Author’s Note

I’ll be posting the rest of chapter 9 today 🙂

That’s basically all I wanted to say lmao.

***

“When I was a child, I watched as my father was slowly tortured to death. They didn’t kill him right away. No, they wanted him to see his wife being defiled and humiliated before he died. It was a like a ritual to them. My aunt was raped as a form of interrogation… Those bastards knew that she was hiding something. They thought it was gold or jewels, but it was actually my baby cousins. It was you and your sister.”

Henry was sitting down in the corner of the woodworking shop, with a vacant and lifeless gaze. He just stared at the strange grey-skinned woman who was wearing a shirt and trousers meant for a young boy.

“I really don’t care. Why are you even talking to me?” Azra didn’t spare the depressed giant a single glance, as he tried to focus on sanding down and evening out the edges of a wooden plank.

“Your mother waited until after the bandits were exhausted and let their guard down, then she used a rusty saber to slit the throat of one. She impaled the other in the gut, but he managed to stay alive long enough to strangle her to death. I just stood there and did nothing. I was too scared and confused. I should have done something… My excuse was that I didn’t understand and I was only a child. Even if I had tried to do something, I wasn’t really strong enough to make a difference. But Mom… She was so in shock from the death of my father and her own humiliation, that she just laid there and allowed them to murder her sister!”

Azra let out a long drawn-out sigh and turned towards his cousin, “Henry, I don’t care. I didn’t know my parents. I barely know you and your mother. If this is some kind of guilt thing, forget about it. Yuri and I weren’t raised by a bandit. That was a lie. An old man passed through the ruined village and found the two of us crying, then he raised us in a cave for sixteen years. It was painful when he died, but I still have my sister. It really doesn’t matter to either of us what happened to our biological parents, because we never met them before.”

“For a long time, I believed what my mother told me… That humans were inherently good. That it was only a few of them who indulged in such evil and depravity as those Rusty Saber Bastards. She was wrong though. I’ve seen it too many times… How easy it is for a man or woman to simply ‘break’. It’s at that moment, when they think that they have no choice. It’s amazing what a person can do when they believe that there is no better alternative… No consequences for their actions.”

Since it didn’t seem like Henry was going to stop talking, Azra just ignored him and started loudly sawing some timber into thick planks.

“The Sabatinos used to have a daughter. They were really nice. I even had a crush on her when I was younger, hehehe… But then they had some more children. Everything was fine when it was just Jennifer, but once her parents couldn’t afford to take care of all the younger siblings, they made a truly terrible decision. They sold Jennifer to a passing slave merchant for a few bags of rice and some gold coins. Can you believe that? Can you actually believe that there would be such fucking disgusting people in this world?! I thought that the bandits were the worst of humanity! But I was wrong! Even in our little village, there were plenty of much worse people!”

Azra stopped sawing and complained “Alright, I get it! People are fucking assholes! Are you done with your mental breakdown yet?!”

“You’re right… They are assholes. Almost all of them are disgusting monsters, myself included. I didn’t even hesitate. I didn’t even feel an ounce of guilt or regret for killing the Sabatinos a few minutes ago. All of their youngest children had died, while the older ones were casually sold as slaves. Abraham was one of my best friends in childhood, but he became a drunk when he grew up. He was the village chief’s son, so even after he forced himself on a few of the girls around Salmon Creek, nothing was ever done about it. Toni was actually a victim at first, but she became twisted… She would trick the young girls in the village into going with her into town. She would always come back with a purse full of gold, while her friends were never seen again.”

The huge man sitting on the wooden chair, put his face into his hands and muttered “They deserved to die… Right? If I didn’t kill them, then they would just keep doing what they’ve always done… If people don’t get punished for their sins, then what’s the point in the existence of morality in the first place?! But murder is still wrong… I killed them all…”

“Ugh, seriously…” Azra turned towards his cousin and asked “Yuri, can you please give this moron one of your soul crushing pep talks? I’m kind of busy here and this guy is really annoying.”

A screen appeared in front of Henry and he jumped backwards in shock. He even reached for his sword, but once he saw Yuri’s face, he immediately stopped moving.

“Cousin… What is this?” Henry reached out and touched the hologram, but it felt as if it was a slightly curved pane of glass.

Azra snickered, yelling “Just treat it as magical bullshit!” as he began sawing through a thick log, while Ailyn was steadily sanding down a few planks that were almost finished. Then he complained “You should go somewhere else to have your little chat!”

After Henry went down the stairs in the corner of the room, he entered into a relatively small bedroom and sat down onto a large cushioned chair. It was chilly, but not totally freezing inside of the room. He was going to light some candles, but realized that it was already pretty bright due to the holographic screen.

“I listened to your grievances. I believe that I understand your situation quite clearly now.” Even though Yuri was totally naked, only her face was being shown, so her cousin didn’t have much of a reaction to that. However, in the background, he could hear all sorts of bird calls, wind and various other noises.

“Humans often suffer from cognitive dissonance, it is nothing to be concerned about. You possess conflicting beliefs, values and ideas. When was the last time that you masturbated?”

Henry frowned, “What does that have to do with anything?”

Yuri smirked slightly and explained “Human males tend to require far more sexual relief than females in order to maintain a healthy reproductive system. Daily masturbation can also relieve stress and alleviate various unnecessary worries…”

“What ‘unnecessary worries’?! I’m a monster! I just killed ten people who I knew for most of my life! They deserved to die for what they did… But why should I have the right to decide on how to punish them?! I wasn’t even one of their victims!” He was wearing a thin leather and fur jacket, but his muscles bulged so much that the stitches actually ripped apart in certain places.

“Do you now believe that you deserve some sort of punishment for your self-imposed crimes?”

After clenching his giant fists and teeth, he nodded and sternly murmured “Yes… I don’t want to die, but I can’t live with myself if I’m allowed to get away with what I’ve done. You and your brother are the only ones who have the power or authority to truly punish me…”

Henry took a deep breath and shouted “Please, tell me what I can do to make up for what I’ve done!”

“Very well. I require assistance in an experiment that I wish to perform. What I will ask of you can be considered a medical treatment for your condition and also a form of punishment for your irrelevant crimes.” The screen vanished and then a totally naked young woman materialized before his eyes. Yuri bluntly ordered “I would like to acquire a sperm sample from you.”

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