Chapter 25: Crow Needs Me!
“Sir Crow, Captain Blackmore has ordered me to look after you. Please do not hesitate to ask should you need anything,” Fiana said, smiling brightly.
Clearly, she was glad to see some positive change in her daughter!
“In that case, would you mind checking these for me?” I asked, handing her my mission papers. “The captain requested that I report to you when I’d completed my assignment, Commander Fiana.”
“Sure, I’ll take these, then. Let’s see here...” she began, looking over the files. Her eyes widened in shock. “Wait, what?!”
Miss Tiana, who stood next to her, seemed startled that “mama” had raised her voice.
“S-Sir Crow, you received these missions three days ago, correct? And you’ve already completed them all?!” A number of papers dropped from the commander’s trembling hands.
The various documents noted results that far exceeded the requested number of kills:
Subjugation of cunning humanoid aetherborn: 324/100
Subjugation of swift, four-legged animalistic aetherborn: 215/100
Subjugation of plantlike aetherborn masquerading as nature: 156/100
Subjugation of fast-reproducing insectoid aetherborn: 413/200
Catching sight of these numbers, Miss Tiana let out a loud yelp.
“Whaaat?” she exclaimed, incredulous. “What the heck? Wait, does this mean that the reason why we haven’t had many aetherborn around is...”
“You, Sir Crow,” Fiana said, finishing her sentence for her.
Mother and daughter stood dumbfounded. I, on the other hand, didn’t really see a reason to be that proud.
It’s not like I did it because I wanted to! Muramasa just ran rampant!
I didn’t want to think about the last few days anymore, what with all my cursed arms squealing about their favorite foods while forcing me into battle. Except for Arash, I guess, who—despite not eating anything—just egged me on like “FIGHT! FIGHT!” because it wanted to watch me die.
What kind of high-grade jackass weapon wants to make its wielder commit suicide after using it, just because it enjoys watching them die on the battlefield? What the hell?!
Thanks to all that, I had barely gotten any sleep lately, and my face probably looked even more sour than usual.
Can’t even sleep unless all the cursed arms are satisfied. Really cool.
It was like I was a single parent to a bunch of awful kids, and I was sick of it. My rage toward Muramasa—who had caused this situation in the first place—boiled anew.
I couldn’t tell them that was why I was struggling, though, so back to sharp-faced Condemner mode I went.
“Requested kill counts mean nothing to me. I see evil, I destroy it. That’s my personal code.”
The pair of -Anas stared at me, wide-eyed. I figured that ought to have dispelled any bad impression they had of me. They now knew me as Crow, the highly motivated and eager newcomer who exceeded societal expectations.
Finally, I placed the stupidly huge bag I’d been carrying before Commander Fiana.
“These are the aetherborn parts I was ordered to collect. Please confirm that they’re all accounted for,” I requested.
“V-Very well,” she replied. “Now then, Sir Crow, our division has lodging rooms. You should get some rest.”
“Thank you very much,” I said, briskly bowing my head before excusing myself from the commander’s office.
Man, I hadn’t slept in a bed in so long! I couldn’t wait!
***
“Requested kill counts mean nothing to me. I see evil, I destroy it. That’s my personal code.”
At those words, a chill ran down the spines of Fiana and Tiana. They stood amazed at the overwhelming air of rage surrounding the young man.
After exchanging a few words with them, Crow left the room, taking the wrathful aura with him.
“What the hell even is that guy?!” Tiana exclaimed, on the verge of tears. “He’s the furthest thing from some nepo sixth-grader!”
The younger knight was dismayed. She couldn’t tell her mother, but his terrifying nature had intimidated her since the moment she’d tried to play a prank on him.
“Mama, who is he?”
Fiana, having heard about Crow the Condemner’s background from Vice-Captain Iris, began to explain.
“It’s no wonder he holds evil in such contempt. His hometown was destroyed by a dark magus and a host of aetherborn,” she said quietly.
The commander explained that, originally, Crow had been discovered by Iris in the outer zone, and she’d secretly taken him on as a disciple and begun training him. Since not many saw the vice-captain in a positive light, Iris had thought it prudent to keep their connection hidden.
After that—so the story went—he’d gradually grown stronger. Until one day, when tragedy struck.
“You said his hometown was destroyed,” Tiana murmured.
“It was,” her mother confirmed. “Apparently, only Sir Crow and the youths he rescued survived the assault.”
Fiana figured that must’ve been the moment he’d become the Condemner.
Afterward, he’d happened upon an aethereal arm and, in a fit of rage, obliterated the dark magus who had attacked his hometown.
He’d gone on to join his mentor, Iris; eliminate the alraune that had sprouted in the middle of the village of LaVolle with zero casualties; and play a major role in the recent attack on the Four Cardinal Cities. Word had it that, despite his fraying muscles, he’d fought with the ferocity of a war god, helping to defend Salem.
“Crow is fiercely passionate about justice,” Fiana continued. “They say he has an indomitable spirit, and is a myth conqueror just like our captain.”
“Wait, you mean he can use cursed arms?!” Tiana exclaimed with another shudder.
Ah, such a sorrowful and passionate knight! She felt her chest tighten at the thought of how different she was from him.
I don’t have a sad backstory. I just happened to be born into a military family. Becoming a knight was only natural.
Thinking back, Tiana realized she’d just gone with the flow and started her military training—but had soon realized she had little aptitude for it.
Still, I didn’t want to disappoint mama. I managed to just barely pass after three failed attempts, and then got promoted from the lowest possible rank to fifth-class, but...
That was her limit. A low-ranking knight was all she’d ever amounted to. She pitied herself for it. Having lost what little motivation she’d once had, she’d stopped training, reduced to a petty woman who would bully rookies she didn’t like.
Crow, in comparison, is so...
It was clear from the number of aetherborn he’d killed that he wasn’t ordinary. No matter how strong he may have been, he couldn’t have gotten those results unless he’d fought relentlessly, with no breaks or sleep.
Tiana could only be astonished by the young man’s hatred for evil, so fiery it threatened to consume even Crow himself.
“What’s going on with him, anyway?” she wondered aloud. “I heard he was made sixth-class because he joined through connections, not skill.”
“Likely slander spread by some noble. Many think poorly of Iris and others like her, who are from the outer zone,” Fiana said, sighing deeply at the pointless gossip. “His existence was originally meant to be kept a secret, known only to the upper echelons. Myth conquerors are powerful, after all, and if our enemies found out, he’d have a target on his back.”
Yet the higher-ups had spread derogatory information, drawing unnecessary attention to him. What could their intention have been? And they had seemingly hidden his status as a myth conqueror to damage his reputation, but that too had put him in jeopardy.
Harsh as he might’ve been, Crow fought for peace. Fiana was disgusted by the lows the nobility would stoop to.
“I’m certain Sir Crow will continue to encounter many hardships,” she said. “I told you all this for a reason, Tiana. I want you to support him.”
“Huh?! Me?! Support him?!”
“Yes. I would’ve never shared this information with the person you were before today, but Sir Crow told me that, as your mother, I should believe in you. And so believe in you I shall,” the commander explained, smiling softly as she placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “You have your orders, Tiana. Look after him, even if only while he’s in this city. I’ll assist you.”
“Y-Yes, Commander!” the younger knight exclaimed, nodding firmly despite her frayed nerves.
She really wanted to refuse and tell her mother that she was still a good-for-nothing loser. Not only that, Crow terrified her. She feared that one day he would strike her down for being so worthless, like he nearly had when she’d approached him from behind.
And yet...
It’s thanks to him that mama believes in me again. At first, I thought he should’ve minded his own business, but...
Tiana was happy. Yes, all this had put her under a great deal of pressure, and she wasn’t sure she could be of any use no matter how hard she tried, but still she wanted to live up to her mother’s trust.
If nothing else, she wanted to repay Crow for getting Fiana to believe in her again.
“At the pace he’s going, he’s probably gonna overdo it and get himself killed. As his senior, I’ll have to teach him to enjoy some casual playtime too!”
“Hah! That I know I can trust you with. I’ll leave it to you, Tiana.”
Mother and daughter shared a chuckle at the thought of the overly serious young man.
Speaking of whom—
“Duuuuude, this bed’s sooooo soft! Best bed ever!” Crow exclaimed, sinking into the bed with a goofy smile on his face like the trash he was.
He didn’t look at all like a condemner, threatened to be consumed by his own passion, like the two knights feared.
“I already took a shower, so sleep time! Nighty-night, everyone!”
“SOULS!”
“BLOOD!”
“GUTS! KIDNEYS!”
“SCATTER! SUICIDE!”
“Yeah, yeah. G’night.”
As used to the wicked screaming as he had become, Crow ignored them and snuggled under the covers. Unaware he’d made the mother and daughter duo so worried that they felt they had to support him, he drifted off into blissful sleep.
Oh yeah, the pair of -Anas started giving him an allowance.