17 Through the Bully's Eyes

*POV of the four kids' gangleader.

The boy believed. Their actions are for the good of the village.
In place of other villagers who are afraid to even get close, they're the only ones with courage.

"Let's give that guy a good shaking, that'll drive him outta here."

"This village's got no vigor cus he's alive."

"That guy's gonna bring disaster to this village. We gotta crush him good."

Thus the boy would speak everyday, brainwashing the other three. Without realizing it himself.
Unbeknownst to him that he learned those words from his parents through their own brainwashing.


The gang immediately ran off to the field when he heard the guy in question was working there.
This was when they were six year old. They threw stones. That act alone should have sent him home crying so they believed.
Such was the extent of children's mind.

However, none of them could imagine what took place instead.

The stones they threw missed, no, the guy didn't even make an attempt to dodge.

(What is that guy...)

The guy caught the thrown stones. His hands movement was so fast they leave behind after images the boy could barely perceive.
He could not comprehend why his voice became shaky, nor even notice it.

He simply cannot believe the reality thrust before his eyes.



The four ran away back to the village's square. The three spoke one after another.

"What's with him? He's bad news..."

"Maybe we should avoid him after all."

"Isn't it bad if we get involved?"

Is the boy in the wrong for denying them loudly here?

"You cowards! That was just a fluke."

By this point, the brainwash his parents repeatedly told him had been deeply ingrained.

Several stones that should have hit the guy were easily caught.
By one person, a six year old like them.

This fact was not quite enough of a shock to break the repeated brainwash.
Thus began a long history of bullying between two sides.

Though the person on the receiving end himself wasn't really concerned about it in the least.


<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >

One time, all four assaulted with wooden clubs.

"Get 'im!" "Damn you!" "Die!" "Shiiit!"

Yet none of them managed to hit the guy.

"Oy you! Stop dodging dammit!"

Afterward they would attack together from all sides yet they couldn't even graze him.

(Dammit... What heck's going on! How...)

At this time, the two of them were facing off,

(We gotta get him off the village quick!)

Driven by the deeply rooted brainwash and twisted sense of duty, the boy failed to notice the [Fear] welling within him.

The person getting assaulted himself thought of it as, 'That was a good defensive training excursion against many.'



Another time, they hid behind a cover to launch an ambush.
Even though the idea of head on tactic being ineffective had been tucked in the corner of his mind, the boy averted his sight from that.

(I'm gonna get him out of the village, for sure...)

The brainwashing has now fused with the boy's own belief.
To the point that there's simply no saving him anymore.
Not unless it's broken at the foundation.
Though that would lead to the boy's mental collapse.

It has gone way past the point of no return.

This ambush was also easily brushed aside as if the guy knew about it beforehand.


Afterward, the four tried to tie the guy in a rope, but they got outran.
They tried to dump water, but the guy didn't even need to turn back and left them dry.
They tried to lure him into the forest, but he easily sidestepped their traps.

Every single scheme ended in failure.


And now, the boy's father spoke of this to him.

"What a nuisance. No one will be inconvenienced with him gone. I can simply imagine how refreshing it is if only he disappears. No, might as well make him depart this world. That's right, that Blessless can eat arrows for all I care."


Perhaps the boy simply wanted to act on his parents wish.
Or perhaps he wanted them to praise him.
To children, parents are their whole world. Absolute existence.
Moreso at his age, still supported by his parents.


The day after, the four gathered with bows and arrows in hands.

"We're gonna do him in for sure today."

"But isn't this too much?"

"Are we gonna be okay? If the village found out..."

"This is too much..."

The boy was inwardly feeling even more frightened than the three.
But then he spoke out loud to brush that feeling away.

"This ain't time to be cowards! We're gonna kill him for good now! Recall how much he clowned us all this time! Show some backbone!"

Stirred up by this shouting, the three came back to their usual expressions.



But those expressions turned cramp by the time they used up all their arrows.

(How's that possible! No that's just ridiculous! What's going on here!)

All the arrows that would have hit their target vanished mid-air.

Caught before they hit.
The hand movement was so fast the boy couldn't even perceive its afterimage.

"Y-you monster!"

This was the only time the fear within him was too big to be ignored.

But usually he would tuck this fear deep into the corner of his mind after running away and sleeping it overnight.


But not this time. The fear came after them.

There was a sound of cutting wind as something thin passed by his eyes.
Followed by a thud sound, so he turned his sight over his shoulder and saw arrows pierced on tree trunks.
The boy was agape. The thought of running away got brickwalled.

And that applies to all four.

The guy had no bow and those were headless arrows, yet they pierced through trees.
Every one of them wondered the same thing, how in the heck did that happen?
But the fact that the person who did that is alone here was carved in their minds along with the fear.

"What's the big idea?"


The guy stood before the four even though they were previously quite a bit far apart.
The time they were dumbfounded was only for an instant, yet he covered that distance in that moment?
There was no sound of him running. He looks as if he's always been there.


Asking these four to hold a conversation when they were thrust before new fear one after another was impossible.

Jeers, or more akin to gibberish flew out of their mouths.

Only the boy managed to reply back with complete words his parents told him.
The content itself is another matter entirely, but to the boy, those words sounded reasonable and sensible..

(Yeah, this guy must leave this village...!)

The boy cheered up as he recalled his parents' words, but then someone interrupted the scene.




The boy bears no malice toward the villagers here aside from [Blessless].
This includes [Blessless]'s father.

That's how twisted the boy has turned. He probably wouldn't have an answer why even when asked.
Since the boy himself doesn't even think there's any need to question it.


As the father angrily questioned them, the boy found himself in an awkward position.

(It's not you I hate... it's this guy... this guy... dammit! Dammit!)

Then he started recalling what happened with the arrows, his brain was jolted by the absurd reality.

(How did he do that!? This guy's a lowly Blessless... a Manaless!! He can't have used magic!?)

The talk continued on while the boy was having a panic attack.



The angry villager who has calmed down throws the boy a question.

"Is he speaking the truth?"

The boy replies honestly. It's a villager just like him. There's no need to lie.

"My dad is an official in this village. Dad told me. This guy should just disappear."


Even the fact that the person he's talking to is the [Father] of that very same Blessless doesn't seem to register to the boy.
No he knows. He's aware.

The boy simply cannot comprehend how it feels for a father to have someone say his son should [Disappear] to their face.


"I'll have you go with us."

Those words were coldly declared at them.

All four will go with the two to the village elder's house.


That's the boy's undoing. The stuff implanted by his parents.
His foolishness will be laid bare there.

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter