Chapter 39: Chapter 37- Conflict (2)

“Thud!”

Rudolf’s lifeless body fell backward with a loud and crystal-clear sound. His blood dyed the puddles of water red. The spear was still embedded in Rudolf’s head, normal to the ground.

The spectators did not know how to react. They all remained frozen in place, still looking at the body of the thief, including the team leaders who have been arguing. Meanwhile, I casually walked past Eric and Mustafa and crouched next to the corpse. I quickly got to work and started searching his body for my Nazlock Coins.

“IIIHHHHH!”

The loud high-pitched female scream I was expecting came with a delayed reaction.

“You… You just killed someone!”

“Murder!”

Soon, the spectators processed what just happened and showed a large variety of reactions. The majority went pale and instinctively took a step back, but a few also started loudly shouting accusations.

They were not wrong. I have indeed just killed someone but in my mind, it was justified. Did I need to explain my actions to them? On Earth, definitely yes. But here, there was no need to do so. Still, I was aware that the hunter’s mentality still matched that of the peaceful Earth. I instinctively held onto the protection amulet attached to my storage belt. I prepared myself to retreat just in case as I hurriedly approached Rudolf’s body.

I pulled out my spear from Rudolf’s head and went through his pockets. I did not find anything interesting. The full set of equipment he was wearing was rather normal. He has been smart enough to not immediately purchase one of the armour set of the second floor of the merchant tower to avoid attracting attention.

However, I found two items I believed were purchased using Nazlock Coins. The first one was a short dagger. The dagger itself had an ordinary appearance but looking at the hilt, I found three runes, representing its enchantment: Swift, Pierce and Poison. Triple-enchanted weapons were hard to come by and could not be purchased on the ground floor of the merchant tower. The only way Rudolf could have obtained such a weapon was the second floor of the merchant tower.

My heart bled as I evaluated the price Rudolf paid for this. It should have cost about 1000 Nazlock Coins. One sixth of the fortune I gathered was concentrated in this one dagger that I had no need for.

The second item was more useful to me. It was a storage belt, similar to the one I had. Mine was only came with the basic storage pouch with a 1m³ space but Rudolf’s was triple-enchanted like his dagger with Enlarge, Preserve and Bind. I was unable to look inside the pouch because of the Bind enchantment which acted like a lock.

Fortunately, there was an easy way to change the combination of this lock now that Rudolf was dead. I sliced one of his fingers with the dagger and let a few drops of blood fall on the pouch. Next, I made a tiny cut on my own thumb and pressed it against the pouch. The enchantment would generally check with the item’s owner if he wanted to change owner but since Rudolf was dead, the ownership was automatically transferred to me.

“Alex. Why did you act so recklessly? He deserved to be judged fairly.” Behind me, I heard Eric’s voice mixed with worry, concern and frustration. He felt compelled to speak as he was officially the decision-maker of the village which put him in an awkward spot. He knew that Rudolf was guilty, but it did not mean that I could indiscriminately take his life.

I faced him calmly. “Did he deserve fairness? He broke into my house, stole my belongings and spent them to buy these items. I had a plan for the coins I found and he f*cked it up completely. What would you have done in my place? If almost two weeks of your hard work vanished just like that because of a thief? Would you have been satisfied if the thief got away with a simple slap on the wrist?”

Eric bitterly smiled. “I understand your point of view but still, this is not the way to preserve the order. If anyone can act as they want, then our society will crumble. Vigilantism won’t solve anything but will instead create more problems. Rudolf deserved to be punished but you should have let us handle the situation. Besides, killing someone is going a bit too far. On Earth, theft results in jail time, not death.”

I met Eric’s eyes and took a deep breath. I understood his point of view. He was simply doing his best for us to retain the same life we had on Earth; one of order where rules were set. Unfortunately, this was never going to work in the tower. I have been naïve too and believed in justice, but it was all an illusion. “This is your own opinion. Please forget about the laws of your country. Things work differently here. The fact that he ran away as soon as I came for him showed that he had expected such behaviour from me. If he did not want to risk his life, he should not have stolen someone else’s belongings. Anyway, what is even the point of arguing anymore? He is already dead, and the healers cannot bring him back to life. You can speak up if you are not happy with the way I handled it. I will hear you, but I won’t necessarily listen to you.”

My words added fuel to the fire, triggering murmurs among the hunters. Eric sighed loudly before speaking. “Alright. Let us all disperse for now. We will have a talk with Alex about this."

“…”

I faced the crowd disinterestedly before resuming patting down Rudolf’s body for valuables. I was considering stripping the dead man completely to take his equipment. They were my spoils and should be worth a decent amount of points.

“Hold on! Are we really going to let this slide? This is manslaughter! A blatant murder with malicious intent, right in front of everyone. He showed completely disregard for us and is a real danger to our safety. Rudolf was the first but what if he comes after us next? He showed no proof that Rudolf has actually stolen from him.”

Just when I thought that no one would come up, I heard an all too familiar high-pitched voice. It was Xia Shiyu, the woman who has consistently acted against me for some reasons. I glanced at the short Asian woman in silence. She was exciting the crowd while Eric and the others were doing their best to diffuse the situation.

‘What are you complaining about? The tables has just turned. Before, Rudolf was going to be given the benefit of the doubt and now its my turn. What is she planning? Putting up a front and acting all righteous…’

I clicked my tongue in frustration. I wanted nothing to do with this woman. “What do you want, woman? If you want the proof, just go and ask the clerk of the merchant tower.”

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“That’s not what I mean. It is clear that Rudolf did something wrong since Eric admitted that he saw your house has been looted. However, it does not mean that everything on Rudolf should belong to you. His team worked hard to purchase his equipment; should you not return it to them? Then, what if he stole from other people too? You cannot claim everything for yourself?”

“Are you saying that he stole from you too?” I asked as I furrowed my brows. ‘That woman. Taking advantage of the situation to claim what belongs to me? At the very least, you are distracting the crowd; in the eyes of the hunters, we are enemies and yet, you agreed that Rudolf stole from me.’

“If that is the case, then just say what he took and if Rudolf does indeed have this item on his body, I’ll give it to you.”

Xia Shiyu maintained a firm and confident front. “I came across a handful of coins when hunting in the canyon and they mysteriously disappeared when I returned to the village. I suspect that they have been stolen by Rudolf.”

‘What an obvious lie… Saying that you lost a coin because I mentioned coins earlier.’ I swore in my heart at the pathetic attempt of the woman to squeeze every single bit of benefit she could.

“Is that so? Then, it is easy to prove it. Just tell me the name of these coins.”

“The name of the coins?” Xia Shiyu’s voice trembled lightly before returning to her usual confident tone.

“Every item has a name in the tower. Just tell me the name of the coins and if that is true, I’ll give you a handful as you said.”

I noticed her expression turn sour. “I do not know the name of the coins. I did not have time to appraise them at the merchant tower.”

“Then, just too bad. I will also accept it if you can just give me a description of the coins. Like their colour and what symbol is written on it.” I replied drily.

Xia Shiyu humphed loudly, knowing full well that she has never come across any coins in the tower. She stomped the ground before leaving the scene.

I still felt her venomous glare on my shoulders but proceeded to ignore her completely.

“Alright alright. Let us all go back. It is still raining and staying here for too long won’t do us any good. We will investigate the situation and give you all a proper explanation tomorrow.” Eric announced. He clapped his hands and swiftly took care of the situation, dispersing the crowd and reassuring the hunters.

Jacob and Elisa came to me. “Alex. You were a bit too reckless. You are going to be the outcast of the village at this rate.”

“Am I not already an outcast?”

“Killing someone is a little too much. Regardless of what he did, he does not deserve to die like that. Just play along and stay with us for now. It will reassure the others. What are you planning to do with his body now?” Jacob asked calmly.

“I’ll take his equipment, strip him naked and toss his body outside the village.” I answered straightforwardly. If it was not raining, I would have burned his corpse; I had no time to waste digging a grave for a thief.

“You should treat this seriously. You are alienating a lot of people. They did not speak out now out of fear but may want to get rid of a possible threat.” Jacob and Elisa looked at each other and sighed as I remained indifferent. “Fine. We were just worried that something happened to you. You did not come to the monster rush today…”

“Oh? Right. I was caught up and trapped in the canyon. But I do not think my presence is really required now that you both have enchanted weapons. I won’t miss the next monster rush.”

“That is good to know. There is one more thing. Earlier when we went to look for you, Eric came to us and said that he had something important to discuss with you.”

“Eric wants to speak to me?” I glanced at the middle-aged man busy speaking and reassuring the other hunters. “I’ll speak to him when I am done taking my things here. I also need to heal the three guys I assaulted in their house when I tried to catch Rudolf earlier.”

“Good. Deal with the body and then, we’ll escort you to Rudolf’s house.”

I saw Eric move from group to group, exchanging a few words before the hunters would return to their house. Another argument broke out between Eric and Mustafa; from the distance I overheard Mustafa asking for the equipment I plundered from Rudolf’s body. However, Eric was not agreeing, saying that it now belonged to me and should be my compensation for the trouble caused by their team. In short, Eric was dealing with the aftermath for me and I was grateful for it. If he did not intervene, the situation might have been more chaotic and come down to a fight. Fortunately, Eric was a fair person and knew that Rudolf was guilty.

The crowd was slowly dispersing and in the corner of my eyes, I noticed the hateful figure of Xia Shiyu still staring at me. She seemed to be making an important decision and when our eyes met, she hurriedly averted her gaze and disappeared inside the village.

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