The third ti he saw the farr, the man was still just as warm and apologetic, once again asking Saul if he had seen a ten-year-old boy with red hair and a big nose.
This ti, Saul looked at the farr steadily and smiled. “Sorry, I haven’t seen that boy.”
The farr looked disappointed, but he no longer suspected Saul of being the culprit.
“It’s getting late. You’re standing out here—how about I take you into the village and let you rest for the night?”
Saul agreed readily. “Sure, thank you.”
The farr bead. “It’s been a long ti since we had an outsider visit the village. Get in the cart, just sit on the straw—it’s soft, don’t worry about crushing it.”
Saul climbed into the cart and, while sitting down, deliberately adjusted the “seat cushion” as a pretext to move the straw around a bit.
Once again, there were no corpses hidden in the straw.
The cart clattered into the small village. As they passed a house on the outermost edge, Saul saw two burly n standing under the eaves.
They were holding short blades—precisely the two guards who had killed Saul the second ti.
But this ti, when they saw the farr and Saul sitting on the cart, they only glanced over casually and then retreated into the shadows under the eaves, continuing their conversation.
The farr’s house wasn’t right by the main road at the village center but had to be reached through a narrow path between two rundown houses.
Still, it was a two-story house—already considered quite fancy among the small outer buildings.
The farr stopped the cart at the door and invited Saul inside.
The door was bolted from within, and the farr couldn’t push it open.
“Must be my wife locking the door again. Normally, I’d be out delivering straw at this hour, but I figured you’d be hungry, so I ca back early,” the farr said with a smile, then raised his rough hands and knocked on the door.
“Coming, coming!” ca a slightly panicked voice from inside, followed by hurried footsteps on the stairs.
The bolt was pulled back, the door opened, and a slightly plump middle-aged farmwife with a headscarf appeared.
“Why are you back so early today?”
“What took you so long?”
They spoke at the sa ti, both with a hint of impatience in their tone.
The wife was the first to step aside. “I was upstairs tidying up. I heard the noise and ca right down. How is that slow?”
But the farr wasn’t satisfied. “I finally brought a guest over, and you locked the door? Go bring out dinner to treat our guest.”
The wife gave Saul a glance, still looking sowhat flustered. The farr urged her again before she turned and went into a small room on the left to prepare the al.
But just after she left, the farr suddenly looked suspiciously toward the second floor. “I’ll go grab a bottle of wine upstairs.”
Saul wanted to say it wasn’t necessary, but he knew the farr’s talk of wine was just an excuse.
The farr quickly bounded up the stairs in a few strides, just as the farmwife ca out carrying bowls and silverware.
Seeing the farr heading upstairs, she was startled. “What are you going up there for?”
The farr ignored her. The farmwife followed him a few steps but ultimately stopped at the base of the stairs.
“Don’t go ssing up the storeroom again!” she said as she placed the tableware on the table in the living room.
Her hands were trembling—she was clearly very nervous.
Suddenly, a scream rang out from the second floor, followed by chaos. Then Saul saw a shadow fall past the window beside him.
Saul stepped closer and saw a young man lying on the ground with a familiar iron fork stabbed into his neck.
Before Saul could even marvel at yet another dostic tragedy, a venomous voice sounded behind him.
“This is all your fault!”
Saul turned around and saw the farmwife rushing at him with a sharp dining fork raised in her hand.
“This is my fault?!” Saul, who already knew these villagers weren’t normal, imdiately activated his magic.
“If you hadn’t co here, he wouldn’t have co ho early!”
A black blade appeared behind the farmwife.
But when it fell, it was still blocked by an invisible barrier.
“So it’s not just about whether you ambush them or not.” Saul already knew how this attempt would end, but he still tried to leap through the window and escape.
However, just as he made up his mind to flee, the farmwife, who had been two or three ters away, suddenly appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye and drove the fork into his eye, the tip stabbing straight through his brain.
Saul: “…”
[Herman: That just looks painful!]
Saul thought he would die instantly, but instead, he remained conscious for several more seconds.
In that ti, he saw the farmwife dragging him by the leg into the small room to the left.
It was the kitchen. As soon as they entered, Saul saw the stove.
The farmwife grabbed Saul’s head and lifted it. Saul then saw what was in the stove.
A pot of thick, bubbling soup of indiscernible ingredients—with several strands of red hair floating on top.
“Perfect timing, the old broth needed replacing anyway,” the farmwife muttered as she grabbed a knife from the counter and brought it down with force.
[You are now well-cooked.]
…
Saul: “She still had the mood to cook? Shouldn’t she have waited to kill or be killed by the farr?”
[Agu: Probably because everyone in this village is ssed up.]
Standing once more outside the village, Saul didn’t bother watching the golden page's illustration this ti.
Even he couldn’t bear to look at the scene again. The other consciousnesses likewise avoided bringing it up.
[Morden: Master, this is already the fourth restart. Have you noticed any loss of ntal or magical energy?]
Saul knew what Morden was worried about. “I’ve checked my physical state every ti I started over. So far, I haven’t lost anything.”
[Agu: No cost at all? That’s terrifying.]
[Herman: Why is it terrifying if there’s no cost?]
“Because the most expensive things are always the ones that co free. But that’s not what matters right now,” Saul replied. Then he stood where he was, waiting for the farr’s cart to pass by again.
Events proceeded just as they had the third ti. Saul accepted the farr’s invitation to enter the village.
On the way, he thought about the ways he’d died the previous three tis.
“Each ti I died, it was when soone wanted to kill .”
[Morden: I noticed that too. Maybe the rule here is that you can’t resist soone who harbors killing intent?]
“Possibly. I only struck out in the second round—killed the farr. That was right after dying the first ti, and I naturally developed a killing intent toward him.”
But after a mont’s thought, Saul shook his head. “But I also felt killing intent toward others when they attacked , and I still couldn’t hurt them. And we’ve seen now that ambushes don’t work either. So maybe killing intent alone isn’t enough. But I’m fairly sure that once soone harbors killing intent toward , I’m dead.”
[Herman: Trying to make sure no one in this place wants to kill you? That’s impossible. These people are clearly all insane!]
Saul clasped his fingers together. “I’ve got a new idea.”
Just then, the farr pulled up in front of his ho. “This is my house. Want to co in for the night?”
Saul hopped off the cart and brushed off the bits of straw and pine needles. “Thanks, but I’d like to walk around the street a bit first. Pick up a few things.”
The farr frowned. “Then be careful. Little Claude just went missing a few days ago. The bad guy might still be in the village.”
Saul nodded. “This ti, I’ll be careful.”
He walked away from the farr, who didn’t head ho right away but went off to make deliveries.
Saul watched the cart pull away and glanced up at the second floor of the farr’s house. He said nothing and moved on.
“Can you give a silver coin?”
As he walked down the street, a cute little girl about seven or eight years old suddenly blocked his path.
Given how easily people here turned to murder, Saul didn’t let his guard down just because she was young.
“Can I ask why you want a silver coin?”
“My friend, Little Claude, has been missing for days. I need the coin to hire a cart and go look for him!” The little girl puffed out her chest, speaking with conviction.
(End of Chapter)
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