Episode 28 – The Kukri Knife III
“Have you given any thought to that matter yet?”
Koroa didn’t even acknowledge Nada’s presence.
No—Koroa’s eyes saw only Iris. Everything else was treated as impurity, unworthy of entering his field of vision.
“…I’m pretty sure I already turned you down about that, though?”
Iris replied with clear exasperation.
This wasn’t the first time Koroa had said something like this. He had said it many times. And since this wasn’t the first time Nada had seen this scene either, he sympathized with Iris—again? The last time he’d witnessed this was about half a year ago, back when Iris was still in Aghiya. Given the time gap, Nada assumed similar moments must have happened in between as well.
“But Iris, I desire you.”
Koroa’s gaze clung to her like something sticky and unpleasant.
Koroa was a handsome man.
He was slightly short, but despite being slender, his physique was firm, and his hips sat unusually high for his height. His small, refined face, features delicate enough to pass for a woman, was framed by beautifully vivid red hair cut evenly to shoulder length. With a bit of makeup, he could easily be mistaken for a female.
A normal woman would probably melt under such a gaze—but Iris wasn’t a normal woman. She calmly brushed his face away from hers with her left hand.
“Too bad for you, but I’m not interested. Didn’t I say that already? Did you forget, crybaby Koroa-chan?”
Iris spoke with a teasing, almost cruel smile.
Being called “Koroa-chan” made his expression twitch slightly. He must have remembered something from the past, because his cheek lifted in a faint grimace of irritation.
Nada had heard this nickname many times. He once asked Iris where it came from, and apparently, the story went back over ten years.
Iris and Koroa were childhood friends.
They had known each other’s names since they were three years old. Their bond, however, was less the result of their own connection and more because of their parents.
The Scarlet family—ancient nobles who had long controlled the nation’s financial institutions—and Koroa’s father, a member of the royal bloodline (albeit a branch family) who supported the nation politically as the king’s cousin, had deep ties and frequently cooperated with each other.
Since Iris and Koroa were the same age, it was natural for them to play together as equals from a young age. Many students at the academy knew them as childhood friends who grew up together.
But according to Iris, the reality was a bit different.
When he was little, Koroa wasn’t as arrogant as he is now. He had been small, adorable, and “like a little girl,” Iris had said.
Nada remembered how Iris once told him—with a bright smile—that she had “doted on Koroa.”
But Nada’s impression of the story was different.
Certainly, Iris doted on him.
But—she doted on him as if he were her little sister.
Because he was cute, Iris had made the young Koroa wear skirts and one-piece dresses, despite him being a boy. She would dress him up in her old clothes whenever he visited the Scarlet household, treating him like her personal dress-up doll.
Whenever Iris gathered the maids’ daughters to play house, Koroa’s role was almost always the “daughter.”
Iris claimed Koroa accepted it without resistance, but based on how her stories sounded, Nada doubted that very much.
Iris was the leader of their former party.
She had the skill to match that position, and the mindset and charisma needed for it.
But her true nature was that of a tyrant.
She believed, without doubt, that she was the king.
In the small garden called the dungeon, she was the absolute ruler—whether the subject was a monster, another adventurer, or even a trusted party member, she tolerated no defiance. That was how Nada saw her.
Her nature was deeply self-centered, and her genius only amplified the charisma that came with it.
From the countless stories he had heard about her childhood, Nada suspected she had always been this way.
“…Unfortunately, I’m no longer the person I was back then.”
Koroa spoke with a faint smile tugging at his lips.
“Oh, that’s too bad. I liked the old you better, you know?”
“From where I stand, it doesn’t look like you’ve changed at all, Iris.”
“Sure. Anyway, are you done talking? I’ve got something to do with this guy now—”
With that, Iris grabbed Nada’s arm and pulled him forward.
Nada hadn’t expected to be dragged into the conversation like this, and he ended up standing in front of Koroa with an unwilling expression.
“…Long time no see.”
Nada scratched his head as he looked down at Koroa.
“…You again.”
Koroa let out a sigh.
“Yeah. Looks like I’m just like you—one of those unfortunate people who keep getting dragged around by Iris. Sadly enough.”
Right as Nada said that, Iris’s fist shot into his side.
Sharp and heavy—just like an adventurer’s punch.
With a groan, Nada dropped to one knee.
“Sorry, Koroa. My disgrace of a junior said something rude.”
Iris didn’t look the slightest bit sorry.
Koroa didn’t look at Iris—he just watched Nada, who had a hand on the ground, with a blank expression.
“This ruined the mood. Iris, I’ll save what I meant to say for next time.”
“I agree. Nada, we’re going.”
And Iris walked off, dragging Nada with her.
◆◆◆
After that, they ate dinner at a place Iris suggested. She had Nada explain the details of his “adventure inside the dragon,” and he went through everything he personally saw.
He did have the documents Corvo compiled about the details inside the dragon’s body, but Nada hadn’t read them yet.
“I’d love to see those…”
Iris muttered under her breath.
“You’re coming to my place?”
Nada asked without expression.
At this point, Iris entering his home wasn’t anything special. She often let herself in uninvited, and there was even a time he stayed at her house for a while. Nada had never thought of her as a woman in that sense.
“Yeah. It’s fine, isn’t it?”
“…Well, whatever.”
“Then let’s head to your tiny little house already. Not that I expect you to have anything decent in it.”
Iris left the table, and Nada followed her out of the restaurant.
Then it happened.
Iris started walking in the opposite direction from Nada’s house.
“Where are you going?”
“Your room’s filthy unless you clean it, right? Go tidy up before I get there. I’ll kill some time somewhere until then.”
“Fine, fine…”
Nada muttered and shuffled toward home.
It wasn’t far, so he reached his building quickly. The usual apartment. Completely unchanged.
He immediately started cleaning. Not that there was much to clean. The small room had one single bed and one simple wooden table. In one corner, there were weapons—like the Green Dragon Crescent Blade—leaning together. Besides that, there was almost nothing. The only other item was an unopened envelope on the table containing documents about the dragon.
Nada didn’t have much desire for material things.
So a room like this was enough.
His “cleaning” didn’t involve anything special—just dusting and straightening the sheets.
While he was doing that, the door suddenly opened on its own.
“Still as boring a room as ever, I see—”
Naturally, the person who entered was Iris.
Her outfit looked mostly the same as earlier, but she held something in one hand that she hadn't before—a sword, bent at an unnatural angle around the middle. Nada recognized its shape.
—A kukri knife.
Iris’s favorite weapon, and now one of Nada’s indispensable tools for adventuring.
“Mind your own business. More importantly, what’s with that sword?”
“A parting gift.”
Saying that, Iris tossed a kukri knife to Nada.
“Huh?”
“You’ve been having trouble getting your hands on a kukri, right? So I grabbed my spare from home so you’d show me the dragon report. You’ll pay for it, though.”
For Iris, this kukri was basically her way of helping out a hopeless junior she was oddly fond of.
“…I’ll take it, thanks. Still, I didn’t expect you to have a spare kukri lying around.”
Nada stared at the knife for a moment, then decided to accept it. He had no reason to refuse.
Besides, Iris had helped him out more than a few times already. The one time he refused her, she got into a really foul mood. Because of that, he always accepted her help now.
“Of course. Unlike you, I keep multiple backup weapons ready.”
“Yeah, yeah…”
“Anyway, let me see your dragon report.”
“Yeah. It’s in there.”
After getting his permission, Iris picked up the document on the table where Nada pointed and opened the seal without hesitation.
“Hm… Corvo, huh.”
Seeing Corvo’s name on the first page as the report’s author, Iris let out a thin smile.
Naturally, she and Corvo knew each other, and both acknowledged each other’s abilities. Iris especially held a high opinion of his skills. This report was one of those reasons—she personally found Corvo’s reports easy to follow.
“Read it however you want.”
Nada wasn’t very interested in documents. His brain still wasn’t used to reading long texts, so he wasn’t good with lengthy writing.
Iris, focused, scanned through every corner of the page and flipped to the next.
About ten minutes later, someone knocked on Nada’s room door.
“—HEY! IS THERE A GUY NAMED NADA IN THERE!?”
It wasn’t a polite knock—it was a loud pounding, fist slamming against the door.
The voice was a deep, rough male voice.
Nada didn’t recognize it. His eyes sharpened as he glared toward the door.
Iris’s expression also hardened when she heard the voice. She jerked her chin toward the door, telling him to go. It was clearly irritating her. Nada figured she was annoyed.
He slid the kukri behind his waist just in case, walked toward the door, and spoke in a low tone.
“I’m Nada. What do you want?”
Nada growled through the door.
The man beyond it let out a low chuckle.
“We need to talk. Come outside.”
“…I don’t have anything to talk about.”
“We do. Be a good boy and get outside.”
The man’s tone was commanding.
Feeling irritated, Nada glanced back at Iris. She jerked her chin again, clearly telling him, Just go deal with it already.
She seemed to dislike whoever was on the other side just as much as he did.
Nada sighed and stepped outside.
“Heh… finally showed up.”
The one who spoke was a man dressed entirely in black.
His face couldn’t be seen; his face is hidden under a hood.
In his right arm, he carried an unconscious child.
“And you’re Nada, huh?”
The big man who looked him over while licking his lips stood a few steps ahead of the hooded man. He wore jeans and a black leather jacket over his bare torso, unzipped.
Judging from his voice, he was the same guy who had rudely pounded on Nada’s door earlier.
He was a big guy, but still shorter than Nada—probably around 180 cm.
For Nada, people were either “smaller than me” or “way smaller than me,” and this guy fell under the “smaller” category.
“So? What do you want with me?”
Including the big guy, there were four men standing guard around the hooded man. Each one carried a sword at his waist.
Even so, Nada’s tone didn’t change. He stared straight at the hooded man who had called him out.
The hooded man answered:
“Hihi… this guy here mentioned the name ‘Nada.’ Far as I remember, only one Nada is living in this town.”
“Yeah, I’m that Nada, but—”
“Oh? Then you should recognize this one, right?”
The hooded man grabbed the kid by the back of the neck and showed her face to Nada.
It was a young girl.
Her hair was long, her face smeared with dirt.
Her eyes were shut—probably unconscious.
But—
Nada spoke without changing his expression.
“So? What do you want with the kid?”
At his question, the hooded man grinned.
“I want you to buy her.”
“Buy? Me?”
“Yeah. Selling a brat like this as a slave won’t get me anything. But if you know her, you’ll pay a nice price, won’t you? How about it—want to buy her?”
As the hooded man grinned, the others started grinning too.
“So? How much are you trying to sell her for?”
“Hihi. I know you’re the adventurer who’s been taking down big game. That’s all this town talks about. Gargoyle, a dragon… all kinds of monsters. You must be swimming in cash, right? How about fifty million?”
The man tightened his grip on the girl’s neck.
She let out a faint groan.
Even then, Nada didn’t flinch. He spoke flatly:
“I don’t have that kind of money.”
“What?”
The hooded man’s expression shifted.
“I said I don’t have any spare cash to throw at scum like you.”
“Then you don’t care what happens to her, huh?”
The man squeezed the girl’s neck even harder.
Nada smirked faintly, then pulled three small coins from his pocket and tossed them at the group.
“I’ll buy her with that.”
“What?”
“You're screwing with us!?”
“Don’t you dare mock us!!”
The hooded man’s lackeys shouted in anger.
They stepped toward Nada, but he didn’t react. Without changing expressions, he threw a punch with his tree-trunk arm at the closest small man.
Nada had never trained in hand-to-hand combat.
But the absurd strength needed to wield and swing a Green Dragon Crescent Blade as casually as he did was more than enough. One blow sent the man writhing, completely knocked out.
The remaining three immediately drew their swords. At the same time, Nada drew his kukri in a reverse grip, just like always.
He kicked the nearest man in the stomach with his thick leg, then switched the kukri to a forward grip and swung it down toward the big man’s skull.
The man tried to block with his sword, but Nada’s strength—and the kukri’s toughness—far exceeded the sword’s durability. The blade shattered like brittle candy.
From the recoil, the kukri’s path shifted and plunged into the man’s shoulder. It didn’t sever it, but it was buried deep, leaving the man writhing in agony.
The last of the big men still held his sword, but he didn’t make a move on Nada.
Seeing someone even larger than himself, someone who looked like a monster, froze him in place.
Nada, showing a hint of mercy, slammed the hilt of his kukri into the man’s head and knocked him out.
Then he slowly approached the hooded man.
The hooded man was already staring at Nada as though he were some kind of monster or beast.
Still, he clutched the girl tightly with one arm and pressed the knife in his other hand against her neck.
“I—I’ll cut her! She’s my slave! I can treat her however I want!”
His legs gave out beneath him as he threatened, letting the blade dig slightly into the girl’s soft skin.
Nada gave him a faint, cold smile.
“Let me give you a hypothetical. Say this kid is someone I know. And I run into some filthy bastard holding that acquaintance like that. What do you think a normal person would assume about that man?”
Nada drove his kukri straight into the ground between the hooded man’s legs with a sharp crack.
“Eek!!”
“Most people,” Nada continued, still smiling, “would assume that man’s a kidnapper, wouldn’t they?”
In this town—Inferno—murder wasn’t legally permitted.
Especially if an adventurer, someone with stronger weapons and skills than civilians, committed it, their punishment would be far heavier, and if they fled, they’d be pursued relentlessly.
However, even here, self-defense was recognized.
Nada intended to twist that to his advantage.
“B-but listen! M-McPherson’s behind me! If you kill me and call it self-defense, you’ll still be executed for murder!”
The hooded man tried to regain some confidence.
But at that moment, a woman walked out of Nada’s apartment.
With a thoroughly annoyed expression, she yelled:
“I told you to keep it quiet—what the hell are you doing!?”
Nada jerked a thumb toward Iris behind him and spoke with an even calmer expression:
“That woman is a noble’s daughter—specifically, the beloved daughter of the Scarlet family.”
The hooded man’s face drained of all color.
Nada finished him off verbally:
“So, what’s it gonna be? Kill the kid and die with her? Or take those three copper coins as thanks for returning her? I’ll let you choose.”
◆◆◆
“So who is she? One of the prostitutes you frequent?”
Back in Nada’s apartment, Iris stared at the girl in his arms. Nada gently laid the girl on the bed and, with a conflicted look, answered her:
“She’s… my little sister.”
There was no way he could have forgotten.
That face—
A girl who resembled his mother and his older sister,
A face that resembled even himself.
There was no way he could mistake her.
But seeing a member of his family after so long left Nada feeling nothing but tangled emotion.
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