The Path of Ruin

Hurka was an old man who had spent his entire life struggling to survive. He had never known his family, he had spent his childhood stealing on the streets, and when he grew up... he became the dog of a random gang. He had spent years as a bandit, and when an unfortunate incident had led to the break-up of the gang, he had ended up as a mercenary.

His life was still not much better. Even though he was approaching his fifties, he was still struggling to survive. Every day, he had to run after creatures like filthy goblins, putting his life in danger.

Well... goblins were not that dangerous creatures for him. But still, if he made a mistake, he could be seriously injured and his life could end. So he took his job seriously and hated it as much as he did.

Every now and then, however, good opportunities came his way and he could get away from goblins and other creatures for a short time.

He still had a few connections from his time as a bandit, so he could use them when he had materials.

And one of those materials was... people.

Or rather, slaves, who were no longer called people. There was a lot more money in human trafficking than in mercenary work.

The only problem was... it was always difficult to find the right people and get past the security.

But today was his lucky day! He had found a boy who had no family or had run away from them. He had met a brat with mistaken dreams, a kid who had no idea what the world was like.

Young people always sold better. It would have been nicer if it had been a girl, of course... But he didn't really care. Why should he?

"What's your name, buddy?"

He smiled at the boy, or rather his walking money, that he had taken in among his coworkers. He didn't want to scare him off right away.

The only problem was...

"Kael."

For some reason, this boy didn't seem shy at all. His eyes were narrowed, sharp. His expression was straight, cold. His voice was monotone, emotionless. Hurka didn't even remember his eyes blinking, as if all his focus was on him.

It was a bit scary, to be honest.

But he was a scrawny kid. Why should he be afraid of him, right?

"Kael! It's a beautiful name."

He was serious about it. He really liked the boy's name, it sounded good to him.

"Aren't we going into the forest?"

Oh, that's right. This kid... he was as naive as he was weird.

"My friends and I just got back from there. So let's go to our place first, sharpen our weapons. Right?"

When the boy nodded, he widened his smile without looking in his direction. This kid... he really was an idiot!

"Come over here, we'll take a shortcut between those buildings and go to the other street."

And so, they entered the dark space between the two buildings. This was a famous place. Many thieves and bandits used to do their dirty work between these buildings. Even the smell of blood in the air was ominous.

But he didn't care.

When he was far enough away, Hurka slowed his steps... and then stopped. In the middle of a deep silence, he turned around, his smile widening even more.

Two of his colleagues were right behind the boy, keeping him from running away. Hurka himself was more than enough to hold the front.

Hurka didn't say anything. He just looked at the expression on the face of the boy they had taken between them.

"Hmm, why did we stop?"

The boy's question was really the question of a naive person.

But... his expression was still emotionless, his eyes cold and sharp.

As if... as if he really didn't feel anything, as if he was an emotionless being.

"I'm sorry, my young friend."

Hurka slowly unsheathed the sword hanging at his waist. His two friends behind the boy did the same. Then, he pointed his sword at him.

"Everyone is trying to survive, you know."

He looked into the boy's brown eyes. Even with three swords drawn on him, even surrounded by adults, he was still calm.

But... it wasn't just that.

"Hmm..."

He put his hand to his chin as if there was no threat in front of him, his eyes lost focus for a moment. He was really lost in thought.

"Thinking about what will happen to you...? It won't be much, you'll just be sold as a slave. Nothing serious, right?"

The boy's fingers stroking his chin stopped, and his eyes suddenly regained their focus.

"Hah, I guess you fina-"

"Ah, no. I knew from the beginning."

He paused for a moment at the boy's words. He was too calm. So calm... as if he really knew what was going to happen to him from the very beginning.

Then why had he naively followed them?

Was he bluffing...?

Hurka's brow furrowed for the first time.

Something was wrong.

"It's just... hearing the word slave struck me more than I thought it would."

Hurka's eyes involuntarily squinted and his muscles tensed as he saw the boy's hand slowly move between his clothes.

No, the person in front of him was a child... why was he reacting like this?

But then... he saw what he was pulling out of his clothes.

It was a dagger, a dagger with a shiny blade. It was between twenty and twenty-five centimeters long, inlaid with gold.

It was one of the finest daggers Hurka had ever seen.

No... it was directly the best quality.

But instead of being frightened, a big smile appeared on his face.

He had become rich! How could he have known that the boy in front of him could have such a thing? Forget human trafficking, that dagger alone must have been worth a fortune!

So what if he had a strange demeanor? He was still just a scrawny kid! His weight alone was enough to crush him!

"Let's get this over with, kid."

His mouth was watering. He wanted to get his hands on that dagger, and fast!

He gripped his sword tightly, ready to strike. He would kill the boy in one fell swoop, take the dagger, and spend the rest of his life in money!

But...

"Ah, right..."

The boy's words echoed in his ears, then his eyes widened.

He saw a change in his brown eyes, like... a glow. A tiny glow with a silvery color.

Then he saw the same glow around his body. It was almost impossible to see it easily, he could only recognize it because he was in a dark alley.

But... it was too late.

'Ah...'

He felt time slowing down. The sword he swung at the boy felt as if he was underwater, and the eyes of his other two friends widened just as slowly.

But... there was one person unaffected by all this slowing down.

It was the boy in front of him.

Despite everything, this scrawny boy appeared in front of him the next time he blinked his eyes. The dagger in his hand, worth a fortune, slowly approached his throat, and then he felt the warmth on his neck.

Time suddenly sped up, returned to normal.

He collapsed, losing the strength in his legs. He could only see the boy's feet as his vision slowly blurred.

He saw two of his friends running towards him, shouting. But the boy's feet moved at a speed that was difficult to follow. It didn't take a second for him to end up in front of his two friends, and then one of them collapsed as blood splattered on the wall to the left. The other managed to swing his sword successfully, but the boy easily dodged him. He simply plunged his dagger into his chest, right over his heart. Then he kicked him, causing him to fall to the ground too.

As his world slowly darkened, Hurka finally realized his mistake.

Why had he never thought that this boy had such a dagger? Why hadn't he taken it seriously, even though he found the calmness in his tone and expression strange...

But it was too late.

So, as the life he loved more than anything else slipped through his hands, he could only hear one thing.

"Is this really how much a human life is worth?"

*******

Kael focused on the chains around his heart, ignoring the three men he had just killed.

But... all he could do in the face of what he felt was to narrow his eyes and sigh.

"Is this really how much a human life is worth?"

Three hours. He had gained three hours from each of the people he had killed. So he could now live nine hours more.

But...

'Three wolves. A human life is worth... only three wolves?'

He put his hand on his chest, over the crown tattoo.

'That freak of a creature I met a month ago... has the same value to you as a human being?'

But the curse was not sentient. So his question remained unanswered.

Although... it wasn't technically unanswered because he could literally feel the answer.

He sighed deeply, bent down, and rubbed his dagger clean on the old man's clothes. After making sure that there was no trace of blood on it, he put it back into his own.

This time, he began to search the men.

Yes, this had been his plan all along. That's why he hadn't refused the men's offer.

Both to see how much they could satisfy his curse and... to get some money from them.

In the end, the total amount of money he could get from the three of them was six bronzes and three iron calis.

As far as he knew, ten iron calis were worth one bronze cali. So he had a total of sixty-three iron calis.

'What was there afterwards? Silver, I think. Then... gold?'

He had never seen a silver cali in his life and knew literally nothing about the rest.

When he finished, he stood up, put the 'borrowed' calis in a small pouch he found, and placed it in his clothes, just like his dagger.

As he left the alley, he did not even look back at the bodies of the people he had killed.