Chapter 97

It was late dawn.

"..."

She had layered on every rag she could force herself into, but there was no way a pauper who was a Grade 4 citizen could have even one proper outfit.

The eighteen-year-old woman, who had only just become an adult, touched the scarf that seemed to be made of animal fur.

"Haah..."

White breath spread through the air.

"... Still, it isn't that cold."

Christmas would soon arrive.

Recently, it had hardly snowed at all.

Did that mean spring was gradually coming?

Thanks to the temperature rising day by day, the number of paupers dying of the cold had decreased.

The woman, too, had nearly died that way, but thanks to the scarf someone had given her, she had been able to survive the winter.

'Spring will come soon.'

It was still very cold, but.

'Still, if I wait just a little longer...'

From the perspective of a Grade 4 citizen, the place where the woman was staying was not in such bad condition.

For one thing, it was a city, so it was safe from the threat of monsters, and especially in this neighborhood, people were kind enough that she could sometimes receive help.

'Once spring comes, at least I won't have to worry about freezing to death, and as for food, weeds or something will grow, so I'll be able to hold out somehow.'

'If I'm lucky, I might even be able to get a meal supported by the city...'

Growl.

She was hungry.

"..."

'Maybe I should eat some snow.'

Winter was truly harsh on paupers.

Unlike other seasons, when they could at least covet the roots of plants, there was nothing to eat, and on top of that, it was cold.

If there was one consolation, it was that snow was everywhere, so they could at least get drinking water.

'If my body were extremely cold, it would be hard to eat...'

This winter, she had been lucky enough to maintain her body temperature by various means.

"... Is it thanks to the scarf?"

Ever since she had received the scarf from someone she did not even know, small bits of luck had come her way.

The woman scraped together clean snow no one had stepped on and put it in her mouth.

Because it was snow from the ground, she occasionally bit down on dirt, but she did not care.

Fortunately, the woman was rather resistant to the cold.

"..."

When she went a little deeper into the alley, looking for a place where the wind did not blow, she saw other paupers.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what? I'm freezing to death..."

"No, about Black Cloak."

Black Cloak?

'... Come to think of it, the people in the city have all been talking about that too.'

Normally, paupers hid in alleys to avoid the contemptuous gazes of city residents, but the woman liked that clean, orderly atmosphere, so she sometimes hid outside the alleys as well.

The story she had just heard from the pauper was a name that people strolling in the park had also brought up.

'They said Black Cloak was a monster after all, or something like that.'

For paupers, who inevitably had poor access to information, it was an unfamiliar name, but she had heard it once or twice, so it interested her as well.

The woman carefully settled down in the alley and eavesdropped on the paupers' conversation.

"Why are you suddenly bringing up Black Cloak?"

"They say it's a monster."

"But from what I heard... they say it grants wishes and stuff."

"That's nonsense."

"What kind of monster benefits humans?"

"But there are harmless monsters that live in places like parks... so couldn't there be beneficial monsters too?"

"Don't you think?"

"So why did you bring it up?"

"I was thinking of trying to find Black Cloak."

Another pauper snorted.

"Don't even think about it."

"Are you trying to get eaten by a monster in one bite?"

"They said it was the kind of monster that doesn't eat people..."

"Then it'll tear you apart and kill you."

"Does it make sense for a monster to leave a person alone?"

"I-Is that so...?"

"Things have been noisy over that lately, too."

Unaware that the woman was listening closely, the pauper continued speaking.

"They say a whole bunch of Hunters died because they trusted that Black Cloak or Red Cloak thing."

"Huh?"

"Something like that happened?"

"That's what I heard."

"Some S-rank dungeon opened somewhere, and apparently that Black Cloak fellow showed up there often."

"It saved people in danger and all..."

"Then maybe it really is a monster that's helpful to humans?"

"They say it suddenly disappeared."

"And then, what was it, some guy showed up saying he had seen Black Cloak in another alley."

"A monster that was in a dungeon suddenly appeared in an alley...?"

"Does that make sense?"

"It makes no sense."

The pauper clicked his tongue.

"It's probably a ridiculous rumor made up by city folk with nothing better to do, or Grade 4 maggots like us."

"If not, then it means it's a dangerous monster that can pop up anywhere."

Monsters basically had a fixed range of activity.

Paupers did not receive separate education, so they did not know much, but they at least knew that monsters had something like fixed rules.

And yet Black Cloak was a monster that did not even follow those rules.

"It might have saved Hunters a few times by chance."

"But doesn't it give you a feeling, seeing how it suddenly vanished?"

"In the end, it's nothing but an evil monster that doesn't care what happens to human lives."

"Or maybe it was a scheme to lure the Hunters into a trap."

"But they said it grants wishes..."

"Don't make me laugh."

"Even gods only choose believers who are useful to them and show them mercy."

"If it's at least a traditional god, it might show kindness without asking for anything in return... but this is a monster."

The pauper hunched his body, telling him not to hold onto impossible hope.

The cold wind lashed harshly through the alley, making the paupers flinch and huddle together with people they knew.

"Ugh, it's cold."

"Stop saying weird things and scoot closer."

"Ah... I was going to ask Black Cloak to give me some clothes if I met it."

"You keep talking nonsense to the very end."

In winters like this, it was common to see paupers who knew each other pressed together like penguins.

The larger the huddle, the more power that group was considered to have, but the woman did not even have a friend like that left.

It was because her one and only pauper friend had died in the middle of surviving the winter.

"..."

'Would it have been warmer than now if that kid were still alive?'

"Ugh..."

In the chilly winter wind, the woman curled up tighter, gripping the scarf more firmly.

Once spring came, it seemed like it might be good to make a new companion.

It was only difficult to move around because it was winter; once time passed, she would make a new friend too.

'... Black Cloak.'

'So that was what it was.'

'I wondered what it was, with people whispering about it lately.'

She had heard that it was a humanoid monster that had appeared for the first time in almost several years.

She also seemed to have vaguely heard some absurd story that if you did good deeds, Black Cloak would give you a gift.

'I don't believe it, though.'

The pauper from earlier was right.

There were no monsters that benefited humans.

The woman, who had lost her village, family, and friends to monsters and fled to Seoul, knew that very well.

Monsters were objects of fear to many people.

"..."

The scrawny woman quietly slipped out of the alley and wandered through another alley close to the brightly flashing city.

There was no other reason.

If she was lucky, she might find food left behind by city people.

This terrible hunger would not be solved by simply sitting still.

Even if moving made her body more exhausted, if she did not act, she would likely starve to death.

After wandering like that for a while, the woman encountered a pauper.

"..."

"... Uh..."

Their body was much smaller than hers, so at the very least, they looked younger than eighteen.

'Is this a child born here?'

If they were this young, they were usually a child born between people in the slums, but she could not see a guardian anywhere.

No matter how cold-hearted the slums were, it was rare for such a young pauper to be left alone.

'But it feels a bit...'

After being demoted to a Grade 4 citizen, the woman had continued living an individualistic life, and she did not particularly want to get involved with the child.

The woman knew very well that in such a difficult time, getting involved with a child would only mean one more mouth to feed.

The people of the city would call her dirty and lowly, but everything that made up the woman now was something she had desperately scraped together in order to survive.

If she gave that away easily, it would be hard to last even one season.

"..."

But.

"... Um..."

At the very least, this scarf was not something the woman had scraped together.

"D-Do you want to use this?"

"...?"

"Use this."

"This..."

It was a bit of luck that had come to her by chance.

"You use it."

It had been so long since she had spoken to someone that the words did not come out well, but the meaning itself was clearly conveyed.

The young pauper shot her a wary look, but perhaps because they were cold, they quietly took the scarf.

Her neck felt a little bare, but it was fine.

The woman was rather good at enduring the cold, and she would not die just because she did not have one scarf.

It had never been part of what made her up in the first place, only luck that had brushed past her for a moment, so she did not feel regretful either.

"Yeah."

"..."

Perhaps unable to understand the situation, the young pauper did not answer and only clutched the scarf tightly.

Seeing that, the woman blushed with an inexplicable embarrassment and hurriedly left.

Trying to talk to someone after so long, the words really would not come out.

After getting quite far away, the woman soon thought with a proud heart.

'Still, I did well.'

Her parents had taught the woman to share when she had enough to spare.

Those people were gone now, but doing a good deed in accordance with her parents' words for the first time in a while made her feel quite all right.

'Later, when I meet Mom and Dad...'

'They'll praise me, right?'

It was when the corners of her mouth lifted slightly at that thought.

"..."

"..."

A pitch-black framed picture entered the woman's eyes.

The frame, as though carved from a tree of gold, was neat and luxuriously engraved.

Inside it, greenery was drawn in subdued colors, and when she wondered where exactly she had felt it was "black," she saw its essence.

"..."

It was the portrait of a man in an entirely pitch-black suit, his face invisible because it had been painted over with smooth, dense paint like ink.

A black portrait.

"... Huh?"

Instinctively, she realized it was Black Cloak.

"Uh, uhh... uh..."

"..."

"M-Monster..."

Her breath caught.

'It's a monster.'

The monster that had taken everything from her was right in front of her.

Her breath stopped as if she had been punched in the pit of the stomach.

Her heart pounded violently, as if struggling right before death, and along with it, the blood spinning dizzily through her body made her tremble all over.

So many organs were moving, so why was her brain not working?

As she unwittingly staggered back before the calamity with its gloomy, heavy atmosphere, the bright red lips inside the frame opened.

"..."

"I apologize for startling you."

What should she call this?

It was an exceedingly polite voice, one that a pauper and a coward like herself would never have any occasion to hear.

"I offer you my apologies."

"..."

That benevolent voice made her skin crawl.

There was no emotion whatsoever in Black Cloak's voice.

It was simply quiet, as though embodying a funeral, and so silent it could hardly be called a "voice," clean and distinct like a machine's voice.

And yet, despite producing such a voice, despite speaking without any emotion.

This grotesque and beautiful cloak-like figure was imitating benevolence from within the shadow of its hood.

'... Wh-What do I do?'

Her feet had gone stiff and would not move.

'I'm scared...'

The woman was a born coward, and she had always been afraid of monsters, and after her village had been wiped out, she had become even more so.

It was only natural that her whole body would tremble when she came face-to-face with the humanoid monster she had only heard about.

During that chaos, she had hidden alone because she did not want to die.

She had survived like that and come to the city.

Clinging to this enormous city like a bedbug, she had forced herself to live.

"Ah, aah..."

"..."

"... D-Don't, don't come, don't come here... please..."

"..."

"Hic, ngh..."

She felt so wronged.

"I-I did something good today..."

Wasn't this too much bad luck?

For a moment, she recalled that people had said all sorts of good things about Black Cloak, but it truly lasted only an instant.

Even so, to the woman who knew what monsters were, this situation of encountering Black Cloak was horribly frightening.

'How am I going to die?'

Would she be swallowed whole by a giant mouth, the way her parents had been that day?

Or would she be impaled on countless teeth and killed?

Or would she be trampled and crushed to death, or else, or else, or else...

As she only cried pitifully, Black Cloak asked,

"Did you do a good deed?"

"Hic, sob..."

"I imagine you must have been very startled by this frightening situation."

"... Sniff..."

"I promise I will not harm you."

Even as she cried, she thought it was a voice with a strange resonance somewhere in it, yet full of mercy.

No, in truth, at some point, her crying had stopped.

The woman herself did not realize that fact.

"..."

"Here."

Black Cloak held out a hand and gave her something.

If it had been the usual woman, she would never have accepted an object given by a monster.

She would have been busy either falling over in shock without saying a word or crying loudly, but as if bewitched by something, her heartbeat quieted and she found herself listening to the steady voice.

Without realizing it, she reached out and accepted something.

"..."

"They are cookies."

RUSTLE.

A toasty smell came from inside the thin paper-like bag.

"Once again, I apologize for startling you."

"..."

"I affirm you for your act of goodness."

Black Cloak placed one hand on his chest and, with the other behind his back, bowed at the waist like a gentleman from a fairy tale or an aristocrat from a faded film.

After the short, slow bow, Black Cloak's low voice followed.

"Thank you."

'For what?'

"..."

When she lifted her head, the frame was nowhere to be seen.

Only freshly baked cookies remained.

"... Uh...?"

It was the day the name "Black Cloak" spread among the paupers.

* * *

The portrait, still unable to make a new friend, wept mournfully.

"I could not find anyone to become my pen pal today either..."

"Ah, if it troubles you so much, may I catch one for you?"

"How dare you try to take away your teacher's fun?"

"..."

'... If Teacher says so, then that is how it must be.'

With a benevolent smile on his face, Iser nodded solemnly.