Gluttony Demon King with the Swampman ~A Man with No Magic Power Who Dreamed of Magic, Wielding Knowledge from His Past Life Through Steady Research and Hard Work to Become the Most Vicious Final Boss~ - Chapter 36: The Puppet Show That Started It All

Chapter 36: The Puppet Show That Started It All

The scream came from the main street.

It didn’t stop at one. It kept rising, as if chaining together and growing louder.

“…Haro, what do we do?”

“Let’s go check.”

Noiche and I looked at each other and started running at the same time. Something felt seriously wrong.

The moment we burst out of the alley onto the main street, we understood what was happening.

No, “understood” isn’t quite right.

We could see what was happening, but we had no idea why it was happening—that’s more accurate.

People scattered like baby spiders fleeing in every direction. Stalls and the ground were shredded to pieces.

At the center of the chaos stood a single human silhouette—

But it wasn’t human.

Long hair hung messily from its head. In one hand it gripped a sword coated in fresh blood.

Its face and the arms and legs peeking out from short sleeves and shorts had a smooth, waxy, polished-wood texture. To top it off, perfectly round ball joints at the knees, elbows, and finger knuckles stood out sharply, marking every boundary.

A life-sized puppet was moving on its own.

That was the impression.

“A-a monster… a monster appeared right in the middle of town!”

“Hey, get the women and kids out of here! We’ll hold it off!”

Several adventurers stepped forward while evacuating the residents.

Bad luck—they weren’t carrying their usual gear, so they had yanked support poles from nearby stalls and were wielding them like clubs.

“…Haro, is that a monster?”

“Who knows. It looks like an elaborate puppet… but I’ve never heard of a puppet monster that moves by itself.”

There are rare stories of ghosts possessing objects, but even those don’t show up in broad daylight in the middle of a city.

The puppet creaked with wooden groans and swung the sword in its hand wildly.

Screams rose from the crowd. The adventurers took defensive stances.

At that moment, someone bumped hard into my shoulder.

It was one of the residents fleeing the puppet.

“Whoa!”

Well, “bumped” isn’t quite right. Noiche was supporting me from behind, so the person who collided with me took all the impact.

The one who fell was a woman.

Long gray hair. She wore a gothic cocktail hat and a long one-piece dress. The long staff that slipped from her hand clattered and rolled across the ground.

…A staff?

“Haro, you okay? You too, miss?”

At Noiche’s voice the woman quietly answered, “…I’m sorry,” and slowly lifted her face.

She had a strange appearance.

A strip of black lace cloth was wrapped around her eyes like a blindfold. She couldn’t possibly see ahead.

My guess was correct. She groped along the ground, found her staff, and slowly stood.

In other words, it was a white cane.

She was blind, or nearly so.

“Noiche.”

“I know. Come here, miss.”

Noiche touched the woman’s arm, spoke once, and gently pulled her behind her back.

The startled woman stepped back as if letting Noiche protect her.

“…Why would you help me?”

“It’s reckless to run in your condition. I’ll keep you hidden.”

At Noiche’s words the blindfolded woman fell silent for a beat—

“…I’m sorry. Thank you.”

She bowed deeply and took one step back to stay under Noiche’s protection.

“Haro, please.”

“Got it.”

I left the woman to Noiche and stepped forward.

While the adventurers bought time against the sword-swinging puppet—

I decided to join in.

“Praise the Foolish God—Cthulhu.”

Ink writhed on my back.

It swelled violently with magical power.

In an instant it turned into eight octopus tentacles and charged the puppet.

“Uwoh…!?”

“W-what the—magic!?”

Ink rushed past the adventurers and wrapped around the puppet.

Eight legs constricted.

They squeezed with ferocious force, crushed, snapped.

“Gi… gigigi… gigi—”

Creaking wood or a scream—it was impossible to tell.

An unpleasant, unidentifiable sound rang out—

And the next instant, the puppet burst apart.

Arms and legs exploded outward. The neck twisted off.

The weapon fell from its hand.

The head that flew through the air eventually rolled across the ground and stopped at my feet.

“Release.”

The ink that had kept the shape of tentacles melted into liquid at my signal and mostly soaked into the dirt, vanishing.

“O-oooooh…!”

“What the hell was that! Hey, did the white-haired kid do it!?”

The adventurers erupted first, followed a moment later by cheers from the crowd.

I hate being stared at, but being useful to the city like this doesn’t feel bad.

I looked at the broken puppet.

The scattered limbs and the head that had rolled to my feet showed no further signs of movement.

This should be fine—I nodded.

The adventurers rushed over, slapping my shoulders hard and ruffling my hair roughly.

“Whitey, you’re insane!”

“That’s some serious magic for your age—color me impressed!”

“Wait a sec, white hair and one arm… don’t tell me this is the rumored dragon-slayer?”

They mauled me while I groaned “Ugh,” but the adventurers were already hyped on their own.

…Whatever.

As long as they’re safe, anything’s fine.

“Haro.”

Noiche came running up.

When she glared at them, the adventurers went “Oh, you’ve got a companion?” “Sorry, sorry” and finally let go of me.

Saved.

I turned back to Noiche and tilted my head.

“…Noiche, where’s the woman from earlier?”

She was gone.

The blindfolded woman Noiche had been protecting had vanished.

“No idea. She disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“Yeah. When I looked, she was just gone.”

Noiche nodded.

It was strange, but… well, those things happen, I guess.

As long as she escaped safely, nothing else matters.

Now, what to do about this mess? Stalls were wrecked everywhere, puppet fragments scattered all over.

While I was thinking that, the adventurers slapped my shoulder again.

“Whitey—no, wait… Haro Swampman, right?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“If it’s okay, could you come with us to the guild?”

One of the adventurers who apparently knew my name made the request.

“…Come along?”

“Yeah. We’ve gotta report a puppet like this, no question. More witnesses the better.”

Makes sense.

Noiche and I looked at each other again and nodded—sure, why not.

We had no other plans anyway.

We gathered the puppet fragments, the adventurers slung them over their shoulders, and Noiche and I followed them back to the guild once more.