moment of glory as a mutant.

His calm expression showed no fluctuation as he walked straight through the crowd toward the village elder’s house.

Seeing his demeanor, the cheers of the villagers gradually waned until there was nothing but silence.

A ”bang bang bang” knocking sound.

The sound was the iron studs on leather gloves hitting the wooden door.

Lann’s steady and calm voice followed the knocking sound.

”Mut, open the door. You should have realized by now who that woman you raped two years ago really was, right? You should go explain yourself to your baron.”

A trembling voice came from behind the wooden door.

”Don’t, don’t do this, Lann! I beg you! Have mercy!”

”Lann, you’re a Demon Hunter! You’re the one who hunts curses and witches! That woman cursed the baron, it’s all her fault, isn’t it? She’s the one who turned the baron into a ridiculous water bird! Not me!”

”Witches who curse others all deserve to die, don’t they?”

The villagers watched in the dim firelight, as Lann leaned against the wooden door, but did not resort to violence.

”The baron’s curse was cast by something in the Brook Leon Forest. That woman was merely overheard complaining! Doesn’t your wife argue with you at all? Is that her fault?”

”You said it yourself!” Inside, Mut continued to shout with a trembling voice.

”You said it yourself! It’s the green whores from the forest who did this! I was influenced! They must have cursed me with evil magic too, that’s why I did it!”

Lann remained silent, and the atmosphere became unbearably quiet.

After a while, the emotionless voice of the Demon Hunter resurfaced.

”You think it’s magic that drove you to commit such a beastly act, Mut? I’ve seen people like you, quite a few. They think there’s evil magic everywhere, witches harboring ill will, always ready to curse a poor farmer... but I know they’re wrong.”

”You are convinced of your ideas, but I know you’re wrong.”

Lann repeated it seriously once more.

”You like to invent a bizarre reason for your bizarre actions, preferably something like magic, monsters, reasons that sound dangerous, exciting, and irresistible. This way, you don’t seem as bizarre yourselves.”

”So, while cheating, hitting your wife, drinking excessively, stealing, abandoning your elderly parents, chopping pregnant animals with an axe, you remember those strange ’plagues’ from your mouths, you consider those the real monsters. You put your mind at ease and then continue to live comfortably.”

”Ha, damn...”

At the end, Lann even laughed out loud.

But that laughter lacked any infectious joy.

”Have you ever traveled afar, Mut?”

”No? No problem if you haven’t, let me tell you...”

The laughter gradually turned solemn, finally becoming a cold statement.

”Even in their hometown, ruffians help travelers in distress along the long roads. Helping others is helping yourself. The journey is perilous and filled with hardships, and the culture of mutual aid gives them a bit more hope to reach their destinations alive. This is an unwritten rule that has been formed through centuries of deaths since human society stabilized. But you, Mut...”

”You raped and murdered a woman who had traveled a long way to the outskirts of your village.”

”The woman came here just to express some grievances to the magical forest. Her grievance turned into a curse, which became an issue between her and the baron, and the Demon Hunter — has nothing to do with you. Nothing to do with your rape and murder of her!”

”Bang!”

Wood splinters flew, mixed with human’s sharp, terrified screams.

A large hand, clad in studded leather gloves, smashed through the wooden door of the village elder’s house, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him out.

”Ah! Have mercy! Have mercy!”

The nearly fifty-year-old village elder screamed like a chicken being slaughtered, instinctively trying to pry Lann’s hand from the collar.

But all he could do was futilely leave his own blood on the iron studs of the glove, unable to make the big hand relent in the slightest.

After dragging out Mut, a disheveled woman rushed out from the now-bare door frame.

She held a large piece of firewood in her hands, timidly attempting to strike Lann.

Yet, the Demon Hunter didn’t even give her a proper glance, merely grasped her neck with his free hand, and using the advantage of his arm length, kept her from touching him.

This was Mut’s wife, and Lann had eaten her mushroom soup just the night before.

With a squeeze of his thumb and forefinger, the Demon Hunter created a chokehold-like grip with just two fingers. The pressure on the blood vessels of her neck reduced blood flow to her brain, causing the woman to roll her eyes and slip into a semi-conscious state of cerebral ischemia after four or five seconds.

Lann then released her, letting the dazed woman fall to the ground to regain her breath and blood circulation.

His control was precise enough not to cause her any substantial harm, but also left her in no position to cause further trouble.

”Lann! Lann!”

With the elder in one hand, knowing he couldn’t escape, he kept calling out.

”Look at Leeds! Look at her! She’s not young anymore, our son is a thankless brat, left long ago! Without me, how could she survive? She didn’t even dare use force when she tried to hit you just now, how could a person like that live alone in this world?”

”Yes, I made a mistake two years ago, committed a crime! But Leeds is innocent, right?!”

”You ate her meal last night, and now you want her to die?”

”Let me go, Lann, I beg you! That woman is dead, I owe her, but why should an innocent woman die because of it?”

Mut twisted in Lann’s grip, shouting with all his might, sincerity evident in his tone, as if he really was a good husband diligently worried about his elderly and gentle wife’s future.

On the ground, Leeds, though too weak to move, also raised her head, crying, looking at the Demon Hunter with pleading eyes.

A dilemma.

Lann sighed in his heart.

A classic one, whether to punish the guilty or to care for the innocent who depend on the guilty.

”Moral kidnapping, huh?”

The young Demon Hunter murmured to himself, a vague, scorching breath seeping from the gap between his teeth.

In Mut’s eyes, it seemed like a sign of hesitance, and his face showed a relieved expression.

But immediately, that expression froze.

”My morals don’t need a raping, murderous bastard like you to hijack them.”

A fist as big as half a regular person’s head swung from the side, slamming directly into Mut’s blank face!

The sound of bones breaking happened so quickly, wrapped within the flesh, it made a dull sound akin to a bundle of celery being snapped.

”Crack!”

The upper half of Mut’s face kept the previous relieved expression, frozen.

But his entire lower jaw... had been shattered, torn away by the immense fist power and the iron studs on the glove...

Blood sprayed as if squeezed from an uncovered juicer, wildly splattering.

Now Mut looked just like the day spirits.